Adelphi Personal Injury Lawyer
Why Should I Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
An Adelphi personal injury lawyer can provide countless benefits to an accident victim. First, by hiring an attorney, you are receiving access to a database of experience. An experienced attorney has already encountered and successfully handled any questions you have countless times before. Having access to such a resource, especially when not paying the attorney hourly, as is the case at our firm, you can ask as many questions as you desire. Their wealth of knowledge can prove invaluable in your case. For one, they can help you evaluate your case. From applying Maryland statutes and case law to the facts of your case, a good lawyer can help you analyze liability. Our attorneys are aware of the unique tort laws in Maryland that act as a total bar to recovery. Meanwhile, there are others that, if you utilize them properly, can place extra money in your pocket.
Another invaluable benefit a personal injury lawyer can provide is an investigation into your case. Perhaps you get into a car accident, but the tortfeasor ran away after the accident. We have private investigators we can hire that can look into this and possibly discover who the tortfeasor is. Of course, we know that there are also other parties you can sue in such cases. You can even claim with your insurance in such a case by utilizing uninsured motorist coverage through your policy. Moreover, you can benefit from decades of negotiation skills the attorneys possess. This, coupled with an understanding of how to evaluate the damages portion of your claim, makes hiring a personal injury lawyer exceedingly valuable.
How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer in Adelphi Cost?
The nice thing is that hiring a personal injury lawyer in Adelphi, Maryland, will cost you roughly the same as hiring one anywhere else. Our attorneys in Washington, D.C., and Maryland operate on a contingent fee basis. This means our fee is contingent on whether we win your case. If we do not win your case for whatever reason, we do not charge you a legal fee. If we win your case via alternate dispute resolution, which generally results in a settlement, our fee is one-third of the gross recovery. We do settle our cases the majority of the time. However, there are some cases that we need to file suit on.
Remember, even if your accident occurs in Adelphi, we may be able to file suit in a different county if we determine this would be more favorable for you. Although, in general, Adelphi is a promising venue for plaintiffs. But it is good to know you have options.
Will a Personal Injury Lawyer Get Me More Money?
Studies have shown that hiring a personal injury lawyer, in the aggregate, can increase your recovery by four to five times what it would be without legal representation. But beyond the sheer increase in intake compensation you are likely to collect, personal injury lawyers also provide several other services. First and foremost, they provide peace of mind. When you are injured in Adelphi, Maryland, due to the conduct of a negligent third party, it is unfair. It would be best if you did not have to deal with weeks, months, or even years of injury and pain because someone else is negligent. The idea of personal injury law is not to punish the tortfeasor. The tortfeasor does not commit a crime. And if they do commit a crime in conjunction with the negligent conduct, that is still a separate issue for the state to handle.
Personal injury law seeks to compensate you, the victim, for your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering associated with your accident. While you live with the pain and suffering daily, quantifying that into a dollar amount requires years of experience. Moreover, as a plaintiff, you must take care of your damages. This means that while the defendant is legally and financially liable for certain expenses you incur, you must mitigate those expenses. In other words, while you may receive compensation for an Uber to get to work in the morning, you cannot necessarily purchase the most expensive option. The purpose of this compensation is to make you as whole as possible.
Purchasing a premium ride is beyond the purpose of getting you to work on time. Without bits of knowledge like this, you may have to cover certain expenses that the defendant would otherwise be liable for.
What can I do to Strengthen my Case?
The first thing to do is heed your Adelphi personal injury lawyer’s legal advice. Our attorneys have been practicing this field of law for 70 years. Our lawyers and paralegals know precisely what distinguishes a good case from a bad one and are happy to answer any questions you have. To better understand how to strengthen your case, you must know how compensation is calculated. Here is a graphic breaking down different sources of compensation.
Infographic for Damages

As you can see from the image above, you receive compensation for each category in the blue bubble. Theoretically, the more you have of any of them, the more your case is worth. Of course, this only sometimes means more money in your pocket. For example, if you have $200,000 in medical expenses, you must still pay the medical providers back. So, receiving $200,000 from the defendant or the insurer does not necessarily mean you are getting $200,000. But, such a high amount in medical expenses does lead to a higher noneconomic damage amount, in general.
