It only takes a moment and an injury can change one’s life. When you or a loved one is injured it can mean financial hardships on top of emotional and mental hardships. Missed income if you are unable to work, medical bills, mental and emotional support (therapists), replacing damaged property, household services if you need help with daily tasks, future medical bills and future lost earning potential. All of these are various financial costs one may deal with when injured in an accident.

Costs incurred are called economic damages. Most people, especially those in non-life-threatening injuries, don’t truly understand the extent of the long-term financial burdens that can be incurred.

The purpose of a personal injury case is to hold one accountable and to receive fair and complete compensation for the accident. It’s not your fault you’ve been injured, you should not be the one paying for it. David Mabrey is the personal injury lawyer that can help you.

Types of Personal Injury Practice Areas

Injury-inducing accidents can occur in many different ways. On the road, at work, during standard medical operations, while running errands, etc. Every personal injury case will fall into a unique practice area.

Some personal injury lawyers will specialize in one practice area while others who have experience working with many different types of injury cases.

Here are the different types of practice areas that we can assist you in:

• Motor Vehicle accidents (including personal vehicles and commercial vehicles)
• Medical malpractice
• Birth defects/injuries
• Workplace accidents/injuries
• Product liability
• Premises liability
• Wrongful death

There are many nuances from case to case that determine if one is eligible to receive compensation for their claim. A personal injury lawyer must understand these nuances and other important information for each case they take on.

Are You Eligible to file a Personal Injury Lawsuit and Sue?

You have been hurt, but before you hire a lawyer and go to court, it is important to first understand if you even have a case. Not every incident will warrant a lawsuit and not every victim will be eligible to receive a reward for their damages.

To know for sure, we have laid out three basic requirements for a personal injury claim.

1. Was the party who is responsible for the injury careless or negligent? Examples of negligence in an injury case could be someone texting and driving, driving too fast, or they ran past a stop sign and crashed into an innocent person’s vehicle.
2. Did the responsible/negligent party cause personal injury? If no personal injuries were caused then the victim will not be eligible for a personal injury lawsuit. They can, however, still be awarded property damages if their vehicle or other personal property was damaged.
3. Did the injury result in harm that would lead to compensatory damages? This seems redundant with #2 at first, but being injured and being harmed in a way that leads to compensatory damages can be two entirely different things. For example, you may only receive a few cuts that don’t require medical attention which may not lead to compensatory damages. Or, you could sustain a broken arm because of the accident which leads to medical bills, lost wages, additional pain and suffering, etc. In this situation, one would likely qualify for compensatory damages to pay for the financial burden of the accident.

If you’ve answered yes to these questions then you will likely have a good chance of winning a personal injury lawsuit.

However, it’s important to recognize that there is a statute of limitations that plays into one’s eligibility of filing a lawsuit. While 3 years is the limit in Maryland, it can be harder to win a lawsuit as time goes on because evidence can be lost.

If you think you have a case, even if you are not sure, your next step after being injured is to contact Attorney David Mabrey.

Damages Awarded for a Personal Injury Case in Maryland

The purpose of a personal injury lawsuit is to help an injured victim remedy their losses after an injury. This means that the injured party is entitled to receive compensation from the negligent party for the financial losses faced and ones they can expect to face in the future.

As the victim of the injury, there are many financial hurdles you will likely need to overcome and many factors in which to receive compensation.

Medical Expenses

The most obvious needs will be for medical expenses. Both from the initial accident and future medical follow-ups, there are a number of expenses you will need to take care of.

• Hospital bills
• Doctors’ visits
• Surgery
• Medical tests
• Rehabilitation services
• In-home care
• Long-term care

In a personal injury lawsuit, it’s not enough to cover expenses for the initial medical expenses but also expected future expenses as well.

Lost Wages and Earnings

Most individuals have to take time off work and in some cases are unable to return to work for good. This can include lost wages and earnings for a number of reasons:

• Time off work due to court appearances and doctor visits
• Being laid off or unable to work due to injuries
• Injuries cause an end to current career

This financial burden can have a potentially bigger impact than even past and future medical expenses from the accident. It’s an important consideration for the awarded compensation for damages.

Pain and Suffering

One thing many people don’t think about when one has severe injuries is the anguish of dealing with sustained pain and the reduction in quality of life. Those living with chronic pain due to injuries can have a drastically altered life experience. Many people living with chronic pain can deal with a lot including lack of sleep, increased pain, the inability to participate in life hobbies they once enjoyed and the turmoil of constantly dealing with pain.

There may not be a “financial” burden caused but it can dramatically alter one’s life. Filing a lawsuit may not ease the burden of pain but it can help provide the financial support to care for one’s physical and emotional health in an improved way.

Punitive Damages

In some cases, compensation above and beyond that intended for remedying one’s injuries can be rewarded. These are called punitive damages and are reserved for rare cases when the guilty party showed true malicious or intent of harm to the injured party.

