Attorney
If you have been seriously injured in an accident, one of the first questions you may have is how much your personal injury claim could be worth.
There is no standard settlement amount for a personal injury case in Maryland. The value of a claim depends on the circumstances of the accident, the severity of your injuries, your medical expenses, lost income, long-term effects of the injury, available insurance coverage, and several other factors.
A relatively minor injury that heals completely may result in a very different claim than an injury requiring surgery, months away from work, or ongoing medical treatment.
That is why determining the value of a claim requires looking beyond your immediate expenses. An experienced Maryland personal injury lawyer can investigate what happened and evaluate both the current and future losses associated with your injury.
Is There an Average Personal Injury Settlement in Maryland?
Searching for an “average personal injury settlement” may produce plenty of numbers, but those figures are rarely useful for evaluating an individual case.
Personal injury claims vary too much.
Consider two people involved in similar car accidents. One suffers an injury requiring several weeks of physical therapy and then makes a full recovery. The other requires surgery, cannot return to work for six months, and develops permanent physical limitations.
Although the accidents may appear similar, the damages are very different.
Instead of relying on an average settlement, a personal injury claim should be evaluated according to the actual losses suffered by the injured person.
What Factors Determine What a Maryland Personal Injury Case Is Worth?
Several factors can influence the value of a Maryland personal injury claim.
Some of the most important include:
- The severity of the injuries
- Medical expenses
- Future medical treatment
- Lost wages
- Reduced ability to earn income
- Permanent disabilities or limitations
- Pain and suffering
- The effect on everyday life
- Whether liability is disputed
- The strength of the available evidence
- Available insurance coverage
- Whether the injured person is accused of contributing to the accident
No single factor determines the outcome.
A personal injury attorney in Maryland will generally need to consider these issues together to develop a more complete picture of what compensation may be appropriate.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses are often one of the most significant components of a personal injury claim.
Depending on the injury, medical costs may include:
- Ambulance transportation
- Emergency room treatment
- Hospitalization
- Surgery
- Diagnostic imaging
- Specialist appointments
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Prescription medications
- Medical equipment
- Rehabilitation
But current medical bills may only tell part of the story.
A serious injury could require additional treatment long after a personal injury claim begins. Someone may need another surgery, continued rehabilitation, medication, injections, assistive devices, or other forms of medical care.
These potential future expenses should be considered before resolving a claim.
Future Medical Care Can Significantly Affect a Claim
One reason serious personal injury claims can take time to evaluate is that the injured person’s prognosis may not immediately be clear.
Doctors may initially hope that physical therapy will resolve an injury. Months later, surgery could become necessary. Other injuries may result in permanent symptoms or require ongoing medical treatment.
Before accepting a settlement, it is important to have a reasonable understanding of questions such as:
- Is additional treatment expected?
- Will another surgery be necessary?
- Will physical therapy continue?
- Is the injury likely to cause permanent limitations?
- Will medication be required long term?
- Could the person require assistance with everyday activities?
Once a personal injury case has been fully settled, an injured person generally cannot return to the insurance company later simply because additional medical costs arise.
This is why evaluating future needs can be just as important as documenting the bills that have already accumulated.
Lost Wages
If an injury prevents you from working, lost income may also become part of your personal injury claim.
Someone who misses several days of work may have a relatively straightforward wage-loss calculation. A person who cannot work for months may experience significantly greater financial losses.
Lost compensation can potentially involve more than base wages. Depending on the circumstances, it may also be necessary to examine overtime, commissions, bonuses, or other income that was lost because of the injury.
Documentation such as pay records, tax documents, employer statements, and medical records can help establish these losses.
What If You Cannot Return to the Same Job?
Some injuries have consequences that continue long after someone returns to work.
Suppose a construction worker suffers a serious spinal injury. The worker may eventually be medically cleared to work again but can no longer perform the physical duties required by the previous job.
Or someone who suffers a traumatic brain injury may experience lasting problems with memory or concentration that affect the person’s ability to perform the same professional responsibilities.
