Personal Injury Lawsuits in Cincinnati

The statute of limitations is the official law that influences how long you have to file a personal injury lawsuit after you have been seriously hurt in an accident. It is very important that you reach out to an experienced lawyer as soon as possible to discuss your case. Meeting with a lawyer does not mean that you need to file a lawsuit immediately, but it does help to get further insight from an attorney to learn more about what might be required, and so that you can discuss an appropriate timeline. If you fail to file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, you could lose your right to pursue compensation. 

Depending on the kind of injuries you have sustained and what happened in the original accident, Ohio laws have very strict timelines for filing a personal injury suit. The clock begins running from the time that you are injured or the time that you learn about your injuries. For personal bodily injury, you have a maximum of two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. If you were injured in a medical malpractice incident, you have one year from the date of that incident. If you were injured on someone else's property, you have a maximum of two years to file a lawsuit. There are a few very rare exceptions that can apply to the statute of limitations, but you will need to discuss these with a Cincinnati personal injury attorney.

One of the most important components of a Cincinnati personal injury claim is being able to show that someone else was negligent, owed you a duty of care, and that in failing to meet it left you with injuries. Injury claims often come about as a result of claims of negligence caused by another person. Your Cincinnati personal injury attorney can help you paint a picture of negligence in your case. 

Negligence claims cover a broad variety of different types of injuries and lawsuits including defective products, medical malpractice, slip and fall injuries, truck accidents, auto accidents, and more. In Ohio, you must be able to illustrate four elements to move forward with a personal injury lawsuit. 

First of all, you must be able to show that the person who hurt you owed you a duty of care, such as another driver on the road who should have been following the same laws. Second, you must be able to show that the person violated this duty and acted unreasonably, and third, that their unreasonable actions caused your injuries. 

You must also be able to show that you suffered injuries because of their actions. Ohio uses what is known as a comparative negligence approach to determine negligence on your part that could have contributed to your injuries. This is a common tactic used by other parties when you accuse them of fault in a lawsuit. Your damages can be reduced based upon the percentage of responsibility you have for the accident, and you can be barred from recovering any compensation in a Cincinnati personal injury lawsuit if you are more than 50% at fault for the accident.

You may be entitled to a broad range of different types of damages when you were hurt in a Cincinnati, Ohio personal injury lawsuit. These include both non-economic and economic damages. Non-economic damages are associated with things, such as pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and disfigurement. The amount of non-economic damages you can recover in a lawsuit is limited per Ohio law, and your lawyer can help you determine whether or not you have grounds to make a case for these damages. Economic damages are much easier to calculate after a serious accident. They include the monetary losses and actual losses from your injuries, including property damage, repairs, rental transportation, ambulance fees, lost wages, and more. 

Ohio also allows some victims to pursue punitive damages, which are intended to punish the person who hurt you, particularly if they were especially egregious and left you with significant injuries. Bear in mind that there are some specific rules in Ohio that could influence the type of damages that you recover. One of the most important is the collateral source rule. This prevents you from receiving double payments when you get compensation for your injuries from other sources. This means that auto insurance coverage, health insurance coverage, and disability coverage will all be factored in.

If you’re concerned about getting maximum compensation for your damages, talk to a Cincinnati personal injury lawyer now. 

Hiring an attorney at the outset of your personal injury claim is one of the best ways to protect your rights. The process can be long and involved if you do not settle outside of court. The trial preparation process includes pretrial discovery, hearings, depositions, and several different court filing requirements. When you have extensive damages or serious and lifelong injuries, you need the support of a knowledgeable personal injury attorney to support you and help guide you through the court process. 

Many people may be questioning whether or not they need a personal injury attorney in Cincinnati to assist them with their claim. If you have relatively minor damages and injuries, you may be able to handle your claim on your own. However, if you are dealing with significant financial issues and are worried about your future, many attorneys provide free initial consultations to review your case and can discuss working with them.

