Greenbelt, MD Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

If a car hits you without the protection of your own car around you, it can leave you with life-altering, long-term, or otherwise serious injuries.  This often leads to pain and suffering, substantial medical expenses, and lost earnings.  In many of these cases, the victim is even killed outright, leaving their family with emotional distress and real, concrete damages they can claim instead.

Our attorneys can help you file claims against the driver responsible for the crash and fight to get you and your family the compensation you need after a serious injury or a death in the family from a pedestrian accident.  We can negotiate with insurance companies for fair payment and, if necessary, fight the case in open court by filing an injury lawsuit.

For help with your case, call our pedestrian accident attorneys at Rice, Murtha & Psoras today at (410) 694-7291.

How a Lawyer Can Help with a Pedestrian Accident and Injury Claim in Greenbelt, MD

When you get hurt in an auto accident, the driver who hit you should be who pays for your damages.  Before you can get compensation – through their insurance, a lawsuit, or a mixture of the two – you have to prove that they were legally responsible for the crash.  Proving liability, calculating damages, and standing up for you against the pressure that insurance companies can assert are three of the areas in which our pedestrian accident lawyers can best help you in your case.

Proving Liability

To win your case against the driver who hit you, you will have to prove they were liable.  In an auto accident claim, liability usually falls on the driver who caused the accident by violating a legal duty – which usually consists of either safe-driving standards of reasonableness or actual traffic laws that impose duties on drivers.  This means that we can usually prove the driver was at fault by pointing to a traffic violation they committed if that is what caused the crash – such as failing to yield to you in a crosswalk.

However, the laws are strict in Maryland regarding what happens when a victim “contributes” to causing the accident.  Your own jaywalking or failing to wait for a signal at a crosswalk could result in your case being blocked entirely, even if what you did only contributed a small percentage to the fault in your case.  However, there are rules our lawyers can use to exclude your actions from being considered partial fault if the defendant had the “last clear chance” to avoid the crash or if their actions were intentional or reckless compared to your merely negligent actions.  We can also have your actions excluded from consideration if they did not actually contribute to the accident and the driver’s actions were the only ones that caused the crash.

Calculating Damages

The insurance company would have you believe that your damages are worth less than you think they are for one reason or another.  Perhaps they used a different calculation method, or perhaps they are flat-out lying to you.  Either way, our lawyers calculate fair damages for your case by taking into account all medical bills, all other expenses related to the accident, all lost wages, all lost future earnings, and the non-economic damages you face.

Especially when it comes to calculating pain and suffering damages, insurance companies are often cheap.  They may even try to deny damages for pain and suffering entirely, but our lawyers can help you determine the true value of your case then help you negotiate from that value to get a fair settlement.

Standing Up to Insurance Companies

Insurance companies act like they have all the power.  Whether they accept your claim or not and what price they put on it can be important parts of your case that are under their control.  However, our lawyers can be there for you to stand up to insurance companies and get them to reconsider their decisions.  If the claim is denied or the value you are given for your damages is too low, we can negotiate to try to get the claim accepted at a more accurate value.

Insurance companies often deny claims or offer low settlements in hopes that injured pedestrians and other accident victims will simply end the case there.  However, we can go back and forth with their representatives and attempt to get you a settlement that actually covers your needs by showing them the damages you faced and pressing the case in court at the same time.

If they will not settle, then we can always take the case to trial where the judge and jury make the decisions, not the insurance company.

Common Injuries for Pedestrians in Car Accidents in Greenbelt, MD

If you were hit by a car, odds are your injuries are more severe than they would have been if you had a car around you to protect you.  Without airbags and crumple zones – or even without the benefit of a helmet like cyclists have – the injuries from a pedestrian accident can be quite severe.  The following are all common serious injuries our lawyers can help you recover compensation for:

Head Injuries

If you are hit and thrown to the ground, you could be left with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).  This can become a serious disability that requires expensive treatment and a long time away from work.

Broken Bones

Whether from the initial impact with the car or a secondary impact of hitting the ground, broken bones are common in crashes.  You could break your arm or leg, but it is also common to suffer fractures to the collar bone, ribs, skull, or even spine or neck.

Crush Injuries and Internal Injuries

Being literally run over by a car can result in severe crush damage to limbs.  You could also suffer internal injuries such as organ damage that needs surgery and long-term care to heal from.

Call Our Pedestrian Accident Attorneys Today

If you were hit by a car, call our pedestrian accident lawyers at (410) 694-7291 today at Rice, Murtha & Psoras for a free review of your potential case.