Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

Not So Rare, Deadly Car and Trucking-related Accidents Take Marylanders’ Lives on a Regular Basis

October 4, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Unless you or someone you know has lost a loved one to a tragic traffic accident, it would be hard to understand the shock, pain and anger that one can experience in a short span of time. As experienced auto, truck and motorcycle accident attorneys, I and my staff know that even good people can lose their cool under stressful and highly emotional circumstances. The wake of fatal car and trucking-related roadway collisions can certainly reveal an array of emotions that many people have yet to suffer through. We hope you never have to.

It’s sad enough when a spouse, parent, sibling or grandparent becomes badly injured in a highway wreck. Seeing a loved one who, just days prior was jovial, vibrant and full of life, lying in a hospital bed facing an uncertain future can be very disturbing. With injuries ranging from ruptured vital organs and internal bleeding to spinal cord damage and traumatic brain injury, the outcome for any individual who has been caught up in a bad car or commercial trucking accident can be nearly impossible to predict, at least at the outset.

Doctors, nurses, surgeons and other healthcare professionals can provide high-quality medical care to a patient suffering from serious injuries as a result of a motor vehicle crash, but even the best care can be provided in vain if the injuries are too extensive or the trauma to intense. And this is assuming that the victim of the car accident is lucky enough to make it to the emergency room. Sadly, many victims of traffic collisions succumb to their injuries right there, at the scene of the crash.

Teen Driver Returns Home to PA after Hospital Stay Following Maryland Single-Vehicle Car Crash

October 2, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Anytime someone’s child is hurt or killed, there is an unbelievable shockwave that goes through a family, their friends and relatives, even neighbors and the local community. While any serious injury or death is an unthinkable event, for an automobile or trucking-related injury accident to affect a young life is all the more tragic. Every week numerous Maryland families are touched in some way by car or truck crashes in which a family member or close relative is injured or killed in a senseless accident.

As Baltimore personal injury attorneys, we understand how members of a family hit by a tragedy as senseless as a roadway collision can feel numb for days, weeks or even months after the event. This kind of shocking event can also result in a relative paralyzing of the parents’ and siblings’ ability to function or perform even simple daily tasks. In cases of negligence in regard to a fatal or injury-related car, truck or motorcycle wreck, seeking the advice and counsel of a qualified legal professional can be helpful and many times necessary in order to pursue the responsible party(s) in a court of law.

Not long ago a teenager from out-of-state, who was seriously hurt weeks before, was finally able to return to her family’s arms. According to news reports, 17-year-old Malory Weller was discharged from the Rehabilitation Center at Kernan Hospital here in the Baltimore area and transported home to Pennsylvania. Based on news items, the young lady was apparently in good spirits as she left Maryland, no doubt happy to be going back home.

Maryland Auto Accident News: Could Distracted Driving Due to Loose Dogs, Cats Become Chargeable Offense?

September 30, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

While it’s not hard to think of all the potential distractions facing drivers these days, one area that probably slips under the radar — as far as the legal system goes — is the commotion caused in a passenger car, not by children or other noisy human passenger, but by pets. Now it goes without saying that dogs and cats are as often occupants of vehicles as one’s relatives, so the opportunity for relatively frequent disruptions inside a car, SUV or minivan is probably quite high. Still, it is interesting that among the myriad of legislative efforts to curb distracted driving, we haven’t seen much about cat and dog distractions… until now, at least.

With cellphone and smartphones, talking and texting while driving have become rather specific problems affecting traffic safety here in Maryland and across the United States. In fact, the threat of distracted driving has become such an serious issue that officials at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington, D.C., issued a recommendation late last year to ban personal electronic devices in motor vehicles nationwide. With upward of 3,000 people a year killed as a result of these types of distractions, it’s not surprising that many safety experts have weighed in on the topic.

Being Baltimore personal injury attorneys at law, my colleagues and I have years of experience in helping victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents recover costs and other monetary loses associated with traffic accidents that may have left them or a loved one seriously. Closed head injuries, trauma to the back, neck and spinal cord, internal injuries, broken bones and compound fractures are all results of bad roadway collisions between passenger cars and commercial trucks. Any opportunity to reduce the relative carnage on our highways and surface streets would to be a net gain for potential auto accident victims.

