Insurance companies make their business under the guise of pretending they exist for the benefit of their policyholders. And, while they used to protect their policyholders, that's no longer true. Once upon a time, insurance underwriters in America recited a powerful oath: “I shall strive to ascertain and understand the needs of others and place their interests above my own.” Today, that oath might as well read: “My company's profits come before all else.”
Why? Because today’s insurance companies have in effect become investment bankers. They invest the proceeds received from policyholders’ premiums and receive huge sums back for their efforts. They are far more interested in the float rate on Wall Street than they are in the fair recovery rate for losses on Main Street.
With the unprecedented number of natural disasters racking the country causing widespread injury and property loss this year, millions of Americans have been left facing huge hurdles in dealing with their insurance companies.
“The biggest hurdle an insured faces in obtaining fair treatment by an insurer in an insurance dispute is the insured’s comparative lack of experience in insurance coverage litigation and the insured’s limited financial resources. Insurers – and their legal counsel – know this, and often use the insured’s lack of money and experience against them,” says Alan Horwitz, co-founding partner of Baltimore’s Ingerman & Horwitz law firm...
Who is legally responsible when a drunk driver crashes after leaving a bar?
With the return of the football party season bringing thousands of game day fans into area bars and restaurants across the area, now might be a good time to examine the liability of who is responsible when a drunk driver crashes after leaving a drinking establishment.
“Responsibility for an injury carries a duty to pay for that injury, either with time served (in criminal cases) or through monetary compensation for damages (in civil lawsuits). That’s why establishing liability is so central to personal...
When someone gets injured on a rental property, liability depends heavily on who had “control” over the premises. Generally, both the occupier (i.e. the renter) and the owner (i.e. the landlord) can be held liable, because both the tenant and the landlord are assumed responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the property.
If, for example, you rent an apartment, you (the renter) have sole use of the apartment, and thus control over the apartment itself. If someone were to get hurt inside your apartment, you would likely be held at least partially liable for the injury. The owner may also be held liable if the injury was the result of negligent upkeep to the property, such as faulty wiring or an unsecured, rotted balcony, particularly if the tenant had informed the owner of the problem.
The issue gets complicated, however, when multiple people use the property, or when one person uses it, and another is responsible for maintaining it. In these cases, the owner may be held liable instead of the renter, if it can be shown that the owner had “exclusive control” over the premises.
Elder abuse is more prevalent than most of us want to believe. According to the non-profit resource Helpguide.com, tens of thousands of elderly individuals are abused in America each year. A substantial number of those abuses occur in nursing homes.
Knowing the warning signs of nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence can help keep your loved one safe. To be prepared, watch out for these red flags:
Warning Sign #5. Your loved one is often heavily medicated or sedated. Watch for bed sores and signs of malnutrition and/or dehydration, all of which could be signs that your loved one is spending a significant amount of time in bed or asleep.
Warning Sign #4. Your loved one has experienced significant weight changes, without a change in treatment, and the physician and/or family has not been notified. Weight changes could be a sign of malnutrition, negligence, or depression.
Warning Sign #3. Your loved one’s personality seems to have shifted unexpectedly, without a change in treatment or a progression of disease, or your loved one shows unusual mood disturbances, such as agitation, fear...
The smoking-cessation aid Chantix (varenicline) has recently been linked to increased heart problems for people who have cardiovascular disease.
According to the FDA, Chantix is more likely than a placebo to cause an increased risk of heart problems, including angina pectoris, nonfatal myocardial infarction, need for coronary revascularization, and new diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease.
This could be a huge problem, especially in light of the fact that smoking itself is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Manufacturing and prescribing a drug known to increase the risks of heart problems in people who already have, or are already at risk for, cardiovascular disease could be seen as negligence. But, it wouldn’t be the first time Pfizer, the drug’s manufacturer, had been accused of negligence in the manufacture of Chantix.
In 2009, several studies that linked Chantix (varenicline) to suicide and mood problems caused the FDA to require the manufacturer to include a boxed warning that cautioned consumers to stop taking the drug if they experienced “any...
Every year, millions of Americans undergo a surgical procedure. Some are relatively simple, such as root canal surgeries; others – like brain and spinal cord surgeries – are highly complex. Unfortunately for patients, too many of the surgeries performed each year are performed on the wrong site or on the wrong patient.
