Injuries from all kinds of accidents and other mistakes can leave victims with expensive medical bills, lost earnings, and pain and suffering. Without compensation, you might be left facing an uphill battle to get out of the economic hole these injuries put you in. But when your injuries were someone else’s fault, our lawyers can help you get the compensation you deserve.
Our lawyers can fight insurance companies and defendants, whether in the conference room or the courtroom to get you the coverage you need for your injuries. We handle all sorts of injury cases, from car accidents to slip and falls to medical malpractice and more.
For a free case review, call Rice Law at (410) 694-7291 for a free case evaluation.
Frostburg, MD Personal Injury Law
Maryland has some interesting laws that can affect your case. While we keep in line with the laws of most states when it comes to injury cases, there are some particular limitations that you might now know about if you are generally looking for information about personal injury cases on the internet.
General Laws
First off, injury cases work on a claim of “negligence” in most cases. You do not need to prove that a driver crashed into you on purpose or that a doctor’s care was intentionally insufficient. Instead, we have to show that the defendant breached a legal duty that they owed you and that the breach caused your injuries and damages.
These four elements have to be met in every case or else you cannot sue. Alternatively, elements are different for intentional tort claims like assault and battery.
Statute of Limitations
Maryland’s statute of limitations for personal injury cases is found in Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., § 5-101. This law gives you 3 years from the date of injury to file your case. However, other statutes might apply to particular cases.
First, if you are suing for assault, you usually only have 1 year under § 5-105, but Ford v. Douglas (2001), an appellate case in Maryland, makes it clear that the deadline for battery claims is still 3 years.
Second, if you are a minor when the injury occurred or you had an appreciable mental disability, § 5-201 tolls or pauses the clock so it does not start running until after the disability is removed. You have 3 years from that point. Importantly, a 2002 appellate case, Mason v. Board of Education, states that the 3-year clock starts from the day before a minor turns 18, not their actual 18th birthday, under Maryland law.
Third, if you were the victim of medical malpractice, § 5-109 sets two limits, and you have to file within the earlier limit. One is within 3 years of finding out about the injury, or else you have to file within 5 years of the injury. These function as a “discovery rule,” giving you time to file beyond the normal negligence 3-year limit if you did not know about the malpractice, but includes a “statute of repose” that cuts off filing after 5 years no matter what. Rules are different for minors, including different dates for filing depending on the age of the victim at the time of the malpractice and the effect of the malpractice.
Lastly, sexual abuse claims for minors have no filing deadline under § 5-117, though there are important caveats with this law to discuss with a lawyer if your abuse occurred before October 1, 2023.
Contributory Negligence
Victims are not always perfect, in the sense that sometimes both parties make mistakes in an injury case. In many cases, the defendant’s mistakes are much worse than the victim’s mistakes, and it is clear that one party did wrong and the other party was the victim. Under Maryland law, however, we use a very old, very strict system.
With this “contributory negligence” rule, any victim who contributed to their own injuries is barred from suing. This means that even 1% shared fault makes your case lose. However, there are ways around this rule.
First, the victim’s contributory negligence has to actually, factually, contribute to the accident. If you did something wrong, but it was cut off by the defendant’s negligence or a third party’s negligence, then it did not contribute. If the accident would have occurred even without your mistake, then your mistake did not factually cause the accident either.
Second, we can use the “last clear chance” doctrine to put the accident fully on a defendant who had the last clear chance to avoid the accident. For example, if you pulled up too far into an intersection, and a car comes along half a minute later and hits you when they had plenty of space to go around you, that would be their fault. They cannot just hit you because you are sticking out when they have a clear chance to go around.
Caps on Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages cover things like pain and suffering. Maryland puts a limit on these damages, but the limit depends on whether the case is for medical malpractice or not. The limit goes up every year according to § 11-108. Speak with a lawyer about the specific cap that applies to your case, given that it changes every year in October for regular claims and January for malpractice.
Damages for Injury Victims in Frostburg, MD
Our personal injury lawyers can help you claim damages for any harms you face related to the accident. In many cases, this will focus on the medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering related to the accident.
Economic damages like medical bills and lost wages are based on bills and other financial amounts, allowing us to introduce paperwork, records, and financial documents to show these values. In many cases, future damages can also be projected. Non-economic damages like pain and suffering are proven through testimony and proof about how severe your injuries are and how they affect your life. As mentioned above, these non-economic damages are capped in Maryland injury cases.
Call Our Frostburg, MD Personal Injury Attorneys Today
Call Rice Law at (410) 694-7291 for your free, personalized case evaluation with our personal injury attorneys.