Pittsburgh Car Accident Attorneys
Free Case Evaluation
Fill out the form below to schedule a free evaluation.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
The Pittsburgh personal injury attorneys of Lupetin and Unatin have helped hundreds of individuals and families in Pennsylvania who have suffered catastrophic loss related to vehicular accidents, including automobile collisions, motorcycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents.
When One Moment Changes Everything, Decades of Trial Experience Fight for Your Future
Car accidents change lives in an instant. One moment a family is driving home from dinner or sitting at a red light; the next, everything is different. We have spent decades representing people in Western Pennsylvania whose lives were upended by a driver who was going too fast, not paying attention, or operating a vehicle while impaired. We know what these cases require, we know what they are worth, and we have the trial record to prove we will fight for every dollar.
Lupetin & Unatin handles catastrophic and serious injury motor vehicle cases. We handle car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, and pedestrian accidents throughout Pennsylvania. If you or someone you love was seriously injured in a crash that was not your fault, call us. The consultation is free, and we only get paid if we win.
Client Testimonials
We had a life changing experience by hiring Lupetin & Unatin, to represent my wife for injuries she sustained in an auto accident. Greg & Brendan’s experience in representing brain injury cases and the strategies they used to win her case were nothing less than amazing. Their professionalism and knowledge in proving her injuries brought us to a favorable outcome. We highly recommend their firm for any traumatic injury.
I hired Lupetin & Unatin after an automobile accident and Maggie Cooney has been the attorney handing my case. Maggie has been absolutely wonderful to work with. She has been extremely communicative, informative, kind and caring. Every time I spoke with Maggie on the phone I was left feeling like I had a full understanding of the situation at hand. I was never shy to ask her questions no matter how “unimportant” I may have thought they sounded, because she always assured me that I was asking valid questions. I was kept in the loop from start to finish of my case and knew I could call or text Maggie at any time and receive a response from her within the day. When I received the call from Maggie that she had settled my case I was beyond pleased with the outcome. Maggie fought for me, and she never made me feel that my expectations were too high. She is brilliant and extremely knowledgeable of the law and has incredible professionalism when it comes to dealing with people. I would recommend Lupetin & Unatin, and especially Maggie Cooney, to anyone looking for an attorney that will listen, and fight for them.
3 years ago my son and I were involved in a car accident. My son’s grandfather referred me to Lupetin & Unatin. The representation I received was superb. I filed my lawsuit at the beginning of 2022 and they diligently gathered all the information needed to settle the case for me and my son. It took some time, but at the end of 2024, they were able to get us a reasonable settlement. Garrett Trettel was representing us and he treated our case with the utmost importance and urgency, being very transparent of the necessary steps that had to be taken along the way in order for us to cross the finish line.
I can honestly say I am pleased and satisfied with the service I received from this law firm. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again in the future.
In this video, Attorney Brendan Lupetin sheds light on how the law firm of Lupetin & Unatin is dedicated to aiding victims of car accidents in their quest for fair compensation and a pathway to recovery. With extensive experience in personal injury law, Brendan Lupetin discusses the firm’s unwavering commitment to ensuring that those injured in car accidents receive the justice they deserve.
What We Have Done for Car Accident Clients in Western Pennsylvania
The best way to understand what a law firm will do for you is to look at what it has actually done. Here are two motor vehicle cases our firm has handled that illustrate the kind of work and the kinds of results we pursue on behalf of our clients.
On July 18, 2013, at approximately 6:30 in the evening, Cody Johnson was driving north on Golden Mile Highway in Monroeville with his wife Kelly, their son Ben, and his stepson Dan riding as passengers. At the same time, Gary Very was driving a white pickup truck owned by his employer, S&K Plumbing and Heating, southbound on the same road. What happened next was not an accident, it was the predictable result of a driver making a series of reckless choices.
The police report concluded that Very chose to travel well in excess of the posted speed limit. He chose to operate his vehicle out of control. He chose to veer across the double yellow center line dividing north and southbound traffic. And critically, the complaint alleged that he chose to operate his vehicle while intoxicated or in an impaired state. The pickup truck crossed into the northbound lane and struck the passenger side of the Johnson vehicle — the side where Kelly and Dan were seated. Both Kelly and Dan died from their injuries. Cody Johnson and his son Ben survived, but were conscious and confined in their vehicle in the immediate aftermath, adjacent to their dying family members. We alleged that both Cody and Ben suffered and continue to suffer from depression, anxiety, hypervigilance, and sleeplessness as a result of what they witnessed.
The claims were brought under Pennsylvania’s Wrongful Death and Survival statutes, 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 8301 and 8302, as well as claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress on behalf of Cody and Ben individually. The case also pursued corporate liability against S&K Plumbing and Heating for negligently entrusting the vehicle to Vrudney, failing to properly train and supervise him, and allowing him to operate a company vehicle despite knowing or having reason to know he was not capable of doing so safely. The case settled for $1.5 million, the insurance policy limits.
