Washington DC Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Archive for July, 2009

Ira Sherman nominated to serve on the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America National Advisory Board.

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Managing partner Ira Sherman has been requested to be a member of Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America (APITLA). Mr. Sherman will serve on the National Advisory Board. All readers are invited to click onto the APITLA website here and view the services provided by this wonderful organization. You are invited to click onto State Advisory Boards where you will see partner Allan Siegel is chairman of the Maryland State Advisory Board and partner Joseph Cammarata is chairman of the Commonwealth of Virginia State Advisory Board.

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The Announcement of the First Recipient of the Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. Ethiopian Heritage College Scholarship

Monday, July 20th, 2009

The law firm of Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. is pleased to announce the name of its very first recipient of the Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. Ethiopian Heritage College Scholarship. The 2009/2010 recipient of the Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. Ethiopian Heritage College Scholarship is Ida Daniel. Ms. Daniel submitted an extraordinary application capped with an essay that was both moving and motivating to all of the judges. Although there were 60 applicants, Ms. Daniel’s application stood out among all the rest. We heartily congratulate Ms. Daniel.

The essay submitted by the successful applicant is attached here for all to read:
/Ida%20Daniel%27s%20essay.pdf

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Hole in Plane Forces Emergency Landing

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

It looks as though Southwest Airlines is in trouble again. This time one of its jets was forced to make an emergency landing after passengers noticed a hole in the plane’s fuselage. The flight was en route to Baltimore from Nashville; all 126 people aboard the plane are safe and uninjured, but they were horrified by the football-sized hole that just appeared from nowhere. The plane made the emergency landing at Charleston, West Virginia’s Yeager Airport.

The hole caused the plane’s cabin to become depressurized about a half hour into the flight; the depressurization then caused the activation of the plane’s oxygen masks. The passenger right under the hole in seat 20-C, Michael Cunningham, described the experience in these words: “All of a sudden, the loudest noise I ever heard came out of nowhere. There was no pop, no creak, no explosion…just a loud roar.”

Due to this incident (and former incidents) Southwest is now inspecting all of its 737′s.

Just four months ago, Southwest paid the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a $7.5 million fine to settle accusations that the airline had missed required safety inspections specifically aimed at finding cracks in the fuselages. CBS News acquired the jet’s repair records, which show that since 1994, the plane has had 89 repairs including five cracks in the fuselage between 2004 and 2009. Had this plane crashed, surely this would be a classic case of a plane accident due to negligence.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident, please contact the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.-area personal injury attorneys at Chaikin Sherman Cammarata Siegel, P.C. today to schedule a confidential consultation.

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Ira Sherman invited to speak at the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers Association on September 14, 2009

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Partner Ira Sherman has been requested to speak at the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers Association (APITLA) Annual National Conference to be held this year in Las Vegas from September 13-15, 2009. Attendees of this conference are, for the most part, extremely experienced litigators with backgrounds in representing individuals who were injured as the result of the carelessness of truck drivers. Mr. Sherman was asked to address this esteemed group and provide information on the topic of “Discovery is not just an information gathering device, it’s an attack plan.”

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State Farm Offers $5,000 – Verdict $67,000

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Partner Allan M. Siegel recently obtained a verdict for $67,000, which far exceeded State Farm’s Insurance policy of $25,000. Our client was struck in the rear by an uninsured dump truck. Accordingly, our client made a claim against her own insurance company, State Farm Insurance Company, for uninsured motorist coverage, as well as the driver of the uninsured truck. Uninsured motorist coverage provides insurance coverage in the event that you are injured as a result of the negligence of an uninsured driver. Unfortunately, our client only bought $25,000 in coverage. As demonstrated by the result in this case, it is always a good idea to buy as much uninsured motorist coverage as you can afford, since this coverage protects you, if you are injured.

Our client had incurred approximately $12,000 in medical bills and $30,000 in lost wages. She had been a State Farm insured for over twenty years, had never made a claim before, and expected that her insurance company would do the right thing, and pay her the full $25,000, since her out of pocket expenses far exceeded the amount of coverage. The insurance company offered her only $5,000, since the insurance company did not “believe” that the injuries were caused by the accident. Partner Allan M. Siegel went to trial in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County to hold State Farm accountable under the terms of their contract. The jury awarded the Plaintiff $67,000.

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Allan M. Siegel to Attend First AAJ Convention as AAJ Delegate

Monday, July 6th, 2009

In May 2009, Partner Allan M. Siegel, completed his term as President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. (“DC-TLA”) and began his new position as delegate to the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”). AAJ is DC-TLA’s national affiliate, and is dedicated to preserving the rights of all individuals and the American justice system. Mr. Siegel was elected to be the AAJ delegate by the full membership of DC-TLA in April 2009. He will be attending his first convention as the AAJ delegate in July, 2009, in San Francisco. The law firm of Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. is a member of the Leaders Forum of AAJ, and partner Ira Sherman, serves as a co-chairman of one of AAJ’s litigation groups. Mr. Siegel, as the immediate past president of DC-TLA also serves on AAJ’s President’s Council.

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Partner Allan M. Siegel Gets Full Policy Limits In A Case Involving A Mild Closed Head Injury

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

On June 24, 2009 a Montgomery County Circuit Court jury awarded $100,000 to a man who suffered a mild closed head injury as a result a car crash which occurred in Silver Spring, Maryland. Our client was proceeding through an intersection on a green light, when the Defendant ran a red light, striking our client’s vehicle on the driver’s side door. There was extensive damage to our client’s vehicle and he was trapped inside his car for approximately 30 minutes until the emergency medical technicians cut him out. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance where he was diagnosed with a mild closed head injury, (or concussion) without loss of consciousness. Shortly after the accident he began having problems with his memory. He would see people who had known for years, and would not be able to remember their names. He would lose his keys and cell phone frequently. He also had problems remembering things he had read, or following the plots of movies or television shows. He went to see a neurologist, who recommended that he have neuropsychological testing, which demonstrated that he was suffering from the residual effects of the head injury that was diagnosed at the hospital. The neurologist recommended nuerocognitive rehabilitation, which is therapy which helps retrain the brain after injury. Our client significantly improved but continued to have deficits which required him to write things down, and resulted in it taking longer for him to remember names and certain words.

The Defendant had insurance of $100,000. Mr. Siegel insisted, since the beginning of the case, that the insurance company must pay their full policy limits to settle the case. The insurance company refused. They claimed that since the head injury was classified as “mild” at the hospital, and since our client had no external or visible signs of a head injury, that his cognitive complaints were not caused by the accident. (The CT scan at the hospital was normal, and there was no loss of consciousness reported at the hospital) They offered our client $33,000 leading up to trial, and raised the offer to $60,000 on the morning of trial. Mr. Siegel insisted that the fair value of the claim was their insurance policy limits of $100,000. The jury agreed and entered a verdict in the amount of $100,000.

Posted in Allan M. Siegel, auto accidents, traumatic brain injury | Comments Off

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