The same goes for lost wages. A doctor must excuse you from work to claim lost wages. Our Adelphi personal injury lawyers will read your medical records to see whether your doctor relates the treatment to the accident. But we must wait to ask a doctor to rewrite records. A doctor must provide you a disability slip stating that you are unable to work because of the injuries you sustained in your accident or assault. This is more likely to occur if you work a physical job like construction. If you tear your shoulder, you cannot lift anything for a given period.
This might excuse you from work for weeks or even months. However, I would like to point out that you must mitigate your damages. This means you must work and expect payment before sitting out for months. Instead, you’ll need to find a suitable alternative during that time. If the alternative job pays you less, you will be entitled to the difference in pay.
Proving Damages
I would like to point out that you need to prove each damage you incur that you want compensation for. For medical expenses, for example, we must be able to prove in court that the medical treatment is causally related to your accident. Moreover, your treatment would need to be reasonable. In other words, the defense may try to prove that it is excessive treatment. That is an onerous burden, but defense teams commonly try this argument.
Do I need to go to Court, or can the Matter be Settled out of Court?
In theory, any matter can be settled out of court. There are two primary reasons why we would be unable to do so, resulting in us filing suit on your case and going to trial. The first reason would be a dispute in liability. In this scenario, the defense is denying negligence. Or, in the same vein, they are asserting a contributory negligence defense. Either way, we must go to court to prove the defendant’s negligence. This will involve establishing each of the four elements of negligence. Of course, the same goes for any other cause of action. The second reason we would be unable to settle your case is for a fundamental disagreement in damages. Usually, we can come to terms with the defendant.
It is in their best interest to not pay for defense counsel when they know they are already on the hook for the damages you suffer in your accident. Thus, coming to an amicable resolution happens more often than not. However, particularly with more severe injuries, it is harder to quantify pain and suffering damages and punitive damages. So, it is more likely that a jury will be necessary to identify the value of a claim. However, law firms frequently use alternate forms of dispute resolution. A mediator, for example, will help the two sides agree on damages.
Will I Have to Communicate With the Insurance Company?
You may have concerns about having to communicate with the insurance companies. You may know from experience that insurance companies are not your friend. Whether it is your insurer or the defendant’s insurer, they want to pay you as little as possible. Moreover, communicating with these companies can be a nightmare. Once you hire an Adelphi personal injury lawyer, we send a letter of representation to the insurance companies. This tells them you now have an attorney on the matter, and communication for your case should go through our office.
The exception is that you can speak with the insurance company for your property damage claim. This is okay because your property damage is independent of your bodily injury claim. So, we are not representing you for your property damage claim. This is true for two reasons. First, you will not have to pay an attorney for this part of the case. Of course, more money in your pocket benefits the client. Second, this is something that you do not need a lawyer’s help with. The insurance companies will take care of this for you so long as there is no dispute in liability.
Common Personal Injuries We Handle
Our Maryland attorneys handle any feasible cause of action where a defendant acts, either negligently or intentionally, and that action causes you harm. No matter if it is against a bar or nightclub, restaurant, concert venue, hotel, stadium, pharmaceutical company, or any other defendant. Below is a list of the most common causes we encounter.
How Long Does it Take to Resolve a Personal Injury Case in Adelphi
First, every personal injury case is unique. Resolving a personal injury case takes time, depending on nearly countless factors. First, there is only so much we can do until you, as the victim in the accident, complete your medical treatment. Once that point, we will only know how much you are on the hook for with your providers. Once we reach that point and time, we can create a demand letter for the defendant. From that point, it takes roughly four weeks for most insurers to evaluate a claim and make a settlement offer. But remember, it is almost always the case that the first settlement offer will be well below the actual value of your case. Thus, the negotiation phase can often take weeks. And in some cases that require alternate dispute resolution, it can take months.
If we do have to file suit on your case, that can add months to a year, depending on the venue and the backup of cases. Once we get to trial, most personal injury cases only take two days. If we win your case and secure a judgment, sometimes collecting that judgment can take time. This depends on who the defendant is. If a defendant with an extensive insurance policy covers all your damages, recovering the judgment will be relatively quick. Of course, if it is some company and that company files for bankruptcy, it can take longer to not at all. Sometimes, recovering the full judgment can be tricky, too. While the law requires a judgment to be given to the plaintiff in such cases, sometimes, the money is not there.
Contact an Adelphi Personal Injury Lawyer
If you have any questions on this page or believe you may have a case for personal injuries in Adelphi, Maryland, or anywhere else in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia, call our office today for a free consultation.
