Tragically, these serious injuries often occur through no fault on the victim’s part. Someone else’s negligence may cause your debilitating catastrophic injuries and long-term pain, leaving you with limited options as you navigate your recovery, financial burdens from medical expenses, emotional trauma, and the challenges of rebuilding your life.
Fortunately, you have legal options in Maryland. Accident victims can file catastrophic injury claims to recoup compensation from the responsible parties. Catastrophic injury victims have the right to file personal injury claims and lawsuits on their own. Still, those hoping to get the most compensation possible should file through catastrophic injury lawyers.
An experienced Maryland catastrophic injury attorney is invaluable for your personal injury claim. Your personal injury lawyer can help you gather evidence and negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company on your behalf.
Our Proven Experience
It’s especially important to work with a personal injury attorney in catastrophic injury cases, as you’ll likely have damages that are challenging to prove. For instance, your catastrophic injuries likely reduced your quality of life and caused emotional distress. Your Maryland catastrophic injury attorney will guide you through the legal process and fight for all of your damages, including losses that are hard to corroborate.
For legal representation with proven results and a highly successful track record, contact the personal injury attorneys at Zirkin & Schmerling. Our experienced legal team has spent many years securing justice for severely injured clients in Maryland. We’re ready to take on your personal injury case to help you recover maximum compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and other losses.
Schedule your free consultation today or call our law office at 410-753-4611.
What Is Considered a Catastrophic Injury?
A catastrophic injury is a personal injury that causes a victim to suffer long-term or permanent disabilities. These severe injuries often drastically reduce a victim’s enjoyment of life and require extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation, and even lifelong care. These injuries may also cause debilitating chronic pain.
Types of severe injuries in catastrophic accidents include:
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Nerve damage
- Serious burn injuries
- Severe broken bones
- Amputations
- Crush injuries
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Blindness
- Hearing loss
- Wrongful death
Accidents That Can Cause Catastrophic Injuries
Many different types of accidents can cause or lead to painful and overwhelming catastrophic injuries, such as:
Dog Attacks
Dog attacks are a serious problem in Baltimore and Maryland. A dog may assault you due to no fault of your own, causing severe fractures, disfigurement, and other serious injuries.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Serious car accidents can cause trauma to the brain, spine, and internal organs. Those injured in motor vehicle accidents may suffer from ongoing problems related to their catastrophic injuries.
Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycle accidents frequently cause devastating catastrophic injuries, as motorcycles don’t provide riders with the same bodily protection as enclosed vehicles.
Medical Malpractice
Surgical errors, misdiagnoses, and medication mistakes from treating physicians can cause irreversible harm. Sadly, medical malpractice is often incredibly challenging to prove, so you should consult with a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible.
Slip-and-Fall Accidents
A serious slip and fall may cause a victim to suffer a hard blow to the head, spine, or hip, leading to excruciating injuries and mobility issues.
Construction and Industrial Accidents
Worksite falls, machinery accidents, electrocutions, and falling objects can cause catastrophic harm. If you’ve suffered from a workplace catastrophic injury, you should consult with a workers’ compensation lawyer who has experience handling catastrophic injury cases.
Long-Term Consequences
Those suffering from catastrophic injuries may require years of costly medical attention. They may also face severe physical and emotional challenges. The injured person may struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident and the resulting medical treatments.
A person living with catastrophic injuries may also struggle to enjoy their life in the same way as before the accident. Their injuries may impact their ability to work, socialize, and engage in their pre-injury interests and activities.
What To Do After a Catastrophic Injury Accident
If you’re involved in a catastrophic injury accident, you should first prioritize your safety. You should seek emergency medical attention immediately, as catastrophic injuries can be fatal if left untreated. You should call 911 and wait for emergency responders to arrive.
Gather Evidence
Your next priority should be to gather evidence supporting your claim. You will most likely not be able to collect evidence yourself at the scene of the accident due to your injuries. If someone is with you, you should have them collect eyewitness testimonies and photographic/video evidence, as both are incredibly valuable in corroborating catastrophic injury claims.
After leaving the accident scene and receiving medical treatment, ensure you retain all documents and evidence related to your injuries and financial losses. This may include your ongoing medical records, medical expenses, property damage, and proof of lost wages.
The reason why you need to collect evidence is that you have to prove that a person’s negligence or deliberate wrongdoing caused your accident. Further, an organization, company, or government agency could be at fault for your catastrophic injuries. Regardless of who is responsible, the injured party must prove liability to recoup compensation.
It’s important to have abundant proof of wrongdoing in Maryland because our state uses a pure contributory negligence system.
Contributory negligence means that you cannot recover compensation from another party if you’re considered partially at fault for your own injuries.
As a result, insurance companies often argue that accident victims are partially responsible for their injuries.
For example, suppose you’re involved in a crash caused by a reckless driver, resulting in serious personal injuries. The at-fault driver’s insurer may argue that you were partially responsible for the wreck even if you weren’t. The insurance company may claim you’re partially responsible to avoid paying you the money you deserve for your personal injuries.
Don’t let an insurance company deny what’s rightfully yours — contact an experienced lawyer to fight on your behalf. Catastrophic injury attorneys specialize in assisting victims with personal injury cases. They’ll help you understand your legal rights after the accident and assist you in holding the responsible party financially accountable.
Schedule your initial free consultation with Zirkin & Schmerling for robust legal support.
Importance of Compensation After Catastrophic Injuries
Catastrophic injuries can affect almost every aspect of your life, and you deserve fair compensation for your ongoing medical treatment and disabilities. You should seek both economic and non-economic damages from the at-fault party.
Economic damages reimburse you for specific financial losses, such as money for lost wages, medical bills, property damage, and loss of future earnings.
Of course, catastrophic injuries hurt more than just your finances and career — they can impact your quality of life and result in serious emotional/psychological injuries. Non-economic damages can compensate an injured person for pain and suffering. This damages category includes emotional trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, and other non-measurable losses.
While there is no limit to the amount of money an injured person can recover for economic damages, there are limits for pain and suffering damages in Maryland.
Pain and Suffering Damage Caps
As of 2024, the cap on pain and suffering damages in Maryland is $950,000 for a surviving victim. If it’s a wrongful death case, meaning the victim died, the family can recover up to $2.3775 million in pain and suffering damages.
Surviving family members can also seek economic wrongful death damages for:
- Burial and funeral costs
- Medical bills
- Loss of financial support
In addition to economic and non-economic damages, those involved in catastrophic injury cases can seek punitive damages against the negligent party. Courts award punitive damages to punish especially egregious misconduct, but most personal injury cases don’t involve punitive damages. Those seeking punitive damages must prove that the defendant was especially reckless in disregarding others’ safety or had malicious intent.
If you’re unsure what damages you may be entitled to, consult a Maryland catastrophic injury lawyer.
Statute of Limitations: Catastrophic Injury Lawsuits
Those injured in catastrophic injury accidents have three years to file a lawsuit in Maryland. The only exception is if you didn’t discover the negligence until later. For instance, you may not know you were the victim of medical malpractice until you receive subsequent medical attention.
While three years may sound like a lot of time, you should get started with your case as soon as possible. Building a winning personal injury claim will take time, so you should take the initial steps today and get in touch with a catastrophic injury attorney.
Contact a Maryland Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Now
At Zirkin & Schmerling, our dedicated and experienced team of personal injury attorneys have helped countless Maryland residents with challenging catastrophic injury claims.
Our personal injury lawyers will fight on your behalf to help you hold the negligent party accountable, enabling you to recover maximum compensation.
Get started now by scheduling your free consultation with a catastrophic injury lawyer or call 410-753-4611.
