Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog

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.

Maryland High School Couple Dies in High-Speed Single-Car Traffic Accident on Prom Night

September 10, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Traffic accidents, like many unexpected events, can bring terrible and irreversible consequences to the victims involved in the roadway collision. For many people who are reading this right now, there is a rather good chance that you or someone you know will be caught up in some kind of highway wreck during your lifetime. Whether that accident includes serious bodily injuries, a fatality or maybe just bumps or bruises will depend on the circumstances surrounding the crash, but could have just as much to do with fate as anything else.

The unknown is always a difficult area to plan for, not to mention that predicting the future has yet to be perfected to any meaningful degree. This is essentially why insurance companies exist and why drivers and other owners of motor vehicles purchase insurance policies. As Maryland automobile accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers, my firm is dedicated to helping the victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents recover what they can following a serious or even fatal car crash. With the cost of medical care and long-term physical therapy and rehabilitation, it’s easy for hospital and other related costs to mount up after a traffic collision.

Personal injury accidents can result in extensive bodily injury, which many people can eventually recover from physically and emotionally, but some do not. In the case of a fatal passenger car or commercial trucking wreck, the families of the victims must pick up the pieces emotionally as well as financially. And while the death of a parent can place a family in dire financial straits, the loss of a child or teenager to a senseless car crash is something that few family members ever get over.

Maryland Police Say Driver of County School Vehicle Responsible for Fatal Harford County Traffic Accident

September 8, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Hundreds of people all around the U.S. die in fatal head-on traffic accidents involving a range of vehicles, from passenger cars, SUVs and minivans to semi tractor-trailers, commercial delivery trucks and even motorcycles. The mere physics of a head-on roadway collision can spell danger to most any occupant who is unlucky enough to be riding in one of the vehicles involved in such accidents. As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my legal staff understand the stakes of such collisions.

When vehicles of equal mass, or weight, collide with each other, it is a fair bet that the drivers and passengers of both vehicles will experience similar effects of that crash. Modern passenger cars are better designed to absorb a significant amount of impact energy from a head-on traffic crash than those of even a decade ago. But depending on each vehicle’s speed at the time of the wreck, there may be very little margin for survival. Still, fate can sometimes intervene and surprise even the most pessimistic observer.

While many head-ons are fatal — killing at least one of the vehicles’ drivers and/or passengers — other collisions can result in multiple injuries of varying degree. Depending on a variety of factors, occupants in the vehicles involved in a head-on traffic collision may receive only minor injuries all the way up to head, neck and spinal cord injuries. Surviving these kinds of injuries can, for some victims, be a miracle in and of itself, but recovering from a massive head injury (also known as traumatic brain injury) can be a long uphill struggle with many individuals fighting a continuous battle for months or years.

Danger Lurks on Maryland Roadways in the Guise of Bad Drivers and Drunken Motorists

September 6, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

It’s hardly an easy thing to say, but there are people reading this that will likely be in a car, truck or motorcycle accident sometime in their lives. Of course, as Maryland personal injury lawyers, we can also say that this is not necessarily a unique event, at least based on our experience representing victims of traffic accidents here in Baltimore, over in Gaithersburg, and even in the District of Columbia. We can only hope that those who are hurt as a result of another individual’s negligence that recovery will be swift and complete.

Unfortunately for a percentage of car crash and trucking accident victims, severe injuries, long-term disability and even death from a roadway collision can be a result. Every year, drivers all across our nation log tens of millions of miles without a single serious traffic incident, yet hundreds of thousands of innocent victims fill the statistic columns in police departments and state roadway agencies every single year.

So while it’s not that surprising to know that a minor crash could possibly be in one’s future, with close to six million traffic wrecks annually in the U.S., many of these will be severe and quite a few will be fatal. Death and serious bodily injuries are just part and parcel of the fast-paced and busy highways that people travel daily here in Maryland and elsewhere throughout the country. For us, as automobile accident attorneys, our focus is on helping those people who have been made innocent victims of a car or truck crash caused by another, less thoughtful or outright negligent driver.

Multi-Car Accidents Spell Danger, Yet Single-Vehicle Crashes Can Also Cause Serious Bodily Injury

September 4, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Not matter where in Maryland one drives, whether it’s in Montgomery, Anne Arundel, or Prince George’s County, even in Washington, D.C., motorists are bound to come across some kind of a traffic-related accident on one of our roadways. Causing injuries as varied as simple cuts and bruises, to fractures, internal injuries and severe head trauma, these mostly preventable collisions kill and maim thousands every year, both here in Maryland as well as across the nation.

Working in the Baltimore area as personal injury lawyers, I and my colleagues are taken aback at the number of car, truck and motorcycle accidents that occur every month, sending men, women and children who have been injured to the hospital with sometimes serious and life-threatening bodily injuries. As Maryland automobile and commercial truck accident attorneys, we understand all too well how a simple and seemingly insignificant act on one driver’s part can change the course of another individual’s life in an instant.

Taking a constant human toll, these urban and rural traffic crashes can happen in various areas through the state, as well as on highways and expressways, surface streets and country roads. Making proper choices on our densely packed roads can be the difference between someone making it home safely and triggering a tragic car, truck or pedestrian accident. As drivers, we all have a responsibility to ourselves, our families and society as a whole to conduct our lives in a manner that does not jeopardize another person’s health or well-being. For those who forget this simple rule, or chose behavior that essentially ignores one’s civic responsibilities, the law and our court system has ways of helping victims seek compensation for damages and injuries received as a result.

