Maryland Injuries Glossary

Legal and insurance terms explained plainly

You just got a letter that says the at-fault driver's insurer would not settle, a verdict went over the policy limits, and the driver is "assigning bad faith rights" to the...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

bar order

A bar order is not a court order that shuts down an injured person's whole case or bars everyone from ever suing. The common trap is hearing "bar" and assuming your own rights...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-01

bellwether trial

Think of a few trucks being sent first over a mountain grade to see how the road, weather, and brakes hold up before the rest of the convoy follows. A bellwether trial works...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

census plaintiff

Why would someone be called a "census plaintiff" instead of just a plaintiff? In large lawsuits, especially mass torts and some class actions, a census plaintiff is a person...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-30

claims administrator

The part that confuses people most is that a claims administrator is not always the insurance company and is not the judge deciding who wins. It is the person or company...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-28

class certification

Defense lawyers love to wave this phrase around like it is some giant prize plaintiffs are chasing. Sometimes they use it to scare people: if a judge does not "certify the...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-28

consent judgment

Not a jury verdict, and not a judge deciding who wins after a trial. It is a court judgment entered because the parties agreed to it. Usually, one side agrees that judgment can...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

contributory negligence

Yes - if you were even 1% at fault, Maryland can bar your injury claim completely. That means exactly what it sounds like: if the other side proves you helped cause the wreck,...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-21

cy pres distribution

The biggest point people miss is that this money usually does not go straight to the injured class members. A cy pres distribution is a way for a court to send leftover or...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-30

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Insurance companies and defense lawyers may act like unpaid medical bills are just a private mess between an injured person and a collector, with no real legal protection once...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-03

global settlement

The worst-case mistake is signing onto a deal that ends your claim without realizing it covers far more than one medical bill, one lawsuit, or one injured person. A global...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

inventory settlement

Not every settlement involving many injured people is an inventory settlement. It is not a court judgment, not a class action payout automatically shared with everyone, and not...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

lemon law

Did the product you bought turn out to be a defect-ridden "lemon"? A lemon law is a consumer-protection law that requires a manufacturer, and sometimes a dealer, to repair,...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

Lone Pine order

A case can get more expensive, slower, or even thrown out if a judge requires proof early and that proof is weak, incomplete, or missing. That is why a Lone Pine order matters:...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

MDL transfer

A move like this can change how fast your case moves, how much it costs to fight, and who makes the big early rulings that shape settlement value. When many people file similar...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-02

medical review panel

You may see this in a notice from a claims office, a lawyer's letter, or a conversation about what happens before a medical malpractice lawsuit can fully move forward: a group...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

multidistrict litigation panel

Not a jury, and not the group that decides who wins a mass-injury case. It is also not the same thing as a class action. A multidistrict litigation panel is the federal body...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-25

opt-out rights

Do I have to stay in this case, or can I walk away? Opt-out rights are the right of a person included in a group lawsuit - usually a class action - to remove themselves from...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-31

pattern and practice

Like seeing the same leak show up in different spots after every hard rain, a repeated problem often points to more than one isolated mistake. In law and insurance, pattern and...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

plaintiff fact sheet

A standardized questionnaire an injured claimant completes in a mass tort or other multi-plaintiff case. "Standardized" means everyone is asked for roughly the same information...

GLOSSARY 2026-04-03

settlement class

Did I just get included in a lawsuit settlement without filing my own case? A settlement class is a group of people the court treats as one unit for purposes of approving a...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-29

standard of care

What the insurance company does not want you to know is that this phrase is not a shield for every bad medical outcome. Defense lawyers often use standard of care to make an...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-22

Stowers demand

People often confuse a Stowers demand with a policy-limits demand or a time-limited settlement demand. A policy-limits demand is simply an offer to settle for the full amount...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23

unreasonable delay

Why is the insurance company taking so long to answer, pay, or even make a decision? That may be an unreasonable delay: a hold-up that goes beyond normal claim handling and...

GLOSSARY 2026-03-23