Ohio Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Columbus Injury Lawyer Assists Injured Bikers

Video Transcript: 

Michelle Martin: 

Majority of the accidents that we've handled, that's not the case at all. These are law abiding motorcyclists who happened to have been hurt by the negligence of another party.

Tom Mustin: 

Motorcycle accidents and fatalities are on the rise nationwide. In Ohio last year, there were 175 fatal accidents. Proper representation for the victims and their families is more important than ever. We're gonna talk to attorney Michelle Martin about that on today's AskTheLawyers. Michelle, thanks for joining us.

Michelle Martin: 

Thanks for having me, Tom.

Tom Mustin: 

Great to have you. Can you tell us a little about your firm's experience representing bikers who were injured in crashes?

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely, because my firm handles motor vehicle accidents that would include motorcycle accidents, semi-trucking accidents, and your random or standard run of the mill motor vehicle accident. And in that motor vehicle accident arm, as I said before, motorcyclists of course fall into that special category of instances. Those cases that we've been handling since we opened in 2014. Luckily we've had an opportunity to help hundreds of motorcyclists escape recovery.

Tom Mustin: 

In the motorcycles versus car accidents, motorcyclists get kind of a bad rep about being the ones who cause these accidents. Has that been your experience?

Michelle Martin: 

That's always the argument from the defense side or from the motor vehicle accident, defense perspective. Of course, they would like to blame the motorcyclist. A lot of the times we see motorcycles as risky behavior or abnormally dangerous activity. We see... Because society has sensationalized so many things. You see motorcyclists doing tricks, and so that's the idea that the opponent or the at fault party would like for a jury or for society to see is that the motorcyclist is here being rogue. You see him going in and out of traffic and that they're not obeying the safety rules. However, majority of the accidents that we've handled, that's not the case at all. These are law abiding motorcyclists who happened to have been hurt by the negligence of another party.

Tom Mustin: 

So talk about how fault works into a claim in your analysis of a legal claim after one of these types of accidents.

Michelle Martin: 

Yeah, so honestly fault in any type of motor vehicle accident, negligence action, you're gonna look and see in terms of determining the liability or the fault, how was the incident caused. So that's how you get to the approximate cause and causation analysis. And you're gonna wanna look at who was obeying the traffic laws, whether or not the proper safety gear was worn by all parties, what was the weather at the time. A lot of different things that you're gonna consider during normal motor vehicle accidents when it's between one vehicle and... I'm sorry, one car and another car, but when you're looking at a motorcyclist, you definitely wanna pay attention because they do get that bad rep and you're gonna have to overcome that barrier. So you wanna make sure that you as a motorcyclist you're keeping up on all of your licensure, that you are wearing all your safety gear, if in fact you're in a state where it's necessary. Here in Ohio, we have certain qualifiers or certain people who are required to wear a helmet but traditionally we didn't even have helmet laws.

Tom Mustin: 

Wow, well, if the biker is at least partially at fault here, does that affect the claim too as well?

Michelle Martin: 

Well, it can affect the claim and a biker, just like any other motor vehicle driver on the road, you can have in Ohio, what's called comparative fault or comparative negligence. And the biker can be anything less than 50% liable... I'm sorry, 50% at fault, and he could still recover from that other party. So let's say a fact finder, which would be a juror or a judge, would look at the set of facts and determine the causation of an accident. And in doing so, if they find that the biker is even 49%, 48% at fault, that 51% of the other driver is still gonna come in and compensate that motor vehicle... I'm sorry, that motorcyclist.

Tom Mustin: 

Okay. So I've got a two-part question for you. Is there a helmet law in Ohio, and if so, what happens if the motorcyclist is in an accident and is not wearing a helmet, does that affect his or her claim?

Michelle Martin: 

How much time you got? [chuckle] So there is a newly created qualifying helmet law, if you would. Before December of 2021... So this is how recent it was, there wasn't a helmet law in Ohio. What has happened since December, early to mid-December 2021 legislations created to protect minors and those who are kinda novice motorcyclist. So there are three types of folks who are now required to wear helmets. It's folks who have received their motorcycle license for under a year, folks who are under the age of 18, and then you have folks who are back seat passengers or the companion riders, who are on the motorcycle of someone who's required to wear a helmet. So if they fit those first two categories and you're riding on their bike, you also have to have a helmet on. Now, assuming that you do not have this helmet on, the way in which that works... It goes back to that comparative fault that we were talking about before. So the law's gonna look at that and say, "Well, how much could you have minimized or mitigated your damages or your injury had you been wearing that helmet."

Michelle Martin: 

So that is gonna go into consideration when we are determining what percentage of fault to allocate when we're talking about the actual damage to the party. Maybe not how the accident was caused, but now we're looking at how much damage was caused and how much could have been minimized if a helmet had been worn.

Tom Mustin: 

Gotcha, good answer there. So there are a lot of folks who just do not wanna pay legal fees regardless, even if there's involvement in one of these accidents. Tell us why it's so important in your opinion that they do get representation in one of these motorcycle accidents?

Michelle Martin: 

Yeah, so you need to get representation, competent representation, ASAP. When you have incidences like this, there's so much evidence that needs to be gathered initially that can start to disappear. So many of the stories start to change, so many witnesses begin to forget things because we're also sensationalized by social media, by television. So sometimes memories can get foggy, so you wanna get legal representation, so you can start getting your witness statements down, you can start getting the experts in place. You may have significant injuries where you're gonna have to have your medical experts already forecasting the type of treatment that you're gonna have. These cases are just so complex, you're gonna have to get experts who specialize in accident reconstruction just for motorcycle accidents. And these are very particularized area, so you're gonna wanna give someone who's knowledgeable about this area of law, who has good relationships with the experts that you need, and has a firm understanding of the laws in the State of Ohio.

Tom Mustin: 

Well, great answers, Michelle, we really appreciate you joining us today.

Michelle Martin: 

Oh, thank you so much. Any time.

Tom Mustin: 

Good to talk to you. And that's gonna do it for this episode of AskTheLawyers. My guest has been Michelle Martin. If you wanna ask Michelle a question about your situation, call the number you see on your screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Tom Mustin for AskTheLawyers.

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