What Do You Have to Prove in a Maryland Car Accident Cases?

In a Maryland car accident case, you have to prove that the other person failed to exercise a reasonable standard of care in the operation of their vehicle or that they were otherwise negligent in operation of their vehicle.

You can do that through the testimony of the plaintiff themselves, through what they saw, or heard and you can do that with the testimony of the defendant in how they reacted to the accident. Testimony either at deposition or through a signed statement of any witnesses or responders such as police or emergency personnel can also be a source of this information.

In essence, to this you want to prove two things. You want to prove liability and then you want to prove damages. Liability is who is at fault for a certain accident. So the way you would prove that is through the police report, any photos of the scene or any photos of the vehicles involved and property damage to those vehicles and any testimony or any statements from any witnesses to the accident, any testimony or any statements from any police officers who responded to the scene of the accident.

Then for damages the evidence there would be the testimony of the plaintiff themselves on a variety of issues-

• What happened to them?
• What injuries do they have?
• How their life is different before and after the accident?
• What they are no longer able to do?
• What they are limited in doing?

In addition, you will have the medical records supporting their claims. For damages you will want to show the severity and the duration of your injuries and what treatment was prescribed or received for these injuries.

How Do You Collect Evidence for Accident Cases?

Mostly, the evidence comes from the plaintiff themselves in terms of the property damage to his/her vehicle and the police report and for the medical records we would request reports from the medical provider of the person who has been treating with.

If the person who was involved in the accident has had any previous injuries to the same body parts or any subsequent injuries to the same body parts you would request reference from that medical provider as well. It is important to request the records for any prior or subsequent treatment to the injured body parts in order to form a baseline to compare to the injuries sustained form the accident.

How Do You Put A Case Together To Prove This?

You would use all the resources available such as police reports, photos of the accident scene, the declaration, testimony or the trial testimony of the plaintiff themselves and others involved in the accident, the deposition or trial testimony of any of the witnesses involved in the accident so that you can paint a picture for the judge or the jury as to what happened, how the defendant was at fault and how the plaintiff was not at fault at all for the accident. By using a thorough investigation as early as possible, we are able to uncover as much evidence as possible to put for the strongest case possible from a liability perspective.