Car Accident Attorney Pittsburgh

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are more than 8 million licensed drivers in the state of Pennsylvania, more than 7.6 million in Ohio, and more than 1.2 million in West Virginia. With close to 17 million drivers in these three states alone, it is easy to see how more than 32,000 people die each year in car accidents. We fight for our clients’ rights to recover compensation from individuals or corporations whose carelessness caused their injuries or death.

The attorneys at Shenderovich, Shenderovich & Fishman handle car wrecks including:

• Full tort
• Limited tort
• Uninsured drivers
• Underinsured drivers
• Hit and runs
• Drunk drivers
• Insurance bad faith
• Fatal accidents

WHAT KIND OF SETTLEMENT CAN I GET FROM A CAR ACCIDENT LAWSUIT?

If you were injured in an accident caused by another driver, your settlement may include compensation for the following:

• Medical bills – Medical bills related to your car accident injuries include bills for past treatment, ongoing treatment, and anticipated medical costs for future treatments.
• Property loss – Property loss in your car accident includes damage to both your vehicle and any other property inside of your vehicle that was damaged in the accident.
• Lost wages – If you missed work because of your car accident injuries, you may be compensated for any lost earnings.
• Lost future wages – If you are not able to return to work or if your earning capacity is diminished as a result of your injuries, you may be compensated for those lost future earnings as well.
• Pain and suffering – Your car accident injuries may go well beyond your financial losses to include compensation for the pain and suffering you endured and may still be dealing with as a result of your injuries and damages.
• Loss of enjoyment of life – You may also be able to recover for car accident injuries that have detrimental impacts on your lifestyle and that cause you to lose the ability to enjoy or participate in activities and life pleasures.
• Punitive damages – Punitive damages may be awarded when it can be shown that the defendant’s behavior was so outrageous or willful that it rose beyond the level of gross negligence. Punitive damages are meant to serve as punishment to the defendant for his or her egregious conduct.

Claims for a car accident causing the death of a loved one

In Pennsylvania there are two civil claims that are frequently brought against a defendant who was at fault for the death of a person: wrongful death claim and survivor action. Wrongful death claims are made in an effort to compensate family members of the deceased for damages they suffered due to losing their loved one such as loss of emotional and financial support. Survivor actions are intended to recover for injuries sustained by the deceased between the time that the accident occurred and the time that he or she died such as pain and suffering and medical bills.

Our settlements and verdicts

Our attorneys have been securing financial recoveries for car accident victims for a combined total of over 170 years. Although many of our settlements are so large that major insurance companies have prevented us from sharing the settlement amounts, we are still able to share some of our settlement amounts. See below for some of our case settlements and verdict amounts:

$3.3M – We secured a $3.3M recovery for family members of a man who was killed in a car accident when equipment fell off of a passing trailer and struck the victim’s motor vehicle.

$1.5M – Recovered for a man killed in a motor vehicle that was struck by a bus.

$1.3M – Recovered for a woman who was killed in an accident with a tractor-trailer.

$550,000 – Recovered for a motor vehicle passenger who was injured when the intoxicated driver crashed the motor vehicle they were riding in.

$450,000 – Recovered for a person injured in an SUV rollover accident.

$420,000 – We recovered the maximum insurance policy limits in a case where a woman was killed in a car accident.

Common causes of car accidents

For over 25 years we have been representing plaintiffs who have sustained injuries and damages in car accidents. There are a number of car accident causes that we repeatedly see in our accident cases that are described below.

• Distracted driving – With the technological advances of smartphone capabilities, we are continually seeing distracted driving cases. Our clients have sustained car accident injuries due to drivers’ using their smartphones while driving for things such as updating their facebook statuses, texting, checking email, and watching videos.
• Speeding – If there is one thing that our Pittsburgh car accident attorneys know, it is that speed really does kill. Speed is a common factor in our car accident cases that often result in serious injuries and death.
• Driving too fast – Even when a driver is not traveling over the speed limit, sometimes dangerous conditions such as snow, rain, and heavy traffic require drivers to operate their vehicles at a slower than typical pace for the safety of everyone on the road.
• Driving under the influence – Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is a common cause of car accidents, especially in car accidents that occur late at night or in the early morning hours of the weekend.
• Human error – Sometimes accidents can only be blamed on human error due to simply making a mistake in driving. Types of human error may include things like failure to notice and yield to a stop sign, following another vehicle too closely, or failure to check blind spots before changing lanes.

Our Pittsburgh car accident attorneys at Shenderovich, Shenderovich & Fishman are victim advocates who want to see that our clients receive maximum recoveries for injuries and damages sustained in car accidents due to another driver’s negligence. We are not interested in fast case turnovers for quick settlements and we are skilled insurance negotiators. If insurance companies are not making reasonable offers to fairly compensate our clients, we take these cases to trial. If you or a loved one has sustained serious injuries or death in a car accident, contact our Pittsburgh car accident experts to fight for you and your family.