Maryland Accident Law Blog

Change of Venue Ordered in Medical Malpractice Case; Impartial Jury Concerns Cited

December 1, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this year, we posted about a Maryland physician who was accused of molesting one of his patients. In a recent development in that case, the presiding judge determined that the case should be moved out of Allegany County—where it was originally filed—and moved to another forum in order to preserve the defendant doctor’s right to an impartial jury.

As it turns out, the defendant doctor is not only facing serious charges that may carry with them inherent bias, but he also has a previous conviction for a gun-point rape from Florida. Notwithstanding this conviction, he was somehow able to obtain a medical license in Maryland.

The judge cited the nature of the charges, the publicity of the case in Allegany County, and the publicity of the defendant doctor’s past criminal record as reasons to move the case outside the county. It is not yet clear which county will hear the case.

Helicopter-Airplane Crash in Frederick Claims Three Lives, Injures Two Others

November 24, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this week in Frederick, three people died and another two were injured when a helicopter and an airplane collided in mid air. According to a report by one local news source, the collision occurred just after 3:30 in the afternoon near the Frederick Municipal Airport.

Evidently, a small plane was heading in towards the airport to land and the helicopter was conducting some kind of training mission when the two collided. The helicopter was leased to Advanced Flight School, a helicopter flight school. Since the accident, the school has suspended its operations.

The people on board the plane survived with minor injuries. However, all three passengers on the helicopter died as a result of the injuries they sustained in the accident. Upon arriving, investigators saw the small plane strung up in the trees, hanging. There was a parachute hanging from the trees as well. It may be that the parachute was key in saving the lives of one or both of the surviving passengers.

Recalled GM Vehicles Still on the Road, Despite Owners’ Efforts to Fix

November 17, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Over the past year, GM has recalled over 26 million automobiles. Of those, several million recalls were issued due to a faulty ignition switch. Chief among the recalled vehicles were the Saturn Ion and the Chevrolet Cobalt. As a part of the recall, GM has promised to repair all the recalled vehicles free of charge for their owners.

However, according to a recent article by the New York Times, owners are having a difficult time getting in to get the necessary repairs made. The article mentions the story of a 25-year-old New York woman who was killed when her 2006 Chevy Cobalt was involved in a terrible accident, killing the woman instantly. Evidently, the woman’s mother had taken the car into the dealership to have the recall taken care of twice in the past several months, but she was given two separate stories as to why the recall was not needed on her specific car.

Others recount similar stories about taking their recalled GM vehicles into a dealership to have the recalled part replaced and having the dealership tell them that it had “already been fixed,” or that they didn’t have the part, or that the necessary machine was not operational that day.

Construction Worker Injured in Workplace Accident Receives Verdict of over $21 Million

November 10, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier last month, a Maryland jury awarded a man over $21 million after he was severely injured and permanently paralyzed in a workplace accident at a Pepco plant in Montgomery County. According to a report by the Washington Post, the man was working high up in the air on some scaffolding when he was struck by a transformer. The force of the collision sent the man eight feet into the air.Upon landing, the man snapped his spine, paralyzing him from the neck down. In addition to his paralysis, the man also received burns over 10% of his body because the transformer—which the worker had been told was discharged – was still powered on. The man sued Pepco for negligence.

The trial was not focused around whether Pepco was negligent. In fact, Pepco admitted its negligence. The only trial issue for the jury to determine was the amount of damages that would be appropriate for Pepco to pay out.

Court Rejects “Tipping Point” Theory in Medical Malpractice Case

November 3, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a case out of the Alabama Supreme Court, released earlier this month, the court determined that a doctor who administered the drug Demerol to a patient who soon after died was not medically negligent, even though the patient had listed it as one of the drugs she was allergic to.

In the case of Kraselsky v. Calderwood, the Supreme Court of Alabama had to determine whether a doctor was liable for the death of a patient who had told the doctor she was “allergic” to Demerol. Evidently, the patient had told the doctor that she was allergic to over 20 drugs, including Motrin, Codeine, Vicodin, and more.

However, at some point during the physician’s treatment of the woman, he had prescribed her medication that shared ingredients with some of the drugs she claimed she was allergic to. This led the doctor to wonder if there was a true allergic reaction. After confronting the woman about whether she was allergic to Demerol, the woman admitted that it gave her headaches. The doctor then determined that this was more of a side effect and not a true allergy.