According to a June 20, Kaiser Health News article (produced in collaboration with The Washington Post), wrong site and wrong patient surgical errors may be on the rise, despite the efforts made over the past seven years to prevent such negligence. In fact, experts say a wrong site or wrong patient surgery occurs at least 40 times per week in hospitals across the nation.
Recent cases reported in the article included: a wrong-site error made during an eye surgery on a four-year-old boy, and three prostrate cancer surgeries performed on patients who were actually cancer free.
Physicians and surgeons are often to blame for the errors, according to the article. “Studies of wrong-site errors have consistently revealed a failure by physicians to participate...
Every year in the United States, more than 2 million people sustain a thermal burn injury: a burn caused by heat or fire. Thermal burn injuries are the most common type of burn injury, and make up approximately 85 percent of burns serious enough to require medical care. Other types of burns include electrical burns and chemical burns.
Thermal burn injuries can range from mild to severe, and can cause a number of physical problems in addition to skin tissue damage, such as infection and musculoskeletal problems. The extent of the physical problems associated with a thermal burn injury will depend on whether the burn is a first degree, second degree, or third degree burn. (Details on burn injury classifications available here.)
Severe thermal burn injuries can be devastating – some of the consequences of the damage may stay with the victim for years after the injury occurs. Psychiatric problems, chronic pain, and physical deformities are common. A severe thermal burn injury usually requires extensive hospital stays, repeat surgeries, and long-term recuperation. Victims of...
Typically, workers’ compensation claims require the occurrence of some type of "accident" while on the job. However, some working conditions cause ailments or illnesses that progress slowly over time. These ailments, if diagnosed as a disease and attributed to the working conditions to which an eligible employee was exposed, make up a type of workers’ compensation claim called "occupational disease."
Occupational disease can include:
Asbestosis;
Certain types of back injuries;
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome;
Eye, Lung, or Skin Diseases caused by exposure to certain chemical solvents;
Certain types of Leukemia;
Tendinitis; and
Vibration Syndrome, among others.
Employees who are required to work under the same conditions for long periods of time or over many years may suffer occupational disease. The type of workers’ compensation benefits an eligible employee...
Every year there are hundreds of thousands of car accidents resulting in an insurance claim. Insurance companies are there to make money by charging premiums, but to make a profit they must save all the money they can by keeping compensation payouts as low as possible. Even when you are claiming against your own insurance company you need to know the law and your rights, because substantial sums of money are at stake.
Here are the five top tips for dealing with an insurance company:
#1 – Keep an Emergency Kit in Your Car
This should include pencil and paper together with a digital camera to take photographs of the wreck. Pictures tell a thousand words and a photographic record is invaluable for recording the damage caused, the site of the incident and the prevailing conditions. Incidentally, your emergency kit should also include equipment to manage the scene of the accident safely with warning triangles, emergency flares and flashlights.
Car accidents happen every day and given the mileage we cover it is likely that we will all have a car wreck during our driving career. There is never a good time to have a car wreck, but when it does happen it pays to be prepared and understand how an attorney can help you in what is likely to be a traumatic and challenging experience.
An experienced personal injury attorney can assist you in claiming your full entitlement under the law for compensation and benefits. Accident victims are rarely in a position to take on an insurance company and do not understand their rights, which means they rarely are able to get the compensation they are entitled to. Once you have an attorney handling the affair, the insurance company will understand they have no choice but to fulfill their obligations, which means you are likely to get paid faster and to the fullest extent.
Many accidents are fortunately not serious, amounting to nothing more than a fender bender, however even in these minor incidents injuries can and do occur. Neck and back injuries are commonplace, with the effects not being immediately felt until time has...
Household fires are the leading cause of burn injuries and fire-related deaths in Maryland. Many of those fires are the result of defective products and could have been prevented. Two common defective products are faulty wiring and defective electrical systems, which account for approximately 50,000 household fires each year in the United States. If you or a loved one have suffered a burn injury in a household fire, it may have been caused by:
Approximately 20 percent of the millions of burn injuries that occur each year in the United States are the result of a vehicle fire. Additionally, an estimated 600 people die each year from vehicle fires. Most of those deaths are the result of a post-collision fire – a fire that occurs after the vehicle has survived a crash.
Car manufacturers are expected to design their cars so that they can survive a crash and not explode or catch fire afterward. Under Maryland law, if a manufacturer releases a model with design defects that lead to post-collision fires, that manufacturer could be held liable for any burn injuries or burn-related deaths that occur as the result of those defects.
