Auto Accidents

April 26, 2011

New Maryland Uninsured Motorist Case

The Maryland Court of Appeals decided today GEICO v. Comer, another appellate case that dives into the Serbonain Bog of whether uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage kicks in when trying to get coverage in an accident under an insurance policy for a vehicle was not in the accident that caused the injuries.

Plaintiff was in an awful motorcycle accident in Calvert County. The Defendant cut in front of the Plaintiff who suffered a myriad of injuries, as is typically the case with motorcycle collisions, including a fractured femur and an open head injury. He incurred over $200,000 in medical bills and suffered permanent injuries. Everyone agrees, an awful case.

April 14, 2011

Five Things You May Not Know About Liens

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

I read somewhere recently that making Top Ten lists really attracts readers. Regrettably, I don’t know ten things about fighting medical liens that I think you don’t know. But I know a few.

I’ve been working harder and harder, trying to better understand the ins and outs of subrogation liens that arise in personal injury cases. With some of the larger cases, we farm out lien work to firms that focus only on resolving lien issues. But there are so many basic things I think personal injury lawyers need to appreciate about lien issues. Anyway, here is my Top Five list:

1. The mere fact that it is an ERISA lien does not automatically mean that the lien cannot be reduced for attorneys’ fees. Subrogation and reimbursement rights for ERISA insurance plans only exist if the language of the plan says they do. You have to actually read the plan to know.

April 11, 2011

Property Damage Claims Releases

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Before a client executes a release or signs a check for a property damage claim, I want to review the release if they have a potential personal injury claim from the accident. Particularly in uninsured motorist cases, but this paranoia extends to every type of accident case.

Why? I don’t want the insurance company to pull a fast one and slip in a full release under the guise of a property damage release for the client’s car.

In years past, after looking at approximately one zillion property damage releases, the Oliver Stone conspiracy has never come to pass. Insurance companies have always been straight with me. Until this week… Continue reading

March 16, 2011

Car Accident Lawyer Accused of Fraud

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The feds have charged a Silver Spring car accident lawyer and three other people in a pathetic scheme to induce people in car accidents to fake their injuries to make personal injury claims. If you saw this episode of Law & Order, you have the gist of the allegations.

This news has insurance companies screaming “I told you so” and tort reformers dancing in the aisles. Guilt-free Schadenfreude! It is a win-win for everyone, really.

March 14, 2011

$3 Million Verdict in a Maryland Pedestrian Accident

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Click to enlarge

A Prince George’s County jury awarded $3.3 million in a mother and daughter pedestrian wrongful death case. The case is beyond tragic. A young woman and her unborn child were killed. The defendant was the state of Maryland and the claim was that the state should have put in a sidewalk, guardrails, or something so pedestrians are difficult targets for cars and trucks going down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Not mentioned: this verdict will not be collectible under the Maryland Tort Claims Act which limits recovery to $200,000. Arguably, this was an important detail that should have been mentioned in this Washington Post article on the case.

February 4, 2011

Claims Against Baltimore City

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

I was planning on writing a rant about dealing with adjusters in claims against Baltimore City. Instead, I’m just going to cut and paste some notes we have taken in our efforts to resolve this car accident claim. No liability dispute, everyone agrees a huge truck owned by the City rear-ended my client. The problem is getting the City to make an offer.

It is easy to stick your chest out when you are dealing with a recalcitrant defendant and say we are just going to sue. But that comes with costs and, with my office, an increase in attorneys’ fees. So it makes more sense for the clients in some situations to just wait out the insanity. But, really, get a load of this:

12/22/2010 – JES – called the main line for Baltimore City Government – [410-396-3100] and asked for a supervisor’s name for __________. The lady informed me she did not have a supervisor’s name, but she may be able to put me through to someone who can help. I was then transferred to a general voicemail for the law department. Instead of leaving a message, I called the CR herself. When I told her who I was and where I was calling from, she knew exactly which client I was going to reference and said, “it’s scheduled for Tuesday.” Before I even got a chance to ask any further questions, she hung up the phone.

January 31, 2011

Frivolous Malpractice Lawsuits

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Henry Thoreau wrote: “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” So it goes with efforts to decrease health care costs by attacking the frivolous malpractice lawsuit straw man.

Attacking frivolous malpractice lawsuits is a brilliant way to frame the argument. If you poll the American people, they are universally opposed to frivolous malpractice lawsuits. So am I.

The other avenue is to attack trial lawyers and, in particular, medical malpractice lawyers. The effort to do this is obvious and pathetic.

Thanks for Admitting It Is All About Money

Dr. Stuart Weinstein, a doctor with outstanding credentials as a physician and otherwise cool sounding guy, said this in his prepared statement on behalf of a “Doctors Want to Make More Money” group to the House subcommittee looking at malpractice:

In 2009, the Institute for Legal Reform released a report showing that television ads for medical liability lawsuits increased by 1,400 percent in four years as spending on these ads reached an all-time high of $62 million — up from just $3.8 million in 2004

Really? You are speaking to Congress. This is a big deal, and making every word count. Yet you take the time to pass this along to Congress? How much money is spent on legal advertising is important to this conversation? A question of at least equal importance is: how much has Dr. Weinstein made over the last 5 years? I’ll bet you the answer is in the millions. Continue reading

December 9, 2010

Refer Your Personal Injury Cases to Us. Seriously.

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Insurance Journal reports a rise in legal malpractice claims. Incredibly, there has been no hand wringing about increased malpractice rates for lawyers or fears that lawyers can no longer keep their practices open as their insurance rates rise. We have never had a legal malpractice claim yet our rates continue to increase. No one cries for us.

A part of the rise in the number of legal malpractice claims is countersuits against lawyers who are suing their clients to pay their bills. But I think the larger problem is what the article calls “door law,” a phrase I have never heard before but I like. Door law is when lawyers take any client who walks through the door who might generate a fee. When law firms step outside their areas of expertise, bad things will happen. Continue reading

November 30, 2010

Paralyzed Child’s Claim Against Montgomery County

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Jonathan Turley writes a good post about the insanity of the cap on liability provided by the Maryland Local Government Tort Claims Act.

The case involves a car accident that resulted from a Montgomery County, Maryland police officer doing what a noticeable minority of police officers do in police cars: drive at excessive speeds. This police officer was doing 56 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone. When we see this on the road, no one even complains about it. It is just something we accept. Police officers drive at a speed of their choosing, even off-duty. Until something this happens. Continue reading

November 15, 2010

What Do I Get for My Own Wrongful Death?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

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 actually the only claim the person who died really brings for themselves, in their own name, for their own loss of life.

If you die instantly in a Maryland accident – or there is no proof of conscious pain and suffering – defense lawyers argue there is no survival action or no claim for the decedent for their death.

Maybe I think this stuff through a little too much, which makes me wonder if I can keep this job until retirement. But it just seems ludicrous to me that a person has no cause of action in their own right because we can’t prove they suffered before they died. A trial court in Maryland recently took this a step further, ruling that there is no conscious pain and suffering when a five year-old boy drowns in a pool because there was no “evidence” of conscious pain and suffering. The Maryland Court of Appeals thankfully reversed the trial court on this point because it is obviously more likely that the poor child suffered. (I would love to be wrong about this and I try to make myself feel better by thinking not that long a period. But it does not make me feel better.) Continue reading