Waldorf Car Accident Lawyers

A car accident can be a scary, disorienting experience. Unfortunately, most people will experience one at some point in their lives, and when that happens, it can help to have an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side. Many may feel that hiring an attorney after a car accident is extreme, but ultimately, the other person’s insurance company does not have your best interests at heart. Having a Jaklitsch Law Group attorney in your corner means you can focus on your healing and recovery while we focus on dealing with the insurance company. 

How Can an Attorney Benefit Me?

Hiring a Waldorf car accident attorney can provide many benefits emotionally and financially. When you have an attorney to fight for your rights to compensation, you increase your chances of receiving a higher compensation amount than you would receive on your own. Many of the other benefits may include:

• Knowledge of the legal process
• Negotiation
• Handling communication
• Filing paperwork
• Requesting paperwork
• Litigation 

Being injured and facing medical bills can be vulnerable and anxiety-provoking. An attorney can help set your expectations for your case, help you understand the current situation, and prepare you for future steps. An attorney will also provide a barrier between you and the insurance company so you know it is taken care of and that you will be consulted if your input is needed. 

How the Insurance Company Works

The insurance company’s primary goal is to protect its assets and pay out as little money to you as possible or draw out the process, resulting in a lower settlement or exceeding the Maryland Statute of Limitations, which is three years. Our Waldorf auto accident lawyer knows their strategies for making it difficult to receive the compensation you are owed and can work on your behalf to either get a fair settlement or litigate in court.  

Causes of a Waldorf Car Accident

Car accidents in Waldorf are not unlike accidents anywhere else and can be caused by many things. Among these common causes are: 

• Distracted driving
• Speeding
• Failure to check blind spots
• Improper lane change
• Intoxication
• Poor weather conditions
• Inadequately maintained roads
• Poor visibility
• Inadequately maintained car

Some of these causes can obviously be attributed to the driver, and liability would fall on them. However, the liability may occasionally be directed to third parties such as city workers or maintenance workers. This may be the case if there were issues with the road or poorly maintained landscaping that caused poor visibility, resulting in the accident. 

Contributory Negligence

Suppose you have been injured by someone else’s negligence in a car accident but have concerns about how your own behavior may have contributed to the accident. In that case, you may be restricted in your claim due to the current contributory negligence laws. Legislation, HB 1361,  is being discussed in the Maryland House to encourage a transition from contributory negligence to a comparative negligence system. Suppose you have any concerns regarding how your decisions may affect your settlement. In that case, you should contact a reputable Waldorf car accident attorney who can help you make the argument that you are, in no way, to blame for your accident or injuries. 

Waldorf Car Accident Injuries

A car accident can cause significant injury both physically and emotionally. Sometimes, the injuries may be significant enough that you are unable to tend to your daily responsibilities. Some of the injuries commonly seen in car accidents are:

• Neck injury
• Soft tissue damage
• Broken bones
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Internal bleeding
• Severed limb
• Death

Beyond physical injuries, many people who have been in car accidents experience symptoms like anxiety and depression. In more severe cases, the trauma from a car accident can present as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The National Library of Medicine tells us that the diagnostic criteria for PTSD require that you face a real or perceived threat of severe bodily injury or death. This is certainly the case if you are in a car accident with severe injuries. 

Incidents of Waldorf Car Accident Injuries

 Car accidents kill people across the country every day. Maryland’s Zero Deaths Maryland campaign reports 108,000 total accidents in the last reporting year. These accidents left over 28,000 people injured and 534 of them dead. 135 of those fatalities are determined to have been related to drugs or alcohol, and 33 are attributed to aggressive driving. It is reported that around 92% of occupants were wearing seatbelts. 

Recovering From a Waldorf Car Accident

Some injuries sustained in an accident may be relatively minor, requiring only a few days of rest. Many, however, may require weeks or months of follow-up with physical or occupational therapies, rendering you unable to work, on restrictive duty, or forced to take unpaid medical leave. In some more severe cases of catastrophic injuries, you may require ongoing supportive care and find yourself unable to work altogether. All of these factors may be taken into consideration when determining your overall damages and settlement amount. 

Preserving Evidence

The experience of a car accident can be chaotic. It may leave you scattered and unsure what what you should do immediately after. The first step should always be ensuring that you are in a safe area. Following that, you should call 911 to have police come out to take statements and make a report, as well as ensure that EMS can provide care to anyone who needs it and evaluate you for any injuries. 

Documentation

The foundation of any strong case is documentation. You can begin documenting the accident at the scene by getting contact information for anyone who witnessed it. This ensures that you or your attorney can reach out while building your case for statements if needed. Taking pictures of the area, any damage to structures and the vehicles involved, and any injuries you sustained provides visual support for what happened. Photos of your injuries provide visual documentation and may corroborate your version of what happened and the severity of your injuries. 