There are several design defects that have been shown to cause vehicle fires and post-collision fires. Many of those defects are related to the fuel tank and include:
For an injury to be covered under the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Act, the injured party must be an employee who suffered an “accidental personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment." An employee who suffers from an occupational disease (repetitive use or trauma injuries), which arose out of and in the course of employment, may also be eligible for benefits.
While it sounds simple, proving eligibility and qualifying for benefits can be difficult. This is primarily because employers and/or their insurance companies often fight workers’ compensation claims in order to avoid higher insurance payments. In order to ensure an employee receives the benefits to which he or she is entitled, two things must be proven.
First, it must be established that the injured party was in fact an employee at the time of the injury. Often, an employer who wishes to fight a worker’s claim will argue that the injured party was acting as an independent contractor, not as an employee, at the time of the injury. While Maryland workers...
Under the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Act, an eligible employee may qualify for one of four different types of workers’ compensation benefits at any one time. Depending on the length of time the employee is injured and/or the severity of the injury, he or she may receive a combination of the four types of benefits.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
Temporary total disability benefits typically apply in the first days and weeks after the work-related injury occurs. An employee who qualifies for benefits and whose injury prevents him or her from working at all will usually receive temporary total disability benefits while he or she recovers from the injury. Once the injury has healed enough that the employee can return to work in at least a partial capacity, the benefits will stop.
Temporary Partial Disability Benefits
If an injured employee has recovered enough to return to work in a partial capacity, but cannot yet return to work in a full capacity, he...
Car accidents happen more than 10.6 million times a year [http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s1067.pdf]. Therefore, the odds are that you will be in one and might suffer a personal injury. If you are prepared to “think like a lawyer” before that happens, your claim for your rights by law could proceed faster and more to your advantage.
“Thinking like a lawyer” essentially means two things. One, prevent any circumstances which could undermine your claim. And, two focus on the facts and collecting as much evidence as possible right there at the scene of the accident which supports those facts.
PREVENTION:
Never enter your vehicle after taking substances, even prescription medication, which could be shown to impair ability to drive as well as judgment.
Don’t multi-task. Either you drive or you text or talk on cell phone. You don’t do both at once. ...
The CDC reports that 1 out of 303 children in the U.S. is afflicted with cerebral palsy, which makes it the most common cause of childhood motor disability in the nation. The disorder permanently affects the child’s ability to control his muscles and body movements. A child with the disorder will often have trouble with everyday tasks such as eating, writing, buttoning hisshirt, and tying his shoes. It may cause him to walk unevenly, drool, have difficulty swallowing, and/or shake.
In at least 5 to 10 percent of cases, this debilitating and incurable disorder could have been prevented. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 5 – 10% of children who have cerebral palsy developed it due to a lack of oxygen during delivery or other potentially avoidable birth injury.
The birth of a child is a joyful event looked forward to with delight and anxious anticipation for months, sometimes years, beforehand. Innumerable nights are spent reading pregnancy and parenting books, nurseries are meticulously painted and decorated, and...
Tractor trailer accidents are responsible for thousands of injuries and many deaths in the U.S. each year. The accidents are not always the direct fault of the truck driver: it may be the truck owner, another driver or even the manufacturer who is responsible for design faults. Statistically, however, many accidents are in some way linked to the truck driver, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Independent investigations into truck accidents reveal three significant causes:
Badly stowed cargo affecting the weight and balance of the trailer.
Drivers hired without the necessary experience or appropriate, formal driver training
Poor maintenance and repairs.
Examining these three causes in more detail provides greater clarity as to why they are so significant and how accidents could have be avoided.
Badly Stowed Cargo Affecting the Weight and Balance of the Trailer
Physics plays an important role in cargo storage. It’s not simply a matter of
Burns are some of the most significant injuries we encounter. The victim of a serious burn injury typically must undergo extensive and painful medical treatment. Burn injuries often result in scarring and other permanent features. Typically, the victim of a burn injury is likely to suffer some psychological trauma as a result of the circumstances regarding the injury, the painful recovery period, and the permanent nature of these injuries.
There is a lot of misleading information on the Internet, we see it everyday and it's certainly nothing new. Sometimes we may read something that is just slightly wrong or misleading, sometimes there is little or no result to the information other times the results can be very drastic. As reader of this blog or information resources on our website you should know that speaking to an attorney is extremely important after an accident. We really cannot give that advice enough and for very good reason and you will soon see. For starters you should understand that unless you have a lawyer you really have no one protecting your interests, you are going to deal with a big company that wants to keep their money as much as possible. You should also be aware of their tactics used to minimize payouts and sometimes not pay any money at all.
