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Ohio Motorcycle
Accident Lawyers
Hit by a driver who never saw you? Our family has stood up for injured Ohio riders since 1953.
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Since 1953
Family-Owned Firm
Millions Won
For Our Clients
3 Generations
of Knisley Attorneys
No Fees
Unless We Win
Who Pays After a Motorcycle Accident in Ohio?
Ohio is an at-fault state. The driver who hit you is generally responsible for what the crash costs, and that does not change because you ride a motorcycle. You may recover compensation if you were not more than 50 percent at fault.
Riders go into these fights at a disadvantage that has nothing to do with the law. Adjusters typically open a file presuming the rider was speeding or weaving, because it's worth money to push fault onto you: under the comparative negligence rule in Ohio personal injury law, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and more than 50 percent bars the claim (R.C. 2315.33). Bias is not evidence. Our job is to replace their story with the facts.
Do I lose my case if I was not wearing a helmet?
Not typically. Ohio law only mandates helmets for riders under 18 and riders in their first year of licensure (R.C. 4511.53), so most adult riders operate legally without a helmet. Insurers still raise the no helmet point to argue your injuries are partly your own fault, and how far that argument goes depends on your injuries and the facts of the crash. It is exactly the kind of fight we handle.
Why your own UM/UIM coverage matters for riders
Ohio's minimum liability limits are 25/50/25 (R.C. 4509.51). In simple terms, that is up to 25,000 dollars for one injured person, 50,000 dollars total per crash, and 25,000 dollars for property damage. Motorcycle rider injuries outpace those numbers fast. If the driver who hit you carried the minimum, or nothing at all, we pursue the UM/UIM coverage on your own policy with the same care as the claim
You can still recover when
You were partly at fault, up to 50 percent
You were not wearing a helmet, in most cases
The driver says he never saw you
The driver fled or had no insurance, through your own UM/UIM coverage
How fault limits recovery
Your award is reduced by your percentage
of fault
More than 50 percent at fault means no recovery
The adjuster's story about riders is not the final word. Evidence is.
What to Do After a
Motorcycle Accident in Ohio
Get medical care, document your bike and gear, get the official crash report, and be careful with the adjusters who call. Under Ohio law you generally have two years from the crash to file a lawsuit.
Get Medical Care Right Away
See a doctor even if you rode away, because rider injuries rarely turn out to be minor.
Document Your Bike And The Scene
Photograph the damage, the road, and your gear, and get the names of any witnesses.
Get The Official Crash Report
Request the crash report from the investigating agency as soon as it is available.
Be Careful With The Insurance Companies
Do not give the other driver's adjuster a recorded statement or accept a quick check.
Talk To An Attorney Early
Ohio generally allows two years to file suit (R.C. 2305.10), and
the blame fight starts long
before that.
Compensation You Can Recover After an Ohio Motorcycle Accident
An Ohio motorcycle accident claim can pay your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and the damage to your bike and gear. Because rider injuries are often severe, future care carries real weight.
Medical Bills
Every crash-related cost, from the ER to surgery, therapy, and the future care serious rider injuries often need.
Lost Wages
The paychecks you missed, and the earning power you lose if your injuries keep you from your old work.
Pain And Suffering
Compensation for what the crash took from your daily life, which no insurer volunteers to pay.
Bike And Gear Damage
Repairing or replacing your motorcycle, your helmet, and your riding gear.
What Is Your Motorcycle Accident Claim Worth?
There is no set price, and rider claims deserve careful valuation because the injuries usually run deeper than the first bills show. Value turns on how severe and permanent your injuries are, the future care your doctors expect, how the fault fight lands, the coverage available including your own UM/UIM, and what the crash took from your work and life. We cannot promise a number, but we can show you how it is really decided.
If the driver who hit you was intoxicated, or otherwise acted with conscious disregard for your safety, you may be able to seek punitive damages under Ohio law, in addition to your other recovery.
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Dealing With the
Insurance Company
The at-fault driver's insurer opens a motorcycle file with a story already written: the rider was speeding. You do not have to accept that story, and you do not have to face them alone.