Medical Evaluation

Seeking a medical evaluation immediately following the accident gives a baseline of your injuries. Immediate medical care also ensures that you can quickly identify soft tissue injuries or those that may be masked by adrenaline instead of leaving them untreated and possibly exacerbated. Immediate evaluation may also prevent the perception that your injuries are not as severe as you claim they are. 

Minimize Your Liability

There are several things an auto accident attorney in Waldorf may advise you to do in order to reduce your liability in a car accident case:

• Minimize what you post on social media, and do not post anything about the accident
• Do not admit fault at the scene of the accident. This includes apologizing to the other driver
• Do not speak about the accident freely, and keep most conversations about it between you and your lawyer
• Follow all recommended courses of action from doctors

Waldorf Car Accident Damages

Assessing damages from a car accident refers to assessing the total costs incurred from the accident. This is typically divided into several sections. The two main categories are compensatory and non-compensatory damages, which consider whether the damages owed are intended to compensate the victim. The most common type of damage awarded is compensatory damage. 

Economic Damages

Economic damages are meant to account for actual monetary costs incurred as a result of the accident and injuries. Maryland statute 11-109 explains that these damages can include the cost to repair or replace your vehicle or other personal items damaged or lost in the accident, like phones, computers, or car seats. These damages may also include the costs of things such as:

• Medical bills/invoices
• Cost of medications
• Lost wages
• Loss of work capacity
• Cost of support services
• Medical Devices
• Cost of future medical expenses

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages tend to be more challenging when assigning a monetary amount. Maryland statute 11-108 details that  non-economic damages can be claimed for the following losses:

• Pain and suffering
• Inconvenience
• Physical impairment
• Disfigurement
• Loss of consortium
• Other non-pecuniary injury

If you have lost a loved one in an accident, Jaklitsch Law Group knows that money will not bring them back. However, you may be eligible to file a wrongful death claim. This type of claim allows for damages such as mental anguish, loss of companionship, attention, and companionship. Recovering compensation for wrongful death can provide compensation to assist with the medical and funeral costs of the decedent as well as provide financial cushioning to allow you to grieve without the immediate financial pressures. 

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages may be awarded when the accident was caused by particularly malicious or despicable behavior on the defendant’s part. Punitive damages are considered non-compensatory damages because they are not intended to act as compensation for the victim but as punishment for the defendant. Because of this, punitive damages are not something that you and your Waldorf car accident attorney would request, but the jury awards them. Punitive damages also require that the case go to court.

What to Expect During Your Car Accident Claim

Recovering compensation from your accident claim is a long process that can take months or years to complete. There are several pieces to a claim where you will likely encounter various delays. 

Gathering evidence

The initial steps following an accident will be surrounding gathering and evaluating the evidence of a case. When you are preparing to meet with your attorney, they will likely ask you for several pieces of documentation, including:

• Police report
• Citation 
• Invoices or bills
• Medical records
• Insurance information
• Contact information
• Photos of the accident or injuries

The insurance company will also request this information and begin investigating as soon as they are made aware of the accident. This stage can take months because an attorney may advise you to refrain from negotiating a settlement offer until you have resolved your injuries or clearly understand your prognosis. This may be advised to ensure that you are aware of likely medical costs in the future.

Negotiations

Once the necessary documentation has been gathered and you have evaluated the costs of your damages, your attorney may start negotiating with the insurance company.  In this step of the process, there may be delays if the insurance company decides to ask for more information. This stage may also continue for months. The insurance company would usually like to settle the case out of court because not only is it costly in terms of legal fees, but the jury could end up awarding damages far beyond what you requested in negotiations. 

Trial

If you are unable to come to an agreement during the negotiation phase of your case, you may decide to file a lawsuit and plead your case in court. Like the insurance company, most people prefer to avoid taking the case to court. This may be for financial reasons, but also time. Choosing to present your case in court can delay the payout of your settlement months or years while waiting for your court date. The benefit of a trial is that you may be awarded more than you initially asked for. This decision is best determined case-by-case after consulting with a Waldorf car accident attorney.

Call us Today

If you have sustained injuries in a car accident that someone else caused, you should not have to deal with it alone. When you retain Jaklitsch Law Group as your advocate and lawyer, you will receive individualized support and work with a well-versed Waldorf, MD, car accident attorney who can understand your case. This is a vulnerable time, and our goal is to recover maximum compensation for you, allowing you to focus on your health and well-being. 

Contact us today for a free case consultation. When you call, you will speak with an experienced team member who can help you understand your legal options. If you decide to work with us, you can do so knowing that we work on a contingency fee basis, and you won’t owe us anything unless we win your case.