When something goes wrong- a car crash on a rain-slicked county road, a bad fall at a local business, a dog bite that came out of nowhere- life doesn’t pause to let you catch your breath. Medical bills start arriving before you’ve even had a chance to figure out what happened. The other party’s insurance company is already calling, asking for a recorded statement. And suddenly you’re navigating a system that feels designed to confuse you.
That’s exactly when you need someone in your corner who actually knows your community — not a toll-free hotline that routes to a call center three states away.
At Kruger & Hodges Hometown Injury Lawyers, we’re not just licensed in Ohio. We live here. We raise our families here. We coach little league, sponsor local events, and shop at the same stores you do. When you call us, you get our personal cell phone numbers — and we pick up. So if you are dealing with uncertainty after an accident, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll make sure you have all the necessary legal tools to get fair compensation.
What’s Happening on Ohio’s Roads and Properties
Before we talk about how we can help, let’s talk about why so many Ohioans find themselves needing a personal injury attorney in the first place.
The numbers that come directly from Ohio’s own government agencies tell a story that’s hard to ignore.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP), Ohio experienced 1,037 fatal crashes in 2025 — marking a fourth consecutive year of decline, though Governor Mike DeWine himself called the number “far too high.” Over the five-year period from 2021 through 2025, the OSHP recorded 5,668 total fatal crashes on Ohio roadways. Serious injury crashes during that same period dropped from 6,405 in 2021 to 5,945 in 2025 — progress, but still thousands of families whose lives were changed permanently every single year.
The OSHP’s own data identifies the most common contributing factors in fatal crashes over recent years:
- Driving off the roadway (responsible for 26% of fatal crashes over the last five years)
- Unsafe speed
- Driving left of center
- Failure to yield the right of way
- Following too closely
- Running a stop sign
These aren’t freak accidents or unavoidable tragedies. They are, as the Patrol’s own Superintendent Colonel Charles A. Jones has stated publicly, preventable. And when someone’s preventable mistake injures you or kills a member of your family, the law provides a path to accountability.
Impaired Driving: A Persistent Problem in Ohio
According to the OSHP’s December 2024 Traffic Safety Bulletin, since 2019, 72,130 crashes on Ohio roadways have involved alcohol and/or drug use by at least one driver or pedestrian. Those crashes resulted in 3,920 deaths — at least 54% of all motor vehicle deaths in Ohio during that period — and nearly 44,000 injuries.
Of the OVI-related fatal crashes since 2019, 28% involved alcohol only, 40% drugs only, and 32% a combination of both. The OSHP bulletin notes that among drug-impaired drivers in fatal crashes, the most commonly identified substances include cannabinoids (40%), opioids such as fentanyl (15%), amphetamines (14%), and cocaine (11%).
Critically, Hamilton County was identified by the OSHP as one of the top four counties in the entire state for OVI-related crashes during this period, alongside Franklin, Cuyahoga, and Montgomery counties. These four counties together accounted for nearly one in three OVI-related crashes statewide. That’s not a statistic we take lightly. It’s a reality we see reflected in the cases that walk through our doors.
The Distracted Driving Shift
Ohio took a major step in January 2023 when Governor DeWine signed Senate Bill 288, making distracted driving — including holding a cell phone while driving — a primary traffic offense for all adult drivers. Before that law, officers could only stop a distracted driver if they had committed a separate violation.
The results, according to the Governor’s office and the OSHP, have been meaningful. In the twelve months after the law went into effect (October 2023 to October 2024), there were approximately 1,112 fewer distracted driving crashes across Ohio compared to the prior year. Fatal crashes attributed to distracted driving dropped nearly 20% over the same period. Statewide, total crashes declined by roughly 15,400 year-over-year.
More recently, preliminary 2025 data from the Ohio Department of Transportation shows traffic deaths fell another 3% compared to 2024 — and the decrease in distracted driving is considered a significant contributing factor.
Progress is real. But thousands of Ohioans are still being hurt every year by drivers who made choices they shouldn’t have — and many of those victims have a legal right to compensation.
Butler County by the Numbers
Butler County is one of the most populous and fastest-growing counties in Ohio — and with that growth comes real traffic risk. Major corridors like I-75, I-275, US-127, and SR-129 run through the county and see heavy commuter and commercial truck traffic daily. The Ohio State Highway Patrol tracks fatal crash data for every Ohio county through its Statistical Analysis Unit, and its publicly available OSTATS dashboard shows exactly how those numbers play out here at home.
