Washington DC Personal Injury Lawyer Blog | Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel P.C.

A wrongful death action is an action brought by the spouse or a limited number of family members, (as defined by the law of the state in which the incident occurred) that have a claim because their loved one was killed due to the carelessness of another. Each state, and the District of Columbia, defines the individuals permitted to bring wrongful death action differently. Moreover, permissible claims vary depending on the jurisdiction of the case. In some jurisdictions grief for the loss of a loved one is a potentially compensable claim, (e.g. in Maryland) while in other jurisdictions (e.g. the District of Columbia) you cannot claim grief for a deceased spouse, child, or parent. Moreover, the time permitted to file a wrongful death action varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In the District of Columbia a wrongful death action must be brought within one year from the date of death while in Maryland the wrongful death action must generally be brought within 3 years from date of death. This can be particularly important since the survival action – the action that is brought on behalf of the injured party who passed away for causes related or unrelated to the incident – must be brought within generally three years of the date of the incident. So, as you can see, in the District of Columbia at least, a wrongful death action may need to be brought before the expiration of the statute of limitations of the survival action. What all of this means is that the law is fraught with complicated decision making whenever there is a death of an individual that has a pending claim for injuries sustained through the carelessness of another. Accordingly, when you, a family member or a close friend of yours is injured through the carelessness of another and then passes away, whether as a result of the incident causing the injury or an unrelated cause, an attorney, such as those experienced in personal injury litigation at Chaikin & Sherman, P.C., is highly recommended.

by Ira Sherman

When a party injured through the carelessness of another dies, either as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident, or due to unrelated causes, before the case is over. The claim of the injured person “survives” their death. The law does not allow the careless person to benefit because of the death of the person they injured. Instead, a family member needs only to open up an “estate”, a legal entity (like the establishment of a corporation) that allows someone to sue and be sued on behalf of the deceased. Accordingly, if an individual was injured through the carelessness of another and then passes away for reasons related or unrelated to the incident that caused the injury, his spouse or other relative can make a claim for the pain and suffering that occurred during his lifetime. That claim is called a “survival action”.

by Ira Sherman

The fact that pain and suffering caused by an automobile collision is frequently not felt until the day or days after the accident occurred is well understood by people in the medical profession. Accordingly, if you are in an automobile accident, whether you feel pain immediately after the accident or within hours or, perhaps not until days after the accident, you still have a claim, so long as the injury you suffered is one that is related to the collision that took place as a result of the fault of another individual.

by Ira Sherman

There are three components to a personal injury claim. First, another person must act carelessly. Secondly, there must be an injury. Third, the injury must be a result of the carelessness of the wrongdoer. Occasionally, a client will call and describe a circumstance similar to the following:

“I was driving down the street and a car crossed the center line and was heading right towards me but immediately before striking me he swerved back into his lane and avoided me. He could have killed me.”

In that situation the client correctly described carelessness. The other driver crossed the center line. Whether it is going through a red traffic signal, crossing the center line or a doctor, lawyer, dentist, etc. going through a “professional judgment red light.” Anyone who goes through a “red light” by not behaving reasonably and within the standard of care, was careless or, to use the legal word, negligent. However, if no harm was caused then no claim for compensation can exist. Accordingly, in the example of the person that “almost” caused an injury, the negligence of the individual would go unpunished under civil law because there was “no harm, therefore, no foul”. Had the person who went through the red light struck the motor vehicle in which our client was a passenger then we would have to determine if the person was injured as a result of the impact.

by Ira Sherman

Chaikin & Sherman, P.C. is a personal injury law group. Every client gets the benefit of being part of that group. When you work with Chaikin & Sherman, P.C. you work with a dedicated staff of people, all of whom see themselves as part of the “personal injury law group of Chaikin & Sherman, P.C.” In addition to one of the three actively practicing partners, each client is assigned to a claims manager, an individual experienced in the insurance industry and dedicated to make sure that you receive all of the insurance benefits to which you are entitled. Not a single concern is overlooked. We are available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. When you call our telephone number at 1-800-229-8384 you will hear the home or cell phone number of a partner available to talk to you 24 hours a day, or please contact us by email anytime.

We are always available for you and the first half-hour consultation is free of charge.

The law firm of Chaikin & Sherman, P.C. has a line-up of experienced, competent lawyers. Donald Chaikin, partner emeritus, was Trial Lawyer of the Year and Past President of the Trial Lawyers Association. Ira Sherman is the current managing partner, and also a past president of the D.C. Trial Lawyer’s Association. He is also co-chair of the Embolization Devices (Cyanoacrylates) litigation group of the American Association of Justice. Joseph Cammarata is a board-certified trial lawyer and named four times by Washingtonian Magazine as one of Washington D.C.’s top lawyers. Mr. Cammarata was successful before the Supreme Court and won a unanimous 9-0 decision. Partner Allan Siegel is currently Vice President of the D.C. Trial Lawyer’s Association and was also named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the top trial lawyers in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Chaikin & Sherman, P.C. has been representing individuals injured through the carelessness of others for over 40 years. Each client is assigned a case manager as well as a partner to assure that your claim is properly managed and litigated. Our only goal is to aggressively assure and pursue justice for you, our client.

