Queen Anne’s County is located on the Maryland Eastern Shore and has a population of 47,798. It is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is surrounded by water on three sides: the Chesapeake Bay to the west and south, the Chester River to the north, and the Eastern Bay to the south. The county seat is Centreville, the second most populous town after Stevensville.
The county comprises over 88% white residents, with 7% African-American residents. The median household income is approximately $60,000.
Queen Anne’s County Settlement Amounts and Jury Payouts
Around 20 auto collision cases have been filed in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court, with 30 tort claims overall. You rarely see a medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Queen Anne’s. (This lawsuit against a Queen Anne’s Hospital emergency room doctor was filed in Talbot County.)
That is not a lot of severe injury trials. Why? One reason is there are not — relatively speaking — many people in this county. Prince George’s County, for example, has more than 15 times more citizens who are generally more litigious. People in Queen Anne’s are filing a lawsuit as a last resort.
But there is a more significant issue. Plaintiffs’ lawyers avoid this county like the plague because these jurors, and indeed all Eastern Shore juries, are considered conservative in their verdicts. Most personal injury attorneys find another county where they can file the lawsuit, or they try to get jurisdiction in federal court.
Does this mean you cannot win a personal injury jury trial in Queen Anne’s County? Absolutely not. You can win a good case anywhere. But if you bring an injury or death case to trial in this county, it had better be an iron-solid case.
In the District Court, about 1,500 civil cases are filed annually. In the Circuit Court, plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyers tend to prefer bench trials (where the judge decides the verdict) over jury trials in Queen Anne’s County, and many lawyers look for excuses to file elsewhere. However, a sincere plaintiff with objective injuries will typically do well in any jurisdiction.
We settled a case in Queen Anne’s County in which a woman was hit as a pedestrian and suffered a broken leg and fractured pelvis. The woman had a remarkable recovery, and we still settled the case for $200,000. But the settlement talks were full of “You know we are in Queen Anne’s County, right?” arguments from the defendants. We also below about a $850,000 settlement we had in 2024.
Other points of interest when bringing personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death cases in this jurisdiction:
- Webb, Cornbrooks, Wilber, Vorhis, Douse,& Leslie, LLP is, by Eastern Shore standards, a large law firm that defends a lot of the severe injury and wrongful death cases brought in or around Queen Anne’s.
- Many lawyers used Easton companies for service of process. Whitzel & Associates, LLC and Boomers Process Servers are commonly used. There is a company in Chester called Chesapeake Services you could also use. There is also nothing wrong with first trying to serve defendants by certified mail as allowed by the Maryland Rules of Civil Procedure.
- You can bring a cell phone into Queen Anne’s Circuit Court.
- The filing fee to bring a tort case in Circuit Court in Queen Anne’s is $185 for clients who have lawyers. Pro se litigants get a whopping $20 discount.
Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court Judge
Judge C. Lynn Knight is the primary judge in Queen Anne’s County. She was appointed by Governor Hogan in 2020 and had diverse experience as a lawyer – including running her own law practice for 18 years – before her appointment to the bench.
Queen Anne’s County District Court Judge
There is one primary district court judge in Queen Anne’s County: Judge Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. This judge has had a diverse career, working as a State’s Attorney, as a U.S. Representative in Congress, and now as a judge.
Example Queen Anne’s County Lawsuit Settlement
Let’s look at an example lawsuit we brought in Queen Anne’s County that settled in 2024 for $850,000. While driving south on a two-lane highway on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, our client was involved in a severe collision when the defendant attempted to cross directly into his path of travel.
Despite a stop sign and a flashing red light mandating her to yield at the intersection, the defendant, who admitted to looking but not seeing our client’s vehicle, was found at fault by the investigating police officer. Proving responsibility was not a challenge – drivers have a duty to see what is there to be seen. As a result of the defendant’s negligence, our client suffered extensive injuries, including a fractured ankle, two fractured vertebrae, a cervical disc herniation, a fractured pelvis, eight fractured ribs, and a traumatic brain injury that led to loss of consciousness.
Although he had a good recovery, these debilitating injuries left him immobile for several months and he accumulated medical expenses of nearly $80,000. Our lawyers did not get a good pre-suit offer. But we were able to settle this case for $850,000 which we think – and more importantly our client thinks – was a great result.
Hiring a Lawyer
Our law firm handles serious personal injury car accident, product liability and medical malpractice cases in Centreville, Stevensville, and through the entire Eastern Shore. If you have been injured in an accident, by a defective product, or by malpractice, call our lawyers at 800-553-8082 or get a free no-obligation initial consultation online. In fact, there is never a fee or charge of any kind unless we get a recovery for you.