Maryland Accident Law Blog

Maryland Wrongful Death Lawsuit Seeks $30 Million from Landlord and Tobacco Company After Cigarette Sparks Catastrophic Fire

February 27, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Washington County Circuit Court, a woman whose mother died in a 2006 fire is suing a tobacco company and the landlord of the property where the fatal accident occurred. Dawn Bunch’s Maryland wrongful death lawsuit is seeking $30 million against Barbara Bristow, who owns the property where she and her mother, Linda Ford, lived and Lorillard Tobacco Company.

Bunch is accusing the tobacco company of acting negligently when it manufactured, sold, and brought cigarettes into the marketplace—the product that caused her mother’s fatal injuries. She also accuses Lorillard of making a tobacco product that was an unreasonable fire risk. Bunch points out that the company could have made self-extinguishing cigarettes. As for defendant Bristow, the plaintiff alleges she breached the duty of care she owed her tenants when she failed to provide them with fire protection or warning devices in their mobile home rental.

Ford, 58, died after a fire broke out in her mattress and caused her hair to catch fire. She reportedly went looking for water to douse the flames but a maintenance worker had shut down the water at their mobile home.

Maryland Bill Calls for Cameras in Nursing Homes

February 25, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, a bill currently up for consideration in the house is proposing that nursing homes in the state be required to give people the option of installing cameras if that is what the resident or family members want. The patient or his or her relatives would pay for the camera. Per the bill, any room that is monitored by a camera would have a sign on the door indicating that it is under video surveillance.

Nursing Home Cameras

There can be value to installing a camera in a nursing home patient’s room. In New York, there have been over 30 nursing home workers arrested for nursing home abuse in the wake of statewide hidden-camera investigations. In Kentucky, family members were appalled to see video footage of their 84-year-old relative being manhandled and verbally abused by workers. They hid the camera in her room because they were concerned about unexplained bruises that were on her body.

Placing a camera in the room of a nursing home resident can allow family members to monitor his or her care. Some patients are too frail or sick to communicate about any possible mistreatment. Other nursing home residents may not even be aware of their surroundings or realize that they have been the victim of abuse. There also may be residents who are afraid for their safety but are unwilling to report any incidents of nursing home abuse and neglect. If a nursing home worker knows he or she is under video surveillance, the employee may be less likely to physically abuse, verbally abuse or emotionally abuse the resident.

There are, however, critics out there who say that placing a camera in a patient’s room is an invasion of privacy for the resident. Regardless, nursing home abuse and neglect must be stopped. Too many elderly and sick people are suffering because the people charged with their care are hurting them or not giving them the medical attention that they need.

MD Bill Addresses Cameras in Nursing Homes, MSNBC, February 23, 2009
Security Cameras in Nursing Homes – Useful or Wasteful?, Ezine Articles
Related Web Resources:
Maryland Nursing Home Guide, Maryland Health Care Commission
Cuomo Announces Undercover Hidden-Camera Investigation into Long Island Nursing Home that Nets Four Healthcare Workers for Endangering Welfare of Patient, Office of the Attorney General, October 7, 2008

Maryland and Washington DC Drivers Should Watch Out for 10 Fatal Winter Driving Mistakes

February 24, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The winter time can be a deadly time for Washington DC and Maryland motorists if they aren’t careful. Poor visibility and icy roads can only make the outcome of an auto accident, caused by negligent or careless driving, worse. To help prevent fatal auto accidents from occurring in snowy weather and icy conditions, Forbes.com offers a list of 10 common driving mistakes that can prove fatal in the wintertime:

1) Not checking the weather before you get in the car.
2) Driving too fast under current weather conditions. This can cause a driver to lose control of the vehicle on slippery roads.
3) Following too closely behind the vehicle or snowplow equipment in front of you. Allow greater distance between you and the other motorist than you would when there isn’t snow on the road. Do not drive using cruise control when the conditions are wet.
4) Overcorrecting your car on ice.
5) Driving while you’re tired.
6) Driving when there’s poor visibility.
7) Failing to get the car winter ready. Also, make sure you have an extra key that is easily accessible in the event that you get locked out of your vehicle.
8) Driving on back roads.
9) Not carrying an emergency tool with you, such as jumper cables, a spare tire, water, dried food, a cell phone, and warm clothing.

1) Leaving your vehicle if your car stops, which could be the warmest place for you to be.

According to a University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health study:
• Poor weather is a factor in 1.5 million of the car accidents that occur every year, resulting in 800,000 injuries and 7,000 deaths.
• Almost 20% of highway deaths involved poor weather as a factor.

• Driving the day after the year’s first winter storm is the most dangerous day of the year to operate a motor vehicle.

The National Safety Council recommends a number of safety tips for winter driving, including:
• Tune your engine.
• Check your battery.
• Make sure the fluids in your car are at the correct levels.
• Make sure your car is equipped with the proper equipment, including tire chains, a snow scraper, and a snow shovel.

• Have first-aid supplies and a compass with you.