Many of us do not think about the need to have a rental car or the need to have our vehicle fixed in the event that we are involved in a collision. However, significant inconvenience frequently results from the inability to be able to afford to get your car repaired or to get a rental car while your car is being repaired. Accordingly, it is important to assure that we have miscellaneous coverages such as rental car coverage and property damage coverage, assuming that our vehicle is a late model car justifying the expense of property damage coverage.

by Ira Sherman, Esq.

1. What are the available insurance coverages?

Many people do not understand the insurance coverages available to them from their automobile insurance carrier and as a result they frequently do not obtain all of the insurance they need. We will review some of the abbreviations used by insurance companies to eliminate the confusion. “BI” stands for “bodily injury.” Bodily injury coverage provides insurance to you in the event that you are at fault for an accident. It is the amount that the insurance company will pay to somebody else for injuries you caused due to your carelessness. Bodily injury coverage is usually written in amounts of “$20,000/$40,000, $50,000/$100,000, or $100,000/$300,000”. These numbers mean that no one person can collect more than the first number ($20,000, $50,000 or $100,000) and no group of people can collect more than the second number $40,000, $100,000, or $300,000. So, the first number indicates the most that any one person can collect. and the second number represents the total amount the entire group of injured people can collect. Occasionally, insurance companies write “single limit” bodily injury coverage. In that circumstance your insurance coverage would be, for instance, $300,000 or $500,000. In that circumstance an individual or a group could collect no more than the “single limit” amount of coverage e.g. $300,000.

Another available automobile insurance is uninsured motorist coverage (“UM”) and underinsured motorist coverage (“UIM”). Let’s take them one at a time. Uninsured motorist coverage is insurance coverage purchased to protect you or a member of your household in the event that you are hurt by the carelessness of a totally uninsured individual. An uninsured individual is generally defined not only as somebody who does not have any insurance, but also a hit-and-run driver or somebody that does not hit you but causes a collision by, for example, forcing you off the road. Underinsured motorist coverage is insurance coverage purchased in the event that somebody has less insurance than you do. For instance, if you had underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of $50,000/$100,000 but the person that caused an accident resulting in injury to you has $20,000/$40,000 insurance coverage, then the wrongdoer’s insurance company would pay you the $20,000 insurance, and your insurance company would be obliged to pay up to another $30,000 (a total of $50,000) in underinsured motorist benefits.

2. How much automobile insurance should I get?

Automobile insurance serves many purposes. One of those purposes is to protect your assets in the event you inadvertently cause an accident and injury to another person. The amount of the insurance that you should purchase is related to the amount that you can afford and the amount of the assets that you want to protect in the event that you cause an accident causing injury to another person. There is another reason to purchase as much insurance as you can possible afford. In the event that you are struck by an uninsured motorist, or somebody that has less insurance than your own, then you would look to the amount of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage you purchased from your own insurance company to pay you for the injuries to you or a family member injured as a result of the carelessness of a uninsured or underinsured motorist. Therefore, when purchasing automobile insurance it is important to keep in mind that it is the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage that you purchase that protects you and your family members and others who are residents in your household in the event you are struck by another individual and that individual causes serious personal injury to you or to another member of your household. In that event, your own insurance company will likely provide the compensation for your injury. Accordingly, you should take the highest amount of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage you can possibly afford.

3. What is an umbrella policy?

An umbrella policy is insurance purchased that is in addition to the primary insurance available to you under your automobile or homeowner’s insurance policy. In other words, an umbrella policy covers and insures you in the event you cause a catastrophic injury to others. Umbrella policies usually require a primary insurance of $300,000 or $500,000. The umbrella insurance protects from the $300,000 or $500,000 up to $1,000,000, $2,000,000, or $3,000,000 in total coverage, depending on how much insurance you purchase. Umbrella policies are useful for individuals who have significant assets at risk. Only you can determine if umbrella coverage is desirable for you. Umbrella coverage can be a very valuable protection for those people who need it.

4. What is “Medpay” and Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) Coverage?

“Medpay” coverage is short for medical payments coverage. Insurance companies that write policies for citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and other jurisdictions, frequently offer medical pay coverage as part of an automobile insurance contract. Medical pay coverage permits an individual to have medical bills paid up to the amount of the coverage, which is frequently $5,000 or $10,000, irrespective of who caused the accident. The benefit of purchasing this coverage is that in the event an automobile collision an individual need not worry whether they have health insurance because, so long as the bills are fair and reasonable and related to the automobile collision, your own automobile insurance company will pay all of your medical bills up to the amount of the coverage purchased.

Personal injury protection “PIP”, available in Maryland and the District of Columbia, provides for the payment of medical bills and/or loss of wages up to the amount of the coverage purchased.

Maryland allows the payment of personal injury protection benefits from your own insurance carrier, without any impairment on the ability to sue the individual that was the cause of the collision. The law is very different in the District of Columbia.

One must be very careful in the District of Columbia because if you accept the benefit of personal injury protection coverage, you may be precluded from filing a lawsuit against the wrongdoer. Determining whether to accept PIP coverage in the District of Columbia requires careful consideration, frequently with the counsel of an attorney experienced in personal injury litigation and, in particular, automobile accident cases, before determining whether to accept those benefits.

by Ira Sherman, Esq.