Kansas City Personal Injury Attorney
Any type of injury will put a serious damper on your future plans, lifestyle, and well-being. You might not be able to return to work for weeks or months, leaving you without an income to support yourself or your family. And if your injuries are permanent, the financial burdens can be even more significant. What can make an injury more frustrating is when someone else caused it, and they (or, more likely, their insurer) are working as aggressively as possible to avoid paying you for the damages they caused.
Suppose you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence. In that case, it is important that you seek legal guidance from an experienced personal injury attorney in Kansas City as soon as possible. The person or corporation that harmed you is likely represented by a billion dollar insurance company and they have already secured a lawyer. Why shouldn’t you secure the best lawyer to help you? At The McCallister Law Firm, we understand how overwhelming it can be to deal with the aftermath of an accident, and we are here to help you seek the compensation you deserve so that you can focus on your recovery.
Our dedicated personal injury attorneys will thoroughly investigate your case to build the strongest possible claim. We will be with you every step of the way to answer your questions and address your concerns. We have a proven track record of success in personal injury cases, and we are ready to put our experience to work for you.
Contact The McCallister Law Firm For a Free Consultation Today
Contact us today for a free case evaluation, where you will be able to discuss your case with one of our knowledgeable personal injury attorneys. We will review the facts of your case and help you understand your legal options so that you can make an informed decision about how to proceed. And, because we work on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe us anything unless we are successful in recovering compensation for you.
Read more below to get a better sense of how working with personal injury lawyers in Kansas City, MO can help you after an accident.
Our Practice Areas
Whether or not you see your specific situation mentioned below, contact our Kansas City, MO law firm as soon as possible to discuss your situation and how it falls under personal injury law.
Car accidents are one of the most common types of personal injury cases, ranging from minor fender benders to catastrophic collisions. If you have been injured in a car accident that was caused by another driver’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and other damages.
Truck accidents are often much more serious than car accidents, due to the size and weight of the average commercial truck. If you have been involved in a collision with a truck in the Kansas City area, it is important to seek legal guidance as soon as possible, as these cases can be complex. You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries, but you will need an experienced attorney on your side to help you navigate the legal process, and you need a lawyer to respond quickly, just like the trucking company probably already has. Don’t let reliable evidence slip away by delaying your decision on your lawyer.
Medical malpractice is a type of personal injury case that arises when a patient is injured due to substandard care or negligence on the part of a doctor, nurse, or other medical professionals. There are strict liability rules for medical malpractice cases that not all law firms are equipped to navigate.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, you may be facing significant physical, emotional, and financial burdens.
Motorcycle accidents can be extremely serious due to motorcyclists’ lack of protection on the road. Common injuries include broken bones, road rash, and traumatic brain injury.The traveling public often does not have respect to share the road with motorcyclists which can sometimes lead to catastrophic injuries. If you have been involved in a motorcycle accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries, but seeking maximum compensation through a personal injury claim in Kansas City is a complex and often frustrating process.
Wrongful death is the death of an individual that is caused by the negligent or intentional act of another person or entity. In many cases, wrongful death cases are filed by the family members of the deceased individual to seek compensation for their losses. The losses from the wrongful death of a family member are devastating. This can include damages for medical expenses, funeral and burial costs, lost income, and pain and suffering.
If you have lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence or recklessness in Kansas City, you may be entitled to file a wrongful death claim. These claims are complex and often emotional, but our experienced, compassionate and talented personal injury attorneys with a proven record of success will be with you every step of the way to help you seek full and fair compensation.
Other areas that we have extensive experience handling personal injury lawsuits for include:
- Automobile Defects
- Brain Injury
- Burns & Electrocution
- Catastrophic Injuries
- Civil Rights Violations
- Commercial Vehicle Accidents
- Driver Negligence
- Failure to Diagnose
- Improper Maintenance
- Industrial Equipment Accidents
- Legal Malpractice
- Nursing Home Abuse
- Police Abuses
- Premises Liability
- Product Liability
- Sexual Abuse
- Strict Liability Cases
- Workplace Accidents
- Tired Truckers
- Drunk Drivers
- Medical Mistakes
Common Personal Injury Damages
If you have been injured in an accident, you may be entitled to financial compensation for your damages. The types of damages that are available in a personal injury case will vary depending on the facts of the case, but some common examples include:
How Personal Injury Damages Are Calculated
The amount of damages you are entitled to in a Kansas City personal injury case will depend on a number of factors, including the severity of your injuries, the circumstances of the accident, and more. These damages — known as compensatory damages — are divided into two distinct subcategories that require drastically different methods of calculation.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are calculated by looking at how much money you lost because of the accident. This can include the cost of medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Economic damages are simple to calculate, as they are generally just the sum of your documented losses and what will be lost in the future.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are much more significant than economic damages. These damages account for the harms and losses anyone can relate to when they lose a limb, suffer a permanent injury, or worse, the death of a loved one. Some examples include the loss of enjoyment of life (can’t walk, can’t smell, can’t taste); the loss of the lifetime of guidance a child would recieve from a parent; the closeness of companionship of a wife or husband that is gone after a death. These can include pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of consortium, and more. Due to their abstract nature, injured victims often find that it is much more difficult to recover compensation for non-economic damages in most personal injury cases, simply because the insurer has more leverage to push back on these types of claims.
