Q. How long do I have to make a claim?
A. Under Ohio law, you have two years from the date of your injury to bring a claim against the persons or companies who are responsible for your injury. Waiting that length of time, however, is a big mistake. You need to obtain counsel immediately to assist you in preparing your case for trial. It takes a long time in some cases to determine who all the correct and proper parties are. If you wait until the two years, you wasted a lot of time in getting your claim resolved. Persons who caused your injury may be gone or missing if you wait that period of time.
Contact us immediately to evaluate your claim as soon as it occurs if it is not timely to file suit immediately, we will explain to you how we are going to proceed.
Q. What are the elements of damage in a personal injury claim?
A. Ohio law has recently changed as it relates to your recovery of medical bills. Previously, only the billed amount of the medical bills would go to the jury. A Supreme Court case changed that. Now in the State of Ohio the jury hears two numbers. The first number they hear is the total amounts of the actual bills and the second number they hear is the amount of the bills minus the amount that was forgiven by the medical providers as a result of the fact that health insurance paid. This is a significant change and significantly affects the value of your case or claim now and in the future. The other elements of damage are your pain and suffering, past and future, your wage loss, past and future, your costs out of pocket, past and future and the value of any permanent injury that you have such as injury that is either disfiguring or limits your ability to go about your normal activities free from pain or discomfort or limits your ability to do daily activities that you have done in the past or in the future.
Q. What are the fees and expenses charged?
A. Fees and expenses charged by lawyers who represent people who get hurt are uniform. They are contingency. As a result, you can pick a lawyer who is qualified and has spent years doing this and understands the medicine and the law and only does this kind of work, has tried a lot of cases, is successful and has the respect of the insurance companies and/or the defense attorneys that defends these claims. You can also pick somebody who does not do it very often, or is not successful. That is why you need to investigate the lawyer you pick.
Our firm has a listing as preeminent attorneys in this area of practice. We also are members of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocacy Group that have represented clients who have recovered multiple million dollar verdicts and settlements. All of our partners are listed as Best Lawyers in America. Two of us, Scott Stewart and Sam Butcher, are Ohio Super Lawyers. Both of those groups are the top 5% as voted by their peers. This firm was found in 1950 to represent people who get hurt and we have done only that representing only plaintiffs for the past now sixty (60) years. We work on a contingency basis. We are not paid unless you have a recovery for our time and efforts. The costs of pursuing the claim which includes obtaining doctors' reports, court costs, and depositions when the case goes in suit are reimbursed to the lawyer at the conclusion of the case except under very special circumstances.
