Project Description
Personal Injury Lawyers
Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC “KM&A” is an injury law firm with personal injury lawyers serving all of Pennsylvania. If you or a loved one have been involved in any accident involving serious harm, or you have lost a loved one from an accident, please contact us for a complimentary consultation. Call a KM&A personal injury lawyer at 412-626-5626 or email us at lawyer@lawkm.com.
In life, accidents and injuries can happen at any time. Whether you’re at work or driving to the store, there is always a chance you may be involved in an accident that can change your life in an instant. We know the surge of emotions and uncertainty, the confusion… the tempting offers from insurance adjusters. Do you need a personal injury lawyer? You can be assured that in circumstances involving a serious injury most people retain a personal injury lawyer. Choosing the right personal injury law firm, and personal injury attorney, is one of the most important decisions you can make in your injury law suit or claim. The personal injury attorneys at Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC represent people across Pennsylvania who have suffered injuries in all types of accidents. Our Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers will offer an immediate complimentary consultation at 412-626-5626, or e-mail lawyer@lawkm.com for your convenience. Our personal injury attorneys are ready to discuss your injury law suit or claim, and can ordinarily provide you with feedback about your claim during the initial consultation. Our accident injury lawyers are ready to help you now!
What type of personal injury lawyer do you need? If unsure, call (412) 626-5626
What type of legal help do you need? If you are not sure, call us at 412-626-5626
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
Every year, far too many fatalities and injuries are caused by auto, truck, motorcycle, and commercial vehicle accidents. If you’ve been injured in an accident, or you’ve suffered the loss of a loved one, you might be eligible to file a law suit for compensation. Whether your accident was a head on collision, a single car accident, or you were involved in a multi-car pileup, your best course of action is to contact a personal injury attorney and obtain legal representation as soon as possible after the accident has occurred. Let our experienced accident attorneys and top professional staff take on your cause. Evidence begins to disappear as soon as a car accident occurs. The vehicles are towed from the scene. Debris in the roadway is swept away. Witnesses names’ are forgotten, or lost. The vehicles may be sold for salvage, or repaired. If you are injured, you need an experienced accident law firm and personal injury attorney on your side from day one. Your car insurance company will not protect you or your interests. Although you pay premiums, your car insurance company does not work for you the same way a KM&A personal injury attorney does. Your car insurance company works for itself to protect its own interests. Your KM&A personal injury attorney works for you. We preserve or document evidence that may disappear. We contact witnesses. We deal with your insurance company when they call asking for a statement about the accident. You’ve just been injured in a car accident – your first priority is not, and should not, be investigating the collision and documenting the evidence necessary to pursue your claim.
Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
If you’re involved in a collision caused by a commercial vehicle – whether it is a tractor-trailer, a delivery truck, or any other type of vehicle operated by a professional driver – it is even more important that you contact a personal injury attorney right away. The commercial driver, or the company who employs him, will be building a defense to your claim from the moment the collision occurs. Trucking companies in particular have accident response teams, either employed directly or through their insurance companies, who are dispatched to the accident scene to investigate and control the flow of information. The commercial vehicle is very quickly moved and you may not know where it was taken. The data located within the vehicle’s electronic control module (“black box”) may be overwritten, deleted, or corrupted before you have a chance to access it. This data may be the only source of information about the vehicle’s speed, throttle position, brake switch, and engine RPMs, which may be critical to the case if speed or failure to brake are a factor. Many times, emergency restraining orders are necessary to prevent the commercial motor carrier from moving, repairing, or destroying the vehicle. The driver’s story may change from what it is initially was, shifting the blame to you or other external factors. We are prepared to fight for you as your injury attorney and expose the tactics of the commercial motor carrier for what they are – attempts to shift responsibility for the collision to you. Other types of car accidents that require specialized expertise include: motorcycle accident, single vehicle accidents, phantom vehicle claims, uninsured motorist claims, hit and runs, drunk driving accidents, and roadway defect claims. Each type of case presents unique circumstances and nuances of personal injury law. When it comes to your personal injury claim, what you don’t know can hurt you!
Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
Your KM&A personal injury attorney will take on the fight with the insurance company, freeing you to focus on your medical treatment and getting better and back to your life. Your injury lawyer will act as the primary point of contact for your insurance company and for the at fault party’s insurance company. You will not have to deal with phone calls, paperwork, requests for statements, etc. Your injury lawyer is here to help make your life easier and let you take care of what is important: you. Personal injury law is highly complex and involves much more than just making a claim to the other driver’s insurance carrier. Medical payments coverage, first party benefits, underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage, subrogation claims, liability claims, property damage, and many other types of issues arise in what may seem to bee the most basic automobile accident cases. One mistake can limit, or extinguish, your right to recover. At KM&A, our accident attorneys are experienced in dealing with car insurance companies, health insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid, unrepresented defendants, and any other entity that may affect your claim. We work with you through all phases of your personal injury law suit, whether you have a claim with the insurance company that settles out of court or whether you need to file a lawsuit in order to secure the recovery you are owed under the law. You need a personal injury law firm and a personal injury attorney on your side, protecting your rights and representing your interests from the start.
Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
You may be thinking – a personal injury lawyer is too expensive, or what if the injury lawyer’s fee exceeds what I recover? At KM&A, we handle personal injury claims on a contingency fee basis in almost all cases, meaning we recover a percentage of the settlement or award in the event we are successful in obtaining a recovery. Our fee can never exceed the recovery, because our fee is a percentage of the recovery. More importantly, car accident victims who hire attorneys recover more than unrepresented claimants. The insurance company is supposed to pay you “fair value” for your claim, but the Insurance Research Council acknowledges that when the injured victim hired a personal injury lawyer, the victim recovers, on average, 3.5 times more than if they did not hire a personal injury lawyer. Hiring the right personal injury attorney can dramatically increase the value of your claim – in many cases so much so that the increase in value more than pays for the cost of the attorney. At KM&A, our accident attorneys understand the ins and outs of the complicated insurance claims system. We know what it takes to build a case that is ready to submit to an insurance company for settlement consideration. If your case cannot be settled, our personal injury attorneys are experienced in handling personal injury law suits through all phases of litigation. Let our personal injury attorneys help you maximize the value of your claim while taking the burden and worry of handling your case off your mind.
Dram Shop
Dram Shop Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
If you are the victim of a drunk driver or intoxicated individual, responsibility for your injuries may not end with the intoxicated person. Under Pennsylvania law, bar and restaurants that serve alcohol are responsible to serve alcohol in accordance with the Pennsylvania Liquor Code. If the intoxicated person was served alcohol by a bar or restaurants in violation of the Liquor Code, and you can prove that the alcohol intoxication from the bar or restaurant in question was the cause of the accident and your injuries, you may be able to recover from the bar or restaurant. This type of claim is called a “dram shop” claim. The most common dram shop claim is a claim made by an injured individual against a bar for serving alcohol to a person under the age of 21 or to a visibly intoxicated person. Pennsylvania law prohibits a bar from selling, furnishing, or giving any alcohol to a minor or to a person who is visibly intoxicated. The bar is responsible to verify a patron’s age, if questionable, and to monitor the condition of their patrons and stop service if someone is becoming visibly intoxicated. If the bar does not do these things, and a minor or visibly intoxicate patron leaves the bar and causes an accident that results in injuries, the bar can be civilly liable to the victim. Dram shop cases require immediate involvement from an experience accident attorney. These cases are very difficult, time consuming, and sometimes costly to pursue. First, you may not even know where the defendant driver was drinking following an accident. If you are the victim of a drunk driver, you do not always find out where the defendant consumed the alcohol that led to his intoxication. KM&A’s personal injury attorneys know how to get this information. Second, dram shop insurance information for the bar will not be listed on the police report or in any other public location. KM&A’s injury lawyers again know how to get this information to confirm whether dram shop insurance exists for the bar in question. Third, proving that the bar actually served the minor or visibly intoxicated person is not always easy – you have to find someone who was at the bar who will confirm that the defendant was present at the bar and was served drinks in violation of the law. This sometimes requires detailed information about the defendant’s physical condition throughout the evening, the type and number of drinks consumed, and the defendant’s BAC at the time of the collision in relationship to the time the defendant was served drinks at the bar. If you are dealing with a “local” bar or a private club, where the clientele consists of regulars, you likely will not meet with much cooperation in obtaining witness statements of what occurred on the night in question. Your personal injury attorney from KM&A will work to get this information, even from uncooperative witnesses. Your accident lawyer will also use alternative means of gaining independent information to verify how much alcohol the defendant consumed. We will hire a toxicology expert, if needed, to testify as to the effects of alcohol on the body, and what level of impairment would result from the defendant’s level of intoxication. Let us put our experience to work for you in your dram shop case – contact KM&A today for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer. Call 412-626-5626 or e-mail us at lawyer@lawkm.com.
