When victims sue for personal injuries, our attorneys can help them navigate claims and ensure they get the compensation they are entitled to from negligent parties.
There are many causes of action for personal injury claims, such as car accidents due to reckless driving, slip and falls due to negligent property maintenance, burn injuries due to defective products, and medical injuries due to healthcare provider malpractice, among others. The cause of your injuries, how old you were when injured, and when you discovered your injuries could affect the filing deadline for your case, which our lawyers will immediately confirm. This will allow us to ensure we do not miss the statute of limitations, which would bar you from getting the compensatory damages you need for a personal injury.
Call (410) 694-7291 to discuss your case for free with the Baltimore personal injury lawyers of Rice, Murtha & Psoras.
Common Causes of Action for Personal Injury Claims in Havre de Grace
Anytime someone owes you a duty of care and breaches it, injuring you, you may have a cause of action to file a personal injury lawsuit against them in Havre de Grace, which our attorneys can help you pursue. Some of the most common causes of action include reckless driving, negligent property maintenance, using defective products, and experiencing medical malpractice.
Reckless Driving
Drivers owe one another a duty to follow traffic rules, such as following posted speed limits for the area. Making illegal turns, recklessly merging, or following another driver too closely could lead to crashes that end in serious injuries for victims. After collisions, our personal injury lawyers can help victims obtain reports from law enforcement, interview eyewitnesses present at the scene, and preserve relevant physical evidence and photographs. Always call the police to report car accidents, and go to the hospital if you are at all hurt so you can document your injuries.
Negligent Property Maintenance
When you enter a property, whether it is someone’s home or a commercial establishment, you expect it to be reasonably safe and free from hazards. If it is not, whether because there is a loose floorboard or poorly secured furniture, you might trip and fall or suffer injuries in other ways, making the property owner liable. In such instances, taking photos of the area can help preserve evidence of a hazard. This is crucial since property owners might promptly address defects after accidents.
Using Defective Products
Product manufacturers owe consumers a duty of care to apply the proper tests and ensure products have the appropriate safety warnings and instructions for users. Without being checked for efficacy, household tools and appliances could become exceptionally dangerous, possibly starting fires or exploding and leaving victims with permanently disfiguring burn injuries. Filing lawsuits against negligent product manufacturers after workplace accidents on construction sites might open the door to additional damages that would not be available from a claim with your employer’s insurance, which is something our lawyers can keep in mind when assessing your damages and the best path to recovery. While defective products are a common cause of injury in the workplace, they could hurt users anywhere, making them entitled to compensation from a lawsuit.
Medical Malpractice
Though you anticipate being treated for injuries or medical concerns when you go to the hospital, not being injured further, medical malpractice is a common cause of action for injury lawsuits in Havre de Grace. When suing for malpractice, our lawyers may include the individual healthcare professional who harmed you and the hospital that employs them. This could maximize the compensation we get in your lawsuit, as healthcare facilities might be more likely to offer substantially larger out-of-court settlements to avoid public trials altogether.
Confirming the Filing Deadline for Your Personal Injury Lawsuit in Havre de Grace
While there is a general statute of limitations for filing personal injury lawsuits in Maryland, certain factors might pause the clock and push back the filing deadline for a case, which our lawyers can confirm when reviewing your claim.
For example, Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., § 5-101 gives most injury victims three years to file complaints in court. Things get more complicated when victims are injured as minors, as the statute of limitations will toll until they reach adulthood. Not immediately discovering your injuries could also qualify you for tolling, and our lawyers could argue that the date of injury and date of discovery and accrual differ, giving you more time than you anticipated to file your case. Negligent parties who fraudulently conceal causes of action from victims might see tolling negatively affect them, as the court may pause the statute of limitations in such cases.
Keep in mind that there are different filing guidelines for medical malpractice lawsuits specifically. Under § 5-109(a), the deadline to sue is five years from the date of malpractice or three years from the date of discovery of the injury, whichever comes sooner.
While your lawsuit could take any amount of time to conclude once filed, assume you only have three years to bring it in court. Plaintiffs who file late without citing applicable tolling exceptions may see their lawsuits dismissed by the courts, leaving them with no path to recovery for their personal injuries, which our attorneys can help avoid.
The best way to ensure you do not miss the statute of limitations is to prioritize your recovery and contact our attorneys immediately after being harmed by someone else’s negligent or reckless conduct. The more time we have to gather evidence and prepare a strong case the better, though we will also be sure to file as soon as possible so you get damages quickly, too.
Call Our Attorneys in Havre de Grace About Your Injury Lawsuit
Call (410) 694-7291 for a free case analysis from the personal injury lawyers of Rice, Murtha & Psoras.