In these situations, the injury can affect future earning capacity.
Calculating these losses may require considering the person’s previous income, occupation, education, age, physical limitations, expected career trajectory, and ability to perform other work.
Medical, vocational, and financial experts may become important in cases involving substantial future losses.
These types of measurable financial losses are generally known as economic damages.
Pain and Suffering
A personal injury affects more than someone’s bank account.
Serious injuries can cause significant physical pain and interfere with nearly every aspect of someone’s life.
Maryland personal injury claims may therefore include compensation for pain and suffering and other non-economic effects of an injury.
Depending on the circumstances, these losses may involve:
- Physical pain
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent scarring
- Disfigurement
- Reduced mobility
- Difficulty sleeping
- Loss of independence
- Inability to participate in hobbies or activities
Unlike a hospital bill, these losses do not come with a specific dollar amount attached.
Their value must instead be evaluated based on the severity and duration of the injury and the effect it has had on the person’s life.
What Are Non-Economic Damages?
Pain and suffering falls within a broader category known as non-economic damages.
Economic damages generally compensate for measurable financial losses. Non-economic damages address losses that cannot be calculated simply by adding together receipts and invoices.
The distinction matters when evaluating a personal injury claim because focusing exclusively on medical bills can substantially underestimate the effect of a serious injury.
Someone may have completed medical treatment but continue to experience chronic pain, permanent physical limitations, or major changes to everyday life.
Those consequences can remain relevant even after the medical bills stop arriving.
Does Maryland Limit Non-Economic Damages?
Maryland law places statutory limits on non-economic damages in personal injury cases.
The applicable limit depends on factors including when the cause of action arose and the type of claim involved. Different provisions also apply to certain wrongful death and medical malpractice cases.
Because these statutory amounts can change and different rules may apply depending on the case, an injured person should not assume that a single damages cap applies to every Maryland personal injury claim.
An attorney can determine which statutory provisions apply to the specific case when evaluating potential damages.
The Severity of Your Injury Matters
In general, injuries that cause permanent or long-term consequences can result in more substantial damages than injuries from which someone quickly makes a complete recovery.
Serious personal injury cases may involve:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Severe burns
- Amputations
- Multiple fractures
- Organ damage
- Permanent nerve damage
- Significant scarring or disfigurement
- Chronic pain
- Permanent physical disabilities
The important issue is not simply the name of the injury.
The claim should reflect how that injury has actually affected the person.
Two people with similar diagnoses may experience different recoveries, different limitations, and very different effects on their ability to work and live independently.
Liability Can Have a Major Effect on Your Maryland Personal Injury Claim
Damages are only part of the personal injury analysis.
You must also be able to establish that another person or entity was legally responsible for causing your injury.
Evidence used to establish liability after an accident can vary considerably depending on what happened.
A car accident case might involve photographs, witness statements, vehicle damage, electronic data, or traffic-camera footage.
A premises liability claim might involve surveillance footage, maintenance records, inspection procedures, photographs of the dangerous condition, or evidence showing how long a hazard existed.
Without sufficient evidence establishing liability, even substantial injuries can become difficult to recover compensation for.
Maryland’s Contributory Negligence Rule Can Affect Recovery
Maryland’s contributory negligence rule makes disputes about fault especially important.
Unlike states that generally reduce an injured person’s compensation according to a percentage of responsibility, Maryland follows contributory negligence principles.
If the injured person’s own negligence contributed to causing the accident, it can potentially prevent recovery.
This gives insurance companies a strong incentive to investigate whether responsibility can be shifted toward the injured person.
For example, after an accident, an insurer might argue that you:
- Were distracted
- Failed to notice a hazard
- Were driving too fast
- Failed to take appropriate precautions
- Otherwise contributed to causing your injury
An allegation from an insurance company does not by itself establish contributory negligence.
The evidence surrounding the accident needs to be evaluated to determine what actually happened and whose conduct caused the injury.
