Personal Injury Lawyer in Colorado and Kentucky

What to Do After a Car Accident

At the moment of impact in a car crash, it can seem as though your whole world has stopped. In that next moment, a million different questions can go through your head, including:

• How serious are my injuries?
• Is my car beyond repair?
• What happened to the other people involved in the collision?
• Will I be able to return to work—and when?
• How will I support my family while I recover?
• How will I pay for my medical bills?
• What are my legal rights and options?

These are all important and intelligent questions. When you need answers, call the law firm of Natalie T. Stuart. We are ready to assist you with your legal needs so you can get your life back on track after a car accident. We document every aspect of your injury and carefully investigate each detail of your personal injury case because we know that these details can make a difference in the amount of compensation we recover for you. We keep you fully informed of our progress every step of the way.

Accidents and injuries to children can involve several different types of law, e.g. auto accident law, premise liability, liability of a business such as a daycare center, or liability of an individual, including neighbors, caregivers, or babysitters. Injuries can be complicated by the age of a child and long-term prognosis is often impacted by a child’s natural development. If your child has been injured, it is important to seek qualified medical treatment immediately and then discuss your rights with an experienced accident attorney. Natalie T. Stuart offers an initial case review at no charge to you.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a truck accident, it is important to contact an attorney as soon as possible. If you plan to file a lawsuit, it is critical to have an attorney begin investigating the accident and preserving evidence so that it is not lost.

How Your Attorney Can Help

An attorney can assist you with gathering evidence such as information regarding the truck’s condition and maintenance records, the speed the truck was traveling at the time of the accident, the truck driver’s log book, GPS information, the truck’s black box, statements from eyewitnesses and first responders, the driver’s driving history and whether he or she had any prior accidents, the transportation company’s policies and procedures regarding safety and maintenance, and the company’s accident history.

Your attorney will also be able to work with expert witnesses who may be needed to testify about the possible negligence of a trucking company or driver. An expert can be any person who has experience in the trucking industry, such as a former trucking company executive, a safety director, a Department of Transportation investigator, or an accident investigator with experience in the trucking field.

After a serious accident involving an 18-wheeler, tanker, dump truck, or other large commercial vehicle, you may have many questions. An attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced in trucking law can give you the best advice about how to handle your case.

Wrongful death can take many forms, including accidents caused by a car or semi-truck, a drunk driver, a bicycle accident, a pedestrian accident caused by a careless motorist, or an act of medical malpractice. No matter what caused the death, one thing is clear—the person or organization that caused the death of your family member or loved one is responsible and should be held accountable for their reckless or negligent actions.

The unexpected death of a family member or loved one, caused by someone’s negligence or misconduct, can leave you in too much shock to think about how to face an uncertain financial future. The law offices of Natalie T. Stuart are dedicated to helping restore balance to your life. While money can never bring a loved one back, it can help ease the financial burden for survivors. Ms. Stuart will work to hold negligent parties accountable for the actions that resulted in your tragedy.

Motorcycle accidents frequently result in the most serious injuries of any other type of traffic accident. This is mainly due to the lack of protection that a rider enjoys when navigating roads and highways. A fully protected rider will only have a helmet, pads, and riding leathers separating them from vehicles and stationary objects in a collision, and many riders choose to go without any manner of protection at all.

This can lead to life-altering injuries in an accident that include fractured or crushed bones, serious brain damage, spinal cord trauma (resulting in paralysis), internal injuries such as hemorrhaging, and coma. If the accident is severe enough, it may even leave the rider fatally wounded. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a motorcycle rider is nine times more likely to be injured in an accident, and 37 times more likely to be killed, than those riding in a passenger vehicle at the time of a collision.

It is vitally important that you contact an injury attorney when you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, as you may be entitled to substantial compensation for the damage you have sustained. A lawyer can work with the insurance companies to negotiate a settlement that is adequate to cover your injury-related expenses.

No one expects to be seriously injured in a bicycle accident or hit by a car in a pedestrian accident. But when you are, it can be devastating. Statistics show a bike accident is rarely the fault of the biker. Driver negligence accounts for most of the catastrophic injuries suffered in bike and pedestrian accidents.

Because bikers and pedestrians are so unprotected and vulnerable, being hit by a car or truck can cause severe injuries such as brain injuries, broken bones, and spinal cord injuries. You may also be out of work, overwhelmed with numerous medical bills, or disabled and in pain. Bike or pedestrian accidents can lead to disability or even death.

This is even worse when the insurance company gives you the runaround or won’t pay you what you deserve—or as can happen in these cases, says it was your fault and refuses to admit you deserve any compensation. It takes a smart, aggressive attorney like Natalie Stuart to hold the insurance company to its responsibilities. In her 27 years of practice, insurance companies have learned that if they don’t offer clients a fair settlement, she won’t hesitate to litigate the case before a judge and jury.

Our law firm knows how to handle the special details of bicycle and pedestrian accidents and can help you right away by opening an investigation into the accident to preserve evidence, get police reports, and interviewing witnesses.

