Personal Injury Law

Heart, Gallbladder, Liver and Spleen Injury Values

Posted on April 01, 2011
Jury Verdict Research provides a study on median compensatory award for circulatory system injuries: Heart attacks: $443,750 Gallbladder injuries: 259,117 Liver injuries: $221,185 Spleen injuries: $40,342 Overall: $225,000

GEICO Claim Adjuster: My Fun Call Today

Posted on March 31, 2011
I have a serious injury case with GEICO. Unfortunately, GEICO only has a $100,000/$300,000 policy and no underinsured coverage (and no evidence the defendant has meaningful assets). GEICO did the right thing and offered up the policy. It is a shame but that is the way it is in many car accident cases in Maryland...

Personal Injury News/Random Rants

Posted on March 29, 2011
A whole bunch of Maryland lawyers write about random car accidents they read about in the Baltimore Sun. Why? Because the whole world benefits when Maryland accident lawyers rewrite Baltimore Sun articles describing accidents. It is extra special when they include the names of the victims...

Attorneys, Blogs and Social Media

Posted on March 23, 2011
On Monday, I wrote about the plaintiffs' lawyers' flawed economic model. Now, an ABA Journal survey tells us that social media does not help clients find lawyers and blogs don't work either. Okay, our law firm is heading back to the Yellow Pages. No, wait, the ABA Journal says the Yellow Pages are beyond awful now (only 8% would use the Yellow Pages)...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

David Ball on Damages Part 2

Posted on March 21, 2011
Jake Brigance gave one of the greatest closing arguments ever in A Time to Kill. This remains true even though Matthew McConaughey has tried to cheapen my memories by making so many "not so very good" chick flicks. In the real world, closing arguments rarely sway a jury like Jake Brigance's did...

Personal Injury Blog/News Roundup

Posted on March 21, 2011
The University of Baltimore is on the rise according to U.S. News & World Report. Apparently, they rank law schools. Who knew? Comments on David Ball's latest iteration on how to maximize damages in personal injury cases. This will be a regular feature if more people start reading it - Google Analytics is not showing y'all read it in massive number...

Hip Replacement Settlements/Verdicts

Posted on March 21, 2011
Metro Verdicts Monthly's cover graph is hip replacement settlements and verdicts in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The graph just says "hip replacements" so there is really no context. I'm going to assume that these are primarily injury cases and not product liability claims because those claims - most notably against DePuy, Stryker, and Zimmer - do not make up a substantial part of the verdicts and settlements involving hip replacements since 1987...

Plaintiffs' Lawyers and Rainy Days

Posted on March 21, 2011
I read an interesting article in the Washington Post yesterday about the downfall of big Washington, D.C. law firm heavyweight Howrey, who closed its doors earlier this month. It is an unbelievably steep fall for a law firm that had $570 million in revenue in 2008...

Damages by David Ball, Part 2

Posted on March 17, 2011
Yesterday, I wrote that we would be buying David Ball's 3rd edition of "Damages." Little did I know we had already ordered the book. I am going to write about things in this book that grab me, in no particular order at this point. Ball writes: "Among the hollowest of advocacy moments can be when counsel says, in opening, that his client has lost one of her great pleasures - say, gardening...

Wrongful Death Verdict in Prince George's County

Posted on March 17, 2011
The Washington Post reports on an $11.5 million wrongful death verdict against the Prince George?s County Police Department, finding a police officer liable for a fatal shooting. I'm reiterating my ongoing objection to the Washington Post's refusal to tell us how much is actually collectable after a personal injury verdict, a complaint I made just last week...

David Ball on Damages

Posted on March 16, 2011
David Ball's book, appropriately titled "Damages", is now out. You have already bought the first two editions of a book that is just ridiculously priced, $105 for a paperback. Insane. Ball has never had a jury trial and is not even a lawyer. But buy it anyway...

Car Accident Lawyer Accused of Fraud

Posted on March 16, 2011
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...

$3 Million Verdict in a Maryland Pedestrian Accident

Posted on March 14, 2011
A Prince George's County, Maryland 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, guard rails, or something so pedestrians are not easy targets for cars and trucks going down Pennsylvania Avenue...

Maryland Health Claims Arbitration in Federal Court: New Decision

Posted on March 07, 2011
Judge Roger W. Titus handed down a new opinion last week on the interplay between Maryland health claims arbitration and medical malpractice cases in federal court. The nutshell: regardless of what you may have thought, there is no interplay. At all...

Severe Leg Injury: Verdicts Statistics

Posted on March 03, 2011
Jury Verdict Research published data on verdicts in severe leg injury cases over the 10 years prior to October 2010. By severe, I mean severe: crush injuries and amputations. The average verdict in these cases is approximately $4,000,000 and the median verdict is $2,400,000 for injuries to one or both legs, as well as leg injuries resulting in varying degrees of leg amputations...

