Injury Attorney Columbia, MO. What are you supposed to do when someone else’s decision to behave carelessly or negligently upends your life? You should not have to pay for the treatment costs, time you have had to miss from work, your pain and anguish, and all the other losses that come along with an injury that wasn’t your fault. A skilled injury attorney in Columbia, MO will do whatever it takes to make sure those people responsible pay for the damages you have suffered. Someone else’s careless mistake or willful act of harm should not have the power to permanently derail your life. Our Columbia, MO injury attorneys will not rest until justice is served.
Combs Waterkotte is an injury law firm in the Columbia, MO area committed to protecting people from injustices and helping those injured in Columbia or anywhere in Missouri recover full payment for their damages to restore them and make them whole again following their accident. If you have been injured in any type of accident caused by another person, call an injury attorney with Combs Waterkotte in Columbia, MO right away at (314) 900-HELP or fill out this form immediately.
Should I hire an injury attorney?
If you have been injured due to another person’s behavior, you deserve reparations. Under Missouri law, you have a chance to do just that through payment for your losses. To even hope to receive fair compensation for your injury and any additional losses — collectively considered damages — caused by a negligent party, you need to make a Missouri personal injury claim. For most injury victims, you will need to enlist the services of an injury attorney to ensure that you receive the highest possible settlement for your damages.
In general, if you were injured to the point of needing medical attention, you will need the representation of an injury attorney to ensure you receive a fair settlement. When your case involves complicated legal issues regarding liability and negligence, rely on the legal knowledge of a reputable Columbia, MO injury attorney. Our tenacious legal team will work on your behalf to demand full payment for your injuries and other damages. If you are unsure whether you need an injury attorney or feel that you do need legal counsel but aren’t sure how to get started, call (314) 900-HELP or send a message right now for a free case review with a Combs Waterkotte Columbia, MO injury attorney. We take the time to help you understand your legal options and determine the best action to take to begin your recovery.
As your Columbia, MO injury attorney, we call upon injury experts and professionals who can accurately calculate what your claim is worth, track down all relevant evidence to build a sound case, handle all communication between you and the insurance company, support and advocate for you, negotiate a fair settlement and argue your case in trial if the defendant refuses to play fair. Put your claim in the hands of our legal experts so we can fight for an excellent settlement while you rest, heal from your injuries, and get back to life as you know it. Take advantage of your best chance of a full recovery at no upfront cost to you by hiring a Combs Waterkotte injury attorney today. As your legal representative, we are dedicated to protecting you from the greed and injustice of the insurance company and demanding a full financial recovery for your damages.
Cases our Columbia, MO Injury Attorneys Specialize In
Regardless of the specifics, when someone else’s negligent actions harm you, you deserve to make a complete physical and financial recovery. In most cases, you need to hire an injury attorney in Columbia, MO with experience winning cases like yours to get you the recovery you deserve. An injury attorney in Columbia, MO with a track record of holding negligent people accountable and making sure insurance companies pay victims in full for their damages can do the same for you.
Our injury attorneys have decades of combined experience fighting for the rights of the injured and successfully demanding full settlements for injury victims like you who have been injured by negligent people in Columbia or anywhere in Missouri. Discover more about some of the areas we work with below.
Car Accidents
Every year, an estimated three million people in the US are hurt in car accidents. This leads to 2.5 million annual emergency room visits and a pricetag in the billions for medical costs, lost wages and property damage. 77% of injuries from car accidents occur in collisions between two more more vehicles (rather than single-vehicle accidents, when the driver runs into a fix object or rolls over). Statistically, if you get injured in a car accident, there is a good chance that someone is liable.
If you were seriously injured in a car accident in Missouri, speak to an injury attorney in Columbia, MO right away. i.e. Whether you suffered multiple broken bones, whiplash or permanent paralysis, you deserve full compensation for your injuries and other damages. It takes the negotiating prowess and legal acumen of a talented Columbia, MO injury attorney to get you the best outcome in your Columbia, MO car accident claim. Combs Waterkotte’s injury attorneys posess impressive backgrounds in drunk driving accidents, hit and run collisions, distracted driving crashes, speeding accidents and many other kind of Columbia, MO car wrecks.
Truck Accidents
The majority of commercial truck drivers are careful drivers who follow the rules of the road, but when someone messes up and sends you into an accident with an 18-wheeler or even a city bus in Columbia, MO, the devastation is extreme. If you are in one of the more than 100,000 people injured in the approximately 90,000 truck crashes that result in injuries in the United States every year, you must hire a trusted Columbia, MO injury attorney right away.
