Maryland Accident Attorney Blog

Baltimore Sun Business Editor Killed in Tragic Crash

Published on: October 5, 2009 | by Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White

WBAL Radio is reporting on their website that Tim Wheatley, the Business Editor for the Baltimore Sun was killed today in a morning accident in Baltimore County. According to WBAL, Mr. Wheatley was attempting to pull onto York Road from Corbet Road when his vehicle was struck on the driver’s side by a UPS truck. The intersection where the accident occurred is controlled by a traffic control device, and at this time an investigation is ongoing to determine who is at fault for the accident. Mr. Wheatley’s daughter was also injured in the accident.

Every year, thousands of Marylanders are injured in automobile accidents as a result of someone else’s negligence. An experienced trial attorney can help protect the injured. If you or someone you know is injured in a car accident in Maryland, contact the Maryland personal injury lawyers of Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, LLC. or contact Andrew G. Slutkin with further questions or inquiries at 410-385-2786

Skykesville Man Killed in Tragic Howard County Accident

Published on: September 14, 2009 | by Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White

Dr. Brian Edgar Emery, a Howard County physician, was killed on Thursday evening when the vehicle he was driving was struck from the rear by another vehicle and pushed into oncoming traffic. Dr. Emery was stopped on Route 32 near the Howard-Carrol County border waiting to make a left turn when his vehicle was hit from behind by a van being driven by Thomas Donald Cory. A recent, Baltimore Sun Article, reported on this tragic accident which occurred on a dangerous stretch of road in Howard County. Earlier this year a mother and child were killed on the same stretch of road.
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Motorcycle accident claims life of Baltmore wedding photographer

Published on: September 4, 2009 | by Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White

Arthur deRoaldes Remanjon, a wedding photographer who also documented Fells Point and New Orleans, died Wednesday when the motorcycle he was driving struck a vehicle in the Tuscany- Canterbury section of North Baltimore. A recent article in the Baltimore Sun, documents the life and achievements of this well-known Baltimore resident and describes the tragic circumstances surrounding his death. Every year, hundreds of Maryland residents are injured or killed in motorcycle accidents around the state. Many of these accidents could have been avoided had the other drivers been paying proper attention and following the rules of the road. As experienced accident attorneys, we can help injured citizens and their families recover for accidents caused by negligent drivers. Our firm has secured numerous large verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients who have been injured by negligent drivers.

If you or someone you know is injured in an automobile or motorcycle accident, please feel free to contact Andrew G. Slutkin with further questions or inquiries at 410-385-2786.

Two Maryland Women Killed in Head-On Collision in North Carolina

Published on: August 11, 2009 | by Steven D. Silverman

Tragic and somewhat confusing news coming out of North Carolina today. The Baltimore Sun is reporting two separate vehicles, both driven by Maryland residents, were involved in a head-on collision on U.S. 17 in North Carolina.

Apparently Loriann Bobotek, 47, of the 4000 block of Hopi Court in Ellicott City was driving her Dodge Caravan south on U.S. 17 when she attempted to pass a slower moving vehicle. When she moved into the other lane of travel, her van slammed into a black Mitsubishi Montero operated by Christina Sonn, 35 of the 3000 block of Edwards Avenue in Parkville, Maryland. Both drivers shortly after the collision.

Seven total passengers in Bobotek’s van and the Montero were taken to an area hospital in Greenville, N.C. and five have since been released.

The facts of this accident bring to light a legal dilemma victims and family’s of victims face when confronted with an out-of-state accident. Do you retain a lawyer where the accident occurred or where you live? The question is complex, but the simple answer is where you live. Using this case as an example, an experienced Maryland personal injury lawyer should be able to do everything a North Carolina injury attorney can do, and more.
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A PLEA FOR HELP

Published on: August 9, 2009 | by Steven D. Silverman

On Tuesday August 4, 2009, a wonderful man named John “Jack” Yates (age 67) was killed, while safely operating his bicycle, by a hit and run driver at the corner of Maryland Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Baltimore City, Maryland. The hit and run driver was operating a nondescript white box truck.

Jack Yates was a loving grandfather, father and husband. He spent his entire professional life helping troubled youth in Baltimore City. He deserves better. If anyone has information as to the identity of the truck and driver, please contact the Baltimore City Police or send a confidential email to ssilverman@silvermanthompson.com. Thanks, Steve Silverman

Cyclist Killed in Downtown Baltimore

Published on: August 4, 2009 | by Steven D. Silverman

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a cyclist was struck by a motor vehicle and killed in downtown Baltimore today. The accident occurred on the corner of Maryland and Lafayette avenues. It is unclear whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet.

Our firms personal injury department has successfully handled several accidents involving bicycles and automobiles. Interestingly enough, the rules of the road apply the same to cyclist as they do to automobiles. For more information, please contact us for a consultation.