Maryland Legal Blog Directory

Posted on March 03, 2011
There are over 150 million blogs. (source: Blog Pulse.) There are over 25,000 legal blogs (source: my best guess). Maryland lawyers have their fair share of blogs. Below is a list. I'm sure I did not find all of them but I think I've found most. Some of these blogs are great blogs and some are of the "there was a car accident last night on the Baltimore Beltway and Joe Smith was injured" variety that were clearly written by a mediocre college student...

Maryland Contributory Negligence Statute

Posted on March 02, 2011
I reported here last year that the Maryland Court of Appeals - or at least Judge Bell - is looking at whether the Maryland high court should adopt comparative negligence in Maryland. Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates are trying to beat the court to the punch by introducing House Bill 1129 which would make contributory negligence codified Maryland law...

Is Allstate Prejudiced?

Posted on March 02, 2011
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals said yesterday that Allstate is entitled to be as prejudiced as it wants to be. Of course, and sorry if you clicked on this because you were baited by the title, the court did not mean Allstate can discriminate based on race, creed or religion...

New Maryland Malpractice Expert CSA Opinion

Posted on March 01, 2011
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals decided a new malpractice case in Wantz v. Afzal. Wantz is a Frederick County medical malpractice wrongful death case involving a staph infection following spinal fusion surgery after a slip and fall that allegedly caused the death of Plaintiffs' 77 year-old mother...

New Maryland Malpractice Case You Don't Need to Know About

Posted on February 24, 2011
Good medical malpractice lawyers in Maryland read every high court opinion about medical malpractice. Yet I think everyone can skip the Maryland Court of Appeals opinion that was released today in Neustadter v. Holy Cross Hospital. Neustadter is a malpractice/wrongful death case involving the death of a 91 year-old Holocaust survivor...

Bella Awards

Posted on February 21, 2011
It is time for the 2011 Bella awards. Without further ado: #5: On October 10, 2010, after three days of deliberation, the jury read a verdict of $10.10 in an Atlanta, Georgia wrongful death case. Asked later, a juror said, "We are sorry that guy died...

Reading Jurors

Posted on February 15, 2011
The Legal Intelligencer has a blog with a smart title any trial lawyer would love: ?Beware of the Smiling Juror.? In their heads, lawyers agree with the premise of the article which is: trying to read jurors is a complete waste of energy. But at trial, our hearts overrule our heads and we find ourselves interpreting more useless clues than we ever did on the dating circuit...

New Truck Accident Laws: Electronic On-Board Records

Posted on February 14, 2011
Driver fatigue is a frequent cause of truck accidents. How frequent is a matter of opinion. But more facts are on the way to creating informed opinions thanks to the Federal Motor Safety Administration's new Compliance Safety Accountability Program...

New Maryland Med Mal Appellate Opinion

Posted on February 10, 2011
In Muti v. University of Maryland Medical Systems, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals returned again to a subject that, until recently, has gotten little attention by our appellate courts: "use plaintiffs" in wrongful death cases. This is a medical malpractice wrongful death and survival action claim brought by two men who alleged that University of Maryland Medical Systems ("UMMS") doctors negligently tore their father's trachea during an intubation procedure after he had an acute myocardial infarction...

Malpractice Removal Before Service of Diversity Defendant

Posted on February 09, 2011
There is an interesting opinion last week in a medical malpractice case involving federal diversity in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. In Robertson v. Iuliano, Plaintiff filed suit against St. Agnes and another in-state defendant and against a neurologist who lives in Washington, D...

News Roundup This Week

Posted on February 04, 2011
Some Wisconsin lawyers are helping us fight slip and fall injuries. I think. (JS Online via Overlawyered) Speaking of Wisconsin, the Drug and Device Law Blog thinks that tort reform in Wisconsin is upsetting to plaintiffs' lawyers. Rule #1 of Fight Club: don't talk about Fight Club...

Claims Against Baltimore City

Posted on February 04, 2011
I was going to write 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...

Billion Dollar Lawsuit

Posted on February 02, 2011
I filed a billion dollar lawsuit today on behalf of a car accident victim. The lawsuit arose out of a rear end auto accident where the Plaintiff suffered soft tissue injuries to her neck and back that did not resolve until eight weeks later.

Frivolous Malpractice Lawsuits

Posted on January 31, 2011
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...

Personal Injury News This Week

Posted on January 28, 2011
Judge Joseph F. Murphy, Jr. to join Silverman?s firm (The Maryland Daily Record). This is a huge coup for Silverman | Thompson | Slutkin | White. Judge Murphy also gets to work with his daughter there which is pretty cool. If my three kids weren't going to be doctors in 20 years, I would love to work with them...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.