Truck accidents are distinct from other traffic injury cases like Missouri car crashes. This is due to factors like the multitude of potentially negligent parties in your truck crash, federal regulations by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that govern commercial truck operation, and the degree of destruction attributed to the incredible size and stopping distance of these large vehicles. After your truck accident, call speak to an injury attorney in Columbia, MO at (314) 900-HELP right away.
Motorcycle Accidents
It is hard to resist the bliss and freedom of feeling the wind on your face on a motorcycle ride. If you are a motorcycle rider, all you can do is do your part to ride safely and follow the rules of the road — the same thing any driver of any vehicle should do. However, the majority of motorcycle accidents that cause injuries in Missouri and the United States are the fault of the other driver. In fact, about two thirds of motorcycle accidents are caused by another vehicle — usually a regular passenger vehicle — when a driver fails to yield to the motorcycle’s right of way. The vast majority of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents result in the motorcycle rider being injured.
As a motorcycle rider, you can protect yourself from the threat of severe injuries or even death by always wearing a helmet, following the rules of the road, and being aware of and avoiding other drivers’ blind spots. Helmets saved over 25,000 lives between 2002 and 2015. If you have been harmed in a motorcycle accident that wasn’t your fault, an injury attorney in Columbia, MO can maximize your recovery and protect you from the insurance company. Our team of accomplished injury attorneys in Columbia, MO will begin working on your behalf immediately.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents
In the spring and summer in Columbia, MO, walking and bicycling are great modes of transportation, forms of exercise, and leisure activities. However, when walking or riding through a road or intersection, vehicle driver negligence can severely injure or even kill you for pedestrians and bicyclists. Annually, around 130,000 bicyclists are injured in traffic accidents, and another 137,000 pedestrians are injured.
It takes no advanced physisist to know that a human body, either on foot or on the slight metal frame of a bicycle, is no match against a passenger vehicle, truck or even a fixed object. When hit by a car or other motor vehicle, bicyclists and pedestrians are likely to suffer serious or even life-threatening injuries. Speak to a Combs Waterkotte Columbia, MO injury attorney right away after sustaining injuries in a bicycle or pedestrian traffic accident. Be sure to seek emergency medical care and leave your financial recovery up to our Columbia, MO injury attorneys.
Dog Bites
The vast majority of us love dogs or at the very least appreciate the attributes they are known for: loyalty, obedience, intelligence, irresistible cuteness. Unfortunately, because dogs are animals, sometimes their behavior is defensive or aggressive, and sometimes they bite. If a dog bit and injured you, you may be entitled to make an injury claim. With the help of a Combs Waterkotte dog bite injury attorney in Columbia, MO, you can receive a full settlement for the losses you suffered as a result of that dog bite.
An astounding 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs every year, producing 800,000 dog bite victims that are injured to the point of requiring medical care. Though we can’t always know exactly what they are thinking, dogs most often bite when they feel threatened, startled or sick. In most cases, under Missouri law, you can only collect damages in a dog bite injury claim if you were bitten without provocation. Your Combs Waterkotte Columbia, MO injury attorney will investigate your case to understand whether you have a legitimate claim and build an argument to get you full compensation.
Defective Products
Consumer product manufacturers in the US owe consumers a duty of care to make sure that their products are safe for their intended use. If a manufacturer in the US sells a product that turns out to be defective or dangerous, it is their duty to take the product off the market and provide monetary damages anyone who was harmed or damaged by the product. If you have been injured by a defective product, you need to find an injury attorney in Columbia, MO who has experience representing victims of defective products through product liability claims. Review your product liability case with a Combs Waterkotte injury attorney in Columbia, MO now.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is the federal agency responsible for enforcing standards and issuing recalls for products that has harmed consumers. Anything from household supplies to vehicle components, clothing, cosmetic products, and many other types of products available to consumers may be recalled. Data shows that the most common injury-causing consumer products are homewares like chairs, mattresses, stairs, and other furniture and fixtures.
The FDA is the government agency in charge of protecting consumers against dangerous food and pharmaceutical goods , including an average of nearly 3,000 defective medical devices per year, including 3,202 in 2017. If you or a loved one were seriously injured or made ill by a drug, medical device, or consumer good, you might have a product liability claim against the manufacturer or other involved parties. Your Columbia, MO injury attorney will help you get the full compensation you deserve in your product liability claim.
