Ohio Personal Injury FAQs

If you have been injured by someone else’s neglect or wrongful actions, an experienced personal injury lawyer from Joseph Law Group can investigate and represent your claim. Though the law allows for you to pursue compensation on your own, having an experienced professional helps to ensure the success of your claim and a fair settlement or court award. A knowledgeable personal injury attorney from our firm can guide you through the complicated legal process and serve as your voice, leaving you free to concentrate on recovering from your injury or loss.

Before hiring a lawyer, the client should learn about the law firm’s reputation and credentials. Ask questions about the lawyer’s education, training, and legal experience. Find out if the lawyer has handled cases similar to yours. Make sure you understand how you will be expected to pay the law firm’s fees and costs. What would happen if your case is not won? Who will do the work on your case and what will be expected from you? Certainly, you should feel comfortable with your attorney and his or her staff. The attorney-client relationship you are about to embark upon should involve mutual respect, trust, and confidence.

At Joseph Law Group, we are well-versed in all personal injury and wrongful death claims and have an advanced track record to back us up. We have founded our organization on compassion for our clients and remain current in a dynamic legal climate. By design, our offices have chosen attorneys and staff that have a passion for justice and meeting all clients’ legal needs. Our attorneys have decades of combined experience and training in negotiating settlements of these types of claims. We also know how to deal with the insurance companies (both your own and the at-fault party’s health insurance company and auto insurance company), and we know how gather evidence to present your claim in order to obtain maximum value. Even more importantly, our attorneys are trained trial lawyers and have built a reputation of trying cases before a jury in the event that your claim does not settle. Often, the real threat of putting your case before a jury of peers by experienced trial lawyers is enough to make the difference of your case settling or not.

First, you must have suffered damages or an injury to your person. Second, you should consider whether your injury was someone else’s fault. It is not always necessary to have a physical injury to bring a personal injury claim. Some personal injury claims could be based on a variety of nonphysical losses or harms. In the case of an assault, for example, you do not need to show that a person’s action caused you actual, physical harm, but only that you expected some harm to come to you. You also may have a case if someone attacked your reputation, invaded your privacy, or inflicted emotional distress upon you. The attorneys at our firm are expertly trained and, after consultation, can assess if you have a personal injury case.

Every state has certain time limits called “statutes of limitations” which govern the amount of time you have to file a personal injury lawsuit. In some states, you may have as little as one year to file a lawsuit arising out of an automobile accident. If you miss the deadline for filing your case, you may lose your legal right to recover damages for your injury. Consequently, it is important to talk with a lawyer as soon as possible after you suffer or discover an injury, death, or loss.

The statute of limitations in Ohio depends on the type of case you are dealing with. Under Ohio law, most personal injury cases have a two-year statute of limitations. However, medical malpractice claims are handled differently, and thus, have a one-year statute. If you have any questions about the timeframe of your particular situation, please contact one of the personal injury attorneys with the Joseph Law Group today.

As a citizen of the state of Ohio, you have the right to have a personal injury attorney represent you in a court of law. You also have the right to be appropriately compensated for injuries sustained as a result of the negligence of another. This includes the right to seek compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future pain and suffering, emotional distress, past and future loss of enjoyment of life due to the inability to perform daily activities as well as past and future loss of income. Joseph Law Group is here to thoroughly explain all of your legal rights as a victim.

If you are injured in an accident, the most important thing you can do is collect and keep any available evidence that might show what happened. Obtain the names, addresses, and phone numbers of both the at-fault party as well as any witnesses, take photographs, and make a journal of exactly what happened. This evidence can be crucial to presenting your case. Police reports, medical records, business records, or other information can also be useful. If you need medical attention, make arrangements to get treatment as soon as possible. Make sure to tell your health care provider how you were injured. You should also consider consulting with an attorney as soon as possible to help preserve any evidence and present your case.

Believe it or not, there is not an exact formula for determining what your personal injury settlement is worth. Every accident and injury is different. Case value can depend on the manner in which you were injured or the extent of your injuries or impairment, degree of pain and suffering, amount of past and future lost wages, and medical expenses. Only after a complete investigation can we assess the compensation that you may be due and assign a monetary value to your case. The team at our law firm reviews each unique case to determine its reasonable value. If the defendant’s insurance company is not willing to pay that reasonable amount, we will confidently take your case to trial and expertly present it to a jury of your peers. You should be skeptical of anyone who gives you a value of your case before all information is considered and especially before you are completely healed or have finished medical treatment.

Depending on the extent of their injury, accident victims are entitled to certain damages following an accident caused by someone else’s negligence. The other person’s insurance coverage may be required to pay for any of the following:

• Medical bills
• Physical therapy
• Property damage
• Lost income
• Lost earning capacity
• Permanent disfigurement or disability
• Pain and suffering
• Mental distress
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of guardianship
• Loss of companionship
• And more

A contingency fee is essentially an attorney fee. When a law firm works on a contingency basis, this means they only receive compensation if they are able to receive a fair settlement on behalf of an injured person. Typically, this is a percentage of the settlement or court award won. The contingency fee basis can be further explained during your free consultation with an attorney at Joseph Law Group.