Personal Injury Cases in

Anne Arundel County, Maryland

 

Anne Arundel County is generally a favorable jurisdiction for Maryland accident lawyers and medical malpractice attorneys to take to trial personal injury cases. Admittedly, the personal injury verdicts for auto and truck accidents or medical malpractice do not tend to be as high as in Baltimore City or Prince George's County, but verdicts over the last several years have steadily increased. Our law offices are in Anne Arundel County and we handle a significant number of cases in this jurisdiction every year.

If you have a serious injury case in Anne Arundel County, you are likely going to end up in Circuit Court in Annapolis if you file a lawsuit. The purpose of this page is to give injury victims some idea of what they can expect if they file a lawsuit in Anne Arundel County. You can learn more about the process in general elsewhere. This page focuses on the path to trial that is specific to Anne Arundel County.

The Scheduling Conference

More than most other jurisdictions, Anne Arundel County focuses on helping the parties in personal injury cases reach a settlement prior to trial. The case management system in place for auto accident cases in particular allows for several opportunities where the parties meet to discuss settlement. Anne Arundel Lawyer

Shortly after a personal injury case is filed, the court sets a scheduling conference where the court establishes dates by which discovery, motions, and other events must occur. Typically, although the case is in the very early stages of discovery, the judge handling a personal injury scheduling conference will briefly discuss settlement with the parties.

Settlement Conference

At the scheduling conference, the parties are usually ordered to attend a settlement conference after the close of discovery. Generally, this settlement conference is handled by an experienced personal injury lawyer in Anne Arundel County. This lawyer serves as a mediator between the two parties in the personal injury cases. Generally, these settlement conference are very helpful in getting the parties in an auto accident case to reach a settlement.

Jury Verdicts in Anne Arundel County

Below are some recent jury verdicts and settlements in Anne Arundel County. These cases were picked at random. Some are our cases, others are cases handled by lawyers we know or from jury verdict reports. These verdicts might shed some light on the value of your Anne Arundel County claim. But keep in mind they also might mislead you because it is impossible to summarize all of the relevant facts of a case in a single paragraph. The failure of success of these cases might have hinged on a fact completely unrelated to the facts set out in these descriptions.

  • 2013: Malpractice Verdict for $8,344,514. A 42-year-old has an upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy performed in Glen Burnie by a gastroenterologist and a GI technician. She goes into respiratory and/or cardiorespiratory arrest after her colon ruptures and she develops cerebral hypoxic ischemia (loss of oxygen to the brain). She dies two weeks later. Her family's wrongful death lawsuit alleges that defendants screwed up the anesthetic and compounded the error by failing to monitor her for a colon perforation and all of the signs of distress.
    • Our law firm's office is in Anne Arundel County where we have fought and won millions of dollars for our clients. If you need a attorney to fight for you in a serious injury case, call us at 800-553-8082 or get a free on-line injury claim evaluation.
  • 2013: Motor Vehicle Crash Settlement for $290,000. A 40 year-old woman suffers a disc injury in her lower back at L5 after a rear-end accident coming off the Beltway towards Glen Burnie. Her MRI is negative but during surgery her surgeon finds the source of the problem: a bone fragment intruding on a disc that the MRI did not catch. The case settled during a private mediation with GEICO and State Farm, the two defendants in the case. Miller & Zois handled this case.
  • 2012: Car Crash Verdict for 20,062. Plaintiff is driving on McKinsey Road. Guy pulls out of 7-11 and hits her. Plaintiff is awarded $6,230 in medical expense, $1,831 in lost wages, and $12,000 for pain and suffering damages. This case was defended by Allstate in-house counsel as most small auto tort claims like this are.
  • 2012: $70,389 Verdict. Plaintiff was rear-ended on an exit ramp on Route 50 and knocked into two other cars. Plaintiff alleged cervical and lumbar injuries including a cervical annular tear from the car wreck. (An annular tear can be an incredibly serious injury but it is not uncommon to have such an injury and be asymptomatic.) This plaintiff allegedly required traditional physical therapy and epidural injections.  Plaintiff settled with the at fault driver for $50,000 then pursues her underinsured motorist claim with State Farm.  The insurance company in-house attorney contended, as usual, that she was not seriously hurt. Plaintiff's award was set off by the underlying policy limits offer ($20,389 additional from State Farm). The case was tried before retired Baltimore County judge Christian M. Kahl, sitting on special assignment in Annapolis. This judge presided over a verdict that Miller & Zois achieved for their client 10 years ago that received a good deal of local and national attention.
  • More Anne Arundel County Verdicts
Pre-Trial Conference

If the case does not settle at the settlement conference, the parties must attend a pretrial conference. While it depends on the judge you draw, the judges in Anne Arundel County generally go to great lengths to help the parties settle personal injury cases at the pretrial. Unlike most other counties where the pretrial conference is just a meeting between counsel where a trial date is given, the Anne Arundel County judges really do spend a great deal of time trying to get cases settled if there is any opportunity to do so.

If the case does not settle at the pretrial conference, the judge will give the parties a date for trial, typically within 90 days. Most counties have a "try by" date before which the case must be tried. Anne Arundel County takes this date more seriously than most and will not allow for delays beyond the "try by" date. So there are less endless delays to justice in Anne Arundel County than in a lot of other jurisdictions.

Talking to Us About Your Potential Case

     Our car accident and medical malpractice lawyers handle a substantial number of our personal injury cases in Glen Burnie, Annapolis, Crofton, Pasadena, Severna Park, Gambrills, Severn, Millersville, Crownsville, and all other areas of Anne Arundel County. If you have been injured in an accident in and around Anne Arundel County, call us at 410-553-6000 or click here for a free consultation.

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