When you been seriously injured in an accident by a drunk driver, you need an attorney to protect your rights. Drunk driving is a serious business. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in a recent one-year period, 11,773 people died in alcohol-related accidents. Driving while under the influence of alcohol causes:

• Slower Reaction Time
• Reduced Coordination
• Fatigue
• Inability to Concentrate
• Decreased Ability to Determine Where One is on the Road
• Impaired Night Vision
• Lowered Ability to Think Clearly and Make Rational Decisions

In Kentucky, the blood alcohol level for driving under the influence (DUI) is .08% or higher. Even though DUI penalties are harsh, many individuals still drink and drive. Their negligence causes serious injuries or even death to innocent people every day. An experienced Bowing Green, KY, injury attorney can help you pursue damages for injuries to yourself or a loved one for medical bills, lost wages, disability, and pain and suffering.

Every year, hundreds of people are attacked and bitten by dogs and other animals. Sadly, most dog bite victims are children and many times the injuries are to their faces. Attacks by vicious animals can result in severe injuries, pain and suffering, and disfiguring scars.

Children in particular can suffer embarrassment and emotional distress. Victims of animal attacks may develop a fear of animals in general and be afraid to go for walks or ride their bikes, worried they could be bitten again. People suffering from animal bites may need treatment not only from doctors but also from counselors and other experts.

Whether you or your child was attacked by a known vicious dog or by any other domestic animal, contact our Kentucky and Tennessee dog bite lawyer. If you or a loved one was bitten or attacked by a negligent owner’s animal, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills and for your pain, suffering, and disfigurement.

We have a network of highly trained doctors and medical specialists who can treat your injuries, including plastic surgeons to treat scarring and counselors to address emotional issues.

In a birth injury case, under the laws of medical malpractice, damages may be recovered for you or your child if the involved healthcare professionals failed in a relevant way to follow or abide by the usual standards of care set by the healthcare profession. This is what is meant by medical negligence resulting in birth injury.

When a physician fails to properly treat a medical condition and the negligent act or omission is the cause of a new or aggravated injury to the patient, this is termed medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice can be very difficult to prove. It takes an experienced personal injury attorney to properly handle your medical malpractice case. Medical malpractice requires extensive research and expert testimonials. We have the ability to hire experts in a field specific to your case to review your medical malpractice claim. If, after the initial research, the case warrants further investigation, we have a staff of experts ready to handle your medical malpractice case.

Medical malpractice laws vary from state to state, many have a time limit on how long after the act of negligence you may file a claim. Medical malpractice statutes, however, change depending on the facts of your case, whether they deal with children, when someone has died from medical malpractice, or when a surgeon mistakenly leaves a foreign object inside the body.

Because these details can change within your malpractice case, it is imperative that you choose a personal injury lawyer who has experience handling cases where doctors and medical staff have made clinical errors resulting in personal injury to you or someone you love.

Putting a loved one in a nursing home is one of the most difficult decisions that a family will ever make. Many families spend a significant amount of time researching potential nursing homes, only to later learn that they were deceived by the nursing home’s promises that their loved one would be treated with respect and dignity. On the contrary, there are times our elderly family members die in nursing homes because of abuse or neglect by the nursing home staff members.

Nursing home abuse and neglect manifests itself in many ways: physical abuse, verbal abuse, and neglect in helping with daily living tasks.

A family member should watch for signs of physical assault and battery, sexual assault and battery, rape, molestation, unreasonable use of physical restraints, unreasonable use of drug restraints, failure to provide sufficient food and water, pressure sores, and blackened eyes, wounds, cuts, fractures or bruises. Additionally, sometimes the patients are seriously injured or killed when they are allowed to wander from the facility because of a lack of adequate supervision.

A mild brain injury can be deceptive. It might begin with a minor accident like a football injury, a fall, or a car accident. When experiencing a mild traumatic brain injury, the injured person probably will not remember a brief loss of consciousness.

The law firm of Natalie T. Stuart has dealt with many brain injury cases, and we recognize symptoms that the doctors sometimes misdiagnose, underdiagnose, or completely fail to diagnose. For example:

• You can’t concentrate
• Your memory is affected, especially short-term memory
• You can’t think quickly
• You may feel depressed
• You can’t stand noise
• Your self-perception is affected

There is a statute of limitations on accident injuries. The limitations vary depending on the type of accident. It is important to begin treatment quickly and that the patient sees an experienced injury attorney who can help you begin to put your life back together. We will manage your case from many perspectives: medical, personal, financial, and vocational so you can get back your life and lifestyle as much as possible.

When a person visiting a property sustains an injury that could have been prevented, premises liability law is used to determine whether the property owner or property manager is responsible. Successful slip and fall accident cases in Kentucky must prove that the property manager or property owner acted in a negligent manner and that your injury was the result of their negligence, whether at a residence or at a place of business. If you slip or trip and fall in a person’s home or a place of business in Kentucky that is owned by someone else, you may have a slip-and-fall lawsuit claim.

Even if the accident occurred in your house and was your fault, or for some reason the requirements of a slip and fall lawsuit are not applicable, you still have the right to consult with a personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal rights. In many instances, you may be entitled to a settlement without having to go to court; this type of pre-suit settlement saves time and money in court fees, money which is better served going to the injured party.

You will have a stronger case if you file your case shortly after the accident occurs. If you delay contacting an attorney, valuable evidence may be lost, which can have a devastating effect on your case. Most slip and fall attorneys in Kentucky will suggest you be examined by a doctor to obtain a diagnosis of the extent of your injuries and to receive treatment as needed. Of course, the most important aspect in any case is the health of the client.