Suppose you have been injured in an accident due to the negligence of another person or a business. In that case, you need to be compensated for your medical bills, lost income, and any decrease in your quality of life. The trained personal injury attorneys at Parker, Pallett, Slezak & Russell, LLC, can help you get the money you need to get well and get on with your life. 

Whether you need someone to negotiate a settlement with an insurance company, talk to corporate attorneys, or represent you in court, the lawyers at our firm can handle your case. Parker, Pallett, Slezak & Russell, LLC have years of experience representing Maryland residents. Our team of trained legal researchers and attorneys will work tirelessly to get you fair compensation for your injuries. 

Photo of an Attorney with an Injured Client

 

When Am I Eligible to File a Personal Injury Claim? 

When you have suffered a personal injury noting them Maryland, you may be concerned about whether you are eligible to file a claim at all. You may be worried that your injuries are not severe enough or that you cannot pin down a specific liable party .

Fortunately, a personal injury lawyer can help you file your claim and get the compensation you need. Our law office has many personal injury attorneys who have made an entire career serving people and helping them get their personal injury cases settled. 

Personal injury claims can be complex, so speaking to a personal injury lawyer now about personal injury claims and your options can help you take action. We can also offer help when you need a trial attorney to stand up for you in the courtroom.

Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle

Not every personal injury case is the same. Different types of accidents are covered by different types of insurance, which have different laws. We focus on several types of injury cases, so contact us if you live in the Nottingham, Maryland area.

Car Accidents 

People are injured in car accidents every day in the Old Line State. Insurance companies want to keep their money in-house, so it is important to hire a skilled Maryland injury attorney to negotiate with the insurance company for you. 

Whenever a person has an accident, they must call the police and wait for them to arrive. They should always take pictures, if possible, and get the contact information of any witnesses at the scene. It is also important to exchange contact and insurance information with any other drivers involved in the accident. An attorney will advise you to be very polite to the law enforcement officer who arrives at the scene but never admit to guilt.

There are two kinds of automobile insurance laws in the United States; fault and no-fault. In a fault state, the person who caused the accident is responsible for paying the accident-related bills. In a no-fault state, a person’s insurance pays the bills no matter who is at fault. Maryland is a fault state so gathering evidence is very important. 

Our legal assistants will research your case and do everything they can to prove your claim. We know all the tricks insurance companies use to get out of paying you.

Worker’s Compensation

Worker’s compensation insurance was originally invented to eliminate the need for injured workers to sue the companies they worked for to get the compensation they need.

At the beginning of the industrial revolution, workers had no recourse but litigation to get compensation for their injuries. Unfortunately, the laws were stacked against them.

European countries enacted workers’ compensation laws in 1884. It took the United States until 1908 To acknowledge the need for workers’ compensation laws. Each state made its own laws, with Wisconsin being the first and Mississippi being the last. 

Today every state but Texas requires employers to have worker’s compensation. When you are injured at work, you should be able to fill out a report with your company’s HR director. You should be able to go to a doctor within your worker’s compensation insurance plan for treatment.

Unfortunately, not all employers are honest. They may say you were not on duty when you were injured, or you were negligent and did not follow the company protocols when you were injured to get out of paying you everything you are owed. 

Defining what an employee is has become harder in the last decade or so. Many people work as temporary employees or independent contractors. Unfortunately, independent contractors are not covered by workers’ compensation laws in the state of Maryland. In some cases, employers will try to classify certain employees as independent contractors to get out of paying workers’ compensation.

The experienced lawyers of Parker, Pallett, Slezak & Russell, LLC, can assist you in getting the worker’s compensation that you deserve. We can help you with everything from filling out forms to negotiating with the insurance company to filing an appeal with the worker’s compensation office if your claim is denied or underpaid. 

An Injured Worker Signing Documents

Medical Malpractice

Medical mistakes are a major cause of death in the United States. Medical malpractice may include anything from the overprescription or misprescription of drugs to making a mistake during surgery.

Malpractice cases are very challenging because it is often hard to know who is responsible for a mistake. In some cases, the blame may be very cut and dried. For instance, a doctor may misdiagnose an illness or prescribe a patient the wrong type of medicine.

Other situations are more complex. For example, if a patient is injured during surgery, there may be a few different people to blame. The orderly at the hospital may not have cleaned the equipment properly or the anesthesiologist made a mistake. The doctor may have done something wrong or one of the nurses assisting with surgery may have made an error.

Even if you know who was at fault, you still may not know who you should sue. In the United States, there is a rule of law called Respondeat Superior (Let the master answer.). This means that an employer is responsible for the actions of their employee.

Knowing who the employer is can be challenging. A doctor may work as an independent contractor, or they may work for the hospital. The people who assist the doctor in surgery may be on the payroll of the doctor, they may be employees of the hospital, or they could be employees of a separate service. We do all the necessary research to find out who is liable for your injuries. 

