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When you have been injured by the careless acts of others, whether its a car, truck, or bus crash, or hurt or harmed by some other form of negligence by others its important to know that you have help. Do not go it alone. At the Law office of Thomas E. Pyles, P.A., we have over 25 years of experience representing Maryland injury clients in a wide range of personal injury matters, from car, bus, and truck crashes, to dog bites, to medical malpractice. As a Waldorf personal injury lawyer, Thomas E. Pyles focuses on providing highly professional representation with a personalized, straight talk, down to earth approach. We will help you understand your rights and options and personally walk you through every step of your case as we fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

 

Common Types of Maryland Personal Injury Claims

Personal injury cases occur from someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, which means that had the proper actions and precautions been taken, the accident that caused the injury would not have happened. A personal injury case can result from:

When you suffer a personal injury because of someone else’s bad decisions, the responsible party should be held accountable for their actions and the unnecessary harm that they caused to you.

Do I Need a Injury Lawyer for My Maryland Personal Injury Case? 

Not in every case do you need a lawyer. When you have an accident and you have not been injured, but you have minor property damage, I recommend you handle the property damage claim yourself. If the adjuster does not handle the claim fairly, then I would contact a lawyer and arrange to file suit. However, I would highly recommend that if you are injured you do hire a Waldorf accident law firm.

First, if you have been injured, you will be going solo against the insurance adjuster and the insurance company who know how to handle these claims and unrepresented claimants. They will devalue your claim and may try to deny and stall the handling of your claim, which if you are not careful time can run out.

I would highly recommend that you give my firm a call because we are a very experienced and well-known personal injury law firm. A Waldorf personal injury attorney will be able to handle your claim from cradle to grave. They will be able to process your claim, but more importantly, if your lawyer is highly skilled and has a history of success (winning cases at trial), they can be sure the insurance company is held accountable. If you have severe injuries, disabling injuries, a medical malpractice claim, nursing home abuse/negligence claim, you should hire an attorney.

 

When Should I Hire a Waldorf Personal Injury Lawyer? 

Not in every case do you need a personal injury lawyer. If you’ve had a minor fender bender and there are no injuries, and the other person is at fault, you need to decide whether or not you are going to hire a personal injury attorney. If you are injured I would recommend that you hire right away.

If you have had injuries you will need a Waldorf personal injury lawyer to handle the insurance companies regarding your injuries. If you deal with the insurance company alone they will often devalue your claim and injuries, minimizing your compensation. If you have severe injuries, permanent injuries that are disabling, have a complex medical history, or if liability is in dispute, you need to hire an experienced successful personal injury attorney.

Our Waldorf Personal Injury Lawyer Breaks Down Your Potential Damages and Settlements

You were injured in an accident that was someone else’s fault. You are entitled to financial compensation, and it looks like a Waldorf injury attorney may be able to help you obtain an insurance settlement. What do you need to know now?

There is a lot that goes into recovering financial compensation after an accident. Your attorney has a lot of work ahead, and you will need to play an active role in your personal injury claim as well.

How Much Can an Injured Plaintiff Recover in an Injury Lawsuit?

The goal of awarding damages in personal injury cases is to make the plaintiff whole — or, put another way, to put the plaintiff in the same position he or she would have been in had the accident not occurred. Thus, there is generally no pre-determined amount or limit of economic damages that a successful plaintiff may recover, as the dollar amount of the damages will depend upon the facts of his or her case. However, the state of Maryland imposes a cap on non-economic damages (such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, mental distress, etc.), that was set at $500,000 in 1994 and increases by $15,000 every year. 

What if You Do Not Receive a Satisfactory Settlement Offer?

If you do not receive a fair settlement offer, then you do not have to settle. You can continue to fight for more, and, if necessary, your attorney can take your injury claim to trial. In many cases, once you show the insurance companies that you are willing to take your case to a verdict if necessary, this will help to spur good-faith settlement negotiations.

What Impact Does It Have On My Claim If My Personal Health Insurance Pays My Medical Bills?

Our injury firm recommends that clients with health insurance have their insurance companies billed to help pay the cost of medical expenses incurred as a result of the accident. This alleviates the burden on the client, healthcare professionals involved in treatment, and allow the client to have assurance that they can continue with treatment until they have recovered. This also helps to put more money into the clients pocket once the case is resolved.

Healthcare providers generally take the amount that health insurance company’s pay. The health insurance company will pay a reduced percentage of what the provider has billed. Even if the insurance pays 50% of the bill, the provider usually limits the expense to the payment by the health insurance company. In the end, an experienced personal injury attorney will negotiate with the health insurance carrier to receive a reduction of the lien.

5 Facts You Must Know About Your Personal Injury Claim

If you have been injured in an accident that was someone else’s fault, your road to recovery starts now. You need to make smart decisions, and you need to rely on the advice and representation of an experienced Waldorf personal injury lawyer. Here are five facts you must know to protect your legal rights:

1. Taking Care of Your Injuries Should Be Your First Priority

While it is important that you promptly consult with a lawyer, it is even more critical that you take care of your injuries. If you have not done so already, you need to see a doctor. If you’ve seen a doctor, you need to follow your doctor’s advice, and you need to continue to do so throughout the personal injury claim process. If you ignore your doctor’s advice, not only could this delay (or jeopardize) your recovery, but it could put your personal injury claim in jeopardy as well.

