Maryland Injury Lawyers Blog

Yesterday afternoon, a jury in Prince George's County Maryland returned a verdict in the amount of $1,525,000.00 in an auto negligence case. The case involved a multi-vehicle, intersection collision with a significant impact. Liability was conceded the morning of trial. The claimed medical expenses were approximately $20,616.00. The jury awarded $1,500,000 in non-economic damages. The injuries claimed were a concussion, cervical strain, left shoulder strain with bursitis, lumbar strain, left hip strain and a contusion of the left knee, as well as nerve root impingement in the cervical spine with left upper extremity tingling and numbness, and nerve root impingement in the lumbar spine with left buttocks and lower extremity radiculopathy. No surgery was recommended.

The plaintiff called her treating orthopeadic surgeon, Brett Hampton M.D. from Shady Grove Orthopeadics, and her treating neurologist from the Washington Hospital Center, Michael Batipps, M.D. There was an opinion offered from one of the doctors that the injuries were permanent. The defense medical examiner was Jeffrey Abend, M.D.
The case was complicated by a subsequent accident roughly two months after the subject incident, as well as a significant past medical history.

The jury deliberated for one hour. The case was tried before Judge Toni Clarke. The case was defended by State Farm's house counsel's office in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Darvon and Darvocet were just pulled from the market because they can cause fatal heart proplems. On November 19, 2010 got the manufacturers of Darvon/Darvocet to agree to remove the drugs from the market. Manufacturers of hte generic eqivilent drugs to Darvon and Darvocet will be removed as well. Friday's action was based on hte results of a new study taht showed that a standard dose of Darvon or Darvocet can be very harmful to the heart. Once again, the FDA is a few years behind Great Britan in identifying dangerous drugs. In June 2009 the European Medicines Agency removed the drug from the market. Yet in July 2009 the FDA in the US determined that although there were some concerns about the drug, that it would remain available to consumers. About 120 Million prescriptions for the painkiller have been filled in teh USA since England took Darvon off the market.

The most recent study of Darvocet and Darvon showed that even at recommended dose it caused heart abnormalities including heart rhythm problems and electrical heart activity abnormalities.

For more information about the Food and Drug Administrations removal of Darvon and Darvocet from the market, go to the FDA Website or click here.

Any lawyer involved in representing injured people and settling claims with insurance companies knows that in the last year or so, the new Medicare law has created insane obstacles to getting our clients paid the money they deserve once a case is settled. I recently had an adjuster tell me that even though we settled the case with their insured over a month ago, they would not issue payment until they could confirm my client was not on Medicare. My client is young and is not disabled. I offered to give an affidavit that the client was not on Medicare. This was not enough for this adjuster. We still have not received the check and the client and I are very frustrated....

Those on Medicare are typically at least 65 years old or disabled. If Medicare pays medical bills that a third party is ultimately responsible for, Medicare will assert a lien against the third party recovery known as a "Medicare Lien." Personal Injury Attorneys and Medical Malpractice Attorneys are always careful to be sure that Medicare receives the money it is entitled to because otherwise still penalties apply to the lawyer and the client.

CMS, which is the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has finally recognized the problem and on November 9, 2010 issued a revised timeline for implementation of the Section 111 Reporting Requirements. The reporting requirements now will not go into effect until October 1, 2011. To see the Medicare bulletin, click here

To see an article written by Kevin Goldberg and Richard Neuworth on the new medicare law, click here

A well known Baltimore Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, recently agreed to pay $22 Million Dollars ($22,000,000.00) to settle claims against the U.S. Government (yes--the feds)- relating to allegations that it was involved in a kickback scheme with MidAtlandic Cardiovascular Associates. The settlement agreement resolves claims under the False Claims Act and the Federal Anti-Kickback Act and the Stark Law. This settlement includes the reimbursement of funds the baltimore hospital received for medically unnecessary coronary stent procedures performed by Dr. Midei when he left Mid Atlantic Cadiovascular and became a full time hospital employee. There are currently still over 100 lawsuits pending against St. Josephs. To see the U.S. Department of Justice Press Release click here
The legal showdown regarding these stent cases is going to be fascinating. The patients shuing the hospital and Dr. Midei will likely be arguing that they are entitled to punitive damages because the wrongful actions were not just negligent, but they were also essentially an intentional tort--a battery--and a fraud upon the patients. While punitive damages are usually difficult to get in Maryland, this is a case where it is quite possible that punitive damages will be awarded to the victims. The seminal case on punitive damages in Maryland is Owens Illinois Inc. v. Zenobia, 325 Md. 420.

In this case, certain doctors hired counsel adn brought suit under the qui tam whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.. These doctors will most likely receive a portion of the $22 Million Dollar Settlement. If you are a medical professional and you are aware of improper kickbacks call us at 888-213-8140 to discuss the possibility of bringing a whistleblower claim.

Congratulations to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland's Commercial Litigation Branch, to the private attorney for the doctor realtors, and to the doctors who had the courage to bring this injustice to light for this amazing result that will benefit all tax payers.

The Maryland Department of Health and Human Hygiene issued a consumer alert warning Maryland consumers not to drink Baugher's Apple Cider. The cider may be contaminated with E Coli o 157 infection. If you have the cider in your house, you should throw it away. Baumgher's farm is located in Westminster, Maryland. To their credit, they have already issued a voluntary recall of this product. A cluster of seven Marylanders have been diagnosed with e coli contamination and this is very unusual. Only 20-40 cases of e coli 0 157 cases are reported in Maryland each year and to have 7 in such close proximity is indeed alarming. When people get sick due to the food they eat, they can consider bringing a lawsuit. It is basically a product liability case. It would be important to try to preserve the tainted food product so that it can be properly tested and analyzed. For more information about filing a product liability lawsuit in Maryland visit our website at gfmlawllc.com or call us at 888-213-8140. Click here for the consumer warning from the Maryland Health Department.http://www.dhmh.state.md.us/pressreleases/2010/ma110510.html

Voters in Maryland overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure yesterday that amends the Maryland constitution to make it so that a defendant only has a right to a jury trial if more than $15,000.00 in in controversy. The measure will help to unclog the Circuit Court system. The increase in the jury demand threshold was necessary because insurace companies would often demand a jury trial when injured parties filed a lawsuit in District Court asking for a bench trial. This would make it so that the injured party would have to go through expensive discovery including depostions and medical examinations in order to get to trial. Increasing the jury demand threshold from $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 will prevent insurance companies such as State Farm and Allstate from using this tactic. It will save judicial resources, and it will also make it so that jurors do not have to spend basically two days sitting through a Circuit Court trial deciding whether an injured person deserves $10,000.00 or $15,000.00 for their injuries. Apparently Louisiana has the highest jury demand threshold at $50,000.00. The constitutional amendment was supported by the Maryland Association for Justice,, and we worked really hard to get this legislation through the General Assembly during the 2010 legislative session when I was the president of the Maryland Trial Lawyers. For more information on this ballot initiative, click here.