On our Maryland car accident website, we write about the perils of lawsuit loans in Maryland auto accident cases.
Recently in Truck Accidents Category
How do you pick a lawyer for your car accident claim/lawsuit?
First, don't let anyone kid you. While there are a lot of lawyers out there who will take your accident claim that shouldn't be handling car accident cases of any level of complexity, there are a lot of competent Maryland auto accident lawyers who can handle your accident claim.
But the key to finding a quality Maryland accident lawyer is to ask the lawyer the tough questions about their experience. You need to first admit that this task is not as easy as it sounds. I've asked my own treating doctors about their level of experience and qualifications to perform the job. It is not fun and it is no easy. But you really have to suck it up and ask the right questions. Here are three you may want to consider:
- Have you every received a settlement or verdict in excess of $1 million? This question is misleading for lots of reasons but it is still a good question. Why? Accident lawyers who have not handled large cases are more likely to blink the moment that the insurance company makes some thing that approaches a real offer. You may want to feel like your accident lawyer's only client but you don't want to be the lawyer's only client.
- How many cases have you tried in the last few years? Few successful Maryland accident lawyers are trying 10 cases a year. Good lawyers handle good cases and this means a lot of time put into the case before trial and good accident cases, more often than not, settle. But if the lawyer and his/her law firm are only rarely trying cases, it is unlikely they take cases to trial. Even if your goal is to settle your case, you want an accident lawyer who is ready to go to trial (and one the insurance company knows is ready for trial).
- What kind of cases to you handle? If the lawyer handles criminal, domestic,and everything else under the sun, you can reasonably question whether that lawyer has the experience to handle all that comes with a complex personal injury case. Not to say that some lawyers can't be successful handling many different types of cases. But it does raise a red flag that should be fully explored.
Our lawyers handle Maryland semi truck accidents. What is a semi truck? A semi truck is a just another way to say truck with a trailer.
Not surprisingly because these vehicles are so big and so unwieldy, many wrongful death cases in Maryland involve semi truck accidents. For more information on semi truck accident lawsuits and settlements in Maryland, click on the preceding link.
If you currently have another lawyer and are not unhappy but want to involve a lawyer who has successfully tried catastrophic injury truck accident cases, we may be able to work with your current lawyer as o-counsel" in your truck accident case.
In the vast majority of cases, this has no impact on your fee because we share fees with your current lawyer. We can certainly do this in Maryland truck accident cases - as we have many times - but every state has different requirements that govern how lawyers work together on accident cases. So if you are not in Maryland, the answer is most likely yes but it depends on your state's laws.
I read a bar journal in Maine today that provided some good links of some of the literature that is out there to try to determine how fast a driver was doing at the time of impact in a car accident:
- Thomas Bohan's and Arthur DaMasks' Forensic Accident Investigation Motor Vehicles, (1995), which includes an introduction to vehicle accident physics, speed calculations and computer-generated images.
Watts, Atkinson & Hennessy's Low Speed Automobile Accident Reconstruction and Occupant Kinematics Dynamics and Biomechanics, (1996).
- Armentrout's Physics Applied to Accident Reconstruction, Maine College of Physics Teachers, University of Maine (1983).
Baker and Fricke's The Traffic Accident Investigation Manual, Northwestern University Traffic Institute (ed. 1986).
- Thomas Bohan's and Arthur DaMasks' Forensic Accident Investigation Motor Vehicles, (1995), which includes an introduction to vehicle accident physics, speed calculations and computer-generated images.
- Daily's Fundamentals of Traffic Accident Reconstruction, Institute of Police Technology and Management University of North Florida (1988), the text utilized by the state of Maine.
Watts, Atkinson & Hennessy's Low Speed Automobile Accident Reconstruction and Occupant Kinematics Dynamics and Biomechanics, (1996).
- Armentrout's Physics Applied to Accident Reconstruction, Maine College of Physics Teachers, University of Maine (1983).
Metro Verdicts Monthly's graph this month addresses median settlements and verdicts in knee injury cases in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia since 1987. The median settlement or verdict in Maryland knee surgery cases is $37,500. The medians for Washington DC and Virginia are $75,000 and $52,500.
I'm not sure why Maryland verdicts and settlement in knee surgery cases are half that of Washington D.C. and it makes me question the data. As always, I pass this along because I think it is interesting.
Liberty Mutual car accident claims have been increasingly difficult to deal with in recent years because Liberty Mutual has changed its tactics. Although I think they have been slower to adopt the advice than other insurance companies, Liberty Mutual joined State Farm and Allstate in hired consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to boost its bottom line by fighting all car accident claims, including good claims.
The fee for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Maryland in Circuit Court is $120. This is court where we spend most of our time. This is the Maryland court where you get a jury trial. For smaller case, you file in District Court and the fee is $30, hese are the fees in state court. In federal court in Maryland, the fee for filing a personal injury complaint rises to $350.
Our personal injury law firm advances all of the client's litigation related costs in our personal injury auto accident lawsuits, including filing fees such as these.
Kansas.com links to a post from Lawrence Journal-World about Kansas' seat belt law. Drivers who are not wearing seat belts can get a ticket only if they are
involved in a auto accident pulled over for some other reason.
Maryland's seat belt law does allow for primary enforcement. Maryland police can give a ticket solely for failing to wear a seat belt (it did not start out that way). But the fine is only $25. Another good law that needs a little more teeth.
Two other notes of interest about Maryland seat belt law. First, Maryland auto accident lawyers should know that it is not contributory negligence to not wear your seat belt even though it is a misdemeanor crime. Second, which is purely an interesting, historical vehicles are exempt for seat belt laws. So if you are going old school, feel free to take your life in your own (or the driver across the double yellow lines) hands.
