Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer

In the aftermath of an unexpected personal injury, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Rising medical bills paired with the physical injuries and mental trauma you may be facing make for a boiling pot of stressful emotions.

You may be looking at a long recovery period, surgery, and physical therapy for years to come. In terms of medical bills, these add up extremely quickly, and if the injuries are keeping you from working in the same capacity that you used to, you are facing a double-edged sword.

If your accident was caused through the negligent actions of another party and through no fault of your own, you should not have to foot the bill for these costs. Fortunately, in Maryland, the law is clear. If you have been involved in an accident that wasn't your fault, you are entitled to pursue compensation for your damages, physical, mental, and financial.

Here at Peter Angelos Law, we have been fighting to recover fair and reasonable compensation for our clients since 1961. Over this period, we have won numerous favorable outcomes for a long list of happy clients. By combining our extensive knowledge of Maryland personal injury law with our exceptional, personalized approach to the client-attorney relationship, we are proud of our reputation for aggressive representation.

Peter Angelos - A Record for Success

At Peter Angelos Law, we are proud to be led by an attorney with a stellar reputation. With over 50 years of experience representing clients from all walks of life, Peter Angelos is a fierce advocate and passionate champion for those in need.

Do You Need a Lawyer for a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

Personal injury lawyers in Maryland work together with victims to ensure that they have the best chances of pursuing any compensation that may be on offer to them following an accident caused by someone else's negligence. They also fight to recover any damages the victim has suffered, such as lost wages, medical bills, or property damage.

While there is no law that requires you to pursue compensation and the recovery of your damages with legal representation behind you, your chances are almost always better if you do.

When you are pursuing compensation, you will be dealing with the other party's insurance company. Insurance companies have had to pay out large sums historically, and to combat this, they now employ the most aggressive and skilled legal teams that they can in order to reduce their payouts. Their sole job is to find ways to reduce the amount the insurance company pays out to victims, if they pay out at all.

If you are dealing with the aftermath of an accident, it is likely that you have some emotional distress and physical injuries to deal with, and this is not the ideal situation to begin a legal battle against an insurance company by yourself.

With a skilled Maryland personal injury attorney advocating on your behalf, you can focus on your own health and recovery, confident that your case is being handled by a capable attorney knowledgeable in the process.

Your attorney will not only take over the tedious and difficult aspects of your case but with their help, your chances of seeking the full and maximum compensation that may be on offer to you increase significantly.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Maryland Personal Injury Law Firm?

Here at Peter Angelos Law, we are passionate about fighting on behalf of all accident victims. We don't want anyone to forgo the chances of pursuing compensation because they cannot afford up-front fees.

As part of our goal to make reliable representation obtainable by all, we work on a contingency fee basis and offer a free initial consultation to any victim.

Contingency fee work means that you pay no upfront fees to retain our attorneys. We will evaluate your case, and if we believe it is worth taking on, we will do so with no cost upfront. If we cannot win your case, we don't charge a penny to our clients.

If we win your case, we will take a pre-discussed percentage of the settlement that we win for you.

If you are unsure if your case qualifies you to make a claim, you can take advantage of our free initial consultation and case evaluation. We will examine your case, inform you if it is worth pursuing and give you the space to ask any important questions that you may have.

How Long Do You Have to File a Claim Under The Maryland Statute of Limitations

The Maryland Statute of Limitations places a legal time limit on how long you have to make a claim relating to personal injury, wrongful death, or medical malpractice in Maryland. This is designed to prevent people from suing defendants many years down the line from the supposed incident.

You have three years to make a claim relating to your incident before it is barred, meaning you cannot make a claim relating to that incident from that point on.

You should remember that just because you have three years to raise your claim does not mean you should wait this long. The sooner you raise your claim, the better your chances of success. Waiting too long places your attorney at a disadvantage in terms of investigating and building your case.

Missing the Deadline

If you attempt to file your lawsuit after the three years have elapsed, in 99% of cases, the defendant and their attorney will petition the court to have your case thrown out, and your case will be dismissed.

