Cumberland, MD Personal Injury Lawyer

When you are injured in an accident, you should always speak with a lawyer about your case.  A free case review can help you understand whether you “have a case” in the first place and whether a lawyer can help you.  Waiting to speak with a lawyer can mean losing out on opportunities that could have helped you build a stronger case.

Especially when it comes to evidence collection, you need to act quickly.  Missing evidence, improperly filing claims, or even waiting too long can irretrievably ruin your case and leave you with only a fraction of what you might have been able to claim in damages.

For a free case assessment, call our personal injury lawyers at Rice, Murtha & Psoras today by dialing (410) 694-7291.

When to Call a Lawyer for an Injury Case in Cumberland, MD

Call our lawyers as soon as you can after an injury.  You might want to give yourself a few days to recover from your injuries, and you may need to report your accident to work, but you should call our personal injury attorneys quite early on in the process for at least these following reasons:

Filing Your Claim on Time

All injury claims have a statute of limitations.  In Maryland, this is usually 3 years under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., § 5-101.  With a 3-year filing deadline, you typically have to begin building your case and speaking with lawyers about your potential claim well ahead of that deadline.

Additionally, the earlier you file, the earlier your case can end, so do not wait the full 3 years.

Preserving Evidence

If you wait to call a lawyer, there may be areas of evidence that you miss out on.  Our lawyers will act quickly to send letters asking people to preserve evidence, such as records of the accident, potential camera footage that caught the accident on tape, and other potential evidence that might be destroyed or cleaned up in the days after an accident.  Especially when it comes to claims involving eyewitnesses, we need to talk to those witnesses and get statements on the record quickly.  We also must preserve and collect any physical evidence, such as defective products that were involved in the accident.

Preserving Medical Records

It is important to get medical records created and to preserve them as evidence of your case.  Our lawyers will advise you to go to the doctor if you have not already done so – but that advice might mean little if you wait weeks or months after the accident before seeking care.  We can also help set you up with specialists you need to see to confirm the extent of your evidence and build a record of exams showing how deep the injury goes and how much it affects you.

Advising You on Communications About Your Case

When you work with our lawyers, we can advise you on who to talk to about your case and what you should and should not say publicly.  If you delay in getting our advice, you might let things slip that could hurt your case later or even speak with representatives from the defendant before learning how to talk with them.

For example, you should not post on social media or tell people outside your family about what happened.  The defense will jump on any statements they can use to paint a picture of what you say happened so they can try to challenge later testimony as inconsistent with these statements.  They can also use pictures of you on social media as proof that you are having fun instead of reeling from an injury.  They may even go so far as to send private investigators after you to trick you into telling them about your case.

Types of Injury Cases Our Cumberland, MD Personal Injury Lawyers Handle

Our attorneys handle all kinds of personal injury cases, but the following are some of the most common cases that we seek out:

Car Accident Claims

Most drivers will be involved in a car accident at some point, and our lawyers can help if the effects of that crash were serious.  Our attorneys can fight insurance companies and at-fault drivers, as well as any companies that might have employed the driver as a commercial driver, to get you compensation for your injuries.  Some of these cases are incredibly complex, especially if the cause of the accident is being contested.

Truck Accident Claims

When truckers are employed by dangerous and negligent trucking companies, the crashes could be severe.  In any case, trucks are much bigger and heavier than cars and can cause considerable damage in a crash.  Filing your case against a commercial truck driver and the company they work for can be difficult and relies on a few complex legal principles to prove your claim, all of which our attorneys can help with.

Medical Malpractice Claims

Lawyers who handle medical malpractice claims typically need additional experience and understanding as to how these cases work.  Proving that a doctor’s care fell below the standard of care in your particular case often requires a deep understanding of what a doctor is supposed to do, as well as relationships with expert witnesses in various practice areas that we can call on to help show a jury what went wrong and why the doctor was at fault in your case.

Birth Injuries

As a subset of medical malpractice cases, birth injury claims have a lot of the same considerations regarding complexity and the need for experts.  However, the effects of a birth injury case are often quite severe and can leave a child and their family with ongoing damages and life-long effects that our lawyers can help you seek compensation for.

Wrongful Death

If a loved one was killed, their family could be entitled to damages they need to help them move forward without their loved one’s companionship, income, and benefits.  These cases are incredibly serious, and our lawyers are prepared to take the case as far as we need to to get your damages compensated.

Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Cumberland, MD Today

Call (410) 694-7291 for a free case assessment with Rice, Murtha & Psoras’ personal injury lawyers today.