Thurmont, Maryland Personal Injury Attorneys

Thurmont is a large town in northern Maryland, located in Frederick County near the border with Pennsylvania. While it is not a large area with many residents, Thurmont has significance in the United States for being the closest town to Camp David, where U.S. presidents go on vacation. However, Thurmont is also nestled closely with some of the most pristine territory in the region, providing natural retreats for numerous visitors.

Despite being a popular place for people to go on vacation, Thurmont also sees its share of accidents, both minor and serious. Unfortunately, many of these accidents can lead to significant injuries to the people involved, even those who did not cause the accident in the first place. This can be incredibly unfair to those who are hurt because of someone else’s negligence, because there was nothing that they did to deserve their injuries, and often no way to avoid them, either.

If you or someone you love has ever been involved in an accident in Thurmont that ends with a serious injury, you need legal representation to make sure you get the compensation you need to make a full recovery. This often involves filing a personal injury lawsuit against the person or the people who were ultimately responsible for the accident. That is where the attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian can help.

Thurmont

Thurmont is located along the northern border of Maryland, only a few miles from Pennsylvania, in Frederick County. It is far from an Interstate highway, with I-70 more than 30 miles away to the southwest. Due to the relative inaccessibility of Thurmont, it is not a well-known commercial or business destination. However, the rustic charm of the area has made it a prime getaway for people who are looking to escape the noise and bustle of nearby cities like Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Out of the many people who regularly vacation near Thurmont, one of them is the President of the United States. The Catoctin Mountain Park, which is managed by the National Park Service, lies just off the western border of Thurmont. Included in this Park is the presidential retreat of Camp David. After being built in 1938, Camp David has served as a rustic retreat for the sitting U.S. president since 1942. Because of its high-profile guests, Camp David has brought the Thurmont area into the national spotlight on occasion. For example, in the middle of May 2012, the 38th G8 Summit was held at Camp David. The event drew international dignitaries, powerful politicians, and numerous protesters to the area. The protesters marched peacefully through Thurmont, stopping traffic on the main streets until police regained control.

However, Thurmont is not just a retreat for powerful politicians. The Catoctin Mountain Park and the nearby Cunningham Falls State Park both provide numerous outings for visitors and residents alike. Additionally, the Catoctin Colorfest is a regionally renowned arts and crafts festival – considered one the biggest and best on the east coast – that brings in many thousands of visitors every October.

Despite being such a destination place, Thurmont was also the home to no fewer than 6,170 people during the 2010 census, a number that has steadily increased since the town’s founding in 1751 and eventual incorporation into a town in 1831.

Personal Injury Claims in Thurmont

Because it is located in the state of Maryland, any injury-producing accident that happens in Thurmont falls under the realm of Maryland’s personal injury law. As a result, there are four different things that you will need to show in order to be successful in a personal injury lawsuit in Thurmont:

The person you are suing owed you a duty of care,
That duty of care was breached,
That breach was the cause of your injuries, and
You were, in fact, injured.

The Duty of Care in Maryland

In general, Maryland personal injury law requires people to act reasonably prudent whenever it is foreseeable that their conduct could hurt you. While there are other situations that require people to act more or less carefully around you, these are somewhat rare. However, the essence of the duty of care in Maryland is that people need to act in ways that keep others safe.

Breaching the Duty of Care

If someone else has a duty of care to keep you safe, whenever they do something that does not uphold this legal responsibility, they have breached their duty of care. Importantly, in Maryland, it does not matter whether they breached their duty of care on purpose or by accident. In either situation, they could be liable for the injuries that they have caused.

Causation

Because it would be unfair to hold someone else legally responsible for injuries that they did not cause, Maryland’s personal injury law requires that you show that the person you are suing caused your injuries. This has two parts to it:

You need to show that, but for the other person’s breach of their duty of care, you would not have been hurt, and
You need to show that the breach of the duty of care and your injuries are proximately connected to each other and are not so attenuated that it would be unfair to hold the other person responsible.

Damages

Finally, personal injury cases in Maryland are all about getting accident victims the compensation that they deserve. This means that you have to show how much compensation you deserve by listing all of the ways you have been hurt and what they cost you. These are your legal damages. In Maryland, they include:

Property damage you have suffered,
Your pain and suffering, as well as the pain and suffering of your family,
Your medical bills, including the bills you are likely to accumulate for future medical treatment,
Any wages that you lost from the accident or during your recovery, and
Potential income that you lost through a decrease in your earning potential that resulted from your injuries in the accident.

Car Accidents in Thurmont

Even though Thurmont does not have an interstate highway nearby, car crashes are still one of the most common ways for you to get hurt in an accident. Other drivers have a duty of care to keep others on the road safe. When they drive unsafely – whether they are texting, speeding, or driving drunk – they are breaching that duty of care. If these poor driving habits lead to an accident that causes you to get hurt, they could be legally responsible for your injuries and have to compensate you for them.

Dog Bites

Many people in Thurmont have dogs. However, despite what they might say about their pet and how friendly it is, dog bites can happen. In Maryland, the law holds dog owners strictly liable for the actions of their pets, meaning a dog owner could have to compensate you if their dog attacks you, even though the owner did nothing wrong. This makes dog bite cases an exception to the rule requiring you to show that the dog owner had a duty of care to keep you safe.

Premises Liability

People who own property in Thurmont have a duty of care to keep visitors safe whenever they come over. Breaching this duty of care can lead to premises liability if the property owner leaves a dangerous condition unfixed on their premises and you slip and fall or get hurt on it.

However, what this duty of care entails depends on your own relationship with the property owner at the time of your injury. If you were on their premises with their permission or for their financial benefit – if, for example, you were in their store with the intention of buying something – the duty of care that they owe you requires them to take extra precautions to prevent you from getting hurt. On the other hand, if you were trespassing on their property when you got injured, their duty of care requires far less. However, even if you were trespassing, you still have legal rights that you can enforce if you have been hurt on someone else’s property.

Gilman & Bedigian: Personal Injury Attorneys in Thurmont

These are just some of the most common types of personal injury cases that happen in Thurmont. Other situations can lead to injuries just as bad. In any of these cases, though, one thing remains the same: You have been hurt through no fault of your own and are put in a tough circumstance where you unjustly have to pay for your own recovery.

This is why the personal injury attorneys at the Maryland law office of Gilman & Bedigian represent those who have been hurt in accidents in Thurmont. By serving as your legal representatives, we enforce your legal rights to compensation from the person or the people who were ultimately responsible for your losses and further your interests both in and out of court.

If you or someone you love has been hurt in an accident in Thurmont, contact us online or call our law office at (800) 529-6162 for a free consultation.