Since 1954, our Baltimore personal injury lawyers have been at the forefront of tort law in Maryland, providing unmatched legal representation to those injured due to negligence who are seeking compensation. With a dedicated office now serving Baltimore, we’re closer than ever to our Maryland clients, offering tailored legal solutions for every case.
We are honored to be able to provide excellent legal representation and help injured people in Baltimore recover the compensation to regain financial stability following a personal injury due to another party’s negligence. Choosing legal representation is not always easy, especially if this is your first time in an accident or you have no one assisting you and by your side. At Gelb & Gelb, we understand the challenges associated with these injuries. We have handled thousands of cases in Maryland and look forward to hearing from you.
Interested in Baltimore injury compensation? Experience matters. This is one key factor differentiating our Baltimore personal injury lawyers from others. As your Maryland injury attorneys, we navigate the complexities of Baltimore injury compensation, ensuring a smooth personal injury case process. Given that we have been practicing law in Maryland for nearly 70 years, we have seen almost every possible defense the insurance companies or tortfeasors can come up with. We know the precise procedural requirements of Maryland and the tort laws unique to Maryland. Our attorneys have faced off in the courtroom, mediation, arbitration, and more, and we aggressively fight to ensure maximum compensation for our clients.
Beyond our legal capacity, our Baltimore personal injury lawyers understand that you need someone on your team. This means compassionate support in addition to aggressive litigation. When pursuing injury claims in Baltimore, you may be incapacitated, unable to work and pay your bills. We understand this and ensure you are both comfortable and well-informed of your case status every step of the way.
We determine liability by proving each element of a negligence cause of action or by demonstrating intentional conduct by the defendant. For a negligence action, we must prove duty, breach, causation, and damages. In other words, we must prove that the defendant owed a duty to you, the plaintiff, that the tortfeasor breached that duty, and that the breach caused the injuries you allege. We must also prove that you suffered injuries.
On the other hand, for intentional conduct like a battery, we must prove that there was deliberate touching and establish causation. Intentional touching contains two distinct elements. First, we must prove that there was touching or some contact. Then, we must prove that the touching is intentional.
Before a Baltimore personal injury lawyer can evaluate how much your case is worth, we determine who is legally liable. Once we evaluate liability, we send a demand letter to the defendant’s insurer. We analyze how much your case is worth by considering the economic and noneconomic damages present in your case. Within these two broad categories, there are various subcategories to consider.
These damages are financial injuries you incur due to your personal injury accident. Most commonly, they are medical expenses you incur to treat your injuries from the incident. Your treating medical provider must relate their treatment to your accident. Otherwise, it appears to an insurance company or court that it could be for any other injury or illness. Causation is critical and often the most difficult to prove in a personal injury case. Suppose we do go to trial on your case. In that case, we may need to call your medical provider as a witness to testify that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the accident in question did cause the injury he treated you for.
Another classic example of economic damage is lost wages. Of course, like before, your doctor must excuse you from work. They must be able to testify that you are physically unable to perform at work for whatever reason. The physical demand for jobs varies significantly from occupation to occupation. For some, standing can become difficult due to a back injury. Or, if you work in construction and fracture two of your fingers, that may warrant an excusal from work. But remember, you must mitigate your damages. So, you may need to look for alternative employment after a certain point. In other words, you cannot simply not work for an infinite duration and expect to receive compensation from the defendant. You can speak with a qualified Baltimore personal injury lawyer from our office.
Noneconomic damages are more difficult to calculate. It depends more on what venue we choose to file suit in. When you get injured due to another party’s negligence, it is a strain on your time. In almost all cases, the injury will be painful. You may not perform functions and hobbies that ordinarily bring you joy. The law compensates you for that. Insurance companies will offer a certain amount of pain and suffering damages for most soft tissue injuries. However, if you break a bone or worse, your pain and suffering award increases substantially. The more suffering you endure, the harder it is to pinpoint exactly what a jury would award you at trial. Accordingly, this is the bulk of what we negotiate when discussing settlement with the adverse party.
Another part of noneconomic damages is emotional distress. While a defense generally concedes that pain and suffering damages are warranted, the issue is how much of an award you should receive. Emotional distress is more complicated. A Baltimore personal injury lawyer must prove this by a preponderance of the evidence in court. Additionally, emotional distress claims are a distinct cause of action. There can be either an intentional infliction of emotional distress cause of action or a negligent infliction cause of action. For purposes of standard noneconomic damages, the emotional aspect of your claim should focus more on loss of consortium and loss of enjoyment of life.