If fault is disputed, having a Maryland personal injury attorney investigate the claim can be particularly important.
The Strength of Your Evidence Matters
A personal injury claim needs evidence.
Medical records can demonstrate your injuries and treatment. Employment records can document lost income. Photographs and videos may help establish how an accident occurred. Witness testimony can provide independent information about what happened.
Depending on the case, important evidence used in an accident claim might include:
- Medical records
- Medical bills
- Photographs
- Video footage
- Police or incident reports
- Witness statements
- Employment records
- Expert opinions
- Property records
- Electronic data
- Insurance documents
The strength of this evidence can affect both liability and damages.
A well-documented claim gives an attorney more information to demonstrate why another party was responsible and how significantly the accident affected the injured person.
Available Insurance Coverage Can Affect the Amount Recovered
The value of someone’s damages and the amount that can realistically be recovered are not always identical.
Insurance coverage can become an important practical consideration.
Some cases involve one responsible person and one insurance policy. Others involve several parties and multiple potential sources of coverage.
For example, an accident involving a commercial vehicle could raise questions about the driver, employer, vehicle owner, contractor, and applicable commercial insurance policies.
A serious premises liability case could involve a property owner, tenant, management company, maintenance contractor, or another business.
Part of evaluating a significant personal injury claim is therefore identifying all potentially responsible parties and investigating the available sources of compensation.
Should You Accept the Insurance Company’s First Settlement Offer?
An early settlement can be tempting.
Medical expenses may already be accumulating, and an injury may have prevented you from earning your normal income.
But an early offer should be evaluated carefully.
At that point, you may not know:
- Whether you will fully recover
- Whether additional treatment will be necessary
- Whether you can return to your previous job
- Whether your injuries will become permanent
- What your future medical expenses will be
- Whether other parties may be responsible
- Whether additional insurance coverage exists
The insurance company’s initial offer also represents the insurer’s evaluation of the claim. It does not necessarily establish what the case is actually worth.
Before accepting an offer, it can be helpful to have a personal injury lawyer in Maryland independently evaluate the evidence, damages, and potential future losses.
How Is a Personal Injury Settlement Calculated?
There is no universal formula that determines what every Maryland personal injury case is worth.
A meaningful evaluation requires examining the individual components of the claim.
An attorney may consider:
- Medical expenses already incurred
- Expected future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced future earning capacity
- Other financial losses
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability or disfigurement
- The strength of the liability evidence
- Potential contributory negligence issues
- Available insurance coverage
These factors then need to be considered together.
This is why online settlement calculators and averages should be treated cautiously. They cannot account for the specific medical, financial, factual, and legal issues involved in an individual case.
How Does a Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer Determine What Your Case Is Worth?
Determining the potential value of a serious personal injury claim requires much more than adding together medical bills.
An attorney may review medical records, speak with treating physicians, obtain employment documentation, investigate the accident, interview witnesses, preserve evidence, identify insurance coverage, and determine whether additional parties may be responsible.
In cases involving permanent injuries, attorneys may also work with medical, vocational, and financial professionals to better understand future care requirements and lost earning capacity.
The goal is to develop a complete picture of how the accident has affected the injured person’s life.
Talk to a Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer About the Value of Your Claim
No website can tell you exactly what your personal injury case is worth without knowing what happened.
Your injuries, medical treatment, employment, future prognosis, available evidence, insurance coverage, and the circumstances surrounding the accident all matter.
Koonz McKenney Johnson & DePaolis LLP has represented injured people throughout Maryland and the greater Washington, DC region for decades. Our attorneys thoroughly investigate personal injury claims and work with medical, financial, and vocational experts when necessary to understand the full impact of serious injuries.
If another person’s negligence caused your injuries, our Maryland personal injury lawyers can review your case, explain your legal options, and help determine what compensation may be appropriate.
Contact Koonz McKenney Johnson & DePaolis LLP to discuss your case and learn more about your options for pursuing compensation.