To calculate non-economic damages, your Kansas City attorney will likely use one of two methods:
- The Multiplier Method
This approach takes your economic damages and multiplies them by a number between 1.5 and 5, depending on the severity of your injuries. - Punitive Damages
In some cases, the court may also award punitive damages — but personal injury lawyers are not often able to seek these damages in a personal injury claim. They are designed to punish the at-fault party for particularly egregious behavior and are not commonly awarded in personal injury law cases.Calculating punitive damages is much different than calculating compensatory damages, as there is no set formula that must be followed. Instead, the court will consider a number of factors, including the severity of the defendant’s actions, the economic damages suffered by the victim, and more, and choose a sum that is intended to punish the responsible party financially, and to deter that party from ever committing the act again in the future to someone else
What to Expect When Working with a Personal Injury Attorney in Kansas City, MO
If you have been injured in an accident and are considering working with a Kansas City personal injury law firm, you might be wondering what the process will be like. Here is a brief overview of what to expect when you contact our law office and hire our legal services.
Initial Consultation
You will meet with an attorney to discuss your case and decide whether or not to move forward with a Kansas City personal injury case. A consultation with The McCallister Law Firm is free, and you will have the opportunity to discuss your personal injury matter with one of our experienced legal professionals to better understand how to pursue compensation in your unique situation. This is an important part of the process when you will decide if we are a good fit for you. This is a deeply personal, critically important decision that will affect you for a long time.
Investigation and Evidence Gathering
Once you have decided to work with an attorney, they will investigate your case and collect evidence to support your claim. This can include medical records, police reports, witness statements, and more. You will need to provide your Kansas City personal injury attorney with statements, documentation, and information to help them make sense of your situation and build a strong case.
Settlement Negotiations
In many cases, the attorney will be able to reach a settlement with the insurer without having to go to trial in your ase. If a settlement cannot be reached before filing a lawsuit, the next step is filing a lawsuit and preparing for a trial. Statistically, over 90% of personal injury claims are settled without a trial. But at our law firm, we believe the way a case should be settled is to prepare for and be ready for trial in order to obtain 100% justice for our clients.
Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit
If the insurer does not offer a fair settlement, your attorney may recommend filing a personal injury lawsuit. This will involve drafting and filing a complaint, serving the other party, and then going through the discovery process.
Discovery and Pre-trial Preparation
Once the lawsuit has been filed, both sides will begin preparing for trial. This can involve depositions, motion practice, and more. During this process, there will be additional opportunities to discuss settling your personal injury claim. We work hard in this phase to prove every element of your case through this process.
Trial
If your case does not settle during discovery, it will go to trial, where a judge or jury will hear arguments from both sides and decide how much you should be compensated. Trial lawyers are a unique breed of lawyer, with uniqure, time tested skills. Not all personal injury lawyers are trial lawyers. Choose your lawyer carefully.
Appeal
If either party is unhappy with the trial’s outcome, they can file an appeal. However, filing an appeal requires a different set of legal rules and procedures, so it is important to discuss this option with your legal team before moving forward if you believe your case was not resolved correctly.
Remember, this is just a brief overview of what to expect when working with legal representation in Kansas City. Every case is different, and your attorney will tailor their approach to fit the specific needs of your case.
What To Do After Suffering a Personal Injury
If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, the most important thing for you to stay focused on is your health and safety. When personal injury victims ignore their needs at the scene of the accident, an insurance adjuster or legal team defending the at-fault party will use this as “evidence” that you have not suffered injuries that justify a serious personal injury case.
Take a Pause to Collect Your Thoughts
Adrenaline is rushing through your body, and you may feel like you are in shock. You likely do not have all the facts about what caused the accident or how badly you or anyone else is injured. It’s okay to take a breath, collect your thoughts, and assess the situation before talking to anyone about what happened.
