Articles Posted in Personal Injury Verdicts

Metro Verdicts Monthly’s graph this month is median settlements and verdicts in wrongful death claims in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The median wrongful death settlement in Maryland is $850,000. In Virginia and the District of Columbia, the medians are $675,000 and $750,000, respectively.

Previous blog posts have discussed motor vehicle accident and medical malpractice wrongful death case numbers.

For attorneys handling these cases, I used to think this kind of information falls under the category of “fascinating information but I have no idea what to do with it.” But I have found presenting adjusters with objective information sometimes helps the adjuster better appreciate the value of a case, particularly in truck collision cases where the adjusters are typically in other jurisdictions and do not fully appreciate the value of a certain case in your jurisdiction.

In the last couple of weeks, I have has put out a lot of data on compensation awards in medical malpractice cases and in auto and truck accident cases. In my research on these posts, I found some other data comparing different states’ verdicts.  I thought it was interesting for lawyers in different jurisdictions to compare verdicts:

New York ……….. $275,000

South Dakota ….. $120,913

A Jury Verdict Research study found that the median compensatory award for personal injury trials in Minnesota is $32,468. To the delight of Minnesota personal injury lawyers, the study also found that plaintiffs recovered damages in 67% of personal injury cases that go to trial. Both statistics are higher than those in Maryland. The median compensatory award in personal injury trials in Maryland is $12,813. Specifically, in auto accident cases in Maryland, the median verdict is $11,277. This data is arguably misleading. Many small claim type cases find their way to Maryland juries because defense lawyers in personal injury cases in Maryland can remove cases to Circuit Court if the plaintiff seeks more than $10,000 (but less than $25,000, which qualifies it for District Court), which they frequently do, primarily to increase the burden on Maryland personal injury lawyers.

An Arkansas woman whose husband died of smoke inhalation and burns in a camper fire resulting from a refrigerator defect settled her lawsuit against Norcold Refrigerators and a camper dealership for $7 million last week.

The fire’s cause was due to cracked tubing in the camper’s Norcold refrigerator, which resulted in the leaking of flammable hydrogen. Norcold apparently knew of the potential fire hazard as early as 1999 and notified federal officials that it would recall over 40,000 refrigerators. Much like the “FDA approved the drug” defense I have been blogging about in recent months, Norcold contended that it followed federal regulations in conducting the recall.

But the Plaintiff did not receive a recall notice until 6 years after Norcold knew of the defect. Norcold could have found the owners of all the campers by checking their Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN), but it did not do that until late 2004, too late to get notice out to the Plaintiff. In a tragic irony, the Plaintiff received the recall notice seven months after the accident.

Jury Verdict Research reports that the median compensation award in personal injury trials in New Hampshire is $45,000. This is much higher than the national median of $38,460. Also, New Hampshire personal injury victims are more likely to prevail at trial. New Hampshire plaintiffs get a recovery in 63% of cases that go to a verdict, as opposed to the nationwide recovery probability of 55%.

In Maryland, the median personal injury verdict is only $12,813. Why don’t our personal injury lawyers pack up and leave Maryland for New Hampshire?

Besides the frigid weather, Maryland’s jury verdicts are distorted by the defense lawyers from State Farm and Allstate, the two largest auto insurance providers in Maryland, who routinely “bump up” smaller claims to jury trials.

A Prince George’s County undercover narcotics police officer who shot and killed an unarmed college student, who he chased from Prince George’s County, Maryland to Fairfax County, Virginia, was held responsible for his wrongful death yesterday by a jury that awarded $3.7 million to the family of the man who was killed.

Terrell N. Roberts III, the personal injury attorney for the victim’s family, noted after the verdict that neither the state of Virginia nor the Justice Department filed charges against the officer, nor did Prince George’s County police find any wrongdoing by the officer. Yet a Prince George’s County jury looking at the same facts found differently.

These types of claims are nothing new in Prince George’s County, who paid $4.6 million in jury verdicts and out-of-court settlements in lawsuits in 2004. In the last 5 years, not including this verdict, the county paid $16.3 million in jury awards and settlements alleging excessive force or other forms of misconduct or negligence by P.G. County police officers.