Now lets take a look at one these tactics by using a real life example. I was browsing the web the other day and came along a very interesting article, this article gives advice on what you should do after a car accident. The following web site link is real and is from a web site that normally gives great information on a...
Something we see far too much of is innocent victims getting injured in an auto accident and not being properly insured. A common misconception is that simply having auto insurance totally protects you, unfortunately that is not the case. Auto insurance is not 'one size fits all', there are many options, options that may slightly increase your monthly payment or your deductible however they may also help you save everything you own down the road if you are a victim in a serious accident. We handle injury cases everyday and see the side that some people may never see if they have not been involved in a serious accident. Our goal is to inform you about what you don't know and how it CAN hurt you. That is what the future of this blog is all about - educating you on important information that can benefit you and your family. Quick example, lets say you are paying $200 per month of car insurance and you got involved in an auto accident, lets say you have $100,000 in medical bills. Now lets also say due to the nature of the accident, your insurance does not cover your medical bills. Looking back on that same example; what if a small increase in your car...
Recently we have added a new article to our Car Insurance section on our website, entitled 'From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves'. 'From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves' is a book written about Allstate, revealing their efforts to reduce or avoid paying out money to accident victims.
In the mid 90's Allstate hired McKinsey & Company, the world's largest consulting firm to help them do what all big companies want to do - make more money. McKinsey & Company discovered that when Allstate paid accident victims, they paid much more when an attorney was representing the victim. This is why our law firm recommends you speak to an attorney if you are a victim of an accident. McKinsey developed a strategy to contact the victim immediately after the accident and become a friend of the victim. A friend that would offer to help and give advice after a traumatic experience. This friendly approach would be a tactic to suggest they settle the claim immediately and without a lawyer. Thereby saving the car insurance company money and...
Personal injury is misunderstood. Wikipedia doesn’t help. Although the debate continues over the reliability of Wikipedia–schools telling kids not to cite it and others saying it’s as good as the Encyclopedia Britannica–the fact is that today, Wikipedia’s entry on “personal injury” does not help persons who are injured understand their rights. Indeed, the only external resource listed is a website outside the United States. You’d have to be a personal injury lawyer inside the U.S. to realize that much of what is said does not come from a firm that is licensed here. What’s posted is misleading and incomplete.
The worst error is equating personal injuries with accidents. They are not the same. Accidents occur without fault. If you go around thinking lawyers get liability insurers and corporations to pay out big money when there’s no evidence of fault, you’ve got it wrong. We’ve got to be ready to prove...
If you’re injured and seeking compensation, an adjuster might say you’re partly to blame and deny the claim. He’ll say you had a headlight out, or stopped too fast. Perhaps you’re not like J.D. (whose story is told in Part I and Part II), who wouldn’t take no for an answer. It’s so easy to get talked out of your rights. After all, they are the experts. They handle personal injury claims like yours every day.
But J.D. hired a personal injury lawyer–someone who was really on her side. It didn’t take long for the lawyer to gather evidence the insurance company didn’t bother to collect. Once a capable personal injury lawyer put the case together, the insurance company paid the claim. J.D. got a new wheelchair,...
Abuse of the contributory negligence defense by insurers is only one of the reasons why, in virtually every claim involving personal injuries, it’s essential to consult a personal injury lawyer right away. This is Part II of the story of J.D., whose motorized wheelchair was demolished when a careless automobile driver turned into her path late one day as she wheeled herself across Cold Spring Lane.
As part of her personal injuries claim, J.D. pleaded in vain with the driver’s insurer to replace her wrecked wheelchair. Although they had dropped their ludicrous jaywalking defense the insurer next said J.D.’s chair lacked reflectors, so she was “contributorily negligent.” The two dreaded words. They wouldn't pay a dime.
Crucial weeks had passed. The road had been cleared of debris. Who could tell if J.D.’s wheelchair lost its reflectors when it was smashed? J.D. couldn’t answer that, but she knew what she had to do next. She called a personal injury lawyer, who recognized how important it was...
J.D., a woman in a motorized wheelchair, tried to cross Cold Spring Lane at the eastern side of its intersection with Loch Raven Boulevard, in Baltimore City. It was dusk. She was within a marked crosswalk and the light was in her favor. A southbound car on Loch Raven turned left on a yellow light, straight into her path, leaving her on the ground and shoving the chair some 8 or 10 feet. Miraculously her personal injuries were not serious. She had managed to throw herself out of the chair moments before being struck.