Four Elements of Negligence

Most personal injury cases are based on the fact that the at-fault party acted “negligently,” causing your injuries. Negligence is an important concept to understand.

There are four important elements:

Duty of Care

The first important element to understand is that the at-fault party must have owed the victim a duty of care at the time. A duty of care is a legal obligation to act in a way that protects others from harm.

There are a number of reasons why you may assume a duty of care, such as:

• Road users automatically assume a duty of care to other users of the road
• Property owners automatically assume a duty of care to visitors to their property (This can even include trespassers)
• Medical providers owe a duty of care to their patients
• Manufacturers owe a duty of care to their customers

Breach of the Duty of Care

The next element to prove, is that the at-fault party breached their duty of care. To breach the duty of care, the at-fault party must act in a way that is unreasonable or in a way that another reasonable individual in the same situation would not have acted.

You can act negligently through your actions, or you can also act negligently through a lack of due care and attention or omission of an act.

An example of a negligent act would be tailgating and causing a crash. In this example, you have acted negligently because a reasonable driver would not have tailgated.

An example of a lack of due care and attention would be medical providers failing to adequately monitor the fetus during pregnancy, leading to a preventable birth injury.

An example of an omission of an act would be a store owner who knows the floor is wet, neglecting to put up a wet floor sign to warn customers.

Causation

The third element to prove is causation, that is, that the accident directly caused your injuries. Proving this may be as simple as an accident report from a paramedic who attended you at the accident scene.

Damages

The final element to prove is that the injuries you have suffered as a result of the accident have led to you suffering economic and/or non-economic damages.

Different Damages that may be Available in a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Maryland

Following an accident that resulted in you suffering an injury, you most likely suffered damages. These damages may be recovered in your personal injury claim. Here are the most common damages that are pursued in Maryland:

Medical Expenses

One of the most worrying damages that a victim has to deal with following an accident is the cost of medical expenses. Even those that are lucky enough to have a strong level of insurance may find that their coverage is exceeded quickly if they require medical attention for serious injuries.

Your personal injury attorney in Maryland will work with you to recover all past and future medical expenses. This means that any costs you have already suffered and had to pay, can be recovered. This includes treatment costs, transport to the hospital, childcare while you are at the hospital, and alterations made to the house.

Your Maryland personal injury attorney may also pursue your future medical costs as well. If you are going to require long-term medical treatment or physical therapy, your attorney may work with medical experts to calculate what this may cost and pursue this in your claim.

Lost Wages/Earnings Potential

In the majority of personal injury claims, the accident has led to injuries where the victim will have had to take time off work for treatment and recovery. This usually results in a loss of earnings. If you have lost wages as a result of your accident, your attorney will look to recover your losses in your claim.

If your injuries are severe enough that you will have to take time off in the future, this should be accounted for as well.

In some cases, the victim may never be able to return to work in the same capacity, and in these situations, your attorney may seek expert help to gauge what a lifetime of reduced earning capacity may cost you so they can pursue compensation.

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering damages are often the most substantial and are designed to compensate you for the pain you have been through and any mental or emotional distress you have suffered.

Pain and suffering damages are subjective, meaning your attorney will have to place a value on them depending on what they believe them to be worth. This means the more experience your personal injury lawyer has in calculating damages in similar cases, the better they will be equipped to calculate yours.

Pain and suffering damages may also include any loss of enjoyment of life. This compensates victims if they can no longer live their life as they used to. If you can no longer play baseball because of your injuries, you deserve compensation for your loss of enjoyment.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages can only be awarded by the judge and only if your case proceeds to the courtroom. These damages are designed to punish the at-fault party for behavior that was either malicious or grossly negligent.

Determining Fault and Liability in a Maryland Personal Injury Case

If your case ends up proceeding to the courtroom, it will be down to the jury to decide whether or not you deserve to be awarded what you are seeking. They will decide if they believe the case your attorney is putting forward on your behalf.