Kathryn Corcetti was 77 years old on December 30, 2019 but as Greg Unatin and Brendan Lupetin argued at trial, she was a very young 77. She worked a marketing job for a small dental practice in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood. She played the piano. She baked. She drove herself wherever she needed to go. She was active and independent, and she had no reason to believe any of that was about to change when she stopped at a red light on Route 22 in Monroeville that evening.
Michael Trombola was driving a GMC Terrain approximately 40 miles per hour when he swerved from one lane to another and struck the rear of Mrs. Corcetti’s vehicle. The impact was severe. In the days that followed, Mrs. Corcetti developed headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and balance problems. Chiropractic care did not resolve her symptoms. She was eventually diagnosed with a post-traumatic right peripheral vestibulopathy. Kathy had permanent damage to the vestibular system in her inner ear, caused by the trauma of the crash. A concussion specialist, Dr. Alicia Puskar, and a board-certified neurologist and balance disorder specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Joseph Furman, treated Mrs. Corcetti and ultimately testified on her behalf. Mrs. Corcetti completed more than 100 sessions of vestibular therapy under their direction.
She never returned to her job at Smiles by Hart dental practice. She could no longer drive without fear. Reading, working at a computer, playing the piano, and baking, activities that had been part of the fabric of her daily life, became difficult or impossible on her difficult days. Trombola’s insurance carrier offered $75,000 to resolve the case. Brendan and Greg tried the case to a jury in Allegheny County. The jury returned a verdict of $900,000 — twelve times the defendant’s top offer. This was case as named a Top Verdict in Pennsylvania by TopVerdict.com and PA Law Magazine.
Why Insurance Companies Are Not on Your Side
After a serious car accident in Pennsylvania, you will hear from an insurance adjuster quickly. They will seem helpful. They will ask you to provide a recorded statement about what happened and how you are feeling. They will frame the conversation as routine paperwork. It is not. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask questions in ways that minimize or eliminate the insurer’s liability. Statements given without legal guidance are used against injured people constantly. Sometimes these statements are used to undermine claims that were entirely legitimate.
The insurance adjuster’s job is to resolve your claim for as little money as possible. They are good at it. The initial offers in the Corcetti case and the Johnson case were low and not good-faith valuations of what those people had lost. They were opening positions in a negotiation that the insurer expected to win because most people do not have experienced trial lawyers in their corner.
We do not recommend giving a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurance company before speaking with an attorney. We do not recommend accepting an early settlement offer without first understanding the full extent of your injuries, which often takes months to assess. And we do not recommend trying to navigate the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, which governs whose insurance pays what and in what order, without someone who handles these cases every day.
Pennsylvania Law and Your Car Accident Case
Pennsylvania is a choice no-fault state, meaning drivers select either limited tort or full tort coverage when they purchase insurance. That choice has significant consequences for what you can recover if you are injured in a crash.
Under limited tort, your right to recover for pain and suffering is restricted unless you meet certain threshold injury criteria. With limited tort you must establish a serious injury, defined under Pennsylvania law as death, serious impairment of a body function, or permanent serious disfigurement. Under full tort, there is no such threshold and you can pursue compensation for pain and suffering regardless of injury severity. Many people do not remember which option they selected or fully understand what it means until they are sitting across from an adjuster trying to settle their claim on the cheap.
The statute of limitations for personal injury claims in Pennsylvania is two years from the date of the crash. That deadline is hard. If you do not file suit before it expires, you lose your right to pursue compensation entirely, regardless of how clear-cut the liability is or how severe your injuries are. For claims against government entities, like a municipality responsible for a dangerous road condition, the deadlines can be as short as six months and the procedural requirements more demanding.
Who Can Be Held Responsible
In a straightforward two-car collision, liability usually falls on the driver who caused the crash. But depending on the circumstances, other parties may bear responsibility as well. If the at-fault driver was working at the time of the crash (e.g. driving a company vehicle or making a delivery), the employer can be held liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior, which is precisely the theory pursued in the Johnson case against S&K Plumbing and Heating. When a company knows or should have known that a driver is unfit to operate a vehicle and allows them to do so anyway, corporate liability follows.
If the crash was caused or contributed to by a dangerous road condition, a poorly designed intersection, inadequate signage, a road surface that was allowed to deteriorate, a government entity may share responsibility. Pennsylvania has specific procedural rules governing claims against state and local governments, including notice requirements, and those rules need to be followed carefully from the outset. If a vehicle defect (e.g. defective brakes, a tire failure, a software malfunction in an automated system) caused or contributed to the crash, the manufacturer or distributor of that vehicle or component may face product liability exposure.
