Toledo Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Motorcycle accidents are more likely than car crashes to lead to catastrophic injuries. If you’ve sustained serious injuries or lost a loved one in a motorcycle crash, you can work with a Toledo motorcycle accident lawyer to help you recover compensation that can pay your hospital bills, make up for lost wages, and make it a little easier to find a path forward in life.

Trust Spangenberg Shipley & Liber

The team of attorneys here at Spangenberg Shipley & Liber has made it its mission to assist clients facing devastating injuries with filing claims against those responsible. In our many decades in practice, we’ve handled countless truck accident cases. Our firm was started in 1946, and since that time, we’ve helped clients get over $1 billion in settlements and verdicts. We can help you, too.

Reasons to Hire a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

In 2025, more than four times as many riders were killed in Eastern Ohio’s “100 deadliest days” than in 2024. Lucas County saw approximately 40 motorcycle crashes in the summer of 2025. From 2020 to 2024, the Buckeye State saw approximately 1,000 motorcycle fatalities. Of those, more than half involved impaired drivers or motorcyclists. These statistics point to some troubling trends.

Whether the person who hit you was impaired or simply driving negligently and failed to check for motorcycles before changing lanes, you can hire a motorcycle accident lawyer to hold them accountable for their actions or lack of action.

The time following a motorcycle crash can be extremely challenging, both for those who survive and for the surviving family members of motorcyclists who lost their lives. Working with a lawyer can help to alleviate some of that stress. Your lawyer can help with everything from filing paperwork to proving negligence and negotiating a settlement or taking your case to court. That way, you can focus on healing and moving on.

Types of Motorcycle Accident Injuries

Motorcycle accidents are uniquely dangerous because riders have nothing to protect them from impacts. Even if you’re wearing a helmet and other safety gear, you could still suffer catastrophic injuries in a motorcycle crash. Some of the common injuries suffered by riders who get into collisions with passenger vehicles include:

• Traumatic brain injuries. TBIs can cause both short-term symptoms like dizziness, confusion, blurred vision, and long-term cognitive impacts.
• Spinal cord injuries. A spinal cord injury could leave you dealing with weakness, numbness, tingling, or, in a worst-case scenario, full or partial paralysis.
• Whiplash. Whiplash is very common after any accident. It involves the neck bending too far in one direction. Thankfully, this issue usually resolves quickly with minimal medical intervention, although that is not always the case.
• Broken bones. Broken bones can range in severity from minor fractures to crushing injuries that require surgical amputation.
• Internal injuries. Internal injuries are difficult to identify when they happen, which is part of the reason it’s important to seek medical care even if you’re not sure you’ve sustained injuries. Organ damage can be life-threatening, especially if it is not addressed immediately.
• Road rash. Motorcycle riders have little to protect them from the pavement, so road rash is common even in relatively minor accidents.
• Burn injuries. If your motorcycle or the car that hit it catches on fire, you could sustain serious burn injuries that leave you disfigured for the rest of your life.

The amount of compensation you receive should be commensurate with the severity of the injuries you’ve incurred. More serious, life-altering injuries tend to lead to higher settlement amounts.

You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries if the accident was 50% or less your fault. Working with a Toledo motorcycle accident attorney is the most effective way to get a fair payout.

Causes of Motorcycle Accidents

The number one reason that drivers give for hitting motorcycles is that they didn’t see the motorcyclist. This is no excuse for causing grievous injury. Along with not paying enough attention, drivers can cause motorcycle accidents by:

• Speeding
• Distracted driving
• Drunk driving
• Failing to yield
• Quick lane changes
• Running red lights
• Running stop signs
• Aggressive driving

Sometimes, motorcycle riders contribute to their accident risk, as well. Failing to follow the rules of the road, engaging in aggressive riding behaviors, and lane splitting can all increase your chances of getting into a serious crash.

Even if you didn’t do anything wrong, there is a good chance that the insurance company will attempt to blame you for the accident. Don’t worry. Your lawyer can assess the evidence and any witness statements to determine who was actually liable for the crash.

Ohio’s Modified Comparative Negligence Rule

Ohio is a modified comparative negligence state when it comes to car accidents. What that means is that you can still file a claim against another driver if you were deemed partly responsible for the crash. As long as you’re determined to hold no more than 50% of the blame, your claim will still be valid.

If you’re determined to hold some liability for the accident, your final settlement amount will be reduced. You’ll lose a percentage of the settlement commensurate with the amount of blame you’re assigned. If you were going to get a $500,000 settlement, but you were determined to be 20% liable for the crash, your final amount would be $400,000 instead.

If you’re worried about whether you’ll lose out on money to which you would otherwise be entitled, you should hire a motorcycle accident attorney to help you file and support your claim. Lawyers understand when insurance adjusters are trying to shift the blame to you when it’s not appropriate or failing to make a settlement offer that covers 100% of the damages you suffered.

