Zanesville Personal Injury Attorneys

For over 100 years, Graham Law’s personal injury attorneys have provided valuable legal assistance to residents of Southeastern Ohio with regard to personal injury claims. Our goal is simple: to provide experienced, compassionate representation when a serious accident turns your life upside down.

Whether you were hurt in a crash on I-70, injured in a fall at a local business, or coping with a catastrophic injury or wrongful death, our Zanesville personal injury attorneys are here to help you understand your options and pursue compensation from the responsible parties.

With an office in both Zanesville and Cambridge, Ohio, we are proud of our local roots in the community. Thanks to virtual technology, we can now provide valuable legal assistance to individuals, regardless of where they reside in Ohio.

Contact our personal injury attorneys in Muskingum County today for a free case review and let us put our experience to work for you.

Types of Personal Injury Cases Our Attorneys Handle

Our Zanesville personal injury attorneys represent people in a wide range of injury and wrongful death matters. This includes wrongful death claims involving fatal accidents and car accidents involving drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. We also handle truck accidents with commercial trucks and tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicle collisions, including delivery vehicles, buses, and rideshares.

Our firm also has years of experience assisting people who have been hurt in motorcycle crashes, dog bites and attacks, and slip and fall accidents or other premises liability incidents. We pride ourselves on representing clients with catastrophic injuries, such as brain or spinal cord injuries, as well as families dealing with medical malpractice or nursing home negligence cases.

Our attorneys help injured pedestrians and bicyclists with pedestrian and bicycle accidents, and we handle crashes involving uninsured or underinsured drivers or ATV and side-by-side accidents.

Even if your exact situation is not listed here, we may still be able to help you file a personal injury claim. To learn whether we may be able to assist you, contact our team for a free case review.

Types of Compensation Available for Personal Injury Claims in Ohio

The Ohio Revised Code (ORC) outlines the framework for damages awarded in personal injury claims in the State of Ohio. While there are some exceptions and limitations, compensation that may typically be pursued after a personal injury includes:

Compensatory Damages: Compensatory damages are intended to compensate you for losses that are distinguished between 2 categories:

• Economic losses: These can cover things like medical expenses, lost wages, rehabilitation expenses and other quantifiable losses. For example, recoverable expenses may include lost wages due to missed work time because of your injury, reduced earning capacity due to your injuries, or even the costs of X-rays, hospital stays, prescription medications, and other out-of-pocket expenses.
• Non-economic losses: These cover damages like pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and disfigurement.

Punitive Damages: These are generally awarded in rare cases to punish the defendant for egregious conduct. Compelling evidence must be presented in order to pursue punitive damages in most cases.

Will I Need to Go to Court After Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Ohio?

Filing a personal injury claim in Ohio can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re worried about going to court. In many cases, personal injury cases can be resolved through negotiations and settlements without ever going to trial.

However, every case is unique, and some situations may require court intervention to secure fair compensation for you. If you must go to trial, it can be helpful to have an experienced attorney guide you through the process. Contact Graham Law today to discuss your case and determine your best course of action.

What Is Considered a Catastrophic Injury?

Ohio courts and statutes recognize that some injuries permanently alter a person’s life. Although there is no single universal definition, catastrophic injuries often involve:

• Permanent and substantial physical deformity that results to consequences like severe scarring, loss of limbs or disfigurement
• Loss or significant impairment of a bodily function or system that extends to things like vision, hearing, mobility or cognitive abilities
• Inability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) without assistance, which may extend to things like bathing, dressing, eating or using a restroom.
• Substantial and ongoing medical needs that result in surgeries, long-term therapies or permanent dependence on medical equipment.

Ohio Revised Code section 2315.18 treats certain catastrophic injuries differently when it comes to caps on non-economic damages, which reflects the seriousness of permanent injuries. At Graham Law, our catastrophic injury attorneys work with medical and vocational experts, life-care planners, and other professionals to document the long-term impact of a serious injury and to present that story clearly to insurers or, when necessary, to a jury.

Ohio’s Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims

In most Ohio personal injury cases, you generally have two years from the date your cause of action “accrues” to file a lawsuit for bodily injury or injury to personal property. This timeline is stipulated by the Ohio Revised Code, section 2305.10.

