Personal Injury

What is personal injury litigation?

According to the American Bar Association, every “tort claim,” or a claim against another person or entity for damages, must prove two things – liability and damages. If you can prove that another person or business is liable for your damages, the justice system will award you some form of compensation for your loss. However, it is virtually impossible to do this without the assistance of an attorney, especially in the state of Maryland. This is due to a provision of the law called “contributory negligence.”

What is contributory negligence?

When one person is at fault for an accident, they are considered negligent. However, it is rare for one person to be exclusively at fault. In the state of Maryland, if you are even one percent negligent in your case, you have contributed to the negligence and can therefore not blame another person for being at fault. This concept, called contributory negligence, is a hard pill to swallow for people who have truly been hurt by another’s negligence.

Let’s look at a straightforward slip and fall case. If you walk past a “Caution: Wet Floor” sign and fall, you cannot sue the business for damages since you made a decision to walk on a wet floor with a posted sign. But, if you can prove that there was no caution sign to warn you of the wet floor, that the business had neglected to warn its customers of a potentially dangerous situation, and you were harmed by their negligence, contributory negligence does not apply.

Is there another basis for a personal injury case besides negligence?

Personal injury cases can also be filed when one party is just liable for any damages or harm caused. When a product is manufactured in a way that makes it dangerous when used as intended, the manufacturer is liable for any harm the product causes. A strict liability case can be filed on behalf of the injured person or persons. The other basis for a personal injury case is intentional wrongs. When a person intentionally hurts or harms you, they can be held civilly liable for damages they may have caused. For instance, if a person hits you with their car, they will likely be tried in a criminal court and be punished for breaking the law. If a person hits you with their hand, even as a joke, they can be pursued civilly for they may have caused, in this instance assault and battery, even if they are not tried criminally for assault.

Personal injury cases are difficult to navigate and require the expertise of an attorney who is sensitive to your needs and tenacious about the law. Let Orshan Legal Group LLC help you mount a personal injury case to get the compensation you deserve.