2. It Will Be Important to Conduct an Investigation Promptly

To recover your losses, you will need evidence of liability. While you may have some evidence in your possession already, your lawyer will need to investigate to collect all of the available evidence. From preserving forensic evidence at the accident scene to securing copies of video footage and other evidence before it disappears, there are several reasons why the investigation needs to get underway as soon as possible.

3. You Can Recover Compensation for Your Current and Future Losses

When you have a personal injury claim in Maryland, you are entitled to just compensation for all of your accident-related losses. This includes your current losses (i.e., the medical bills you have already paid and your loss of income), and it includes your future losses as well. To ensure that you seek the full compensation to which you are entitled, you will need to hire an experienced Waldorf personal injury lawyer to determine how much your injuries will cost you in the future.

4. You Only Get One Chance to File an Injury Claim

It is also essential to hire an experienced personal injury lawyer because you only get one chance to file a claim. If you settle for too little – even if you didn’t know you were settling for too little – you will never be able to collect the full compensation you deserve. An experienced attorney can accurately calculate your losses, negotiate on your behalf, and help you make an informed decision about when (and if) to settle your injury claim.

5. It Costs You Nothing Out of Pocket to Hire a Waldorf Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal injury lawyers represent their clients on a contingency-fee basis. This means that it costs you nothing out of pocket to get experienced legal representation. You will not have to pay any retainer fees or monthly legal bills. If your personal injury claim is successful, your legal costs will be calculated as a percentage of your settlement or verdict. 

Is There a Time Limit to Filing a Claim in Maryland? 

Every state has a deadline by which you must file suit in order to seek compensation. This deadline is referred to as the “statute of limitations,” and varies depending on the type of case that you have. If you fail to pursue your claim by the deadline, you will lose all of your rights to compensation, no matter how strong your case may otherwise be. 

In Maryland, injury victims have three years from the date of “accrual” to pursue their claim. The “date of accrual” is the date that the injured party knew or should have known that they were injured. In many cases, such as car accidents, the date of accrual is the same as the date of the accident if you were obviously injured. In other cases, such as medical malpractice cases, determining when the deadline began to run can be more complicated. The party responsible for your accident may try to argue that the deadline began to run sooner than you think as you should have known about your injury sooner. For these reasons, it’s best to contact a Waldorf personal injury lawyer right away in order to avoid losing your rights. 

The Statute of Limitations Impacts Your Settlement from the Insurance Claim

You might think that the statute of limitations doesn’t apply to your case because you don’t plan to go to court. This is a grave mistake – the insurance company will not even consider your claim if the statute of limitations has passed. Furthermore, the insurance company may simply refuse to consider a reasonable settlement, meaning that going to court may be the only option to get the compensation you deserve. A Waldorf personal injury attorney can assess your case and help you understand what you can expect. 

How Much is My Injury Claim Worth?

Non-lawyers typically wind up settling their case for far less than it is worth. This is due to a number of factors, but one of the biggest reasons is that they don’t realize that they are entitled to damages for their pain and suffering. For many accident victims, this is a significant portion of their claim. In addition to your physical pain, you are entitled to compensation for the following: 

  • Difficulty in performing everyday activities
  • Sadness or depression caused by your accident
  • Anxiety over your future recovery or inability to work

The law recognizes that damages are appropriate for pain and suffering, even though they aren’t easily reduced to a precise figure. That said, you should be aware that Maryland does limit the amount of non-economic damages that you can receive. For 2021, the caps on non-economic damages are as follows:

  • $905,000 in a personal injury case
  • $2,262,500 in a wrongful death case with 2 or more survivors

A Waldorf personal injury attorney can help you build a strong case so that you can get all of the compensation you need to cover both your economic and non-economic losses.

Selecting the Right Waldorf Injury Lawyer

The factors for choosing an attorney, first and foremost, how much of their practice is dedicated to personal injury? Secondly, how long have they been doing this? Third, and probably the most important factor, is what kind of history of success they have handling personal injury claims? What that question really covers is how often do you try cases? How many have you actually tried? What is the verdict most of the time?

When you are choosing a personal injury lawyer you need to ask that lawyer not only how long they have been in practice and how many claims they have handled, but also when was the last time they tried a case, how many trials they have had in the last six months, and what are the results? If you find a lawyer that has not had more than three trials in the last three to six months, you need to find a new personal injury attorney. If you are with a lawyer who has had more than three personal injury trials in the last three to six months, than you have an attorney who has the experience to handle your claim regardless of the complexity of your case or the severity of your injuries. Those are the factors I would look for.

If you interview the personal attorney in a face-to-face you need to see how well you get along with that attorney. Sometimes you can have a great injury attorney but the individual doesn’t mesh well. Sometimes clients have to change a little bit to meet the personality of their attorneys and sometimes the attorneys have to do the same thing as well.

Ultimately you are dealing with an insurance company who has to decide how much they are going to pay you and whether or not they will run the risk of taking the case to court. An overwhelming factor in that is who you have hired to be your personal injury lawyer.

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION WITH A WALDORF PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER TODAY!

The aftermath of an injury can be painful, stressful and an emotionally draining experience regardless of how severe the injury is. It is essential that if you have fallen victim to any kind of harm at the hands of another that you do not take the situation lightly. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help make this journey less confusing, draining, and much easier. That’s why you should hire Thomas E. Pyles, located in Waldorf, Maryland. Put our winning team on your side. We have been fighting insurance companies for over 25 years, and Winning! Don’t leave your case to chance.

As an injured victim you have legal rights and you deserve to be compensated fairly for your injuries and any losses you have incurred as a result of the negligent act of others. Contact us today to get the help you need. We also have offices in Leonardtown and Laurel