Maryland’s New Accident Report Law
Comes Full Circle by Eric N. Schloss
During the 2007 General Assembly Ses-
sion, Delegate Dereck E. Davis introduced House Bill 1409, “Insurance – Fraud – Intentional Motor Vehicle Accidents, Creation of Documentation of Motor Vehicle Accidents, and Reports.” The bill was assigned to the House Economic Matters Committee and later the Senate Finance Committee. House Bill 1409 received a favorable report from both committees. Apparently, legislators were only told that House Bill 1409 had to do with the prevention of insurance fraud. Not surprisingly, the bill passed both the full House and Senate unanimously and was subsequently signed into law. House Bill 1409 added Transportation
Section 20-110 to the Annotated Code of Maryland which took effect Oct. 1, 2007. This new law limited who could access police reports for 60 days follow- ing the date a report is filed with a law enforcement agency. No longer could someone obtain a police report by simply requesting a police report and paying any applicable fee. Transportation Section 20-110 now required the following:
1. The presenting of a valid driver’s license or other State-issued identi- fication card;
2. Proof that the person is a person au- thorized to receive the report under the new law;
3. A statement indicating that from the time the person is granted access to the report until 60 days after the date the report is filed, that the report will not be used for any commercial solicitation of an individual listed in the report and the person will not knowingly disclose any information contained in the report to a third party for commercial solicitation of an individual listed in the report.
Summer 2008 Individuals involved in a motor-vehicle
accident and/or the legal representative of an individual involved in a motor-vehicle accident could still obtain a police report during those first 60 days as long as the above mentioned requirements were met. Interestingly, Transportation Section 20-110, specifically exempted members of the insurance industry from the above mentioned requirements. Problems quickly arose when law
enforcement agencies throughout Mary- land began to implement this new police report law. A number of law enforcement agencies (e.g. State Police, Baltimore County, Charles County and Howard County) issued their own forms that had to be used when requesting a police report. Anyone requesting a police re- port from Baltimore City was informed
about the new law but then were told that the person requesting the report had to prepare and submit their own form. In addition, police departments (e.g. How- ard County and the City of Frederick) which prior to Oct. 1, 2007, use to allow accident reports to be downloaded from their respective websites, restricting access to members of the insurance industry. Precincts within Prince George’s Coun-
ty were requiring that an attorney pick up a police report instead of a non-attorney member of their law office. The Maryland Transportation Authority advised that police reports were now only available in person and not through the mail. The potential penalties for violating the
new police report law were ridiculous. A person who obtains a police report in vio- lation of Transportation Section 20-110
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