Personal Injury
You reached for something. Felt a pull. Maybe a sharp twinge in your back or shoulder. You kept working — because nothing really happened, right? No fall. No collision. Nobody saw anything. By the end of the day, you were sore, but you told yourself it would pass.
Three days later, you can barely get out of bed.
I hear this story constantly in my practice. And the question that follows is almost always the same: "Do I even have a case? I wasn't really in an accident."
The answer — and this surprises a lot of people — is yes. You may have a very valid workers' compensation claim under Maryland law. What matters is not whether something dramatic happened. What matters is that you were injured while doing your job.
Most people don't report a work injury right away. I understand why. You don't want to make a fuss. You're not sure it's serious. You think resting over the weekend will take care of it. And more than anything, you don't think of what happened as an accident — because in your mind, an accident means something went visibly, obviously wrong.
So you tough it out. You keep working.
What I've seen over and over in my practice is that this instinct — as understandable as it is — can seriously damage or completely destroy a legitimate claim. An injury that seemed minor on Monday can become a herniated disc requiring surgery by Friday. And if you never reported it, never sought care, and can no longer pinpoint exactly when or how it happened, you are now facing an insurance company with almost nothing to work with.
The injury didn't get less real. The claim just got much harder to prove.
Here is where a lot of people — and frankly, some insurers — get it wrong.
For decades, Maryland courts required that a work injury result from some unusual activity to be compensable. The idea was that if you were doing your normal job in the normal way, and got hurt, it didn't quite count as an "accident." That standard disadvantaged thousands of workers who got hurt doing exactly what they were hired to do.
In 2003, Maryland's highest court changed that — decisively — in Harris v. Board of Education of Howard County. The court ruled that under the plain language of the Maryland Workers' Compensation Act, what must be accidental is the injury, not the activity that caused it. In other words, you don't have to prove you were doing something unusual. You just have to show that the resulting injury was unexpected.
That distinction matters enormously in practice. It means that a nurse who hurts her back maneuvering a patient — something she does every single shift — can have a compensable claim. A construction worker who reaches for a tool and feels something tear in his shoulder can have a compensable claim. A warehouse worker who picks up a box that turned out to be heavier than expected, and feels a pop in his lower back, can have a compensable claim.
No dramatic fall required. No witnesses required. Just an unexpected injury that arose out of and in the course of your employment.
The injuries I handle most frequently that fit this pattern come from a handful of industries — but this can happen in any job that involves physical demands.
Nurses and CNAs get hurt constantly while repositioning or transferring patients. A patient who cannot support their own weight — what we call dead weight — puts enormous, unpredictable strain on the caregiver's body. The movements involved are part of the job description, and yet the injury, when it occurs, is very real and very compensable.
Construction workers often sustain injuries reaching for materials, lifting heavy blocks, or working in awkward overhead positions. Again — routine tasks. But the body can only take so much, and when it gives out during the course of your workday, that is a work injury.
In nearly every one of these cases, the person I'm meeting with initially thought the same thing: nothing really happened. They were just doing their job. The injury felt like it came out of nowhere. That is precisely the kind of claim the Harris decision was meant to protect.
Why the Insurance Company May Still Push Back — and What to Do
Even though Maryland courts settled this question more than twenty years ago, I still see insurers challenge these claims. Sometimes they do it formally, at a hearing. More often, they do it informally — by questioning whether the injury was really work-related, or suggesting that since nothing unusual occurred, there may not be a valid claim.
This happens, in part, because workers themselves are uncertain. When an adjuster calls and implies the claim is questionable, many workers back down — especially when they were never fully confident the claim was valid to begin with.
Do not back down. Maryland law is on your side. What you need is the right documentation and the right legal guidance to make that case clearly.
This is the part I want you to pay the closest attention to, because I have seen strong, legitimate claims collapse here — and I have seen seemingly difficult claims succeed because the worker did one thing right at the very beginning.
The first medical visit is everything.
When you go to the ER, urgent care, or your doctor after a work injury, what you say — and how specifically you say it — can determine the outcome of your entire claim. There is a world of difference between telling a doctor "my back hurts" and telling them "I injured my back at work on [specific date] while lifting a patient / reaching for materials / picking up a box."
The first statement gives us almost nothing to work with. The second creates a medical record that ties your injury to a specific work event on a specific date. That record is often the foundation of the entire case.
I also want to be direct about the date. Knowing the exact date of your injury is critical when filing a claim with the Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission. Insurance companies and employers will scrutinize this. If you can't establish when the injury happened, the claim becomes exponentially harder to defend.
Report the injury to your employer the same day it happens — even if you feel fine. Seek medical care immediately, even if the pain seems manageable. And when you speak to that doctor, be specific: what you were doing, where you were, what you felt, and when.
You do not need to have all the answers before you call an attorney. In fact, the earlier you call, the better — because the first days after a work injury are when the most important decisions get made, and most injured workers don't realize that.
Here is what matters most in the immediate aftermath:
Report the injury to your employer in writing, the same day if possible. Get medical care right away, and tell your doctor exactly what happened and when. Keep a record of everything — dates, what was said, who was present. And call an attorney before you give any recorded statements to the insurance company.
Clear, specific communication in those early days — with your employer, with your doctors, and with the insurer — is what gives your case its foundation. The insurance company wants clarity too. Specificity helps everyone, and it protects you.
If you were hurt at work — even if you're not sure it "counts" — contact me at SG Legal Group. I handle work-related injury claims across Maryland, and I would rather spend thirty minutes helping you understand your options than have you wait until it's too late to do anything about it.
You can also read more about what to do immediately after a workplace injury and why every body part you report matters for your claim — both are worth reading before your first call.
Call 410-618-1277 or visit our contact page to schedule a consultation.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and regulations are subject to change, and individual circumstances vary. For advice specific to your situation, please consult with a qualified attorney.
Ioana David, Esq.
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