UPDATE: Last Year’s Police Brutality Claim Brought By Man with Down Syndrome Partially Dismissed by Federal Court

October 22, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

If you recall, last year a Maryland man was killed when he was accosted by three police officers for sneaking into a movie for which he didn’t have a ticket. The 26-year-old man had Down Syndrome and had walked back into the movie “Zero Dark Thirty” after seeing it once to watch it again. He did not have a ticket for the second showing.

Three Frederick County deputies were moonlighting as security guards for that particular theater, and they approached the man. The situation escalated, and the deputies eventually placed the man in handcuffs and dragged him out of the theater. At some point in the fray, the three deputies crushed the man’s larynx, which caused him to have difficulty breathing.

The deputies released the man and called emergency personnel, but it was too late. He had asphyxiated in the meantime.

RECALL: Chrysler Recalls 184,000 Vehicles for Airbag Problems

October 15, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this week, the American auto manufacturer Chrysler issued a recall of about 184,000 of its vehicles due to issues related to their airbags. According to a report by the Detroit News, the defect in the vehicles’ airbags was the same type of defect that caused Ford Motor Company to recall approximately 850,000 vehicles earlier this year.

Evidently, the recall affects 2014 models of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Dodge Durango. The problem is that the vehicles may have internal electrical short-circuits that interfere with the airbags deploying. In other words, the airbag may not deploy when it is supposed to.

In some cases, Chrysler is reporting that the issue may cause the “airbag” light to illuminate on the dashboard of the vehicle.

Baltimore Boy Awarded Over $2 Million in Lead-Exposure Case

October 8, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this month in a Maryland court, a 17-year-old Baltimore boy was awarded over $2 million by a jury after a case involving lead exposure. According to a report by WBALTV, the boy suffered permanent brain damage from lead exposure that occurred while he was living in a Baltimore house between the year of his birth in 1997 and 2001.

According to court documents, the owner of the house had not painted the house in many years, leaving a coat of lead paint exposed on the interior of the home on the 1600 block of East 25th Street in northeast Baltimore. The jury ended up finding the owner of the building as well as the property manager negligent for failing to keep the house up to code.

At trial, the boy’s attorneys submitted evidence that showed the following:

The loss of four to five IQ points, as well as cognitive deficits, attention problems, and learning and behavioral issues;
Last year, the boy had a 1.0 average GPA, was taking bridge classes, and was taking other measures to graduate on time, although it didn’t look likely; and
The boy was tested for lead exposure and had more than double the amount of lead in his blood that qualifies as “lead exposure.”

Maryland’s “Move Over” Law to Expand in Near Future

October 1, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Currently, it is the law in Maryland that any driver passing an emergency vehicle on the side of the road must move over one lane in order to help prevent an accident. This legislation was passed in the wake of a nationwide trend of accidents involving emergency workers assisting (or ticketing) motorists on the side of the highway.

However, a new law that went into effect on October 1 will extend the category of protected individuals to tow-truck drivers as well as emergency personnel. As it turns out, a number of tow-truck drivers have lost their lives in accidents caused by passing motorists getting too close—much too close, in fact.

In one account, described in a recent article by CBS Baltimore, a tow-truck driver was on the side of the road on Route 100 helping a disabled motorist when he was hit by a car. The car didn’t stop and left him for dead. He left behind a wife and two young children.

Official Death Toll in GM Recalls Reaches 19

September 23, 2014 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

If you have been reading the news lately, you may be familiar with the various recalls that the car-manufacturing giant GM has made in the past year. The death toll in the GM recalls started off below 10, hovered around 13 for awhile, but now has been increased to 19, according to a recent report by the Daily Record.

The Recall

The GM recalls have been based on a number of faulty parts that were used to manufacture several of the company’s most popular models, including the Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Ion. Often, what would happen is that the car would shut down while being driven, leaving the driver with no control of the vehicle. Unfortunately, many of these incidents resulted in serious injury or death.

Initially, after the first round of recalls, the death toll stood at 13 for several months. However, the man hired by GM to keep track of all the claims against the company recently told reporters that the official death toll is at 19 and may go higher from there. GM has currently set aside $400 million to pay victims and their families, but that number may increase to $600 million as the number of potential plaintiffs increases.