More important to J.D. was that the wheelchair was destroyed. With the loss of this wheelchair, she lost her independence. She couldn’t afford a new wheelchair, and Medicaid was not going to give her another one anytime soon, except maybe a manual one which was of little use to her.
But J.D. was a self-starter. Despite having an illness that required her to use a motorized chair, she did everything she could to obtain personal injury compensation on her own. After all, she’d fought housing authorities over inaccessible public housing, pursued her...
The backlog of cases before the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review is tremendous. In Maryland, claimants can expect to wait 464 days from the date the Request for a Hearing is filed before the claim is heard by an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ"). In some jurisdictions, the average wait is over 730 days (greater than two years!). Obviously, this creates a burden on claimants whose living expenses continue but who are unable to participate fully in the workforce.
At least once a week, a client will contact me with the same scenario. The individual is unable to work full time, but needs to keep paying the bills. He or she is offered part-time work that will help relieve some of these pressures. What would be the effect of this part-time employment? Will benefits be lost? The answer depends on the amount and type of work.
In order to qualify for benefits, an individual may not work at the level of “substantial gainful activity.” In order to determine whether someone is working at this level, the Social Security Administration looks at earnings. For...
Well, not everything, unless you’ve filed too late. Then it’s the only thing that matters. When you consult a personal injury lawyer, he or she may stop you before you get too far along in your story, and ask, “Now, when exactly did this happen?”
They’ll listen a little more, but regardless how good your case may seem to be, you’ll be interrupted.
“I’m sorry Mrs. ___. You’ve missed the statute of limitations.”
“I thought I had three years!”
“Not in this case. That hole you fell in belongs to the town. You only had 180 days to put them on notice, and you’ve missed it. Unless you’ve got good cause for not doing that, we’re out of luck.”
A variety of limitations periods govern personal injury claims. Two-year periods apply...
Our clients may wonder: in light of our nation’s evolving financial crisis, will the insurance companies still have money to pay personal injury claims? In short, the answer is yes.
Individuals seeking compensation for personal injuries need to know what will happen to insurance coverage in these challenging times. At risk are companies who invested heavily in subprime mortgages and in derivative investments whose worth depended on them.
Large insurance company AIG survived for nearly a century before imploding over investments on a derivative security called a “credit default swap.” A CDS itself is a bit like an insurance policy, but a CDS can also be highly speculative. Recently, AIG took $85 billion from the U.S. government to keep it afloat. Meanwhile, it had this to say to reassure its insureds:
“AIG's Commercial Insurance business (AIGCI) has ample resources to underwrite business and to pay the claims of our policyholders. We continue to pay $73 million in claims every single day.”
You’re coming home late from work one night, and your neighbor’s cat, a mean old thing who lives outdoors, leaps from the bushes and attacks you. You suffer bite wounds and scratches to your ankle, which unfortunately become infected and require you to visit the doctor, take antibiotics, and miss quite a bit of time from work. In addition, you must stay home from work for several more days, in order to keep your leg elevated. How would you be compensated?
You’ve suffered significantly, and have real economic losses, but can’t imagine suing your neighbor. Still, he owes you a duty of care, namely, not to let his cat roam wild, enter your property, and bite you. He’s breached this duty, and you’ve been injured as a result. The solution? Make a claim against his homeowners’ insurance. In all likelihood, he’s got coverage.
A common potential source of recovery for personal injuries–as well as protection against the personal injuries claims of others–is homeowners insurance. Take a look at your own policy. If you are a...
Let’s talk about what’s recoverable and what’s not. You’ve been injured, perhaps by a defective drug, a drunk driver, or a dangerous condition. You’ve been off work for 30 days, but your employer offers liberal benefits and has continued to pay you. Meanwhile, your injuries in all likelihood have shortened your life expectancy. What’s recoverable?
Most people think they know the answer, but when they guess, they’re wrong. The facts will surprise you.
Lost time from work as a result of illness or injury is compensable, whether or not your employer offers sick pay. Sick pay is a benefit you’ve earned. It doesn’t belong to the wrongdoer and he doesn’t get any credit for it when he injures you. In our example the wrongdoer is liable to compensate you for all 30 of your lost days. If you are someone who typically earns overtime, you are entitled to that as well. The exact results in each case will differ, depending on the facts. For an answer specific to you, ask your personal injury lawyer.