What we know from the statewide data is sobering enough: across Ohio, impaired driving has played a role in more than half of all fatal crashes since 2019, and driving off the roadway, unsafe speed, and failure to yield are consistently the leading killers on roads exactly like the ones Butler County residents travel every day. These aren’t distant statistics — they’re the crashes we hear about in our own communities, and the clients who call us after the worst days of their lives. These are our neighbors. This is why we do what we do.
What Is a Personal Injury Case, and Do You Have One?
A personal injury claim exists when someone is hurt because another person, company, or entity acted carelessly — or failed to act when they should have. In legal terms, that’s called negligence. To have a valid claim in Ohio, four things generally need to be true:
- Duty: The other party owed you a reasonable duty of care. A driver owes it to others on the road. A business owner owes it to customers on their property. A dog owner owes it to people their dog might encounter.
- Breach: They violated that duty through reckless, careless, or negligent behavior. Running a red light. Failing to fix a known hazard on their property. Letting their dog run unsecured in a public area.
- Causation: Their breach directly caused your injury. Not just that they acted badly — but that their actions (or inaction) are what hurt you.
- Damages: You actually suffered harm. Physical injury, financial loss, emotional distress — real consequences that can be documented and compensated.
Sounds simple. In practice, insurance companies and defense attorneys spend enormous resources trying to poke holes in each of these elements, minimize your injuries, or shift blame onto you. That’s precisely why having an experienced Ohio personal injury attorney matters so much from day one.
The Cases We Handle
At Kruger & Hodges, our team handles a wide range of personal injury matters for clients across southwest and central Ohio. Here’s what we see most often:
Car Accidents
Car accidents are the most common reason Ohioans reach out to a personal injury lawyer. Whether you were rear-ended at a stoplight, T-boned at an intersection, or run off the road by a distracted driver, the aftermath can involve thousands of dollars in medical bills, weeks or months out of work, and injuries that may follow you for the rest of your life.
The insurance company on the other end of the line has one job: resolve your claim for as little money as possible. Our job is the opposite — to fight for the full compensation you actually deserve.
Truck Accidents
Commercial trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds when fully loaded. When they collide with a passenger vehicle, the damage is almost always severe. These cases are also more legally complex than standard car accident claims: there are federal regulations governing driver hours, vehicle maintenance, and cargo loading; multiple potentially liable parties (the driver, the trucking company, the cargo loader, sometimes the manufacturer); and time-sensitive evidence like black box data and driver logs that must be preserved quickly. We know how to move fast and how to build a complete case in commercial vehicle accidents.
Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable people on Ohio’s roads — the OSHP’s county-level data consistently shows motorcycles involved in a disproportionate share of fatal crashes. Without the structural protection of a vehicle around them, riders who are hit by negligent drivers often suffer catastrophic injuries.
Motorcycle accident victims also frequently face an uphill battle with insurance adjusters who look for ways to blame the rider. We push back on those tactics and work to establish the true facts of what happened.
Dog Bites
Ohio law is straightforward on this: if someone’s dog bites you, the owner is generally liable — regardless of whether the dog had any history of aggression. You don’t have to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous. This is called strict liability, and it means victims don’t have to fight an unfair evidentiary battle just to get their medical bills covered.
Dog bites can be traumatic beyond the physical wound, particularly for children, and we handle these cases with the care they deserve.
Slip and Fall / Premises Liability
Ohio property owners — whether private individuals, businesses, or government entities — have a legal obligation to maintain their premises in a reasonably safe condition. When they fail to fix a known hazard and someone gets hurt as a result, that’s a premises liability claim.
Don’t let anyone tell you a fall “wasn’t that bad.” Broken bones, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries — these are real outcomes from slip and fall accidents, and they deserve to be taken seriously.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents
Pedestrians and cyclists have essentially no protection when struck by a motor vehicle. The physical consequences are almost always severe, and these victims often face an insurance system that undervalues their suffering.
Wrongful Death
When someone’s negligence claims a life, the family left behind deserves both justice and financial stability. A wrongful death claim won’t bring your loved one back — nothing can. But it can hold the responsible party accountable, and it can help ensure that your family isn’t left to absorb the financial consequences of someone else’s recklessness.