When it comes to medical malpractice, the amount of compensation you should receive can be difficult to determine because not all damages are monetary. An insurance company may offer you enough money to pay for your medical bills but not your pain and suffering. The state of Maryland has caps on non-monetary damages.

Injured Person Consulting Doctor

 

What to Do Following a Personal Injury

Whether you have woken up from surgery following a medical malpractice, received a call that a loved one has severed a wrongful death, or suffered another type of personal injury, you need fair compensation now. Your MD personal injury attorney has built a legal career on helping people like you take the right steps following a personal injury. 

You may wonder what you need to do following a serious injury. Make sure you take the steps below to protect your case and avoid complications that can lead to you losing your compensation. 

Seek Medical Care 

When dealing with a personal injury, you may be facing permanent or serious injuries that impact your quality of life. You may need to speak to an MD personal injury lawyer as soon as possible, but getting medical care now can make a difference in your quality of life.

Make sure you seek medical care even if you feel fine. Delayed injuries can lead to worsen conditions weeks or months from now, so acting now and getting the care you need can help you avoid these issues.

Getting medical attention now can also help you with your insurance claims later. This is especially important in car accidents, as any mistakes on your claim can impact your auto insurance. Our Nottingham personal injury lawyers are here to help when you need help proving that you needed medical care.

Contact the Right Authorities 

Following a serious personal injury, you may need to contact the right authorities depending on the specific type of injury you have suffered. For example, car accident victims need to contact the police to file an accident report. For those who were injured because of a criminal act, you may need to contact legal authorities who will begin a prosecuted criminal case.

When you are seriously injured and have notified the proper authorities, your Nottingham personal injury attorney is ready to help. Our team has spent their entire legal career fighting for the rights of personal injury victims like you. Our personal injury practice also offers free consultations for those seeking compensation in local and federal courts.

Know Your Claim’s Value 

The personal injury case can be expensive, especially when serious injury is involved. Baltimore County injury victims may struggle to prove their claims worth and get the compensation they are due. Our law offices can help you navigate a personal injury case, so that you know exactly what your claim is worth. 

Our personal injury lawyers have the tools you need to calculate your claims value, whether the at-fault party is facing a criminal defense case for their actions or whether you are going directly to court. Our team can even help you determine whether you are eligible for certain benefits like social security disability, so you know the entirety of your claims value.

Reach Out for an Attorney’s Help 

One of the most important steps you can take following a catastrophic personal injury is to seek out an attorney for legal representation. Personal injury law can be complex, and even negotiating with your insurance company can be difficult without legal support. If you have suffered a brain injury or other catastrophic personal injuries, you may not have the time or energy to juggle your claim and your recovery. 

Because injury cases can be so complex, reach out to an associate attorney or partner for help. Our attorneys have been recognized by the national trial lawyers association among other awards, so we are prepared to help with your case.

Compensation Following a Personal Injury 

Following catastrophic personal injuries, you may be completely lost on how to calculate your costs. Short of attending law school, you may feel like you’ll never understand the terms and tools needed to calculate this. Fortunately, our attorneys have helped even the most seriously injured victims win claims, including numerous seven figure settlements.

If you are struggling to get compensated under the legal system, reach out for help getting compensated for your economic and non-economic damages. Our award-winning trial attorneys are here to help you get your full and fair compensation when dealing with general civil litigation.

Economic Damages 

Medical expenses, property damage, and other accident related expenses compile up fast. These damages may require an empty personal injury attorney to help you navigate these thorny legal issues, such as what these damages are worth.

You also need to know how to calculate your future damages. For example, you may have surgery in the future, but you have not had it yet. Getting hope to estimate these expenses can help you recover more fully.

Non-Economic Damages 

Non-economic damages can be more difficult to calculate because they do not have a dollar value assigned to them. That means you may need trial attorneys like ours to help you calculate these damages. Our lawyers have spent their entire legal career helping people like you get compensated fairly for damages like the following :

  • Pain and suffering
  • Mental distress
  • Emotional trauma
  • Loss of consortium
  • Loss of enjoyment of life

What If I Am Found Partly at Fault for My Accident? 

Injury victims in Prince George’s County may struggle with their civil litigation if they are found partly at fault for their injuries. In Maryland, you can expect your claim to be impacted by contributory fault laws. These laws state that if you are at fault in any way for your injuries, you may be barred from compensation. 

If the effort party is trying to claim you are partly at-fault for your accident, law firms like ours can help you protect your case and your compensation. Our team has been practicing law for several decades combined, so reach out to our team for the help you need.

Person With His Hand In A Cast Using A Laptop

 

Contact Our Team for a Free Consultation Today

When you have suffered a serious injury, you may need the experience personal injury lawyers can provide. Fighting your lawsuit without a law degree, let alone over a decade of legal experience, can hurt your chances of getting compensated fairly. Fortunately, our law firm can offer the tools, resources, and support you need.

The lawyers at Parker, Pallett, Slezak & Russell, LLC are trained negotiators and litigators who will fight to get you the most money possible for both your economic and non-economic damages. Give us a call today.