Miller & Zois, LLC

Studies Looking at Value of Personal Injury Cases in Maryland and Nationally

      There is data available to give injury victims some general notion of what accident victims are receiving in personal injury cases in Maryland. In 2005, a company that analyzes jury verdicts in personal injury cases did a study that found that the nationwide median jury award in a personal injury case was $38,461 and the nationwide plaintiff recovery probability was 55 percent. In Maryland personal injury cases, much to the chagrin of Maryland lawyers, the median compensatory award in personal injury trials was $12,813. The good news for Maryland lawyers and their clients is that the plaintiff prevailed in 69% of the cases (as opposed to 55% nationally).

      Maryland plaintiffs prevailed in 83% of auto accident personal injury cases. The average jury award in Maryland car accident personal injury cases was $11,277. In contrast, plaintiffs prevailed in only 8% of medical malpractice cases in Maryland (bearing in mind that most meritorious cases settle before trial) but the average jury award in medical malpractice cases was $808,772. The study does not breakdown these jury verdicts by county, but clearly the larger jury awards in Maryland are in Baltimore City and Prince George's County (the courthouse is in Upper Marlboro). This data, which was of great interest to Maryland personal injury lawyers with respect to the gap between Maryland and the rest of the nation, was generated by an analysis of 250,000 personal injury cases in Maryland and across the country from 1998-2005.

Our Attorneys' Results in Personal Injury Cases
      If the data above is discouraging, you might be comforted that our attorneys' average is over 10 times the Maryland average and we have only once received a jury verdict in a personal injury case less than $22,500. Good, well-prepared lawyers (and there are many good personal injury attorneys in Maryland and around the country) who have a good client, meticulously prepare a case and then present it honestly and fairly to a jury typically get much better jury awards than those who do not.

The Factors That Matter in Personal Injury Cases
      But our accident and medical malpractice lawyers' verdicts in personal injury cases and the data set out above analyzing Maryland jury verdicts are clearly not predictive of the results in any individual Maryland personal injury case. You need to discuss with your lawyer the specific facts of your personal injury case, the possible defense that may be asserted by the defendant's lawyer that may affect the jurors' perceptions, and come to a conclusion about the fair value of your case. This discussion will include analysis of the severity of the injuries you suffered as described both by you and in your medical records, the amount of available insurance, how clear the causal connection is between your injuries and the accident, how strong your liability case is, the quality of all of the witnesses, and the expected jury perceptions of you and the defendant (a Maryland jury is not told in a personal injury trial that the defendant has an insurance policy). This discussion with your lawyer will also include analysis of the venue where the case is being tried. In Maryland, as we mentioned earlier, Baltimore City and Prince George's County are favorable venues for plaintiffs. Conversely, in more rural areas of Maryland, such as Baltimore County or Wicomico County, for example, the jury awards are more conservative. This is true not just in Maryland but throughout the United States -- jury awards are typically higher in urban areas than in rural That said, some of the best jurisdictions in the country for personal injury victims are Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, states that have very large rural populations.

Value of Smaller Personal Injury Cases
      It is not difficult to predict the settlement value of a smaller personal injury case in Maryland where the injuries are not substantial. Cases in Maryland where the value of the case is less than $25,000 cannot be predicted with exact certainty but an experienced injury lawyer in Maryland can predict the value to a reasonable degree of confidence within a relatively narrow range. The outcome is more predictable in smaller cases because the case will be decided by a District Court judge rather than a jury. Accordingly, if you know the amount of lost wages, the injuries, and the way the injured client will appear at trial, a seasoned Maryland accident lawyer familiar with the district court judges in the particular county where the case is being tried can generally make a close prediction as to how the judge might rule on that case.

How the Insurance Companies Determine Value
      Typically, most of the insurance companies our lawyers deal with in Maryland injury cases use computer software to determine the value of car, truck, and motorcycle accident cases. Most use a computer system called Colossus, which is reportedly used by more than 50 percent of the nation's claims insurance adjusters. Many other insurance companies use a similar program. The insurance adjuster inputs the data received from your lawyers, your medical records and the amount of your lost wages. Colossus then considers the severity of the accident and where the accident occurred (or where suit could be brought). Colossus will give a higher value for a case in a venue considered favorable for accident victims, such as Baltimore City or Prince George's County, than it would for the same case in, for example, Garrett County, Anne Arundel County, or Montgomery County in Maryland.

