Top Personal Injury Lawyers in Pittsburgh

What a Pittsburgh injury claim covers

A personal injury claim is how you recover money when someone else's carelessness hurts you. In Pittsburgh the most common claims come from car, truck, and motorcycle crashes, slip-and-falls, and workplace and construction accidents. You can generally recover medical bills, lost wages, future care, and pain and suffering. The at-fault party rarely pays out of pocket — you are really dealing with their insurer, whose job is to pay as little as possible. That is the main reason to have a lawyer: leveling the field against an adjuster who does this for a living.

Full tort vs. limited tort — the Pennsylvania trap

Pennsylvania is one of the few states with a "choice no-fault" auto system. When you bought your policy you picked full tort or limited tort, usually to save a little on premiums. Limited tort blocks you from recovering pain-and-suffering damages unless your injury meets a "serious injury" threshold or an exception applies. Full tort preserves your right to sue for those damages. Most people do not remember which they chose. A Pittsburgh injury lawyer checks your declarations page first, because it can decide whether part of your claim exists at all.

Fault and the two-year deadline

Pennsylvania uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar: you can recover as long as you are not more than 50% at fault, and your award is reduced by your share of blame. The statute of limitations is two years from the date of the injury (42 Pa.C.S. 5524). There are narrow exceptions — claims against a government body have shorter notice rules, and a minor's clock can differ — but two years is the number to plan around. Evidence fades fast, so the sooner a lawyer investigates the crash scene and secures records, the stronger the case.

Where Pittsburgh injury cases are heard

Lawsuits for injuries in the city are filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Civil Division, at the City-County Building on Grant Street downtown. The large majority of cases settle before trial, but firms that are willing and able to try a case in front of an Allegheny County jury tend to get better settlement offers, because insurers price in the risk of a verdict.

What personal injury cases costs in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh personal injury lawyers work on contingency, so you pay nothing up front and no hourly fee. The standard fee is a percentage of the recovery, commonly around 33% if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed and closer to 40% if it goes into litigation. The firm advances case costs — records, expert reports, filing fees — and is repaid from the recovery. If there is no recovery, you generally owe no fee. Always confirm in writing how costs are handled if the case is lost, and get the fee percentage in the engagement letter.