On July 5, 2019, a middle-aged man had clothes dryer fall out of the bed of his truck onto the roadway of I-695. The man pulled over to the shoulder, got out of his truck, and as he went to retrieve the fallen clothes dryer, a good Samaritan pulled into the far-right lane of the highway where the item had fallen, stopped his vehicle, activated his hazard lights, and blocked the lane of travel. With the help of the good Samaritan, the man successfully retrieved the clothes dryer and pushed it off onto the shoulder of the highway.
As the good Samaritan was getting ready to drive off, another vehicle operated by a Maryland State employee was travelling in that same lane. The driver failed to see the stopped vehicle with its hazard lights activated, and at the last minute, swerved into the shoulder, striking, and killing the middle-aged man who had retrieved the clothes dryer from the roadway. We represented the mother and son of the deceased man who was struck on the shoulder of the highway and filed a lawsuit against the State of Maryland.
On July 26, 2021, a Baltimore City Judge found that the Maryland State driver was solely and completely responsible for the automobile collision that took the life of our client’s son/father, and awarded $400,000 for their loss, which is the maximum amount allowable under Maryland law, which imposes limits on the monetary compensation that can be recovered against the State and their employees/agents.