For Maryland Drivers Who Think that Traffic Accidents Are Not a Threat, Check the Stats

September 29, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Every year, here in Baltimore, over in Washington, D.C., and almost anywhere across this vast nation of ours, drivers and other occupants of cars and trucks, pedestrians, cyclists and riders of motorcycles are hurt or killed in traffic accidents every hour of every day for all twelve months of the year. As automobile and truck accident lawyers, I and my colleagues have met people who have received debilitating injuries thanks to a negligent drivers.

And the injuries are not reserved for just the driving public; many, and we mean, MANY commercial truck drivers are hurt on the job as a result of someone else’s negligence, mistakes made by third parties, and even through their own carelessness or recklessness. But the statement is often made, especially by those who have never been involved in a car or trucking-related accident that roadway collisions only happen to amateurs and poorly trained drivers. Frankly, this is not quite correct.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, we understand the ways in which an individual can be injured in even the most innocuous of fender-benders, not to mention a full-blown, head-on collision with another motor vehicle. These types of traffic wrecks can be quite unpredictable and tragically random, especially for those who are killed by a negligent driver or through the careless actions of another individual.

Insurance Company Finally Settles with Family of Maryland Woman Killed in Fatal 2010 Car Accident

September 28, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

To paraphrase an oft-quoted saying: “Automobile insurance companies can sometimes work in strange ways.” To most people who have ever experienced a car, truck or motorcycle accident first hand, that would have to be an understatement. As automobile accident attorneys, we might have to agree, at least from the standpoint that many laypeople do not understand the inner workings of auto, life and health insurance firms.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, our job is to help victims of car and commercial trucking collisions (or their families) make sense of the law governing personal injury as pertains to traffic-related accidents. We are also here to assist victims and their families recover costs arising out of serious or fatal roadway collisions. Long after the initial pain and suffering of a car crash, many financial loose ends typically remain, making daily life after a bad car or truck wreck difficult at best to get through.

For families who have little or no savings, the cost of medical care and physical rehabilitation can be overwhelming both in terms of finding the financial resources to cover those costs as well as the psychological impact that such a monetary drain can place on the surviving family and relatives. Being there to guide a spouse through the maze of legal issues and fiduciary responsibilities is another part of the process.

Baltimore Injury Accident News: Single-Car Accident Sends Two Marylanders to Hospital with Fatal Injuries

September 22, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Police accident investigators, auto accident attorneys and traffic safety experts, among others, understand the many and varied causes of single-vehicle traffic accidents. As some of the top causes, driver error, weather conditions, road surface type and even defective equipment can be found toward the top of the list. When it comes to faulty vehicle equipment, this can also include tires, failure of which have been known to result in some serious accidents. In fact, a blown tire can actually precipitate a crash that can either injure or kill the car’s driver and/or its occupants.

Regardless of the category of traffic accident, be it a car, truck or motorcycle crash, investigators must always consider the entire range of possible causes in order to weed out the unlikely ones and home in on the more probable. While it’s possible to say that most of the motoring public is used to seeing multi-vehicle collisions, such as a car being hit by a commercial delivery truck or a motor scooter being struck by an SUV at a four-way intersection, single-car crashes are nonetheless fairly frequent occurrences.

Taking into account the human factor in a roadway wreck, a sudden medical emergency affecting the driver of a vehicle — like a heart attack or stroke — can cause the man or woman to pass out or otherwise lose control of his or her vehicle. On the highway this can certainly be a deadly occurrence, especially at interstate speeds. Yet, even on secondary roads where the posted speed may only be 35 or 45mph, losing control and leaving the roadway can also result in a potentially fatal crash.

Baltimore Personal Injury News: Fatal Car Crashes Take Two Lives in Separate Maryland Traffic Accidents

September 20, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In the area of personal injury there is often a question as to whether or not a seemingly inadvertent car or truck accident it exactly that, an accident. Many people are injured across the country in situations that could have been avoided or that were caused by the act of another individual. Whether malicious or not, negligence is cause of many a serious bodily injury and sometimes the death of one or more people. Sad to say, many people have died from another person’s careless or reckless actions; these cases sometimes call for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Although the victim may not be around to speak for himself, the family of the deceased individual can sometimes bring a wrongful death suit against the negligent party, or parties, in order to hold them accountable financially for the death of their loved one. In these days of uncertain and stressful economic conditions, many families are hanging on with both parents working. Should one of those individuals become injured or be killed as a result of an automobile accident, the impact to the family’s income could be very damaging financially.

