A comprehensive guide for personal injury victims should be a reference for maximizing your personal injury settlement and in no way acts to replace a lawyer’s counsel. As Washington, D.C., and Maryland personal injury lawyers for 70 years, we have represented over 10,000 victims of negligent and intentional conduct. During this time, we have observed an evolution in how insurance companies handle these claims on their end. Further, we have observed and been a part of how the courts rule on car accidents, nightclub injuries, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, and wrongful death cases. We know how difficult it can be for someone going through this legal process for the first time. Further, in our experience, clients tend to have the same sets of questions.
Our goal as personal injury attorneys is to maximize your personal injury settlement. If possible, we prefer to avoid a trial to save you potentially years of time and money. However, we do not settle for what your case is worth below. And in every case, we push to get you maximum compensation as justice requires.
If you are injured in Maryland or Washington, D.C., contact our office for a free consultation.
Understanding Your Rights as a Personal Injury Victim
Although, it is not always possible to settle a case for what you deserve. We advise rejecting a settlement offer and pushing for a trial in these instances. In this comprehensive guide for personal injury victims, we break down exactly what you need to know to maximize your personal injury settlement. By the end of this guide, you should clearly understand how to leverage the legal system to your advantage and ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. Note that in all cases, you should consult with a personal injury lawyer who has experience in your jurisdiction.
In rare instances, a personal injury lawyer may not accept your case. But they should always point you in the right direction. You can use this guide to understand your rights, select the right personal injury attorney for you, and fill in any holes of knowledge that your attorney may have missed.
Protecting Your Rights as a Personal Injury Victim
Remember, if you are injured due to someone else’s conduct and are not contributorily negligent in a jurisdiction that follows that rule, you have a right to compensation as a personal injury victim. One issue you may encounter is whether there is a source of recovery. For instance, insurance is often available on the adverse driver’s vehicle in motor vehicle accidents. If, for whatever reason, they do not have motor vehicle coverage, you can make an uninsured motorist claim. But what if you are battered at a concert venue? Chances are, the person who attacked you does not have adequate assets to cover a judgment.
Further, they do not have insurance coverage to protect them as they would if they were in a vehicle. Thus, it is inadvisable to pursue legal action against the individual. So, how can you protect your rights as a personal injury victim? We advise looking for theories of liability that tie the venue or entity to your injury.
Importance of Immediate Action
As you will learn in this comprehensive guide for personal injury victims, immediate action is vitally important in your injury case.
Statutes of Limitation
The importance of immediate action in personal injury cases varies from case to case. However, there is likely a notice requirement in cases against the government. In DC, this applies to Metro buses, slip and falls involving federal property, police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, charter schools, public schools, museums, and many more. In these cases, time is of the essence. The statute of limitations can be as quick as 60 days after the accident. The same applies in Maryland for cases against the state.
There are other statutes of limitations to consider. In Maryland and Washington, D.C., the statute of limitation for most personal injuries is three years. However, most prudent personal injury attorneys will not touch a case if you have waited too long to seek counsel. This is a red flag for most attorneys. Our office often gets calls when a potential client seeks counsel a week before the statute runs. The issue with this is it is not nearly enough time for our office to collect all the information we need, build your case, file suit against the defendant, and serve process. If we fail to meet this statute, we may have an ethical violation. Accordingly, finding an attorney at these later stages will be difficult.
Collecting Evidence
A lawyer must collect some evidence immediately. A failure to do so may result in the evidence no longer being available. An example of this is if we need to subpoena security footage from a nearby building of your car accident. Or, if you are injured inside a restaurant, they may delete the footage after a reasonable period of time. On the other hand, if you act quickly and hire a personal injury lawyer, we can send a legally binding spoliation of evidence letter to the owner of the building. Then, if the owner still decides to delete the footage, we can ask a jury for a jury instruction so the jury will assume the footage on that video is most favorable to you.
Inside the Mind of a Jury
A comprehensive guide for personal injury victims would be incomplete without scratching the surface of the mind of a jury. Realizing that the jury is the finder of fact in your case is critical to understanding how to maximize your claim. Even if we never see the inside of a courtroom, a settlement is based on what your personal injury lawyer representing you and the defense attorney for the defendant believes a jury would think at trial. This is how we approach every negotiation. We consider whether the defendant is likable and whether you would be. It does not matter what we think of you. It matters how people present to a jury of their peers.
Regarding the importance of immediate action, if you fail to act quickly in seeking medical attention, a jury will not believe your injury is significant. For example, suppose you are in a terrible car accident and are rushed to the hospital. You are there for four days, requiring follow-up care for several months to regain total health. If a jury hears this story, that you went to the hospital via ambulance and had to spend days there, they are likely to believe you were at one time hurt, even if you are not hurt by the time you are in the courtroom.
Meanwhile, if you wait four months before going to see a doctor to complain about your brain or back, a jury will wonder why you did not seek medical treatment sooner. You can explain that you had things going on with your family or at home, and that may be believable. However, it is less plausible that your injury is as significant as in scenario one.
