Employee Spotlight September 2018

Please join us in welcoming one of our newest team members, Diane Lazo. She was born in Manila Philippines and came to the United States when she was six years old. She is fluent in Tagalog, which is the universal Filipino language. She worked with another firm handling personal injury and workers compensation for five years before coming to Portner & Shure. In her spare time she volunteers with various non-profit dog rescues to assure all dogs find a forever home. Other than that, she can typically be found spending time with her two daughters, husband, and Toby- her 95 pound pitbull fur baby. With Portner & Shure, she hopes to continuously expand her knowledge on workers compensation throughout Maryland and Virginia. We’re very excited to have her a part of our team and to watch her knowledge grow.

Dashcams in Maryland

If you’ve ever been involved in an accident, you know there is always the possibility of liability being disputed between parties involved. Dashcams have become more and more popular as a means to protect oneself against false statements. If you choose to install a dashcam, here are a couple things you should know.  

One, it’s 100% legal to record public video of people, including police officers. If your dashcam is recording video outside of your vehicle, on the highway or in a parking lot for example, it doesn’t matter if the parties being recorded are aware of it.

Two, if your dashcam records audio inside of your vehicle, this is considered a private place and your passengers should be made aware of the recording. Otherwise you could be charged on the grounds of Maryland’s wiretapping laws.

If you’ve been injured in an accident you need a top rated attorney regardless of if you have a dashcam or not. Give Portner & Shure a call today.

Recent Case Results September 2018

In December of 2015, our client was involved in an accident where she was rear-ended while sitting in traffic on Rt. 50. The defendant had claimed that she, herself, was rear-ended and the person fled the scene, which forced her into the back of our client’s vehicle. However, our client stated she saw no one drive off in an aggressive manner. Also after Maryland State Police examined the defendant’s vehicle at the scene, a minor scratch was noted, but nothing that would have resulted in her being pushed into another vehicle. Liability was accepted by the defendant’s insurance company, unfortunately there was only $30k available on the policy. After our client was through with treatment she had incurred almost $90k in medical expenses. Luckily, the assigned paralegal, Mrs. Christine Airey, is highly experienced and knew she could find additional coverage for her client. After accepting the $30K from the defendant’s insurance carrier, Mrs. Airey was able to obtain an additional offer of $188k from the client’s underinsured motorist coverage. Needless to say our client was very pleased with her final result and was thankful for all the hard work Mrs. Christine Airey put into her case.   

Recent Case Results August 2018

A while back, one of our clients was injured in an accident where she was riding as a passenger on a golf cart, the driver was being reckless, flipped the cart, and caused her to fracture her femur.  After multiple surgeries, two years of physical therapy, and an accrued amount of $60,000.00 in medical expenses, it was time for her claim to be settled. Travelers insurance company was willing to offer $75,000.00 for our clients injury and medical expenses. Our attorneys did not see that figure as a fair settlement amount and continued to negotiate. By the end of our negotiations, we had doubled their offer and obtained a final recovery amount of $150,000.00. Our client was highly appreciative of the time Portner & Shure had dedicated to her case and very satisfied with her final result.

Employee Spotlight August 2018

Please help us put the spotlight one of our newest paralegals, Ms. Erica Cedillos. She has been with Portner & Shure for three years as a legal assistant and has recently been promoted to paralegal. Erica has lived in Maryland her entire life.  Her parents moved to America from El Salvador to achieve a better life for their children. Now as a mother of two, she understands the drive it takes to care for her children, and strives to give them their best life.

Erica has been in the personal injury industry for five years and has prior clerical experience working in medical offices for 10 years.  She is very detailed oriented and organized. When Erica was an assistant, she helped the paralegal she was working with become a member of the “Million Dollar Plus Paralegal Forum” she also assisted her in receiving recognition as a “2016 Top Paralegal in Maryland”. We are very proud of her accomplishments thus far and are eager to see what else she can achieve as a paralegal.

What to Know Before your Personal Injury Case Goes to Trial

When it comes to personal injury cases, 95% of all cases will settle before court, and for the 5% that do end up going to trial, it’s usually because an insurance carrier has either made a low offer or they have disputed liability

Once the litigation process begins, we file a complaint, the defendant will then have to answer our complaint, discovery is conducted to get all the information about the accident, and we will proceed to prepare our client for court. Our preparation process is very thorough. In fact, most clients find our conference room preparation is more difficult than the court appearance.

When our attorneys enter the court room, commonly the verdicts won are much greater than the insurance carrier’s highest settlement offer. Give Portner & Shure a call today if you or a loved one have suffered a personal injury.

What Clients are Saying August 2018

Love this law firm. Lupe and Melanie were my paralegals. They were friendly, efficient, and kept me updated the whole time unlike most law firms. Great experience! Thank you Portner and Shure!

This case was handled by our Paralegal, Mrs. Lupe Miranda and her assistant, Ms. Melanie Alvarado, out of our Columbia, MD office.