New Albany Personal Injury Lawyer

Item: CLLB Law Personal Injury Lawyer
Rating: 5
Author: Tracy Miller

Attorney Marc Working on Case Each day we wake up and expect to experience a day of work, family and enjoyment. But all of this is turned upside down if you’re involved in an injury accident caused by another person. Whether it’s a car crash, workplace accident, trip and fall, motorcycle injury, medical malpractice, or harm done by a defective product – these injuries can have disastrous, life-changing consequences. One day your life is fine. The next day you and your family are facing mounting medical bills, uncertainty, and a great deal of fear.

There are about 97 million emergency room visits annually for unintentional injuries in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). There are roughly 24 million physician office visits each year for accidental injuries. This means a lot of people are getting hurt. It’s especially troubling if a person’s injury is due to someone else’s negligence or carelessness. If that is the case, you may be entitled to file a personal injury claim and receive financial compensation.

The legal system offers you recourse if you have suffered injuries caused by another person or business. Their recklessness and negligence should not mean you are burdened for the rest of your life. A skilled and experienced New Albany personal injury lawyer can explain your rights under the law and file a claim for damages on your behalf.

Choosing the Best Personal Injury Lawyers

Church Langdon Lopp Banet is home to outstanding personal injury lawyers in New Albany.

We all want and need people in our lives that we can trust and feel comfortable with. And when we have been hurt, or someone we love has been harmed, that need could expand to include competent legal advice. At Church Langdon Lopp Banet Law, we work hard to meet all of these needs for our clients. If a personal injury in Indiana or Kentucky has left you reeling, let us help by starting with a free consultation.

The attorneys at our law firm are some of the best and the brightest. Not only are they smart, but they also live in the New Albany community and care about residents here. They are deeply committed to the well-being of the clients they serve. To learn more about our legal team, you can read our attorney bios. You can also read client testimonials to see what our satisfied clients have to say about our services.

A Personal Injury Attorney Who Fights for Your Rights

Personal injury lawsuits can develop from just about any situation. Walking, driving, biking, working, shopping, going to the doctor – accidents arise out of everyday activities like these. A New Albany personal injury lawyer at our firm can counsel clients about a variety of personal injury claims including:

Bike Accidents
Car Accidents
Truck Accidents
Medical Malpractice
Motorcycle Accidents
Nursing Home Abuse
Pedestrian Injuries
Product Liability
Slip and Fall Accidents
Truck Accidents
Workplace Injuries
Wrongful Death.

Regardless of whether an accident injures one or 100, the best way to protect your rights is to enlist the help of skilled legal representation. Church, Langdon, Lopp, Banet Law understands the urgency of personal injury cases – plaintiffs may be experiencing extreme financial hardship because of medical costs. That’s why we usually aim to negotiate an expedient, fair settlement for our clients; but when a defendant is uncooperative, we are fully capable of taking your case to trial.

When an innocent person is harmed in an accident caused by someone else, he or she is entitled to seek financial compensation.

Determining Fault

Trusted Advisors. Proven Advocates.

An accident can occur for many reasons, but when the cause is another’s negligence or carelessness, anyone injured as a result may be able to pursue compensation. Negligence, in legal terms, means a person or entity has acted in a way that a reasonable person would believe has a probability of causing serious injury. For example, driving under the influence of alcohol presents a risk of serious injury to oneself and other drivers.

Fault is not an all-or-nothing concept in Indiana. Even if you are partly to blame for an accident, you are still eligible for compensation. Liability laws vary among the states, and Indiana follows a modified comparative negligence system with a “51% rule”. Under this system, victims can recover if it is determined that their fault is less than 51%. As long as the injured party was 50% or less at fault, he or she may still receive damages.

If multiple parties are found to be responsible for your accident, they will be held liable for damages proportionate to their fault. If the court finds that some of the fault was contributed by a nonparty to the lawsuit, it is possible that the allocation of fault will not add up to 100%.

What Damages Can I Collect in an Injury Claim?

A New Albany personal injury lawyer explains damages.

Damages awarded in a civil case are intended to restore the victim as much as possible physically, emotionally, mentally and financially to the state they were in prior to the accident. While financial compensation cannot bring back a livelihood or resurrect a lost loved one, it can assist with day-to-day living, re-establish some peace of mind and make defendants accountable for their actions. Damages may include:

Lost wages for income missed while out of work
Lost earning potential for decreased earning capacity in the future
Medical expenses for hospitalization, ongoing treatment, rehabilitation, and any expected future medical costs
Pain and suffering compensation for the physical and emotional pain caused by the accident
Destruction of property compensation for damage to the victim’s car, clothing, or other personal effects caused by the accident.

Damages are awarded based on the percentage of fault, so, for example, if it is determined that you are 30% at fault, your recovery will be reduced by 30 percent.