Pedestrian Injuries
- Distracted Drivers – 36%
- Pedestrian Mistakes – 21.5%
- Failure to Yield Right of Way – 20.6%
- Speeding – 8.3%
Pedestrian Injury Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
Additional major causes of pedestrian accidents include drunk driving, backing up, aggressive driving, and running a stop sign. Fault and liability can be complex issues to resolve after a pedestrian accident. Questions may arise as to whether the pedestrian had the right-of-way, whether the car had a green light at an intersection, or whether the pedestrian was within the crosswalk. In pedestrian collisions, the injuries to the pedestrian are usually severe enough as to require ambulance transportation. Many times, the only person at the scene who can speak with the police officer is the driver of the car. If there are no witnesses, or if the witnesses do not stay at the scene to speak with the investigating officer, the case may turn into a “he said, she said” situation. The driver of the car has the opportunity to tell his story first, while the injured pedestrian may wait days to speak with the officer. The physical evidence at the scene, the damage to the vehicle, and the injuries may be the only source of information as to how the collision occurred aside from the driver’s and the pedestrian’s story. If this important evidence is not preserved and documented, there may be no way to independently verify your story. Even if you are injured as a pedestrian, if a motor vehicle is involved in the claim, your car insurance may come into play as the primary source of your medical payments coverage and an important source of benefits for you. The personal injury attorneys at KM&A can explain to you in detail what insurance coverages are considered in pedestrian accidents and how your car insurance may be involved. As your accident attorneys, we will fight to get your every benefit allowed under the law, including medical benefits, liability coverage, underinsured motorist coverage, and more, depending on the circumstances of your injuries and personal injury claim. Call us today for an evaluation of your case. Contact KM&A today for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer. Call 412-626-5626 or e-mail us at lawyer@lawkm.com
Premises liability
Premise Liability Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
“Premises liability” is a general term to describe the legal responsibility of an owner or occupier of land for the injuries that occur on their property. Permanent injuries can result from falls on defective sidewalks, steps, and parking lots or from the failure to remove the build up of snow and ice. Stores can be responsible for failing to repair refrigeration units that leak onto the floor. Landlords who don’t provide proper ventilation of gas furnace and water heating systems can be responsible for carbon monoxide poisoning to their tenants. Homeowners can be responsible for injuries caused by portions of their property that are not in compliance with building and safety codes. The injuries suffered from these types of dangerous conditions can be catastrophic and even fatal. The injury attorneys at KM&A are ready to help you pursue your personal injury law suit for injuries you suffered as a result of the defect in the condition or maintenance of property. There are numerous types of premises liability cases, each with their unique considerations. These types of claims generally fall under the category of homeowner’s or business premises claims. In all cases, the most important first step is to document the condition that caused the injury as specifically as possible. Conditions of property can change rapidly, especially when the condition involves ice or snow. Even a few hours can make a difference in an ice and snow case. After an injury occurs, many property owners want to repair the defective condition as quickly as possible, sometimes before the injured individual has any opportunity to inspect of document the problem. The personal injury attorneys at KM&A know how to prevent alterations to property following a collision, and know how to gain access to private property in order to conduct a full inspection of the condition. Our accident attorneys have relationships with numerous experts in Pennsylvania and the surrounding states, as engineers and/or human factors experts are usually required to prove the existence of a defect and establish the relationship between the defect and the injury.