What Ohio Law Says You Need to Know
You don’t need a law degree to understand the basics — but there are a few things every injured Ohioan should know before deciding what to do next.
The Statute of Limitations: Time Is Not on Your Side
Under Ohio Revised Code § 2305.10, most personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the date of the injury. This covers car accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, and most other negligence-based claims. Wrongful death claims also carry a two-year deadline, running from the date of death.
Miss that deadline — by even one day — and you almost certainly forfeit your right to any compensation, no matter how strong your case is. There are limited exceptions (for minors, for instance, the clock typically doesn’t start until they turn 18), but don’t assume an exception applies to your situation without talking to a lawyer first.
Our advice is always the same: don’t wait. The sooner you reach out, the more time we have to investigate your case while evidence is fresh, witnesses still remember what they saw, and surveillance footage hasn’t been overwritten.
Ohio’s Comparative Fault Rule
Ohio follows a modified comparative fault system. That means even if you were partially responsible for what happened, you may still be able to recover compensation — as long as you were not more than 50% at fault. Your recovery will be reduced proportionally by your share of responsibility.
So if you were found to be 25% at fault and your total damages are $100,000, you’d recover $75,000. Insurance companies know this rule well, and they use it aggressively — trying to pin as much blame on the injured party as possible to reduce what they owe. Having an attorney who can counter those arguments is one of the most valuable things we do.
What You Can Be Compensated For
Personal injury compensation in Ohio can include:
- Medical expenses — current and future: emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, medication, and ongoing treatment
- Lost wages and earning capacity — income you’ve lost and income you may never be able to earn due to permanent disability
- Property damage — repair or replacement of your vehicle or other property
- Pain and suffering — physical pain, emotional distress, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of life
- Wrongful death damages — funeral and burial costs, loss of financial support, loss of companionship and guidance
Ohio does place caps on certain non-economic damages in some cases, but there are important exceptions — particularly for catastrophic injuries. Getting a full and accurate picture of what your case is actually worth requires knowing exactly how Ohio law applies to your specific situation, which is why a free consultation with an experienced attorney is always the right first step.
The Kruger & Hodges Difference
Here’s what sets us apart from the larger, high-volume firms that run ads during every commercial break:
We actually know you. We didn’t build this practice to be a factory. Scott Kruger and Josh Hodges built it because they’d seen their own loved ones get hurt by other people’s negligence. They’d also worked on the defense side — representing government and corporations — and they know the playbook those entities use. That experience is now in your corner.
You get direct access. Every client at Kruger & Hodges receives our personal cell phone numbers. That’s not marketing language. When you’re lying awake worried about your bills, you can text us. When a confusing letter arrives from the insurance company, you can call us — not a receptionist, not a paralegal rotation. Your attorney.
We don’t rush you into bad deals. We analyze every angle of your case, calculate the full scope of your damages and fight for what you’re actually owed. If that means trial, we go to trial.
Our attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and hold an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. We’re proud of those recognitions. But what we’re most proud of is the stack of reviews from real clients who tell us we made a difference in their lives when they needed it most.
We’re Your Neighbors — Across Southwest and Central Ohio
We built a network of offices across the region specifically because we believe you shouldn’t have to drive an hour to find a trustworthy attorney. We know the local courthouses, the judges, and the communities where our clients live and work.
Hamilton — Our Home Base
220 S. 3rd St., Hamilton, OH 45011. (513) 894-3333. Hamilton is where Kruger & Hodges was founded, and it remains the heart of everything we do. We know this city, and we’re proud to fight for the people who call it home.
300 N. Main St., Ste 375, Middletown, OH 45042. (513) 805-9841. Sitting right along I-75 and SR-122, Middletown sees significant truck and commuter traffic that creates real risk for residents. Our office here ensures that working families in Middletown don’t have to travel far to get serious legal help.
111 S. Barron St., Eaton, OH 45320. (937) 733-6079. The Preble County seat is surrounded by rural roads where high-speed crashes are particularly dangerous — and where emergency response times can be longer, compounding injuries. We serve the whole Preble County area from our Eaton office, and we know that rural communities deserve the same quality of legal representation as anyone in a major city.
21 N. South St., Wilmington, OH 45177. (937) 770-8317. Wilmington is the heart of Clinton County, and our office here reflects our commitment to making sure smaller Ohio communities have real access to experienced legal representation. No one should have to go without a good attorney simply because of their zip code.
