Maryland appellate lawyer John Bratt passes along sage advice on handling appellate case.
January 2010 Archives
The Department of Transportation has ordered that commercial trucks and buses from text messaging while driving. There is no law on the books, this is a rule promulgated by presidential order which, for bus and truck drivers, is as good as a law.
Congress is also considering new rules to make even stiffer rules for texting while driving. The laws are largely symbolic. How can you tell if someone is texting, making a phone call, whatever. The Baltimore Sun recently reported that 25% of teen drivers told researched they sent text messages while driving. Almost half of all responders indicated they have driving in a car with someone who was texting while driving.
The new Maryland law that bans texting while driving has been on the books for about 5 months. I don't think there have been many prosecutions but hopefully the message is clear: you cannot text and drive.
Based on the number to times our auto accident lawyers are asked this question, I think it is fair to say there is a huge misconception about this issue. If there is no insurance or inadequate insurance on behalf of the at-fault driver, your insurance company - the uninsured/underinsured insurer - essentially steps in the the shoes of the defendant and is obligated to pay all damages that you could make against the real bad guy. Settlement of these cases are never disputed on the basis that the UM carrier is no obligated to pay for pain and suffering.
So, yes, absolutely, pain and suffering damages in Maryland are compensable in an uninsured motorist claim.
Chris Earley wrote a good post about this last week in his Massachusetts Auto Accident Blog.
I'm not a big fan of demonizing insurance companies. They are in the business of making a profit. Our job as car accident lawyers and your job as consumers is to stay informed, keep them in check, and be ready to fight when they cannot be kept in check.
We get a lot of hits on Google for lawyers asking for a sample lawyer representation letter in an auto accident case. You can find one here. But a word of caution. If you are getting on Google looking for a sample lawyer representation letter to send out for your injured client, there is a good chance you don't have the experience to handle the case. Here is the better play: refer it to a good lawyer. In Maryland and in many states, they will split their fee with you consistent with the Rules of Professional Responsibility (we will do this too, hint, hint.)If you one day want to handle these cases on your own, ask the experienced accident lawyer to take you along for the ride for the entire case. Pay attention and learn. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Keep doing this until you are reading to ride solo. By that point, the lawyer you referred the cases to should be kind enough to shadow you on the case to make sure you are doing what you should be doing.
