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 familiarity 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 debilitating and severe injuries. If another party was responsible for your accident, though, you could receive compensation.
A White Marsh personal injury lawyer from Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers understands how traumatic a car accident can be and wants to help you win compensation. Call us today for a free case consultation and learn how our White Marsh car accident lawyers can help you rebuild your life.
Let Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers fight for your recovery. Contact us today.
FREE CASE EVALUATIONThe Fair Settlement Value of Your White Marsh Car Accident
Auto accidents are a broad legal category. These accidents can involve:
The type of accident you’re involved in will most likely impact the severity of your injuries. The severity of your injuries will, in turn, impact the valuation of your case.
Those suffering catastrophic injuries could be facing the most difficult challenges of their life as they recover. Injuries could include:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Back and shoulder injuries
- Crushed and broken bones
- Dislocations
- Strains and sprains
- Loss of limbs
- Internal bleeding and organ damage
Victims also face the possibility of disfiguring scars, disability, and the emotional trauma that accompanies these tragic events. Treating these injuries could require medical attention at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, a level-one trauma center.
Medical care will be expensive and long. Some victims may never recover from their injuries.
There’s no sure-fire way to predict the value of a car accident claim without an expert analysis. Experts will base their assessment on such factors as:
- The severity of the injuries
- The costs of medical care
- The duration of recovery
- The permanence of the injuries
- The policy limits available
- The strength of the evidence
Additionally, your car accident case will likely involve these damages:
- Lost wages while you recover
- Reduced earning potential if your injuries have left you unable to work
- Medical expenses and ongoing healthcare costs
- Rehabilitation and therapy
- Home and life modifications
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress and mental anguish
- Loss of consortium if you lost a loved one in the crash
- Loss of enjoyment of life
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), the average comprehensive cost of a disabling motor vehicle accident in 2022 was $1,066,000. Seeking car accident damages can offset these costs to you and your family.
A White Marsh car accident lawyer can compile the list of damages you could pursue and represent your interest to the insurance companies.
Our Car Accident Attorneys in White Marsh Can Pursue Your Damages
The aftermath of a car accident can be confusing. You’ll likely be inundated with paperwork and 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
Automobile 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 tactic 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 in Your White Marsh Car Wreck
Per the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), the state requires drivers to carry these liability insurance values:
- $30,000 of bodily injury per person
- $60,000 for accidents involving multiple people
- $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 liability insurance minimums.
To pursue financial compensation from the responsible party when the accident exceeds these minimums, you’ll have to establish liability.
An accident attorney can help by reviewing available evidence to build your case. This evidence will likely include:
- Your medical records
- Police accident report
- Documentation and invoices that demonstrate your loss of income
- Statements from an expert witness, like a crash reconstruction specialist
- Footage or images of the accident scene, your injuries, and the vehicles involved
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 Personal Injury Lawsuit
Many car accident cases are settled without a lawsuit. However, some necessitate litigation.
If a car accident 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
However, we must begin working on your case before the statute of limitations expires. Under Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. Code § 5-101, you typically have three years to file your lawsuit with the Baltimore County courthouse. We advise contacting us as soon as possible.
Get on the road to recovery with competent legal representation and high-quality medical professionals. Contact our White Marsh car accident lawyer today.
START YOUR CASEHiring a White Marsh Car Accident Lawyer from Our Law Firm
Our legal 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. Adam fights for your rights and will exhaust every potential option in pursuit of your compensation.
Read what our previous clients have said about Adam Smallow:
- “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 in White Marsh, MD, can assist you with your clerical duties and ensure that you meet your deadlines.
If you need legal representation, schedule your Road to Recovery Consultation.
START YOUR CASEThree Pitfalls That Could Hurt the Value of Your White Marsh 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 may 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, a White Marsh personal injury attorney can deal directly with the insurance company on your behalf. Also, we provide legal advice for our clients to prevent these and other issues.
What Should You 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
Also, you should limit what you say and post following the accident.
If you think you may have a case, call us today.
Free Consultation (410)777-8960How Our White Marsh Auto Accident Lawyers Prove the At-Fault Party Is Liable
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, such as the other driver being over the legal limit for alcohol at the time of the crash.
It is illegal, but the illegal conduct must connect 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. Using the previous scenario, the drunk driver passed out at the wheel, veered into your lane, and struck your car. These facts establish that their actions 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.
Common Causes of Car Accidents
Every case is treated as unique, and the injuries and damages to your case will be unique to you. That said, we have provided legal representation to injury victims for over ten years and seen the following common causes of car accidents:
- Distracted driving due to smartphone use like texting
- Fatigued driving
- Impaired driving due to drugs or alcohol
- Aggressive and reckless driving, such as speeding and tailgating
- Inexperienced driving
- Failure to obey traffic signs and signals
- Not adjusting due to poor weather conditions or road hazards
- Vehicle or part malfunctions, such as tire or brake failures
Our White Marsh Car Accident Lawyers Are Ready to Help You
Our legal team at Adam Smallow is familiar with the codes and regulations that make up Maryland car accident law. Attorney Adam Smallow wants you to win your case, and we’ll work hard for the strongest possible case outcome.
Our White Marsh car accident lawyers will make the first move so that insurers don’t get a home-court advantage. Contact our offices for a free case evaluation and go From Hurt to Help® today.
Take the first step towards justice. Contact Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers
FREE CASE EVALUATION