Maryland Personal Injury Update: Personal Electronics Contributing to Pedestrian Deaths

August 31, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

We would start an entry like this most likely with the admonition, “Parents, please keep a close eye on your children….” However, the topic today can hardly be targeted at just one age group. As personal injury attorneys, the issue we’d like to address is the dangerous environment that personal electronics is creating for not just preteens and teenagers all across the country, but also younger children, older adults and nearly everyone in between. The problem is distraction, not just on the road, but in the store, on the train platform, while walking on the sidewalk, and while crossing a busy intersection.

The fact is, too many people are allowing themselves to be totally engrossed in the smartphone-iPad-Kindle world of personal information devices. Having been children in an earlier life, and even now as adults, we can understand the magnetic draw that these devices have on almost anyone who picks them up. Never in our history have humans had at their disposal a veritable cornucopia of information, entertainment and communication options all at the touch of a smartphone or tablet screen.

But is being entertained; is searching for a diversion from real life so important that it can literally lead to one’s own death? Here in the U.S., we celebrate the freedoms that many throughout the world have yet to enjoy. But the freedom to do something, such as listen to one’s favorite song catalogue while biking to work doesn’t obviate the need to be attentive to one’s surroundings. Of late, the news media would seem obsessed over the seeming negligence of texting while driving. But these same people who text and drive also jog and chat, as well as walk and read.

Driver Arrested for Fatal 2011 Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Traffic Accident that Killed La Plata Man

August 29, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

One of the most traumatic assaults on the human body can come when one is, perhaps, blissfully unaware of the impending dangers all around. In urban areas, such as Baltimore, Rockville, Gaithersburg or Washington, D.C., we can see all kinds of personal injury scenarios just waiting to be realized. What many people do not understand is that the elements of a serious or fatal injury accident can come together at the most unexpected times; like walking in the city.

As Maryland automobile and trucking-accident lawyers, I and my staff are constantly aware of the hundreds of innocent victims who become caught up in life-threatening situations every year in this state. Whether looking at a slip-and-fall mishap or a high-speed car crash, every type of incident that leads to bodily harm or potentially fatal injuries can greatly affect a family and loved ones of a victim. Especially in cases where a person has done nothing more than go about their life or daily routine, but who is then seriously hurt through the negligence of another individual, this is where a personal injury lawyer can help.

As we said, even walking in the city or other urban center can expose a person to life-threatening hazards, including being hit by a taxi cab, city bus or passenger car. Pedestrians are extremely vulnerable, as evidenced by the fact that people have been injured or killed after being hit by a bicycle messenger, much less a family sedan or commercial delivery truck. And since the human body has no real protection against an impact with a large object, closed-head trauma and critical internal injuries can likely result and put that individuals life in jeopardy.

Baltimore Auto Accident Update: Uninsured Drivers Pepper Maryland Roads; Be Ready for Them

August 27, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a previous post we discussed the possibility of more than a few drivers out on Maryland roadways who may be risking their insurance coverage, not to mention their family’s financial future, by underinsuring themselves and trying to save on their monthly insurance premiums. Is it worth it? We would have to say, emphatically, No. This is especially true when one considers the extreme downside of such as strategy, if one could even call it that. Yet, in light of all this, there is a percentage of the motoring public plying the roads of Annapolis, Bowie, Gaithersburg and The District who may be in even more danger of a catastrophic auto or motorcycle accident: these individual constitute the ranks of uninsured drivers.

As Maryland personal injury lawyers we are not about to lay odds that you or anyone you know will NEVER be involved in a car, bike or commercial trucking collision; statistics tell us that a certain number of people will be caught up in a traffic wreck at some time in their lives. This is, in fact, why we have car, home and business insurance in the first place. To go through life without insurance is only to tempt fate. Of course, insurance companies are businesses and they will do their best to avoid paying or limiting what they will pay to the best of their ability. This is why automobile and personal injury attorneys like our firm exist to help those who may be facing difficult circumstances following a bad accident.

Still, some individuals who may feel that they have little to lose sometimes forego car insurance in an effort to avoid paying for coverage. Some of these people may have such a bad driving record that insurance companies either will not offer any coverage or will charge such a high premium that it is financially impossible for that individual to make ends meet. Yet, instead of finding alternate methods of transportation, they choose to drive without coverage and against the laws of this state.

Montgomery County Man Goes Away for Barely 5 Years Following Fatal PCP-related Traffic Collision

August 24, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Kill someone on the road these days and you may not be facing hard time, or so it would seem following the sentencing of a Burtonsville, MD, man who was charged with the death of one person in connection with a 2011 car accident. The charge in question was involuntary manslaughter, according to reports, which happened when the driver reportedly lost control of his vehicle before it struck a guard rail, left the roadway and smashed into a stand of trees back in June 2011.

As Maryland personal injury attorneys, I and my staff of experienced automobile and trucking-accident legal professionals are all too aware of the potential injuries, pain and suffering that victims and their families experience following a severe car, truck or motorcycle wreck. These can range from the mildest of injuries, such as bruises, cuts and abrasions, to neck and head injuries, as well as wrongful death at the hands of a negligent driver. It goes without saying, as usual, that medical costs these days can be quite high, especially for serious injuries that require extensive or costly medical procedures.

And one needn’t be hurt or killed by someone they do not know. Many victims have been riding in the vehicle driven by a negligent driver; someone they know or trusted with their life. Hurting, injuring or killing a stranger is tragic enough, but to cause harm to a relative or close friend is, frankly, unforgivable in many people’s eyes. We bring this up because of the case that was recently closed on a man who reportedly was instrumental in the death of one individuals and the injuring of two others traveling in his vehicle.