St. Joseph Personal Injury Lawyer

A serious injury is always painful and traumatic, but when it is a preventable injury caused by someone else’s careless, reckless, or wrongful actions, it adds additional frustration and distress. While no legal process erases an injury, a successful personal injury claim against the responsible party relieves the financial consequences of the injury and brings a sense of justice and closure to the injury victim. Call or contact the St. Joseph personal injury lawyers at Miller & Hine Attorneys at Law today to learn about your legal options for financial recovery.

Why Choose Miller & Hine Attorneys at Law for Your Personal Injury Lawyers in St. Joseph?

Miller & Hine is a law firm with over five decades of combined legal advocacy for injury victims, backed by a record of success that puts a strong voice behind your personal injury claim. We offer significant advantages, such as:

• A personalized strategy with your best interests as our primary purpose
• Access to key resources to provide supporting evidence, including renowned medical experts
• Assertive, evidence-backed negotiations with the goal of maximizing your settlement
• Trial-readiness should your case become one of the roughly 4% of personal injury claims that require court

We offer a free evaluation of your case and contingency-based payment, so you only pay fees for our tireless legal representation after we’ve recovered compensation for you through a settlement or jury award for your damages.

Why Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Insurance companies are not on the injury victim’s side, despite their compassionate ad campaigns aimed at attracting new policyholders. Instead, the insurance company’s goal is to protect its profits at your expense whenever possible. Taking on a personal injury claim without an attorney makes it easier for them to accomplish their objective. When you hire a St. Joseph car accident lawyer from Miller & Hine, your attorney does the following:

• Handles all communication with the insurance company
• Independently investigates the accident or injury to document compelling evidence of the at-fault party’s liability
• Examines your medical expenses and consults with medical experts and other specialists to calculate the total past, present, and future economic impacts of your injury
• Sends a demand package with their findings to the insurance company
• Assertively negotiates to achieve the highest possible settlement offer for your claim, or
• Files a lawsuit petition within the statute of limitations to take your case to court if the insurance company fails to offer an ample settlement

Instead of dealing with the investigative actions and meticulous details required for a successful claim, you can focus on your physical recovery while we focus on maximizing your financial one.

How Long Do I Have to File a St. Joseph, Missouri Personal Injury Claim?

Missouri has a generous time limit for filing personal injury claims. While most states allow only 2 years from the date of injury, the statute of limitations for personal injury claims in Missouri is 5 years from the date of the accident or injury. This deadline prevents a court from hearing a case beyond the statute of limitations. Insurance companies also follow this rule, since you cannot take the insurer or defendant to court beyond that date except under limited circumstances, such as the exception for child victims and the delayed discovery of an injury. Claims against government entities, such as city road maintenance agencies or city park maintenance agencies, have additional timelines to consider.

What Can I Get From a Personal Injury Claim In St. Joseph?

The financial impacts of a serious injury can quickly snowball. It’s for this reason that insurance companies sometimes reach out quickly after an accident with a low settlement offer before the injury victim knows the full scope of the damages they are facing. A well-executed personal injury claim strategy recovers compensation such as:

• Reimbursement for your portion of all medical expenses
• Anticipated future medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Future income loss or diminished future earning ability
• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Additional compensation if you’ve suffered catastrophic permanent injury, such as loss of limb, disability, disfigurement, loss of an organ, vision loss, hearing loss, loss of enjoyment of life, or diminished quality of life

If a loved one suffered a fatal injury caused by someone else’s negligence, a St. Joseph wrongful death lawyer from Miller & Hine can help a close family member, such as a spouse, parent, child, or sibling, recover compensation under Missouri 537.080. Action for wrongful death.

What Types of Accidents and Injuries Qualify as Personal Injury Claims In St. Joseph, Missouri?

When you suffer an injury caused by another party’s failure to take reasonable actions, their negligence leaves them liable for your damages, like medical expenses, lost wages, pain, and suffering. Common accidents, incidents, and injuries in personal injury claims include the following:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Premises liability cases, such as slip-and-fall claims
• Workplace injuries and workers’ compensation claims
• Catastrophic injury claims
• Elder abuse
• Medical malpractice
• Defective products
• Wrongful death

Injuries are costly on all fronts, taking a toll on your physical health, emotional well-being, and finances. If the injury caused disability or chronic pain, you could be facing an uncertain earning future. These are the “damages” in a St. Joseph personal injury case. Compensation for these damages typically comes through the defendant’s appropriate insurance, such as commercial liability insurance after a slip-and-fall in a store or auto insurance after a car accident. Missouri 537.765 allows an injury victim to recover compensation from any and all parties that contributed to their injury and damages.

Common Injuries In St. Joseph Personal Injury Cases

A minor scrape or bruise doesn’t typically upend your life, but when a significant injury requires medical treatment, interrupts your ability to work temporarily or permanently, or leaves you facing an uncertain future, you don’t have to absorb the financial aspects of the injury as well as the physical ones if the injury occurred because of someone else’s actions or negligence. Common injuries in Missouri personal injury cases include the following:

• Soft-tissue injuries like sprains, torn ligaments, and tendon injuries to knees, shoulders, ankles, or wrists
• Neck injuries
• Back injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries, ranging from mild concussions to severe injuries with permanent impairment
• Bone fractures
• Spinal cord injuries
• Internal injuries
• Burns
• Traumatic amputations

Once the initial trauma of a serious injury subsides, you could be facing the additional distress of financial losses.

Contact Miller & Hine About Your Personal Injury Claim In St. Joseph, Missouri

A favorable result in a personal injury claim requires skillful handling. Call or contact Miller & Hine online to let an experienced personal injury lawyer dedicate themselves to your case, with an entire legal team and staff on your side throughout the process.