Ways Motorcycle Riders Can Be Found Partially Liable

There are a number of factors that can cause you to hold partial liability for your motorcycle accident. They include:

• Speeding
• Failing to stop at traffic signals
• Failing to respect the right-of-way
• Distracted riding
• Weaving in and out of traffic lanes
• Ignoring the local traffic laws

The other driver’s insurance company will almost certainly try to argue that you were responsible for the crash, even if you weren’t engaging in these behaviors. Consulting a motorcycle accident attorney before you interact with the other driver’s insurance company is always a good idea.

What About Accidents Caused by Defective Bikes?

Other drivers on the road aren’t the only parties that can be held fully or partially liable for motorcycle accidents. Sometimes, it’s the bikes themselves that are to blame.

Manufacturers often issue safety recalls, as does the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These recalls involve the motorcycle manufacturer filing a public report to describe the defect and the remedy. They must make an effort to remedy the defect without charging the owner money.

Periodically checking for recalls of your motorcycle is a good way to help prevent serious accidents and improve your safety on the road. However, even if a recall was issued and you missed it, you can still hold the manufacturer liable for any injuries that occurred as a result. Common defects that can cause accidents include:

• Alignment issues
• Wheel cracks
• Brake problems
• Malfunctioning seats or footrests
• Airbags that don’t deploy correctly
• Stuck or broken accelerators

If your attorney can prove that any of these or another defect was present at the time of your accident, you may have a valid claim against the manufacturer. Your attorney needs to prove that the defect was directly responsible for your accident and that you suffered serious injuries as a result of it.

Types of Damages You Can Recover

You may be entitled to significant compensation if your motorcycle accident led to severe injuries. The types of damages you may be able to recover include:

• Medical bills
• Property damage
• Pain and suffering
• Lost wages
• Lost future earning potential
• Future medical expenses

In most cases, insurance companies settle with accident victims after negotiations, offering them the money they need to pay bills and make up for lost wages. We don’t force settlements when they’re not in our clients’ interests. We are fully prepared to take your case to court if that is the right way to hold the liable driver responsible for the damage they’ve caused.

What to Do Immediately After a Motorcycle Crash

The steps you take after a motorcycle crash can improve or decrease your odds of filing a successful claim. You should never admit fault to the other driver by apologizing, and you should always:

• Call the police. Report the accident to the Toledo Police Department on Cherry Street. The responding officers will create a police report that contains information relevant to your motorcycle accident case. You can request a copy of that report to help support your claim.
• Seek medical treatment. You should never refuse medical treatment following a motorcycle crash. You’ll need to show medical records that prove you suffered serious injuries and that those injuries were the direct result of the accident. Having medical records from immediately after the crash makes it easier to do that.
• Hire an attorney. You should call a motorcycle accident lawyer as soon as you can following a crash. Never accept a settlement from the liable party’s insurance company without speaking with a dedicated attorney first.

You may be in serious pain following the crash and may need significant medical intervention. Now is not the time to be worrying about the details of your claim or how to develop better strategies for negotiating with insurance agents. Leave all of that to your lawyer.

FAQs

Q: What Kills Most Motorcycle Riders?

A: Driver error is what kills most motorcycle riders. Passenger car drivers may fail to see motorcycles or fail to cede them the right-of-way at intersections or when making lane changes, which leads to many accidents. Other factors that can play a role include negligent behaviors like speeding, aggressive driving, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Q: What Are the Riskiest Motorcycle Maneuvers?

A: The riskiest motorcycle maneuvers include improper cornering, dangerous overtaking or lane splitting, speeding in unsafe conditions, and riding in blind spots. Obviously, riders who do stunts in traffic like wheelies and stoppies are also placing themselves and others at a large risk of getting into an accident. However, one of the top causes of accidents is actually passenger car drivers turning left into motorcycles without seeing them at intersections.

Q: Which Motorcycle Has the Highest Fatality Rate?

A: Supersport motorcycles have the highest fatality rate. The death rate for riders who own these types of bikes is four times higher than that for riders of standard motorcycles and cruisers. However, it is impossible to differentiate fully between the role of motorcycle type versus rider characteristics in determining the reasons for higher fatality rates among some groups of riders compared to others.

Q: At What Speed Do Most Motorcycle Deaths Occur?

A: Most motorcycle deaths occur at high speeds. While accidents are most common at lower speeds of around 30 mph, fatalities are disproportionately caused by speeding. The easiest way to reduce your risk is to stick to the posted speed limits. If you got in an accident or had a loved one killed by a speeding passenger car driver, you can work with a Toledo motorcycle accident attorney to recover compensation.

Your Toledo Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

No one gets on their bike expecting to get into a motorcycle crash, but if this has happened to you due to another driver’s negligence, there are steps you can take to hold that driver accountable. You can work with a Toledo motorcycle accident lawyer like those here at Spangenberg Shibley & Liber to seek compensation for any damages you suffered as a result of the crash.

Our team of attorneys has years of experience in representing clients facing devastating personal injuries and wrongful deaths.

We recently obtained a $1.5 million settlement for a truck accident victim who sustained severe injuries when the car was hit by an overloaded truck. * However, past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits. No matter the circumstances of your accident, we can help you seek the money you’re owed, as well. Get in touch with us to schedule your initial consultation today.

*Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits.