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Lake Arbor, MD Personal Injury Lawyer

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    Personal injury lawyers can help in a broad range of cases, from slip and falls to medical malpractice, from trucking accidents to pedestrian accidents.  We fight to get our clients the compensation they deserve from the people and companies who hurt them.

    When we help with your case, you do not have to wonder how much your injury case is worth; we will calculate damages for you and advise you on whether settlement offers are fair or not.  When you work with us, you do not need to wonder if you have a case or not; we will analyze the facts of your case and advise you on how best to proceed.  In fact, we will handle all aspects of your claim and work to get you satisfactory compensation.

    For a free evaluation of your case, call our personal injury attorneys today at Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291.

    How a Personal Injury Claim Works in Lake Arbor, MD

    When you get hurt, you might feel confused about what to do next, nervous that you will be found at fault for your own injuries, and worried that you might not be able to afford the medical bills and lost wages the injury causes.  Personal injury lawyers work to take care of all of this by advising you on your case, shutting down claims of contributory negligence that might hurt your ability to sue, and fighting to get your injuries compensated.

    Suing vs. Insurance Claims

    When you get hurt, insurance is often available to cover your needs.  Whether that be from car insurance, homeowners insurance, or some other insurance policy, the at-fault parties often have liability insurance that will cover you – but only if the insurance company is willing to pay.  Most of the time, insurance companies will deny claims in hopes that the injured person accepts the denial without a fight, or they will offer low settlements that are just enough to keep someone happy without truly covering their needs.  In either case, our lawyers can advise you as to the value of your case and help you take your case to court if the insurance company refuses to pay a fair value after negotiations.

    If insurance is not available or the policy is unlikely to pay, we can go straight to court.

    Partial Fault

    Maryland uses a somewhat old legal rule known as “contributory negligence.”  Under this rule, victims who are in any way responsible for their own accident, even if they only shared 1% of the fault, are barred from suing.  However, the defense must be able to show that you truly were at fault; actions or inaction that would not have actually affected the accident do not count.  Additionally, there are doctrines that might prevent partial fault from creeping in.  One example is the doctrine that if someone had the “last clear chance” to avoid the accident, they can be 100% responsible.

    Our lawyers essentially double as defense attorneys to prevent the defendant in your case from reversing the blame and trying to get out of paying you through claims of contributory negligence.

    Getting Compensation

    As mentioned, compensation can come through insurance or through court – or it can come from an insurance policy paying the defendant’s damages after they lose in court.  To win your case before a judge and jury, we need to show that the defendant breached a legal duty that they owed you, and that that resulted in your accident and injuries.

    The damages paid in an injury lawsuit can cover any harm that resulted from the accident, including compensation for your injuries and the pain itself, as well as emotional distress.  We can also seek compensation for any monetary harm, such as the cost of medical care, wages you missed out on because of the injury, and any other incidental expenses the accident caused, including property damage, home services, childcare costs, and more.

    We need evidence, including records of these damages, to prove the case and prove the value of the resulting damages.

    Lake Arbor Car Accident Lawyer

    One of the main areas of cases our attorneys handle is car accident claims.  Under Maryland law, car insurance uses an at-fault system, meaning that the at-fault driver is the one who pays for damages.  However, we are also required to have at least $2,500 of personal injury protection (PIP) coverage that can pay you regardless of who caused your accident.  In most cases, this will not be enough to cover your case in full, so we will ultimately have to file a third-party insurance claim against the at-fault driver or else take them to court.

    Most car accident cases involve determining which driver caused the crash by looking at who violated traffic laws.  For example, a driver who was speeding or ran a red light is often the one to hold liable, and the other driver is often innocent (unless they were also breaking the law).  In some cases, there is no explicit traffic violation, but the driver’s mistakes are unreasonable given the situation, and you can hold them equally liable for these kinds of mistakes.

    Lake Arbor Truck Accident Lawyers

    It is worth discussing truck accidents and other commercial vehicle accidents separately from “regular” car accident cases, given that liability is often moved from the trucker to the company they work for.  Unless the truck driver who caused your crash was an independent contractor or self-employed driver, the trucking company that hired them can often be held liable either as the driver’s employer or in their own right for causing your crash.

    When holding a trucking company responsible in their role as employer, we have to show that the trucker’s mistakes that caused your crash happened within the scope of their job duties.  With truck drivers, who are obviously hired to drive a truck, any crash while operating that truck is likely part of their job, and only rare situations would cut off the employer’s liability.  That could be things like stealing the truck or running personal errands in an 18-wheeler.

