Lexington Personal Injury Lawyers

Top Personal Injury Lawyers in Lexington, Kentucky

Nationwide, ERs see about 130 million visitors annually, with 35 million of those visits attributed to personal injuries. Kentucky ERs take in more than 2 million each year. Many of those also are a result of personal injuries, and, of course, a large number of those come from Lexington and nearby counties. If you suffer a personal injury in any type of accident, you should call our Lexington personal injury lawyers for a free consultation at Maze Law Offices as soon as possible in order to receive the best care for your personal injury in Lexington KY.

Determining the Value of a Personal Injury Claim

One of the first and most commonly asked questions that personal injury lawyers receive is about how much a claim is worth. Every personal injury claim is unique, so it is impossible to make an exact determination regarding the compensation you may receive. When you work with the experienced Lexington personal injury lawyers at Maze Law Offices, you can rest assured that your attorney will know how to accurately evaluate your claim and assess a fair value to it. In doing so, your attorney will scrutinize several factors of your accident to identify compensable damages.

While every personal injury case is different, there are certain losses (also called damages) that are often awarded to victims of negligence. Damages that may be used in the valuation of a personal injury claim can include, but are not limited to:

Medical expenses
Pain and suffering
Lost wages and loss of future wages
Property damages
Loss of consortium
Loss of mentorship
Final burial expenses
Punitive damages (in rare situations)

Our experienced Lexington personal injury lawyers can provide you with free consultation for the following common situations:

Truck Accidents Are More Common Than You Think

Federal statistics make it pretty clear that the losers in virtually all truck-car collisions are the occupants of the cars involved. There were 531,000 large commercial trucks involved in traffic accidents in the U.S. in 2018. Nearly 5,000 people died and another 151,000 people were injured in those accidents, making it a very common form of personal injury cases in Lexington KY. Out of those who were killed in tractor-trailer crashes in 2018, drivers or passengers in other vehicles accounted for more than 70% of the fatalities. The percentage of those who got a personal injury cases in crashes between tractor-trailers and passenger vehicles is quite similar, with 72% of those injured in truck-car crashes being occupants of the passenger vehicles. The overwhelming majority of people killed or injured in car-truck collisions obviously are not the people in the trucks.

Federal statistics indicate that in 2017 there were 107 traffic fatalities involving garbage and recycling trucks, in addition to more than 1,400 injuries. The majority of those deaths and injuries by far involved occupants of the passenger vehicles involved in the accidents. Federal statistics for 2017 paint a similar picture of collisions between passenger vehicles and delivery vehicles. Delivery vans and trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds played a part in 1,885 fatal accidents and another 22,000 crashes involving injuries. Once again, most of the injuries and deaths occurred in the passenger vehicles.

On local roads and streets, delivery trucks and refuse trucks are dangerous, as well. Delivery vehicles, whether vans or box trucks are quite a bit larger than the average passenger vehicle, while the trucks that collect residential garbage and recycling are considerably larger. Refuse-collection vehicles and delivery vehicles both operate primarily on neighborhood roads and streets. Even in the relatively low-speed environment of neighborhood streets, garbage and recycling trucks, as well as delivery vehicles alike, are involved in a consequential number of accidents.

For the same reason, delivery vans (and who hasn’t seen hundreds of those in their neighborhood during recent months?) pose a danger to passenger vehicles, too. While they are smaller than refuse trucks and tractor-trailers, delivery vans are not small. Among the most popular delivery vehicles is the 11,000-pound Mercedes Sprinter. The van, which you can see on the road with the logos of Amazon, FedEx, UPS, Purolator, and other services, weighs in at nearly triple the weight of the average passenger vehicle. Read on to learn about Kentucky personal injury law about dog bites.

Dog Bite Injury Law in Lexington, KY

America has long had a love affair with pets, especially dogs. American households are home to more 78 million dogs living as pets. While most of those dogs live their lives in peace without biting anyone, statistics show that a pretty good number of them do.