It started as an automobile accident. Mr. Gourdine’s car was rear ended by Ms. Crews' car on the highway at midday. He careened off the roadway and crashed into a tractor trailer, suffering fatal head injuries. Investigation revealed Ms. Crews experienced a sudden attack of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, from taking a combination of two drugs made by Eli Lilly & Co., as prescribed by her doctor.
Mr. Gourdine died because Ms. Crews was impaired, but apparently it wasn't her fault--she was taking the drugs as ordered, but the drug company wasn’t warning doctors properly about possible adverse effects.
So Mrs. Gourdine sued the drug company. Would the mantle of responsibility be extended to provide compensation to the Gourdines?
No, said Maryland’s highest court. The Court of Appeals said a drug company owes no duty to the general public for its drugs to carry proper warnings, and that the connection between the allegedly bad labeling and the death of Mr. Gourdine was too...
On November 2 at 2:00 a.m. we turn back our clocks.
Benjamin Franklin suggested Daylight Saving Time as a way to save on candles. Since then many studies have confirmed its usefulness as a way to save energy. It also saves lives.
According to a 2007 RAND Corporation study, Daylight Saving Time “significantly reduces automobile crashes in the long run with an 8-11% fall in crashes involving pedestrians, and a 6-10% fall in crashes for vehicular occupants in the weeks after the spring shift to DST.
If only we could turn back the clock on some of the events of our clients’ lives. Of course, we can’t. But if you are injured through no fault of our own, the law may provide a right of monetary compensation. That’s where we, as personal injury lawyers, come into the picture. We can obtain compensation for your economic losses, such as lost time from work, medical care, and other costs. We can also recover money damages for...
You’ve suffered personal injuries and have hired a qualified personal injury lawyer. Is your job done? No. It’s just beginning. Here are some rules to help you protect your own interests as we work together to pursue your claim for personal injury compensation.
One. Tell the truth. This should need no elaboration. Whether you are talking to us, making a report, filling out a form, or testifying in deposition or at trial, the truth is required.
Two. Don’t talk about your case with anyone. Yes, do tell your doctors and other health care providers about where it hurts, but don't talk about whose car hit whose, or who was at fault. It’s not germane to your care and perhaps the doctor is not going to take accurate notes about it. Although we should be able to keep these kinds of statements out of court, the other side will see them, and if they conflict with your assertions in the case, watch out! It could undercut a potential settlement.
Generally, anything you say to someone else about your case can be repeated back to you on the record, in...
After contacting a qualified personal injury lawyer, you must continue to look after three things: your car repairs, your medical care, and your job. There’s more, but these three things are the biggies on your own To Do list.
First, take care of the car as soon as you can, and don’t overspend. Move your car where you can store it for free. Don’t have the car repaired until an adjuster comes to makes an appraisal, because the shop will probably agree to fix your car for this lesser, appraised amount. Your jaw may drop once you learn how much the shop will cut from the estimate. Also, if you already have car insurance, don’t buy extra insurance on your rental car, because you won’t recover this amount.
Second, make and keep all necessary medical appointments. Call ahead and reschedule if needed, but don’t miss recommended tests, doctor visits or therapy dates. Don’t create the impression you don’t want to get better, or, that you weren’t hurt as bad as you say you were. Also, tell the doctor all...
Do our clients ask their doctors legal questions? Because they sure ask us a lot of medical ones. I wonder why that is.
Meeting a personal injury lawyer is a bit like going to the doctor. You report what’s bothering you, how it happened, and where it hurts. You explain what you used to do that you can’t do now. You may even feel a bit nervous. Your story is very personal; you sit across a desk and ask for help from a stranger who has expert knowledge and skill. Secretly you may wonder if they really care, or if they are too busy to help you.
Developing a relationship of trust is just as important in the law office as it is in the doctor’s office. It’s important to us, too. If we have a good rapport, we are better able to work with you and make good decisions together.
But we’re personal injury lawyers, not doctors. While you are telling your story, we’re listening for a whole other set of reasons. You need to know what we’re listening for, and come to see us with that in mind. Here’s...
Tonight it's Halloween. The kids are outside and the moms and dads are out, too. The grownups are drinking wine, talking, and playing music. We are standing on the sidewalk telling jokes, catching up with the neighborhood news. The lawyer, the doctor, and the nurse are out there with the real estate agent, the postal worker, and the school teacher. Many of us have kids or grandkids rushing about in costume. A lot of the adults are wearing costumes, too.
