A crash on Interstate 81, an injury at a Wyoming Valley job site, or a mistake during treatment at a local hospital leaves practical questions. Who pays for your care while you cannot work? Do you have to talk to the other side’s insurance company? How long do you have to act?
The Wilkes-Barre personal injury lawyers at Munley Law have represented injured people in Luzerne County since 1959. In that time, the firm has recovered more than $1 billion for clients across Pennsylvania. Five of our trial lawyers are board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a distinction that requires documented trial experience, references from judges and other lawyers, and a written exam.
If you were hurt, call the Wilkes-Barre office at (570) 399-0406 for a free consultation. You pay no fee unless we win your case, and we answer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Call Us At 844-686-5397 Why Choose Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Wilkes-Barre, PA?
When you hire a firm for an injury claim, you are choosing who will stand up to the insurance company if it disputes what happened. Munley Law’s results give you a record to judge that by.
Those results include $26 million for a client who suffered a brain injury after a tractor-trailer crash and $19.8 million for the family of three people killed by a distracted truck driver. A pedestrian hit by a car and left with catastrophic injuries recovered $20 million. A faulty gas gauge that caused a plane crash led to a $32.5 million recovery.
Honored by Legal Institutions
Marion Munley and Daniel Munley are each triple board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in truck accident law, civil trial law, and civil practice advocacy. Munley Law is the only law firm in Pennsylvania with two attorneys certified in all three. Katie Nealon also holds the truck accident certification, making three of the four Pennsylvania lawyers certified in that field.
These certifications sit alongside memberships that have to be earned. Marion Munley belongs to the Summit Council, which requires at least one $10 million jury verdict and three jury verdicts of $1 million or more as lead counsel. She and Daniel Munley also belong to the American Board of Trial Advocates, which requires seven or more trials.
Best Lawyers named Marion Munley Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury Litigation, Medical Malpractice Law, and Product Liability Litigation. All five Munley partners hold Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent rating, the highest it gives. Marion Munley is President-Elect of the American Association for Justice, and Munley Law attorneys hold leadership positions in the Pennsylvania Association for Justice. They are also recognized by Super Lawyers, Lawdragon, the International Society of Barristers, Litigation Counsel of America, and the Irish Legal 100.
Ready for Trial
Munley Law does not take the easy settlement when an offer does not match the injury. The firm’s trial lawyers work with medical and accident experts to build each claim as if it will be tried.
Insurance companies know that, and it changes how they negotiate. While the claim is built, you can concentrate on treatment and recovery.
What Types of Personal Injury Cases Do We Handle in Wilkes-Barre, PA?
Injuries in Luzerne County come from highways, job sites, hospitals, and everyday places, and Munley Law handles each of these case types from the Wilkes-Barre office.
Truck Accidents
The convergence of three major interstates makes Wilkes-Barre a hotspot for commercial vehicle crashes. While figures for the Wilkes-Barre area aren’t available, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation revealed that 6,922 heavy trucks were involved in accidents across the state in 2025. Of those crashes, 121 people lost their lives.
Our three board-certified truck accident attorneys understand federal regulations, black box data, and corporate liability—expertise that generic PI lawyers simply don’t have. We will gather evidence you won’t be able to obtain on your own, such as dashcam footage, black box data, and accident reconstructionist findings, and determine what caused the accident and who was at fault.
Car Accidents
From Public Square intersections to collisions on the Cross Valley Expressway, auto crashes cause devastating injuries. In Luzerne County, there were 3,102 car crashes in 2025, with 42 fatalities. Only three counties had more traffic deaths in PA: Philadelphia, Allegheny, and Bucks.
Our car accident lawyers represent everyone involved in a serious auto accident, from injured drivers and their passengers to motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and even scooter riders.
Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycle riders have no frame, seat belts, or airbags to absorb the impact of a crash. PennDOT’s 2025 report counted 2,927 motorcycle crashes in Pennsylvania, and 186 of them were fatal.
Munley Law’s team of motorcycle accident attorneys represents riders hurt in Luzerne County, including riders whose crash the other driver blames on them.
Workers’ Compensation
A Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry report indicates that there were 1,771 reportable workplace injuries and illnesses in Luzerne County in 2025. When you are hurt at work, the insurer may argue the injury did not happen on the job or that a preexisting condition caused it. Some insurers delay or deny benefits over a technical issue.
Caroline Munley, a Pennsylvania Bar Association certified workers’ compensation specialist, handles workers’ compensation claims across health care, manufacturing, transportation, and industrial work in Wilkes-Barre.
Medical Malpractice
Patients in the Wilkes-Barre area are treated at hospitals including Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. When a surgical mistake, misdiagnosis, or medication error causes lasting harm at any facility, a medical expert has to explain what went wrong and where the care fell short of the accepted standard.
Our medical malpractice lawyers partner with medical experts to prove negligence and secure compensation for victims of surgical mistakes, misdiagnosis, and medication errors.
