Are These All of the Lawsuits?
A lot of traffic comes into this site via searches such as “ABC, Inc. lawsuits” or “lawsuits against XYZ hospital.” We expected this when we built the site. Statistics are provided on lawsuits involving the defendant.
Visitors to our website wonder, is this all of the lawsuits against this particular defendant? The answer is usually no, for a variety of reasons. First, this database only represents Maryland litigation and maryland cases in state circuit courts. Defendants can be sued anywhere a plaintiff can obtain jurisdiction. This means many defendants can be sued out of state.
Along similar lines, our database does not have cases in federal courts, either in Maryland or elsewhere. For instance, any time there is a lawsuit against Nationwide Insurance in federal court, it simply doesn’t appear in the statistics here. Therefore, the linked page does not reflect it. Depending on the type of defendant, state court lawsuits are far more common than federal lawsuits. However, the number of lawsuits when including federal courts will often be more.
Finally, unless obviously matching defendants have already been merged to create one record, there are multiple listings for each defendant. Defendants often get sued under various names. For example, clicking here will show all defendants listed as Nationwide. We take the record from the Maryland judiciary as we find them.
Finally, a lawsuit doesn’t always have to be filed for someone to think of it as a lawsuit. Pretend you go to an injury lawyer and say, “Hey, I was badly injured by ABC, Inc. Let’s sue!” The injury lawyer’s first move, after working out the particulars of the representation, will NOT be to file a lawsuit. Usually, the lawyer will send a demand letter to the potential defendant stating what you are seeking in order to settle the matter now, and not sue. Depending on the facts of the case, the quality of the lawyer, the type and amount of insurance coverage involved, and other factors, the “case” may end at this level. A lawsuit never needs to be filed.
Such cases are generally confidentially settled, meaning others simply don’t know about it. We certainly have no way of providing statistics on cases where actual “litigation” did not ensue. Ultimately, the statistics we provide are always the baseline. There is often more litigation involving the defendant somewhere out there, especially if the defendant is a corporation.
If there is no listed litigation, or not much listed litigation on your particular defendant, that shouldn’t mean you should not pursue a case. If you were injured, it doesn’t matter who the potential defendant is. The defendant may have been sued 100 times or not even once. It doesn’t matter! If their negligence injured you, get in touch with an experienced injury lawyer.