Elkton Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

When cars hit each other, people are often hurt. However, when a car hits a pedestrian, the injuries the pedestrian receives are often much, much worse because pedestrians are not protected like passengers of cars. Even vehicles moving at very slow speeds can leave pedestrians with severe injuries that are very expensive to treat.

Fortunately, pedestrians have options after they are the victim of an accident. They can hire legal counsel and take those responsible for their injuries to court to fight for justice and financial compensation.

Contact our pedestrian accident attorneys from Rice, Murtha & Psoras by calling (410) 694-7291 and get a free case review.

Choosing Who to Sue After a Pedestrian Accident in Elkton

When you first bring your lawsuit to our pedestrian accident attorneys, one of the first things you must determine is who exactly you are going to sue. In law, you can sue parties who were negligent and caused your injuries. This means that you have to be somewhat particular in picking who you are going to take to court. However, it is often the case that you will want to sue multiple parties in your claim.

First, you should look at suing the driver who injured you. If they were drunk, speeding, or otherwise violating a traffic law or acting unreasonably, you can hold them accountable for your injuries. You can also sue other parties like employers, vehicle designers and, manufacturers, or even government entities in some cases.

Who you sue is entirely dependent on the circumstances of your case, so you should discuss it with our attorneys to see who makes sense to sue in your claim.

Damages From Elkton Pedestrian Accident Lawsuits

When you file your claim, you ask for financial compensation in the form of damages. Damages are the way that courts attempt to reverse events for the plaintiff and get them back to where they were prior to their accident. Of course, the nature of a plaintiff’s injuries is often such that literally undoing things is impossible, so financial compensation is used as a proxy.

Compensatory Damages

Compensatory damages are damages that are based on your unique situation. They will be different than any other plaintiff’s compensatory damages because no two cases will be exactly the same. There are two main types of compensatory damages: economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are often the most straightforward to prove, as they will have a value attached to them that can be easily displayed. For example, your medical bills are economic damages, as are any lost wages or property damage you incurred because of your accident. You can show the value of economic damages through various payment records like receipts, invoices, and other sources.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages will not have a receipt or other documentation of their value. Instead, their value is tied to your case. Examples of things that might fall under this category include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and mental anguish. Since there is no paper trail, you can point to what shows the value of these things. You will have to use testimony, photo evidence, expert opinion, and legal argument to show their worth to the court.

Punitive Damages

In addition to compensatory damages, you can also go after punitive damages in some circumstances. These damages are not based on what happened to you. Instead, they are based on the behavior of the defendant. There are a couple of criteria for punitive damages that need to be met. First, you need to ask for them in your initial filings. Second, you must demonstrate that the plaintiff’s conduct goes beyond negligence to something like malice or recklessness.

Going after punitive damages is not the right move for every case, so you should discuss with our lawyers whether it is the right move for you. Do not worry, though, if punitive damages do not make sense for your claim, as many plaintiffs are able to get all the financial compensation they are owed and need through compensatory damages.

Calculating Damages in Elkton Pedestrian Accident Claims

In addition to explaining what you are seeking damages for, you also have to state the amount of damages you are seeking. Therefore, you and our lawyers will have to figure out exactly how much you are asking for. While there is no one-size-fits-all method for calculating damages, two common ones are the multiplier method and the “per diem” method.

The Multiplier Method

The Multiplier method simply takes your economic damages and multiplies them by a given number for your non-economic damages. For example, suppose you have $200,000 in economic damages, and multiplying by 3 makes sense for your case. You would end up requesting $600,000 in non-economic damages for a total of $800,000 in compensatory damages. The multiplier method is most often used when the plaintiff is not expected to ever fully recover from their injuries, so the amount you may multiply your damages by can be quite high.

The Per Diem Method

The “per diem” or “daily” method does things differently. Instead of multiplying things based on a factor, the per diem method adds up the days you are going to be dealing with your injuries, then comes up with a “daily pain amount,” representing the hardship of dealing with your injuries each day. So, if you are expected to deal with your injuries for 100 days and you and our lawyers decide that $300 is a good representation of dealing with your injuries each day, you would be seeking a total of $30,000 in non-economic damages. Unlike the multiplier method, the per diem method is often used when plaintiffs are expected to be rid of their injuries at some point.

Get in Touch with Our Elkton Pedestrian Accident Attorneys Today

The pedestrian accident attorneys from Rice, Murtha & Psoras can provide free case reviews when you call our office at (410) 694-7291.