Nursing Home Abuse
Families place a parent or spouse in a care facility expecting safe, attentive care. When a resident develops pressure sores, falls repeatedly, loses weight, or receives the wrong medication, the cause may be neglect or abuse.
Munley Law represents residents and families in the Wilkes-Barre area. Our Wilkes-Barre nursing home abuse attorneys will listen to your story and investigate the situation to make sure your family member is safe from harm.
Premises Liability
Property owners and businesses must keep visitors safe. When they fail—through unmarked hazards, poor maintenance, or inadequate security—our premises liability attorney holds them accountable for slip-and-fall accidents, inadequate lighting, and other dangerous conditions.
Product Liability
Defective machinery, dangerous pharmaceuticals, faulty auto parts—when products cause serious injuries, our defective products lawyers go after manufacturers and distributors who prioritize profits over safety.
Wrongful Death
Losing a family member to someone else’s negligence is devastating. Our wrongful death lawyers provide compassionate legal representation while aggressively pursuing accountability and financial justice for Wyoming Valley families.
Have questions about your specific situation? Contact us for a free case evaluation.
Why Do You Need a Wilkes-Barre Personal Injury Lawyer?
You need a Wilkes-Barre personal injury lawyer when the other side’s insurer disputes fault, your injuries are serious, or a settlement offer arrives before you know the full cost of your recovery. A lawyer protects your claim, builds the evidence, and negotiates from what the case is worth.
You’re Up Against Trained Professionals
Insurance adjusters handle claims every day. They know which records, statements, and wording reduce a payout, and they look for gaps in your claim to point to. When you handle a claim alone, you negotiate against someone who does this work full time.
Munley Law’s lawyers deal directly with the insurance company, so you do not have to.
You May Be Pushed to Settle
Insurers often make an offer before you know the full extent of your injuries. Adrenaline can hide pain at the scene, and symptoms from some injuries appear days or weeks later. Once you accept a settlement and sign the release, you cannot ask for more, even if your condition gets worse.
Munley Law does not recommend settling until the full cost of your recovery is known. If the offer is too low, the firm’s lawyers are prepared to take the case to court.
What Compensation Can You Recover After an Injury in Wilkes-Barre?
After an injury caused by someone else’s negligence, you can seek economic damages for your financial losses, non-economic damages for pain and the loss of normal life, and, in rare cases, punitive damages. What you can recover depends on the facts of your case and, after a car crash, on the type of auto insurance you chose.
Economic Damages
Economic damages cover losses with a dollar figure: medical bills for care you have received and care you will need, lost wages, lost earning capacity if you cannot return to the same work, and property damage. Future costs matter most in serious cases. A medical expert may be needed to project what a lifetime of care will cost.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages compensate for what has no receipt: physical pain, emotional distress, scarring, and the loss of activities you used to enjoy. Because they have no bill attached, they are the part of a claim most open to argument. If you chose limited tort on your auto policy, this category can be restricted after a car crash, and Munley Law’s explanation of full tort and limited tort in Pennsylvania covers when.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are rare. Pennsylvania courts award them to punish conduct that is outrageous because of the defendant’s evil motive or reckless indifference to the rights of others. The plaintiff must show the defendant knew of the risk and consciously disregarded it.
A driver who caused a crash while drunk and a trucking company that ignored known safety violations are examples of facts that can support the claim. Punitive damages are paid in addition to compensation for your losses.
How Do You Prove Negligence in a Wilkes-Barre Personal Injury Case?
You prove negligence by showing four things: the other party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, caused your injury, and you suffered real losses as a result. After a car crash, for example, every driver owes others a duty to drive with reasonable care, and a driver who runs a red light breaches it.
What Evidence Shows Who Was at Fault?
Evidence that ties the other party to the crash can be lost quickly. Police reports, photographs, witness statements, and dashcam video all matter, and so do findings from accident reconstruction experts.
In trucking cases, Munley Law’s “Get That Truck!” protocol, developed by Daniel Munley, moves within hours of being hired to secure the truck, its black box data, the driver’s phone, and the maintenance logs.
What Injuries Are the Hardest to Prove?
Injuries that do not show up on a scan are the hardest to prove. A concussion is the clearest example. The CDC’s Acute Concussion Evaluation guidance says it is a disturbance of brain function, not a structural injury, and is associated with normal CT and MRI results. Soft-tissue injuries, chronic pain, and psychological injuries such as PTSD also depend on a doctor’s findings and a consistent treatment record rather than a single image.
Some injuries, including brain trauma and herniated discs, take days or weeks to produce symptoms. That delay gives an insurer room to argue that the crash was not the cause.
Insurers also challenge the paper trail. They may say the injury is unrelated to the accident, that treatment was not needed, or that a preexisting condition explains your symptoms. Complete medical records and an expert who links your injury to the crash answer each of those arguments.
Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury Cases in Wilkes-Barre
How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Cost in Wilkes-Barre?
A personal injury lawyer at Munley Law costs nothing upfront, because the firm works on a contingency fee. You pay no fee unless we win your case, and nothing comes out of your pocket while the case is pending.
How Much Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
The value of a case depends on the severity of your injuries, the insurance coverage available, how fault is divided, and how well your losses are documented. Medical records, bills, and proof of lost income carry the most weight.
A lawyer can estimate a range only after reviewing those details, and no honest estimate is possible before then.
How Do I Find a Good Personal Injury Lawyer in Wilkes-Barre?
Look for four things when you choose a personal injury lawyer in Wilkes-Barre: trial experience, board certification, a written contingency fee agreement, and an office near you. Ask how many cases the firm has taken to verdict, not only how many it has settled.
Board certification from the National Board of Trial Advocacy is an outside check on a lawyer’s trial experience.
How Long Can a Personal Injury Case Take in Wilkes-Barre?
A personal injury case can take anywhere from a few months to several years. A straightforward claim with a cooperative insurer can settle in a few months.
A case that goes to trial can take two years or more, and an appeal after the verdict adds more time. Medical malpractice cases and others that need several expert witnesses tend to sit at the long end.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Pennsylvania?
You have two years from the date of your injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in Pennsylvania, as of 2026 (42 Pa. C.S. § 5524). The same two-year limit applies to a wrongful death claim. Missing it can end your claim.
Workers’ compensation follows different deadlines: tell your employer within 21 days, and no later than 120 days after the injury.
Can I Recover If I’m Partially at Fault for an Accident in Wilkes-Barre?
Yes, you can recover if you are 50% or less at fault. Pennsylvania is a modified comparative negligence state, and under 42 Pa. C.S. § 7102, your recovery is barred only when your fault is greater than the combined fault of the defendants, which means 51% or more.
If you are found 20% at fault and your damages are $100,000, you recover $80,000. Insurers often argue that the injured person shares the blame, because every percentage point reduces what they pay. A lawyer can gather the evidence that keeps your share low.
Does Limited Tort Affect My Personal Injury Claim in Pennsylvania?
Yes, in a car accident claim. If your auto policy carries limited tort, you cannot recover non-economic damages such as pain and suffering unless your injury is serious or an exception applies (75 Pa. C.S. § 1705).
Exceptions include a crash caused by a driver convicted of drunk driving and a crash with an at-fault driver who did not carry the required insurance. Full tort keeps your right to seek those damages.
Will I Have to Go to Court for a Personal Injury Claim in Wilkes-Barre?
Not always. Many personal injury claims settle without a trial, and filing a lawsuit does not mean you will see a courtroom.
If a case goes to court, a lawsuit over an injury in Luzerne County is usually filed in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas at 200 N. River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Trial becomes more likely when fault is disputed, the injuries are severe, or several defendants are involved.
What Are the Odds of Winning a Personal Injury Case in Wilkes-Barre?
No reliable percentage exists, because the odds depend on the facts of each case. The strongest claims share four features: clear fault, solid evidence, a documented injury, and enough insurance coverage to pay the claim. Shared fault lowers the result, and weakness in any of the four lowers the odds.
A lawyer can tell you where your claim stands after reviewing the police report, your medical records, and the insurance information. No lawyer can promise an outcome.
What Should I Do After an Accident in Wilkes-Barre?
Even if you feel fine, get medical care right away at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, or another medical facility. Contact the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department at 15 N. Washington Street to file a police report, and contact your employer or the property owner, depending on where the accident happened. Take photos of the scene, any hazard, and your injuries, and get contact details from any witnesses.
Keep your medical records, bills, and proof of missed work. Don’t give a recorded statement to an insurance company or accept a quick settlement offer before talking to a Wilkes-Barre personal injury lawyer.
Contact a Wilkes-Barre Personal Injury Lawyer Near You Today
If you are still asking who pays for your care, whether to talk to the other side’s insurer, or how long you have to act, bring those questions to Munley Law’s Wilkes-Barre office. The lawyers will review your claim and explain your rights at no cost, and you pay no fee unless we win.
Our Wilkes-Barre Office:
We frequently help clients treated at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Our office is right on Route 315, near Mohegan, Pennsylvania, making it easy for local residents to meet with local attorneys in person. Nosotros hablamos español.
Munley Law
1170 PA-315
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
(570) 399-0406
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Areas We Serve
Our Wilkes-Barre personal injury lawyers represent clients throughout Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties, including:
J. Christopher Munley
James Christopher Munley is an award-winning plaintiffs’ lawyer who has dedicated his career to fighting for accident victims and their families. As a board-certified civil trial advocate, Chris was named Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers for Workers’ Compensation by Best Lawyers, and has been listed on Pennsylvania Super Lawyers since 2013.
