Maryland Accident Law Blog

$10 Million Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Baltimore County Police for Taser Fatality

March 12, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of Ryan Meyers is suing Baltimore County police and three cops for Maryland wrongful death. They are seeking $10 million in compensation and alleging negligence and police brutality.

Meyers is bipolar. The 40-year-old died after cops, who arrived at his parents’ home following a 911 call, tasered him. Meyers had been allegedly using a baseball bat to attack people, and his father was injured.

According to the officers, they tasered him because he ignored their order to put down the bat. Meyers went down but then got up and allegedly tried to attack them. They managed to handcuff him and then saw that he was unresponsive. He went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Baltimore, Maryland Truck Accident Lawsuit Seeks $5 Million for Family of Bicyclist

March 7, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of John R. “Jack” Yates is suing a truck driver and his employer for the 67-year-old’s Baltimore wrongful death. Yates was cycling in the Charles North neighborhood on Maryland Avenue behind the truck driven by Michael Dale Chandler on August 4 when he got trapped under the loaded fuel tanker’s tires and was run over.

The truck kept going because Chandler does not appear to have realized that he had driven over anyone. Yates was pronounced dead at the crash site.

Now, Yates’ daughter and wife are suing the truck driver and Potts & Callahan Inc. for $5 million. Following an investigation into the Baltimore truck crash, the bicyclist was found responsible for the tragic accident since he was riding in the parking lane and tried to overtake the truck from the right. However, the plaintiffs’ legal team is adamant that Yates wasn’t at fault. Under Maryland law, bicyclists must keep up with the flow of traffic and make sure their bicycles stay to the right.

Maryland Semi-Truck Crash Kills Husband and Seriously Injures His Wife

March 2, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Harford, Maryland tractor-trailer crash has killed one man while critically injuring his wife. Leonard Clark, 38, and his wife Kimberly, 39, were standing next to I-95 on the night of February 24 when they where hit by a semi-truck.

The seriously injured couple was transported to Maryland Shock Trauma Center where Leonard was pronounced dead. As of last Friday, Kimberly’s condition was considered very serious.

Our Maryland tractor-trailer crash attorneys extend our sympathies to the Clark family. Losing someone you love and/or getting seriously hurt in a semi-truck crash is catastrophic. Tractor-trailers are so huge in size and heavy and weight that anyone struck by a semi-truck is at high risk of sustaining serious injuries and/or dying.

Just the day before the Maryland truck accident involving the Clarks, 22-year-old Boonsboro pedestrian Anthony Allen McChesney died when he was hit by a United Parcel Service semi-truck on I-81. The Hagerstown truck crash occurred at around 4:31 am.

Also last month, during the early afternoon of February 11, a State Highway Administration worker got hurt when a tractor-trailer hit his truck as he warned motorists that a crew was removing snow off the Baltimore Beltway. The SHA worker, James Flutka, sustained injuries. Truck driver Robert Scolaro, who was transporting diapers, was not injured. He did receive a traffic citation for failure to control speed.

D.C. man killed, wife injured in accident, The Washington Post, February 25, 2010
Boonsboro man struck and killed by tractor-trailer on I-81, The Herald-Mail, February 23, 2010
Even with the worst of two severe winter storms behind them, state police and roads officials are warning against complacency on the part of drivers, Carroll County Times, February 12, 2010
Related Web Resources:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Maryland State Highway Administration

Choking Hazards: US Pediatricians Seek to Prevent Injuries to Children By Asking for Warning Labels

February 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that its time that the US government mandate that warning labels be placed on the packaging of foods that pose a potential choking hazard to children. The pediatricians’ group also is calling for a redesign of certain manufactured foods, such as candies and hot dogs, which can be reshaped in a manner that is safer for kids.