In Depth: 10 Deadly Mistakes Of Winter Driving, Forbes.com

Safe Winter Driving

Related Web Resources:
All-Weather Driving Tips, Road & Travel Magazine
Baltimore, Maryland Weather, Maryland Weather

Parents of Baby who Suffered from Permanent Brain Injury Awarded $4.4 Million for Birthing Malpractice

February 20, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A jury has ordered a US hospital to pay the parents of Sierra Wilson, a baby who sustained permanent brain injuries at birth, $4.4 million for birthing malpractice. According to the family’s medical malpractice lawsuit, Sierra, who was born in 2003, suffered a lack of oxygen during birth that caused her to sustain a permanent birth injury. She died in February 2008.

The complaint also contends that a nurse trainee assigned to her mother’s care at Piedmont Medical Center neglected to correctly monitor the fetal heart strips and, as a result, did not realize that Sierra was in fetal distress and needed to undergo an emergency procedure as soon as possible.

According to Sierra’s family, she was never able to talk, walk, or eat solid food throughout the duration of her short life and spent a great deal of time undergoing occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy. Her parents and two siblings say they worked hard together to take care of her.

US Lawmakers Seek to Reinstate Right to Sue Medical Device Makers for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

February 19, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Certain US lawmakers are taking steps to give back to US citizens the right to sue medical device makers for damages. In February 2008, the US Supreme Court issued a decision preventing patients and surviving family members from filing personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against medical device manufacturers if the device had Food and Drug Administration approval.

The outcome of that particular case prevented a man, seriously injured when his Medtronic balloon catheter burst during an angioplasty procedure, and his wife from receiving products liability compensation. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, more defective medical device lawsuits have been tossed out.

Just this week, a state supreme court ruled against a man who underwent surgery to take out his Medtronic defibrillator because there was a chance the device device’s battery could fail. Other personal injury lawsuits against medical device makers that have been dismissed since the Supreme Court ruling include a products liability case involving a man who sustained internal injuries because of a prostate treatment device, a woman who sustained internal burns from a device supposed to decrease menstrual bleeding, and a number of patients who are claiming injuries caused by heart implants or faulty joints.

Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-Ca) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-New Jersey) are planning to reintroduce legislation to nullify the Supreme Court decision. In the US Senate,Senator Edward M Kennedy (D-Ma) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt) are expected to reintroduce a similar bill.

Critics of the Supreme Court ruling say the decision does not take into account the fact that the FDA doesn’t always do a thorough job when approving medical devices for consumer use. For example, the Project on Government Oversight says the FDA has dramatically scaled back on inspections of “good laboratory practices” at places where early round testing of medical devices take place. The independent watchdog group also says there has been a decline in the federal enforcement of quality regulations at labs where medical devices are developed.

The Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which is the FDA division that oversees medical devices, has received complaints from its own scientists who claim managers have discouraged debate and that this has resulted in the approval of medical devices that are not entirely safe or effective.

Lawmakers Seek to Return Right to Sue Device Makers, New York Times, February 19, 2009
Report: FDA quietly scaled back quality enforcement at medical device testing lab, Chicago Tribune, February 18, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Supreme Court Shields Medical-Device Makers, The Washington Post, February 21, 2008
Read the Supreme Court Decision: Estate of Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., Cornell University Law School

Dad Files $200 Million Washington DC Personal Injury Lawsuit Accusing Lead in Water of Causing Twins’ Lead-Related Health Issues

February 18, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Washington DC, the father of eight-year-old twin boys is suing the DC Water and Sewer Authority for $200 million. John Parkhurst says that his children have learning and behavioral problems because they were affected by the high levels of lead present in the city’s waters from 2001 through 2004. Parkhurst, who filed his personal injury case in DC Superior Court, hopes that the case will become a class-action lawsuit.

According to the DC injuries to minors lawsuit, when his sons were babies they were fed formula and food that were mixed with tap water. At age 2, the boys had a medical checkup that revealed signs of lead poisoning. Parkhurst’s complaint accuses WASA officials of concealing the fact that the elevated levels of lead in DC waters would eventually prove to be a serious health concern.

Just this year, a new study found that about 42,000 District children were exposed to high levels of lead in the city’s tap water from 2000 to 2003. Many of these children would have been under 3 years of age or in their mothers’ wombs at the time.

Continental Airlines Plane Crash Kills 50 People

February 13, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board says that more than a dozen federal investigators have been assigned to the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407. The deadly aviation accident happened in New York on Thursday night, killing all 49 people onboard the plane and another person in the house that the aircraft crashed into in Clarence Center. Two other people who were in the house at the time of the deadly plane accident reportedly sustained minor injuries. Investigators are reportedly examining the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Thursday’s airplane crash is the first commercial airline crash in the US in over two years where fatalities were involved. Just last month, the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 was able to crash land the plane into the Hudson River. All 155 passengers and crew members safely survived the aviation accident. In December, 38 people sustained injuries when a Continental Airlines plane slid off the runway at the Denver Airport. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.

According to witnesses of yesterday’s plane accident, the turboprop aircraft could be heard sputtering before it crashed through snow and fog at around 10:20pm. The Continental plane smashed through the roof of a home and burst into flames when it exploded on impact. One witness reports seeing 50-100 foot flames emerging from the crash site.

