Maryland Personal Injury Lawyers
Demographics
Queen Anne’s County is located on the Maryland Eastern Shore and has a population of 47,798. The county seat is Centreville, which is the second most populous town after Stevensville. The county is composed of over 88% white residents, with 7% African-American residents. The median household income is approximately $60,000.
Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court Judges:
- C. Lynn Knight (replacing Judge Ross in 2020)
Queen Anne’s County District Court Judges:
Somerset County Verdicts and Settlements
There are around 20 auto collision cases filed in Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court, and about 30 tort claims overall. You rarely see a medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Queen Anne’s. (This 2017 lawsuit against a Queen Anne’s Hospital emergency room doctor was filed in Talbot County.)
That is not a lot of serious injury trials. Why? One reason is there are not — relatively speaking — a lot of people in this county. Prince George’s County, for example, has more than 15 times more citizens who are generally more litigious. People in Queen Anne’s are filing a lawsuit as a last resort.
But there is a more significant issue. Plaintiffs’ lawyers avoid this county like the plague because these jurors, and indeed all Eastern Shore juries, are considered to be conservative in their verdicts. Most personal injury attorneys to find another county where they can file the lawsuit or they try to get jurisdiction in federal court.
Does this mean you cannot win a personal injury jury trial in Queen Anne’s County? Absolutely not. You can win a good case anywhere. But if you are going to bring an injury or death case to trial in this county, it had better be an iron solid case.
In the District Court, there are about 1,500 civil cases filed every year. In the Circuit Court, plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyers tend to prefer bench trials (where the judge decides the verdict) over jury trials in Queen Anne’s County, and many lawyers look for excuses to file elsewhere. However, a sincere plaintiff with objective injuries will typically do well in any jurisdiction. Judge Ross, in particular, has extensive civil experience. As far as District Court cases go, Judge Kratovil is a new member of the court, but all signs – most notably his voting record in Congress – point to him being fair-minded to people who deserve compensation.
We settled a case in Queen Anne’s County in 2017 where a woman was hit as a pedestrian and suffered a broken leg and fractured pelvis. The woman had a great recovery and we still managed to settle the case for $200,000. But the settlement talks were full of “You know we are in Queen Anne’s County, right?” arguments from the defendants.
Other points of interest when bringing personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death cases in this jurisdiction:
- Webb, Cornbrooks, Wilber, Vorhis, Douse,&Leslie, LLP is, by Eastern Shore standards, a large law firm that defends a lot of the serious injury and wrongful death case brought in or around Queen Anne’s.
- Many lawyers used Easton companies for service of process. Whitzel & Associates, LLC and Boomers Process Servers are commonly used. There is a company in Chester called Chesapeake Services you could also use. There is also nothing wrong with first trying to serve defendants by certified mail as allowed by the Maryland Rules of Civil Procedure.
- You can bring a cell phone into Queen Anne’s Circuit Court.
- The filing fee to bring a tort case in Circuit Court in Queen Anne’s is $175 for clients who have lawyers. Pro se litigants get a whopping $10 discount. It also cost $10 for a lawyer to enter an appearance.
Centreville Circuit Court Judges
There is one circuit court judge in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland: Thomas G. Ross, appointed from 2009 through 2019.
Centerville District Court Judges
There is one district court judge in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland: Frank Kratovil, an associate judge (and, as mentioned above, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives) appointed through 2022. Talbot County Judge Hugh Adkins has also been covering civil cases in Queen Anne’s.
Queen’s Anne’s County Trial Lawyers
Our law firm handles serious personal injury car accident, product liability and medical malpractice cases in Centreville, Stevensville, and through the entire Eastern Shore. If you have been injured in an accident, by a defective product, or by malpractice, call our lawyers at 800-553-8082 or get a free no-obligation initial consultation online. In fact, there is never a fee or charge of any kind unless we get a recovery for you.