If you’ve been hurt or if you lost a loved one in a serious car accident in Kansas City, turn to an auto accident lawyer at one of Kansas City’s most established law firms – Edelman & Thompson.
Whether you were rear-ended on Metcalf, side-swiped on I-70, or brake-checked on 350 Highway, our attorneys are eager to explain your options and what to do next.
Obviously, the first thing you should do is get treatment and an evaluation of your injuries. Please do that first. Getting immediate treatment is important to your health and to your claim.
We are an injury firm for the people. Our attorneys fight for full and fair compensation for our clients, and we represent only accident victims, not the insurers.
Since 2011, Edelman & Thompson lawyers have obtained more winning jury verdicts in Kansas City area courts than any other law firm. This has been verified through the Kansas City Jury Verdict Service, an independent source which keeps track of all jury verdicts rendered in Kansas City area courts.
Over the last 30 years our lawyers have obtained settlements or verdicts totaling over $750 million for our clients. We have helped more than 14,500 injury victims in the Kansas City area over that time.
We have five offices for you to meet with us in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. If you are unable to come to us, one of our attorneys will be happy to visit you in the hospital or your home. Contact us today to schedule a free, no obligation consultation about how we can help you with your car accident case.
How Our Car Accident Attorneys Can Help You
Our approach to helping clients pursue the maximum amount of compensation means more than taking your information and fighting insurance companies. Our experienced car accident attorneys are committed to:
- Asking our clients the right questions about the accident and helping them understand all of their legal options. Communication is essential, and we want to make sure that it remains strong from the first consultation through the rest of the process.
- Keeping our services transparent. If you wish to retain our services, you’ll sign a simple fee agreement. No money will come out of your pocket. We front all trial, research and case-building expenses. We get paid only if and when we recover compensation for you.
- Working diligently to put together a solid case on your behalf. Our team, known for its jury trial success, will prepare the strongest case possible.
- Negotiating fair settlement terms on your behalf and taking your input into account. Once your case is prepared, we’ll get together with the at-fault party’s insurer to determine if settling the case is possible. If so, we’ll settle on our terms, not theirs. If not, we’ll end talks and immediately file your case in court.
Compensation for a Car Accident Injury
If you have suffered injury in a car crash caused by the negligence of another party, you may be entitled to a range of benefits to compensate you for your injuries. These damages include:
- Medical Expenses – Compensation for medical can include not only what bills have been incurred during the course of your treatment but also future medical bills which you are reasonably likely to incur such as ongoing maintenance for your condition, future surgeries that may be required as a result of the injury, and the potential need for lifetime medications resulting from the injury.
- Lost Wages – This can include wages lost during the course of your recuperation. It can also include compensation for the fact that you have had to use sick or vacation days that you would otherwise not have used. In can also include future wage loss related to future medical treatment which may be required as a result of the injuries.
- Pain and Suffering – Under both Missouri and Kansas law, you are entitled to recover for the pain and suffering which you have incurred through the course of your medical treatment, as well as the future pain and suffering which may be chronic and permanent in nature. This would include any claims for permanent injury or disability. It also includes damages for loss of enjoyment of life.
- Caregiver and Housekeeping Expenses – This allows an individual to obtain assistance with daily chores provided their accident prevents them from doing these on their own.
- Loss of Education Expenses – If the claimant was enrolled in college at the time of their accident, benefits can be paid to replace the education being missed and could be used to homeschool as well.
- Loss of Consortium – This benefit is set aside for loved ones who may suffer without the knowledge, affection, care and guidance provided by the individual hurt or wrongfully killed.
- Funeral Expenses – If the individual dies, the estate can claim this in action against the at-fault party.
- Loss of Future Earning Capacity – The money you could earn tomorrow could be jeopardized by the injuries you’re living with today.
Each case is different, and the damages recoverable in each case are different as well. At Edelman & Thompson, we will undertake to analyze all aspects of your case in order to maximize the value of your claim. Oftentimes this means consulting with your treating physicians with regard to the issue of your future medical needs and your future earnings capacity. It will also include making sure that we have compiled all of the documentation by way of medical bills and lost wage information to present to the insurance company along with our settlement demand.
What to Do after an Accident
Car accidents are often traumatic events, and victims may be disoriented or shaken up and may not know what to do in the immediate aftermath. The following is some information regarding the steps you should take the following steps to ensure that you can recover compensation from any negligent parties:
- Get to safety – Following a crash, it is not uncommon for additional chain-reaction collisions to occur. For this reason, you should move out of traffic as soon as possible to avoid any further risk of injury. If possible, move your vehicle onto the shoulder or the side of the road and remain inside your vehicle if possible. Pedestrians standing in the road can often suffer substantially more catastrophic injuries if they are hit by a car than an occupant in a vehicle might. However, if your vehicle is smoking, stay as far away from it as possible.
- Seek medical attention right away – If you have suffered even a modest-seeming injury, you should take the advice of emergency medical staff if they recommend transferring you to the hospital. If you do not require emergency care, you should still seek a thorough medical evaluation as soon as you can after the accident. Many serious car accident injuries such as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and whiplash may not immediately show symptoms but could have serious consequences if left untreated. You should visit an emergency room or doctor’s office so that they can perform the necessary tests to detect and treat any injuries.