While it would be easier for many victims if they were able to get a fair settlement after opening an insurance claim, sadly that rarely happens in real life. This leaves victims with little to no option other than to file a legal claim. When you hire the right Cincinnati personal injury lawyer, you show the insurance companies you’re taking your case seriously. You can also remove a lot of the stress of handling your claim in this way. 

In filing a suit, you can hold the other party accountable and get the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you could potentially secure the funds you need to recover. Since many people will never fully recover from a serious vehicle accident, it’s critical to hire a talented Cincinnati personal injury lawyer to handle your claim because there is so much at stake. 

In many cases when you work with a lawyer outside of personal injury, the attorney will take your case on an hourly fee agreement or on a retainer in which you pay an upfront lump sum, and they deduct the work they complete against that lump sum and then send you further retainer requests or bills. When you are suffering due to a serious accident, you have enough financial concerns to worry about. 

Personal injury attorneys instead work on a contingency fee basis, meaning that they only get paid for their work if they are successful in negotiating a settlement or in winning a trial outcome for you. This means injury attorneys in Ohio working on a contingency fee arrangement can get to work on your case immediately without charging upfront fees. You can always discuss this with your Cincinnati personal injury lawyer at the start of your case to learn more about what they would require.

Many people want to avoid the stress of going through a lawsuit, if possible, but you may recognize after filing your personal injury claim that your insurance company is not there to protect you. Lawsuits typically become necessary when you are unable to arrive at a full and fair settlement with the other party's insurance company or in which they claim that the injuries you have sustained are not as serious as you allege. Make sure that you do not sign any paperwork presented to you by the other side until you have had the opportunity to speak with an attorney. 

Once you’ve been hurt in an accident, you’ll file a claim with your insurance company. They will ask for details about the wreck and use what they collect to reach out to the other insurance carrier. In some cases, this can be an easy process. However, many people learn the hard way that it’s not simple and that you might need assistance from an outside party like an injury lawyer. A Cincinnati personal injury attorney can help you to file a claim and to respond to all insurance-related issues. 

It is also important during this time that you continue to attend any and all medical appointments. In addition to requesting your own medical records and keeping your doctors up to date on any of your symptoms and conditions, you'll also want to keep notes after every medical appointment. This will make it that much easier if you need to turn to these notes as evidence in the future. Keep accurate records of medical bills, property damage repairs, and time missed from work. Photos of property damage and photographs of your injuries can also be helpful. Some people also keep medical journals to denote the pain they experience on a regular basis. Your claim will be processed as a lawsuit after the paperwork has been filed with the support of a personal injury attorney.

At this point, both parties begin the discovery process. This can take as long as one year during which time both parties exchange evidence and investigate all aspects of the claim. This can include getting permanent records, carrying out interrogatories, taking oral depositions, and even hiring expert witnesses to tell more of the story. The parties may also exchange settlement offers and demands during this period. Most people do not realize that the vast majority of personal injury claims settle before going to trial. It is very important that you retain an attorney who has worked in this field for many years to increase your chances of success.

It is unlikely that you will remember every aspect of the accident after you leave the scene. In many cases, someone who is seriously injured is taken away from the accident scene on a stretcher in an ambulance. This makes it impossible for you to remember exactly what happened or to have photographic evidence of the scene. For this and many other reasons, your Cincinnati personal injury attorney may use a process known as accident reconstruction to help retell the story. 

This often means returning to the scene of the accident with expert Witnesses who can learn more by gathering details about how the accident happened. They can gather photo and video evidence including things such as road signs, damaged guardrails, tire marks, and more. All of this can be used to create a compelling story of how the accident happened, making it more likely for you to recover compensation you deserve. 

You can use the evidence collected in this process during trial, and it can be very helpful to paint a full picture of what happened. 

As the largest law firm in America, with offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, Morgan & Morgan has the reputation, resources, and reliability that has earned their clients over $20 billion in compensation for their personal injury claims. If you or someone you love has been wrongfully harmed in an accident due to another party’s negligence, let Morgan & Morgan fight for you.

To get started, contact Morgan & Morgan today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation to learn more about your options and how you can get the compensation that you deserve to move on with your life. We’re here to help.