After a serious accident, it can be easy to think your experience is just bad luck and that you have no option but to find a way to pay for your damages yourself. However, if you only got hurt because another person acted irresponsibly, state civil law may allow you to hold them liable for your injuries, as well as for every form of harm that injury leads you to suffer now and in the future.
Assistance from a Lanham personal injury lawyer could make a world of difference when it comes to your odds of success with such an endeavor. Personal injury litigation can be complicated no matter how obvious it may seem that someone else is to blame for your accident, but with guidance from a seasoned attorney, you should have better chances of getting the recovery you deserve.
What Makes Someone Liable for a Personal Injury?
The key element of just about every personal injury claim—both in Maryland and throughout the entire United States—is a finding of legal negligence by the defendant(s) in that claim. In short, a person is generally only liable for damages stemming from an accident if they directly caused that accident to occur by virtue of violating a duty of care that they implicitly or explicitly owed to the person who ended up hurt.
The nature of this “duty of care” can vary a great deal depending on the circumstances leading up to a personal injury. Motor vehicle drivers, for example, have a pretty straightforward obligation to obey the law and stay alert while behind the wheel, so any illegal action like speeding—or simply careless action like driving while distracted—could make them financially liable for an ensuing wreck.
On the other hand, medical professionals accused of negligence in the course of treating a patient can only bear liability for that patient’s injuries if they violated an applicable “standard of care” for their discipline in the eyes of at least one other equally qualified physician. A Lanham personal injury attorney could offer irreplaceable guidance about the steps that may be necessary to prove fault in a particular situation, as well as assistance with collecting and presenting evidence to do so effectively.
Potential Obstacles to Effective Civil Recovery
Unfortunately, Maryland civil courts still follow an outdated “pure contributory negligence” system when determining whether a plaintiff’s own contributions to their injuries should disqualify them from seeking civil compensation. Under this system, a personal injury victim who bears any fault whatsoever for their own damages is ineligible to recover anything, even if another party bears a much larger percentage of the total fault for the incident.
On top of that, Maryland Code, Courts & Judicial Proceedings §3-2A-09 sets a cap on recoverable damages in personal injury claims that—as of October 1st, 2020—limits total recovery to a maximum of $890,000 in most situations. Working with a personal injury lawyer in Lanham could be essential to successfully navigating these and other possible roadblocks on the way towards civil recovery.
Talk to a Lanham Personal Injury Attorney Today
There is no damage award in the world big enough to completely erase the physical and emotional pain that a personal injury can result in. That being said, comprehensive compensation could go a very long way towards ensuring that the financial costs of such an injury do not unfairly impact someone who was not at all responsible for the accident that caused it.
A consultation with a Lanham personal injury lawyer could help you understand what may be possible in your unique circumstances and put you on track for the best case result possible. Call today to schedule yours.