Dangerous Premises
Property owners or those controlling a property have a duty to keep the property safe for visitors. If there is a dangerous condition on a property left unaddressed or without any warning or indicator and that causes you to are injured, you could be eligible to file a Missouri premises liability claim. Your injury attorney will hold the property owner accountable for failing to uphold their duty and help you secure compensation for your damages.
Premises liability claims in Columbia, MO can come about from a number of dangerous conditions on a property. Common causes of premises liability claims our injury attorneys see include:
- Animal attacks
- Slips and falls from wet floors, obstructions, holes, poor lighting, and other causes
- Inadequate security
- Swimming pool accidents
- Inproper property maintenance
- Hazards without proper signage or indicators
- Unsupervised children
- Retail store injuries
- Injuries in restaurants
- Walkway and parking lot injuries
- Falling ojbects
When a landowner in Columbia, MO knew or should have been aware of a hazard on their property and did not fulfill their responsibility to fix the safety hazard or implement adequate signage or warning in a reasonable amount of time, they are liable for your injuries. Our compassionate Columbia, MO premises liability injury attorney team will demand that the property owner pay for the losses you have suffered as a result of their negligence.
Combs Waterkotte is not just any Columbia, MO law firm. We fight for you as if you were our family and we don’t back down until you get the justice in any of the case types listed here:
What Kind of Settlement Can I Get with an Injury Attorney?
The value of your claim and the dollar amount of your settlement in your Missouri personal injury case depends on various factors. Each case is unique, so reach out to an injury attorney as soon as possible after you are injured in an accident to evaluate your legal options and the value of your claim.
A talented Columbia, MO injury attorney can maximize your financial recovery for your injuries, but you have to examine your case based on its individual characteristics. Our Columbia, MO injury attorneys will not represent you unless we know that we will get you a better recovery than you would likely receive on your own, after considering our fees. Our Columbia, MO injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, so you do not owe us anything until we win your case.
Your Columbia, MO injury case settlement depends on many variables. However, the following have a direct influence on the amount of compensation you can receive:
- The severity of your damages – This includes the sum of your expenses like medical bills and lost wages from missed work as well as non-economic damages like mental anguish and the permanence of your injuries. Your injury attorney will collect all documentation of your damages and call upon experts to help them calculate an accurate dollar value for your total damages. The average medical costs for car accident injury victims, for example, is $3,300 in emergency department visits and $57,000 in lifetime medical care. Keep your medical bills and work with your injury attorney to calculate your total damages.
- Insurance policy limits – In the majority of personal injury cases, it is the defendant’s insurance company that foots the bill. Insurance policies have a limit or a cap on what they will pay out per injured person and per incident. Each state has its own laws on the minimum required insurance policy limits. In Missourimotor vehicle policies, these minimum caps are:
- $25,000 per person for bodily injury
- $50,000 per accident for bodily injury
- $25,000 per accident for property damage
If the negligent person responsible for your accident carries standard insurance coverage with the minimum allowed policy limits in Missouri, the maximum amount that the insurance company will agree to pay is $25,000. However, there may be other ways to maximize your financial recovery. Trust the expertise of your Columbia, MO injury attorney to get you the compensation you deserve.
- Your injury attorney – Having professional legal representation at all will positively affect the outcome of your case, assuming you sustained injuries that necessitated medical care. Insurance companies are not known to voluntarily pay out a fair settlement on their own. They have a reputation of manipulating and tricking injury victims, especially those who don’t have legal counsel on their side. They may deny responsibility altogether or even try to blame you for the accident. Even when with the injury attorney fees factored in, injury victims receive an average of three times higher compensation when they have a lawyer compared to those who do not. When you hire the right experienced, dedicated, compassionate injury attorney, you have a better chance of getting maximum compensation.
Hire an Injury Attorney in Columbia, MO | Combs Waterkotte
Get the recovery you deserve after someone’s negligence causes you harm. Whether you were in a car accident, bicycle accident, dog bite attack, slip and fall or other kind of accident that wasn’t your fault, you deserve receive full compensation for your damages. Our Columbia, MO injury attorneys make that possible. Win your personal injury claim and get an excellent settlement that allows you to move on from your injuries by hiring an accident attorney with Combs Waterkotte today.
Learn more about the expertise of our firm by exploring our recent victories or client testimonials or contact us now to speak to an injury attorney for free. Let us defend your rights against the insurance companies and help you get the compensation you deserve. Call (314) 900-HELP now.