A recording of the air traffic control’s radio messages reveal that the pilot never called for help and there appears to be no indication before the crash that the pilot or the controller thought that anything was awry. The controller did, however, take steps to notify authorities after he tried contacting the plane more than once and did not receive a reply.

Aviation Accidents

If someone you love was killed in an aviation accident, you may have grounds to file a personal injury claim against any negligent parties.The best way to determine if someone can be held liable for your injuries is to speak with an experienced Maryland plane crash lawyer about your case.

Examples of aviation accidents that could result in a plane crash lawsuit:
• Helicopter crash
• Medevac accident
• Faulty maintenance
• Defectively designed plane
• Pilot mistakes
• Crew errors
• Negligence by air traffic control or airport operator
• Weather problems
• Commercial airline crashes
• Accidents involving private planes
Fiery plane crash in upstate NY kills 50, AP, February 14, 2009
Pilot praised for ‘masterful’ landing, CNN.com, January 16, 2009
Crash victims include rights campaigner, beloved cantor, CNN.com, February 13, 2009
Related Web Resources:

National Transportation Safety Board

Continental Airlines

New Maryland Drunk Driving Bills Focus on Underage Drivers and Repeat Offenders

February 12, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, there is a new bill that proposes the automatic six-month driver’s license suspension of any underage driver who is convicted of the illegal possession of alcohol. It would also then take the offender six more months than usual to get his or her license back. According to Maryland State Highway Administrator Neil Pederson, there are studies that indicate that “use and lose” laws compel young drivers to change their behavior so they don’t risk losing their driving privileges.

Another bill addresses the issue of Probation Before Judgment, which lets someone avoid a conviction and accompanying penalty points if he or she fulfills the terms of probation or the required treatment. The proposal would let people arrested and charged with drunk driving to be eligible for probation before a court judgment every 10 years rather than the current every 5 years.

A third bill calls for making it mandatory for Maryland police to ask any driver involved in a catastrophic or fatal auto crash to take a drunk driving test. This information would not be admissible in court but it would allow researchers to determine the role alcohol or drugs play in deadly motor vehicle accidents. Motorists, however, would not be punished for refusing to take the test. Currently, law enforcement officers are supposed to conduct drunk driving tests following serious auto accidents only when they believe a motorist was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

According to Washington Regional Alcohol Program President Kurt Erickson, about 220 people a year died in drunk driving accidents between 2004 and 2007.

Drunk driving is a leading cause of motor vehicle deaths in the United States. The more state and federal governments can do to discourage people from getting behind the wheel and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs the better.

In the event that you or someone you love was injured by a Maryland drunk driver, you may be entitled to receive personal injury compensation for your injuries, pain and suffering, and other losses.

Safety Activists Hopeful About Drunken Driving Bills, Washington Post, February 12, 2009

Maryland Drunk Driving Fines and Penalties

Related Web Resources:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Maryland General Assembly

Maryland Crane Accident Leaves One Worker with Serious Injuries

February 9, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

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

As Maryland Motor Vehicle Collision Splits Car in Half, One Montgomery County Student Dies and The Other Teen is Critically Injured

February 2, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a deadly Maryland motor vehicle crash that left the vehicle split in two, one Montgomery County high school student is dead and the other has serious injuries. The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon in Rockville.

The driver of the vehicle, 17-year-old Silver Springs resident Johvanny Garmendez, reportedly lost control of the vehicle, which raced down a hill and struck a tree. Garmendez survived the Maryland auto crash with critical injuries. His passenger, 17-year-old Rockville resident Thiago Andrade, was thrown from the 2003 Toyota Camry and pronounced dead at the accident site.

The Camry they were riding in split into two sections after striking a tree. Both parts rolled down the hill separately before landing in an apartment complex parking lot. Another car in the lot was damaged.

Police are trying to determine the cause of the auto crash. According to witnesses, the vehicle was driving at about 45 mph above the speed limit.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2007 Young Drivers (Ages 15 – 20) Traffic Safety Facts

• 6,982 young drivers were involved in auto accidents where there was at least one fatality.
• 3,174 young drivers died in auto accidents.
• 252,000 others were injured.
• 1,631,000 young drivers were involved in auto crashes in which the police became involved.

• 4% of young drivers involved in auto accidents resulting in injuries had been drinking.

Driver distraction, drunk driving, and driver inexperience are just some reasons why young drivers are involved in auto accidents.

According to the Choose Safety for Life Web Site:
• Nearly 20,000 Maryland auto accidents in 2006 involved young drivers.

• That same year, there were 102 auto accidents involving young Maryland drivers that resulted in fatalities.

1 Student Killed, 1 Hurt In Crash That Halved Car, Washington Post, February 2, 2009
Young Drivers, Traffic Safety Fact Sheet, NHTSA
Young Drivers, Choose Safety for Life
Related Web Resources:
Latest on New Driver Issues, NHTSA
Maryland Teen Drivers, DMV.org