We work exclusively with injured people in Kentucky and Indiana. It’s the hard working people in our communities that make it a special place to live. These are the people we are proud to help. When a person in your family sustains an injury, they become a number to an insurance company.
The insurance company’s objective is to pay you as little as possible for your claim.
We know the laws these companies have to follow, and we know how to navigate the ever changing insurance claim process. Your settlement amount can decrease if you wait to contact an experienced attorney. Evidence can be lost, witnesses may disappear, so don’t delay.
When you become a client of Kaufman & Stigger, the fight becomes personal to us. We fight exclusively for injured people.
You never pay a fee unless we win or settle your case. Injured? Speak to one of our lawyers today! Call or Live Chat 24/7.
Kentucky’s Duty of Care
Kentucky residents are owed a “duty of care” from just about anyone they encounter over the course of a day. For instance, the other drivers on a Kentucky state highway owe that duty. The grocery store where they are shopping owes that duty. An employer must take this extra care to ensure the safety of all employees.
When individuals, businesses, and property owners neglect this duty of care, they can be held liable for every cost and pain victims endure in recovery.
You or a family member might fall and break a hip on a wet floor at a department store. Or, you might be struck by a careless driver and suffer a brain injury. You could also grab a loose handrail and fall down a crumbling set of stairs at an apartment complex to hurt your knee.
These are all unfortunate examples of cases where filing a personal injury claim would help ensure you receive the support you need. You’ll also find that a skilled personal injury lawyer is a big help when you must ask unhelpful insurance companies for support.
Contact a Highly-Regarded Kentucky Law Firm for a Free Case Consultation
Without any background in personal injury law, you likely won’t know what your injury is worth or what you can even include in an insurance claim. This leaves you vulnerable when dealing with insurance carriers. There are benefits available to you that an insurance company is happy to leave you in the dark about. It saves them money.
To find out just what you should be demanding after an accident and injury, schedule a free case evaluation with Kentucky’s Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC. Our law firm has over 100 years of combined experience helping local victims and their families secure the money they need to rebuild their lives.
If you end up not needing our services, it’s still a great way to learn about the pitfalls to avoid when negotiating a settlement with an insurance company.
Common Personal Injury Cases For Kentucky Residents
We live busy and sometimes hectic lives. Kentucky families may spend their mornings fighting traffic on the way to work or school. They may end the day with a shopping trip, or a refreshing run or bike ride.
A road trip on Interstate 64 or I-65, or I-75 could take you across the state. No matter where you go, hazards arise where ever you find yourself. An injury due to the carelessness or recklessness of someone else could affect your life and the life of your family for months or even years at a time.
This is why supporting victims in Kentucky personal injury cases becomes so important. The support victims need to rebuild their lives is sometimes withheld and that’s unacceptable.
Here is just a brief list of the kinds of personal injury cases Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC, has helped Kentucky families with:
Interstate and Roadway Accidents
You put yourself at risk of meeting up with a careless driver when traveling the busy roads around Louisville and Lexington, and while operating a motor vehicle on the narrow highways through rural Kentucky. Or, you might be on a motorcycle when you suffer a serious injury due to a driver who pulls out in front of you. You might be a pedestrian or a cyclist enjoying the fresh air when a reckless driver strikes you.
Construction and Workplace Accidents
Construction sites cause injuries to workers and also those just trying to walk past an unsecure build site. Injuries can occur from falling objects, workers taking a fall, explosions, and dangerous equipment. An injury in the office or any workplace leaves careless employers liable.
Premises Liability Injuries
Business and property owners and rental management companies are supposed to keep their businesses and residential sites clear of hazards that could hurt clients, customers, and residents. Local stores and supermarkets must monitor for the hazards that other shoppers create and remove them before you get hurt in a painful slip-and-fall accident.
Dangerous Product Liability
Sometimes tools, appliances, and other products sold to consumers aren’t safe enough to be on the market. Design flaws or a lack of proper safety testing could endanger your family members when a malfunction occurs. The companies that send out these products and the retailers who sell them should be held accountable for any injuries that occur.
Sport/Recreation Injuries
An activity you participate in could be found to be unnecessarily dangerous after you get hurt. This can include an injury suffered in an organized sport or during a day at a theme park or fun park. A city department may be liable for your injuries if you are hurt at a public park. Compensation is possible even if you’ve signed a waiver agreement.
Wrongful deaths
A close family member can be tragically taken in an instant by a negligent act on a city street or in a store or business. Kentucky families are encouraged to seek financial support through a wrongful death claim. This civil lawsuit seeks assistance with funeral costs and also intends to help supplement the income the deceased can no longer provide the family.
What to Do After a Personal Injury Accident
If you are involved in a personal injury accident and it appears someone’s negligence of a “duty of care” is to blame, you must start collecting evidence to strengthen your case immediately.
If you are physically able, begin gathering important details in the moments after your accident.
These are just some of the important factors that may serve as proof of what happened:
- Call 911 if you are injured and have EMTs examine every pain you have. Go to the hospital if they deem it necessary. After a car accident, offer investigating officers every detail you can remember. They’ll be writing up a collision report that becomes very important evidence later.
- Don’t make statements on the scene. Making statements like “I’m alright” or “my bad” can hurt your case in the long run. In the shock and adrenaline of the moment, you may not realize how badly you’re hurt. You also may be mistaken about who was at fault.
