Lackawanna County Personal Injury Lawyers

PennDOT does not rank roads, but its county tables show where the volume is: 2,259 reportable crashes in Lackawanna County in 2024, 1,018 with injuries. The corridors our cases come from are Interstate 81 through Scranton and Dunmore, where I-84 and I-380 join it; the Governor Casey Highway (US 6) from Dunmore to Carbondale; US 6 and US 11 on Northern Boulevard through Clarks Summit and the Abingtons; the Scranton–Carbondale Highway (Business Route 6) through Dickson City, Blakely, Olyphant and Archbald; and the intersections along it in the commercial strips. Heavy truck traffic on I-81 and I-476 is a category of its own.

The same way we handle a Luzerne County one. The first conversation is by phone; after that we meet at our office 20 miles down I-81, by video, or at your home or hospital room in Scranton, Carbondale or anywhere in the county. Court filings and hearings are in Scranton, and we handle them.

In the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas at the county courthouse, 200 N Washington Ave, Scranton — for injuries anywhere in the county, since venue generally follows where the injury occurred. Smaller claims go first to a compulsory arbitration panel under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7361, with a right to appeal to a jury. A case with an out-of-state defendant or a federal question can be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania at the William J. Nealon Federal Building, a block north on the same street.

Two years from the date of the injury for almost every claim (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524). If the defendant is a city, borough, township, the county or the Commonwealth — a crash with a municipal vehicle, a fall on a public sidewalk — written notice must be given within six months (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522). Minors have until their 20th birthday. Two years is the outside limit, not a plan: reports, camera footage and witnesses are gone long before.

You may recover economic damages including medical bills, future medical treatment, lost wages, and diminished earning capacity. You may also recover non-economic damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium. If the at-fault driver was extremely reckless — for example, driving drunk or at excessive speed — punitive damages may also be available. Our attorneys calculate every category of damage to ensure your claim reflects your true losses.

If the at-fault driver is uninsured, you may file a claim under the uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own auto policy. If the at-fault driver has insurance but not enough to cover your damages, your underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage may provide additional compensation. Pennsylvania requires insurers to offer UM/UIM coverage, though drivers may have rejected it. Our attorneys review your policy to identify every available source of recovery.

Crashes inside Scranton go to the Scranton Police Department at 100 S Washington Ave; the boroughs — Dunmore, Dickson City, Clarks Summit, Carbondale and the rest — have their own departments; crashes on I-81, I-84, I-380, I-476 and state routes outside the boroughs are usually handled by Pennsylvania State Police Troop R out of Dunmore. Ask the officer for the incident number before you leave the scene. Reports are released through PennDOT's online Crash Report Request system for a $22 fee, and we obtain them for every client at no charge.

Truck accident cases are significantly more complex because they involve federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, multiple potentially liable parties (the driver, trucking company, cargo loader, and vehicle manufacturer), larger insurance policies, and more aggressive defense teams. Black box data, driver hours-of-service logs, and maintenance records must be preserved quickly before the trucking company can alter or destroy them. Our attorneys send immediate preservation demands and begin investigating within hours of the crash.