Serving Scranton and Lackawanna County
Serving Scranton and Lackawanna County
Most collisions here happen on roads we drive every day — Interstate 81 at the Central Scranton Expressway, Route 6 through Dickson City, the two-lane stretches out towards Clarks Summit. If you were hurt in one, this page sets out what a claim involves, what has to be proved, and how long you have to bring it.
A few lines is enough to start. Nothing you send here creates a lawyer–client relationship.
If your deadline is close, call the office rather than sending a form.
A claim after a collision is a claim against the at-fault driver, which in practice means against that driver’s insurer. The insurer’s adjuster will open a file quickly, often within a day or two, and will ask for a recorded statement and a signed medical authorisation. Neither is required of you, and both are easier to give than to take back.
Our work begins with establishing what happened: the police report, the scene, the vehicles, any camera footage before it is overwritten, and the accounts of anyone who saw it. In parallel we make sure the injury is documented properly, because a claim is worth what the medical record supports, not what the pain was actually like.
Most claims are resolved by negotiation once treatment has finished or reached a stable point. Where an insurer will not meet a reasonable figure, the case is filed in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. Cases are decided here, by people from here, and that matters to how they are valued.
Duty and breach. That the other driver owed you the ordinary care every driver owes, and fell short of it — speed, distraction, a failure to yield, driving in conditions the road did not allow.
Causation. That the collision caused the injury. This is where most disputes actually sit, particularly where there is a gap between the accident and the first medical visit, or a pre-existing condition in the record.
Loss. Medical costs, wages lost while you could not work, and the effect of the injury on ordinary life. Each has to be evidenced separately.
Pennsylvania asks drivers to choose between limited tort and full tort cover when they buy a policy. Limited tort premiums are lower, and in exchange the policyholder gives up the right to claim for pain and suffering unless the injury is serious within the meaning of the statute. Medical costs and lost earnings can be claimed either way.
Whether an injury clears that threshold is a question of evidence, and several exceptions apply regardless of the election — among them injuries caused by a driver convicted of driving under the influence, and collisions with vehicles registered out of state. If your policy says limited tort, it is worth a conversation before assuming the claim is closed.
Pennsylvania law sets a deadline of two years from the date of injury for most personal injury actions (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524). The deadline is strict: a claim filed a day late is generally barred regardless of its merits. Claims involving a municipality or the Commonwealth carry shorter notice requirements.
If yours is not here, the answer is usually a short phone call rather than a long page.
Injury work here is done on a contingency basis: the fee is a percentage of what is recovered, and there is no fee if nothing is recovered. The percentage, and how case expenses are handled, are set out in writing before any work begins.
In the first instance your own medical benefits coverage under your auto policy, then your health insurer. The at-fault driver’s insurer pays nothing until the claim is resolved. Part of our work is making sure bills are directed to the right place so they do not go to collection while the claim runs.
Not before you know what the injury will require. An early offer is made while the medical picture is incomplete, and accepting it closes the claim permanently — including for treatment you later turn out to need.
The claim shifts to the uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy. It is still a claim that has to be proved, and your own insurer will treat it as one, so the same evidence matters.
It depends chiefly on treatment: a claim cannot be valued sensibly until the injury has settled. Straightforward claims often resolve within several months of that point; a filed case takes considerably longer. We will tell you which of the two yours looks like.
Most clients never do. Where a case is filed, most are still resolved before trial. If yours is going to be the exception, you will know well in advance.
A single attorney takes responsibility for each case and remains the point of contact throughout. A short conversation is usually enough to tell you whether there is a claim worth pursuing and what the next step is.
Office address to be supplied — Scranton, Pennsylvania. Nothing sent through this site creates a lawyer–client relationship.
