Glenarden Car Accident Lawyer

Glenarden is just inside the “beltway” near Washington, D.C. As such, car accidents are common here.

When another driver injures you, our attorneys will be ready to help you get the compensation you are owed. Of course, victims likely have growing damages, so they will be concerned with how much they can get for their case. Fortunately, our team can fully assess your damages, keeping you from settling for less than what your claim is worth. We will calculate your economic damages, like medical bills and lost wages, as well as your non-economic damages, like pain and suffering. For injuries that were caused by truly reprehensible behavior, we can request the court award punitive damages, further increasing the value of your lawsuit.

Contact Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291 today and get your free case review with our Silver Spring, MD car accident lawyers.

What a Car Accident Case is Worth in Glenarden, MD

One of the most pressing questions car accident victims have is how much their case is worth. How much a particular claim is worth in Glenarden will depend on the types of damages sustained in the accident and after. Fortunately, our car accident lawyers can assess the full scope of your damages so every loss you suffered is accounted for. Most people understand that they should be compensated for their economic losses, like medical bills and lost income. But the case might be worth substantially more if your injuries result in prolonged non-economic damages, like pain and suffering.

How your accident was caused will also dictate the compensation that could be awarded. Most accidents are caused by ordinary negligence, like speeding or distracted driving. But, when a driver acts recklessly or maliciously, punitive damages might be awarded on top of the damages meant to compensate you. Lastly, your own acts during the accident will need to be analyzed to determine if claims of contributory negligence could harm your chances of recovery.

Economic Damages

Determining the worth of a car accident claim usually starts with assessing the economic damages. Much of your economic losses will be in the form of medical expenses. After your car accident, you should visit the emergency room, followed by getting further medical treatment. We will collect your records and bills as you get care.

In some cases, we will need to wait until you complete your treatment program before knowing the final value of your medical expenses. However, you might need medical care long into the future if your injuries are serious and cannot wait until being fully healed to be compensated. In such situations, we can work with medical experts to determine the value of your future medical damages.

The next step will be calculating the lost wages you have incurred. Car accident injuries can put a victim out of work for a considerable amount of time. Just treating your injuries and meeting with our attorneys can cause you to miss a great deal of time at work. In some cases, victims cannot go back to the job they did before but must instead take a different, lower-paying position. Their injuries could also cost them bonuses and promotions they were counting on before getting injured. We will usually consult experts to determine the value of the lost future earning capacity your injuries have caused.

Of course, the value of your car or repairs to it will be included in the value of your claim. In fact, you can claim any property damage and out-of-pocket expenses that directly resulted from the other driver’s negligence. For instance, if you need to procure childcare to make physical therapy appointments or need to purchase medical equipment, these costs will increase the value of your claim.

Non-Economic Damages

While your non-economic damages are no less real than your economic ones, they are often much more challenging to quantify. Unlike economic damages, there is no easy paper trail or billing records to follow to determine an exact amount. Instead, non-economic damages, or “pain and suffering,” must be inferred in other ways, such as assessing the impact your injuries have had on you, your family, and your overall life.

For instance, many car accident victims suffer physical pain from their injuries long after completing treatment and being “healed.” If you suffered whiplash in your accident, you might have only needed medical care for a few months, but the pain in your neck and back could be permanent. You are no more responsible for this pain than you were for the underlying injury and should be compensated for the time you are expected to live with it.

The value of your pain and suffering will also be increased if you suffer mental anguish of any kind because of the accident. Perhaps you have too much anxiety to get behind the wheel again or suffer depression since the accident. Moreover, living with your injuries might have impacted your enjoyment of life, especially if you cannot take part in family activities or former hobbies.

Punitive Damages

The damages so far discussed are what is known as “compensatory” damages. They compensate victims for the losses directly attributable to the defendant’s conduct. Thus, most defendants simply pay what they legally owe when found liable in a lawsuit. However, if the court wishes to go beyond compensatory damages and punish the defendant, it will award the plaintiff “punitive” damages. As the name suggests, these damages are given as a punishment.

Whether punitive damages will be awarded in your case depends on how the defendant caused your car accident. If the court decides that the defendant’s conduct was egregious or reckless, like in a DUI accident, they will likely award punitive damages as a warning to others. However, you should never assume that these damages will be included in the final value of your case since it will be up to the court whether to grant them, and they rarely do.

Contributory Negligence

Arguably, the most critical determination we will need to make to know how much your case should be worth is if any of your own actions contributed to the collision. You could have all the damages listed above, with evidence proving each type, and would still not recover any compensation if you contributed to your accident in even the slightest.

Maryland is one of the last remaining states to use the “pure contributory negligence” standard to decide liability. Under this outdated rule, the other driver could be found 99% at fault for the accident and you only 1%, and you would still be barred from recovering any compensation for your damages. However, we might still be able to overcome this rule if we can show the other driver had the last clear chance to avoid the crash.

Call Our Glenarden, MD Car Accident Lawyers for Help Today

For your free case analysis with our car accident attorneys, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291.