The first calls sound friendly, and every one of them has a job to do. The adjuster invites you to give a recorded statement to get your side, then mines it for anything that fits the speeding story. The broad medical release they send lets them dig for old injuries to blame. The quick check that arrives while you are still in a cast is priced to close the file before anyone knows what your recovery will cost. Once you sign a release, the claim is over for good, no matter what the injuries turn out to be. You do not have to talk to them at all. Refer every call to us, and the pressure stops.
Why the first offer is almost never the real number
Initial offers on rider claims lean on the bias: pay less, because the rider was likely partially at fault. Once the evidence places fault where it belongs, the number follows.
Motorcycle Accidents and Injuries We Handle
We represent Ohio riders hurt in left-turn, blind-spot, rear-end, dooring, road-hazard, drunk driving, hit-and-run, and multi-vehicle crashes, with injuries from road rash to brain and spinal injuries.
Left-turn crashes
Road-hazard and pothole crashes
A driver turns across your right of way at an intersection. The most common serious motorcycle crash there is.
Crashes due to potholes, loose gravel, or broken pavement. The claim may be against a government agency rather than a driver.
Rear-end crashes
Riders struck from behind at lights and in slowed traffic. Even a low-speed hit can be enough to throw you from the bike.
Door crahses
A parked driver or rideshare passenger opens a door into your path with no time to react, often on a downtown street.
Blind-spot and
lane-change crashes
Drivers who change lanes without looking twice hit riders they swear they never saw, often on highways and multi-lane roads.
Hit-and-run and
uninsured-driver crashes
When the driver flees or carries nothing, your own UM/UIM coverage may become the claim.
Drunk and distracted
driving crashes
Impaired and phone-distracted drivers, where punitive damages may come into play.
Group-ride and
multi-vehicle crashes
Chain-reaction crashes where several insurers point at each other, and careful fault work decides who pays.
How Our Ohio Motorcycle Accident Attorneys Help
Our family takes the fight to the insurance company, from the first phone call to the courtroom.
Investigating the Crash and
Proving Fault
We collect the crash report, witness statements, and photographs, and bring in reconstruction experts when the fault fight calls for it.
Calculating Your Full Damages
We work with your doctors to value the future care and lost earning potential the crash will cost you, as well as the bills that have already arrived.
Beating the Bias
Against Riders
We replace the "reckless biker" assumption with evidence, because the bias only works when nobody pushes back.
Negotiating Your Settlement
We push back on lowball offers with evidence, and you never sign a release until the number is right.
Dealing With the
Insurance Company
All calls, letters and requests from the other side must go through us, so nothing you say can be used to reduce
your claim.
Filing Suit and Trial
If the insurance carrier won't pay fairly, we file a lawsuit within the two-year statute of limitations and take your case to a jury.
The case against rider bias is built from evidence: the crash report, the reconstruction, your gear and helmet-cam footage, the other driver's phone records, and the witnesses who saw the turn. The earlier that work starts, the less room the insurer's story has to harden. We start it on day one.
Hurt on a Motorcycle While Riding for Work?
If you were riding for your job when the crash happened, you may have two claims: an Ohio Workers' Comp claim and this personal injury claim against the at-fault driver. We handle both under one roof.
Your Workers' Comp Claim
No-fault, runs through the BWC
Covers your medical care and part of your lost wages, no matter who caused the crash.
Your Personal Injury Claim
Against the at-fault driver
Adds the pain and suffering and the rest of the lost wages that Workers' Comp does not pay.
The two claims are connected. The BWC has a right to be reimbursed out of your recovery for a portion of what it paid on your claim, and we negotiate that down so that you keep more. When the same firm handles both claims, the two insurance companies cannot use one against the other, and we coordinate the timing of each settlement so that one check does not reduce what you keep from the other.
Related Personal Injury Cases We Handle
Our family also handles these related personal injury cases for injured Ohioans.
Semi and commercial truck crashes, where federal rules and bigger policies change the case.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Motorcycle Accidents in Ohio