Identifying every potentially liable party is not always obvious from the police report or the immediate facts of the crash. It requires investigation — reviewing employment records, maintenance logs, road inspection records, and vehicle history. We handle that investigation as part of every case we take.
The Injuries We See
Traumatic brain injury and concussion are among the most commonly undervalued injuries in car accident cases. Mrs. Corcetti’s case is a good illustration of why. Her symptoms were real, measurable, and life-altering, but they were not the kind of dramatic visible injury that commands immediate respect from an insurer. It took board-certified specialists, extensive diagnostic testing, over 100 therapy sessions, and a jury to establish what had actually been taken from her. We have seen insurers offer embarrassingly low sums for TBI and concussion cases, and we have seen juries return verdicts that reflect the true impact on a person’s life.
Spinal cord and orthopedic injuries, herniated and bulging discs, fractures, nerve damage, rotator cuff and ligament tears, are common in high-speed impacts and rear-end collisions. Soft tissue injuries that do not appear on standard imaging but cause chronic pain are among the most frequently disputed. Internal injuries, burns, and facial and dental trauma round out the spectrum of what we see from serious crashes. In wrongful death cases, we pursue claims under Pennsylvania’s Wrongful Death and Survival statutes on behalf of spouses, children, and other statutory beneficiaries.
What It Costs to Have Lupetin & Unatin on Your Side
Nothing, unless we win. Every car accident case we take is handled on a contingent fee basis. There is no charge for the initial consultation. There are no upfront costs. We advance any case expenses necessary to properly investigate and pursue the claim. If we do not recover money for you, you owe us nothing for fees or costs.
That structure matters because it means our interests are aligned with yours from day one. We do not get paid unless you get paid, and we do not get paid well unless we fight hard. It is the same contingent fee model that allows every injured person in Pennsylvania, not just those who can afford to pay $500 per hour out of pocket, to have access to experienced trial lawyers who are the equal of the best defense counsel that insurance companies and corporations can hire.
Talk to a Pittsburgh Car Accident Lawyer — Free Consultation
If you or a family member was seriously injured in a car, truck, motorcycle, or pedestrian accident in Western Pennsylvania, call Lupetin & Unatin. The conversation is free, it is confidential, and there is no obligation. We will tell you honestly whether we think you have a case and what we think it may be worth. We are based in Pittsburgh and handle cases throughout Pennsylvania.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. In Pennsylvania, “no-fault” applies only to medical bills. Regardless of who caused the crash, your own auto insurance (via Personal Injury Protection or “PIP”) pays your initial medical expenses. However, you absolutely retain the right to sue the at-fault driver for other damages—such as lost wages, future medical needs, and pain and suffering—if your injuries are serious.
Yes, but the bar is higher. Usually, Limited Tort prevents you from suing for “pain and suffering” unless your injury meets the legal definition of “serious impairment of a body function.” However, there are several automatic exceptions where Limited Tort is converted to Full Tort, such as:
- The at-fault driver is convicted of a DUI.
- The at-fault driver is in a vehicle registered out-of-state.
- You were a passenger in a commercial vehicle (like a bus or taxi).
- You were hit while walking or riding a bicycle.
This is where Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage becomes vital. If the at-fault driver’s limits are too low to cover your catastrophic injuries (like a spinal cord injury or TBI), you can make a claim against your own policy. We also look for “stacking” options, which allow you to combine coverage limits for multiple vehicles in your household to maximize your recovery.
The general Statute of Limitations is two years from the date of the accident. However, if your accident involved a government-owned vehicle (such as a Port Authority bus in Pittsburgh or a PennDOT truck), you may be required to file a formal notice of your intent to sue within just six months. Missing this deadline can result in losing your right to compensation entirely.
While your PIP coverage may include a small amount for wage loss, it is rarely enough for someone with a catastrophic injury. In a lawsuit, we seek “Economic Damages” to cover your total lost earnings, including the loss of future earning capacity if you are permanently disabled and unable to return to your previous career.
No. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask “trap” questions that can make you appear at fault or make your injuries seem less severe than they are. You are required to cooperate with your own insurance company, but you should never speak to the other driver’s insurer or sign any documents without consulting an attorney first.
Article
Car accidents can result in a wide range of injuries, varying in severity depending on the circumstances of the crash. The severity and type of injuries can vary greatly depending on factors such as the speed of the vehicles involved, the use of safety restraints, the type of collision, and the overall health of the individuals involved.
Article
The Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law defines an individual’s rights when injured in a car accident. Before purchasing automobile insurance, you should know how the law affects your right to receive compensation if injured in a car accident.
Article
These statistics highlight the seriousness and wide-ranging impact of car accidents on society. These statistics are based on reported data and may not capture every car accident or associated injury in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.