Common Injuries Due to Accidents

An experienced New Albany personal injury lawyer has seen many types of injuries.

Whether you are injured in a car crash, on-the-job accident, fall, or other serious incident, you may be experiencing large medical bills and time off work. Some of the most common injuries our attorneys see are:

Neck and back injuries
Concussions
TBI
Broken bones
Internal bleeding
Organ damage
Cuts and lacerations
Paralysis.

If you’ve been seriously injured, your life has been turned upside down. It is suddenly hard to earn wages, support your family, spend time caring for your children, and enjoy the pleasures of everyday life. You don’t have to face these things alone. If you were injured due to someone else’s negligence, there is a legal remedy.

How long after an accident can I claim injury?

Generally, the sooner you file an injury accident claim, the better. Whenever you are involved in a personal injury accident and are hurt, you should always seek medical attention right away. Whether this means riding in an ambulance to the hospital emergency room, driving yourself to an urgent care center, or talking to your family doctor in person, make sure you do this. Seeking medical attention promptly is important for two reasons:

It ensures that you get the medical treatment you need quickly, thereby preventing further injury or infection.
It establishes medical records – or a “paper trail” – that details your injuries, provides a treatment plan, and explains how the injury happened. These records will be important in proving your legal case later.

By seeking medical treatment promptly – within hours or days of the accident – you will be well positioned to file a personal injury claim before the deadline. If for some reason your symptoms do not show up for a few days or weeks, then you should seek medical attention as soon as you become aware of symptoms.

Proving Negligence in Court

There are 4 elements that must be proven to show negligence.

Laws are very specific about how to prove negligence in an injury case. To prove negligence, you must prove four elements:

Duty
Breach
Causation
Damages.

Duty

The defendant owes the plaintiff a legal “duty of care” in the circumstances unique to the case. For example, in a slip and fall case, a store owner owes a legal duty to wipe up spills promptly and not allow a dangerous situation to continue.

Breach

A plaintiff must show that the defendant breached this duty by doing, or failing to do, something that a reasonably prudent person would have done in a similar situation. The reasonable person standard is central to negligence cases.

Causation

In these cases, it’s not enough for a defendant to be acting negligently, but you must show that their negligence caused or contributed to the accident or mishap that resulted in your injury.

Damages

Damages are present if there’s a monetary way of compensating a plaintiff for their injuries. For example, damages can be awarded to cover the cost of medical bills, lost wages, property damage, pain and suffering, or burial costs in wrongful death claims.

Statute of Limitations in Indiana

In Indiana, the deadline for both personal injury and property damage claims is two years. However, you don’t want to wait that long. It’s best to sue as soon as possible after the accident so that evidence doesn’t get lost and the accident scene doesn’t change significantly. You also want to get witness statements while their memories are still fresh. Additionally, it helps your case if you can get photos of your injuries and the accident scene, and an attorney can help you do this.

Also, if you are suing the State of Indiana (for example, because of inadequate road maintenance), you must file this type of lawsuit within 270 days of the accident. And if you want to sue a county or city in Indiana, you have only 180 days to file a lawsuit at the appropriate courthouse.

How We Get Paid

We work on a contingency fee basis, which means that we get paid only if we collect money for you. Court costs and case expenses will be the responsibility of the client. We have seen all manner of personal injury cases, and we know the high price that victims and their families pay when a serious personal injury occurs. Learn more about your rights and options under the law by contacting us today.

Contact Kentuckiana Personal Injury Lawyers Today

Whether in pre-suit settlement negotiations, mediation, arbitration, or litigation, we are committed to fighting for you. The New Albany personal injury lawyers at Church Langdon Lopp Banet Law deeply care about our clients. Fill out our contact form, or call us today at 812-725-8224 to speak with a personal injury lawyer who is concerned about your problems and is willing to work with you, not just for you, in finding a solution.

Client Testimonial

”There are times in our lives where we are at the mercy of situations…. At best they can be annoyances, at the very worst they can be life threatening , and at the very best they can be life changing. Jason Lopp watched my situation evolve, one into another, and he adapted and advised with excellence. If you are looking for an attorney that will take the time to explain things to you, cover all options and treat you as if you were a family member that he is taking care of, this is your guy. While I choose to remain private in regard to detail, I can say with clarity that Jason met the challenge with competence and that is what life requires at times. Thank you so much for everything. Forever grateful.” – Tracy Miller (Google Review)

Attorney Steve Langdon

Licensed to practice in both Indiana and Kentucky, Steve Langdon is an experienced elder law and trial attorney. In addition to his litigation and trial work, Steve’s practice includes wills, trusts, probate, Medicaid planning, guardianship, powers of attorney, and advanced directive planning, including living wills and health care surrogate designations. [ Attorney Bio ]