Our personal injury lawyers have been serving Hagerstown since our founding in 1954. With an office in Maryland dedicated exclusively to our Maryland clients, we have provided excellent legal representation for nearly 70 years. In our ever-growing experience, we handle almost every imaginable personal injury case in Maryland.
Choosing legal representation is never easy, and skeptical accident victims frequently ask us if we consider ourselves the best. While there are no definitive rankings, our Hagerstown personal injury lawyers have been voted “top lawyer” numerous times. We do not guarantee any results, as it would be unethical. Still, you can rest assured that we aggressively and certainly fight to protect your rights, and you obtain maximum compensation.
Experience matters. Not just because it allows us to hone our legal skills. We understand that knowledge and understanding of the law can be taught in law school. Experience matters because, in the real world, with judges and insurance companies, some tricks and loopholes are facts and Maryland-dependent. Some laws specific to Hagerstown, Maryland, are not tested on the bar exam. They are not taught or tested in law school. When you hire a personal injury lawyer, hire one with experience because you deserve fair compensation.
Our attorneys know that excellent representation comprises more than just knowledge of the law or the ability to get you the compensation you deserve based on your injuries. It involves ensuring you feel comfortable throughout an otherwise complex and confusing process. You have someone by your side fighting for you against an insurance company whose sole goal is to pay you less money thanause they are business you deserve bec. We are here for you if you have any questions throughout the process. We want to ensure you are informed throughout the process to have peace of mind. As a result, your only job is to recover medically. We take care of the rest.
If ever some tortfeasor should injure you, whether by intentional, reckless, or intentional act, you may have a case. These are the cases our Hagerstown personal injury lawyers handle daily. Theoretically, we will take any case involving reckless, intentional, or negligent action that harms you. Here is a list of the most frequent cases we see in Hagerstown:
Hiring a personal injury attorney in Hagerstown, Maryland, is relatively affordable. Hiring a personal injury attorney is unique because there is zero upfront charge or retainer. Instead, we only charge a legal fee if we win your case. We can define winning your case in one of two ways. The first way is to accept an offer for settlement and sign a settlement agreement waiving your right to pursue your claim legally any further. This would net you money. This only happens if you accept the settlement offer. Unfortunately, we cannot accept a settlement offer without your authorization.
The second way we win your case is by going to trial and receiving a judgment on your behalf. In this scenario, we are still determining how much we will need. That is a risk you take at trial, which we would explain in detail before proceeding with trial.
Our fee is one-third of the settlement amount. However, if we file suit on your case in anticipation of trial, our fee increases from one-third to 40% of the gross recovery. Fortunately, well over half of our cases were settled before this point. However, there are absolutely some instances in which we must file suit. There are two common scenarios. First, there is a dispute as to liability. While we may believe that the other driver, not you, is at fault, the adverse driver’s insurer may not. In this case, we must go to trial to prove liability. The second scenario is when we cannot agree on a reasonable settlement amount. At that point, we go to trial and prove damages.
There are many things a Hagerstown personal injury attorney can do for you during your case. First, hiring a personal injury attorney, on average, increases the amount you recover by four to five times the amount you would get on your own. But besides that, your injury lawyer will handle all aspects of your claim. To best understand the answer to this question, it helps to understand what a typical injury case looks like. At each stage of this process, we will explain what the attorney and the rest of our team will do. Of course, without us, each step will be left up to you.
To be clear, the timeline below addresses what happens in the typical case. This does not mean that this timeline will apply to you. Furthermore, only some cases are settled. We may have to file suit on your case, in which case the timeline looks different.
During this phase of your case, we start by evaluating its merits. We’ll ask you preliminary questions to see if your case is worth pursuing. First, we gather all the facts you can provide and determine if you can win on liability. Sometimes, this is clear. Other times, it is in more of a gray area, which means the damages will need to be more significant to make it worth it for all parties to invest in your case. Assuming a good argument exists on liability, we accumulate all the facts we can. This means getting the contact information of every witness and party and beginning our investigation. Sometimes, we handle this investigation in-house. Other times, we enlist our trusted private investigator to uncover essential facts that can bolster your case.
We also ensure you are doing everything you should be doing. As a plaintiff, you have affirmative duties you must adhere to. For example, you must mitigate your damages. For instance, if your car is in the tow lot after a car accident, you can have your initial costs covered. However, the duty to mitigate damages requires getting your vehicle out of the tow lot as soon as possible. This duty also applies to your lost wage claim. This is a common mixup that many clients need help understanding. The last thing we want is for you to take time off from work that a doctor does not excuse. Further, you must mitigate your damages and eventually get a new job.
If you can never work that job again, you cannot simply not take any job. Instead, you could receive compensation that covers the difference between your old and your new salary. This is just one of many possible examples.
During this phase of your case, there is little for you to do legally. Instead, your job becomes just focusing on your health and recovery. Listen to your doctors and other medical providers. If they refer you to another doctor or surgeon, heed their advice. Unfortunately, we cannot advise you on medical treatment. However, it would be best to understand that the more medical treatment you get, the more compensation you will receive as medical expenses. During this phase, our lawyers and legal team are working behind the scenes, contacting the various insurance companies in the case, getting and handling the police report, and building your case. We will continue our investigation as needed at this stage.
Once you complete your medical treatment or never fully recover, we can begin settlement negotiations with the adverse party. But first, we must request all bills and records from your various medical providers. This allows us to do things. First, we can better understand your injuries by reading through the records. Second, we learn exactly what you owe as medical expenses to these providers. We will include the amount you owe in our demands. Once we do this and interview you to learn about other damages you suffered throughout the process, we send a demand letter.
It takes about 30 days for most insurance companies to evaluate our demand. They, too, will do their due diligence and read through your medical records. We allow them these 30 days as it is standard in practice and because it is in the best interest of all parties to make a sincere effort to settle the case. After 30 days, we reach out to the insurer and begin negotiations. Negotiations almost always take a couple of weeks, sometimes longer. The more patient you can be, the better the settlement amount will be.
By this stage, we have reached a total and fair settlement amount. A settlement agreement is a contract between you and the defendant, negotiated on your behalves by your Hagerstown personal injury lawyer and the insurance company’s lawyer. The deal will release your right to sue the defendant for that incident in the future. In consideration of your release of rights, you receive a settlement check matching the compensation you would receive if you went to court. This amount may be less than you would receive, or it could be more.
The stark distinguisher is that a settlement guarantees that you are winning your case. It also ensures you pay a certain amount, especially when negotiating with an insurance company you know can afford to pay the amount. We can distinguish this from going to trial. At trial, we must go through each step of proving each element by a preponderance of the evidence. While the law may support our claim, there is no telling how a jury will react.
This question first depends on whether you can prove that the tortfeasor owed you a duty, whether they breached that duty, and whether we can establish a causal link between that breach of duty and the harm you suffered. Assuming that, you are theoretically entitled to anything we can prove is causally related to the accident. Some of the most common damages our clients recover, which are not exhaustive, include medical expenses, past and future lost wages, and pain and suffering. While medical expenses and lost wages are more self-explanatory, pain and suffering are undoubtedly elements that require an experienced Hagerstown personal injury lawyer to be able to prove each harm suffered to maximize your compensation.
If you have any questions regarding the above information, do not hesitate to contact one of our Hagerstown personal injury lawyers. Our office is open 24/7. We are excited to hear from you.
Gelb & Gelb, P.C.
N/a
Copyright © 2025 Gelb & Gelb, P.C. All rights reserved.