Maryland Accident Law Blog

Many Maryland work zone accidents are avoidable, as long as workers, motorists, and contracting companies take the necessary precautions. For example, contractors need to make sure that construction zones are well marked and easily visibly. Workers should undergo safety training, be given the tools they need to make their work sites safer, and follow the safety rules. Motorists should pay attention and slow down when driving close to a work zone.

Driving too fast is the leading contributing factor of work zone accidents, with rubbernecking also another leading cause. Both workers and motorists are at risk of getting hurt in work zone accidents.

On June 26, 2007, Near Frederick, Maryland, state highway worker Rick Moser was killed when he was hit by a truck and thrown 175 feet while working in a highway work zone. Trucker Brian McCully was charged with negligent driving. He paid a $280 fine. The Motor Vehicle Administration gave him three points for the negligent driving charge. However, since this was a traffic citation, the truck driver didn’t have to go to court. The Moser family later filed a $2.5 million Frederick, Maryland wrongful death lawsuit against McCully for striking Rick with his Chevrolet truck.

Last February, Rick’s wife, Laurie, testified on House Bill 172 that calls for making it a misdemeanor to recklessly contribute to an accident in a highway work zone. The bill would impose a $1,000 fine and time in prison for up to 90 days. In 2007, Maryland police reported 2,250 highway work zone accidents in the state resulting in 11 deaths and 1,140 injuries.

Work Zone Awareness week was held earlier this month in the United States. Traffic safety officials want people to be especially aware of the dangers of careless driving in a work zone accident because spring is often the beginning of the construction season and the time when many motorists get back on the roads.

Work Zone Awareness Kicks Off, ABC2News.com, April 7, 2009

Widow requests tougher law for reckless driving, FrederickNewsPost.com, February 5, 2009

Family of highway worker killed in June files $2.5 million wrongful death suit, FrederickNewsPost.com, September 13, 2007

Related Web Resources:
National Work Zone Awareness Week 2009

US Department of Transportation

Continue reading "Work Zone Accidents Can Be Prevented if Motorists, Workers, and Construction Companies Exercise the Necessary Precautions" »

In Anne Arundel County, a crane operator suffered serious injuries when he was crushed by falling machinery. The Maryland crane accident occurred last Thursday in Annapolis at a development where another worker got hurt in a similar accident in 2008.

The worker, 46, was sitting in the crane’s compartment and getting ready to lift cooling and heating units onto a gym roof at the Annapolis Towne Centre when a pulley and other components fell. The falling objects smashed onto the operator compartment. Workers rushed to remove the worker from the accident site and he was flown by Medevac to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Just 10 months ago, Denis Umanzor, a 44-year-old Maryland worker, sustained fatal injuries when part of a crane fell on him. That work accident occurred right by the gym where this latest accident took place. Umanzor became trapped and was suspended some 200 feet in the air where he died.

This latest crane accident comes just as Maryland regulators are getting ready for a public hearing on stricter crane operator safety standards to prevent crane accidents from happening. Currently, the state lacks standardized training procedures and rules for crane operators.

In the last year, a number of people have gotten hurt in US crane accidents. In March, seven people died when a giant crane fell onto a townhouse. Soon after, two other people died and five victims sustained injuries when a portion of another crane fell 30 floors, smashing into a home.

Crane accidents resulting in serious injuries can occur for a number of reasons, including:

• Failed rigging
• Falling loads
• Errors during crane assembly
• Mistakes during dismantling
• Collapsed crane
• Worker inexperience
• Inadequate safety measures
• Operator error
• Overloaded cranes

Crane operators, construction workers, and innocent bystanders who are injured in crane accidents may be entitled to personal injury compensation from liable parties. A worker injured on the job cannot sue his employer, but there may be third parties who can be held responsible in civil court.

Worker critically injured in Arundel crane accident, Baltimore Sun, February 9, 2009

Worker critically injured in Parole crane accident, Hometown Annapolis, February 5, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Crane Accidents

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Continue reading "Maryland Crane Accident Leaves One Worker with Serious Injuries" »

In Baltimore County Circuit Court, Judge Susan Souder awarded Sandra Lee Meade $250,000 for personal injuries she sustained in a pedestrian accident in an Arbutus traffic construction zone more than 5 years ago. The amount is part of a high-low agreement made between Meade and general contractor Dick Corp, with a “low” of $250,000 and a “high” of $2 million.

Meade sustained traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries after she was hit by a car while crossing Westland Boulevard, which was undergoing construction, on December 3, 2003. She now lives in a Maryland nursing home.