    When holding a trucking company responsible for its own mistakes, we can sue them for negligently hiring a dangerous truck driver without proper background checks, failing to maintain their truck and keeping it safe for the road, violating trucking regulations that put others at risk, or other mistakes that directly caused the crash.  In some cases, the trucking company will share partial liability alongside a dangerous driver, but they will often pay for damages under both arguments.

    Motorcycle Accident Lawyers in Lake Arbor, MD

    Motorcycle accidents are also worth discussing separately from general car accidents, given the amount of victim blaming that often occurs in these cases.  Defense attorneys often try to blame the motorcycle rider for the accident, even if they are clearly the one who was the victim.  If their claim is successful, then Maryland’s contributory negligence rules – discussed above – might block the victim from suing.  Because of this, it is important to use a personal injury lawyer who has experience handling motorcycle cases and dealing with these kinds of arguments.

    Often, motorcycle riders are superb examples of proper road safety, and they did nothing wrong to warrant this kind of victim blaming.  In these cases, the defense often relies on stereotypes and inappropriate arguments to try to turn the jury against the motorcycle rider.  In other cases where violations might have been slight, we work to show that they played no part in ultimately causing the crash and recenter the blame on the driver who hit you.

    Lake Arbor Slip and Fall Lawyers

    After vehicle accidents, slip and falls are one of the most common causes of injury.  People are often embarrassed and worried about suing for a slip and fall because they feel like it was their fault or that they should have been more careful.  It is important to recognize that the law is often on your side, and property owners who leave their sidewalk slippery, fail to clean up spills in their business, or fail to warn customers about a slippery floor are often the ones who are truly at fault, and the law can make them pay for the injuries you suffered.

    Along with trip and fall and other fall-down cases, slip and falls can result in surprisingly substantial compensation, especially if you broke any bones or needed any medical treatment after your fall.  Victims who hit their head can often suffer serious injuries like traumatic brain injuries, and those who fall on their back might face misalignment, impingement, or even serious spinal court damage.  These accidents can result in especially high compensation, so do not hesitate to take your case to a lawyer because you are embarrassed about falling down.

    Premises Liability Accidents in Lake Arbor, MD

    Other kinds of accidents can happen because of a property owner’s negligence, aside from slip and fall and trip and fall accidents.  Injuries can result from collapsing structures, missing handrails, broken furniture, unmarked drop-offs, fires, smoke inhalation, electrocution, and many other potential issues.  Injuries from these kinds of dangers fall under the same umbrella as slip and fall injuries: premises liability accidents.

    In these cases, our lawyers seek to hold a property owner liable for failing to repair or warn about a hidden danger.  In cases where the danger is obvious, like an open fire pit, you might not be able to sue for injuries.  However, this rule also depends on the age and awareness of the victim, with many cases revolving around children who were attracted to dangers on someone else’s property, such as swimming pools with no fences or gates to keep them out.

    Premises liability cases often deal with commercial buildings, such as stores and businesses that fail to keep the property safe for customers, but these claims can involve private houses and apartments as well.  With apartments, there is also a consideration as to whether the area where the injury occurred was under the care of the tenant/renter or whether the apartment complex’s owner/landlord should have kept that area safer.  Accidents involving unlit stairs, broken elevators, slippery lobbies, and uneven steps are common examples of these issues that place the blame on landlords.

    Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Lake Arbor, MD

    Our attorneys can help you investigate negligent medical care you might have received, potentially helping you sue the hospital and doctor or other care providers responsible for the resulting harm.  Medical malpractice like this often results from misdiagnosis, failed diagnosis, surgical errors, anesthesia errors, birth injuries, wrong prescriptions, pharmaceutical errors, and other mistakes in identifying and treating conditions that might have resulted naturally without any prior negligence.  Medical malpractice claims can also be filed if you suffered negligent treatment after facing another injury discussed above, which might have compounded your damages.

    Medical malpractice claims often require medical experts to certify that your case does constitute medical negligence and to testify in your case about what the doctor did wrong or should have done differently.  These cases can involve very specific medical practices, and cases will often come down to which side’s experts better explain the problem.  Because of this, it is important to work with a lawyer who understands these doctor’s arguments and the medical issues at hand.

    Wrongful Death Lawyers in Lake Arbor, MD

    While most personal injury cases involve a victim who survived the accident and can sue for themselves, others unfortunately involve family members suing for a loved one’s death.  In these claims, the family can sue for the damages the victim would have sued for if they lived, plus damages for their own harms.  This includes the victim’s pre-death lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering; the family’s ongoing lost earnings and funeral and burial costs; and the family’s lost companionship, society, counsel, and more.

    Call Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Lake Arbor Today

    If you or a loved one was injured in an accident, contact Rice, Murtha & Psoras’ personal injury lawyers at (410) 694-7291 for a free case assessment.