If your case does not end up proceeding to the courtroom, it will be decided by the other party admitting their fault and offering you a settlement agreement that you are happy with and that you and your attorney decide accurately represents your damages.

In many cases, the at-fault party will avoid admitting fault because it makes them look bad. When fighting against corporations or raising a case against an influential figure, this is common.

Our attorneys here at Peter Angelos Law are not afraid of a fight. In fact, Peter Angelos himself was responsible for winning the largest settlement, $4.5 billion dollars, in Baltimore County history, against the state's tobacco industries.

Contributory Negligence in a Maryland Personal Injury Case

Maryland is one of the country's only five states where contributory negligence is still used as opposed to comparative negligence. Under comparative negligence, if it is seen that the victim was 25% at fault, their compensation will be reduced by this amount.

Under much stricter contributory negligence rules that are in play in Maryland, if the victim is found to be even 1% at fault, they will be barred from receiving any compensation whatsoever.

What Evidence to Collect in a Maryland Personal Injury Case

The more evidence you can provide and the more evidence that your attorney can uncover through their investigations, the stronger your case will be. Evidence is crucial when it comes to proving the at-fault party is actually at fault.

Accident Reports

If either the police or an ambulance is called to the scene of an accident, they will compile what is known as an accident report. This is an unbiased, factual incident report that contains vital information your attorney may use as evidence.

The information contained in an accident report may include the names of the victims and the at-fault party, information regarding witnesses, and a detailed description of what happened.

Your attorney can help you obtain this report from the relevant emergency services if you have not already obtained it.

Photographs and Videos of the Accident Scene

Pictures and videos from the scene of the accident are extremely useful. Visual evidence is always compelling. If you managed to take videos or pictures of the scene after the accident, your attorney will be able to use anything you took in your case.

Your attorney will also look for any CCTV footage or traffic surveillance that captured what happened. This is one of the reasons why speaking to your attorney as soon as possible is a smart idea. The longer you leave it, the more likely it is that CCTV footage will have been erased.

Medical Records

Proving causation is important in any personal accident case, and medical records can help you do this. Documentation stating what injuries you suffered and how severe they were can be used in your case. You should speak to your doctors and ask for all of your records to give to your attorney.

Medical Bills

You should keep all records of your medical bills and receipts. This will help your attorney when it comes to calculating your damages and supporting those figures with evidence.

A good way to assist your attorney is to keep a daily record of your medical treatment, pain levels, and mood, and keep your receipts attached or inside the diary.

Financial Documents

If your injuries have resulted in financial problems, such as time off work or property damage, you need to ensure you keep all of the records you can as proof. You are entitled to claim your lost wages and property damage back, but you will need to be able to back up your claims with evidence.

Witness Testimony

If you were lucky enough to have a witness on the scene, you should make sure that you take as many details from them as possible, and if they are willing, you should record a quick voice statement of what happened. This ensures that they stay reliable, as they only need to confirm that the statement is correct when your attorney contacts them.

Physical evidence is important, but your case becomes much stronger if a witness or witnesses back up your story.

Expert Opinions

Often, personal injury lawyers will seek expert opinion to help them build your case. They may seek the help of a crash investigator, for example, who can explain evidence to the jury. Another example would be a medical expert who can demonstrate that the at-fault medical provider deviated from the standard medical practices they have been taught to adhere to.

Types of Personal Injury Accidents Our Maryland Personal Injury Attorneys Regularly Handle

Our Maryland personal injury lawyers are experienced in both negotiation and litigation and have won cases similar to yours in the past. We have handled most forms of personal injury cases.

Our law firm handles the following:

Mesothelioma 

Since the 1980s, the team here at Peter Angelos has been fighting on behalf of clients that have suffered from asbestos-related injuries. If you, or somebody you love, has suffered due to their exposure to asbestos dust, you may be entitled to make a claim to recover damages and pursue compensation.