Now it's a bit later, but we're feeling too good to want to go inside. After all, it's Friday. It's warm enough to stay outside a little longer. Someone has opened another bottle of wine. The kids have made their rounds and have gone off to sort out their loot. Meanwhile, we're catching up on some juicy gossip.
Some of the neighbors have had more than a glass or two, like the dad up the street, the one everyone knows is an alcoholic, and...
No, we’re not in court yet. It's your deposition, but it’s every bit as important.
We’ve answered the interrogatories. (See Ugh. Interrogatories.) Now they want to ask you questions in person, under oath. That's what a deposition is. How does it work?
First of all, relax! Your personal injury lawyer will sit next to you to make sure things proceed as they should. Is there a document you should be looking at, in order to answer a question? Your personal injury lawyer will make sure you have a copy in front of you. Is opposing counsel being overly repetitive or asking questions she shouldn’t? Your personal injury lawyer will stop them.
A deposition is not a trial, but you still need to tell the truth. It seems like court because the lawyers for both sides are present and you are sworn in by a court reporter. As in court, there may be objections and legal discussions between the lawyers--while you’re patiently wondering what the fuss is about--but you’re sitting in a law office...
Dear Personal Injury Client: There’s a fat envelope in your mail. The other side has sent us written questions for you to answer. They’re called interrogatories.
Please pay attention! How you respond to these questions is extremely important. You’ll sign your own name to the answers, verifying the accuracy of what is said. The other side can read these answers out loud in court. If you later testify to something different, it could sound like you are lying.
The answers to interrogatory questions require joint effort between attorney and client. Ultimately we’ll type up the answers in the proper format, but having your best information first is crucial.
Interrogatories cover many of the things that are important to proving (and eventually resolving) your case. We’ll be providing not just your personal data, such as your date of birth, past addresses, education and employment history, but also the who-where-when-what-and-how's that support your complaint. Your medical history, including the...
Heads up, Marylanders! We’re surrounded by states that have steer clear laws, with stiff penalties for violation. Ignorance of these laws is no excuse.
“What’s a steer clear law?” you may say.
Not all states have this law, but in these surrounding jurisdictions, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, there are laws requiring drivers to slow down and move over a lane, if possible, when passing a stopped police or other emergency vehicle. Break these laws and you can even go to jail! The precise language and penalty varies from state to state, so check out the hyperlinks for specifics.
Marylanders may not know these laws exist, because Maryland and the District of Columbia are among the dwindling number of holdouts. To date, 43 states have passed steer...
During the holidays many of us consume catered party food, or eat out in malls and restaurants more often than usual. Who should you call if the food makes you sick?
First, consider calling the Maryland Poison Center at (800) 222-1222. The MPC provides poison treatment and prevention services to all Marylanders. It’s staffed round the clock by pharmacists and nurses with specialized training in toxicology, a specialty that includes food-borne illnesses.
In addition, in Baltimore City, dial 311, and report the occurrence to the Bureau of Food Control. This agency, run by the Baltimore Health Department, oversees more than 5,000 food facilities to ensure compliance with state and local food safety regulations. They inspect City restaurants, markets, bakeries, mobile food preparation vehicles, and caterers. Ask for a copy of your case report, and make note of the date, time, and substance of your initial phone call. You can even file a report online, using the Baltimore...
You’ve made our appointment. You’ve signed our papers. You’ve told us the story of your case. Good to go? No, not yet. We need the medical records.
We need to know what your doctor said, and what you told him, as reflected in his notes. And we want to know his opinion of what ails you and why, and we want to know when he says you are well enough to return to work. What he says about your need for future surgery. We need it from the horse’s mouth.
Your testimony is important, but in most instances, the case will be won or lost by the evidence in your medical chart, and what the medical experts have to say about it.
For example, a patient may claim his doctor failed to diagnose an illness until irreversible harm took place. Or that the doctor failed to order a crucial diagnostic test. On the other hand, the doctor claims the test was ordered, or that the patient ignored his own symptoms. Perhaps the patient says an injury was caused by the accident, but the records disclose that the patient complained of these same...
Six opinions have issued from Maryland’s appellate courts so far this year, see here, and four of them involve crises over real property. One involves lead paint poisoning; another involves a nasty dispute with a trespassing landlord. Two more involve foreclosures. All of which goes to show that nothing gets under our skin like a dispute over the homes we live in and the condition of property owned by others.
