D. Bruce Poole JD

I grew up in Hagerstown. I went to North High, and then I went off to college and law school. I started, when I was in law school, doing what they call Moot Court; and then I served in the legislature for 12 years, which is really good because you just have to be up on your feet a lot, and you’ve got to be able to express yourself and in a lot of different ways. I was on the judiciary committee when I was there so I learned a lot about the law and why it changes and why it’s crafted in different directions, but I continued to practice with my father. When he got to a certain age, where he just couldn’t practice anymore, I continued. I’ve now been in Hagerstown for 31 years, but I also practice – we practice – a good bit in the Fredrick courts as well. We’ll go out to Cumberland and sometimes out to Garrett County. We try to handle pretty much all of western Maryland. \n

When you've been involved in an accident with a distracted driver, it's important that you have an experienced personal injury lawyer by your side.

It’s really frustrating. I’ve been doing this for 31 years and there is no question that the insurance industry has changed dramatically. Now, pretty much anytime you have a large claim, you can figure that you are going to go through a rough time to get the money. This puts an imperative on two things. One, you need to find the right insurance agent because if you have a good insurance agent, they will work for you. Secondly, you got to find the right lawyers. This means that you need to find the type of people who handle these cases all the time and are prepared to go to court. Unfortunately, a lot of lawyers are relatively inexperienced going to court; they don’t do it very much. They want to talk a lot, but at the end of the day, the insurance company has to know that you are serious. And if you have to, you will put the puck down on the ice and go at it. \n\n   \n

People often want to know if they can settle right away. The answer is usually yes, you can settle right away, but it’s kind of like shooting in the dark and not knowing where you are going. Remember, you only get one chance. So if you come back later and say, “Oh gosh. This injury is a lot worse. I had this concussion and I thought it was alright, but now as I sit down at work I find that I have a lot of headaches. And I find that sometimes I feel like I’m dizzy when I’m at the grocery store, and I find I’m having trouble with depth perception and driving and those things.” \n\n If you have already settled the case because you needed that quick money, you are not going to be able to come back again. That’s why it is really important to be able to assess things. We’re going to spend time at the outset of the case – looking at the case – and giving you a realistic view. Largely you can say that if its big money that’s involved, you will have to go through a fight, and you will need people to fight with you. \n\n   \n

All the time people ask me, “What should you do right after a crash?” The first thing, of course, is to get to safety and get the right medical care. Fundamentally, find out who hit you and get their insurance information. Second, figure out who the witnesses are (information you can usually get from the police officer). And third, get photos. Get photos of your car and the other car or truck that was in the crash, and get as much as you can. If you have been badly injured, somebody else can do that for you. \n\n One of the reasons you will want to get in and see an attorney is that a lot of that evidence will disappear. For instance, we have had truck crash cases before in which the truck – an interstate carrier which is very common in Western Maryland – ends up moving on and is out of state. There is a lot of information in that truck by virtue of what they call a black box, which can be really important. This is another reason to see an attorney.  \n

People ask all the time, “Are car and truck crashes the same in terms of the law and how they’re approached?” The answer is no; it’s for a good reason. Everybody who has a basic driver’s license can drive a car; not everybody can get behind a truck. There’s a real good reason. Trucks are big. They are much bigger, they’re unwieldy, and they can be very dangerous in the hands of the wrong person. So the standards are much higher. \n\n The federal government puts a lot of standards in, the states can put in a lot of standards as to training and expertise for the driver, how long they’re allowed out on the road, how much rest they’re given, how much time there is in between their drives; and you get all that information through what are called log books . Then also, if you can get and expert – we have experts that we use in truck accident reconstruction cases – to get in and get the black box data and get into that data; it will tell you a lot about what the truck was doing prior to the crash, during the crash, and after the crash. It’s all really important. \n