Maryland Accident Law Blog

Three Maryland Car Accident Lawsuits Sue Driver for Catastrophic 2008 Tractor-Trailer-Van Accident that Injured Six and Killed One

March 9, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Three of the victims of a Maryland motor vehicle accident involving a passenger van and a tractor-trailer are suing the van driver for wrongful death and personal injury. Robin Poffenberger was transporting a group of seniors to a softball tournament in Olney, when he drove a 2003 Chevrolet Custom van into the path of a tractor-trailer.

One van passenger, 72-year-old Clifford J. Rice, died from his injuries. He was sitting in the front passenger side of the vehicle when the May 21, 2008 crash happened at the intersection of Interstate 70 and Md. 66. Six other people suffered serious injuries. The impact of the collision left the truck’s cab embedded in the side of the van.

Now, three Maryland car accident lawsuits have been filed against Poffenberger. Rice’s widow is seeking $4 million for medical costs, loss of her husband’s income, funeral expenses, his pain and suffering, wrongful death, her mental anguish and emotional trauma, loss of companionship, society, protection, attention, comfort, care, counsel, love, and advice.

US Coast Guard Suspends Search for NFL Players Who Were Lost After Boat Capsized

March 3, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The US Coast Guard is suspending its search of Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith, Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, and former University of South Florida football player Will Bleakley. The three boaters, who had gone on a fishing trip off Florida’s Gulf Coast were reported missing at around 1:30 am on Sunday. Search efforts began about half an hour later.

One of the other boaters, Nick Schuyler, who is also a former University of South Florida football player, was rescued on Monday. Schuyler says all of them had been wearing life vests when the boat capsized and that they held on to the 21-foot boat for about 12 to 16 hours until Bleakley, Cooper, and Smith finally let go.The boat belongs to Cooper. 10-foot tall weaves reportedly played a role in the catastrophic boating accident.

According to the US Coast Guard, some 200 boats have capsized in last five months. Capsizing is the number one cause of US boating accidents.

Just last week, officials recovered the bodies of a 7-year-old girl and her 48-grandfather after their 15-foot boat toppled over when the steering cable broke, causing the boat to go out of control. In 2007, About 284 injuries and 204 deaths occurred from 398 capsized boat accidents.

The next two leading causes of US boating accidents are falls overboard and boating collisions with other vessels.

If the boat you are riding in capsizes, the US Coast Guard advises passengers to stay close to the boat to make it easier for rescuers to find you. Officials also recommend letting family and friends know where you will be and where you plan to go in your boat.

Coast Guard suspends search for NFL players, AP, March 3, 2009
200 boats have capsized in past five months, Coast Guard says, CNN, March 3, 2009
Related Web Resource:

United States Coast Guard

AAA Says Most Teen Driving Accident Victims are Other Motorists, Vehicle Occupants, and Pedestrians

March 2, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety says most of the victims killed in teen driving accidents are people other than the teen drivers. The AAA compiled this information based on its analysis of 10 years of crash information.

According to its findings:

• Between 1998 and 2007, 28,138 victims died in teen (Ages 15 – 17) driving accidents in the United States.
• Between 1995 and 2004, 30,917 people were killed in teen driving accidents.
• Approximately 1/3 of fatalities are the teen drivers, ages 15 to 17.

• Almost 2/3rd of the other teen driving accident victims are the passengers in the vehicle, other vehicle occupants, bicyclists, pedestrians, and other motorists.

AAA Western and Central New York President and CEO Tom Chestnut says that these findings show how important teen driving safety is not just to the teenagers but to everyone involved.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the leading causes of teen driving deaths and accidents include:

• Driver inexperience
• Immaturity
• Speeding
• Drunk driving
• Failing to wear a seat belt
• Talking on the cell phone
• Listening to loud music
• Talking to other teenagers in the vehicle
• Driving at night
• Drug use
• Drowsy driving
The NHTSA recommends ways to reduce motor vehicle accidents involving teen drivers including:
• Eliminating teen access to alcohol.

