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WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO RECOVER FOR YOUR INJURY FROM AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT IN MARYLAND, VIRGINIA OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

If you suffer an injury from an automobile accident in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia, there is no formula that determines what you should recover for a bodily injury.   Anyone, who claims that a recovery is based upon multiplying the medical expenses by a certain number is wrong.   However, in looking at certain factors that the Courts have set forth as guidelines, a personal injury attorney can maximize your recovery.

First, the lawyer and the injured client must go over what specifically the injuries were, and their extent and duration. A monetary value is placed on both pain and mental anguish suffered in the past, and for what could be expected in the future.  A broken arm is certainly worth more serious than a neck strain.  Further, all things being equal, recovery for a neck strain that lasts for two weeks should be less then one that last for two months. Similarly, a herniated disc that an injured person may have to live with forever, has an entirely different value because of its duration.  In making this first assessment all medical records should be collected and reviewed.  Next, the personal injury attorney should look at the effect the injuries had on the overall physical and mental health of the injured person.  Such considerations include: loss of sleep; difficulty standing or sitting for prolonged periods of time; trouble concentrating; inability to exercise or function in a productive way at work and finally; inability to function the same way in a marriage (can’t do normal household chores, play with children or enjoy sex).  Additionally, in cases where an injured person is scarred, damages are recoverable for the disfigurement and humiliation or embarrassment associated with the disfigurement.  Often valuation is not just dependant on the extent of the scarring, but also a factor is the age and sex of the injured person.  For example, scarring of the face of a teenage girl is often given more value than the same scarring to the face of a middle age man.

The damages set forth above are entitled “non-economic damages”.  Specifically, they are damages for past and future pain and suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium.  In addition, a person injured in an accident may recover “economic damages”.  These include past and future lost wages and medical expenses.

An injured person should be aware of three defenses often raised by insurance adjusters in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, that are simply not valid.  First, is the defense that because of advanced age or poor physical condition prior to the accident, you were susceptible to injury, and therefore, not entitled to a recovery.  Not true.  In fact, the Courts have found just the opposite.  The fact that an injury would be less serious if inflicted upon a younger more healthy person should not affect the recovery.

Second, insurance adjusters may claim that a recovery is not allowed because the injured person hurt this body part before, or were partially injured before the accident.  The personal injury law in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, specifically states that an injured person may recover for aggravation or worsening of a previous condition.  Finally, insurance adjusters often state that an injured persons recovery should be reduced because they are aware the person has recovered money from health insurance, Med-Pay, Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or received sick leave.  The adjuster is wrong.  The collateral source rule recognized in personal injury law in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, holds that damages may not be reduced because an injured person has recovered from another source.

In every personal injury case, at the end of the evidence presented, the Judge instructs the Jury on the law.  Damage laws are in fact incorporated into form Jury Instructions that are read and heard by Jurers.  Everything set forth in this article can be found in Maryland Civil Pattern Jury Instructions numbers 10:2, 10:3, 10:4 and 10:8.