Contributory negligence is about as dead of an idea as communism. Maryland is one of five jurisdictions in the United States (along with Virginia, Washington D.C., Alabama, and North Carolina) that have maintained this antiquated notion that being 1% at fault for your own injuries should be a bar to…
When you die in a fatal crash in Maryland, two claims arise: a wrongful death action and a survival action. Wrongful death claims are for the suffering and economic loss for surviving family members on their own behalf. The survival action is brought by the estate, which means it is…
Jury Verdict Research published a study this month that found that medical malpractice plaintiffs receive an average of $983,769 for being “incorrectly diagnosed with a serious illness resulting in fear or unnecessary treatment.” For once, the median is not far behind the average. The median misdiagnosis verdict was $843,362. To…
On our website, we have sample depositions in car and truck accident, medical malpractice, and product liability cases. The purpose of these sample deposition transcripts is to help lawyers who are taking a similar deposition and for victims who are trying to certain the type of personal injury deposition questions…
As expected, Maryland voters overwhelmingly rubber-stamp approved by a two-to-one margin a constitutional amendment to increase the damages threshold for civil jury lawsuits from $10,000 to $15,000. What does this mean? Any case pled in District Court in Maryland for more than $10,000 can be “bumped up” to a jury…
Sometimes, I think personal injury lawyers – myself included – subconsciously think we know better than the client in terms of what damages they have that really matter to a jury. But we often get it wrong. More often than not, what is in the client’s heart will also be…
Besides Kearney v. Berger, there was another interesting opinion that came down from Maryland’s appellate courts yesterday. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled on an interesting discovery issue in a landlord-tenant case that has implications for Maryland personal injury lawyers. The underlying case is a dispute between Checkers –…
The Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor for procedural reasons in a 4-3 opinion issued this morning. Filed in Anne Arundel County, this wrongful death malpractice claim alleged that a dermatologist failed to perform a timely biopsy of a mole that…
The Maryland Court of Appeals has signed off on some modifications to the Maryland Rules. Of particular interest to both lawyers and clients is new Maryland Rule 16-110. This recent rule addresses the crucial issue of our day of whether you can bring a cell phone into court in Maryland.…
Earlier this month, I wrote a blog post about Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy’s proposal to allow retired Supreme Court justices to hear cases to avoid 4-4 splits in conflict situations, an issue that is getting attention because of the conflicts that Justice Kagan has for many pending cases. The Maryland…