Sometimes it is easy to miss the federal court opinions that involve car crash cases because you just do not expect to see them there. Probably 1% of the car accident cases that we handle end up in federal court – although probably 20% of our truck accident cases get removed…
I wrote a blog post last month with the antagonizing title “Insurance Adjusters Say the Silliest Things,” discussing an article written by one insurance claims adjuster that fell into the worst stereotypes of adjusters. The post was recently picked up by an insurance claims journal (which I have since cannot…
Defense lawyers and insurance companies have this irrational fear of an unpaid lien holder coming back and claiming the insurance company must reimburse for the unpaid debt. Sure, some adjusters and lawyers push this issue because they are pathologically difficult. But I also think they have an earnest belief that…
Did you know State Farm has a blog? They don’t call it a blog. Instead, it is a learning center that educates consumers with “articles, discussions, videos, and financial calculators to help you make informed decisions” about car insurance, what to do after an accident, and so forth. You know…
On Monday, a man calls our office. He only has a few minutes to talk. He tells our intake specialist that his brother has been at Shock Trauma in Baltimore since the beginning of the month and that he was hit by a commercial vehicle. The man briefly describes his…
A fedora will no longer suffice. Starting Monday, the ridiculous pass that mopeds and scooters in Maryland have been given on the most basic safety precautions will end. Moped and scooter drivers now must equip their death traps by wearing a helmet and some kind of eye protection. Scooter drivers…
Tort lawyers rarely spend a ton of time worrying about whether their clients have indemnified the defendant for their own negligence because it rarely comes at issue. You rarely contract with the person causing you harm unless you are a patient and the world has not gone so mad as…
We frequently get letters and phone calls from prisoners. It is hard not to discount these cases. It is not just the “People in Jail Are Less Likely to Be Credible” problem. It is also the “People Who Have Tons of Time on Their Hands Tend Chase Windmills” problem that…
I guess the summer is over. The Maryland Court of Appeals is back in business, issuing several appellate opinions over the last few weeks. First on our hit list is Duckett v. Riley, a medical malpractice case filed in Prince George’s County in 2003. New medical malpractice opinion Anyway, every…
Click to enlarge How much is a car accident claim worth? It really depends on how you adjust your lens. According to Jury Verdict Research, the median jury award for plaintiffs’ verdicts in 2010 for vehicular accidents was only $19,806. That’s not much. Yet the average award in a vehicle…