Exposure to asbestos has been proven to cause Mesothelioma, an aggressive, hard-to-treat form of lung cancer. Mesothelioma can cause serious impairments and leave the victim with extortionate medical costs for treatment

Our firm can help your family secure compensation for your medical bills, lost income, and other damages resulting from another party’s negligence. 

Product Liability 

As a manufacturer of a product, there is a legal responsibility, a duty of care, to ensure that the products that you manufacture do not contain dangerous defects. Products should come with clearly written and easy-to-understand instructions for use, and if there are any risks, they should be clearly labeled.

If incidents occur, a product should be recalled immediately, and the manufacturer should take swift action to ensure that further incidents do not happen.

If you, or a loved one have been injured because of a consumer product defect or because there were inadequate warnings regarding the risk of the product, you may be entitled to make a claim.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals automatically assume a legal duty of care to their patients. This duty requires them to follow the standard medical practices they have been taught to adhere to. There are very clear guidelines established by the medical community that dictates how a medical professional should act.

If a medical provider acts negligently or deviates from these standard medical practices, they may be held liable for the injuries they cause to patients.

Environmental Litigation

Large corporations and companies often cause serious damage and ecological harm to the areas surrounding them. These companies should follow environmental regulations at both the state and federal levels.

If you have been injured or have developed an illness or medical condition due to a company's failure to abide by applicable regulations, you may have a claim.

Pharmaceutical Liability 

Americans consume more pharmaceuticals than any other country in the world. As a consumer, you should be able to trust that the supplements and medicines that you take are safe, tested, and effective.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and every year we handle cases where victims have been injured by the medicine that was meant to help them.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective medication or have suffered side effects that were not listed, Peter Angelos Law can help you investigate.

Motor Vehicle Accidents 

Motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of personal injury claims across the country. If you or somebody you love has been involved in a car accident and you have been left with serious injuries, our team can assist you with your recovery.

Motor vehicle accidents can happen for a number of reasons, such as distracted driving, driving under the influence, unsafe roads, and reckless driving. No matter the cause, we can help you investigate and assign liability.

Some car accident cases may only necessitate auto insurance claims to recover financial damages, while others will demand more expansive legal action to ensure a full recovery.

This is not a comprehensive list of the claims that we have handled, although they are the more common ones. Peter Angelos Law has represented numerous clients in a diverse selection of cases. We have fought some of the largest entities in the country, and have won favorable results.

We have the experience, resources, and litigation skills to guide you to a successful outcome for your claim. 

How Do You Decide Which Maryland Personal Injury Lawyers To Hire

Many of our clients have never needed representation from an attorney before and this can make the task of researching and deciding which personal injury lawyer in Maryland to choose a tough one. Many people make the mistake of going with a law firm that has placed expensive television or billboard ads.

We recommend that you follow this advice when choosing a personal injury law firm:

1. Take Advantage of Free Consultations - Most personal injury law firms will offer new clients a free initial consultation. This means you can arrange several meetings with your top choices. You can use this free initial consultation to ask important questions and get a feel for your attorney.
2. Check Your Personalities Do Not Clash - Personal injury cases can take several years to complete, which means you will be spending a lot of time dealing with your chosen attorney. You may also have to discuss personal matters with them. We recommend you take the time in your initial consultation to ensure you like your attorney and that your personalities don't clash.
3. Ask About Their Track Record - You should always ask your potential attorney to see their track record. The more victories they have in similar cases to yours, the better. Experience and victories in similar cases will give your attorney experience to draw upon and an advantage in creating a strategy for your case.
4. Accessibility - If your attorney has a good reputation, it is likely that they will be dealing with several cases at once. This isn't a bad thing, but you should make sure you ask your attorney how busy they are and how they plan to handle your case on top of their current workload. Don't expect 24/7 access, but they should allocate each client adequate time to deal with their needs and respond promptly to queries and questions about the case.

Maryland Personal Injury FAQs