$1.75

Million

$1.75 million settlement

Our personal injury lawyers won a $1.75 million settlement for N.T.'s injuries at a work site.

There’s nothing more frightening than to be at work one day doing your job, when suddenly a crisis erupts.

Whether you fall from a ladder, get burned by chemicals, are injured by equipment, or suffer other pain caused by a workplace accident, your world is quickly turned upside down. You may be confined to the hospital for days or weeks, which could mean missed wages due to time off work — not to mention the worry and fear your family members are likely experiencing. Some injuries may be permanent and debilitating, and some may even lead to death. As medical bills pile up and income dwindles, worried families need a place to turn for help.

If you or loved one has been injured or someone has died at a workplace in Indiana, you may be entitled to receive financial compensation for your losses and injuries. At this difficult time, when you are dealing with the consequences of the accident, an Indianapolis work injury lawyer may be able to help. The skilled and experienced attorneys at Stephenson Rife have represented hundreds of clients injured in workplace accidents and have successfully secured for them the financial compensation they deserve.

A good work injury lawyer knows that state and federal agencies have strict guidelines and regulations to keep workers safe while they are on the job. However, management or maintenance personnel may need to pay more attention to these regulations or ensure they are properly followed. They and their insurance companies may attempt to deny claims or pay out less than you deserve. That’s why it makes sense to have an experienced work injury lawyer on your side to fight for the full compensation you are entitled to.

With more than 30 years of experience handling onsite injury and accident claims in Indiana, the work injury attorneys at Stephenson Rife are dedicated to aggressively representing injured clients and securing the best possible outcomes under the law.

Our work injury attorneys bring the full weight of our substantial resources to bear on each case we handle. We offer a free consultation to review your work accident case and discuss the compensation benefits you may be entitled to. Call us today at (317) 680-2501.

Our Indiana Work Injury Lawyer Works for You

hy Choose Stephenson Rife?

There are many attorneys out there, and it’s important for you to choose one you not only have confidence in and feel comfortable with, but who has the qualifications and connections to get the results you need. Here are some reasons why we think Stephenson Rife is your best choice:

  • We are experienced. We have been meeting the needs of people throughout Indiana since 1976. Mike Stephenson has 40 years of experience handling injuries and is a trusted advisor to many individuals and companies.
  • We get results and win large settlements, such as the $48.5 million we won in a truck accident case. We have a strong record of success in many personal injury cases. You can read our clients’ testimonials and about their cases.
  • We handle all legal paperwork and court appearances required by Indiana law.
  • We deal and negotiate with insurance companies, so you won’t have to.
  • We are recognized for our expertise and are the law firm that other firms consult.
  • We offer free initial consultations to get you started.
  • We can provide cost-effective legal services to keep fees low, and you pay us nothing unless we win and you get your money.

How Our Work Injury Attorney Helps

Depending on your situation, our Indiana work injury lawyers may help you get benefits through workers’ compensation, or we may be able to win a settlement in a workplace personal injury, premises liability, or wrongful death lawsuit.

When you have us on your side, you no longer have to file forms, deal with insurance companies, fight denials, or worry about whether you have the best settlement offer. We will get to work to analyze and build your case immediately. We will:

  • Make sure you know what to say and do after you are injured to meet Indiana requirements and prevent hurting your case
  • Make sure all forms are filled out correctly and in a timely manner
  • Conduct investigations to gather evidence to prove how the injury occurred, such as by interviewing witnesses and co-workers; examining photographs and videos; and analyzing police, ambulance, and medical records and reports
  • Get expert opinions from accident reconstruction professionals, medical professionals, therapists, and life-care specialists as to how injuries will affect your life now and into the future
  • Negotiate with insurance companies and their lawyers for a fair settlement
  • Represent you at any hearings
  • Prepare your case and argue on your behalf if a claim goes to trial
  • Handle any appeals.

We started our law firm in 1976, always ensuring that we put our clients’ needs first. Our work injury attorneys in Indianapolis have extensive confidence in our ability to provide compassionate service for clients who are going through a difficult time.

