Personal Injury

Study Scores States on Injury Prevention, Ranking Maryland High

June 7, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A study released by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), a nonprofit health care policy organization based in Washington, D.C. scores all fifty states and the District of Columbia on their success at implementing recommended programs to prevent injury-related deaths. It also ranks the states and D.C. on the total number of annual deaths from injuries. Maryland scored highly with eight of ten “key indicators” for effective injury prevention. The national average for injury-related deaths is 57.9 per 100,000 people. It ranked Maryland 37th among the states, with 56.1 fatal injuries per 100,000 people.

The study, entitled “The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report,” was conducted by TFAH with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports health care. TFAH sought to bring attention to injury-related deaths, which it called an overlooked but major problem in American public health. Injuries, according to the study, rank third among causes of death for all Americans, and they are the number one cause among people aged one to forty-four. The study directly contrasts deaths from injuries with deaths due to communicable diseases like influenza and noncommunicable diseases like cancer. The lifetime costs of the injuries that occur in a single year in the U.S. now exceed $406 billion, including both medical expenses and lost productivity.

City of Baltimore Approves $340,000 in Settlements for Traffic Accidents Involving City Vehicles

May 21, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The City of Baltimore approved settlements in three civil claims filed against the city, totaling $340,000. The city’s Board of Estimates, a five-member board that includes the mayor, the president of the City Council, and the city comptroller, approved the settlements by a unanimous vote. The three claims all involved traffic accidents with city vehicles, including a 2007 collision between a fire truck and a car that killed three people.

Sovereign immunity, the legal principle that the government cannot be sued unless it consents to the lawsuit, governs claims made for accidents involving public vehicles, and requires that injured persons or their representatives file claims with a designated government agency before attempting to file suit. In Baltimore, for example, claims go through the city’s Law Department.

The fire truck accident occurred early on Sunday, December 9, 2007, when a fire engine ran a red light on Park Heights Avenue and struck a vehicle. The fire truck was reportedly responding to a report of smoke in an apartment building, and had its emergency lights and siren activated at the time. The smoke turned out to be from burning food in an apartment unit. Traveling at forty-seven miles per hour, the fire truck hit a Nissan Murano traveling at twenty-three miles per hour.

Maryland Teen Burned by Paint Can Thrown into Campfire

November 10, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A can of spray paint allegedly thrown into a campfire has led to burn injuries for a Maryland teen and reckless endangerment charges for two minors accused of throwing the can. The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s office reports that, on the night of Tuesday, October 25, two male minors tossed the can into a campfire in a wooded area of Bel Air. This caused the can to explode. A 13 year-old female standing near the fire allegedly suffered first-degree burns to both of her hands and first- and second-degree burns to her face.

The victim’s mother took the girl to the hospital for treatment and reported the incident to police on Wednesday. The girl should recover fully, according to news reports. Police charged the two boys with reckless endangerment, defined in Maryland law as “conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another.” This offense, a misdemeanor, normally carries a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $5,000, but in this case the defendants are minors. The criminal statute uses the mental state of “recklessness,” meaning that the prosecution would have to prove that the boys acted without regard to a known risk, in this case the risk of an exploding paint can.

From the point of view of a personal injury attorney, the question becomes one of negligence or intent. While reports of the incident give no indication of any civil claim relating to the injuries, the case offers a good thought experiment on how a claim for damages can develop. In this case, the injured girl could make a claim for negligence or for an intentional tort such as battery, depending on the circumstances. “Battery” as a civil claim is an intentional action that results in contact with another person without that person’s consent. It could be direct person-to-person contact, as in a punch, or contact through another object, such as a paint can. A claim for battery would require proof that the boys intended to throw the paint can into the fire and intended for it to affect the girl, although they do not necessarily need to have intended her specific injuries. To claim negligence, she would need to prove that the boys breached a duty of care, such as to not create explosions, and that this breach caused her injury. In either case, the extent of her injuries would determine the amount of damages she could claim.

Baltimore City Train Incident: Man Dragged 10 Feet By Subway After His Arm Gets Caught In Moving Door

July 21, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A man who was dragged 10 feet by a moving subway train today was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center for evaluation. The Baltimore train incident occurred at the Charles Center station in Baltimore at around midday.

According to Baltimore City fire department spokesperson Kevin Cartwright, the man’s arm got caught in the door of a moving train. He was eventually able to get unstuck and fell on the station platform.

Paramedics and rescue workers treated him at the scene. While the man showed “no obvious injuries,” he was placed in a neck brace and is still being monitored.

4-Year-Old Shot and 1 Man Fatally Stabbed During 4th of July Baltimore Fireworks Festivities

July 5, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

4th of July festivities in downtown Baltimore turned violent yesterday when one man was fatally stabbed and a 4-year-old was shot during the event. Thousands attended the celebration—almost twice as many attendees as last year—that was manned by almost 600 state and city officers. On Monday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake condemned the violence.

According to Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, 26-year-old Joseph Lorenzo Calo was stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle by someone that he’d gotten into a shoving match with outside McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant. Baltimore police are confident they can find the assailant.

Meantime, 4-year-old Kavin Benson was shot in the leg while walking with his father and the dad’s pregnant fiancé on Pratt Street. The boy, who was treated at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, had a small-caliber bullet lodged near his knee. Police are not sure how he was shot.

If you or someone you love was injured while at a public event and you believe that the Maryland accident could (or should) have been prevented, you may have grounds for a Baltimore injury case. Premise owners and those in charge of running an event must exercise the necessary precautions to make sure that visitors, participants, and others don’t get hurt. This includes making sure that there is adequate security, proper lighting, crowd control, proper supervision, and if the venue is one where there is traffic that vehicles are redirected so that no one ends up injured in a Maryland pedestrian accident.