Home Depot Negligence

Published on: July 13, 2009 | by Andrew G. Slutkin

A Georgia jury has awarded a Home Depot customer and his wife $1.5 million in a case arising from a forklift accident in a store. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff suffered severe neck and spine injuries after a pallet of plywood fell 24 feet from a forklift. The wood hit a barricade that knocked the plaintiff over, trapping the plaintiff under the plywood. This caused the plaintiff to incur over $120,000 in medical expenses and have to stop working in construction. The verdict included $30,000 for loss of marital relations.

Over the years, Home Depot and other “big box” retailers have faced many lawsuits over what is called “sky shelving,” which involves storing stock above customers.

I successfully handled a negligence case just like this in Maryland, where a woman was injured when wood fell on her in a large home improvement store. The key to these cases is getting the policies and procedures of the store in order to show that the store violated its own policies and procedures.

Florida jury awarded $750,000 each to parents of man strangled to death in restaurant’s parking lot

Published on: July 13, 2009 | by Andrew G. Slutkin

A Florida jury has awarded $750,000 each to the parents of a young man who was strangled to death in a restaurant’s parking lot, in a negligent security case. Jurors decided that the management company that owns a McDonalds and the company that owns the property were negligent for not providing security on the morning of the man’s death. According to the plaintiffs, there were over 750 calls for service from the McDonald’s and the surrounding parking lot between 2001 and 2005. The calls were for juvenile disturbances, loitering and assaults. About 200 of the calls mentioned alcohol use and most were made between midnight and 5 a.m. on Friday nights into Saturday mornings and Saturday nights into Sunday mornings. The defense had argued that the types of calls did not indicate that a homicide was about to take place. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

I have successfully handled many cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland against negligent property owners. Some are major slip and fall or trip and fall cases. Some have been negligent security cases. In such a case in Maryland, the law states that a landlord has a duty to exercise reasonable care for the safety of tenants and invitees. If a landlord knows or by the exercise of reasonable care should know that criminal activity against persons or property has occurred on the landlord’s property, the landlord has a duty to take reasonable measures to pro-tect tenants and invitees against these criminal activities. In determining whether the measures taken by the landlord were sufficient, the landlord’s acts can be measured only by the criminal activities occurring on the landlord’s property and of which the landlord knew or should have known and not by those criminal activities occurring generally in the surround¬ing neighborhood.

In other types of premises liability cases in Maryland, the responsibility of those who own or possess property to people injured on their property depends upon the standard of care owed to the injured person. The standard of care depends upon the injured person’s status on the property. There are generally four classes of people.

Truck Accident – Truck Collision

Published on: July 13, 2009 | by Andrew G. Slutkin

A Florida judge has required an insurance company to pay a paralyzed truck driver $14.6 million due to a 2007 accident. The plaintiff was driving an 18-wheeler when another driver ran a stop sign, cutting the plaintiff off. The truck driver swerved out of the way, and his truck overturned. The accident cost the plaintiff the use of both his arms and legs and left him with extensive medical bills. If the plaintiff had not swerved, the other driver would have been killed. The insurer for the truck driver denied coverage, so the truck driver sued.

I have successfully handled a number of major car and truck collision cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland. Truck collision cases in Maryland are especially complicated because the lawyer must know the intricacies of federal and state truck rules and regulations, maintenance requirements, inspections, limitations on the number of hours drivers may drive, etc.

In one recent Baltimore truck accident case that I handled, the driver of the truck that struck my client and caused significant brain damage had been involved in several other accidents before causing my client’s accident. I retained a very well respected trucking expert who said not only was the truck driver negligent for causing the accident, but the trucking company was negligent for continuing to employ the truck driver after several accidents. This resulted in a major million dollar plus settlement.

DC Metro Crash Inquiry to be Handled by NTSB

Published on: June 23, 2009 | by Steven D. Silverman

The National Transportation Safety Board has announced that it is taking over the investigation of Monday’s fatal crash of two trains on the Washington Metro’s Red Line. The NTSB involvement can only be a good thing. First, the NTSB has significant resources and has a history of not being afraid to mix it up with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Administration.

I first became involved in representing train accident victims in 1996 when I represented a Baltimore, Maryland family who lost their son in the fatal Amtrak/ MARC Maryland Rail Commuter train crash on February 16, 1996 in Chase, Maryland. In that accident just outside of Washington, 12 people were killed and the NTSB conducted a very comprehensive investigation. In the 1996 accident investigation, the NTSB determined driver error and signal malfunction as the cause.

History has shown that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Administration does not always like to point a finger at itself. Over the past three decades, the NTSB has criticized the agency for papering over its safety deficiencies and failing to take corrective action from past mistakes. Just yesterday, Deborah A.P. Hersman, chairman designate of the NTSB, criticized the agency for failing to follow its three year old recommendation that the aging fleet be phased out or retrofitted. This week’s tragic accident marks the sixth fatal incident involving the DC Metro.
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