We have the confidence in our ability to fight against insurers who don’t treat workplace injury and accident victims with the respect they deserve. Call us today at (317) 680-2501.

Workplace Injury Lawyer Fights For Fair Compensation

Generally, if you are employed in Indiana, and are not a federal employee, you are eligible for workers’ compensation if you are injured on the job.

Workers’ compensation is an accident insurance plan designed to cover a worker’s medical bills, lost wages and other costs if he or she is injured on the job. The Indiana Workers’ Compensation Board regulates workers’ comp in Indiana, and most workers are eligible for this insurance coverage from the first day of employment. If you are injured on the job, you should report the injury immediately to your boss or the business owner. Your claim may be denied if you wait more than 30 days after the injury to report it.

Workers’ compensation law is intended to benefit both the company and the employee. This is because employers, even when negligent, are protected from liability regarding worker injuries, while workers are not required to prove their employer’s negligence in order to get benefits.

Indiana Workers’ Comp Benefits

Indiana workers’ compensation insurance provides medical and financial benefits to workers injured on the job or suffering a work-related illness, such as an amputation or brain or spinal injury. It also provides benefits to the family of a worker who is killed on the job.

In a successful workers’ comp claim, benefits should cover some of your income while you are unable to work, in addition to the medical costs that result from your work injury, as follows:

  • Two-thirds of your average weekly wage during the time that you are found unable to work by the insurance company’s authorized physician
  • Payment for permanent partial impairment or a partial disability classified by the insurance company’s authorized physician
  • Payment of medical expenses to physicians authorized by the insurance company and reimbursement of related out-of-pocket expenses, hospital bills, co-pays, the costs of prescription medicines, rehabilitation services, physical or occupational therapy, and transportation costs to and from your doctor visits
  • As a general rule, you will be able to collect workers’ compensation benefits until you can go back to work or you reach age 65 if you are permanently disabled.

While workers’ comp provides helpful benefits, they do not cover everything or prevent you from having serious financial losses, and they provide nothing for your non-monetary damages such as pain and suffering. However, in some situations, it is possible to get full compensation and have all your losses covered for a workplace injury. Your work injury attorney can do this by going beyond workers’ comp and bringing a lawsuit against a third party whose conduct caused or contributed to your injury, even if you are receiving workers’ comp.

Who is a Third Party in a Workplace Lawsuit?

A third party is anyone with whom your company does not have an employer-employee relationship who might have been negligent and caused your injuries. Examples include:

  • Equipment manufacturers— if equipment had defects in design, construction or labeling that resulted in injuries
  • Contractors or vendors — outside contractors or vendors on your work premises who were negligent and caused your injuries, such as by running you over with a vehicle
  • Industrial plant designers — who set up a work layout that caused injury, such as workstations placed in unsafe proximity to other machines or personnel.

Damages in a Third-Party Lawsuit

In a successful third-party lawsuit, our attorneys may recover a compensation award, called damages. In Indiana, you can seek both economic damages for your monetary costs and losses and non-economic damages, which are compensation for non-monetary damages that negatively impact your life, such as pain and suffering. Compensatory damages are to cover losses and costs such as:

  • Medical and rehabilitative bills and equipment
  • Costs of continuing care
  • Full lost wages from being unable to work
  • Property damage
  • Pain and suffering
  • Mental anguish and emotional distress
  • Permanent disability.

Punitive damages may also be awarded in certain circumstances to punish negligent parties for willful negligence, malice, fraud, or especially egregious behavior, and to act as a deterrent for similar misconduct in the future.

Whether it’s from broken equipment, malfunctioning electronics, fire hazards or toxic chemicals, if you have been hurt, our Stephenson Rife work injury attorney can help you get workers’ compensation and also ascertain whether you can go beyond workers’ comp and file a third-party lawsuit to win the compensation you deserve.

Call us today to get started at (317) 680-2501 .

Work Accident Attorney Answer FAQs

Dealing with a serious workplace injury is difficult, and you are bound to have questions and concerns. The best place to get answers is at your free consultation, but to get you started, here are some answers to questions our personal injury attorneys are often asked.

