Potomac Personal Injury Lawyer
No matter the context in which it occurs, a serious personal injury has the potential to upend your entire life for weeks, months, or even years to come. Even a less severe injury that ultimately heals over time can result in significant short-term financial consequences, and the personal and professional repercussions that can come from a permanent disability are almost too numerous to count.
Fortunately, help is available from a dedicated Potomac personal injury lawyer if you want to hold the person responsible for your injuries accountable for your ensuing damages. Once retained, your seasoned attorney could ensure you understand all your legal options, help collect evidence to factor into a comprehensive case, and demand fair compensation on your behalf for every form of harm you sustained.
How Negligence Could Confer Civil Liability
While there are a few notable exceptions for specific types of claims, the majority of personal injury cases revolve around an allegation of legal negligence. For an injured “plaintiff” to hold the “defendant” in such a claim liable for damages, the plaintiff must prove that all the following elements of negligence apply to their situation:
- The defendant owed some kind of duty—implicit or explicit—to keep the plaintiff reasonably safe from harm
- The defendant violated their duty by engaging in reckless, careless, and/or illegal conduct
- An accident occurred as a direct result of the defendant’s irresponsible action or failure to act
- The plaintiff’s compensable losses stemmed directly from that accident, and not from anywhere or anything else
If all these criteria are met, a civil defendant may be considered legally negligent, at which point they would bear financial responsibility for all the plaintiff’s damages. Recoverable losses may be economic or non-economic in nature, meaning that a Potomac personal injury attorney could possibly help a plaintiff seek restitution for medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of work income, loss of enjoyment of life, personal property damage, and more.
Importantly, though, Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings §5-101 sets a deadline of three years after the date someone sustains an injury for that person to start the civil litigation process. If a prospective plaintiff fails to file suit prior to this deadline, they will almost certainly be unable to recover any compensation at all.
Fighting Allegations of Comparative Fault
Another legal obstacle that could completely prohibit civil recovery in Maryland is comparative fault by a plaintiff. Since Maryland state courts still adhere to a harsh pure contributory negligence system, any percentage of fault—even one percent—assigned to a personal injury victim by a court would make that plaintiff ineligible to seek compensation for that particular accident, no matter how much more at fault their prospective defendant was.
In addition to proving a defendant was to blame for an accident and its consequences, a personal injury lawyer in Potomac could also provide essential help disproving allegations of comparative negligence made against a civil plaintiff. Relevant evidence in both regards may include police reports, photos and videos of the accident scene, footage from nearby security cameras, eyewitness testimony, and even input from experts in the field of retrospective accident reconstruction.
Talk to a Potomac Personal Injury Attorney Today
Any accident that leads to injury could put a damper on your day, and likely several weeks and months to follow as well. If such an injury stems from another person’s misconduct, though, you may have legal options at your disposal that could prove crucial to preserving your future prospects.
A knowledgeable Potomac personal injury lawyer could go over the possibilities in your situation with you and set you on the right track towards recovery during a private consultation. Call today to schedule yours.
