The left-turn crash is the most common: a driver waiting to turn across traffic misjudges the speed of an oncoming motorcycle, or never registers it at all, and turns into its path. Close behind are drivers pulling out from driveways and side streets, lane changes into a rider in the blind spot, rear-end collisions at stoplights, and car doors opened into a rider’s path. Indiana law gives a motorcycle the same right to a full lane as any other vehicle, and a driver who fails to yield is responsible for the crash. We obtain the police report, witness statements, and the other vehicle’s event-data recorder, and we retain reconstruction experts when speed or sight lines are disputed.
Adjusters and some jurors start from the assumption that motorcyclists are reckless. That bias shows up in a quick liability denial, a lowball offer, or an argument that the rider must have been speeding. We counter it with evidence: skid and gouge marks, crush damage, event-data downloads, the rider’s licensing and training history, and the testimony of independent witnesses. Indiana does not require adult riders to wear a helmet; the requirement applies to riders under eighteen and to certain permit holders. We treat the absence of a helmet the way the law should: it is not negligence in itself, and we resist every attempt to use it to reduce a rider’s recovery for injuries a helmet would not have prevented. Lane splitting, riding between lanes of slow or stopped traffic, is not permitted in Indiana, and we address that question directly when it is raised.
A rider thrown from a motorcycle at any speed can suffer a traumatic brain injury even with a helmet, deep road rash requiring skin grafts, fractures of the pelvis, legs, wrists, and collarbone, spinal cord injury, and amputation. These injuries mean long hospitalizations, surgery, rehabilitation, and in many cases a permanent change in the ability to work. We document every category of loss, including future care and lost earning capacity, with treating physicians and life-care planners. Some crashes are caused not by another driver but by the road itself: loose gravel left by a paving crew, an unmarked pavement edge drop, a pothole, or a steel plate. Those claims run against a contractor or a government entity, and a claim against a city, county, or the state requires a tort claim notice on a short deadline.
The at-fault driver’s policy is only the first layer. If that driver fled, had no insurance, or carried the state minimum, the rider’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on the motorcycle policy applies, and so may the UM/UIM coverage on the auto policies of other vehicles in the household. Riders are often surprised to learn that a car policy they never thought about covers their motorcycle injuries. We review every policy in the home, read the exclusions, and stack coverage where the policy language allows it. When the case resolves, the hospital, the health insurer, and Medicare or Medicaid will each want a share. You get the check. We handle the bills, auditing each lien and negotiating it down.
In Indiana, most personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the date of injury (Ind. Code § 34-11-2-4). Claims against a city, county, or state agency require a formal tort claim notice much sooner, in some cases within 180 days. Waiting costs leverage, and in some cases it costs the claim entirely.
We represent injured people everywhere in Indiana. Most of an injury case happens by phone, email, and video, so you do not need to live near one of our offices to work with us.
Injury cases are handled on a contingency fee: no retainer, no hourly bill, and no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. The percentage is set in a written agreement before we start and depends on the stage at which the case resolves. How contingency fees work, in plain English.
A decorated U.S. Army veteran who set his sights on the law at age eight, James has represented hundreds of injured clients with a modern, client-first style and a refusal to let insurance companies run out the clock.
Yes. Indiana does not require adult riders to wear a helmet, and not wearing one is not negligence in itself. The insurer may try to argue it, and we are prepared for that argument.
No. A driver’s duty is to look and to yield before turning or pulling out. Failing to see a motorcycle that was there to be seen is the negligence, not an excuse for it.
Your own uninsured motorist coverage on the motorcycle policy applies, and coverage on other household auto policies may apply as well. We review every policy available.
Nothing up front. You won’t owe us a fee unless we recover for you.
Five minutes on the phone and you will know where you stand. You will not owe us a fee unless we recover money for you, and the bills get handled before the check does.