Dr. Gary Smith, the head of the group’s Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention, says that foods that are round or cylindrical in shape are a choking hazard. Smith noted that there are steps that can be taken to protect kids from choking, which is considered the number one cause of death in the five and under age group and the reason that thousands of kids under age 15 end up in the emergency room. One study reports that hot dogs are a factor in 17% of the asphyxiation accidents involving food and kids in the 10 and under age group.

Some other choking accident food culprits include:

Maryland Lawmakers Want Texting While Driving Ban to Block Drivers From Reading Messages

February 20, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland lawmakers are planning on making read text messages while driving illegal. The current texting while driving ban, which went into effect last year, only bans drivers from sending text messages. There also may be enough support to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, especially as the newer phones include applications that allow drivers to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and browse the Internet. Currently, school bus drivers and drivers with provisional licenses and learner’s instructional permits are not allowed to talk on any kind of cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. Lawmakers, however, want to do more to decrease the number of Maryland car accidents.

According to the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, about 636,000 auto crashes a year involved someone using a cell phone. 2,600 fatalities and 330,000 injuries have resulted from these distracted driving accidents. The National Safety Council says that the number of car crashes caused by cell phone (talking and texting) use—1.6 million auto collisions—is even higher. Meantime, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute have reported that the number of car crashes in states with handheld cell phone bans doesn’t seem to have gone down.

The Maryland General Assembly has struggled with how much restriction to place on cell phone driving activities. However, there is no longer any doubt that texting while driving increases a motorist’s Maryland motor vehicle accident risk dramatically. While the act of texting is harmless in and of itself, it is the fact that motorists become distracted, taking their eyes and mind off the road and their hands off the steering wheel, that makes texting while driving such a dangerous driving activity. People have even compared its degree of dangerousness to the perils presented by driving while drunk.

Baltimore City Jury Awards Brooke Greenberg $250,000 for Maryland Personal Injuries in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Johns Hopkins Hospital

February 16, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Maryland jury has awarded Brooke Greenberg $250,000 for Baltimore medical malpractice injuries she sustained while at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center after she underwent a medical procedure to replace her feeding tube in 2007. The Reisterstown teenager is known internationally for never aging past infancy, despite the fact that she is 17-years-old.

After she was discharged from the hospital, her home nurse and parents noticed that there were bruises on her legs and arms. Her parents sued for Maryland medical malpractice involving injuries to a minor on her behalf.

Last week, a Baltimore city jury found the famous hospital in breach of the standard of care when Greenberg was inappropriately restrained after the surgery. They awarded her damages for the emotional trauma and physical pain she suffered.

Rep John Murtha Dies Surgical Complications After Doctors “Hit His Intestines”

February 9, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

What should have been a routine laparoscopic surgery has proved fatal for Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania. The 77-year-old died from complications when doctors “hit his intestines” during the minimally invasive gallbladder procedure at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. His intestine was damaged and an infection developed.

Murtha has been the Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District Representative since 1974 and was number eight in the chamber in terms of seniority. He was the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the US Congress. In 2005, he shocked Washington when he called for the US to withdraw from Iraq.

Murtha leaves behind his wife and three children.

Maryland Surgical Malpractice

If doctors made a medical mistake that caused Murtha’s health complications, the congressman’s family may have grounds for filing a Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and the medical professionals involved in the gallbladder surgery.

Laparascopic gallbladder surgery

Laparascopic gallbladder surgery involves the removal of the gallbladder without having to open the abdominal cavity. During this minimally invasive procedure, a small incision is made and a trocar is inserted. A video camera and small surgical tools are inserted using the trocar so the surgery can be conducted. Surgeons can watch the surgery on a monitor that airs what the video camera inside the body is recording.

It is important that a surgeon cut or clip in the right places in order to safely remove the gallbladder. Cutting the wrong anatomical part can cause serious injury or death. Other serious side effects include bile peritonitis, bile leakage, abscess, cholangitis, and infection.

Surgeons can be held liable for Maryland surgical malpractice if their medical mistake, carelessness, or recklessness causes personal injury or wrongful death to a patient.