Selecting the Right Personal Injury Lawyer
Selecting the right personal injury lawyer for your case is among the most critical components of a comprehensive guide for personal injury victims. Choosing the right attorney for you will depend on several factors. Remember that your attorney will assess your case, help gather evidence, negotiate with insurance companies, and possibly represent you in court. You want an attorney you can trust to do these steps effectively. If you do not believe in your attorney during your consultation, you should move on to the next. Plenty of competent personal injury lawyers in each jurisdiction in the United States. For your case, where the consequences may be life-altering, do not move forward with your law firm unless you believe in them and the lawyer assigned to your case. We believe there are a few things to look for. The first is experience.
Experience
Consider years of practice handling the type of case you are involved with. For example, if you go to a personal injury lawyer who has dealt with car accident cases exclusively for 15 years, that may not be the best attorney to use for your slip and fall case. On the other hand, if the attorney has handled hundreds or even thousands of slip-and-fall cases, that may satisfy the experience threshold. Of course, more than experience is needed. Ensure the attorney you are considering has a track record of success. No personal injury lawyer can guarantee future success. However, it may indicate the likelihood that you will recover the compensation you deserve.
Responsiveness
You will have questions throughout your case. A comprehensive guide for personal injury victims establishes expectations for your case and gives you a general guideline for maximizing your personal injury settlement. However, when you hire a personal injury attorney, you expect them to do their job well and work for you. Questions will come up during your case. You need to be able to get in touch with your attorney at a moment’s notice. Of course, your lawyer may be in court some days if you try to contact him. However, you should expect a response within 24 hours, even during those days. If not by that attorney, then by another attorney familiar with your case within the firm. A failure to communicate and respond promptly may lead to you trying to do something without legal advice. This can lead to critical errors in your case.
Aggressive Pursuit
Aggressive pursuit in a personal injury case does not mean disrespectfulness. Rather, your lawyer should push the insurance company to come to the table to settle your case. The insurance company will not rush to settle if your lawyer is less aggressive. This can drag the settlement process out by months. In many of our cases, we have an insurance adjuster defending the adverse tortfeasor who is out of the office seemingly for weeks on end and is impossible to get ahold of. This is when an aggressive lawyer will speak to their supervisor and demand answers. This results in months of saved time for you and probably a higher settlement amount.
Building a Strong Case
Building a strong case is the crux of our comprehensive guide for personal injury victims. But the reality is that you should not be building your case alone. An effective personal injury lawyer will implement all the strategies we discuss here, plus other vital and more complex strategies. Nonetheless, this comprehensive guide for personal injury victims will help you better understand some of the most crucial pieces of your case as your lawyer moves closer to resolution.
Gather Comprehensive Evidence
The comprehensive evidence you need in your case depends on the nature of your accident. If you are in a car accident case, you will need the insurance information of the other driver, the insurance information for the vehicle you were in, the state law that governs your insurance contract, police report, location of the accident, an explanation of how the accident occurred, photographs of the accident, the contact information of the person who struck you, and witness contact information. Fortunately, collecting this evidence with your smartphone is far easier. If you are injured in a slip-and-fall, we may need security footage. We may also need the incident report from the venue where you were injured. Everything we have discussed thus far is preliminary evidence. It represents just one step in gathering comprehensive evidence for building a strong case.
We also will need medical records, videos, expert testimony, and evidence of your time missed from work. We can speak ad nauseam about the pros and cons of expert testimony. However, the gist is that expert testimony is expensive. This is one reason we maximize your settlement amount and avoid trial. On the other hand, expert testimony is necessary at trial to establish key pieces of our argument. If we do go to trial, it is possible that we do not win without an expert. However, like anything else in this comprehensive guide for personal injury victims, whether you need an expert witness depends on the nature of your case and what your attorney advises.
Establish Liability
Whether we can establish liability depends on how much evidence we have. To establish civil liability in a negligence case, there are four elements we must prove by a preponderance of the evidence. In other words, we must convince a jury or judge that it is more likely than not that each of the four elements has been satisfied. We must prove that the defendant owed you, the plaintiff, a legal duty. An injury attorney must prove that the defendant breached that duty by act or omission.
We must prove that the breach of duty by the defendant was both an actual and legal cause of your injury. Fourth, we must prove the damages you suffered. This means we must prove you owe $25,000 in medical expenses as you claim. Simply testifying that at trial is not enough. The same goes for your lost wage and pain and noneconomic damages claim.
This is an elementary explanation of establishing liability in a personal injury case. However, it is a critical component of a comprehensive guide for personal injury victims. Please contact our office for a more in-depth understanding of how this applies to your case.
Find a Source of Recovery
Finding an adequate source of recovery is more difficult than it may sound. In many cases, a driver does not have insurance on the vehicle they are in. You may not even have coverage on the car you are in. But that does not mean there is not a source of recovery. It takes a resourceful personal injury law firm to find a source of recovery, even when it appears that there is no hope. In other cases that do not involve motor vehicles, finding a source of recovery can prove even harder. If someone assaults you on the street, there is no insurance to cover your attacker.