Premise Liability Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
Your personal injury attorney from KM&A will handle your case every step of the way – from gaining access to the premises to document the condition, to identifying whether any insurance coverage exists on the property, and to insulating your claim against the most common defenses in premises liability claims. Most premises liability claims do not have the benefit of being investigated by the police – there is no independent, neutral person making a report of what occurred. Many times, there are no witnesses to these accidents, or the witness statements are conflicted and not documented. The only information about how the accident occurred may come from you, the injured person, who the at fault party’s insurance carrier will not trust to tell the truth about how you were injured. Independent documentation, through photographs, witness statements, or other evidence, helps to prove your version of events. However, the number one defense in premises liability cases is that you, the injured victim, were the one to blame for your own accident. The defense takes on some variation of you weren’t being careful enough, you weren’t watching closely enough, you were being negligent yourself. By hiring an injury lawyer from KM&A at the outset of your case, you put yourself in the best position to defeat these arguments before they are made. The accident attorneys at KM&A will get the witness statements, document the scene, hire the experts, and present the case to the insurance company in such a way as to diffuse the defense that you caused your own injuries. The personal injury lawyers at KM&A know how the insurance companies work and know what tactics they use to deny claims or to settle claims for less than full value. Your KM&A accident lawyer can position your case from the start to negate the insurance company’s tactics. We know their games and can avoid playing, or play them to win!
Slip and Fall
Slip and Fall Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
The colloquial term “slip and fall” refers to a specific type of premises liability case. These injuries occur where there is a dangerous condition on another’s property such as a sidewalk, narrow stairway, wet floor, torn carpeting, accumulated ice and snow, or violations of safety code. This dangerous and defective condition then created a reasonably foreseeable risk that it would cause a trip, fall, or stumble and result in an injury. The most common type of slip and fall case in Pennsylvania involves ice and snow accumulations. As is to be expected in Western Pennsylvania during the winter, ice and snow conditions form and exist on sidewalks, parking lots, walkways, and other areas. Homeowners, business owners, property maintenance companies, ice and snow removal companies, and other entities have a responsibility to maintain their property free of ice and snow. While the standards vary slightly between residential and commercial properties, it is generally accepted that snow and ice are not to remain on one’s property for more than 24 hours. Most local ordinances in Western Pennsylvania require the removal of snow and ice within 24 hours of the weather event creating the condition. Private homeowners are not generally held to as strict of a standard as businesses for the removal of ice and snow. Pennsylvania law protects all property owners in cases involving natural accumulations of ice and snow – meaning snow fall or ice formation that forms naturally and is undisturbed or unmodified – through the application of the “hills and ridges” doctrine. A property owner in Pennsylvania is not required to keep his property free and clear of ice and snow at all times. Such a requirement would be unreasonable. Rather, the property owner is only held liable for the condition of his property secondary to the natural accumulation of ice and snow if the accumulation of ice and snow is allowed to exist so as to exhibit ridges and elevations. It must also be shown that the ice and snow condition was permitted to exist for an unreasonable length of time. The doctrine of hills and ridges is not a precise doctrine, and depends on many evidentiary factors that you need a personal injury attorney to identify and document. In snow and ice cases, documentation of the condition that caused the fall is crucial to proving that hills and ridges existed in the condition. It is a valid defense to a snow and ice case to allege that there were generally slippery conditions throughout the relative area – e.g., if black ice existed from freezing rain, and there was black ice everywhere, that is a defense to a snow and ice case.
