Under personal injury law, negligence refers to a reckless action that hurts someone else’s body or property. For example, a careless medical doctor may further complicate your health by forgetting surgical tools in your body after surgery. In such situations, a Maryland personal injury lawyer can help to get adequate compensation on your behalf.

Another typical example of negligence is evident in car accident claims. Usually, a reckless driver rams into another vehicle because they aren’t paying attention to the road. According to the United States Department of Transportation, 3,142 died due to distracted driving in 2019. However, while drivers’ errors are responsible for most traffic accidents in America, they’re not always the at-fault parties.

Sometimes, your mechanic or auto repair shop may put you at risk of a car crash. In such situations, can you pursue a personal injury claim or lawsuit against them? We’ll tell you what Maryland’s personal injury law says about that.

Can I Sue My Mechanic for Negligence in Maryland?

Apart from driver error, your mechanic’s actions or inactions can contribute to your car accident. In such cases, you can commence a personal injury claim against them and get compensation for your injuries. However, to show that your mechanic was negligent, you must prove the following:

• Duty of Care 

Driving a defective vehicle puts us at high risk of an accident. So, we visit mechanics for general car maintenance and repairs to reduce our risk of a traffic crash. When we visit our auto-repair shops, we put our safety in their hands, trusting them to do a good job.

Their responsibility to ensure that our cars are roadworthy is called a duty of care under personal injury law. Therefore, to get compensation for your loss, you must first show that they owed you such duty of care.

• Breach 

Your mechanic can breach their duty of care to you in many ways. For example, they may make unnecessary alterations to your vehicle or damage some parts as they repair. In any case, a mechanic’s failure to maintain your car with the requisite skills results in a breach of duty.

• Causation 

Your mechanic’s breach of duty of care may not be the cause of your accident. In such cases, you can not file a claim just because they breached their duty of care. An important element of every personal injury lawsuit is a direct link between the breached duty and the accident.

• Damages

Let’s say that you didn’t sustain any injury or damage to any property in your accident. Since there wasn’t any injury from the accident, there is nothing to compensate you for. As such, you cannot get damages in a negligence claim for no injuries at all.

What Evidence Can I Use to Prove My Mechanic’s Negligence?

Proving your mechanic’s negligence isn’t as easy as you think. You’ll need an experienced personal injury attorney who can build your case with the following pieces of evidence:

• Photographs

Photographs are one of the essential pieces of evidence for every personal injury case. For example, to prove your mechanic’s negligence, you’ll need pictures of the defective parts and the accident site.

• Expert Witnesses 

In your claim against your mechanic, you’ll need testimony from a professional in vehicle engineering or collision physics. Their testimonies can show that there would have been no accident if your mechanic did an excellent repair job.

• Accident Reports 

A police report can help you prove the cause of your accident.

Proving that your mechanic did a crappy job on your vehicle is relatively easy. However, proving that it was the lousy job that caused your accident is quite a hassle. The mechanics know this, and so, they usually will deny responsibility for your accident. Only an experienced car accident attorney will know how to prove their liability.

Let’s Help You Get Maximum Compensation From the Negligent Mechanic 

If your mechanic or auto repair shop negligently puts your life on the line, they must face the consequences. However, proving their negligence can be a hassle most of the time. That’s why you need an experienced attorney to gather all the evidence you need to build a strong case.

Our Maryland personal injury attorneys at Pinder Plotkin LLC will help you do just that. Asides from building your case, our legal professionals will provide you with the moral support you need to heal nicely. But, again, you don’t have to pay a dime until we successfully get you the compensation you deserve. So, book a free case evaluation with our personal injury lawyers today.