A few important points that injured claimants should remember about time limits on personal injury claims in Ohio:

• Waiting too long to act can lead to your claim being dismissed entirely, regardless of how strong it might have been.
• Certain situations, such as cases involving minors or latent injuries, may involve different timing rules.
• Building a strong personal injury case takes time, which is why it is recommended that people contact an experienced personal injury attorney well before the deadline.

Because statute of limitations questions can be complicated, you should not treat the information on this page alone as specific legal advice. It is important to speak with an Ohio personal injury attorney as soon as possible to review the deadlines that may apply in your situation.

Understanding Negligence in Personal Injury Claims

Most Ohio personal injury cases are built on the concept of negligence. To recover compensation, an injured person generally needs to show that another party failed to act with reasonable care and that this failure caused their injuries and losses.

In a typical Ohio personal injury claim, negligence involves four main elements:

• Duty of care: The at-fault party had a legal duty to act with reasonable care under the circumstances. Examples include a driver’s duty to follow Ohio traffic laws or a property owner’s duty to address known hazards on the premises.
• Breach of duty: The party failed to act as a reasonably careful person would. Common examples include speeding, distracted driving, ignoring a spill, or violating a safety rule.
• Causation: The breach of duty was a direct and proximate cause of the accident and of the injuries you suffered. In other words, the harmful incident must be tied to the unsafe conduct, not to some unrelated event.
• Damages: You suffered actual harm, such as medical bills, lost income, pain, emotional distress, or other losses connected to the accident.

Our Zanesville personal injury attorneys gather evidence, interview witnesses, obtain records, and consult experts when needed, so these elements are clearly presented to the insurance company or, when necessary, to a jury.

Ohio also follows a “modified comparative negligence” system, which affects how compensation is calculated when more than one person is at fault. Under the Ohio Revised Code, an injured person can usually recover compensation as long as their share of fault is not greater than 50 percent. However, any award may be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to them.

For example:

• If a jury determines that your total damages are 100,000 dollars and you are 20 percent at fault, your recovery may be reduced to 80,000 dollars.
• If you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you are generally barred from recovering damages from the other party.

Insurance companies often rely on comparative fault arguments to reduce what they pay. Having an experienced Zanesville personal injury attorney or Cambridge personal injury attorney advocating for you can help ensure that fault is evaluated fairly and that your conduct is not exaggerated or taken out of context.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire an Attorney in Zanesville, Ohio?

One of the most common concerns that people seeking legal representation have is the potential cost. At Graham Law, we understand this concern, which is why we handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis.

This means you only pay when we successfully recover compensation for you. Your initial consultation with our personal injury team in Zanesville or Cambridge is completely free, and we will cover the costs of legal representation for the duration of your case. Should we fail to obtain compensation, you will not owe any money or legal fees.

We explain fee agreements clearly before you decide whether to hire us, so you understand how costs and fees will work in your specific situation.

If you have more questions about how legal fees work in Ohio and why working with our attorneys may be more affordable than you think, contact us for a free case review today.

Contact Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Zanesville & Cambridge

A personal injury attorney can help protect you against common errors in the insurance claims process, such as settling too soon for little money or making improper admissions of fault. Our personal injury attorneys are dedicated to helping you navigate your injury claim with insurance companies and pursuing meaningful compensation on your behalf.

When you hire Graham Law for a personal injury claim, our team will:

• Listen to your story and explain how Ohio’s personal injury laws may apply to your situation.
• Investigate your accident, gather evidence, and consult with experts where needed.
• Obtain and organize your medical records, wage information, and other documentation.
• Communicate with insurance companies so you do not have to handle those calls on your own while you recover.
• Evaluate your damages, including both financial losses and human losses such as pain and suffering.
• Negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company and, when necessary, prepare your case for trial in an Ohio court.

Personal injury law can be a complicated area of law, but that doesn’t mean you have to go through this alone. To discuss your situation with our Zanesville personal injury attorneys, call us at (740) 454-8585 or request a free case review online.

There is no charge to talk with us about your potential claim, and no obligation to move forward. We can explain your options so you can decide what is best for you.

Here are some common questions that we get asked.
Each legal case is unique, so we recommend you contact us for specific advice.