By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

A punitive damage award for an insurance company's bad faith? It is a foreign concept for Maryland lawyers. But not for much of the rest of the country. A recent Jury Verdict Research study found that over the last twelve years, 32% of bad faith verdicts throughout the country led to a punitive damage award. The average bad faith punitive damage award was $6,951,219; the median award was $1,000,000.

The fact that Maryland does not allow for punitive damages in bad faith claims is sort of like my poor vertical jumping ability. I'm generally not that mad about it because it is all that I have ever known. I have never been able to jump high (I could never even dunk a tennis ball) and I've never practiced where there was a potential for any real punitive damages in the types of cases we handle. But I definitely get "punitive damage envy" reading a study like this. Because it is a great tool in keeping insurance companies honest.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

After a car accident, police do an investigation, talk to the witnesses, and file a police report. Although the police report is generally inadmissible at trial in Maryland, the facts contained in the report and the conclusion of the police officer as to who was at fault colors - sometimes permanently -how the insurance companies view the merits of accident claims.

In serious injury accident cases, often there are parties to the accident who are unable to talk to police because they are tending to their injuries. Obviously, this problem is even more pronounced in wrongful death accident cases.

I recently received a call from a potential client who forwarded to me the police report in this case that showed that she was undeniably the cause of the accident. The problem was that as a matter of physics and given the property damage, the accident could not have happened as the police report suggested. What did the woman who was listed at-fault tell the police after the accident? Nothing. She was airlifted to shock trauma. So the police officer listened to the driver that was there, accepted his story and then filed his police report listing the woman as the at-fault driver.

The big lesson here for accident lawyers is to take the police report's findings with a grain of salt. If you have a serious injury case, do your own investigation of the accident as opposed to making a decision on the case by looking at the police report.

• Sample Police Reports (under "Sample Forms for Car Accident Lawyers")
• Baltimore City Police Reports (how to get)
• Montgomery County Police Reports
• New (Since Modified) Rules on Getting Police Reports
• Ambulance Chasers Using Accident Reports

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

Allstate has agreed to pay New York $1.2 million as part of a $10 million regulatory settlement involving Colossus, its infamous computer software that values personal injury auto accident claims.

Under attack was Allstate's use of Colossus, a software program Allstate and many other insurance companies use to determine the value of injuries in auto accident claims. The claim against Colossus would not shock a single accident lawyer in Maryland: there are inconsistencies in Allstate’s management and oversight of the Colossus software program. Specifically, Allstate failed to modify or “tune” the software in a uniform and consistent manner in personal injury accident claims.

Under the settlement agreement, Allstate will make substantial changes to how Colossus is used:

• Providing notice to claimants that the Colossus software program may be used in the adjustment of their bodily injury claims
• Enhancing its management oversight of Colossus to ensure that it adheres to established criteria and a uniform methodology in selecting claims to be used to “tune” or modify the software to reflect recently settled claims
• Strengthening its internal auditing of Colossus and bodily injury claims handling to ensure adherence to written guidelines and procedures
• Consolidating its bodily injury claims handling practices into a single claims handling manual
• Not establishing a policy or rule requiring claims adjusters to settle bodily injury claims solely on the value recommended by Colossus and not providing incentives for claims adjusters to settle claims at or near the value recommended by Colossus.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.