East Riverdale, MD Personal Injury Lawyer

Injuries can be a source of upheaval in anyone’s life. You may have to take time off work, stop doing activities you love, or be in pain while you deal with and recover from your injuries. This can be incredibly frustrating and upsetting for many people dealing with injuries, especially when they stem from an accident where someone else was negligent.

If you were injured in an accident and are seeking justice and compensation for your injuries, our lawyers can help. We have the drive, skills, and professionalism to effectively represent you in a lawsuit through the entire process of evidence gathering, trial prep, and argument before a judge and beyond.

Call Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291 and speak to one of our personal injury lawyers about your case today.

What Causes Personal Injury Lawsuits in East Riverdale, MD?

Personal injury lawsuits are, by and large, the result of negligence. In law, negligence means that someone acted carelessly and got someone else hurt as a result. There are a lot of ways that people can be negligent, including:

Driver Negligence

A very common source of personal injury lawsuits is motor vehicle accidents of all sorts. A lot of these accidents are caused by the driver of the vehicle involved. Drivers can be negligent in a lot of different ways, including speeding, driving drunk, ignoring stop signs, going through red lights, and more. Some of these negligent acts are against the law, while others are simply bad driving habits that are likely to get other people hurt.

Negligent Hiring

Negligent hiring is when a company employs someone who they know is not qualified to do a certain job. For example, forklift drivers need to be forklift certified. If a company hires an uncertified forklift operator and that operator hurts someone in that line of work, the company can be brought to court in a lawsuit for negligent hiring.

Property Owner Negligence

Property owners have a responsibility to keep their premises safe for people going in and out of it. For example, suppose a business has rickety stairs on the way to their front door that are in a state of disrepair. If that business does not repair the stairs, or at least warn potential customers that they could fall, they can be liable for any injuries in what is called a premises liability lawsuit.

Medical Negligence

When medical professionals are negligent, you can file what is called a medical malpractice lawsuit against them. These lawsuits can be distinct from other kinds of personal injury cases, so you should talk to our personal injury lawyers if you believe this applies to you.

Damages From East Riverdale, MD Personal Injury Lawsuits

One of the things that is in the initial filings of your personal injury lawsuit is a request for how much you want in damages from the defendant. Damages are how you “get back on your feet,” so to speak, after a personal injury lawsuit. While you will ask for what is essentially a lump sum as damages, your filings will also describe why you are asking for that amount.

Compensatory Damages

It is very likely that the bulk of what you ask for in your lawsuit will fall under what is called “compensatory damages.” As the name would suggest, these damages are meant to compensate you for your injuries and condition after an accident.

A wide variety of things can be requested as compensatory damages. First, you can get damages for costly medical procedures like surgery, specialty medication, and other treatments during a hospital stay or outpatient procedures. You can collect these damages even if your insurance covers most or all of your injury expenses. Second, you can get damages for missed opportunities to earn income. There are a couple of situations that meet that criteria. If you were not working while you were recovering and, therefore, not earning money, the defendant can be made to pay you damages based on that lost income. Additionally, if your injuries are such that you can not do your pre-accident job and need to take one that pays less, you can get damages compensating you for the difference in income between the two jobs. Finally, if your injuries are serious enough that working and earning a living is no longer on the cards, you can get damages based on your projected income for what would have been the rest of your working career.

Third, you can also get compensatory damages based on things that do not have a value plainly shown. The poster child for this kind of damages is “pain and suffering,” which encompasses the physical pain of your injuries, the mental toll they take on you, and any difficulties you have simply getting by in life because of your injuries. The court knows that these things are important and valuable despite not having a price tag, so you can argue their worth to the court and get compensated for them.

Punitive Damages

The other part of damages is called “punitive damages.” These damages do not compensate you for your injuries. Instead, they punish the defendant for bad conduct. While you may be able to adjust your compensatory damages later down the line, you have to ask for punitive damages in the first filings of your lawsuit if you are seeking them.

While you only need to prove the defendant was negligent to get compensatory damages, punitive damages require you to prove the defendant’s culpability was at an even higher level than negligence. This can be tough to do, so you should speak in detail with our lawyers about your case to see if your situation fits that criteria.

Speak to Our East Riverdale, MD Personal Injury Lawyers Right Away

Rice, Murtha & Psoras’s personal injury lawyers are here to help you when you dial (410) 694-7291.