Left-Turn Crash in the Baltimore Region: How a Hidden Hip Injury Was Proven

What happened?

Our client was driving straight through a signal on a busy commercial road. An oncoming driver turned left across her path. The front of his car struck her driver’s side, and her hip slammed into the door.

The airbags went off, and her car was totaled. Police came and wrote a report. She went to urgent care the next morning and was sent on to the ER that day.

She hired us within a week. In Maryland, a driver turning left generally has to yield to oncoming traffic. Using the police report and her photos and video of the damage, we got the other driver’s insurer to accept liability within about two weeks.

That mattered, because under Maryland’s contributory negligence rule, a driver found even slightly at fault can be barred from recovering anything.

What injuries did our client suffer?

At first, her injuries looked typical: a concussion, strains in her neck, shoulder, jaw, and back, and seat-belt bruising. A head CT and brain MRI showed no acute injury.

The more serious injury was hidden behind the head injury. About four months after the crash, a hip MRI confirmed a labral tear, which is a tear in the ring of cartilage around the hip socket.

She’d never had a hip injury or hip pain before. Our medical witness noted a hip shape she was born with that made the joint more likely to be hurt. But he found her hip would have stayed pain-free without the crash. Having a body trait that makes an injury more likely doesn’t bar a claim in Maryland. The question is whether the crash caused the injury.

He found the hip injury permanent: a limp, pain after standing or walking for 45 minutes to an hour, pain with weather changes, and limits on running and exercise. He didn’t expect her to need more treatment.

What treatment did our client need?

Her care took about 18 months with about a dozen providers, several out of state:

Arthroscopic hip surgery about a year after the crash, then rehab

A gap of about two months separated her first round of therapy and her first hip visit. Her therapy records showed hip pain from the first sessions, which connected the dots.

Her own auto policy’s personal injury protection (PIP) paid first, and it ran out in about two months. PIP pays certain medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash. She had no health insurance at first, so med-pay, a medical funding company, and later a public health program covered the rest.

The practical takeaway: Tell every doctor about every symptom, and keep going. A gap in care gives the insurer room to argue a later injury came from somewhere else.

• Urgent care, then the ER for the head injury
• Physical therapy and a neurosurgery consult
• A hip MRI, then an orthopedic surgeon
• A guided hip injection, which didn’t help
• About 40 physical therapy sessions

How did the injuries affect our client’s life and work?

Before the crash, she was young and active. She ran often and went to exercise classes. Afterward, she couldn’t run as far or as often, and classes, gardening, and yard work hurt. Losing so much of her active life frustrated her.

Her job kept her on her feet all day, and long days of standing made her hip worse. She missed about a week of work after the crash and about six weeks after surgery, then went back part time. Her hours and pay varied, which made lost wages harder to prove.

She also lost her car, which was totaled, and her eyeglasses broke in the crash.

In Maryland, an injured person can generally seek medical expenses, lost earnings, and non-economic damages such as pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. For a young person, a permanent injury can affect decades of daily life, and that’s part of the claim.

What made this case difficult?

The hardest part was timing. The real injury didn’t show up until after the insurer had already decided what the case was worth.

An early lowball. About three months in, the insurer offered enough for minor soft-tissue care and said it was close to its top number.

“She felt better.” The adjuster pointed to a medical note that she was back at the gym and feeling fully better.

A late diagnosis. The hip tear wasn’t confirmed for months, and it was found by new providers out of state.

Her natural hip shape. The defense could have blamed the tear on the way her hip was built, not on the crash.

Slow records. Out-of-state providers took months of repeat requests and lost imaging and bills.

Hard-to-prove wages. Part-time hours, pay that varied, and a former employer that resisted producing records.

A stubborn insurer. It wouldn’t pay what the case was worth even after we filed suit and warned it about trial exposure.

How did we handle it?

Got her care right away. We referred her to physical therapy and a neurologist within days.

Advised her not to take the early offer. We told her it was too low and that she should finish getting her symptoms checked, making sure every doctor knew about the crash.

Stayed with her through 18 months of treatment across two states.

Kept the evidence clean. We pulled an eye doctor visit because those symptoms started before the crash.

Hired an orthopedic surgeon to examine her. He tied the tear and the surgery to the crash and found the injury permanent, despite her natural hip shape.

Filed suit in Circuit Court. We took the case into litigation, exchanged written discovery, designated our medical witness, and subpoenaed employment records the former employer wouldn’t share.

Negotiated with defense counsel, turning down low offers with her agreement.

There were two turning points. She didn’t settle at three months, so the hip tear could be found and treated. Then the surgeon’s opinion and the lawsuit turned a small soft-tissue claim into a surgery case with real trial risk for the insurer.

What was the result?

The case settled after suit was filed and before depositions. The insurer’s final offer was about ten times what it had called its top offer at the claim stage, and half again above its first offer after suit. We gave her an estimate of what she’d take home at every offer.

Every case is different. Our past results are no assurance that we will reach a favorable result in any future case.

What this means if you’re in a similar situation

Don’t settle until you and your doctors know the full extent of your injuries. Once you sign a release, you generally can’t reopen the claim.

Joint injuries like hip and shoulder tears can hide behind head and soft-tissue pain. If something still hurts, tell your doctor.

A note that you “feel better” isn’t the end of your case, but expect the insurer to use it.

Watch the clock. Maryland generally gives you three years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Do I have to go to court if we file a lawsuit?

Not necessarily. Filing suit starts a court schedule and puts pressure on the insurer, but it doesn’t mean you’ll go to trial. Most cases settle before trial, and this one settled before depositions. Our client didn’t want to go to court and we walked her through each step.