Maryland Injury Law Center

January 17, 2014

Immigration Status: New Maryland Case on Admissibility at Trial

I was in Florida after Christmas and missed the Maryland Court of Special Appeals’ opinion in Ayala v. Lee, a truck collision case in Anne Arundel County where the plaintiffs were two undocumented aliens who were rear-ended near Annapolis.

After crossing the Bay Bridge, the driver of the plaintiffs’ vehicle stopped the truck and clearly pulled onto the shoulder on Route 50 to fix a problem with the windshield. They put half the vehicle in the grass, off the shoulder. The driver also activated the emergency flashers. In other words, they were doing exactly what they should have done under the circumstances. After getting the wipers fixed, their truck was rear-ended by another truck. The driver, who was with the Plaintiffs, was killed and the Plaintiffs themselves were badly injured.

This is a slam dunk on liability, right? Somehow it goes to the jury on the question of liability. Continue reading

January 9, 2014

Why Won’t a Lawyer Take My Medical Malpractice Claims?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Justice in Malpractice Cases Is Expensive

Every single day we get phone calls from prospective clients who want to bring a medical malpractice case. We probably do a full investigation in 5% of these cases and sue in half of those cases.

Why so low? In most cases, we cannot pursue the claim not because there was no harm and potential malpractice but because the value is too low to justify what can be a six-figure plus investment before trial. I feel bad about this. But it really is economic suicide for a malpractice law firm who works cases with the detail that we do – if that sounds self-serving it is, but it is also true – to take cases where we think the verdict would be less than $500,000.

January 8, 2014

What Happens When Two Lawyers Don’t Like Each Other

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Mark Mixter and James Farmer are two Maryland tort lawyers that just don’t like each other. There are lots of attorneys that don’t like each other. Lawyers are probably more confrontational and competitive than your average bear. If you doubt this premise, go watch a lawyers’ league softball game. So add this natural tendency with the intensity of litigation and people will find reasons to get upset unless you are ultra thick skinned. (One resolution of mine in 2014 is to develop some thicker skin all the way around.)

When these two lawyers fight, it goes deeper and litigation apparently follows. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently affirmed the dismissed defamation, libel, slander, and intentional inflection of emotional distress claim that one had filed against the other. You can find the opinion in Mixter v. Farmer here if you are interested. Something about someone writes a letter to other lawyers saying disparaging things or something. I started to read it – mostly out of prurient interest – but I realized I must have something better to do. (So I wrote this point instead?)

This is apparently the second case between these attorneys that has found its way to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. The last one involved a case that settled, but one of the lawyers became so mad that he sought and received a sanctions order against the other. The appellate court reversed the order of sanctions. So a lot of trees were burned and blood pressure was raised in a battle over a little more than $3,000.

January 7, 2014

Does Badmouthing a Maryland Company Give Personal Jurisdiction Here?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

If you badmouth an out-of-state company on the Internet, are you subject to personal jurisdiction in the state where the company resides?

In Fertel v. Davidson, a federal court in Maryland was given this interesting question with an interesting set of facts. A 52-year-old artist, who was in a troubled marriage in California, purchased a “Marriage Fitness Tele-Boot Camp” program for a Maryland company called MarriageMax. The opinion suggests that this program costs $400. It comes with a “if you are not satisfied for any reason, you can get your money back” type guarantee. Continue reading

January 6, 2014

Does My Workers’ Compensation Claim Kill My Tort Claim?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Do you have both a comp claim and PI case?

Many of our personal injury clients bring both a regular civil claim and a workers’ compensation claim. Yet we get calls every week from someone who has an otherwise valid tort claim that may not bring that claim because of the workers’ compensation law.

Obviously, two claims are better than one. This post explains the cases in which you can bring both claims and those you cannot and why. Continue reading

January 3, 2014

Maryland Appellate Court Kicks Malpractice Case on Technicality

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Maryland appellate court kicks malpractice case

Before the holidays, the Court of Special Appeals issued a new opinion dealing with medical malpractice actions. The case, Puppolo, v. Adventist Healthace, Inc., et al., is a perfect example of how difficult it can be to litigate a medical malpractice claim when you don’t understand and/or abide by the procedural and statutory “rules” Maryland has in place. (You can read the case here.) I know that slogging through statutes can be really tedious and boring, but when it comes to med mal, there are no excuses. You’ve just gotta do it. Maybe this cautionary tale case will shed some light… Continue reading

January 2, 2014

New Opinion: Constitutional Torts and Local Governmental Immunities

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Maryland Court of Appeals decided Espina v. Prince George’s County last week. The opinion is not a good one if you care about justice.

I have written here two times how awful governmental immunities are. But I think the topic is inexhaustible, like Doris Kearns Goodwin digging even deeper into Lincoln’s life. The unfairness of protecting government when they hurt someone is just plain wrong. In 2014, they just make little sense. Virtually everyone agrees they lead to grave injustice. Yet no one really cares. Continue reading

December 12, 2013

Defense Lawyer Says Uneducated Jury Can’t Decide Malpractice Case

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Are jurors just not smart enough?

Defense lawyer tries medical malpractice case in Frederick, Maryland. He loses big. $7 million verdict. Here’s what he says to the media after the verdict:

Continue reading

December 6, 2013

New Bad Faith Opinion | Difference Between California and Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

California insurance law is far more generous than ours in Maryland

I’m glad to say that our firm has had several verdicts in recent years that exceeded the insurance policy of the at-fault driver. In almost all these cases – there is one exception – we made a demand for the insurance policy limits. Why? Because we knew they would not pay the policy limits, and we were trying to set up our bad faith case after an excess verdict.

Insurance companies have a duty to their insured to try and settle a case within policy limits if it is reasonable to do so. In every Maryland case, we have had, the “reasonable to do so” never gets flushed out because the insurance company does the right thing and pays the policy.
Continue reading

December 5, 2013

Can I Make an Uninsured Motorist Claim Against a Taxi?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Can you make a UM claim against a taxi?

Question: I am a New Jersey resident who was in a car accident taking a cab back to BWI airport. The taxi cab driver was probably speeding the accident was not his fault – someone just pulled out on us. I saw the whole thing. The driver who caused this mess had insurance with Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund which I’m told will have little insurance coverage. The taxi cab company told me they have no uninsured motorist insurance. Is this actually true? Someone told me that every car has uninsured motorist coverage and that the coverage limits are the same as the liability limits. Is this true?