There are about 4.7 million cases of dogs biting people annually, with about 800,000 of those dog-bite injury victims requiring at least some professional medical treatment. The number of deaths is not large, but 59 people died from dog bites across the country in 2019. Two of those fatalities from dog bites happened in Kentucky. Lexington, KY personal injury from dog bites can be extremely serious and costly. Nationally, dog-bite-related insurance claims amounted to $797 million in 2019. Costs per claim averaged $44,760. The Lexington personal injury lawyers can help you claim your costs if you are ever face dog personal injury cases. The best part is that finding an experienced personal injury attorney for personal injury cases, which is also known as personal injury lawyers, near you isn’t as hard as you might think.

Lexington Car Accidents

Traffic accidents are a daily occurrence no matter where you live, and Lexington is no exception. Those accidents frequently are minor, but they often result in serious injuries or deaths. The federal government pins the blame on human error for most accidents, with most resulting from driver inattention, distracted driving, or insufficient attention to traffic and conditions. While those causes sound like variations on a theme, other sources identify different leading car accident causes.

The Real Causes of Car Wrecks in Lexington

Sure, human error plays a part, but there are more specific errors to note for car accident, including:

Speeding
Drunk under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Distracted driving, including using cell phones behind the wheel
Running red lights, which resulted in nearly 900 deaths and caused upwards of 139,000 injuries in 2018
Driver while fatigued also is the main cause of car accident

Cell Phones Aren’t The Only Thing Distracting Drivers

Personal injury Law makers and the media like to focus on cell phone use, particularly texting while driving, as the primary cause of distracted driving. Kentucky law prohibits texting while driving for all drivers, in addition to any cell phone use behind the wheel for drivers younger than 18. That does not mean using a cell phone while driving is the only culprit in distracted driving, however. Eating, drinking, messing with sound system controls, switching radio stations, changing CDs or playlists on your phone, adjusting the vehicle’s climate controls, and any other activity that takes your attention away from the road, leading to an accident, counts as distracted driving.

Motorcycle Accidents in Lexington KY

Motorcycle accidents almost invariably turn out to be worse for people on the motorcycle than for the occupants of other vehicles involved in an accident between a motorcycle and any other vehicle. In more than 80% of motorcycle accidents, the motorcycle rider is either injured or killed. In general, the rider faces the brunt of the pain and suffering, not the other driver.

Kentucky Personal injury and Fatalities from motorcycle accidents have declined in recent years but still caused nearly 5,000 deaths in 2018, as well as 89,000 injuries among motorcycle riders. Even with the declining fatality numbers, motorcycle riders still make up a disproportionate percentage of traffic deaths per miles driven. This is a big talking point when it comes to personal injury Lexington KY 40508. Each year, motorcyclist riders are roughly 28 times more likely to be killed in a traffic accident than the occupants of passenger vehicles. In summary, in Lexington Kentucky, riding a bike carries 28 times more risk of personal injury or death than the occupants of passenger vehicles.

Federal statistics indicate that the top cause of fatal two-vehicle motorcycle crashes has been the same for decades: collisions at intersections involving a passenger vehicle turned left in front of a motorcycle that was going straight.

An industry site that put out a list of the top 10 causes of motorcycle accident causes largely agreed with federal statistics and included:

Cars or other vehicles turning left in from of motorcyclists
Cars changing lanes into the motorcyclist, with inattention or failure to check the blind spot by the car’s driver as a top reason
A car striking the motorcyclist from behind
Running into an opening car door

Other Personal Injury Causes in Lexington KY

No matter the cause of personal injury, if the negligence of another person resulted in your injury, you could be able to recover compensation for your damages with the help of our law firm. Among the many other leading causes of a personal injury are:

Swimming Pool Injuries

Nationwide, about 350 children under the age 15 drown every year in a swimming pool or spa. In addition, more than 5,900 children are treated each year in hospital emergency rooms for non-fatal drowning injuries. Worst of all, roughly 75% of all child drowning fatalities are children who are under 5 years old. From 2014 through 2016, each year an average of 363 drownings of children younger than 15 happened in pools or spas across the nation. In just the summer of 2019, at least 150 children younger than 15 died from drowning in pools and spas. It is not just children, either. Federal statistics show that drowning is the fifth leading cause of personal injury and unintentional deaths in the U.S.