Congressman: Murtha’s intestine damaged in surgery, Washington Post, February 8, 2010
Rep. John Murtha dies after surgery complications, CNN, February 8, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Laparascopic gallbladder surgery, FamilyDoctor.org
Medical Malpractice, Justia

Maryland Police Say Frederick County Car Accident Caused by Teen on Cell Phone

February 6, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A 17-year-old driver is accused of causing a serious Frederick County, Maryland car accident while talking on a cell phone on Wednesday. The young driver was merging onto Interstate 70 when he allegedly rear-ended a 1999 Jeep Cherokee driven by Norman Hayter, Jr., a Middletown resident. Police say that the juvenile did not realize that road work had caused traffic to slow down.

Hayter, 58, was seriously injured in the Maryland auto accident. He was transported by air to Washington County Hospital.

Meantime, the teen driver sustained minor injuries. He is charged with negligent driving.

Distracted Driving

Teen drivers, who are more easily distracted and less experienced than their older motorist counterparts, are already at greater risk of being involved in a motor vehicle collision. Add the additional distraction of talking on a phone or texting while driving, and the consequences can prove fatal.

In Maryland, drivers younger than age 18 with a provisional or a learner driver’s license are prohibited from using any kind of cell phone while driving. All other motorists are allowed to drive and use a cell phone at the same time. Sending text messages while driving in Maryland is banned.

Although it now has been confirmed that talking on any kind of cell phone is dangerous—there is no US state that completely bans this distracted driving habit and there are only six US states that ban the use of handheld cell phones—it is impossible to ignore the fact that at least 1.6 million US motor vehicle accidents a year are caused by texting and cell phone using drivers.

If a motorist causes a car accident while talking on a cell phone, he or she can be charged with negligent driving, and injury victims may choose to file a lawsuit for Maryland personal injury or a wrongful death.

Police: Teen on Cell Phone Causes Bad Accident, Your4State, February 4, 2010
Teen motorist talking on cell phone strikes stopped SUV, The Herald-Mail, February 3, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association, February 2010
National Safety Council

Harford County and Its Sheriff’s Office are Defendants in $145 Million Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Alleging Police Brutality

February 3, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The family of Dwight Jerome Madison is suing Harford County and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office for Maryland wrongful death. Madison, 48, died after police threw him in jail last June. His family is alleging wrongful arrest and police brutality. They are seeking $145 million from the defendants.

According to the Maryland police brutality lawsuit, Madison was arrested on June 11, 2009 just hours after police stopped him in Bel Air. The 48-year-old was let go after he told them he was looking for a friend in the area. Police officer followed him and arrested him for trespassing. He was transported to the Harford County Detention Center.

Police claim that Madison asked to be arrested so he would have some place to go. They then contend that while in custody, he became uncooperative and grabbed and choked one of the guards. Police TASERed Madison, who fell and struck his head.

State’s Board of Public Works Approves $1.5 Million Lutherville Train Accident Settlement in Maryland Wrongful Death of Two Teenagers

January 27, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Maryland’s Board of Public Works has given the green light to a $1.5 million Baltimore County wrongful death settlement over the fatal train accident that killed two teenagers last year. Kyle Patrick Wankmiller and Jarrett Connor Peterson were walking along tracks that are usually used by trains headed southbound in Lutherville on July 5 when a northbound train hit the two 17-year-olds. The Maryland Transit Administration had switched the direction of traffic on the tracks.

Following the deadly Maryland train collision, the MTA said the two teens had their backs to the trains when they were hit from behind. A spokesperson says the two boys thought the train was using the other track as it approached them. The public is not allowed to be on the tracks unless they are at designated crossing areas.

The train’s operator reportedly did not notice that the train had hit the two boys and did not stop. The operator of a second train that later passed through also failed to see the teenagers. It wasn’t until a third train came through that a fare inspector saw their severely injured bodies.