That Time I Rear-Ended a Sheriff

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

What to do after getting into a car accident, even a fender bender with a Deputy Sheriff.

Written By: Andy Nichols

If you’ve been involved in a car accident, even a minor one, you know it’s a bad experience.  You know what makes a bad experience worse?  When you rear-end a car in traffic and a police officer in uniform steps out of the car you just hit.  Your stress level goes through the roof.  You begin to wonder if you paid that last parking ticket you got downtown, you hope your headlights are all working correctly and you begin to think who your one phone call from jail will be.  

This happened to me.  We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic and I looked down at the radio display, looked up and traffic was stopped.  I couldn’t stop in time and I bumped the Toyota in front of me.  Imagine my response when a deputy sheriff stepped out of the Toyota.  Thankfully, the deputy I hit could not have been nicer.  We pulled over into a parking lot, made sure everyone was okay, exchanged information and went our respective ways.  

It is worth noting that in Maryland, if you get into a car accident and your vehicles are able to be driven, you can move them off the roadway.  If you need to take pictures to memorialize where the vehicles were respective to road signs, lanes of travel, etc., do so, but once you’ve done that, you can move your vehicles.  Not only will your fellow commuters and drivers thank you, for obvious reasons, it’s the safe thing to do.  

While even minor accidents are stressful, here are a few tips to help reduce that stress.  

If you think you may be at fault:

(1) take pictures of the other vehicle(s) to document property damage, particularly if it’s minor.  

(2) Call your insurance company on the spot if you can.  This allows the insurance company the opportunity to speak with the other driver and document any injuries they may be claiming and whether or not they were alone in the vehicle or had passengers.  

(3) Don’t admit fault.  Even if you think you’re at fault, there may be circumstances you’re not aware of at that time that may shift some or all of the liability to another person. 

If you believe the other party is at fault:

(1) Take pictures of the other driver’s license plate, vehicle, driver’s license and insurance card.  Call the other driver’s cell phone immediately and make sure it rings to the phone they have.  This a is great way to make sure you’ve got the number stored. 

 (2) Call their insurance company on the spot because this allows you to confirm they have insurance coverage.  

(3) Even if you’re not feeling any injuries, be very careful how you word a response if someone asks you if you’re injured.  Don’t lie, but consider saying, “I’m not feeling anything right now.”  

Be safe and don’t drive distracted!

New Laws Taking Effect on October 1, 2020

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

This is a sample of the new laws taking effect on October 1, 2020. A full list can be found on the Maryland General Assembly’s website (http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Report?ID=chapters).

1.      Anti-discrimination laws:  This new law, among other things, prohibits employment discrimination based on certain traits, such as hairstyle and hair texture, associated with race.  Specifically, the bill prohibits discrimination on the basis of a “protective hairstyle,” which includes “braids, twists, and locks,” and clarifies that the definition of “race” also includes “traits associated with race, including hair texture, afro hairstyles, and protective hairstyles.”  

2.     Salary history and inquiries:  (a) Employers are required to provide the salary range to an applicant for the position for which they applied. (b)     Employers are prohibited from making salary history inquiries to an applicant or former employer. This does not prohibit an employee from volunteering their salary history. (c) Employer are prohibited from retaliating against or refusing to interview, hire or employee an applicant who requests salary information or refuses to provide their salary history.  (d) Employers are prohibited from taking action against an employee who asks about their own wages.   

3.     Notice requirements to employees prior to layoffs:  This amendment applies to employers with at least 50 employees that operate an industrial, commercial or business enterprise in Maryland for at least one year. Employees who work on average, less than 20 hours per week or employees who have worked less than 6 months in the immediately preceding 12 months are not counted in the 50-employee requirement.  Notice must be given:  (a) When an employer is relocating part of its operations to another existing site or a new proposed site.  (b) The shutting down of a workplace or a portion of the operations of a workplace that reduces the number of employees by the greater of either 25% or 15 employees over a 3-month period.  (c) Usually notice must be given at least 60 days in advance.  (d) The notice must contain the name and address of the affected workplace, a supervisor’s name, telephone number and email address, whether the reduction in operations is expected to be permanent or temporary and whether the workplace is expected to shut down and when the expected reduction in operations is scheduled to begin.   

4.     The use of facial recognition software during pre-employment job interviews is prohibited without the applicant’s consent.   

5.     Child support guideline changes: Currently the law requires that a child have at least 128 overnight visits with each parent in order to qualify for shared custody in child support calculations.  The new law changes the threshold to 92 overnight visits.     

6.     Hate crimes and the use of symbols to threaten or intimidate:  A person is prohibited from placing or inscribing an item or symbol, including an actual or depicted noose or swastika with the intent to threaten or intimidate any person or group of persons on any real or personal property, public or private without the express permission of the owner.