Carmel Personal Injury Lawyer

No matter where or how you’re injured, you deserve compensation if it was someone else’s fault. A Carmel injury lawyer can help you get every cent you’re owed.

Whether you’re at your dentist’s office or a favorite restaurant, the potential for a serious injury is often lurking closer than you would like to imagine.

While there’s no way to go back in time and prevent your accident, you can still enhance your chances of making a full recovery by seeking compensation for your various injuries and losses, which can be achieved through a personal injury claim.

This legal option is intended to help lighten the burden on injury victims, letting the true culprits in your accident pay for the damage they have caused. For a more detailed explanation of how an injury claim works—and representation if you decide to move forward—contact a Carmel personal injury lawyer at Kooi Law today.

Personal Injury Cases in Indiana

Carmel personal injury cases can develop at any time and in virtually any setting. These claims commonly revolve around one of the following types of accidents:

• Motor Vehicle Accidents – Judging by the numbers, car crashes have not happened with less frequency in recent years, but more. If you’ve been injured in a motor vehicle accident, including truck and motorcycle crashes, due to another driver’s negligence, you may have a viable personal injury case. Telltale signs of negligence include driving under the influence, speeding, distracted driving, and not following posted signs.
• Product Liability – Our favorite purchases can sometimes be the cause of our injuries, which can be frightening to realize. Whether you’re injured by a prepared food item, an electronic with a corrosive battery, or anything in between, you can seek out compensation for the harm to which you’ve been subjected.
• Premises Liability – A premises liability case should center around a provable injury  that occurs on someone else’s property. Examples of injuries that could materialize as a result of a property owner’s negligence include back or spine injuries from slipping on a wet floor or open wounds from a dog bite injury.
• Construction and Work Accidents – We all know construction sites to be at least somewhat dangerous, but other workplaces can be the site of serious injury. Workers compensation may provide some relief, depending on the severity of your accident, but additional compensation through a suit or settlement may be necessary in many other situations.
• Medical Malpractice – Doctors may be highly trained and skilled, but they have been known to make mistakes. Although medical malpractice cases have begun to enter the public consciousness, they are often thought to only be associated with serious injury. Other justifications for a medical malpractice claim could include a physician’s failure to diagnose an illness and material misrepresentation (e.g., a doctor telling patients he or she has credentials he or she doesn’t have).

Watch Out for Dishonest Insurance Companies

While you will almost certainly have to deal with insurance companies in the process of filing a Carmel personal injury claim, an insurer rarely should be approached with haste. Whether it’s a major firm or a mom-and-pop establishment, insurers are meant to turn a profit, which, unfortunately, often takes precedence over any other “smaller” priorities—like your claim.

Keeping this in mind, don’t be surprised when an insurer asks you loaded questions, hoping to alleviate some of the financial impact of the settlement it ultimately expects to pay. To avoid feeling as if you’re being interrogated, consider hiring a qualified Carmel injury attorney who can handle the tough questioning and scrutiny.

Laws All Carmel Personal Injury Victims Should Know

If you intend to file a personal injury claim in the state of Indiana, you must be familiar with a handful of pertinent laws.

One legal matter to fully take into consideration is the standard of modified comparative negligence, which is primarily used to help apportion liability among multiple parties in a personal injury case.

Under this standard, injured Carmel residents should expect to see their awarded damages decrease to the degree they’re found to be personally liable, but there’s a catch: If an injured party is found primarily responsible (51 percent or more) for his or her accident, he or she will lose all potential compensation.

A completely different legal matter to be aware of is your case’s statute of limitations, which is another way of indicating how long from the date of your accident you will be given to seek personal injury compensation.

The statute of limitations for personal injury cases in Indiana is two years, barring extraordinary circumstances.

Injuries That Warrant a Carmel Personal Injury Claim

Every Carmel personal injury claimant should clearly document the injuries and losses to which he or she has been subjected. Examples of injuries you might have suffered include the following:

• Traumatic brain injuries
• Spine injuries
• Broken bones
• Eye damage and other facial injuries
• Burns
• Open wounds
• Amputations
• Nerve damage
• Organ damage or failure
• Internal bleeding
• Death

Defining Your Damages

Losses are also a big part of the picture in a Carmel personal injury case. These losses, or damages, should be documented to the best of your ability.

Common losses include medical bills, missed wages or reduced earning potential, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, loss of personal property, and reduced quality of life.

You are allowed to request compensation for not only injuries and losses that have already affected your life, but those that you expect to affect your life in the future.

Contact a Carmel Personal Injury Attorney

The journey back to full health is hard enough. Why add needless complexity to your life when it’s already filled with great uncertainty?

If you’re looking for qualified and experienced legal counsel, get in touch with a lawyer at Kooi Law who can win your case, giving you the time, energy, and compensation you need to focus on your health. Call us at (317) 569-1335 or fill out the form below to schedule a free, no-obligation case consultation with a Carmel personal injury lawyer.