Personal Injury Attorney

Indianapolis Personal Injury Lawyer

In the legal world, our Indianapolis personal injury lawyer understands well that the term “personal injury” doesn’t just mean that an individual has been hurt. It means that the harm was caused by the negligence or carelessness of another.

The key issue is whether or not they were negligent, and personal injury attorney Mike Stephenson can help sort out the facts.

Our lives today expose us to more risks than ever before. We spend twice as much time in our cars than we did 25 years ago. While workplace safety regulations have greatly expanded over the years, so, too, have the number of companies willing to skirt those regulations to enhance their profit margins. The volume of goods shipped across our highways continues to grow, increasing the risk of truck wrecks. And, in too many tragedies, such as drunk driving crashes, fatalities occur.

Indianapolis personal injury attorneys Mike Stephenson and Brady Rife can help determine if you have a case if you or a family member has suffered some form of injury or wrongful death.

For more than 30 years we have been helping injured people across Indiana recover compensation for their medical bills, lost income, and other expenses incurred through no fault of their own.

You can rely on our personal injury lawyers to be trusted advisors and proven advocates. Call Stephenson Rife at 317-680-2501 to schedule a free consultation.

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Personal Injury FAQs

Types of Indiana Personal Injury Lawsuits We Handle

Stephenson Rife attorneys take on many types of personal injury cases, demonstrating excellence in handling many types of claims. Such cases can include vehicular collisions of all kinds:

• Car accidents. Every time you drive, you are at risk of a crash. All it takes is another person drunk, distracted, or speeding while behind the wheel to change your life in an instant. Car crashes can leave you with physical, emotional, and spiritual damage — not to mention financial challenges. If you or a loved one has become a victim of a motor vehicle collision, know that we listen and we can help.
• Truck accidents. Who hasn’t felt a little nervous while surrounded by large trucks traveling at great speeds on I-65 or I-465? A fully-loaded truck can weigh 40 tons—80,000 pounds—while the average passenger vehicle is only around 5,000 pounds. It’s no contest should a truck driver lose control; David almost never defeats Goliath. But Goliath can be taken to court for careless actions.
• Motorcycle accidents. The most common cause of motorcycle accidents is negligence by the other driver, who should be paying attention to the road instead of being distracted by their phone or operating their vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs. You won’t know the true reasons for the crash until we investigate for you.
• Pedestrian accidents. Pedestrian injuries are climbing in Indiana, as is distracted driving, a major contributing factor to the rise in pedestrian injuries and deaths. When the pedestrian victim is a child, the situation is especially upsetting and demands justice. If you or a loved one has suffered from a pedestrian accident, we can determine the best course of action for you.

Grievous Bodily Harm

The attorneys of Stephenson Rife can also assist you with a personal injury case that involves serious physical damage, regardless of where the injury occurred:

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  Catastrophic injuries. Catastrophic injuries such as spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries either cause death or, at a minimum, a significant and permanent deterioration of the victim’s quality of life. While money cannot bring back health or a loved one, knowing that your financial future is not in calamitous jeopardy can ease the way forward into an uncertain future.

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  Traumatic brain injuries. The impact of a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is not to be underestimated. The victim can be left in a coma or permanently incapacitated. Sometimes injuries mean a changed personality (aggression or depression), memory loss, or an inability to perform at work or in school. There is no question that these cases are always difficult, but they are rewarding to win.

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  Spinal injuries. The spine is one of the most vital—and, in some ways, one of the most vulnerable—parts of our bodies. Motor vehicle collisions, falls in the workplace, sports injuries, or even violence can leave the sufferer with life-altering circumstances. Medical expenses are usually staggeringly large. It’s only right that the negligent party assume those expenses.

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  Burn injuries. No one wants to think about severe burns, but they can be a consequence of a workplace accident, a car crash, or a heating system malfunction. Burn injuries mean tremendous personal suffering and extremely high medical and rehabilitation costs. We can help you pursue a burn injury case where another party’s negligence caused the harm.

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  Workplace injuries. State and federal agencies have strict guidelines and regulations to keep workers safe while they are on the job, but all too often employers ignore these regulations or fail to ensure they are properly followed. We bring the full weight of our 30 years’ experience and substantial resources to bear for each workplace injury case we handle.

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  Explosion injuries. Explosion injuries frequently occur in the workplace, but the truth is, a devastating blast can occur anywhere fuel, chemicals, or electricity are in use—everything from transformer explosions to gas grill mishaps. Whether your explosion injuries occurred at work or were caused by a faulty product, we can help you recover compensation.

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  Wrongful death. A wrongful death can happen for a number of reasons, such as traffic accidents, workplace tragedies, and defective products. Because the loss was unexpected and caused by someone else’s negligence, wrongful death cases can be especially hard on the survivors, whose intense grief and anger can complicate the healing process. Because wrongful death cases are complex, we are committed to bringing together the most qualified experts available in order to uncover what happened.