Instances where a husband or wife dies following a car, truck or motorcycle collision, the family may not have sufficient means with which to carry on without falling behind on their house payments, car loan, and even medical bills from treatment of the deceased victim. Under such circumstances, family members may still be able to hold a negligent party responsible for the untimely death of that spouse, parent or child.

Luck, Among Other Factors, Can Play a Large Part in Surviving a Maryland Automobile Accident

September 18, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Work as a personal injury attorney long enough and one can see where fate plays as much of a part in the outcome of serious traffic accidents as most any other factor. Fate, luck, divine intervention; call it what you will, but not every roadway collision follows the same “game plan.” Many times, the result of a serious injury accident versus a fatal car or commercial trucking wreck can be as simple as what the driver had to eat that morning. We’re being a bit facetious here, but often one finds similar types of accidents lead to vastly different outcomes.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff of legal professionals are focused on helping the victims of car, truck and pedestrian accidents. Although the various kinds of car and truck crashes can be classified in a number of different categories, the reasons why certain people survive and why others perish are much more varied and mostly unknowable prior to the actual incident. The automobile, life and commercial insurance industries remain viable for just this reason; that is, property damage and personal injury accidents are fairly random and can rarely, if ever, be predicted.

Of course, when it comes to traffic accidents, it would be possible to mostly avoid being involved in one given the requirement that a person would likely never travel on a public road. While this is an extreme example, and likely nobody would willingly and totally divorce themselves from vehicular travel, there are still other areas of everyday life that allow for multiple opportunities for bodily injury.

Maryland Auto Safety Update: General Motors Recalls 41,000 Vehicles over Fuel Leak Concern

September 15, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Taking into account that tens of thousands of people are injured in minor to severe passenger car and trucking-related traffic accidents every year, it’s easy to forget that many other individuals — drivers and passengers alike — are hurt, maimed or killed as a result of defective automotive components, or failure of items such as tires, hoses, fasteners, wiring and other small, yet critical vehicle parts. While often not occurring as dramatically as a high-speed car, truck or motorcycle crash, an equipment failure or malfunction in a car or truck can place a vehicle’s occupants or bystanders in jeopardy, depending on the circumstances.

One of the more deadly and consequently more frightening occurrences is that of a car fire caused not by roadway collision, but by some other non-crash event. Both drivers and passengers, adults and children have been injured or killed by a vehicle fire sparked by some unseen problem deep inside the engine compartment or hidden within the car’s structure. Burns from a motor vehicle fire can range from minor to life-threatening, depending on the severity of the blaze and the relative luck of the victims involved in the event.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, my firm understands the shock and anger that plaintiffs in product liability suits can feel, especially when as consumers we all expect the products we buy to be free of serious or even lethal defects. From faulty children’s toys to defective medical appliances, there exist a variety of potential sources of physical injury throughout the world. As experienced injury attorneys, I and my colleagues work to help victims recover the cost of medical treatment, as well as punitive damages for pain and suffering of family members who have been injured or who died unexpectedly due to a company’s failure to build a safe product.

Baltimore Personal Injury Update: Two Maryland Residents Die in Separate Fatal Accidents

September 13, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

As careful as we all try to be, accidents do happen. Whether it’s a slip-and-fall at a local restaurant or a highway collision in Annapolis, unexpected events can always be a shock; not just emotionally, but financially as well. In the case of automobile and commercial truck accidents, these can be devastating both physically and in terms of a family’s finances and savings. If the victim is a primary breadwinner, the results for a growing family can be catastrophic to say the least.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, we know how bodily injuries sustained in a car, truck or motorcycle crash can require extensive medical attention. But an individual who has been put in the hospital by the negligent actions of another driver does have recourse. In instances where a person has been hurt in a roadway collision, the victim or his family can file a personal injury claim against the responsible party. This kind of lawsuit can be brought against another driver or negligent party whether the actions that caused the injury were simply the result of careless driving or negligent operation of a motor vehicle, such as aggressive driving.

Whatever the situation, as auto and truck accident lawyers, we know that money alone cannot possibly make a family whole, especially after a tragic car crash resulting in a fatality. Wrongful death lawsuits are also an option, especially when the victim was the sole income earner for his or her spouse and children. Anyone who is injured as a result of a negligent individual or even by a defective product should speak to a qualified legal expert in the area of injury law.