South Bend Personal Injury Lawyers

Home to over 103,000 Hoosiers, South Bend is the fourth largest city in Indiana and a hub of culture and commerce in the Midwest. South Bend boasts several world class institutions of learning, including the University of Notre Dame, whose Fighting Irish have captivated sports fans for more than a century. The school is one of the top employers in South Bend as well, along with healthcare providers like Beacon Health System and manufacturers like AM General and Honeywell, while significant infrastructure redevelopment promises to spur even more job growth.

Moreover, South Bend offers countless recreational attractions for tourists and locals alike, whether they prefer to take in the scenic beauty of the Potawatomi Conservatories, cruise along the East Race Waterway, or attend one of the numerous music festivals held in town each year.

South Bend is clearly a city on the move, but a major injury can bring that momentum to a grinding halt.

Personal Injury Attorneys Who Will Be Here for You

If you have been hurt because of someone else’s negligence, the personal injury attorneys at Hensley Legal Group will be here for you. We have been fighting for the everyday people of Indiana since 1998, and we are eager to make a difference for you and your family.

Our South Bend personal injury lawyers will strive to get you compensated for all of your losses, including:

· Medical bills

· Lost income

· Pain and suffering

· Loss of companionship

· Permanent impairment

· Diminished standard of living

If you are concerned about spending more money right now, you should know that our firm works on a contingency basis, so you will never have to pay us anything until our South Bend personal injury attorneys win your case. For a free consultation, call or text us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form.

Hensley Legal Group has achieved success with nearly every type of accidental injury case, including claims involving:

Car Accidents

More than 82 percent of Indiana workers commute to their jobs by car, truck, or van, with more than three-fourths of them traveling by themselves. In a city as populous as South Bend, that translates to tens of thousands of drivers on the road each day for work, not to mention the multitude of vehicles moving through the region for other purposes. So much traffic may make crashes inevitable, and the consequences can be dire when they happen, with South Bend car accidents claiming 15 lives just in 2021.

Auto accidents can occur for practically any reason, though some of the most common factors include:

· Speeding

· Distraction

· Drunk or high driving

· Fatigue/drowsiness behind the wheel

Regardless of the specific cause of your South Bend car accident, a personal injury case may be possible when somebody else is responsible, though a positive result is not automatic. The insurance companies for the at-fault drivers may try to minimize their degree of guilt or even deny it outright in order to curb what they have to pay out, but Hensley’s South Bend personal injury lawyers have been resolving heavily disputed car accidents for decades, and they can bring their experience to bear on your case.

Truck and Semi-Trailer Accidents

Trucks are key to life in South Bend, supporting the city’s business activities while supplying residents with essential goods. But because of their sheer size – as much as 30 times heavier than the average passenger vehicle – even a “fender bender” with a large truck or semi-trailer can be cataclysmic.

Trucks represented nearly one out of every eight vehicles involved in deadly Indiana collisions in 2020. Even the survivors of truck accidents can be left with punishing injuries that may require a lifetime of medical treatment at a cost that could be beyond the means of many South Bend families. Fortunately, our South Bend personal injury attorneys are adept at getting truck accident victims fully compensated.

If you decide to Hire Hensley, we will identify the causes of your truck accident and every party culpable for it within the time allotted by law. The number of parties could be quite substantial if the truck was being used for commercial purposes, which is often the case in Indiana, where about 15,820 trucking companies transport over 417,500 tons of manufactured products each day. Only by going after every defendant can you obtain peak compensation for a South Bend truck accident.

Motorcycle Accidents

Riding a motorcycle can be an exhilarating way to get around South Bend, but it is rarely the safest way. Motorcycles have far less shielding than cars or trucks, exposing riders to direct contact with

asphalt and metal during a crash, sometimes with devastating results. There were 1,969 motorcyclists injured and 138 killed in Indiana motorcycle accidents in 2020 alone.

Given the potential risks, it is important to take steps either to prevent motorcycle accidents from happening or to reduce their impact when they do, including:

· Increasing your visibility

· Maintaining a proper distance

· Following the speed limit

· Switching lanes carefully

· Proceeding cautiously through intersections

· Staying alert

· Getting enough sleep before cycling

· Riding only while sober

· Wearing a helmet

But even if you take every precaution, a motorcycle accident may still occur, inflicting serious injuries when it does, since riders are four times likelier than car or truck occupants to be hurt and 24 times likelier to be killed in a collision.

Hensley’s personal injury attorneys realize how much is at stake and will endeavor to get you the resources you need after a South Bend motorcycle accident.

Construction Accidents

South Bend is a city under construction, with almost $1 billion spent in recent years to break ground on new construction projects in the area. The construction industry is pivotal both to South Bend’s history and its future prosperity, but it has the most dangerous working conditions and the highest rate of on-the-job fatalities in Indiana’s private employment sector, accounting for nearly a fifth of the state’s workplace casualties in 2020.

Accidental injuries can happen anywhere, though certain construction site hazards can make them more probable, including:

● Inadequate overhead coverage

● Lax fall prevention measures

● Open trenches

● Exposed power sources

● Defective tools and equipment

● Obstructed walkways

These kinds of conditions could indicate negligence, which is a core component in construction injury litigation. Our South Bend personal injury lawyers have the deep familiarity with all state and local construction laws and industry practices needed to build a rock-solid case against everyone who may be liable for your South Bend construction accident.