  • The time it takes to resolve a work injury claim varies greatly from case to case, depending on a myriad of factors. The number of witnesses to be interviewed, the nature of the injury and whether a claim is settled or goes to trial are just a few of many factors that will influence the length of time it takes to resolve an individual claim. Your work injury attorney should be able to give you an idea as you go along about the estimated time involved in court hearings and negotiations and how your decisions affect the timing of your case.

  • Payment of your lost wages – at 2/3 of your average weekly wage – is common in Indiana workers’ compensation cases. These payments continue for the length of time that your supervising doctor says you need to be off work. Every case is unique, though, so a skilled Indianapolis work injury lawyer can give you more specific information about lost wages based on your individual case.

  • Lost wages and medical bills are some of the things a work injury lawyer will calculate when asking for compensatory damages from a negligent employer or manufacturer. Courts have upheld an injured worker’s right to be compensated for medical costs. It’s very important that you keep copies of all medical bills, prescription receipts, health insurance statements and doctor’s records as you receive medical treatment for your injuries.

  • Employers cannot legally retaliate against workers who exercise their right to file a claim after being injured on the job. There are laws that prohibit employers from doing this. Otherwise, no worker would ever feel safe exercising their rights for fear of being singled out and harassed or fired. At the same time, Indiana is an at-will employment state, which means that an employer can fire an employee at any time except for a handful of reasons. Having our work injury lawyers on your side can make sure everything is done correctly and make it less likely you will lose your job.

  • Here’s the great news! You don’t need any money up front to hire a work injury attorney. In these cases, law firms work on a contingency basis, which means that they don’t get paid until you get paid. If you are successful and your case settles or you win a jury verdict in court, then attorney’s fees and expenses will be paid out of that amount. If for some reason your case is not successful, then you owe us nothing.

When you have our Stephenson Rife work injury lawyers on your side, we will be there throughout the entire process to answer all questions that injured workers frequently ask, explain what goes next, and prepare you for all steps as necessary.

Indianapolis Work Injury Lawyers Know Steps to Take

Work injury lawyers handle every step of the process involved in filing a work injury claim. However, there are some things you can do that will help your case.

Here is a list of steps to keep in mind if you are injured in a workplace accident:

  • 01

    Always seek immediate medical help if you are injured on the job. This means being transported by ambulance to the hospital, driving yourself to a clinic, or making an appointment with your own family doctor.

  • 02

    Notify your boss or other person in charge at work immediately if you have been injured. Quickly reporting an injury could help your claim, and if you wait longer than 30 days, you may not be able to receive benefits.

  • 03

    If you are able, take pictures of your injuries and the accident scene with your smartphone.

  • 04

    If possible, get the names and contact information of any witnesses who saw the accident happen or were present in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

  • 05

    Keep all receipts, medical reports, lab results, X-rays, workplace correspondence, and other documents in one place and give these to your work accident lawyer.

  • 06

    If you are contacted directly by a work injury insurance representative, ask them to speak to your lawyer.

Your workplace injury lawyer will also stand behind you whether you choose to accept a settlement or pursue a trial and jury verdict. For more details about what it’s like to work with an Indiana work injury attorney visit our settlement FAQ page.

Client Settlement for Pain and Suffering

An Exposed Wire Injured a Worker

Our Attorney Mike Stephenson was hired by an attorney in Indianapolis to assist in pursuing a claim on behalf of “R.K.” against Aldi Foods. R.K. was a delivery truck driver who had made a delivery to an Aldi store during the middle of the night. While making the delivery, he was pushing a pallet jack through a freezer door when he received an electrical shock from an exposed wire and a threshold that had been missing for some period of time.

The defendant denied liability and initially claimed that our client was malingering or grossly exaggerating any injuries he may have received while on the job. Before Attorney Stephenson’s involvement in the case, the defendants had offered a nuisance-value settlement. After a thorough investigation and hiring the proper expert, Stephenson was able to establish that R.K. would never return to his job as a truck driver. Further, Mike Stephenson established through expert testimony that the injuries and complaints of pain and suffering were genuine and legitimate. After a second round of mediation, our client received a confidential settlement for his injury at work.

