Greater Seattle Area Personal Injury Attorneys

Stop your car near the collision scene, but if you can, move your car off the road so you do not block traffic or get hit again. Call the local police (911 works best) and alert them of the accident so they can evaluate the scene of the accident and complete a police report. You’ll want to exchange information with the other driver(s) involved in the collision, being sure to collect their name, address, phone number, license plate number, and driver’s license number. Your cell phone can make obtaining this information easy – just use the camera to snap photos of the important documents. You’ll want to take pictures of any damage sustained to both your vehicle and other vehicle(s) as well, any damaged personal items, and any of your physical injuries. If possible, obtain the names and addresses of any witnesses to the accident. Remember though, if the other driver(s) involved become hostile for any reason, make sure you are safe before anything else! Do not engage with them and wait for authorities to arrive.

If the other driver’s insurance company agrees that their driver was at-fault for the accident, they should pay for repairs to your car. Although they oftentimes don’t volunteer it, or try to avoid it, the insurance company of the other driver should also pay for a rental car, until your car’s repairs are completed.

However, we often find that insurance companies will invent creative reasons to avoid admitting their driver was at-fault, delaying the process in hopes that you will use your own insurance for repairs/rental and save them money. In those situations, utilizing your own collision coverage for repairs can speed up the process of getting you back into your car. Although you may have to pay a deductible, your insurance company will be motivated to seek reimbursement from the at-fault driver’s insurance and will very likely return your deductible back to you.

Having to coordinate repairs with body shops and insurance companies while experiencing pain can be overwhelming and confusing. If your car is deemed a total loss, the process can get even more frustrating as the insurance companies argue about the value of your vehicle. An attorney can help you understand your options, simplify the process, and defend your claim so that you don’t have to deal with the stress.

There is a popular misconception that the driver responsible for the accident is going to pay your medical bills as they accrue. Unfortunately, it’s not until you have completed medical treatment that the at-fault driver’s insurance company will issue one lump-sum payment to cover all of your damages. That means that your medical bills need to be paid by some other means before settlement.

Many drivers have purchased personal injury protection (PIP) insurance coverage. If you have PIP coverage, your insurance company should pay for your medical expenses following a car accident, up to the amount selected in your policy, regardless of fault. PIP allows you to select whichever medical provider you like for treatment and eliminates the concern over personal health insurance coverage limitations. Not all medical providers are familiar with PIP coverage, so having an attorney on your side to step in and explain its function can help reassure them of repayment. Additionally, insurance companies always have the goal of saving money. They’re a business and they obviously make more profits if they’re not paying out money on your claim. Oftentimes, they try to terminate PIP coverage to avoid payment by having an independent medical examiner review your medical records and deem your treatment unrelated to the accident. Or, some companies reduce the medical payments below what your doctor billed and leave you having to pay the balance. Our experienced attorneys are familiar with these tactics and can help challenge these decisions and hold them to their contractual obligations.

If you don’t have PIP on your policy, or you’ve used up your allotted benefits, your medical bills can be covered through your health insurance. Unfortunately, health insurance coverage can be limited to certain networks and often places caps on the number of physical therapy, chiropractic care, and massage therapy visits allowed. You will also be responsible for any co-pays and deductibles associated with your coverage. Health insurance companies are also notorious for denying payment for treatment they think should be covered by another insurance company. Rest assured, our firm watches your medical bills like a hawk, and is expertly positioned to jump in and resolve insurance disputes as they arise.

If your health insurance will not pay for your treatment, and you do not have PIP coverage, you may be able to find doctors who are willing to treat you “on a lien.” That means that they are willing to treat you, get you the healthcare that you need, and hold the bills with the promise that they will be paid out of the settlement at the end of the case. Not many doctors are able or willing to do that as it means working for free with the hope that they will be paid later, sometimes much later. Most providers that are willing to treat on a lien, will require that those patients have an attorney, as added assurance that the bills will actually get paid.

For those who need treatment on a lien, doctors that are willing to do so can be a life saver when you’re hurt and need care. Many of the doctors we work with are willing to treat patients on a lien only if our office is handling the case, as they have learned from experience that our firm gets the bills paid for our clients every time.

As soon as possible! It’s free to talk to us so there’s no reason not to. We’re here to help make sure your rights are protected from the very beginning. Many people simply just don’t know what needs to be done after an accident, to protect themselves and their claim. By talking to an attorney right away, you can better understand the process ahead of you and the options you have that are particular to your specific situation. Our experienced team knows many of the tricks and excuses that insurance companies use to deny claims, so we are perfectly positioned to defend you and ensure that your claim is resolved favorably.

