Personal Injury Cases in Baltimore County, Maryland

     Baltimore County has been historically been considered a below average jurisdiction for Maryland auto and truck accident and medical malpractice lawyers handling personal injury cases to take personal injury cases to trial. Historically, Baltimore County jurors have given jury awards that are about 75% of what personal injury plaintiffs recover from juries throughout the rest of Maryland and a little over half of what the awards are in Baltimore City and Prince George's County. Most Maryland attorneys handling personal injury cases on behalf of injured victims believe that Baltimore County is one of the worst forums for plaintiffs' attorneys handling accident cases in Maryland. The Baltimore Sun wrote an extensive piece on March 22, 2004 titled "Baltimore County Juries Buck Trend of Big Awards." The byline to the article was "Average for medical malpractice, personal injury payouts lower than state figure;'You don't see runaway verdicts.'" The premise of the article was that Baltimore County was the most difficult county for personal injury attorneys in Maryland to get fair compensation for their clients.

     Our medical malpractice and accident lawyers in Baltimore County have had a different experience. Our lawyers have had a number of outstanding results for clients seeking compensation in Baltimore County. One verdict our lawyers obtained in Baltimore County received national exposure in Lawyers Weekly USA based largely on Baltimore County's known reputation for not giving plaintiffs in accident cases the benefit of the doubt (and some problematic facts in the case). Our strategy in that case was to deny conventional wisdom that you should pick the "dumbest" jury you can get in a Baltimore County case and pick a smart, balanced jury that has the fortitude to wait to hear all of the evidence before reaching a conclusion.

     In Baltimore County injury cases, the parties attend a settlement conference after the close of discovery. Settlement conferences in Baltimore County are done at the courthouse in Towson and are typically conducted by retired Baltimore County judges. The judge acts as a mediator in an effort to resolve the case. These settlement conferences are often helpful in getting the parties in an auto accident case to reach a resolution. Until very recently, the trial date was set shortly after the lawsuit was filed. But in recent years, Baltimore County has struggled to get trials off as scheduled, creating scheduling problems in personal injury cases for the accident lawyers, the injured victims, and the experts scheduled to testify. The new plan is for less complex personal injury cases, the trial date will not be set until after a settlement conference and the Court believes that all non-trial disposition possibilities have been reasonably explored. In more complicated personal injury accident cases, called civil extended standard cases in Baltimore County, the practice of scheduling the trial after the filing of the lawsuit will continue to get a trial date when the original scheduling order is issued. (Click here for a sample Baltimore County Circuity Court scheduling order in a personal injury auto accident case)
     Baltimore County also has changed how attorney motions are heard and handled in all cases, including accident cases. Previously, all attorney motions filed without a request for a hearing in Baltimore County were referred to the daily chambers judge. Attorney motions filed with a hearing request were scheduled on the monthly motions docket on the last Monday of every month if the hearing was expected to take less than 15 minutes. If the motions hearing was expected to last longer than fifteen minutes was scheduled on the daily docket. Starting in 2006, all dispositive motions - motions that will end all or part of the lawsuit - need to be scheduled (regardless of the length of time) either on the civil or domestic daily dockets. Accordingly, all attorney motions for summary judgment and motions to dismiss are now set for a hearing approximately 30 days from the at-issue date. At the same time, these attorney motions will be pre-assigned to a judge by the Central Assignment Office. All non-dispositive motions filed in personal injury cases are referred by the Civil Assignment Office to the chambers judge. If the chambers judge believes a hearing on a motion is necessary, the Civil Assignment Office will schedule an attorney motions hearing within 14 days.

     The Baltimore City Circuit Court is located in Towson. There are two District Courts serving Baltimore County with courthouses in Towson and Catonsville.

     Because of our proximity to Baltimore County, Maryland, our attorneys handle a number of cases for clients in Baltimore County, including Timonium, Towson, Cockeysville, Catonsville, Arbutus, Perry Hall, Dundalk, Essex, and Owings Mills. If you have been injured in an accident or by medical malpractice in or around Baltimore County, call our Baltimore County medical malpractice and auto accident attorneys at 800-553-8082 or select here for a free consultation.

Other Jurisdictions

See Baltimore City
See Cecil County
See Prince George's County
See Anne Arundel County
See Montgomery County
See Howard County
See Calvert County
See Wicomico County
See Garrett County

See also Deadly Stretch of County Road in Baltimore County
See also Baltimore County and Baltimore City Judicial Elections
See also Medical Malpractice Verdict in Baltimore County
See also Truck Crash in Baltimore County Causes 400 Gallons to Flow into Stream
See also Drunk Driving Death In Baltimore County
Seel also Sample Baltimore County Circuit Court Scheduling Order