Slip and Fall Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
Your KM&A accident lawyer will gather all of the information necessary to prove that the snow and ice that caused your fall was not the result of generally slippery conditions but was the result of “hills and ridges.” Your injury attorney will obtain certified weather records confirming the snow fall and precipitation totals in the geographic area for the days leading up to your fall. Your injury attorney will verify any local ordinances pertaining to snow and ice removal. Your injury attorney will find all identified witnesses to obtain statements as to the snow and ice condition. Your KM&A personal injury lawyer will not only gather the information and evidence surrounding the snow and ice itself, but will also investigate the scene thoroughly to determine the cause of the snow and ice build up, if possible. Many snow and ice conditions are not natural conditions – meaning they are not a natural accumulation of snow and ice caused solely by weather conditions. Defective downspouts, leaking gutters, lack of gutters, clogged drains, improper drainage, and poor/inadequate snow and ice removal efforts can all result in artificial accumulations of ice or snow. Once a condition is no longer a natural condition, but is artificial, there is no need to prove the existence of hills and ridges to have a viable case. Identifying an artificial source of a snow and ice condition is a key factor in many slip and fall cases, and only an experience personal injury attorney will know where to look and what to look for to prove such a condition. Another important component in all premises liability cases, but in slip and fall cases especially, is the concept of notice. In order for the property owner to be liable for injuries caused by a dangerous condition, the property owner must have notice of that condition. Notice can be actual notice – meaning there is some evidence that the owner actually knew about the condition before the incident. Notice can also be constructive – meaning that there is sufficient circumstantial evidence that the owner knew or should have known of the defect to infer notice from the facts of the case. Both types of notice carry equal weight with the court. Notice can generally be inferred in the case of a long-standing condition – such as a defect in a sidewalk that has existed for years. In the case of transient or temporary conditions – such as ice and snow or a spill on a grocery store floor – notice can be more difficult to prove. You, as the injured victim, generally have no idea how long a condition has existed and the property owner may be less than forthcoming with such information. It is important to have an experienced accident attorney on your side from day one in order to build a case that has all of the elements necessary to be successful in court. Our KM&A personal injury lawyers have the experience and knowledge necessary to assist you with your slip and fall case. Contact KM&A today for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer. Call 412-626-5626 or e-mail us at lawyer@lawkm.com
Dog Bites
Dog Bite Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
There is no substitute for the unconditional love of a dog. Man’s best friend can quickly turn into man’s worst enemy in the event of a dog attack. A walk through Pittsburgh’s Frick Park can show you how quickly a poorly behaved dog can set off an increasing pattern of aggression among other dogs. Further, even a small dog can cause serious injury if it feels threatened. The discipline of dogs is highly dependent upon their owner’s dedication to training, restraint, and socialization. Even the most well-trained dogs can become aggressive if placed in a bad situation. Let loose, an untrained, aggressive or even excited pet can cause serious injury to others. According to the American Humane Association, over 4,700,000 dog bites occur each year. Of that number, at least 800,000 victims require emergency care. Dog bite injuries can be very serious, especially if the bite occurs to the face. If the dog ‘s history is unknown, rabies shots may be required to prevent infection. Strong antibiotics may be needed if the bit is deep, or extensive, or if skin infection occurs. Plastic surgery may be required in the years following the bite to lessen the appearance of any scars. Plastic surgery may be considered cosmetic and may not be covered by health insurance. In most cases, dog bites are the fault of the owner. Basic principles of negligence require dog owners to exercise reasonable care in training and restraining their pets. Aggressive dogs constitute a hazard to the public. Pennsylvania, like many states, has a dangerous dog law that is designed to punish individuals who harbor dangerous dogs and place restrictions on dogs acknowledged as dangerous. The dog law and Pennsylvania common law provide a basis for civil liability if a dangerous dog causes harm to a human. The harm does not have to be a bite in order to create a claim. Any propensity of the dog recognized as “dangerous” is sufficient to create civil liability. Even an overly friendly dog that jumps can be dangerous, if its jumping is such that it could cause harm. A