Every year, millions of people become injured from car accidents in the United States. Maryland car accidents can cause serious and deadly injuries, and if you break a bone in a Maryland car accident, you may wonder if you can sue the person who caused the wreck. If the collision was caused by another person, you have every right to seek damages, but there are important exceptions and rules regarding recovering compensation that you need to be aware of.
In this blog, we discuss the common types of bone fractures that can occur from a traffic accident, wrecks that frequently cause fractures, contributory negligence, and what kind of damages you can expect for a broken bone.
Types of Broken Bones
Contrary to popular belief, broken bones and fractures are the same. People often use the two terms as if they’re describing different injuries or degrees of severity, but medical professionals use the two terms interchangeably.
There are different types of fractures/broken bones that you could sustain after experiencing a vehicular accident.
A few common types of fractures include:
- Complex Fractures: The bone breaks and becomes displaced.
- Simple Fractures: The bone breaks but remains properly aligned.
- Compound Fractures: The bone breaks through the skin and becomes at risk of infection.
- Comminuted Fractures: The bone breaks or splinters into several pieces.
- Depressed Fractures: The bone becomes crushed and presses inwards.
- Spiral Fractures: The bone twists into a spiral-like shape.
Types of Wrecks That Frequently Cause Fractures
Any type of traffic collision can potentially lead to minor or serious bone fractures, but there are certain types of wrecks that make car accident victims especially susceptible to broken bones. These include:
- Commercial Truck Accidents: Commercial trucks carry heavy loads and weigh far more than passenger vehicles on the road. With their extra weight comes an increased risk of suffering from serious or fatal injuries if they hit you. The impact of a commercial truck can cause crushed bones, broken bones, and spinal cord breaks.
- Rollover Accidents: Two vehicles colliding into one another can have a great enough force for a vehicle to roll. This is especially common for vehicles that are more top-heavy such as SUVs. Rollover accidents often result in serious broken bones and spinal cord injuries.
- T-Bone Accidents: A T-bone wreck occurs when a vehicle strikes the side of another vehicle on the road. People who were sitting on the side where the colliding vehicle hit are highly susceptible to suffering from serious injuries and bone breaks.
- Head-On Collisions: The amount of force two vehicles generate when hitting each other head-on creates enough of an impact to cause serious or fatal injuries. Victims of head-on collisions are especially at risk of suffering from back or spinal cord breaks.
- Rear-End Accidents: Rear-end accidents often cause whiplash, resulting in soft tissue injuries and bone breaks to the neck and back. Victims of rear-end crashes may also sustain a heavy blow to the head when hitting the dashboard or steering wheel, which can cause skull fractures.
What is Contributory Negligence in Maryland?
Most states have comparative negligence rules in personal injury cases. This means that victims of personal injuries can only recover compensation based on their degree of fault. For example, if someone is struck by another vehicle and were speeding at the time of the accident, the person who was hit may still be assigned 10% of the blame for speeding while the person who struck them receives 90%. The higher the degree to which you’re at fault, the less you can recover from the other at-fault party.
Maryland, on the other hand, is a pure contributory negligence state. This means that if you break a bone in a Maryland car accident and bear any of the blame for a car accident or another incident that left you injured, you cannot recover compensation from the other at-fault party. You might only share 10% of the blame, but you still cannot recover damages for your injuries from the 90% liable party.
Contact a Maryland Broken Bone Injury Lawyer
Because Maryland is a pure contributory negligence state, liable parties’ insurance companies and lawyers frequently try to argue that the victim was partially to blame for their own injuries. If you’re assigned just 1% of the blame in a car accident, you cannot recover compensation for your broken bone injuries. Don’t let insurance companies deny you the damages you deserve for your accident. Call a personal injury attorney to represent you.
With the right legal team, you can recover the damages you deserve for your wreck. You could recover compensation for vehicle damages, medical bills, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and more. If you break a bone in a Maryland car accident contact the personal injury experts you can trust in Maryland, Zirkin & Schmerling Law. We’ve helped countless Maryland residents recover the damages they deserved for their personal injuries. Call our office at 410-753-4611, or click here to schedule a free, no-risk case consultation.