Automobile Accidents

Published on: February 9, 2018

It’s not an accident, it’s a collision

Photo-2-300x228 Do a search for auto accident lawyers, and you’ll find a ton of us—really, it’s like law schools were designed to pump out personal injury lawyers with the speed of widget-making machine. Most of them have one thing in common—something that has always bugged me. They call it an automobile “accident.” I’m guilty of it—it’s hard to avoid that alliterative phrase.

Here’s the thing: the word accident somehow makes it sound forgivable. In the religious or moral sense, that’s fine. But in the legal sense, just because someone hurts someone else because of a mistake, it doesn’t absolve them of having to make up for it. Sometimes we all fall back on the accident jargon, but better word is, simply, collision. The flip side of the “accident” coin is a phrase that I do like: personal responsibility.

If I do something wrong, I have to make up for it. That’s how I was raised. That’s how I try to raise my three kids. That’s how we should all act. Insurance makes this easy—if I cause a collision, I pay insurance so my insurance company can help those people that I hurt. It might affect me a bit—a modest increase in my insurance premiums. However, it makes me feel much better to know that, whatever injury I caused, I can somehow remedy the situation, through my insurance company.

Published on: July 10, 2014

DO I HAVE A MARYLAND AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT CLAIM?

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Crash (2 vehicles).jpg An automobile accident can turn your life upside down. There’s so much to do–find reliable transportation, get to the doctor, deal with insurance companies, and survive missed work. The easiest way to know if you have a claim is to consult with a lawyer–don’t let the insurance company convince you that you have a claim (they are, after all, looking out for their own best interests).

Law School for Non-Lawyers

There are four requirements for every personal injury case. In order to recover in a lawsuit, each must be proven. For a settlement, the strength of one may help to overcome deficiencies in another.

Published on: July 8, 2014

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE SUING, PART I: PRE-SUIT SETTLEMENT

By Posner & Cord, LLC

So you’ve been injured in a Maryland automobile collision, and you want to get a settlement or verdict. What can you expect from the process? How long does it take? When will you get your money?

There are two possible phases–the steps leading up to a pre-lawsuit settlement, and the steps following that leading to a trial verdict or post-lawsuit settlement. We’ll talk about pre-lawsuit settlements here.

In general, after an accident and once you hire a lawyer, the lawyer will perform whatever investigation is necessary (ordering police report, talking to witnesses, locating photographs or accident video). He will work on notifying the negligent people/corporations or their insurance companies that they are on the case. At that point, they should not be talking to you, but should communicate directly with your lawyer. Your lawyer will also begin ordering your medical records or bills, so he can see what treatment you’ve had in the past, and possibly monitor current medical treatment. Finally, he will apply for PIP (personal injury protection) or MedPay (medical payments coverage).

Published on: July 7, 2014

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THERE IS LIMITED INSURANCE AND MULTIPLE VICTIMS?

By Posner & Cord, LLC

In some Maryland auto accidents, there is simply a limited insurance available. We see this frequently in bus accident cases and collisions involving multiple vehicles. If there are many people with injuries, the at-fault driver’s insurance policy may not be large enough to pay for those injuries. How is the money divided up?

The Set-up

An example fact pattern will help to explain this. Let’s say you are on a bus, which is hit by distracted teen who is texting on her cellphone. The teen driver has the lowest possible MAIF insurance–a policy of $30,000 per person, and $60,000 per accident in liability coverage. That means that her insurance company will pay a maximum of $30,000 for each victim, with limits of $60,000 to pay to all victims in a single accident.

Published on: July 6, 2014

Proving Permanent Injuries

By Posner & Cord, LLC

A permanent injury lawsuit is different from a garden variety injury case. In most cases (which are typically filed in the district courts), there is a car accident, an injury, discrete treatment for a up to about 6 months, and then the victim has fully recovered. In a permanent injury lawsuit, however, the victims will never recover, and will continue to have the effects of the accident for the rest of their lives.

Those effects may include an inability to work, or need for a lifetime of future medical or nursing care. The way we prove these to an insurance adjuster, judge or jury is through experts.

Common to most of these cases are the types of experts that required to prove the claim. These experts will typically come to trial and testify directly in front of the jury, or else their testimony will be recorded a few days or weeks before the trial, and played back before the jury.

Published on: July 6, 2014

Permanent Injury Lawsuits

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Handicapped parking.jpg Permanent injuries take all forms, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), limited function of limbs, or severe organ damage. What they all have in common is that they significantly affect lifestyle and activities of daily living. Permanent injuries may require lifetime treatment and medication. In some situations, however, there is nothing medically to be done after the victim has reached maximum medical improvement.

In general, serious permanent injury lawsuits should be filed in Circuit Court or Federal Court, where there is a possibility of a higher verdict. Some permanent injuries may not qualify for that type of lawsuit–most “soft-tissue” injuries, for example, should be filed in the District Courts. A permanent injury that qualifies for a higher verdict is one that has abundant objective evidence–the injury is obvious by looking at it, or at the very least, with an MRI or x-ray.

Damages Recoverable in Permanent Injury Lawsuits

Published on: June 22, 2014

Distracted Driving Awareness

By Posner & Cord, LLC

If you needed any more reason to put the phone down while driving, here’s an incentive video.

Published on: June 8, 2014

Value of a Fingertip

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Our firm recently received a referral from another law firm–it was a case that the insurance company would not settle, and the victim believed (rightly so) that her legal claim was higher than the offer.

The injury was a simple one–my client’s right forefinger was hurt in an automobile accident–she was a passenger on a motorcycle, the defendant made a left-hand turn in front of the motorcycle, and a collision predictably occurred. When the motorcycle fell, my client attempted to brace herself, and her finger was injured.

That injury was masked for a couple of weeks in light of more immediate and visible injury to her wrist and hand. However, as the swelling went down in her wrist and hand, she realized that her finger was not right.

Published on: May 26, 2014

Summer of Teen Distracted Driving

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Car Packed for Beach (05-26-14).jpg Memorial Day kicks off most dangerous one-third of the year for teen drivers (those from ages 16 to 19. The one hundred days from Memorial to Labor Day are risky-in 2012, there were almost 1,000 people killed in accidents involving teen drivers. Over half of those killed were teens, and this says nothing of injuries.

The reasons seem clear–it is summer, so school is out, teens are driving more frequently, and driving more often in unfamiliar areas. Additionally, teens are less frequently sole occupants of their vehicles–they are often driving with friends, perhaps a more significant source of distracted driving than cell phones. The National Safety Council estimates that passengers increase the risks of crashing by 44% or more.

For us non-teen drivers, it means we should be even more aware while on the road. Inexperienced drivers like teens, particularly distracted teens, have slower reaction times. Aggressive driving near those novices is more likely to result in a crash.

Published on: May 20, 2014

Maryland Federal Courts

By Posner & Cord, LLC

US DistCtMaryland.gif Each state has at least one United States District Court. Maryland has two–one located Baltimore City (Northern Division), and one in Greenbelt (Southern Division).

Understanding the Federal Courts

The President of the United States appoints federal judges for life, after confirmation by the Senate. The salaries are set–in 2014, they make $199,100, an increase of $5,100 over 2013 (which had been stagnant since 2009). There are other judges called magistrates, who assist the federal judges, and are appointed by the federal district judges. Magistrates often resolve discovery disputes and pre-trial motions. With permission of the parties, they can oversee trials.