Boy’s Family Reacts To July Fourth Shooting, WBALTV, July 5, 2011
Baltimore fireworks violence: Shooting, stabbing in spite of heavy police presence, Baltimore Sun, July 5, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Baltimore Fourth of July Celebration 2011 Fireworks, Baltimore.biz
Premises Liability, Justia
More Blog Posts:
Transgender Woman Attacked at McDonald’s in Baltimore Says She Was Victim of “Hate Crime”, Maryland Accident Law Blog, April 27, 2011
Montgomery County Premises Liability: Nordstrom Ordered to Pay Nearly $1.6M to Two Women Injured in 2005 Bethesda Mall Stabbing, Maryland Accident Law Blog, April 21, 2011
Recent Shootings at Safeway and Walmart Raises the Question of How Liable Premises are for Violent Crimes, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, January 23, 2011

Transgender Woman Attacked at McDonald’s in Baltimore Says She Was Victim of “Hate Crime”

April 27, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Chrissy Lee Polis, a transgender woman, was brutally assaulted at a Baltimore McDonald’s in Maryland. Polis, 22, says she was the victim of a “hate crime” and that this is not the first time she has been attacked.

She says that this latest Baltimore injury incident happened on April 18 at a McDonald’s in the Rosedale suburb. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Polis claims that two females attacked her after she came out of the restroom. She says that they kicked her, ripped her hair, spit in her face, and threw her to the ground. One woman allegedly accused Polis of talking to “her” man.

The attack was captured on video by someone since identified as Vernon Hackett, a McDonald’s employee. The footage was posted online. Hackett can be heard in the background laughing while other workers are seen standing around. Hackett has since been fired.

Montgomery County Premises Liability: Nordstrom Ordered to Pay Nearly $1.6M to Two Women Injured in 2005 Bethesda Mall Stabbing

April 21, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Maryland jury has ordered Nordstrom to pay Jacqueline Greismann and Sarah Paseltiner nearly $1.6 million in Montgomery County personal injury damages. The two women were injured on May 25, 2005 when they were stabbed by a woman wielding four butcher knives at the Nordstrom in the Westfield Montgomery Shopping Mall in Bethesda.

Their assailant, Antonia Starks, is a paranoid schizophrenic who is now at a Maryland psychiatric hospital. She had been released from prison just the day before she entered the mall and started chasing shoppers. Both Paseltiner and Greismann were stabbed multiple times.

The plaintiffs contend that Nordstrom failed to attempt to evacuate the store or adequately warn shoppers that Antoinette Starks was armed and on the loose. Greismann’s attorney contends that even though the store has an emergency manual, it did not adequately train its workers on how to follow it.

$3.1M Prince George’s County, Maryland Car Accident Verdict Awarded to a Woman Injured in a Collision with an Undercover Cop

February 4, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Maryland jury has awarded $3.1 million to Carlisa Kent, who was injured in a 2008 Calvert County car accident involving an off-duty Prince George’s County undercover narcotics cop. Kent, 45, claimed she was injured when the county-leased car driven by Robert Edward Lee crossed the centerline, after accidentally rear-ending another vehicle, and then hit her auto.

Kent sustained a number of injuries, including fractures to her left hip, right foot, and pelvic areas. She was hospitalized for three months and spent another two months using a wheelchair. Per her Prince George’s County, Maryland personal injury lawsuit, Kent will never completely recover. Lee also sustained serious injuries.

The jury awarded Kent $3,091,291.67. However, the state’s damage caps reduce the amount to just over $2 million. Police spokesman Cpl. Evan Baxter says that Lee was violating police rules when he drove the car while outside Prince George’s County.

Looking for Ways to Decrease the Number of Maryland Car Crashes Caused by Drunk Drivers

January 31, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Baltimore personal injury lawyers represent many people that have been hurt in Maryland car crashes because a driver was drunk. It is unfortunate that despite laws that make it illegal for people to drive while intoxicated, and all the efforts to educate people about the dangers of drunk driving, people continue to die in drunk driving accidents.

This isn’t to say that the number of US drunk driving crashes hasn’t gone down. While almost 12,000 people died in auto accidents involving a drunk driver in 2008, 10,839 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in 2009. Our Rockville, injury lawyers hope that this figure continues to go down.

Last week, the transportation safety officials and advocates against drunk driving took a look at technology under development that would stop drunk drivers from driving. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) technology (DADSS), would prevent drunk drivers from being able to operate their vehicles if they had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or greater. DADDS could be voluntarily installed in new vehicles. One DADSS system uses a breath-based approach, the other system is touch-based.

$1.5 Million Maryland Personal Injury Lawsuit Filed Against Howard County Following Alleged Physical Assault by High School Assistant Football Coach

November 16, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Dan Mason is suing Howard County’s Board of Education for Maryland personal injury. Mason, whose son Nicholas “Neko” Rynn-Mason used to play football at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Maryland, claims that assistant football coach Brian Henderson physically assaulted him during a football game at the school. Mason is seeking $1.5 million.

In his Howard County personal injury complaint, Mason is alleging 10 counts, including negligence, defamation, and assault and battery. He claims that in October 2009, he and other game attendees were seated behind the Oakland Mills bench and making comments about the team’s play when, at one point, Henderson engaged him in a verbal altercation before charging at him. Two school officials reportedly had to restrain the assistant football coach. Mason says that when he later tried to give Henderson a box of Girl Scout cookies after the game the assistant coach ran at him again. This time, he allegedly made minor contact before he was again restrained.

The school later issued a denial-of-access notice against Mason barring him from the high school for a few weeks. Mason also contends that in November of 2009, after a classmate commented that his son was drunk, Neko was suspended for five days.