      Colossus also looks at whether your accident lawyer has a history of successfully taking trials to verdict in Maryland or whether the accident lawyer simply settles all of his/her personal injury cases. Both the computer and the insurance adjuster know which lawyers just settle their cases without even considering a trial if the offer is unreasonable. This is one of many reasons why the quality of your accident attorney matters so much even if you intend to settle your case without filing a lawsuit or going to trial. Colossus then specifically looks to your injuries as described in your medical records. One of the most important questions is whether the injuries are permanent. Colossus also gives higher values for objective injuries (broken bones, herniated discs) measured by diagnostic testing than soft tissue injuries. It does give, however, values for muscle spasm (for which Colossus gives particular weight in cases without a defined objective injury), restriction on movement, radiating pain, anxiety, depression, headaches, dizziness, and visual disturbance. Colossus also gives greater value in accident cases where the patient went to the hospital for initial treatment of the injuries immediately after the accident.

      Colossus takes this information and generates a range of settlement values for that accident case. While Colossus and similar programs do have some value, the problem with them is they cannot grasp the complexity of a human's pain and suffering. There is no computer that can ascertain pain and suffering or how an injury really impacted a person's life. How much is it worth to not be able to pick up your newborn baby without extreme pain? There is no way a computer can answer this question.

      This is why your personal injury lawyer must fully explain why your injuries are different or be prepared to file a lawsuit. When your accident lawyer files a lawsuit, the insurance companies will sometimes take a second look at the real trial value of the case, particularly when they know that the accident lawyers handling the case are willing to go to trial. While Colossus cannot appreciate pain, suffering and the true impact of the injury on the victim, judges and juries tend to listen to and consider many of the factors that Colossus ignores because it does not understand them. Juries make distinctions based upon whether or not they think the plaintiff is an honest good person who has suffered as a result of their injuries.

      In reality, juries are in many ways the opposite of Colossus because juries respond to human pain and suffering. A jury may not award damages based on the nuances of a C4/C5 cervical (neck) herniated disc injury but it will award damages because Mom used to be a shopaholic for her three kids at Christmas time but now cannot get off a bench at the mall because her neck hurts so much when she walks. A computer cannot understand this kind of impact and never will. The very purpose of a jury in our legal system is to take these types of intangibles into consideration to render a fair verdict.

     Our law firm handles, among other things, serious injury accidents involving broken or fractured legs in Maryland and throughout the country. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious leg injury as the result of the negligence of someone else, call our lawyers at 800-553-8082 or click here for a free Internet consultation.

Sample Demand Letters

See also Sample Demand Letter #1 (example of a demand letter)

See also Sample Demand Letter #2 (another example demand letter)

Values of Specific Injuries

Ankle Fracture Settlements and Verdicts in Maryland (median values)

Foot Injury Verdicts Nationally(median values)

Foot Injury Verdicts Nationally #2 (including amputated toe cases)

Fracture and Broken Leg Verdicts (median and average verdicts)

Rotator Cuff Settlements and Verdicts in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. (median values)
Rotator Cuff Settlement and Verdicts Throughout the Country (national data shows rise in rotator cuff values)

Fractured Shoulder Verdicts and Settlements in Maryland (median values)

Vertebrae Fractures (median values)

Wrongful Death Settlements and Verdicts in Maryland (wrongful death values)

Values Generally or by Type of Case

Valuing Truck Accident Cases (data on truck accident settlement and verdicts)

Valuing Truck Accident Cases Part II (more on settlement and verdicts)

Valuing Truck Accident Cases Part III (rear end truck accidents)

Product Liability Verdicts (median value of products cases by type of product)

Value of Medical Malpractice Cases in Maryland and Throughout the Country

Value of Motor Vehicle Accident Cases in Maryland and Throughout the Country

Comparision of Verdicts Throughout the United States (jurisdictional comparisions)

Back to Settlement of Personal Injury Accident Claims (information on settlement)
Back to Personal Injury Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (extensive injury victim FAQ's)
Back to Personal Injury Victim Help Center (information for accident victims)

See also Maryland Cap on Non-Economic (Pain and Suffering) Damages

See also Personal Injury Lawyer Blog (analysis of personal injury issues)

See also Impact of Race and Poverty on Jury Awards (do race and poverty impact awards?)
See also Valuing Cases in Virginia (general info on Virginia injury case results)
See also Valuing Cases in Washington D.C. (general info on Washington D.C. case results)

See also Contact us or call 1-800-553-8082