While police placed the fault for the pedestrian accident with Meade for crossing the street illegally—she tried crossing the street diagonally to catch the bus to work—Meade’s Maryland car accident lawyer accused Dick Corp. of failing to put in place a maintenance of traffic plan. He noted the "willy-nilly" placement of barricades and lines that were incorrectly painted on the road.

The car driver, who says he did not see her until she was on his vehicle, was not charged in the accident. He is not named as a defendant in Meade’s Maryland personal injury lawsuit, which her sons filed against Dick Corp. The lawsuit sought $8 million in damages on her behalf. Following the Maryland personal injury trial, a Baltimore County jury found general contractor Dick Corp. negligent but not responsible for Meade’s Maryland pedestrian accident.

High-Low Agreements
In a high-low agreement, the defendant and plaintiff are in accord that a case’s verdict will be no more than a set maximum and no less than a set minimum. If the jury verdict reached is greater than the “high” set by the agreement, the plaintiff receives no more than the maximum amount agreed upon with the defendant. If the verdict is below the “low” set by the agreement, then the plaintiff receives no less than the agreed upon minimum.

Woman struck in work zone to get $250K, The Daily Record, November 16, 2008

Related Web Resource:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

In Maryland, a North Baltimore attorney that sustained serious personal injuries after falling into a construction hole is suing the city, a number of Trigen-Baltimore Energy Corp. entities, Ligon & Ligon Inc., and Johnson Controls Inc. Arianne Spaccarelli sustained serious burn injuries to nearly half her body in the fall accident that occurred in 2005.

In her Maryland personal injury lawsuit filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, Spaccarelli and her husband Robert Galassi blame the party’s negligence for her fall into the steam pit. The accident occurred at the intersection of Saratoga Street and Guilford Avenue when the couple was walking back to her car after dinner.

Spaccarelli had been walking next to a fenced off construction area, when she fell into the pit. The lawsuit maintains that the construction hole existed beyond the fence. Her husband pulled her out of the hole, but not before she sustained second-and third-degree burns on more than 43% her of her body.

She was admitted to Johns Hopkins Burn Center, where she stayed for one month, and underwent two major surgeries. She also has had to undergo skin grafts, physical therapy, and psychological counseling. Aftereffects from her injuries include depression, itching, disfigurement, and problems sleeping. Galassi, who took time off work to care for Spaccarelli, says he continues to be haunted by what happened to her.

Spaccarrelli has so far accrued $300,000 in medical costs, and future medical bills are expected. According to her personal injury lawyer, she will likely spend over a million dollars in medical and recovery expenses. The 30-year-old staff attorney also has taken time off work because of her injuries and had to withdraw from law school. This caused her to forfeit expenses she’d spent on tuition and books.

While the plaintiffs acknowledge that a recent collision had pushed the fence back from the pit’s perimeter, they also contend that the location of the construction site made it likely that the fence would be hit be a motor vehicle, which rendered the barrier around the hole “inadequate.”

Premises Liability
If you have been injured at a construction site on a public street, you may be entitled to personal injury compensation. Construction companies and the government entities involved with such a job site are supposed to ensure that the premise is safe for workers and the public. Failure to do so can be grounds for personal injury or wrongful death if someone gets hurt or dies.

Lawyer sues city, Trigen over fall into steam pit, The Daily Record, October 7, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Trigen-Baltimore Energy Corp., Goliath

Ligon and Ligon

Proving Fault in Slip and Fall Accidents, Nolo.com

Attorneys for Frank and Karen Hudson, the couple that was seriously injured when the house under construction next door fell on their home, have notified Calvert County and Chesapeake Bay that a personal injury lawsuit will be filed against them. The accident happened during a storm on May 11.

According to the notification letter, the municipality should have know that the home under construction, owned by Frank Leniek, was faulty and did not conform to federal, local, and state building codes, thereby posing an unreasonable injury risk to third parties. The letter also notes that neighbors had complained to county and town officials on more than one occasion that there was a problem with the home.

Following the accident, town and county representatives said Leniek’s home did not violate his zoning or building permits. Neighbors had asked that Leniek's building permit be taken away, but the Calvert County Board and County Commissioners have refused to grant their request.

Personal Injury Cases
Injuries caused by another party can be grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. A good personal injury law firm will know how to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding your accident. There may be more than one liable party, which means you could be entitled to financial recovery from more than one source.

Many times, insurers of negligent parties will try to settle a case as soon as possible even before an injury victim knows how much money it will cost for medical and recovery expenses. Exploring your legal options by speaking with a Maryland injury attorney allows you to take care of yourself and your family.

