Jury Awards Calvert County Crash Victim $3.09 Million Against Off-Duty Prince George's Narcotics Officer
After trial: Maryland's cap on noneconomic damages reduced the $3,091,291.67 verdict to about $2.05 million. The county had insured the car at the state minimum, so the insurance available was far smaller than the judgment, and her health insurer had a right to repayment from any recovery.
Won by Plaxen Adler Muncy Maryland Injury & Accident Lawyers.
Carlisa Kent, 45, of Prince Frederick, was seriously injured in a 2008 Calvert County head-on crash when an off-duty Prince George's County narcotics officer driving a county-leased rental car crossed the centerline. A Prince George's County jury awarded $3,091,291.67 in January 2011. Maryland's noneconomic damages cap reduced the judgment to about $2.05 million. Bruce Plaxen represented Kent.
What happened
A Prince George's County jury returned a verdict of $3,091,291.67 in January 2011 for Carlisa Kent, a 45-year-old woman from Prince Frederick who was hurt in a 2008 head-on collision in Calvert County. Maryland's cap on noneconomic damages brought the judgment to about $2.05 million.
The crash involved Robert Edward Lee, an off-duty narcotics officer with the Prince George's County Police Department. He was driving a rental car that the department had secured for its work. According to the plaintiff's case, Lee hit the car ahead of him and then veered across the centerline into oncoming traffic, where he struck Kent's vehicle. Lee was also seriously hurt, though he was later able to return to work. Lawyers for both sides said neither driver remembered the collision.
Kent was hospitalized for three months. Her injuries included a fractured left hip, multiple pelvic fractures, and dislocations and fractures of the right foot. She had surgery on both knees. After leaving the hospital she spent two more months in a wheelchair, and she now walks with a cane. Before the crash she worked as a grief counselor, and she had not returned to work by the time of the verdict.
Bruce Plaxen of Plaxen & Adler, in Columbia, represented Kent at trial. Daniel Karp of Karpinski, Colaresi & Karp in Baltimore defended Lee.
The jury's total of $3,091,291.67 covered both her economic losses and her noneconomic damages. Maryland law limits the noneconomic portion of a personal injury award, and the court applied that limit, leaving a judgment of roughly $2.05 million.
The practical value of the judgment was constrained by insurance rather than by the jury's finding. The county had insured the rental car at Maryland's minimum liability coverage, and Kent's own underinsured motorist coverage added only a modest amount. Her health insurer, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, which had paid her medical bills, held a right to be repaid from any recovery. As the Daily Record reported, the coverage on the table was a small fraction of the judgment, which meant the amount Kent could actually collect would depend on how those claims were resolved.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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