Do You Need A Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer?

What Does a Personal Injury Attorney Do?

When they suffer serious injuries because of another person or organization, some people attempt to recover compensation. In virtually every case, an injured person will work with a personal injury lawyer during this process.

Personal injury attorneys represent injured people and help them recover financial compensation. Their duties usually include the following:

• Investigating incidents that led to injuries
• Determining the approximate value of a case
• Collecting evidence against the at-fault party
• Attempting to negotiate a settlement with the opposing insurance company
• Taking legal action against the defendant
• Representing the plaintiff in court if necessary

Because most work on a contingency basis, they have a financial incentive to win a client’s case. Lawyers who work on contingency receive a percentage of the total compensation recovered for a client. If they don’t recover any compensation, they receive nothing.

Because of this fee structure, most Kentucky personal injury lawyers won’t automatically take your case. Instead, they’ll discuss your circumstances first and determine whether you have a good chance of winning a settlement. If they think they can win your case, an attorney is likely to represent you.

What to Look for When Choosing Kentucky Personal Injury Attorneys

If you’re looking for a Kentucky personal injury lawyer, you don’t have to agree to work with the first lawyer who takes your case. The process of filing a personal injury lawsuit is a long one, and it becomes much easier if you have a capable attorney you feel comfortable communicating with.

To increase your chances of finding the right lawyer for you, look for the following when selecting an attorney:

• Experience in personal injury law in general
• Experience with cases similar to yours
• Historical and recent case results
• Prompt, clear communication
• A fee structure that works for you
• Positive, detailed reviews from clients

Most personal injury lawyers offer free consultations, so you shouldn’t have to worry about the cost of consulting multiple law offices. It’s best to talk to at least a few before you make a decision.

Common Types of Personal Injury Claims Filed in Kentucky

You might wonder what types of injury cases personal injury attorneys take on. Different firms may choose to focus on a specific subset of cases (like car accidents or medical malpractice), but as a whole, personal injury lawyers represent victims of just about any type of injury. These are some of the most common types of injury claims:

Car Accidents

Many people looking for legal representation after an injury are looking for car accident lawyers. This type of accident is fairly commonplace and often results in severe injuries, so most personal injury firms represent a large number of car accident victims.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents

Car accidents can cause life-altering injuries, but those injuries are often even worse if a car hits a bicycle or a pedestrian. Injuries from bicycle and pedestrian accidents aren’t just painful — they often result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs, lost income and other damages.

Truck Accidents

Accidents involving commercial trucks can be extremely dangerous for drivers of passenger cars. It might seem like a truck accident lawsuit is a fairly straightforward way to secure compensation, but these lawsuits take a skilled lawyer to navigate.

There are many potentially liable parties (including the trucking company, truck driver, loading company and truck manufacturer), and large trucking companies typically have extremely skilled lawyers.

Motorcycle Accidents

Riding a motorcycle leaves you exposed to countless road hazards. With all other things being equal, motorcycle accident injuries are often more serious than car accident injuries.

Unfortunately, some insurance companies (and even some courts) believe that by choosing to ride a motorcycle, you’re being reckless. If this happens to you, a skilled Kentucky personal injury lawyer may be able to successfully argue for you to get the compensation you deserve.

Slip and Fall Accidents

When they hear about a slip and fall lawsuit, many people assume that the plaintiff is exploiting an unfortunate situation and just trying to recover as much money as they can.

What these people don’t understand is that people with mild injuries don’t pursue slip and fall lawsuits. Personal injury lawyers usually only represent people who have suffered serious injuries and have significant damages to recover.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice and dental malpractice cases are a subset of personal injury cases, but they are considerably different from most negligence-based injury cases. To win a lawsuit, your lawyer must demonstrate that a medical provider failed to deliver the appropriate standard of care — and that you suffered harm as a result.

Many lawyers who handle malpractice cases also take on those involving patient abandonment. This is when a medical provider unexpectedly ends a professional relationship with a patient and does not try to ensure the patient is set up for continuing care.

Dog Bites

Some dog bites are severe enough to cause lasting damage. Fortunately for dog attack victims, Kentucky is not a “one-bite rule” state. Instead, it uses a strict liability standard when it comes to dog bites.

