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Automobile Insurance Subrogation: In All 50 States - Hardcover
Automobile Insurance Subrogation: In All 50 States - Electronic
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§ 4.21 MARYLAND
§ 4.21[1] Subrogation Rights
Maryland courts recognize three types of subrogation claims:
(1) legal (equitable) subrogation; (2) conventional (contractual)
subrogation; and (3) statutory subrogation.1 These three categories
exist independently of each other. The nonexistence of one does not
automatically exclude the ability to utilize another.
In Maryland it has long been held that a chose in action may be
validly assigned.2 The right of assignment includes a chose in action
based on tort or contract.3 Conventional subrogation arises by an
express or implied agreement.4 Recovery under conventional
subrogation is based on contract law, but is subject to the principles
of equity.5 This genus of subrogation has two distinct species. The
first, the older of the two, was described by the Maryland Court of
Appeals as follows:
It occurs where one having no interest or any relation to the
matter pays the debt of another and by agreement is entitled
to the rights and securities of the debtor so paid. The
contract right of subrogation is somewhat broader than legal
subrogation, for the right is granted irrespective of whether
the payment was necessary for the protection of the person
seeking subrogation.6
The second species of conventional subrogation involves cases
where creditors assign the right of recovery of a debt to another.7 The
Court of Appeals has noted that "assignment of the ... right of
recovery [gives] rise to conventional subrogation."8 The policy
underlying the Subrogation Doctrine is the desire to prevent the party
primarily liable on the debt from being unjustly enriched when
someone pays his debt.9
Gary Wickert is an insurance trial lawyer and is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on insurance subrogation. He is also the author of several subrogation books and legal treatises and is a national and international speaker and lecturer on subrogation and motivational topics. After 15 years as the youngest managing partner in the history of the 30-lawyer Houston law firm of Hughes, Watters & Askanase, L.L.P., Mr. Wickert returned to his native Wisconsin in 1998 and co-founded the subrogation firm of Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. He oversees a National Recovery Program which includes a network of nearly 285 contracted subrogation law firms in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom and boasts recoveries of more than $500 million in recoveries and credits for more than 200 insurance companies. Licensed in both Texas and Wisconsin, Mr. Wickert is double board-certified in both personal injury law and civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is also certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, for whom he has both written and graded the product liability questions contained on the NBTA national certification exam taken by trial lawyers around the country. For 25 years, Mr. Wickert has served as an expert witness and insurance consultant on subrogation and insurance related issues and has been consulted by insurance carriers, lawyers, and legislative bodies from several states. He is a licensed arbitrator and has attended more than 750 mediations in more than 30 different states. He has represented subrogated insurance carriers in every state, and has been admitted pro hac vice in 17 states. Gary Wickert has worked with the Texas Legislative Oversight Committee in rewriting their workers' compensation subrogation statutes, has served on the Board of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals, and has been cited as an authority on workers' compensation subrogation by several appellate courts, including the Texas Court of Appeals. He is one of only a few lawyers to have ever represented a subrogated carrier before the United States Supreme Court, and was named as one of Law & Politics magazine's "Super Lawyers" for 2005, 2006, and 2007.
