DELVENTHAL LAW
Injured in a Vehicle Accident in Indiana? Start Here
Whether you were behind the wheel of a car, in the cab of a pickup, on a motorcycle or bicycle, riding a bus, or simply crossing the street, the hours after a crash are disorienting. You are hurting, the insurance calls start almost immediately, and everyone seems to want a statement before you even understand what happened. This page is your starting point. It explains the steps that protect an Indiana injury claim, how fault and deadlines work under Indiana law, and where to find our detailed guides for every type of vehicle accident we handle.
The Delventhal Law Office is a Fort Wayne personal injury firm led by attorney Chad Delventhal. We represent people injured in vehicle accidents throughout Indiana. One call covers every kind of crash, consultations are always free, and you pay nothing unless we win.
What to Do After Any Vehicle Accident in Indiana
The same core steps protect nearly every vehicle-accident claim, no matter what you were driving or riding:
- Get to safety and call 911. Ask for both police and medical help. The official crash report becomes one of the most important early pieces of evidence in your case.
- See a doctor the same day if you can. Adrenaline masks pain, and some serious injuries — concussions, internal bleeding, disc injuries — do not show themselves for hours or days. A prompt exam protects both your health and your claim by tying your injuries to the crash.
- Document everything you can. Photograph the vehicles, the roadway, skid marks, traffic signals, and your visible injuries. Get names and phone numbers from witnesses before they leave the scene.
- Exchange information, but do not argue fault. Anything you say at the scene can end up in an insurance file. Even a polite “I’m sorry” gets twisted into an admission.
- Report the crash, then be careful with insurers. Notify your own insurance company promptly, but decline recorded statements to the other driver’s insurer and do not accept a quick settlement offer before you understand the full extent of your injuries.
- Keep your bills, records, and pay stubs. Compensation is built on documentation: medical expenses, lost wages, and proof of how the injury has changed your daily life.
- Talk to a lawyer before you talk numbers. A free consultation costs nothing and prevents the early mistakes that quietly shrink claims.
Find the Guide for Your Type of Accident
Vehicle-accident claims share a foundation, but the details that win them depend on what you were riding in and what hit you. Choose the guide that matches your crash:
- Car Accidents — our flagship resource, with detailed guides to more than a dozen specific crash types, from rear-end and intersection collisions to hit-and-run and drunk-driving wrecks.
- Truck Accidents — semi-truck and commercial-vehicle crashes involving federal safety regulations, layered insurance policies, and evidence that must be preserved quickly.
- Motorcycle Accidents — serious-injury claims for riders, who too often face unfair bias from insurers and juries on top of their physical recovery.
- Bicycle Accidents — cyclists have the same right to Indiana roads as drivers, and their injuries deserve the same full compensation.
- Pedestrian Accidents — crosswalk, parking-lot, and roadside collisions in which the human body absorbs all of the force.
- Bus Accidents — claims involving public transit agencies, school districts, and private carriers, where special notice deadlines can apply.
- Train Accidents — railroad-crossing collisions and other railroad injury claims against some of the best-defended companies in the country.
How Fault Works in Indiana: The 51% Rule
Indiana follows a modified comparative fault system. Under the Indiana Comparative Fault Act, you can recover compensation as long as you were not more than 50% responsible for the crash, but your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. If a jury finds you 20% at fault for a $100,000 injury, you recover $80,000. If you are found 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing at all.
That one-percentage-point cliff is exactly why insurance adjusters work so hard to shift blame onto injured people. Your speed, your following distance, a glance at your phone, what you were wearing on a bicycle at dusk — every detail gets examined for an argument that pushes your share of fault higher and the payout lower. A large part of our job is refusing to let a claims adjuster assign those percentages unchallenged.
One important wrinkle: claims against government defendants — a city bus, a county highway truck, a state-owned vehicle — follow different fault rules and much shorter notice deadlines under the Indiana Tort Claims Act. If a government entity may be involved in your crash, talk to a lawyer quickly.
The Deadline: Indiana’s Two-Year Statute of Limitations
In most cases, Indiana law gives you two years from the date of injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4[1]). Miss that deadline, and the at-fault party’s insurer has no reason to pay you anything.
Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. Building a strong claim means gathering evidence while it still exists, completing enough medical treatment to understand your future costs, and leaving time to negotiate before filing suit becomes necessary. And when a government entity is involved, formal tort-claim notice may be due within months of the crash, not years. The earlier we start, the stronger your position.
Why the Type of Vehicle Changes the Case
Truck crashes are corporate cases. Behind the driver sits a motor carrier, often a broker and a shipper, and layers of commercial insurance. Federal hours-of-service rules, driver qualification files, electronic logging data, and dashcam footage all matter — and some of that evidence can be overwritten within weeks unless a preservation demand goes out fast.
Motorcycle, bicycle, and pedestrian cases are injury-severity cases. With no steel frame around you, the harm is usually greater and the at-fault driver’s policy limits are often inadequate. These claims frequently turn on finding every available source of recovery, including your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
Bus and train cases are procedural minefields. Common carriers owe their passengers a high duty of care, but public transit agencies and railroads bring strict notice requirements, specialized defenses, and experienced defense teams from day one.
Car crashes are the claims insurers know best. Adjusters resolve thousands of them and follow a playbook designed to pay as little as possible. Curious what a fair range might look like for your crash? Our car accident settlement calculator gives you a starting estimate; a free consultation gives you a real one.
No Fee Unless We Win — Statewide From Fort Wayne
The Delventhal Law Office handles every accident case on a contingency fee. There is no upfront cost and no hourly bill. We are paid a percentage of the recovery we win for you, and if we do not win, you owe us nothing.
We are based in Fort Wayne and represent injured people across Indiana. Phone and video consultations, electronic signatures, and secure document sharing mean your case does not require repeated trips to our office — we bring the representation to you. Start with a free case evaluation or contact us at (260) 484-6655.
Not a vehicle crash? We also handle personal injury claims of every kind, from slip and falls to wrongful death, and Indiana workers’ compensation cases for people hurt on the job — including crashes that happen while working.
Indiana Accident Claim FAQs
How much does it cost to hire an accident attorney?
Nothing upfront. We work on a contingency fee, which means our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you. If there is no recovery, there is no fee, and the initial consultation is always free.
What if the driver who hit me has no insurance?
You may still have a claim through your own uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, which most Indiana auto policies include. Using your own coverage does not mean accepting whatever your insurer offers — these claims can and should be negotiated like any other.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
You can still recover compensation as long as you were not more than 50% at fault; your recovery is simply reduced by your percentage of blame. Do not accept an adjuster’s fault assessment as final — those percentages are arguments, not facts, until the evidence is actually examined.
How long will my accident claim take?
Straightforward claims often resolve in a matter of months. Serious-injury cases take longer, because settling before you understand your future medical needs almost always means settling for too little. We move every case as fast as your medical picture allows.
Do I have to go to court?
Usually not. Most Indiana accident claims settle without a lawsuit ever being filed. We prepare every case as if it will be tried, because insurers pay more when they know a firm is willing to go the distance.
How much is my claim worth?
It depends on your medical expenses, lost income, the permanence of your injuries, and your pain and suffering — no honest lawyer can quote a number before reviewing the facts. What we can promise is a straight answer once we have: that is exactly what the free consultation is for.