- Take Photos. Get pictures of everything involved in your accident. Show the surroundings. At the scene of a slip-and-fall, a trip-and-fall, or any fall, show the obstacle that caused your accident. These hazards will likely be removed or fixed by the time you return. In a car accident, show the damage to cars, traffic signs. Take photos of any visible injuries.
- Talk to witnesses. Get their contact information and make a note of what they saw and can testify to.
- After an accident on someone else’s property, like a store or restaurant, allow a manager or an employee to write up an incident report. This report can help prove that you weren’t at fault for what happened.
- Don’t throw out evidence. If you have a bloody shirt or damaged personal items, don’t wash them and don’t throw them out. Keep the shoes you were wearing after a fall. After a bike accident, don’t get rid of your damaged bike.
Compensation Available After a Personal Injury Accident in Kentucky
Earning the necessary amount of compensation in personal injury cases is critical to the physical, emotional, and financial recovery of any victim. It’s difficult to heal when you’ve got thousands of dollars in medical bills that an insurance company seems reluctant to help you with.
Any award negotiated in an insurance settlement or issued through a judgment must rescue the victim from a financial crisis now and in the future. Surgery could be necessary years down the road and long-term pain management might be a part of a victim’s recovery. Don’t ignore these possibilities for your claims settlement.
These are just a few examples of what factors into an insurance settlement:
- Hospital and doctor bills and the expense of physical therapy.
- The enormous and life-long costs associated with a permanent physical disability.
- Travel costs while visiting doctors and specialists in and outside of Kentucky.
- The physical pain and emotional turmoil you endure.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
- Loss of consortium (intimacy with a spouse).
- Past and future lost income while away from work.
- Value of any damaged or destroyed personal property.
Do I Need a Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer?
If your injuries are very minor you may not need the help of a Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer. If your damages only involve personal property like a damaged car door or a cracked computer screen, you probably won’t need legal assistance. Repair and replacement procedures have become standard.
It’s when your accident involves a serious injury that insurance companies become defensive and much less helpful. They want to avoid covering every medical bill you have because they know it will be expensive. They’ll try to prove their policyholder wasn’t to blame or even try to kick a little blame your way.
This is terrible behavior when victims are simply trying to get help paying the bills they weren’t to blame for. A personal injury lawyer fully investigates your accident and gathers all evidence and testimony to build a strong case that insurance companies will struggle to poke holes in. Your attorney may also find there are other parties who are liable for your accident. This would allow you to file claims against multiple insurance parties and hopefully earn much more in compensation.
When an accident involves liability for a major company or corporation, it’s also important for you to have a skilled attorney on your side. Large businesses have corporate lawyers who get bonuses for convincing you to take less than you should. A Kentucky personal injury lawyer with experience dealing with teams of lawyers will protect your interests.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in Kentucky?
One year. You only have 12 months to file an injury claim with an insurance provider. Wait any longer and they can reject your case. It’s important to act as soon as possible to allow your lawyer the best chance to gather evidence and locate witnesses.
Will I have to go to court over my personal injury claim?
Most likely not. In fact, around 90% of personal injury cases settle out of court. Even more, insurance companies don’t like the expense or the bad publicity that comes with a trip to the courtroom. When you put pressure on them they usually work to extend an acceptable settlement.
What kind of documents will I need for my personal injury case?
You’ll want to save every medical bill you receive so we can calculate the total. Save your pay stubs so you can demonstrate the income you’ve lost while in recovery. An accident report from the police or an incident report on an injury at a business also makes great evidence.
Contact a Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer as Soon as Possible
If you or a loved one have been injured by the careless or reckless actions of someone else, please contact us for a free consultation on your case. There are rights you have and benefits available to you that an insurance company won’t be mentioning.
The Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyers with Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC, want to hear about what happened to you and discuss the quickest path to earning you the support you need in recovery. We also want to make sure you know about the things to watch out for when dealing with an insurance adjuster.
If you decide you want us to represent your personal injury case, you won’t need any money to hire us. We don’t earn an attorney’s fee unless we win compensation for you.
When you contact Kaufman & Stigger Injury Lawyers, we meet you where you are. For example, we will come to your home, hospital room, or wherever you feel comfortable meeting us to discuss you injury case.
Special Cases:
Our Personal Injury Practice Areas
- Bicycle Accident
- Burn Injuries
- Car Accident
- Pedestrian Accident
- Motorcycle Accident
- Truck Accidents
- Premises Liability
- Slip and Fall
- Drowning Accidents
- Wrongful Death
Locations We Serve
- Albany, KY
- Alexandria, KY
- Ashland, KY
- Bardstown, KY
- Bowling Green, KY
- Campbellsville, KY
- Corbin, KY
- Covington, KY
- Danville, KY
- Edgewood, KY
- Elizabethtown, KY
- Elsmere, KY
- Erlanger, KY
- Frankfort, KY
- Georgetown, KY
- Glasgow, KY
- Henderson, KY
- Independence, KY
- Jeffersontown, KY
- Versailles, KY
- Lexington, KY
- London, KY
- Louisville, KY
- Madisonville, KY
- Monticello, KY
- Mount Sterling, KY
- Mount Washington, KY
- Murray, CA
- Nicholasville, KY
- Oak Grove, KY
- Owensboro, KY
- Paducah, KY
- Paris, KY
- Princeton, KY
- Prospect, KY
- Radcliff, KY
- Richmond, KY
- Russellville, KY
- Shelbyville, KY
- Somerset, KY
- Winchester, KY
