Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Cases in Salisbury, Maryland

 

Salisbury has in recent years become a far more favorable jurisdiction for Maryland accident lawyers handling personal injury cases in Salisbury. This is arguably due in part to the area becoming more affluent and cosmopolitan in recent years. Salisbury was recently ranked the 55th "Hottest Small City" by Inc. Magazine in their annual report of the nation's "Best Cities for Doing Business." No doubt, Salisbury is clearly a town on the rise.

What to Know about Personal Injury Cases in Salisbury

There are a few points of interest about handling personal injury cases in Wicomico County Circuit Court. After receiving your Scheduling Order which will contain all of the discovery deadlines and pretrial conference dates, the experienced personal inury attorney will carefully avoid a trial scheduled in the months of January, February, and early March when the chance of snow is the greatest. Unlike large metropolitan cities which are accustomed to significant snowfall and equipped to deal with its removal in a quick and efficient manner, the Eastern Shore of Maryland is not. Although significant snowfall is rare in Salisbury, if snow does fall and the public schools are closed you will be hard pressed to find a jury panel for your trial. This will present a hardship on the plaintiff's personal injury lawyer who has already paid significant sums of money for the expert witnesses to travel to the Eastern Shore to testify. If at all possible, if you have a case in Salisbury should file a motion to have the trial date moved to a warmer month as soon as a copy of the Scheduling Order is received.     
     Unlike most scheduling orders, Wicomico County scheduling orders will also contain the deadline for all videotaped depositions (Prince George's County also has a rule that video depositions must be done two weeks before trial). Plaintiff's accident lawyers should not assume that entering into an agreement with opposing counsel to take video depositions outside the deadline will suffice with the Court. Regardless of such an agreement, the Court may refuse to entertain a Motion in Limine to address objections the attorney raised during the deposition. If you file a Motion to extend the deadlines, also include a Motion to extend the deadline to file Motions in Limine to address objections raised during the deposition.
     One bonus of practicing in Salisbury is that the well prepared attorney can call the jury commissioner on the eve of trial and obtain the list of prospective jurors who are scheduled to appear the following day. A "sneak preview" of prospective jurors can often provide an edge to the trial attorney and a more effective use of your premptory strikes. Insist on a roll call before the judge begins the voir dire. When one judge stated in a case handled by one of our attoneys, "The clerk already conducted roll call while you were in the hall" - the attorney kindly reminded the judge that his client was entitled to a roll call pursuant to the Maryland Rules. 

One additional side note about trying a personal injury case in a smaller town like Salisbury. When preparing your voir dire always ask the following question: "Does any member of the jury panel know any other member of the jury panel." Invariably, you will have two members on the jury panel who know each other. (Hopefully, you can avoid having ex-spouses sitting on the same jury by asking this question, as one of our lawyers has.)

Sample Settlements and Verdict in Wicomico County

Below are sample verdicts and settlements in accident and malpractice cases in Salisbury. First, there is not a large sampling to chose from because few personal injury cases find their way to trial in Wicomico County. Second, we believe the results are illustrative of the value of similar cases. But verdicts in other cases have to be taken with many grains of salt. It is impossible to completely compare two cases under any circumstances, much less in settlement and verdict summaries.

  • 2012: Medical Negligence Verdict for $1,228,160.  Plaintiff is in the middle of a cardiac procedure when a guide wire used penetrates her aortic valve.  Emergency surgery is performed to remove the wire, and Plaintiff suffers a blood clot which subsequently causes neuropathic pain syndrome.  Plaintiff alleges the Defendant doctor who performed the procedure did so with excessive force, negligently, and without reasonable care and attention to avoid the injury to the aorta.  Defendant doctor denies liability, but a jury returns a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff for $1,228,160.  The judge reduces the award amount to $1,000,854.
  • 2009: Medical Malpractice Settlement of $850,000. Doctor cut Plaintiff's illiac vein and artery, during surgery, causing her additional surgeries and a great deal of pain and suffering. Our law firm handled this case.
  • 2008: Medical Negligence Verdict for $2,000,000.  Plaintiffs, parents to a 19 day old infant, allege that their pediatrician failed to adequately diagnose their child’s condition which led to the infant’s untimely death.  Plaintiffs contact their pediatrician, the Defendant, and inform him that their son has lost weigh since birth.  The Defendant doctor relays to the Plaintiffs that their son may be allergic to his formula and suggests changing the formula.  Plaintiffs comply, but three days later, they contact the Defendant doctor again to relay that their son has continued to lose weight.  The parties converse for 30-45 minutes whereupon it is determined an additional formula should be tried.  The next day, Plaintiffs take their infant son to the ER, and he is airlifted to Johns Hopkins where he dies the next day of sepsis.  Plaintiffs allege the Defendant doctor failed to suggest appropriate testing for their son and that if such testing had been done, their son would not have passed.  Defendants contend the infant’s death was not a foreseeable event, and that it was the parent’s decision to try a third formula instead of taking the infant to the hospital.  A jury deliberated for two and a half hours before awarding the Plaintiffs $2,000,000.   

If you have been injured in a car accident, a truck accident, or by medical malpractice in or around the Salisbury/Eastern Shore/Ocean City area, or if you are a Maryland attorney and would like us to handle your case on the Eastern Shore, call our Salisbury lawyers at 800-553-8082 or select here for a free consultation.