You take several proactive safety precautions every day. When you get into your car, you snap on the seat belts and drive the speed limit. If you’re climbing stairs, you grip a railing. A ride on a bike means wearing a helmet.
Despite your best intentions to stay safe, there are times when someone else’s negligence causes you to get in an accident or take a fall. When that happens, and you suffer losses in the form of medical bills or repairs, you are entitled to seek compensation.
That compensation typically comes from an insurance company payout, but those are not without potential complications. When you face resistance from an insurance carrier or are presented with an offer that doesn’t come close to covering your losses, it is time to bring your case to Belsky & Horowitz, LLC.
We’re a team that is dedicated to being strong advocates for our clients. Our goal is to help you obtain fair compensation that allows you to heal and put the accident behind you.
Before offering help with any personal injury claim, we must thoroughly understand the particulars. That begins with a free case evaluation with a Baltimore personal injury lawyer. During this time, we want to know what happened and what stands in the way of getting what you’re due. It helps to understand the nature of these complaints and the challenges you might face.
Types of Personal Injury Cases in Baltimore
Every accident is a personal experience that impacts each victim and their families in different ways. When someone else’s negligence causes those accidents, the victims might be owed reimbursement. The following are the types of common personal injury categories that you might be involved with:
Car Accidents
Car accidents can involve any type of vehicle, including trucks, buses, motorcycles, and rideshare operations like Uber or Lyft. Negligence becomes an issue when the at-fault driver engages in dangerous behavior, such as speeding, distracted driving, driving under the influence, running red lights or stop signs, and other reckless driving.
Other types of accidents could involve a car part or system defect. In those cases, it would be appropriate to go after the car and park manufacturer.
Slip and Fall Accidents
If you had a slip and fall accident in Baltimore, you may have cause for a personal injury lawsuit. A property owner owes a duty of care to anyone invited to come onto their property, whether a store, restaurant, office building, or private residence. That duty of care means repairing hazards or warning about those dangerous issues that could cause trips or falls.
Medical Malpractice
When we are sick or injured, we trust medical professionals to diagnose what is wrong and offer a course of treatment to help us recover from the condition, whatever it might be. Sometimes, that treatment can be as simple as rest and plenty of fluids. It could also mean a surgical procedure and months of physical therapy. No matter the recommendations, we expect those medical professionals to honor their commitment to “do no harm.” However, that commitment does not make them immune from negligent acts.
In those situations, you have a right to pursue a medical malpractice case. These cases are incredibly complex and require a Baltimore personal injury lawyer who understands the laws and has a network of medical experts who can correctly interpret reports, X-rays, and other documentation. Belsky & Horowitz, LLC has years of experience handling these specific types of cases.
Dog Bites
Like other accidents, a dog bite can happen instantly and be extremely frightening for everyone involved. In Maryland, dog owners are typically liable for damages caused by their dog if it is off its leash and outside the house. Even if the dog owner had no idea the dog got out, they are still liable. They could also be liable for a bite if they know their dog has a history of aggressive behavior and allow it to come in contact with visitors or passersby.
Here are some of the other types of personal injury cases that we handle at our firm:
- Mass transit accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Nursing home abuse and neglect
- Pedestrian accidents
- Product liability
- Sexual assault
- Truck accidents
- Workers’ compensation
- Wrongful death
Each type of case may have specific legal standards and requirements for proving negligence and recovering compensation, and we can inform you about all the applicable laws.
How Insurance Companies Work Against You
Maryland requires every car owner to carry a car insurance policy. Those requirements state that your vehicle insurance must cover, at a minimum, the following:
- $30,000 for bodily injury
- $60,000 for two or more people
- $15,000 property damage
In addition to car insurance, homeowners who carry a mortgage must carry homeowner’s insurance, and business owners must also have liability insurance policies in place to operate in the state. The premise for any insurance policy is that if something happens and your policy compensates for the damages, you should get paid back for your losses.
Unfortunately, the only way for an insurance company to remain profitable is if they hold onto as much money as possible. That means delaying or denying those payments. Another tactic is to lowball an offer and make you believe it is the best you’ll ever get. That is why it is important not to talk to an insurance company until you speak with Belsky & Horowitz, LLC. We can provide the guidance and information you need to understand if what the insurance company is offering is fair.
What Type of Damages Can You Receive in Personal Injury Lawsuits?
When you retain the services of an experienced Baltimore personal injury lawyer, you will benefit from strong negotiation skills. Those skills will be deployed when determining the amount for your damages. Those damages will be a combination of three categories: economic, noneconomic, and punitive. Here’s what the categories mean:
Economic Damages
The concept behind receiving economic damages is to make you whole again. That means paying you back the funds you lost because of the accident. Those losses can include the following:
Your medical expenses:
- Ambulance fee
- Cost of emergency room treatment
- Medical doctor exam
- Diagnostic tests
- Medical supplies
- Prescription
- Physical therapy
- Transportation
- Car repairs
- Car replacement
- Damaged property
- Lost wages
- Future earning potential
Noneconomic Damages
Your noneconomic damages are for all those losses for which you won’t have a bill but will have value. These damages reflect how the accident has impacted your quality of life. They can include the following:
- Pain and suffering
- Disfigurement
- Loss of companionship
- Mental anguish
- PTSD
- Punitive damages
When the at-fault party has engaged in negligent behavior that is so egregious, you might be awarded punitive damages. A driver who loses control of their car on a patch of ice and crashes into your parked car would probably not be practical to sue for punitive damages. However, a driver convicted of a DUI that crashes and causes injury could have punitive damages leveled against them.
Making the Filing Deadlines with Your Baltimore Personal Injury Lawyer
When you get involved in any kind of accident, the clock starts ticking when you can file an official claim. That time is referred to as the statute of limitations. In Maryland, that statute is three years, and it applies to a lawsuit, not an insurance claim, which typically happens before a lawsuit. When you make an insurance claim, you will be obligated to respond in a timely manner.
Once you file the lawsuit, additional filing deadlines will have to do with submitting evidence and depositions. The attorneys at Belsky & Horowitz, LLC are very familiar with these deadlines. We will keep you informed of every step toward your resolution.
What to Bring to a Free Case Evaluation with Belsky & Horowitz, LLC
The support that Belsky & Horowitz, LLC provides as your Baltimore personal injury lawyer begins with a free case evaluation. When you come in for the consultation, we want you to hear your version of events, and what led you to ask for our help. After we listen to what happened to you or your loved one, we’ll provide you with a general overview of what could happen next and the potential for success.
You should take notes and bring written questions. We would also like to see any injury reports from your doctors, photos of the accident, a crash report, and the bills you’ve already paid or are due.
If, after reviewing your information, we feel we can be of assistance, we’ll let you know as soon as possible. At that point, you’ll have to decide whether to retain our services. If you do, we’ll continue to provide you with the guidance and support you’ll need to make the right choices for your personal injury claim.
When you call our law offices to set up a free legal consultation, we might ask about the basic facts of your case, and we can tell you what information we’ll need from you. Call our offices today to set up your consultation, and let’s get the process started.