106 S. Main St., Washington Court House, OH 43160. (740) 807-5079. Fayette County’s county seat sits along SR-35 — a corridor that sees its share of serious crashes. If you’ve been hurt in Fayette County or the surrounding area, we are right there with you.
203 S. Scioto St., Circleville, OH 43113 (740) 873-7139. Home of the Pickaway County courthouse and the world-famous Pumpkin Show, Circleville is a community with deep roots — and our office there reflects our commitment to those roots. We serve clients across Pickaway County and into Fairfield and Ross Counties from this location.
115 West Court Street, Urbana, OH 43078. (937) 915-5391. Champaign County’s county seat sits at the crossroads of US-36 and SR-29. Rural routes like these can be deceivingly dangerous, especially at night or in poor weather. Our Urbana office puts experienced legal help close to home for clients across Champaign County.
45 E Main St., Ste 106, Xenia, OH 45385. (937) 770-8932. Greene County’s county seat is an active community in the Miami Valley corridor. With US-35 nearby and a large commuting population, auto accidents are a real and constant concern. We’re right here in Xenia when you need us.
139 W. Columbus Ave., Suite #304, Bellefontaine, OH 43311. (937) 468-5176. Logan County’s county seat often feels underserved when it comes to legal access — which is exactly why we opened an office here. Whether you’re in town or out in the rural stretches of Logan County, you deserve an attorney who shows up for you. That’s who we are.
Your Questions, Answered Honestly
How much does it cost to hire Kruger & Hodges?
Zero upfront. We work on personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis — meaning we only get paid if we win your case. If we don’t recover money for you, you owe us nothing. This model is deliberate: it means anyone, regardless of their financial situation, can access serious legal representation.
What should I do immediately after an accident?
First, make sure you’re safe. Call 911 if anyone is injured. Get medical attention even if you feel okay right now — many injuries, including concussions and soft tissue damage, don’t fully show symptoms for hours or days. Document what you can: photos of the scene, insurance information, witness names and contact info. Then call us before you give a recorded statement to anyone’s insurance company. What you say in those early conversations matters.
The other party’s insurance company already offered me a settlement. Should I take it?
Almost certainly not — at least not before having a lawyer review it. First offers from insurance companies are almost always far below what victims are legally entitled to. Once you accept, you can’t go back for more, even if your injuries turn out to be worse than you initially thought. The cost of a free consultation with us is nothing. The cost of accepting a bad settlement can follow you for years.
What if I was partly at fault for the accident?
You may still be able to recover. Under Ohio’s modified comparative fault rule (Ohio Revised Code § 2315.33), you can pursue a claim as long as you were not more than 50% responsible for what happened. Your recovery is reduced proportionally by your share of fault — but you’re not automatically out of luck just because you played some role in the situation.
How long will my case take?
It depends on the complexity of your case. Many settle within several months; others, particularly those that go to trial or involve serious injuries requiring extensive documentation, can take a year or more. We’ll give you our honest assessment from the start — and we’ll never pressure you to take a quick settlement just to close a file. Our goal is the best outcome for you, not the most convenient one for us.
Every Town Needs a Hometown Lawyer™
There are plenty of law firms in Ohio. Some of them are enormous operations with flashy advertising budgets and hundreds of cases rotating through at any given time. When you’re one of hundreds of clients, you become a file number. Things get lost. Calls don’t get returned. And settlements get accepted because it’s easier than fighting.
We built Kruger & Hodges on a different belief: that people in Ohio’s smaller cities and towns deserve the same quality of legal advocacy as anyone in a big metro area. That you deserve an attorney who knows your county, picks up your calls, explains your options in plain language, and genuinely cares about what happens to you.
From Hamilton to Bellefontaine. From Xenia to Washington Court House. From Middletown to Circleville. We’re your neighbors — and we’re proud to be your lawyers. Talk to Us — Free, No Pressure, No Obligation. Your first conversation with us costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. We’ll listen to what happened, give you our honest assessment of your situation, and explain your options clearly. Contact us today online or call us at the office nearest you:
- Hamilton: (513) 894-3333
- Middletown: (513) 805-9841
- Eaton: (937) 733-6079
- Wilmington: (937) 770-8317
- Washington Court House: (740) 807-5079
- Circleville: (740) 873-7139
- Urbana: (937) 915-5391
- Xenia: (937) 770-8932
- Bellefontaine: (937) 468-5176