- Gather information at the scene – If you can stay at the scene of the accident, you should remain calm and begin gathering as much relevant evidence as possible. For example, you should get the names and contact info of all parties who were involved in the accident and write down all license plate numbers or identifying facts on commercial trucks. You should also take down the information of any individuals who witnessed the accident and stopped. Take snapshots of the entire scene, including any tire tracks, adverse road conditions, or damage to the vehicles involved. Make a note of weather conditions and your impressions of the accident. All of this evidence could be used in a legal case to help prove that another party was negligent and that your claim is justifiable. Finally, wait for law enforcement officers to arrive so that they can create a police report including your version of the events.
- Consult an experienced car accident attorney – If you believe another party was at least partially at fault for your accident and injuries, you should contact an experienced car accident lawyer without delay. In the Kansas City area, our firm will evaluate your situation and advise you of your legal rights and options during a free consultation.
Tips for Protecting Your Rights After a Car Accident
To protect your case, you should follow these steps:
- Never offer more information than absolutely necessary to insurance companies. They are not there to befriend you. Their objective is to minimize what they have to pay out. Never agree to a recorded statement without the advice of your lawyer.
- Take photographs when the opportunity presents itself. Fill your phone with pictures of everything, including your injuries and damage to the vehicles involved.
- Write your own accident report. This may seem redundant, but it could help substantiate what the police have documented or show that their account is flawed. Remember that the police do not have final say about civil liability for a crash.
- Put as much detail into your accident report as possible. This can help substantiate your position as the true victim of this accident.
- Stay off social media after a crash. Insurance company investigators may access your social media profiles to look for any photos or statements they can take out of context and use to diminish your claim. Even something seemingly unrelated to the accident could be used against you.
Common Causes of Car Accidents in the Kansas City Area
Accidents happen every day, and the circumstances surrounding these collisions can vary greatly. Some of the most common causes of car accidents include:
- Driver error
- Driving under the influence of illicit drugs, alcohol, or prescription medication
- Distracted driving
- Drowsy driving
- Speeding or driving aggressively
- Failure to obey traffic signs and laws
- Vehicle defects or malfunctions
- Poorly maintained roads
Regardless of the reason for the crash, our attorneys remain committed to fighting for those who were hurt through no fault of their own. We’ve seen firsthand the devastation that car accidents can cause. Vehicle occupants often suffer severe and lasting injuries, including:
- Head injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Neck injuries
- Injury to the spine and spinal cord
- Paralysis
- Broken bones
- Joint injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Lacerations
- Burns
In especially tragic cases, occupants may suffer life-ending injuries. When this happens, our attorneys can work with the surviving family to pursue a wrongful death claim. Certain family members could be able to recover funeral costs and other damages if they lost a loved one in a crash.
Hit-and-Run Accidents in Kansas City
According to information obtained from the Traffic Division of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, hit-and-run car accidents are more common than you might realize.
- From 2021–2023, KCPD completed 49,434 Missouri Uniform Crash Reports. Of those reports 13,837, involved a vehicle/driver that left the scene. That’s nearly 28%!
- Of these, 13,837 hit and run accidents, 48 were fatal crashes, and 2,661 had varying degrees of injuries.
- The majority, 11,128, were property-damage-only crashes.
- In 2022, the department gave citizens the option to report certain incidents online. A non-injury hit and run crash can be reported online when there is no suspect or suspect vehicle information, and the reporting person is wanting to document the incident for insurance purposes only and does not want a police investigation.
- Between 2022–2023, there were an additional 2,126 non-injury hit and run crashes reported online that are not included in the Missouri Uniform Crash Report totals listed above.
GOOD NEWS! If you have car insurance in Kansas or Missouri, you have uninsured motorist coverage. In Missouri, if you have more than one car insured, both uninsured motorist policy limits can be used if your property damage and injuries exceed the limit of the insurance of the car you were driving at the time of the accident. This is referred to as “stacking.”
Still, some insurance companies may balk at paying out on a hit-and-run claim. If that’s the case, we can help.
Be safe out there! Don’t become a statistic.
Contact a Kansas City Car Accident Lawyer Today
If you’ve been hurt in a car accident, turn to a fully staffed, local firm that understands how to handle your case and seek results for you. We are an established part of the Kansas City community, and we’ve secured hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of injured people in our city.
We work on a contingency fee basis, which means that if we are successful in obtaining a settlement or verdict for our clients, our fee is a percentage of that recovery. On most cases, the fee is 33 1/3% of any settlement — much less than the 40 or 50% charged by some other law firms. We are reimbursed for our out-of-pocket expenses only if we win your case.
There is no risk for you to schedule a consultation with us, and with five offices throughout Kansas City, knowledgeable legal assistance is never too far away. If your injuries have made it too difficult to come to visit us, we’ll come to you. Call us today to schedule your free consultation and confidential claim review.
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