Driving is a ubiquitous experience. We use our cars to go to the grocery store, drive to work, or take a vacation. We spend much of our lives in our cars. This can make it easy to forget that driving a car can be incredibly risky.
A car accident can alter the course of your life. You may be left with severe or debilitating injuries. If another party was responsible for your accident, though, you could receive compensation. A White Marsh personal injury lawyer from the Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers understands how traumatic a car accident can be and wants to help you win compensation.
The Value Of A Car Accident
Car accidents are a broad legal category. These accidents can involve trucks, bikes, vans, and motorcycles. The type of accident will likely impact the severity of your injuries. The severity of your injuries will, in turn, impact the valuation of your case.
There’s no sure-fire way to predict the value of a car accident claim without an expert analysis. However, your car accident case will likely involve these damages:
- Lost wages if your injuries have left you unable to work
- Loss of consortium if you lost a loved one in the crash
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
According to the National Safety Council, the average comprehensive cost of a disabling motor-vehicle accident is $1,252,000. For non-disabling injuries, this average is $345,000. These totals include a reduction in quality of life and medical expenses.
Car accident damages can offset these costs. A car accident lawyer can tell you which damages you should pursue.
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Pursuing Car Accident Damages
The aftermath of a car accident can be confusing. You’ll likely be inundated with paperwork and be forced to negotiate with relevant insurers.
A car accident lawyer can take on these responsibilities. With their help you can:
- Focus on healing
- Relax knowing that someone else is handling your case
- Get back to supporting your family after the accident
Your lawyer can pursue these avenues for compensation:
Insurance Negotiations
Car accident victims frequently assume that insurers are on their side. While insurers aren’t malevolent, they are a business, so they’ll do everything in their power to keep costs low. This can take the form of low-ball settlement offers.
A car accident lawyer can identify these low settlement offers and other bad-faith insurance practices. Car accidents oftentimes involve insurance negotiations. A lawyer will support you through these negotiations and pursue the highest settlement possible.
Assign Liability
The state of Maryland requires drivers to carry these third-party liability insurance values:
- $30,000 of bodily injury per person
- $60,000 for accidents involving multiple persons
- $15,000 for property damage involving vehicles
This coverage may pay for some of your costs. However, many cases involve expenses that exceed Maryland’s third-party liability insurance minimums.
To pursue compensation from an at-fault party that exceeds these minimums, you’ll have to establish liability.
A lawyer can review available evidence to build your case. This evidence will likely include:
- Your medical records
- Documentation and invoices that demonstrate your loss of income
- Statements from an expert witness, like a crash reconstruction specialist
- Footage or images of the crash site
This evidence will be used to link the liable party’s actions to your injuries. If no linkage exists, or you fail to prove said linkage, it will be difficult to pursue compensation. Let us help you establish liability.
File A Lawsuit
Many car accident cases are settled without a lawsuit. However, some necessitate litigation.
If a lawsuit is necessary, your lawyer can:
- Pursue the liable party
- Represent you in court
- Prepare you for courtroom procedures like depositions
- Actively fight for fair compensation
White Marsh Car Accident Attorney (410)777-8960
Hiring A Car Accident Lawyer From Our Firm
Our team is familiar with the heartbreak that car accidents can cause. We want to help you and your family heal.
Our White Marsh car accident lawyers offer:
- Consistent communication: Our clients receive a personal text number that they can use for 24/7 support. Your late-night legal questions don’t need to keep you awake.
- Medical support: We have a network of medical providers that we can draw on. These are providers that we trust with our lives. They can offer you medical advice and support after your accident.
- A full suite of legal support: We’ll attend to your every legal need. We’re committed to the fight and will exhaust every potential option in pursuit of your compensation.
Read what our previous clients have said about MD Accident Law:
- “Adam Smallow was great at making me feel very important and he treated my case with the utmost professionalism.”
- “Not only are all my injured pains gone, but my settlement was more than I have expected.”
- I highly recommend the Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers. Mr. Smallow is hard working and committed to supporting his clients”
Keep in mind that the sooner you get started on your case, the better. Our car accident lawyers can assist you with your clerical duties and ensure that you meet your deadlines.
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Three Pitfalls That Could Hurt The Economic Value Of Your Injury Claim
Many different things could result in less money in your pocket at settlement time. However, knowing about these potential mistakes could help you avoid them:
- Putting off medical treatment: You are a busy person with a full schedule. You do not have time to go to physical therapy twice a week for 10 weeks or be out of work for six weeks after surgery. However, when you settle your injury claim, you can never ask for more money from the at-fault party’s insurer should it turn out your injuries were worse than they initially appeared. Your additional medical bills and lost wages will come from your pocket, not theirs.
- Giving a recorded statement: The claims adjuster might ask you to provide a recorded statement, during which they ask a lot of questions and record your responses. A recorded statement cannot help your case. Instead, it will likely hurt your injury claim. The adjuster can “cherry-pick” the transcript to poke holes in your claim and possibly shift blame for the crash onto you.
- Undervaluing the value of your claim: Don’t take a wild guess at how much a fair settlement amount would be. Instead, your attorney will consider how much money a jury would award in a similar case. You do not have access to that information if you try to handle your claim without a lawyer. However, insurance companies and personal injury attorneys do have that data.
When you become one of our clients, we can deal directly with the insurance company on your behalf. Also, we provide legal advice for our clients to prevent these and other issues.
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What Should I Do After A Car Accident In White Marsh?
It can be difficult to know what to do after a car accident. If you take these steps, though, you can increase your chances of receiving compensation:
- Call the police to ensure that a fair and accurate exchange of information occurs
- Seek medical attention
- Do your best to preserve evidence of the accident
- Secure contact information and images of the crash site
- Do not provide a recorded statement to the opposing party’s insurer, if possible
- Consider contacting a car accident lawyer for legal advice
How We Prove That The At-Fault Party Is Liable For Your Losses
We have to provide evidence that establishes all four of these factors to hold the at-fault party responsible for your monetary damages from a White Marsh collision.
Duty Of Care
The at-fault driver must have owed you a legal duty. This element is seldom difficult to prove because everyone who operates a car or truck in Maryland must follow the traffic laws and drive safely.
Breach Of Duty
It is negligence when a person’s actions fail to measure up to the legal standard. For example, violating a traffic law may be, per se, negligent. Let’s say that the other driver was over the legal limit for alcohol at the time of the crash. However, the careless conduct must relate to the collision before we can hold the negligent driver legally responsible for your injuries and other losses.
Causation
You could hold the negligent party liable if the careless action caused the accident. For example, in the previous scenario, the drunk driver passed out at the wheel, veered into your lane, and struck your car. These facts establish that their negligence caused the crash.
Quantifiable Losses
In most personal injury claims, you must have measurable damages to pursue compensation from the at-fault party. For example, if you have physical injuries, you have quantifiable losses and can seek monetary damages from the party whose negligence caused the accident that harmed you.
Our Car Accident Lawyers Can Pursue Compensation
Our team at the Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers is familiar with the codes and regulations that make up Maryland car accident law. We want you to win your case, and we’ll work hard for the strongest possible case outcome.
We’ll make the first move, so insurers don’t get home-court advantage. Contact our offices for a free case evaluation.
Call or text (410)777-8960 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form