Normally in a personal injury case, the victim is injured accidentally by the negligent party. However, in some cases, the injury was intentionally or under deliberate wrongdoing. In these cases, punitive damages are awarded not as compensation but rather as a punishment for the guilty party.

How can a Personal Injury Lawyer help one’s case?

There is a lot that goes into injury-related lawsuits. From knowing whether one is able to file a lawsuit to actually filing the lawsuit then of course getting what’s owed through awarded damages. It can be challenging for the average person who is unfamiliar with the law system to figure everything out. That’s where an experienced lawyer such as David Mabrey can help.

There’s a number of ways a lawyer can help a victim of personal injury not only win their case but also improve the amount of compensation they will receive.

Offer legal advice

What should you do? When and how to file a claim? The negligent party wants to settle out of court for a large sum, should I take the money? There will be lots of questions, conversations and potential issues that arise during a personal injury case. Having a lawyer on your side helps you focus on getting better while they take care of all the challenging legal aspects.

Gather evidence

One of the most important aspects to a personal injury case is the evidence. Without the right evidence an injured victim can lose their case without any compensation. An attorney will know what information is necessary, how to gather the information and the best way to present it in order to maximize winning potential.

Determine the value of a claim

How much compensation should an injured party earn? $15,000? $100,000? $1million? $10 million? Sometimes it’s hard to know for sure how much compensation is necessary to take care of your current financial burdens and future needs due to the injury. Insurance companies and defending lawyers will do their best to convince you and the courts that you need less than you are owed by settling out of court or providing an insurance claim immediately. Oftentimes this amount sounds like a lot until time passes and you realize you’ve been undersold the financial impact of your injury.

David Mabrey is a seasoned personal injury attorney that has handled hundreds of similar cases and studied numerous more and will be able to maximize the amount of compensation awarded to you.

Negotiate with insurance companies

Insurance companies are some of the toughest companies to negotiate with. Oftentimes they will find ways to undercut or minimize what’s paid out to you. Having someone who understands how insurance companies think and how much they are really able to payout can help make dealing with insurance companies less stressful but also provide a higher compensation.

Offer defense against contributory negligence

If one’s not careful, their own words can cause them to lose their compensation or cause them to pay back some of the awards due. Maryland’s contributory negligence law states that an injury victim cannot recover compensation if the injury victim’s negligence caused his or her injury. In other words, if you admit or the defending party proves that you are somewhat at fault for your injuries then you may be unable to recover compensation.

A seasoned attorney like David Mabrey can guide you through the many complicated legal issues in an effort to prove that you were not at fault and therefore qualify for compensation from the negligent party.

Are you required to have a Lawyer to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

One of the first things people ask after ensuring they have a case for their injury, is if they need a lawyer or if they can represent themselves in court.

Legally speaking, you are not required to have a lawyer to represent you in court. In fact, many times a business will want to settle out of court without you needing to have a lawyer present. However, choosing to represent yourself or settling out of court will likely mean that you receive less than the ideal amount of compensation for your injuries.

A lawyer has four main purposes:

• Offer legal advice
• Improve your likelihood of winning a case
• Increase the amount of compensation you receive in the settlement.
• Defense against contributory negligence

Additionally, they will be able to help you along through the process which is vital in such a challenging time.

Unless you know how much to ask for and are able to prove to the court that you deserve that amount of compensation, you will likely find yourself under-compensated and in some cases not compensated at all.

As the injured party in a legal case, know you are not legally required to have a lawyer. But if you want the best outcome it’s best that you contact David Mabrey.

Choosing the right personal injury lawyer in Maryland

How do you decide on the right attorney? Think about what you want in a lawyer. What do you expect when you contact a lawyer?

Here are our recommendations as to why you should choose David Mabrey as your personal injury lawyer:

• Experienced
• Work on a Contingency Fee basis vs an hourly rate
• Approachable
• Gets Results

Choosing the right lawyer is vital for your personal injury case. You want someone who is experienced so that you win, but they also can’t be more expensive than the damages you will receive. Hiring a lawyer who works on a contingency basis means that you only pay a small percentage of your winnings as opposed to allowing an hourly rate build-up.

We are a law firm that gets results. When it comes to a personal injury case, you want someone who is experienced and who provides a good likelihood of winning for you. But, they also need to be approachable. This can be a challenging time so you want to ensure you have a lawyer you can talk to and feel comfortable with.

The Law Offices of David Mabrey is a trusted personal injury law firm because of these very attributes. We are a law firm in Anne Arundel MD with experience and who gets results. However, our office provides personal attention to every client that comes through our door.

If you’ve been injured, don’t waste any time. Contact Attorney David Mabrey right away. Let us do a free case review for you to get to know us and to see if we have mutual trust for your personal injury case.