This means that dog owners are civilly liable for dog bites even if they had no prior reason to believe the dog could be dangerous.

Workplace Accidents

For the average person, work injury cases can be difficult to figure out. Will your situation be resolved by a workers comp settlement? Or will you need to file a lawsuit against your employer? An attorney experienced with work injury cases will be able to offer valuable advice.

Do I Have a Personal Injury Case?

Personal injury cases are more nuanced than most people realize. The only truly reliable way to know if you have a case is to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer.

Sometimes, a case that seems like an easy win to a layperson will be next to impossible to win in court. Likewise, some clients who think they probably don’t have a case end up recovering sizable settlements.

When Should I Hire a Personal Injury Law Firm?

When should you contact a Kentucky personal injury lawyer? If you aren’t sure if you have a case, it doesn’t hurt to get in touch with an attorney. However, in general, personal injury lawyers are more likely to take on cases where you have significant damages to recover.

How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Kentucky?

A statute of limitations is essentially a time limit you have to file a lawsuit. Each state is free to set its own statute of limitations for personal injury cases. In most states, you have two or three years to file a lawsuit, but in Kentucky, you only have one year.

Building a case can be complicated, and Kentucky personal injury lawyers are often on tight timelines. To boost your likelihood of recovering a fair settlement, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible after your injury.

Common Damages in Personal Injury Cases

When you work with a Kentucky personal injury lawyer, your attorney’s goal is to recover all of the compensation you deserve.

To determine the value of your case, your lawyer will calculate your damages, or what you’re owed for losses you’ve suffered. These are some of the most common damages.

Medical Bills

Some of the worst car crash injuries don’t only cause lasting pain and a disruption of your life — they also leave you with a lifetime of medical debt. You shouldn’t be stuck paying for medical care after someone else caused your injuries.

Property Damage

Depending on the incident that caused your injury, you might be owed money for property damage. For example, if you were injured in a car accident, the other party’s insurance company might be obligated to pay for car repairs or even for a replacement vehicle.

Lost Income

Most of the time, an injury severe enough to lead to a personal injury lawsuit will also result in lost income. Depending on how long you’re unable to work, compensation for lost wages can make up a significant portion of your compensation.

Lost Earning Capacity

Some injured people are eventually able to return to work and continue earning money as they were before. However, some types of injuries leave victims with permanent impairments that limit their earning capacity.

In some cases, you could receive compensation for your loss of earning capacity. For example, imagine you were making $70,000 per year before your injury. Your injury led to an amputation, and because of that amputation, you now make only $50,000 per year. In this instance, your settlement may include $20,000 for each remaining year you’re likely to work.

Pain and Suffering

Most personal injury lawsuits don’t only compensate plaintiffs for monetary losses — they also include compensation for pain and suffering. “Pain and suffering” is often used as an all-encompassing term for non-economic losses like emotional distress, physical pain and psychological pain caused by disfigurement.

Loss of Consortium

If you are married and your injuries are serious enough to impact your relationship with your spouse, your spouse can file a loss of consortium claim.

Technically speaking, loss of consortium is a separate claim from your personal injury lawsuit. However, because it’s based on your personal injury claim, it’s usually filed alongside it.

Serving Personal Injury Clients Across Kentucky

If you need a Kentucky personal injury lawyer, ConsumerShield can match you with one just about anywhere in the state. These are some of the cities we serve:

• Bowling Green
• Covington
• Elizabethtown
• Florence
• Frankfort
• Georgetown
• Henderson
• Hopkinsville
• Independence
• Jeffersontown
• Lexington
• Louisville
• Nicholasville
• Owensboro
• Richmond

You don’t have to live in a major metropolis to be matched with an attorney. We do as much as we can to match every consumer with a capable attorney.

Connect With Experienced Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyers

If you want to try to recover compensation for your injury, the first step is to choose the right Kentucky personal injury lawyer. However, given the sheer number of options you have, it can be challenging to make a decision.

That’s where we come in. At ConsumerShield, we match consumers like you with nearby attorneys who meet their needs. If you’re ready to get started, fill out our contact form below for a free case review!