Steve Magas, Ohio’s Bike Lawyer

Steve Magas is an Ohio trial lawyer with The Magas Firm, located at 8889 Glendale Milford Road, Loveland, OH 45140 – just a mile or so off the Loveland Bike Trail!  He has a satellite office at 9435 Waterstone Blvd, Cincinnati, OH 45249.

Steve can always be reached for a FREE CONSULTATION at 513-484-BIKE or via email at BikeLawyer@aol.com.  Steve welcomes your comments and questions and strives to return every call and email the day it is received.

The Bike Lawyer, Steve Magas is an avid bicyclist, motorcyclist and Ohio trial attorney based in Cincinnati who has represented riders for more than 25 years. He has handled more than 200 “bike cases” ranging from $50 traffic tickets to million dollar brain damage and death cases. His cases have included bike crashes with cars, trucks and busses, crashes caused by dogs, crashes caused by component and frame failures and other legal matters such as traffic tickets and insurance issues. In addition to working with riders throughout Ohio, Steve has been called into cases in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Steve Magas’s interest in the two-wheeled world of bikes and motorcycles extends far beyond his “9-5″ job handling injury and death claims for cyclists.  He has written numerous articles on legal topics of interest to cyclists for more than 20 years. Steve was the national legal columnist for Bike USA for several years and also wrote monthly columns for Bike Midwest & Bike Ohio as well as many local club newsletters. Steve currently contributes articles to Roadwheeler, a regional motorcycle magazine, and to BMW Owner’s News.

In 2007 Steve was asked by former Olympic cyclist-turned-lawyer Bob Mionske to work on a new book, Bicycling and the Law. The book, with a forward by Lance Armstrong, is aimed at riders, not lawyers, and has garnered wide praise in the Bike World.  You can pick up your copy through all of the typical on-line sources or from Steve directly. Bicycling and the Law is designed to be the primary resource for cyclists and clubs to consult when faced with a legal question. It provides readers with knowledge to avoid many legal problems in the first place while informing cyclists of their rights, their legal responsibilities and the steps they can take if they encounter a legal problem.

Steve has also been an active advocate for bicycling and motorcycling at the local, state and national level for many years. In the Bicycling world, Steve sits on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Bicycle Federation and played a leading role in drafting the OBF’s “Better Bicycling Bill” that was signed into law in 2006. Steve travels to Washington, D.C., annually for the National Bike Summit to lobby Congress for “bike friendly” transportation policy and has testified before the Ohio legislature in support of laws favoring cyclists. Steve is also a strong legal advocate for cycling locally working with local clubs and local governments on a variety of legal issues and publishing Op-Ed pieces on hot button cycling issues. In Trotwood v. Selz, Steve worked in tandem with the Ohio Bike Federation to protect your right to ride. He secured an important victory for cyclists in Ohio’s Second District court of appeals.

In the Motorcycling world, Steve works with the Ohio Right of Way Coalition.  This group has been sponsoring legislation in Ohio to better protect “vulnerable users” of the roadways, such as motorcyclists and bicyclists.  Steve has testified in Columbus in support of legislation which would increase the penalties for “minor” right of way violations when those violations result in the death or injury of another user of the roadway.  When a Humvee rear-ends a Chevy S-1o pick-up, there are rarely significant injuries.  However, when ANY motor vehicle rear-ends a bicycle or motorcycle, the rider can easily be severely injured or killed.  Under current Ohio law, the penalties for the motorist for such right of way violations are the same regardless of whether injuries or death result and the Right of Way Coalition is working to change that!

In 2008, Steve’s article, “The BLS [Boring Legal Stuff] for the Touring Cyclist,” was chosen for inclusion in the Cyclists Yellow Pages by Adventure Cycling.  This article was so favorably received that Steve was asked to contribute an article on “Bike Law” for the 2009 CYP.  Steve has also published an extensive article on Bike Law for lawyers in “TRIAL“, the Journal of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers, and was invited by the Academy to speak at its annual convention as to cases involving “Bicycle Products Liability” claims.

Steve’s unique “Bike Law” practice has been recognized nationally as well as locally. A full page article about his “niche” in the bike world was featured in Lawyer’s Weekly USA. A profile in the inaugural issue of Cincy Business magazine focused on Steve’s ability to maintain such a unique practice in the Midwest. Steve’s Bike Law practice was also featured locally in Cincinnati magazine and the Cincinnati Post.

Steve was recently married and lives in the woods of Anderson Township with his new bride, his son and step-daughter, two big, happy dogs and a couple of gregarious cats in an L-shaped A-frame.  Steve and his new bride love bicycling and touring on the Big Bike, their 2004 BMW R1150RT.  They recently toured the “North Coast” of the Indiana Dunes and managed to use their gps to guide them to Buddy Guy’s blues club in downtown Chicago!