We Can Provide Additional Legal Assistance

At Stephenson Rife, our Indianapolis personal injury attorneys also handle the following types of personal injury cases:

• Daycare injuries
• Product liability injuries
• Unsafe toy injuries
• Scalding injuries on other peoples’ property (premises liability)
• Boating accidents
• Elevator and escalator injuries
• Golf injuries

Contact our personal injury lawyers at Stephenson Rife to discuss your injuries. Call us at 317-680-2501 to find out if you have a case. We offer a free consultation.

Personal Injury Verdict Amount Doubles Settlement Offer In Bar Altercation Case

A Blackford County jury returned a personal injury verdict for client for an amount over two times the last offer from the insurance company. Our client, JR, a 40 year old lady, went with friends to Mel’s Keg in Hartford City, Indiana. Mel’s is a small bar and grill near downtown Hartford City. JR and her female friend, KS, met a group of high school friends at Mel’s. Shortly after JR and KS arrived at Mel’s, KS’s stepsister of 25 years, RTB, came into the bar with a group of her friends to celebrate her birthday.

Unfortunately, later that evening KS and her stepsister, RTB, got into a heated argument which eventually turned into a physical altercation. The altercation was broken up by the groups of friends who had come to Mel’s Keg with both women. Immediately after the two women were pulled apart, RTB grabbed a beer mug and threw it across the room at her stepsister but missed and struck our client in the face, severely cutting her upper lip and breaking off a front tooth. The entire argument and physical altercation was captured on surveillance tape.

JR went to the ER and her injury was so severe that she was referred to an oral surgeon for treatment. JR was taken to Indianapolis the following day where the through-and-through laceration of her lip was sutured. She eventually had a root canal and a cap placed on her front tooth. JR has undergone one revision surgery to minimize the scar, and will likely need the cap replaced over the course of her life time. She was left with a noticeable scar on her lip. JR’s medical expense totaled $8,900.

A personal injury lawuit was filed against JR’s stepsister and Mel’s Keg. At mediation and before trial the most offered to settle JR’s claim was $35,000. The jury returned a verdict in her favor for $157,000, assessing 55% of the liability to one stepsister, 35% to the other stepsister, and 10 % to JR, resulting in a net verdict over two times the amount offered by the RTB’s insurance company.

More Of Our Case Results

How We Have Helped Our Indianapolis Personal Injury Clients

With more than 30 years of experience working with families across Indiana, our Indianapolis personal injury lawyers have handled litigation in 18 states and served as lead trial counsel in more than 100 civil jury trials. As you look for information online, consider the results our attorneys were able to secure in each of these complex personal injury claims:

• Read about our client, B.Z., involved in a truck accident where the driver had illegally altered his semi to routinely overload the vehicle. Truck Accident Case Details.
• Read about our client, D.W., who was severely injured in a car accident. Before trial, the defendant’s company stated that a jury in a small southern county in Indiana would never return a verdict for $1 million in this case. The defendant was correct; the verdict was twice that amount. Car Accident Jury Verdict.
• Read about the family (“C.W” [mother] and “Z.M.” [son]) whose motor home was struck by a tractor trailer while Mom and son were asleep in the back. Truck Accident Lawsuit Recovery.

Although no amount of settlement money can ever accomplish what damage awards were designed to do in the first place – put the victim back in the position he or she was in prior to the accident—you can be assured that the attorneys at Stephenson Rife have got your back when it comes to making you as financially whole as possible. We are also ready to answer any more questions you have on the settlement process.

Your Indianapolis Personal Injury Attorneys

Lawyer Mike Stephenson is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney, the highest possible attorney peer rating. When you call Mike, you can have complete confidence that you are talking with an attorney with more than 30 years’ experience, offering you compassionate and successful representation.
Lawyer Brady Rife has developed a diverse civil litigation practice for both plaintiffs and defendants throughout Indiana. Brady, a diligent and thorough attorney, will give you nothing less than his best, 100 percent of the time.

What Is Your Next Step Toward Justice?

As you contemplate filing a personal injury lawsuit, keep in mind that there is a statute of limitations – or a deadline – for filing personal injury claims, so it is unwise to delay. If you were injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, you deserve compensation. Don’t lose the opportunity to obtain the money you need to put your life back on track and to make your family’s future financially secure. You can be assured that our Indiana personal injury lawyers, and our financial resources, will go the distance on your behalf. We offer free consultations, and there is no fee for any of our work if we don’t win your case. Call us at 317-680-2501, or use our online contact form.

Client Testimonial

”We recently had a situation where our daughter was injured in an unusual accident. My wife and I didn’t know how to proceed, so we called Brady Rife. It was the best decision we could have made. The process was long, but he helped guide us every step of the way. We needed someone we could trust in a vulnerable time, and Brady did an excellent job of easing our tension and took our burdens as his own. He gave us confidence at a very unstable time. It was such a relief to have someone who knew how to handle the situation. I wouldn’t hesitate to call Brady for any of our future legal needs.” – Justin Sawyer (Google Review)