Lawsuit Looms in House Collapse, Washington Post, July 6, 2008

Rain, Winds Ravage Area; Homes Lost, Roads Closed, Washington Post, May 15, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Welcome to Calvert County

A jury in Baltimore County is ordering Keibler-Thompson Co. to pay a Maryland welder over $3 million for a crushed leg injury he sustained at work in 1999. James Morris, 58, was seriously injured on his first day working as a welder at the Beth Steel Sparrows Point plant. Morris had been hired by a general contractor to reline a blast furnace.

A Bethlehem Steel dump truck, involved in Keibler’s cleaning project, rolled down an incline, crushing Morris’s leg. The welder was hospitalized for 1 month. He has not been able to perform his job since then.

Morris’s personal injury lawyer described how the truck’s wheels did not have chocks to keep it from rolling back. While the Keibler-Thompson Co.’s attorney argued that the defendant was only liable for the routine cleaning project and that the contractor that hired both the cleaning company and Morris should be held liable for the catastrophic accident, the jury disagreed.

The Baltimore County jury awarded Morris over $2.2 million in economic damages and $952,000 in non-economic damages, which Maryland will cap at $560,000.

Bethlehem Steel was also a defendant in the personal injury lawsuit until it filed for bankruptcy.

Work-related accidents often result in catastrophic injuries, and many injured workers are unable to ever return to their jobs.

Although Maryland’s worker’s compensation law prevents injured workers and their families from suing an employer, there may be a third party that is also responsible for your injury accident.

Our Maryland and Washington D.C. catastrophic injury attorneys have helped many injured workers obtain recovery from liable third parties. Often, workers’ compensation will not be enough to cover all medical costs and economic losses. Filing a third-party lawsuit can help you recover additional compensation.

Welder whose leg was crushed at Beth Steel plant wins $3M, The Daily Record, April 29, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission

Keibler-Thompson Co.

Continue reading "Maryland Welder Awarded $3 Million for Crushed Leg Injury" »

The body of Wayne Kerr, a Maryland construction foreman employed by Centerline Construction Co., was found on Thursday at the bottom of a shaft in the Constellation Energy Group Headquarters in Baltimore.

Kerr, 55, was last seen by coworkers on Wednesday and did not return home from work. His wife called Centerline Construction yesterday morning to see if anyone had seen him.

Coworkers noticed his truck parked near the worksite. They discovered his body by paging his cell phone and listening for its beeps.

Baltimore homicide detectives and the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health are investigating the incident for the cause of death.

Falls are the number one cause of construction worker-related fatalities.

Other common causes of construction injuries and deaths:

• Scaffolding accidents
• Electric shock
• Explosions
• Fires
• Compressed gases accidents
• Welding accidents
• Machinery accidents
• Trench collapses
• Motor vehicle-related injuries
• Being hit by falling or heavy equipment or materials

Although construction workers (and their families) cannot sue their employers for work-related injuries, they are entitled to receive workers compensation benefits for injuries, lost wages, medical expenses, disability, or the death.

If a third-party that is not the employer was responsible for causing the construction accident, the injured party may be able to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

Our Maryland and Washington D.C. personal injury law firm would be happy to discuss your case with you.

Missing construction foreman found dead near Inner Harbor, Baltimore Sun, February 15, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health

Constellation Energy Group Headquarters

Continue reading "Missing Maryland Construction Foreman Discovered Dead in Shaft in Baltimore" »

Two men were injured while working at a construction site in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

The construction workers were working about 30 feet under the ground on a building project in the downtown area when they were struck by a steal beam that they were lowering.

One of the workers was struck on the head. The other worker was hit on the back. Alan Etter, the DC Fire and EMS Spokesman says that the injuries are critical but not fatal.

If you are injured at a construction site, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation is provided by employers for employees that are injured at work. A good personal injury attorney can make sure that you get the full range of benefits under the workers’ compensation package that you are entitled to.

By accepting benefits under workers’ compensation, you are waiving the right to sue your employer for personal injury. However, there may be other liable third parties involved, such as contractors, the manufacturers of defective construction tools or machinery, and building designers or architects.

An experienced personal injury attorney can examine the circumstances surrounding your construction injury and determine whether any other parties can be held financially and civilly responsible for your accident and recovery costs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in 2003:

• 155,420 construction accidents took place in the U.S.
• Out of every 10 construction workers, 1 person will get hurt on the job.
• The majority of the construction workers who were injured missed over 31 workdays.
• Defective construction materials and using construction tools/machinery are two of the most common causes of injuries at construction sites.
• The most common areas where construction workers are injured are their backs and trunks.

Two Men Injured in Construction Accident, NBC4.com, August 21, 2007

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

Continue reading "Two Construction Workers are Seriously Injured in D.C. Construction Accident" »