• Graduated driver’s licensing program.

Maryland had strict driving laws for teenagers including:
• A teen driver must have a provisional license for six months before he or she can apply for a provisional license.
• A Maryland teen driver must undergo at least 60 hours of driving practice with someone 21-years-old or older who has had a driver’s license for at least 3 years.

• 10 of the practice driving hours must happen at night.

Teen crashes more likely to kill others, WIVB.com, March 2, 2009
Maryland Teen Driving Laws, About.com
Related Web Resources:

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

Maryland Website for Parents of Young Drivers

Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Seeks $30 Million from Landlord and Tobacco Company After Cigarette Sparks Catastrophic Fire

February 27, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Washington County Circuit Court, a woman whose mother died in a 2006 fire is suing a tobacco company and the landlord of the property where the fatal accident occurred. Dawn Bunch’s Maryland wrongful death lawsuit is seeking $30 million against Barbara Bristow, who owns the property where she and her mother, Linda Ford, lived and Lorillard Tobacco Company.

Bunch is accusing the tobacco company of acting negligently when it manufactured, sold, and brought cigarettes into the marketplace—the product that caused her mother’s fatal injuries. She also accuses Lorillard of making a tobacco product that was an unreasonable fire risk. Bunch points out that the company could have made self-extinguishing cigarettes. As for defendant Bristow, the plaintiff alleges she breached the duty of care she owed her tenants when she failed to provide them with fire protection or warning devices in their mobile home rental.

Ford, 58, died after a fire broke out in her mattress and caused her hair to catch fire. She reportedly went looking for water to douse the flames but a maintenance worker had shut down the water at their mobile home.

Maryland Bill Calls for Cameras in Nursing Homes

February 25, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, a bill currently up for consideration in the house is proposing that nursing homes in the state be required to give people the option of installing cameras if that is what the resident or family members want. The patient or his or her relatives would pay for the camera. Per the bill, any room that is monitored by a camera would have a sign on the door indicating that it is under video surveillance.

Nursing Home Cameras

There can be value to installing a camera in a nursing home patient’s room. In New York, there have been over 30 nursing home workers arrested for nursing home abuse in the wake of statewide hidden-camera investigations. In Kentucky, family members were appalled to see video footage of their 84-year-old relative being manhandled and verbally abused by workers. They hid the camera in her room because they were concerned about unexplained bruises that were on her body.

Placing a camera in the room of a nursing home resident can allow family members to monitor his or her care. Some patients are too frail or sick to communicate about any possible mistreatment. Other nursing home residents may not even be aware of their surroundings or realize that they have been the victim of abuse. There also may be residents who are afraid for their safety but are unwilling to report any incidents of nursing home abuse and neglect. If a nursing home worker knows he or she is under video surveillance, the employee may be less likely to physically abuse, verbally abuse or emotionally abuse the resident.

There are, however, critics out there who say that placing a camera in a patient’s room is an invasion of privacy for the resident. Regardless, nursing home abuse and neglect must be stopped. Too many elderly and sick people are suffering because the people charged with their care are hurting them or not giving them the medical attention that they need.

MD Bill Addresses Cameras in Nursing Homes, MSNBC, February 23, 2009
Security Cameras in Nursing Homes – Useful or Wasteful?, Ezine Articles
Related Web Resources:
Maryland Nursing Home Guide, Maryland Health Care Commission
Cuomo Announces Undercover Hidden-Camera Investigation into Long Island Nursing Home that Nets Four Healthcare Workers for Endangering Welfare of Patient, Office of the Attorney General, October 7, 2008

Maryland and Washington DC Drivers Should Watch Out for 10 Fatal Winter Driving Mistakes

February 24, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The winter time can be a deadly time for Washington DC and Maryland motorists if they aren’t careful. Poor visibility and icy roads can only make the outcome of an auto accident, caused by negligent or careless driving, worse. To help prevent fatal auto accidents from occurring in snowy weather and icy conditions, Forbes.com offers a list of 10 common driving mistakes that can prove fatal in the wintertime:

1) Not checking the weather before you get in the car.
2) Driving too fast under current weather conditions. This can cause a driver to lose control of the vehicle on slippery roads.
3) Following too closely behind the vehicle or snowplow equipment in front of you. Allow greater distance between you and the other motorist than you would when there isn’t snow on the road. Do not drive using cruise control when the conditions are wet.
4) Overcorrecting your car on ice.
5) Driving while you’re tired.
6) Driving when there’s poor visibility.
7) Failing to get the car winter ready. Also, make sure you have an extra key that is easily accessible in the event that you get locked out of your vehicle.
8) Driving on back roads.
9) Not carrying an emergency tool with you, such as jumper cables, a spare tire, water, dried food, a cell phone, and warm clothing.

1) Leaving your vehicle if your car stops, which could be the warmest place for you to be.

According to a University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health study:
• Poor weather is a factor in 1.5 million of the car accidents that occur every year, resulting in 800,000 injuries and 7,000 deaths.
• Almost 20% of highway deaths involved poor weather as a factor.

• Driving the day after the year’s first winter storm is the most dangerous day of the year to operate a motor vehicle.

The National Safety Council recommends a number of safety tips for winter driving, including:
• Tune your engine.
• Check your battery.
• Make sure the fluids in your car are at the correct levels.
• Make sure your car is equipped with the proper equipment, including tire chains, a snow scraper, and a snow shovel.

• Have first-aid supplies and a compass with you.

In Depth: 10 Deadly Mistakes Of Winter Driving, Forbes.com

Safe Winter Driving

Related Web Resources:
All-Weather Driving Tips, Road & Travel Magazine
Baltimore, Maryland Weather, Maryland Weather

Parents of Baby who Suffered from Permanent Brain Injury Awarded $4.4 Million for Birthing Malpractice

February 20, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A jury has ordered a US hospital to pay the parents of Sierra Wilson, a baby who sustained permanent brain injuries at birth, $4.4 million for birthing malpractice. According to the family’s medical malpractice lawsuit, Sierra, who was born in 2003, suffered a lack of oxygen during birth that caused her to sustain a permanent birth injury. She died in February 2008.

The complaint also contends that a nurse trainee assigned to her mother’s care at Piedmont Medical Center neglected to correctly monitor the fetal heart strips and, as a result, did not realize that Sierra was in fetal distress and needed to undergo an emergency procedure as soon as possible.

According to Sierra’s family, she was never able to talk, walk, or eat solid food throughout the duration of her short life and spent a great deal of time undergoing occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy. Her parents and two siblings say they worked hard together to take care of her.

US Lawmakers Seek to Reinstate Right to Sue Medical Device Makers for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

February 19, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Certain US lawmakers are taking steps to give back to US citizens the right to sue medical device makers for damages. In February 2008, the US Supreme Court issued a decision preventing patients and surviving family members from filing personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against medical device manufacturers if the device had Food and Drug Administration approval.

The outcome of that particular case prevented a man, seriously injured when his Medtronic balloon catheter burst during an angioplasty procedure, and his wife from receiving products liability compensation. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, more defective medical device lawsuits have been tossed out.

Just this week, a state supreme court ruled against a man who underwent surgery to take out his Medtronic defibrillator because there was a chance the device device’s battery could fail. Other personal injury lawsuits against medical device makers that have been dismissed since the Supreme Court ruling include a products liability case involving a man who sustained internal injuries because of a prostate treatment device, a woman who sustained internal burns from a device supposed to decrease menstrual bleeding, and a number of patients who are claiming injuries caused by heart implants or faulty joints.

Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-Ca) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-New Jersey) are planning to reintroduce legislation to nullify the Supreme Court decision. In the US Senate,Senator Edward M Kennedy (D-Ma) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt) are expected to reintroduce a similar bill.

