Articles Posted in General

I saw today an interesting blog post by a Massachusetts law firm advocating that Massachusetts ban finance companies that offer loans to people using their personal injury cases as collateral. The post (and comment on the post) argues that by making the loans non-recourse loans contingent on the settlement, these companies get around existing usury laws. Particularly where liability is not an issue and payment is a near certainty, using non-recourse seems like a backdoor around the law.

Mixed Feelings on These Loans

The Lure of Quick Money Is Hard to Resist

Point of Law has an interesting blog post on a recent study regarding contingency fees. I found two conclusions of interest.

First, the study found that people who had the financial means to pay attorneys’ fees upfront still preferred a contingency fee arrangement, even if that arrangement meant they were ultimately likely to pay more in fees. Apparently, the experiment included affluent trial lawyers as imaginary plaintiffs, and they too chose the contingency fee agreement over the hourly billing rate. The authors explain that our instinct to be “loss adverse” is the principal reason people prefer a contingency fee arrangement, even if they expect it will cause higher legal fees. This theory may also explain why people are far more unhappy when they lose $100 than happy when they find $100.

I suspect another reason for this preference that the authors do not point to is that it is less stressful to have some level of cost certainty. I know I dislike paying anyone by the hour, especially when I do not know how many hours attorneys will expend. I would rather they give me an all-inclusive price to solve the problem.

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Prince George’s County recorded 285 bicycle and pedestrian deaths between 1994 and 2003, far more than Montgomery County, Fairfax County, or the District of Columbia, according to a report by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. More pedestrians and bikers are killed Prince George’s County than in any other jurisdiction in the region.

Every year approximately 5,000 pedestrians are killed in motor vehicle collisions in the United States. There are many causes for bicycle and pedestrian deaths but we see a lot of these cases in P.G. County.

A chiropractor soliciting business sent to our law firm these auto accident facts listed below. This chiropractor did not provide any support for his statistics so I pass them along on a for what they are worth basis because (1) they are interesting and (2) they also give you some food for thought as to the best and worst times to grab your kids and take them out on the road.

•More car crashes occur between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday than any other time of the week.

•Monday has the most morning rush hour crashes. More reported crashes occur on Monday between 6 a.m. and 9. a.m., followed by the same times on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

The New York Times reports on a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that found, as you might expect, that most small vehicles cannot provide the same safety protection that buyers find in bigger vehicles. Of the eight cars crash-tested, only one received passing scores on both side and rear crash tests. The Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Mini Cooper from BMW scored well on side tests but received low ratings on rear tests.

“A good-scoring small and lightweight car is not nearly as good as a good-scoring midsize car — that’s just the law of physics,” Insurance Institute for Highway Safety president Adrian Lund is quoted as stating this obvious fact. “If you’re really shopping for safety, then this probably isn’t your best choice.” Mr. Lund also expressed concern that only the Versa performed well in rear-end crashes because that rear-end car accident is the most common form of auto and truck accident and, while rarely fatal, can often lead to severe neck or head injuries, especially when a larger vehicle strikes it.

Putting all of this in context, the study found that the fatality rate for drivers in multiple-vehicle crashes is higher for subcompacts than for every other motor vehicle category — 83 deaths per million registered vehicles, which is more than double the average for all sizes of cars and trucks.

I heard on the radio yesterday that there are four times more fatal auto accidents from drunk driving on Halloween as there are on New Year’s Eve. While statistics do not support this, drunk driving crashes cause more fatalities during Halloween than the New Year’s holiday. Four out of ten accidents today will be alcohol-related. Moral of the story: be safe and keep your kids safe tonight.

The Maryland Trial Lawyers Auto Negligence Seminar will be held on Friday, November 10, 2006 (the courts are closed that day in observance of Veterans’ Day) at the Comfort Inn Conference Center, 4500 Crain Highway (Route 301) Bowie, Maryland 20716 from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. For registration forms, click here. This should be a great seminar for Maryland personal injury lawyers trying auto accident cases. The topics and speakers are:

Panel 1: Trying an Auto Case Before a Jury

Speakers: Circuit Court Judges