Silver Hill, MD Personal Injury Lawyer

Getting injured is never part of anyone’s plan. Serious injuries can put your life on hold, preventing you from working, performing basic tasks, and participating in activities you enjoy. On top of that, you will likely have to account for significant medical expenses for treatment of injuries you got in an accident. This can feel upsetting and unfair, especially if you suspect that someone else’s negligence led to your current situation.

If you were injured because someone else decided to be careless, you can take them to court and fight for financial compensation. We can help you through that process so that you can focus on recovering from your injuries and get back to living your life.

For a free case review, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras’s Clinton, MD personal injury lawyers by calling (410) 694-7291.

Proving Liability in Silver Hill, MD Personal Injury Lawsuits

To win a personal injury lawsuit, you need to show that the defendant was negligent. In law, “negligence” means that a party did not act reasonably given the circumstances. For example, if someone gets drunk and then decides to drive home, they are negligent both because that behavior is unreasonable and because it is against the law.

To prove negligence, you have to establish four things. First, that the defendant had a duty, or obligation, to act reasonably. In general, people have an obligation not to harm others, so there is a good chance that this will be the duty at issue in your case. Second, you must show that the defendant failed to uphold their duty. For example, a store owner failing to clean up a slippery surface would have breached their duty to have a safe shopping environment. Third, you must show that the defendant’s conduct was a closely related cause of your injuries, and finally, you need to show that you actually got hurt.

How Personal Injury Lawsuits Work in Silver Hill, MD

There is a lot more that goes into a personal injury lawsuit than just showing up to trial with our personal injury lawyers and arguing your side of the case. The vast majority of legal work actually happens well before trial, and many cases are resolved before they ever even make it to trial. However, just because a case does not go to trial does not mean you will not be involved in it. Below, we will walk you through some of the things that happen during the legal process up to and including a jury trial.

Preparing and Filing Your Case

The first step in any legal action is going to be talking to a lawyer about it and getting it filed. When you talk with our lawyers, we can start preparing your claim as soon as we are retained as counsel. It is important to get this process going quickly because the law only permits plaintiffs to file claims within a certain amount of time from when accidents happen. Under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., § 5-101, you will have three years from when you get injured to file your case. If you do not file within that timeframe, you waive your right to sue and cannot get damages through a lawsuit.

Gathering Information

It is also important for our lawyers to start obtaining information about your claim as early as possible. Our lawyers will need to track down medical records, obtain video footage, talk to witnesses, and get information from all manner of other sources. Some information will even come from opposing counsel through something called “discovery.” While that may seem odd, the sharing of information between parties in a lawsuit is a standard procedure and a very important part of ensuring justice is administered fairly.

Pre-Trial Hearings and Motions

Legal actions have a lot of moving parts. To get everyone on the same page, sometimes the judge will hold hearings on various things to ensure that cases go through the court system smoothly. Hearings can be for something as mundane as scheduling a trial date or something much more impactful, like whether certain evidence makes it into a case or not. Depending on the type of hearing, you may need to be present, or our lawyers may simply be able to go to court on your behalf.

Settlement Offers

Lawsuits do not always go all the way to trial. Sometimes, both sides can come to an agreement outside of the courtroom and “settle” a case. When this happens, the matter is “dropped” and there is no finding of liability in court. The terms of a settlement are agreed to by both parties, and can include paying financial compensation, admitting to certain facts, and anything else the parties agree on.

Settlements can be beneficial in some cases because they can have the same outcome as a trial and often end up being cheaper and quicker than going all the way to trial. Whether settling your claim is a good move or not is entirely dependent on your circumstances, so you should discuss your case with our legal team to determine whether settling or going to trial is the best option.

Trial

The final step in the personal injury lawsuit process is going to trial. At trial, the jury will see all the evidence, hear legal arguments from both sides and come to a conclusion based on the relevant facts and law. If the jury finds that the defendant is liable for your injuries, they will award you damages. If the jury does not find that the defendant is liable, you will not be awarded damages.

However, there are still things you can do after trial if it does not go your way. If there is a legal error, you can appeal your case to a higher court, and our lawyers can assist you with that process should you desire to pursue it.

Chat with Our Silver Hill, MD Personal Injury Lawyers Today

Call Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (410) 694-7291 and chat with our personal injury lawyers today.