Slip-and-Falls

Falls are the leading causes of preventable injuries in Indiana, and they can be particularly unforgiving to seniors, who account for 71.8 percent of fall-related hospitalizations and 82.1 percent of fall-related deaths in the state.

If you have been hurt in a fall on somebody else’s property in South Bend, you might be eligible for fiscal recovery, provided that you can demonstrate property owner negligence, signs of which may include:

● Slippery surfaces

● Loose floorboards

● Damaged or uneven stairs

● Unfixed or bulging rugs, mats, or carpets

● Dim lighting

● Accumulations of water or liquids

● Holes or obstructions in walkways

● Unsalted ice

Furthermore, you will need to show that the owner disregarded a duty of care owed to you. This can be tough to do in a slip and fall case, but Hensley’s personal injury attorneys are proficient at uncovering actionable breaches of duty on the part of property owners.

Medical Malpractice

Thanks to the quality of treatment at facilities like Memorial Hospital, South Bend residents have the chance to live longer, healthier lives. But even the best medical care can do more harm than good when it is improperly prescribed or poorly executed.

If you have been hurt by the misconduct of a healthcare provider, economic damages could be recovered through a medical malpractice claim, though Indiana imposes strict limitations on cases against medical practitioners, including a ceiling on any awards or settlements.

Because even the best course of treatment may not produce a favorable outcome, medical malpractice is generally said to occur only when a doctor or caregiver deviates from the established protocols of the medical community, known as “the standard of care.” When this deviation causes harm, it could form the basis of a medical malpractice case.

Examples of medical malpractice may include:

● Failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, or delayed diagnosis

● Mistakes during surgeries and procedures

● Medication errors

● Medical device malfunctions

● Excessive or insufficient anesthesia

● Unsanitary environments

● Birth injuries

● Physical, mental, or sexual abuse

Medical malpractice cases may encounter stiff opposition from providers and their insurance companies, so injured patients might benefit from attorneys who can integrate complex technical information and testimony from expert witnesses to build a compelling case of medical negligence – like the South Bend personal injury lawyers at Hensley Legal Group.

Dog Bites

Indiana seems to agree that dogs are “man’s best friend,” since the state has the sixth highest rate of dog ownership in the country. Dogs can be loving companions, but they can be unpredictable as well, with the mildest irritation provoking a violent response. About 4.5 million Americans are attacked by dogs annually, while Indiana ranks ninth in dog-related injury claims per capita.

After a dog bite, you could find yourself struggling to cope with skyrocketing medical bills, wage loss, and unsightly scarring that you cannot easily cover up. And while you may be able to pursue a dog bite case for damages, recovery can be difficult in Indiana, where the “One-Bite Rule” bestows broad civil protections on dog owners over attacks on ordinary citizens.

Hensley’s South Bend personal injury attorneys have the skill and the tenacity to overcome the challenges that a dog bite plaintiff may face. If evidence exists that could neutralize the One-Bite Rule, such as a history of violence by the dog or negligence by its owner, our personal injury lawyers will work tirelessly to find it.

Wrongful Death

Few events are as painful as the sudden death of a loved one, and that pain can be even sharper when the death is caused by someone else’s thoughtlessness, cutting a life senselessly short and leaving a grieving family behind to pick up the pieces.

Though nothing can ever bring a cherished individual back, the financial burden of an unexpected loss could be alleviated with a wrongful death case. However, there are legal constraints on who can initiate a wrongful death claim in Indiana, the nature and extent of remuneration, and how long after a death a case can be filed.

Hensley’s South Bend personal injury attorneys can advise you of your legal eligibility and ensure that all statutory regulations and deadlines are met so that a bureaucratic oversight does not block your case.

The State of Indiana may cap the scope of wrongful death recovery, but we will take pains to get you the maximum amount allowed under the law, including reimbursement for:

· Medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses

· Cessation of monetary support

· Lost love and companionship (if permitted)

· Psychological treatment

· Punitive damages (when applicable)

Our Commitment to Serving the Community

We are proud to offer our legal services to the wrongfully injured throughout South Bend, but we are also committed to serving South Bend as a whole.

Since the firm’s founding, Hensley Legal Group has been partnering with local charities to make our community a better place. In addition to raising funds for cancer research, sponsoring a soccer camp for neighborhood youths, and buying Christmas presents for kids in foster care, we created Backpacks 4 Good to lend a hand to families with school-age children. Backpacks 4 Good has donated backpacks and school supplies to more than 31,000 students, and we are excited to help many more in the years to come.

We invite you to participate in this program by preregistering for our next giveaway event.

Contact a South Bend Personal Injury Lawyer Today

Hensley Legal Group has been standing up for the hardworking men and women of Indiana for more than 25 years. No case is too daunting or adversary too intimidating to stop our South Bend personal injury attorneys from doing whatever it takes to get you justice.

Please call or text us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form to schedule a no-cost case review with an accomplished South Bend personal injury lawyer today.

South Bend Office Information

(574) 288-9888
130 S. Main Street
Suite 430
South Bend, IN 46601