Westminster Personal Injury Lawyer
Dealing with an injury you sustained in an accident can be immensely frustrating and challenging regardless of what circumstances led to the incident, but especially if you know you only got hurt because another person acted irresponsibly. Fortunately, if you can prove someone else was responsible for your personal injury with a “preponderance of the evidence,” you could potentially hold them financially liable for any losses you incurred as a result.
Assistance from a Westminster personal injury lawyer could make a world of difference in your odds of a successful resolution to your civil claim. Once retained, your knowledgeable attorney could help with the collection and presentation of relevant evidence, demand restitution on your behalf for all your compensable losses, and work to ensure common legal roadblocks do not prevent you from achieving the recovery you deserve.
Negligence and Personal Injury Liability
The basic legal concept at the heart of just about every successful personal injury claim is “legal negligence”—in short, the idea that someone should bear financial responsibility for harm caused by their actions even if they had no intention of getting anyone hurt. In the context of civil litigation, negligence has four components: a duty owed by the named defendant to the injured plaintiff, some kind of breach of that duty, direct causation of the injury by the breach, and compensable losses suffered by the plaintiff.
No matter what state someone pursues a personal injury case in, it is generally essential that they prove negligence by the defendant(s) named in their claim if they want to recover compensation for their injuries. In Maryland, though, it is also crucial for plaintiffs to show that they bear no fault whatsoever for their injuries themselves.
This is because of the “pure contributory negligence” system that state civil courts follow when ruling on personal injury claims. Under this system, a plaintiff who bears any percentage of blame at all for the accident that injured them—even just one percent—is ineligible to recover for any of their ensuing losses, even if the defendant(s) bear most of the remaining fault for the incident. A Westminster personal injury attorney could work on a plaintiff’s behalf to ensure this harsh approach to plaintiff fault does not unfairly prevent an accident victim from seeking much-needed financial restitution.
Recoverable Damages and Filing Deadlines
A successful personal injury claim allows an injured plaintiff to recover for both economic and non-economic consequences of the injury another party’s negligence caused them to sustain, including future damages that are likely to occur but have not yet actually come to pass. Damages that may be available in a typical claim include but are not restricted to:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Past and future income loss due to injuries
- Costs of repairing or replacing damaged property
- Physical pain
- Lost enjoyment of life
- Mental anguish, including symptoms of psychological conditions like PTSD
- Lost consortium with a spouse
Importantly, though, Maryland Code, Courts & Judicial Proceedings §5-101 allows prospective plaintiffs only three years after discovery of their injuries to get the filing process started, so it is usually wise to contact a personal injury lawyer quickly after a serious accident in Westminster.
Get in Touch with a Westminster Personal Injury Attorney Today
It can be difficult to know what to do after a severe accident, especially if you are unfamiliar with how civil litigation works or what your rights are in this kind of situation. Fortunately, help is available from seasoned legal professionals who know how to take situations like yours and find a positive resolution on behalf of victims of negligent behavior.
Talking to a Westminster personal injury lawyer could be the first step towards getting the civil compensation you need. Call today to schedule a meeting.
