After a workplace injury, you may qualify for workers’ compensation benefits and, in some situations, a separate personal injury claim against a negligent third party. The type of claim available to you will depend on the circumstances surrounding your injury and who may have been responsible. In short, a workers’ compensation claim may be easier to prove, while a personal injury claim may give more opportunities for recovery. So without further ado, please continue reading to learn the kind of financial relief you can experience with a successful workers’ compensation or personal injury claim, and how one of the seasoned Prince George’s County injury lawyers at Miller Berman, LLC, can help you pursue either one effectively.
What types of aid are available in workers’ compensation versus a personal injury claim?
Through your employer’s workers’ compensation benefits program, you may be eligible to be compensated for the medical bills associated with your reported workplace accident or work injury. This may be in addition to wage reimbursement for your time away from work while having to attend these necessary medical appointments and evaluations.
Depending on your level of disability, you may also collect temporary total disability, temporary partial disability, permanent partial disability, or permanent total disability benefits. If your physical condition prevents you from returning to your previous job post, the insurer may also pay for your vocational rehabilitation.
While these benefits may provide important financial support, a personal injury claim can help you retrieve further aid and may provide broader recovery for lost wages and future earning capacity. Plus, you may claim non-economic damages, like physical pain, emotional suffering, diminished quality of life, and lost enjoyment in life.
What elements do I need to establish to collect compensation in each type of claim?
Importantly, workers’ compensation is a no-fault insurance system. This means that, as a petitioner, you are not required to establish your employer’s negligence related to your workplace accident or work injury. It typically does not matter if you were partially to blame, either, unless there is evidence of intentional misconduct, intoxication, or deliberate self-harm. Generally, you must show that your injury arose out of and in the course of your employment. This may be best established through coworker or witness statements, video surveillance footage, and an accident report filed directly with your employer.
Contrastingly, as the plaintiff of a personal injury lawsuit, you have a burden of proof in confirming the defendant’s negligence in relation to your workplace accident or work injury. Further, you may be subject to the state of Maryland’s strict contributory negligence system. With this, if the civil court has reason to believe that you were even one percent at fault for the matter at hand, you may be barred from recovering any of your claimed damages. This applies regardless of whether you have been successfully collecting workers’ compensation payments, as they are different legal systems.
Once you are confident in which claim to pursue, all that is left to do is contact one of the skilled Prince George’s County injury lawyers. Reach out to Miller Berman, LLC today. We look forward to hearing from you.