Critics of the Supreme Court ruling say the decision does not take into account the fact that the FDA doesn’t always do a thorough job when approving medical devices for consumer use. For example, the Project on Government Oversight says the FDA has dramatically scaled back on inspections of “good laboratory practices” at places where early round testing of medical devices take place. The independent watchdog group also says there has been a decline in the federal enforcement of quality regulations at labs where medical devices are developed.

The Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which is the FDA division that oversees medical devices, has received complaints from its own scientists who claim managers have discouraged debate and that this has resulted in the approval of medical devices that are not entirely safe or effective.

Lawmakers Seek to Return Right to Sue Device Makers, New York Times, February 19, 2009
Report: FDA quietly scaled back quality enforcement at medical device testing lab, Chicago Tribune, February 18, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Supreme Court Shields Medical-Device Makers, The Washington Post, February 21, 2008
Read the Supreme Court Decision: Estate of Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., Cornell University Law School

Dad Files $200 Million Washington DC Personal Injury Lawsuit Accusing Lead in Water of Causing Twins’ Lead-Related Health Issues

February 18, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Washington DC, the father of eight-year-old twin boys is suing the DC Water and Sewer Authority for $200 million. John Parkhurst says that his children have learning and behavioral problems because they were affected by the high levels of lead present in the city’s waters from 2001 through 2004. Parkhurst, who filed his personal injury case in DC Superior Court, hopes that the case will become a class-action lawsuit.

According to the DC injuries to minors lawsuit, when his sons were babies they were fed formula and food that were mixed with tap water. At age 2, the boys had a medical checkup that revealed signs of lead poisoning. Parkhurst’s complaint accuses WASA officials of concealing the fact that the elevated levels of lead in DC waters would eventually prove to be a serious health concern.

Just this year, a new study found that about 42,000 District children were exposed to high levels of lead in the city’s tap water from 2000 to 2003. Many of these children would have been under 3 years of age or in their mothers’ wombs at the time.

Continental Airlines Plane Crash Kills 50 People

February 13, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board says that more than a dozen federal investigators have been assigned to the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407. The deadly aviation accident happened in New York on Thursday night, killing all 49 people onboard the plane and another person in the house that the aircraft crashed into in Clarence Center. Two other people who were in the house at the time of the deadly plane accident reportedly sustained minor injuries. Investigators are reportedly examining the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Thursday’s airplane crash is the first commercial airline crash in the US in over two years where fatalities were involved. Just last month, the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 was able to crash land the plane into the Hudson River. All 155 passengers and crew members safely survived the aviation accident. In December, 38 people sustained injuries when a Continental Airlines plane slid off the runway at the Denver Airport. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.

According to witnesses of yesterday’s plane accident, the turboprop aircraft could be heard sputtering before it crashed through snow and fog at around 10:20pm. The Continental plane smashed through the roof of a home and burst into flames when it exploded on impact. One witness reports seeing 50-100 foot flames emerging from the crash site.

A recording of the air traffic control’s radio messages reveal that the pilot never called for help and there appears to be no indication before the crash that the pilot or the controller thought that anything was awry. The controller did, however, take steps to notify authorities after he tried contacting the plane more than once and did not receive a reply.

Aviation Accidents

If someone you love was killed in an aviation accident, you may have grounds to file a personal injury claim against any negligent parties.The best way to determine if someone can be held liable for your injuries is to speak with an experienced Maryland plane crash lawyer about your case.

Examples of aviation accidents that could result in a plane crash lawsuit:
• Helicopter crash
• Medevac accident
• Faulty maintenance
• Defectively designed plane
• Pilot mistakes
• Crew errors
• Negligence by air traffic control or airport operator
• Weather problems
• Commercial airline crashes
• Accidents involving private planes
Fiery plane crash in upstate NY kills 50, AP, February 14, 2009
Pilot praised for ‘masterful’ landing, CNN.com, January 16, 2009
Crash victims include rights campaigner, beloved cantor, CNN.com, February 13, 2009
Related Web Resources:

National Transportation Safety Board

Continental Airlines