Both economic and noneconomic damages operate as a form of compensation for your injuries. Whether a financial or a physical injury, it is meant to compensate you in some form or fashion. This is not the purpose of punitive damages. Instead, punitive damages are intended to punish and deter. Calculating the amount for punitive damages depends on nine factors. The rule of thumb must be proportional to the total compensatory damages. Punitive damages will generally be between one and nine times as much as the compensatory damage award. You can expect that it will be a higher number if there is more egregious conduct present in your case.
As a disclaimer, punitive damages are unavailable in every personal injury case. Instead, they are only available if the tortfeasor acts with evil motive, intent to injure, ill will, or fraud. This is also known as actual malice. However, even if this element is present, there is still no guarantee of punitive damages. But the best injury lawyers in Baltimore will seek it if the law supports it as a possibility.
The personal injury case process varies depending on many factors. However, a large majority of our cases settle. So, we’ll be able to break down what a typical case with Baltimore injury claim assistance looks like. To remind you, your case may look entirely different from the case we outline here.
When you call our office and talk with one of our experienced Baltimore personal injury attorneys, we will immediately begin your free consultation. An initial consultation consists of evaluating your claim and obtaining relevant information. First, you will tell us how your injury occurred. We will assess liability by determining who is at fault. Then, we will discover whether insurance is available from the adverse party or you if the adverse does not have any.
We compile a list of all available witnesses who will aid in our investigation and who should be available to testify at trial if necessary. Then, we ensure you receive proper medical treatment for your injuries. This depends on your type of injury and cannot be generalized here.
While you are receiving medical treatment, we are working behind the scenes. We’re in touch with your insurance provider and the adverse if you have one party’s insurer. We also are working on our investigation of the facts of your case. In some cases, this is simple. We may rely on the police report from the car accident scene. Or, if the case is more complex, we hire a private investigator to assist us in obtaining all pertinent information.
In the meantime, your focus should be listening to your doctors or other medical providers. If your doctor refers you to a specialist for follow-up care, you should heed their advice. We will take care of the legal part of the case so that you may have peace of mind. If we need anything from you or have any questions, our Baltimore personal injury lawyers will reach out to you immediately.
Once you finish your medical treatment, we will contact each of your medical providers and request your bills and records. Once our attorneys receive and read through your documents, we will assemble a demand package to send to the adverse party. This demand letter will not contain a dollar amount, but we will consider average personal injury compensation in Baltimore as it relates to your injuries. Instead, we prefer to do all the negotiating over the phone. Of course, this does not include cases that require mediation, arbitration, deposition, or trial.
This timeline is for cases that settle. So, in that context, the resolution is a settlement agreement signed by both parties. The agreement will release the tortfeasor from liability and bar future suit against the defendant by the plaintiff who signs the contract. As consideration for this release of liability, the plaintiff receives the financial compensation that one of our Baltimore personal injury lawyers has negotiated.
Our Baltimore personal injury lawyers handle a wide array of cases. In theory, we will take any case where you suffer personal injury due to someone else’s negligent or intentional action. This includes reckless conduct. However, if you have suffered property damage and are not personally injured, we generally do not handle that type of case. We handle cases on a contingent fee basis, and cases exclusively for property damage are based on an hourly fee arrangement. Listed below are several typical cases we handle:
While we answer many common questions on our blog, the contributory negligence theory is specific to Maryland. While it does exist in Washington, D.C., Maryland is only one of 5 states that follow this theory of negligence. In most jurisdictions in the United States, a plaintiff can recover despite being negligent to some degree. However, in Baltimore and all of Maryland, you likely cannot recover if you are even 1% negligent. This question of fact will need to be considered by the judge or jury, depending on who the fact finder in your case is. However, it is generally clear, and an experienced Baltimore personal injury lawyer can help you make that conclusion. To be clear, there are exceptions to this rule that require an experienced attorney to argue on a plaintiff’s behalf.
“Mr. Gelb’s professionalism, expertise, and guidance have calmed an otherwise stressful situation. I would highly recommend working with his firm and him personally.”
– Former Client
For leading legal expertise in Baltimore, trust our personal injury lawyers to advocate for your rights in Maryland. Contact us today for a consultation and take the first step towards securing the compensation you deserve.