Fatal drownings are bad enough, but thousands more suffer injuries every year in accidents in or around pools or spas, including nonfatal near-drownings. An estimated 6,600 injuries are treated in emergency rooms every year, and that is just among children younger than 15. This number includes non-fatal near drownings, slip and fall, and diving accidents.

Many of these injuries suffered in and around pools and spas lead to life-changing injuries. It’s not something a lot of people are talking about when it comes to personal injury Lexington KY 40507 , but it’s an important issue. In particular, non-fatal drownings often result in brain damage that causes serious health issues that can last a lifetime. Anoxic brain injuries, which are caused when the brain is deprived of oxygen for too long, such as in near-drowning events, result in brain damage. That damage often is both severe and permanent, with symptoms that can include cognitive issues, memory loss, full or partial blindness, paralysis or other loss of movement, or even a persistent coma. Get in touch and call us or visit today at our Lexington office since we provide our services throughout Kentucky.

Other injuries around pools and spas are no less serious, including poolside slips or falls that result in head injuries and diving into shallow water and striking your head on the bottom of the pool – diving is the fifth leading cause of spinal cord injuries.

ATV Accidents

Accidents involving ATVs, or all-terrain vehicles, are common and result in hundreds of deaths and thousands of accidents every year, which is why our ATV accident attorneys are here to help. From 1982 through 2018, ATV accidents led to nearly 16,000 deaths, with 264 deaths in 2018 and 463 in 2017 – and counts for both of those years still are based on incomplete tallies. Thousands of those deaths – more than 3,350 – were children younger than 16, accounting for more than 20% of all ATV deaths. In addition to fatalities, there were nearly 82,000 ATV-related injuries in 2018, with 17% resulting in hospitalizations.

Kentucky defines an ATV as including any motor-powered vehicle intended or used primarily for “recreational off-road use.” Such vehicles need to be titled, but do not need to be registered. Anytime you use an ATV or a UTV – a Utility Task Vehicle or Utility Terrain Vehicle, a similar vehicle to an ATV that has two side-by-side seats, often used for hunting, farming tasks, or the same kind of off-road recreational riding for which people also use ATVs – on public land, you must wear an approved helmet. The helmet is not mandatory for commercial operations or for recreational use on private land.

Slip and Fall

All property owners — residential, business, or government – have an obligation to keep their property in a safe condition. That can involve keeping sidewalks and other areas open to the public safe, including cleaning spills, promptly, fixing cracked or broken pavement, paving tiles, or other walking surfaces, keeping walkways clear of ice and snow during winter weather, or just generally keeping the property free of hazards that could harm visitors to the property.

Failing to meet that obligation – known as a duty of care – could leave the property owner liable for injuries caused by such hazards. You owe that duty of care to your neighbor every bit as much as any business owner owes that duty of care to the public who patronize their business. Falls, often a subset of premises liability, are both common and dangerous.

Statistics indicate that:

About one in five falls leads to a serious injury. This can include broken bones, spinal injuries, head injuries, and brain and other neurological injuries. In fact, falls are the top cause of traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, including concussions
Each year, injuries suffered in falls account for the hospitalization of more than 800,000 people, most often because of head injuries or broken bones.
About 95% of all broken hips are incurred during falls

Workers’ Compensation

Workplace injuries happen every day throughout the country. When a worker suffers an injury or illness in the course of executing the duties of their job, they may be able to obtain compensation for medical expenses and even a portion of their missed wages. They can file a claim with their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance provider.

Speak to Our Lexington Personal Injury Lawyers Today

Victims of personal injury accidents can suffer considerable physical injuries, mental trauma, pain and suffering, loss of wages, and property damages. The experienced and compassionate Lexington personal injury lawyers at Maze Law Offices are dedicated to offering clear, transparent communications with victims after a personal injury event. When you consider pursuing compensation for the harm you endured, please reach out to our legal team to ensure you understand all of your legal options. Consultations are always free and same-day appointments are offered.