See more work accident cases we handled.

Workplace Accident Lawyers Handle Many Types of Injuries

There are a wide range of accidents that can occur in the workplace. Among the most common ones our workplace injury lawyers deal with are the following:

  • fire

    Burns. Nine percent of burns are occupational injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) imposes strict safety standards on employers; nevertheless, workplace fires and explosions kill 200 and injure more than 5,000 workers annually. Electrical burns are most common, caused by arcing or explosion. Some employees work near boilers or hot machinery that can cause thermal burns. Restaurant workers are especially prone to thermal burns, from deep fryers and grills. All work injury lawyers know that chemical burns are also a hazard in some industrial settings where caustic chemicals and acids are used.

  • Construction worker

    Construction Work Accidents. More than 100 workers are killed in Indiana each year due to workplace accidents. In addition to these preventable worker deaths, Indiana also reported an illness and injury rate of 3.9 per 100 workers. We understand that construction workers aren’t guaranteed a risk-free workplace. But our work injury attorneys know that the laws and regulations in place must be enforced to protect everyone’s safety. The defendants in construction accident cases are often big businesses with large amounts of money set aside to fight worker claims. These companies have resources, and they are willing to use them to protect their bottom lines. We have resources, too.

  • crane

    Faulty Equipment at Work. Employers are required by state and federal laws to maintain safe workplaces. That includes providing safety equipment designed to eliminate or mitigate injury and ensuring that machinery is working correctly by properly servicing it and monitoring its operation. Some accidents with equipment happen because the employer fails to properly maintain and service the equipment used in the production process. Our work injury lawyer handled one such claim involving a pipe fitter in a factory who was crushed because some screws were missing from a lift’s control panel. Sometimes workers are harmed by machinery or a piece of equipment that was defective in design or manufacture, and in these situations the company which produced the faulty apparatus can be held responsible.

  • People fighting

    Aggressive Co-Worker. Employers are required by law to maintain a safe work environment for employees. This can be achieved by conducting periodic equipment inspections and maintenance, installing proper ventilation and temperature controls, having safety personnel onsite, and even monitoring co-workers who have angry outbursts or are overly aggressive. If at any time you become afraid for your safety because of an angry or violent co-worker, tell a supervisor immediately or call 9-1-1.

  • Explosion

    Unsafe Workplace Conditions. Exposed wires, wet floors, elevators with lapsed inspections, insufficient or sub-standard tools – all of these can create an unsafe work environment and lead to worker injury. No one should have to work 40 hours a week in a place that poses a risk to their health at every turn.

Call Our Indiana Work Injury Attorneys for Help

Our Attorneys are There When You Need Us Most

At Stephenson Rife, our Indianapolis work injury lawyers strive every day to provide the highest possible level of client service. We treat our clients like people, not case numbers – and we want to get to know your family and your history. We care about our clients, their children and their well-being in the future.

If you or a family member has suffered any injuries or illnesses while on the job, contact a work injury lawyer at Stephenson Rife.

Do not delay, as there are time limits for filing. According to Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4, you generally have two years after your injury to file a lawsuit for personal injury, or you forfeit your rights to file a case.

Our Indiana workplace injury lawyers are dedicated to thoroughly investigating accidental injuries so that every responsible party is held to account.

Call Stephenson Rife at (317) 680-2501 for your free consultation as soon as possible to start your case while evidence is fresh and witnesses can be found.

Attorney Mike Stephenson

Indiana Attorney Mike StephensonMike Stephenson has 40 years of experience and is a trusted advisor to many individuals and companies. His current practice is dominated by civil litigation in state and federal courts. He focuses much of his time on handling catastrophic injuries caused by all types of accidents, including motor vehicle, trucking, workplace injuries, product liability, and fire, just to name a few. He also works extensively in construction accidents. [ Attorney Bio ]

Lawyer Video Click for Attorney Video

Why Call Us?

Play Video

Request Free Consultation

We take the hard cases – and win them! Free consultation, no obligation.