Further, a person who would act so aggressively and chaotically likely has insufficient assets to cover a judgment against him if we pursued him in civil court. So, how do we find a source of recovery? This comprehensive guide for personal injury victims cannot address all scenarios. However, the standard play is to find an entity that acts negligently and is causally related to your injury. Sometimes, this entity does not exist. Or if it does exist, they may have done everything by the book. However, if there is negligence by any venue, entity, or government, we will uncover it and hold them responsible.
Utilize Legal Resources
Assess the validity and strength of your case. This can be done best by speaking to a skilled and experienced personal injury lawyer. At Gelb & Gelb, P.C., we offer free consultations to all potential clients. Many injury firms across the country do the same. If they deem your case has merit, find an attorney you are compatible with and trust, and move forward in the legal process. Your lawyer will handle filing deadlines, court procedures, and documentation, ensuring your case complies with all legal requirements. Your attorney will help you build a strong case and strive to receive the maximum personal injury settlement.
Compensation for Personal Injury Victims
This comprehensive guide for personal injury victims seeks to cover compensation for personal injury victims, which can be broken down into three categories.
- Economic damages. This form of damages covers past and future medical expenses and lost wages related to your injury. It also may cover any financial burden placed on you, such as Uber costs going to and from your doctor, work, or anywhere else that is essential. However, note that you have a duty to mitigate damages. Thus, you cannot Uber wherever you want and charge it to the defendant.
- Noneconomic Damages. This form of damages compensates a personal injury victim for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium. These are intangible damages but can still be proven via testimony at trial and by carefully examining your medical records. We consider past and future noneconomic damages related to your injury.
- Punitive Damages. Punitive damages rarely apply. Unlike the two categories of damages discussed above, punitive damages are designed to punish and deter in the civil system. They act as a civil fine. As the plaintiff, you are still entitled to this form of damages.
Negotiation Process
The negotiation process follows a number of steps to achieve the desired goal. Our simple goal is to recover maximum compensation for your injuries. We do this by following a formula proven to work repeatedly. Note that every insurance company and every defense attorney negotiates a bit differently.
- Initial demand. A personal injury lawyer sends a demand package to the insurance company for their review. This includes all damages and medical records. In this package, we outline your injuries and the compensation sought.
- After four to six weeks of review by the adverse insurer, they will either accept, reject, or, most commonly, make a counteroffer.
- Your lawyer and the representative for the other side, either another lawyer or an insurance adjuster with the authority to make an offer, will communicate over the phone. For more valuable cases, the two parties will meet in person. If this process is successful, as it usually is, your case will settle. If it is unsuccessful, you move on to the litigation process.
Litigation Process
There could be a separate comprehensive guide for personal injury victims covering the litigation process. Here, we present a broad overview, so you understand what to expect if your case does get to this point. Remember, 95%-97% of personal injury cases settle. So, it is unlikely that you will reach this stage.
- Filing of complaint
- Discovery phase
- Pre-trial motions
- Trial (two days)
- Appeals
Common Mistakes by Personal Injury Victims
While a comprehensive guide for personal injury victims can be beneficial in educating you on how the process works, your best course of action to maximize your personal injury settlement is to contact an experienced attorney. There is no replacement for professional legal advice tailored to your case. Moreover, we have already reviewed how to build a strong case. So here, we will discuss the most common mistakes made by personal injury clients despite advice from counsel.
Failing to Seek Proper Medical Attention
If you are injured and do not seek appropriate medical attention, this weakens your legal claim. Without a medical record tracking your injury, all we will have to rely on at trial is your testimony, which is not as persuasive to a fact finder as is notes written by your physician. In the same vein, failure to follow medical advice can result in a reduction of potential compensation. Missing appointments, discontinuing treatment prematurely, or giving the impression that your injury is not as severe or more severe than it is can all contribute to you recovering less than you should in your case.
Settling Too Quickly
In almost all circumstances, the insurer will make a lousy initial offer. Any effective personal injury attorney knows to advise their client to reject this offer. It is almost guaranteed not to represent the value of your case. However, attorneys do have an obligation to convey this offer to their clients. If the client is impatient and accepts the first offer they hear, they may miss out on thousands of dollars in compensation that they are entitled to under the law.
Giving Recorded Statements Without Legal Advice
Insurance adjusters may contact an injury victim who has not consulted an attorney or this comprehensive guide for personal injury victims (this guide is not a replacement for an attorney’s counsel). In doing so, the injury victim and plaintiff might provide statements that could be used to diminish the value of their claim or deny liability altogether. Avoid giving any statement without speaking to your attorney first.
Contact Gelb & Gelb, P.C.
At Gelb & Gelb, P.C., we have practiced personal injury law since 1954. We have represented over 10,000 clients and recovered over $150,000,000 for our clients. If you are injured in Washington, D.C., or Maryland, contact our office today for a free consultation at (202) 331-7227.