dog that chases people can be a source of liability for the owner if someone is injured while fleeing from the dog, even if the dog never attacks. Pennsylvania law holds the owner of a dog, or one in the position of an owner, civilly liable for injuries caused by the dog if the injuries were caused by a dangerous propensity of the dog and the dog owner had notice of the dangerous propensity. There is a misconception generally that Pennsylvania allows every dog “one free bite.” This is not the case. A dog owner can be held liable for a dog bite even if the dog has never bitten a person before. There are specific elements of the claim that must be proven to establish liability under such circumstances. The Pennsylvania personal injury attorneys at KM&A understand the nuances of the Pennsylvania dog law and the common law and are able investigate your case to prove the elements necessary to show liability under Pennsylvania law. Dog bites themselves remain the most common source of injuries from dogs. The most common dog bite incidents include:
- Failure to spay or neuter dogs
- Failure to train or socialize pets
- Failure to restrain using a leash
- Petting a dog through the fence
- Inadequate barriers on property
- Improperly tying or chaining dogs
- Approaching an unfamiliar dog
- Shouting or sudden movements
- Bites or mauling extremities (arms, hands, legs)
If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of a dog bite or attack, you should contact our office so we can conduct a proper and thorough investigation, including documenting your injuries by taking photographs as soon after the attack as possible, researching ownership and control of the dog, determining whether there has been a prior restraint order issued or if the dog has a history of attacks, and identifying any potential sources of insurance coverage. Contact KM&A today for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer. Call 412-626-5626 or e-mail us at lawyer@lawkm.com.
Bicycle accidents
Bicycle Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Lawyers: 412-626-5626
Bicycle accidents are occurring more frequently. Often driven by a love of the sport, many bike enthusiasts now ride not only for recreation but also for transportation. Unfortunately, the motorists sharing the road are often inattentive or negligent, and their carelessness can lead to significant injury or even death for the bicyclist involved in an accident. Bicyclists can also be the cause of an accident, whether it be between two bicycle, a bicycle and a pedestrian, or a bicycle and a car. In Pennsylvania, bicycles are specially regulated under the motor vehicle code. Bicyclists are provided some protection, by requiring car drivers to share the road and use safe practices when passing. The law also places responsibilities on bicyclists, however, to obey the signage and rules of the road. Because bicycles are not required to be insured the same as cars or motorcycles, it is important that you call a personal injury attorney immediately if you are the victim of a bicycle accident. The insurance considerations are different in bicycle accidents than in car accidents, and the sources of insurance coverage may be very different. The sooner you contact an accident attorney, the better protected you will be. Contact KM&A today for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer. Call 412-626-5626 or e-mail us at lawyer@lawkm.com
Damages
In life, accidents and injuries can happen at any time. Whether you’re at work or driving to the store, there is always a chance that you may be involved in an accident that can change your life in an instant. If you were recently involved in an accident that left you with painful injuries or emotional distress, you may be entitled to file a personal injury law suit or present a claim for settlement to an insurance carrier or defendant. Victims who win or settle their personal injury claims may collect compensation for their:
- Medical treatment
- Rehabilitative care
- Lost wages from time taken off of work
- Future lost income (for disabling injuries)
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional trauma
- Permanent scarring
- Disfigurement
- Inconvenience
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Embarrassment and humiliation
- Other categories of damages specific to your case
We defend individuals, small business owners, and property owners against injury claims relating to residential and commercial buildings.
If we can serve your family during this difficult time, do not hesitate to contact us. We are your Pennnsylvania personal injury attorneys.
Call (412) 626-5626 For A Personal Injury Lawyer
Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyers
Kraemer, Manes & Associates is dedicated to serving our clients in the best way possible. We are responsive. We are high-tech. We are fast and efficient. Most importantly, we are prepared to fight for you and your family. With our main office in Pittsburgh, we represent families across Pennsylvania. To learn more about how this Pennsylvania law firm can help after a serious injury, call KM&A at speak with a personal injury lawyer immediately at (412) 626-5626.
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