After an accident, it can be difficult to get back on your feet. The stress, distress, and pain after an accident could make it hard to return to work, and without your income, you might find it challenging to pay for medical bills.
Fortunately, Maryland allows accident victims to file lawsuits against the parties responsible for their injuries, provided they do so within three years. This can help you get the compensation you need for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages you face. When we take on your case, our lawyers will gather evidence, file on time, and monitor your damages to help ensure your fair recovery.
Call the personal injury lawyers of Rice Law for a free case evaluation at (410) 694-7291.
Common Types of Personal Injury Cases in Rockville, MD
Our personal injury lawyers handle a wide range of case types. There are thousands of ways that an injury could occur, and many of these accidents and injuries are grouped into types of injury cases based on how the accident happens, who is at fault, and how we prove their negligence. For example, some of the most causes of action for personal injury claims include slip and falls, car accidents, defective products, and even medical malpractice.
Slip and Falls or Trip and Falls
One of the most common causes of injury is falling down because of slippery floors or tripping hazards. Property owners are responsible for ensuring that their premises are safe for guests and passersby and leaving wet or slippery surfaces or other hazards can be quite dangerous, violating that responsibility.
Property owners must warn visitors about these hazards, typically with signs or verbal warnings, or promptly clean up and repair the hazards. These kinds of accidents commonly occur from floors slick with ice and snow, spills in stores and restaurants, loose wires, overgrown tree roots, and loose or damaged flooring. When injured in a slipping, tripping, or falling accident, do your best to photograph the area’s hazardous conditions so our personal injury lawyers can prove the property owner’s negligence.
Car Accidents
Car accidents are another incredibly common cause of action for personal injury cases. Car accident victims may be able to sue the driver who hit them to seek compensation for their injuries and the expenses resulting from those injuries, like hospital costs and lost wages.
Though victims might initially file claims through a negligent driver’s liability insurance, their cases may result in higher compensation if filed in court with assistance from our experienced lawyers. We can assert your need for fair compensation by preserving evidence of the at-fault driver’s negligence, such as eyewitness statements and photos from the scene. Involving accident reconstruction experts can also help maximize victims’ financial recoveries in car crash lawsuits, especially those that go to trial and are decided by juries.
Premises Liability
The liable property owner or manager should pay for injuries caused by a dangerous defect on their property. This type of injury case includes slip and falls, but it is much broader.
Premises liability would include injuries from electrocution, sharp objects, drowning, fires, and other injuries that could have been prevented by warning the victim or repairing the dangers.
Defective Product Injuries
When you purchase or use a product, you expect it to work properly and safely. Defects in the design or manufacturing process can put consumers at risk. Some injuries are not due to a design problem but a failure to warn consumers about dangers from moving parts, high temperatures, or other risks. These kinds of cases apply to injuries from dangers with household appliances, power tools, vehicle parts, and other dangerous items. After such accidents, victims should keep the defective product and any packaging, receipts, and instructions for our lawyers and qualified experts to review.
Medical Malpractice
Doctors are held to a high standard of care, which requires them to do everything in their power to act as any reasonable doctor would in their situation when treating patients.
If a doctor fails to use the proper care or skill required of them, you could face serious injuries and health complications. Surgical errors, birth injuries, drug errors, and other examples of negligence are often avoidable, and your doctor could be responsible for any unnecessary injuries they cause you.
Wrongful Death
If a loved one was killed in an accident or died because someone breached a duty they owed them, you may be entitled to sue the responsible parties for your loved one’s death. A lawsuit for their death may be able to help support your family financially in your time of need and may be vital to moving forward with your lives.
Damages for Personal Injuries in Rockville, MD
Many personal injury cases yield substantial compensation for victims. The damages you will be entitled to claim in your case relate directly to the harm you suffered. This typically means that more severe injuries are worth higher damages, especially since they tend to cause more pain and suffering along with costlier medical expenses.
To prove the damages you suffered, you will need records of the harm. Medical bills are straightforward records of the cost of your care and can help prove how much compensation you need for hospital stays, rehabilitation, surgeries, and other care costs.
If you missed work, our lawyers may produce bank statements, pay stubs, and other records of the wages you lost. If your injury is severe, you may also be able to claim damages for lost wages going forward after we have medical experts testify to your diminished earning capacity.
Pain and suffering damages are harder to demonstrate because there are no financial records of how your feelings. Instead, you can typically testify regarding how the injury felt, how it affected your life, and other details about your physical pain and mental suffering. Our attorneys can guide you through what damages you are entitled to and how we will prove them in court.
Timeline of Recovering Damages for Personal Injuries in Rockville, MD
Personal injury lawsuits take varying amounts of time to complete but begin with plaintiffs filing complaints in court. This typically must happen during the three years following an accident, or victims lose their chance to sue. Settlement negotiations generally follow, though our lawyers will only agree to offers that fairly cover victims’ damages. Otherwise, we can go to trial and prove the defendant’s negligence to the jury.
Filing the Injury Complaint
It takes time to prepare strong complaints that our lawyers are confident in, and victims only have three years under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., § 5-101 to file lawsuits. Because of this, and because much consequential evidence could be lost when cases are delayed, contact our lawyers immediately after being injured by another person’s negligent conduct. This will allow us time to preserve and organize evidence into a compelling case that can prove liability at trial or convince the defendant to settle for a sizeable sum out of court.
Victims who do not realize their injuries until later could get tolling for delayed discovery. In these cases, the statute of limitations would begin to count down on the date of discovery rather than the date of injury. In medical injury claims, victims must file within five years of the date of injury or three years of the date of discovery, whichever comes sooner. There are additional complicated rules regarding filing deadlines and tolling for victims harmed as minors, and our lawyers can explain these changes if applicable to your case. What matters most is identifying and adhering to the appropriate filing deadline, as missing the statute of limitations would bar you from recovering damages.
Negotiating a Settlement
Generally speaking, the next step in the recovery process after filing lawsuits is negotiating settlements. Though defendants might agree to pay large amounts out of court, this is typically preferable to being found liable by a jury. That said, fair settlements typically only come after our lawyers aggressively negotiate and assert victims’ deserved damages. Preserving evidence at the beginning of your case will give us leverage over the defendant during negotiations, potentially getting them to increase their offers.
Victims unaware of their full damages from an accident could accept bad settlement offers. When this happens, lawsuits end. The amount you agree to will be the amount you receive, even if you soon realize your losses are greater. Our lawyers will avoid this on your behalf by calculating the value of your claim before filing. We will consider medical expenses and lost wages you have already incurred, and damages you expect to suffer after the case ends. For example, if your injuries are severe, you may need additional surgeries or other rehabilitative care. We will factor all compensable damages into our calculations and use the results as a reference during negotiations.
Going to Court
Although many injury lawsuits end up settling out of court, some go to trial. This is an opportunity for our attorneys to present the case and evidence of negligence to the jury. It will be our burden to prove the defendant more than likely caused your injuries because they breached their duty of care. Even during a trial, the defense might send settlement proposals, which could be higher than previous offers. After deciding a defendant is liable, the jury will calculate the victim’s damages according to the proof we can provide. This is why compiling medical bills, pay stubs, and proof of other losses throughout your physical recovery is paramount. We may have experts testify to convince jurors of victims’ non-economic damages from pain and suffering, which could comprise a large portion of victims’ eventual awards.
For Help with Your Case, Call Our Rockville, MD Injury Lawyers
Call our personal injury lawyers at (410) 694-7291 to discuss your case for free with Rice Law.