None of these cases originated in 2008. Three each are from 2006 and 2007, which gives you an idea how long it takes to get through the trial court and obtain appellate resolution. The age of the cases makes it even more interesting that two-thirds of them involve real property in distress.
Perhaps you've seen a house in your own neighborhood with a “Bank Owned” for sale sign on it, and you've been wondering how long the bank has owned it. (By the way, is that little notation supposed to entice us or frighten us? I have never been sure.)
It does not matter how long you have been a practicing lawyer—you’re always on the lookout for new sources of safety information. Whether representing workers or consumers, personal injury lawyers must keep abreast of the state of the art of safety. We want our clients to be informed as well.
A place to start is right under our collective noses. The Chesapeake Region Safety Council, a chapter of the National Safety Council, provides the safety training and education to save lives and reduce disabling injuries in Maryland, Delaware and the Greater Washington D.C. area. Each year it trains more than 15,000 people in proven safety practices.
Over 800 employers rely on this group to teach them practices to protect workers and customers from accidental injury and death. Chances are if they teach it, it’s a standard of care that we can use in court.
While CRSC members have greater access to safety data than the general public, the CRSC website does provide a good starting point for research, even for nonmembers. It offers safety...
The rules and laws governing workers' compensation can be positively baffling and incredibly difficult to navigate. Many people who are injured on the job quickly learn this if they decide to try and represent themselves. Especially in the state of Maryland. There are no simple solutions to any aspect of workers' compensation. It is essential that you seek the help of a professional, qualified attorney in the event of a work related injury.
If you are injured on the job, you will most likely be examined by an insurance company doctor. When a claim is established, this documents a proper medical record regarding the sustained injuries. You may also want to be examined by an additional doctor. Reasons would be: you do not trust the qualifications of the insurance company doctor; you have a family doctor of whom you are more comfortable; you disagree with the opinion rendered by the insurance company doctor.
Like many aspects of Maryland workers' compensation law, there is not a hard, fast rule regarding seeking a second opinion after being examined by an insurance company doctor. While you do have the right to seek...
When you have been injured on the job and are unable to return to work, you may be faced with many difficulties. There is the injury itself that is causing you physical pain and additionally, the loss of income can lead to mounting bills that can quickly become overwhelming, adding a great deal of emotional stress to your physical pain. Then having to file for workers' compensation benefits, only to be denied. The strain of exhausting the one chance you have at getting an income during this trying time can be unbearable.
Stress can be incredibly detrimental to your health. Constant worry about bills piling up and how you will get the money to pay them can impede the recovery process, regardless of what type of injury that you have. Instead of adding this type of pressure to yourself as you are trying to deal with your injury, there is a lot of help available to assist you through this often complicated process.
The number of workers' compensation claims each year in Maryland reaches well over 40,000. If you're clain is denied, do not lose faith. Many workers' compensation claims are rejected each year the first time around. The rules and laws regarding...
Injury caused by fire is the second leading cause of death in the home. No single cause has a greater impact on that statistic than inhalation injury. The presence of an inhalation injury in a fire victim is a larger factor in patient deaths than the amount or severity of the external burns that victim sustains.
There are over 100 toxic substances in fire smoke. Inhaling these toxins cause internal injury that is often hidden or overlooked due to the distraction of more visible burn trauma. It has been estimated that 50-80% of all fire related deaths are caused by smoke inhalation not burns
Symptoms of smoke inhalation can appear immediately or gradually over the first few days following the fire. Aside from obvious burns to facial openings, other symptoms can include vomiting, nausea, confusion, sleeplessness and saliva mixed with soot. An individual with these warning signs must be evaluated by a trained medical professional immediately.
Smoke inhalation injuries create three major categories of complication. An immediate complication is a decrease in oxygen levels in the victim's tissues. Carbon monoxide...
Ingerman & Horwitz L.L.P. is a law firm with offices throughout Maryland and West Virginia, including Baltimore, Salisbury, Frederick, Cumberland and Hagerstown. Our attorneys focus on worker's compensation, personal injury and product liability cases. Disclaimer. Law Firm Web Site Design By SitFrog.com.
But J.D. hired a personal injury lawyer–someone who was really on her side. It didn’t take long for the lawyer to gather evidence the insurance company didn’t bother to collect. Once a capable personal injury lawyer put the case together, the insurance company paid the claim. J.D. got a new wheelchair,...
