Best Personal Injury Lawyers Indianapolis, IN (2024)

• Richard A. Cook
• Amy M. Davis
• Nicholas C. Deets
• Kevin P. Farrell
• Richard D. Hailey
• Jeffrey A. Hammond
• Nathaniel Lee
• Alex J. Limontes
• Katherine M. Marshall
• John F. Townsend, III

There are many things to know about filing a personal injury lawsuit, and we can only scratch the surface of what a good personal injury lawyer in Indianapolis can offer. We can, however, provide a general overview of some of the more important laws and rules in Indiana that you should know about if you are considering filing a lawsuit.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about filing your personal injury lawsuit is how much time you have to do so. This is dictated by the Indiana statutes of limitations.

Indiana Statute of Limitations

A statute of limitations is the amount of time that each state allows for lawsuits to be filed after an injury. Depending on the injury, the amount of time allowed can vary. While each state sets its own rules, Most states have statutes of limitations of two to three years for personal injuries. Indiana is no exception. The statute of limitations for most personal injuries in Indiana is two years.

For injury claims against the city or county, Indiana allows 180 days to file a claim. If you file a personal injury claim against a state government agency, you have 270 days.

It’s helpful to know that the statute of limitations doesn’t begin to toll— meaning the time limit doesn’t start— until the injury is discovered. This usually happens when the injury occurs in batteries or auto accidents, but medical malpractice or birth injuries may not be discovered until months or years after the initial injury.

Finally, the statute of limitations for wrongful death begins at the time of death.

Indiana Personal Injury Laws

Like all states, Indiana sets its own personal injury laws. While it would be beyond the scope of this article to review all of these unique laws in detail, here are a few unique laws for Indiana.

• Dog Bite Liability. Many states, including Indiana, have What’s called the “one bite” rule for dogs. This rule allows for a dog owner to be shielded from liability the first time their dog injures someone. After the first injury, normal liability rules apply when the owner has reason to know the dog may be dangerous. In Indiana, dog owners are strictly liable for dog bites if they knew or should have known the dog could bite.
• Indiana Damage Caps. Indiana has many caps on damages. Medical malpractice cases have a cap on damages of $1.8 million. Claims against government agencies are capped at $700,000 per person and $5 million per incident. Punitive damages—money damages meant to punish the responsible party—are capped at three times the non-punitive damages

Finding Fault and Defining Negligence

Indiana, like the majority of states, follows the modified comparative negligence rule for finding fault. This rule establishes how fault is determined and how damages are paid by following these steps:

1. A jury or judge determines who is at fault and what percentage they are at fault for an accident. For example, a jury could find that a truck driver was 80% at fault and a car driver was 20% at fault in a traffic accident.
2. The damages that are being sought are adjusted based on how responsible each party was for the accident. In our example, let’s suppose the car driver suffered $10,000 in Damages and the truck driver countersued for $20,000 in Damages. The car driver would be allowed to recover $8,000, which is 80% of what they sought.
3. The modified comparative negligence rule prevents anyone more than 51% responsible for the accident from recovering any damages. Without the modified comparative negligence rule—in a state that uses “pure” comparative negligence—the truck driver could recover $4,000: 20% of their damages.

How Can an Attorney Help You?

Depending on the kind of injury that you’ve suffered, there are many benefits to hiring a personal injury lawyer in Indianapolis.

Many times, the sort of personal injury that leads you to look for an attorney is an isolated incident— hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime event. That means you may not know how to deal with the situation or what you need to do. A personal injury attorney who specializes in lawsuits related to the kind of injury you suffered, however, deals with these situations all the time.

They can often advise you on documents you may need to save, people you may need to reach out to and exactly what your rights are when it comes to dealing with someone who injured you through the legal system.

They often have connections and resources that can benefit clients dealing with injuries or other damages. For example, many auto accident lawyers know lots of good mechanics. Many attorneys who deal with catastrophic injuries or deaths can recommend therapists, counselors or support groups that may prove invaluable.

Of course, it goes without saying that your attorney can also investigate your claim, negotiate any settlement offers, advise you regarding potential actions or steps to take and, if it’s necessary, represent you at trial.

If you need to find the personal injury attorney and Indianapolis, our list above is a great place to start. There are many other great attorneys in the city however, and the right one for you may not be on our list at all. When you are meeting with an attorney to decide whether to work with them, consider following these steps.

• Make sure you’re not paying for your consultation. Some attorneys charge consultation fees, but personal injury lawyers typically don’t. There are plenty of great attorneys you can talk to about your case for free, so paying to discuss your case is unnecessary.
• Be certain that your attorney has experience working on your kind of case. There are a lot of nuances to each type of personal injury case, and you want to be sure that the lawyer you hire to represent you is familiar with all of the nuances of your type of injury.
• Make sure you understand how your attorney will be paid. Your lawyer should make it clear what percentage they will get and how that will be calculated.
• Don’t be afraid to shop around. You don’t have all the time in the world—there is a statute of limitations— but you should be able to meet with several potential lawyers and make an informed decision. High-pressure approaches to getting your business might be a red flag.
• Be comfortable. Your lawyer works for you and represents you. You should feel good about this person negotiating and arguing on your behalf, and you should feel good about working with them yourself. Personal injury cases can take months or years. Consider someone you might be working with for that long carefully.

To come up with the Best Personal Injury Lawyers in Indianapolis in 2024, Forbes Advisor considered many factors. Forbes Advisor’s mathematical module considers and weighs the information collected to calculate a specific rating and reviews these results to find the best attorneys in a given practice area.

Within the model, we take into account factors that legal professionals and consumers value in an attorney’s qualifications. After assigning weighted scores to hundreds of data points, we narrowed the field down to our top choices based on:

• Legal experience
• Special licenses & certifications
• Ethics and bar disciplinary measures
• Legal thought leadership
• Education & employment background
• Scholarly lectures & writings
• Awards & honors

Forbes Advisor collects public data from a variety of sources, including state bar associations, court records and other published sources on the internet. This information should not be considered comprehensive, however. It might not include additional relevant information on an attorney’s legal skills and experience.

Each lawyer listed here has their own merits. Bear in mind that our list relates to these lawyers’ legal backgrounds but does not evaluate their personalities or their knowledge of the law. One attorney may be more suitable than another for your specific legal situation.

One thing that can’t be quantified, though, is the rapport you establish with your attorney. Personality goes a long way when teaming up with an attorney, especially when going through a potentially difficult legal situation. These rankings should serve as a reference and potential starting point in your search for the right lawyer for you and your legal concerns.