Practice Areas

• Car Accidents
• Uninsured Car Accident Claims
• Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Claims Against WMATA / MetroRail and Metrobus
• Insurance Practices, Claims and Coverage Issues
• Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
• Defective Products & Consumer Protection
• Medical Malpractice
• Wrongful Death
• Plane Crashes, Injuries and Deaths

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Car Accidents

Chain-Reaction Car Accident? Read below ...

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Chain-Reaction Car Accident? Read below ...

Chain Reaction Car Accident.

A chain reaction car accident occurs when Vehicle #2 rear-ends Vehicle #1 and Vehicle #3 hits Vehicle #2 which hits Vehicle #1. Plaintiff felt two impacts which could only happen under this fact pattern.

While the Plaintiff’s treating physician would testify that Plaintiff’s injury is related to the accident. The problem is that the doctor could not state which impact caused the injury.

In Maryland, we have joint and several liability so there is no question that there can be more than one proximate cause of an accident. This means that each driver that caused the Plaintiff’s vehicle to be hit, is liable individually. It also means that each driver that caused the Plaintiff’s vehicle to be hit is liable together with all other drivers that caused the Plaintiff’s vehicle to be hit.

Although the Plaintiff can only receive one recovery for their injury, the Plaintiff can receive payment from all at-fault drivers. The insurance policies of the at-fault drivers are combined to pay the Plaintiff’s injuries. For example, if Car #2 has an insurance policy of $20,000.00 and Car #3 has an insurance policy of $20,000.00, Plaintiff can receive up to $40,000.00 for their injury.

Under Thodos v. Bland, 542 A.2d 1307, 75 Md.App.700 (Md. Appl., 1987) and Consumer Protection Division v. Morgan, 387 Md. 125 (2005) as well as the second Restatement of Torts in Commend d to Section 433 B, the Defendants have the burden of proving their proportion of harm which is each’s defendant’s share of the money due the Plaintiff.

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Resources

Car Accidents

• D.C. Insurance Commissioner's Website
• Maryland Insurance Commission
• Maryland Department of Vehicles
• Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
• DC Department of Motor Vehicles

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• Other Resources

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