Call 911
In many cases, especially after a car accident, the at-fault party might try to convince you not to call 911 and involve the police, but personal injury lawyers will be the first to tell you that this is an essential step for a number of reasons.
Most importantly, you may not even realize that you have suffered injuries, or it may not register that what seems minor is actually one or more serious injuries. The EMTs will attend to your injuries and help you understand what steps to take next.
Additionally, having a Kansas City police officer at the scene will hold the negligent party accountable because they will complete an accident report with a number of relevant details. Police may even issue the negligent party a ticket, and police will undoubtedly ask the negligent party for proof of insurance, which could help your lawyers immensely. There is nothing worse than reaching out to the insurance company to open a claim only to discover that the at-fault party denies the basic facts, which is much easier to do if there is no official report.
Get Medical Attention
Calling 911 will ensure that your physical injuries will be reviewed by the EMTs. Many people deny care at the scene because they are worried about the cost of medical care, but working with high-quality legal representatives after the fact will give you the support you need to recover compensation for the many damages you have suffered.
If the EMTs recommend that you take an ambulance to the emergency room, it is in your best interest to do so to get the appropriate care for any serious injury. If doctors recommend treatment or follow-up medical care, follow their instructions carefully.
Exchange Insurance Information with the At-Fault Driver
In most cases, if you were hit by another driver, they will be required to have car insurance. After an accident, it is important to exchange information with the other party so that their insurance company can be involved.
Never let the at-fault driver convince you not to involve their insurance company. If they do not have insurance, or if their policy limits are too low to cover the damages you suffered, working with a personal injury lawyer can help you understand your other legal options for pursuing compensation.
Additionally, having a Kansas City police officer at the scene will hold the negligent party accountable because they will complete an accident report with a number of relevant details. Police may even issue the negligent party a ticket, and police will undoubtedly ask the negligent party for proof of insurance, which could help your lawyers immensely. There is nothing worse than reaching out to the insurance company to open a claim only to discover that the at-fault party denies the basic facts, which is much easier to do if there is no official report.
Document the Scene of the Accident
If you are physically able, it is helpful to take pictures of the accident scene before anything is moved. This will give your personal injury lawyer a clear idea of what happened and how the accident occurred.
In many cases, there will be skid marks on the road, debris from the accident, or other important details that can help to piece together what happened.
If you cannot document the scene yourself, ask a friend or family member to do so on your behalf. You can even ask police to do it for you and police may be very helpful in this way.
Speak to Witnesses
If anyone saw the accident, it is important to get their contact information so they can be called as a witness later. If someone else saw the accident, it is likely that they saw events leading up to the accident that you did not, which will provide further insight and perspective into the cause of the accident and will further establish the matter of fault.
A personal injury lawyer will use witness testimony to help prove your case and secure the maximum possible compensation for your injuries.
Never Forget: The At-Fault Driver’s Insurance Company is Not Your Friend
As soon as the at-fault driver’s insurance company becomes aware of the accident, they will likely contact you to try and get you to give a recorded statement.
You mustn’t provide a recorded statement without first speaking to a personal injury lawyer. The insurance company will use anything you say against you to devalue or deny your claim, and they are not looking out for your best interests: they are looking out for the interests of their insured.
DO NOT TALK TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE. INSTEAD, CALL US.
Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer
After you have been involved in an accident, it is important to contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to get started on your personal injury case. An experienced attorney will protect your rights and help you navigate the complex legal process so you can focus on your physical recovery.
A personal injury lawyer will also handle all communication with the insurance companies and help you understand your legal options to make the best possible decisions for your future.
If you or someone you love has been involved in an accident, contact The McCallister Law Firm today for a free consultation. Our experienced Kansas City personal injury attorneys will fight for the compensation you deserve.
Contact The McCallister Law Firm To Connect With Our Team of Personal Injury Lawyers Right Away
The sooner you request a free case evaluation from our Missouri law office, the sooner we can help you understand why accident victims benefit by partnering with experienced law firms. Remember, we work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you will not pay a dollar unless you win.
Contact us as soon as possible to get started on your case today.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS
SEE HOW JUSTICE BECAME VERY PERSONAL FOR THEM
Wrongfully imprisoned for 23 YEARS!
A mountain of bills for an accident she didn’t cause.
A semi driver high on marijuana takes her husband’s life.
A teen-aged girl killed in a construction zone.
Robbed of a career by a negligent driver.
A tired trucker takes a man’s teen-aged daughter’s life.
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