Our office handles cases on a contingency fee basis. That means that the attorney fee is paid out of the settlement from the insurance company at the end of your case. You don’t have to worry about being charged hourly fees or making payments while we’re working on your case! Our office will not take a fee unless we are able to recover a settlement for you. This fee agreement helps our clients obtain representation without incurring additional financial risk.

We do a lot more than just file lawsuits! In fact, most of what we do is working to ensure you don’t ever have to start a lawsuit. As your legal representative, we field many of the annoying, time intensive tasks associated with managing a personal injury claim. Our staff has the time to sit on hold with providers and insurance companies, to visit the scene of the accident, to research your legal issues, and navigate your insurance coverage. With our experience, we know what documentation is necessary to advance your claim and get your bills paid. Having us on your side gives you a real advantage when it comes time to negotiate a settlement with the at-fault insurance company. Our goal is to handle all of it, to take care of everything so that you can work on getting healthy, and we can make sure everything goes perfectly. Let us take the stress of handling your claim off your shoulders so that you can focus on your recovery.

Most importantly, hiring an attorney ensures that you know all the options available to you. Few people want to go through the hassle of filing a lawsuit. Insurance companies know this and will happily use it against you to manipulate you into accepting a smaller settlement. They may have more time and more resources than you do, but don’t let them take advantage of you!

This question makes logical sense, and we hear it frequently. The short answer is that an attorney can remove the stress and anxiety for you and will make sure that things are not just paid, but paid in the best way possible, to maximize the result for you. The long answer is…well, much longer.

One of the fundamental issues that people encounter when an accident happens is how the system is set up in dealing with insurance companies. They are, first and foremost, a business. They may be friendly, but they are not your friend. The overriding goal in most everything the insurance companies do is to make sure that profits are as high as possible. The best way to do that is to not hand out checks. What that means, is that although they oftentimes start out nice and kind and helpful, once it comes time to start paying for things, they regularly become much more difficult to reach and/or they don’t quite do what they’re supposed to. Unfortunately, this often isn’t known or apparent at the time, the results are seen much later.

Oftentimes we see people who had PIP coverage and got all done with their medical treatment, only to find out at the end that PIP shorted their medical bills by thousands of dollars, which they are now left owing out of their pocket. During their treatment, they were led to believe that everything was going fine, that insurance was paying their bills. The insurance just didn’t mention that they weren’t paying those bills in full. This is very common. There are entire corporations created to argue the value of medical bills and provide support to the insurance companies that they shouldn’t have to pay your bill in full. Insurance companies have had class action lawsuits against them on this but still keep doing it…because they save more than they had to pay out in penalties.

In addition to paying the bills, there comes a point in the process where the insurance company should be issuing payment for other things. This might be covering a rental car, repairs or total loss value of your vehicle, and eventually the settlement at the end of the case as well. The same problems can arise as the insurance companies are trying in each of those cases to save money. If you don’t know to ask for something, they are not likely to volunteer that they can cover it. Even if you do ask, they are trained in ways to avoid paying for it or making it more difficult, putting up road blocks or hurdles to make it more frustrating and get you to give up. In the end, even if you demand it and hold them accountable for the coverage, they are going to pay the minimum amount necessary.

At the time of settlement, this can be especially frustrating. The insurance company will oftentimes make a low-ball settlement offer and then stick to that number, or move very minimally. They know that they are holding all of the cards and it becomes a waiting game. They offer you $2,000 for your injuries and you tell them that’s too low, not acceptable, and you demand more. They indicated that they understand…but that’s their offer, would you like to accept? No? They then play the waiting game. At some point, something will happen. Your engine will go out in your car, your furnace will stop working, your hot water heater will spring a leak, you’ll get laid off, etc. Something will happen that will put you between a rock and a hard place financially. They know that many times if they just wait long enough, people will come back and accept their low-ball offer because their situation makes money-in-hand right now more valuable to them than full value sometime later. That outcome is perfect for the insurance company, it’s exactly what they shoot for.

If you don’t come back and accept that low ball offer though, what can you do to force them to put a more accurate number on the table? Really, there’s only one option, take them to Court and force them to pay what they should. Again though, the insurance company is holding all the cards as they know you need an attorney to do that and if you don’t have an attorney, you have no leverage. As attorneys, one of the many things we do is simply close the doors on all of the games that the insurance companies play and keep them accountable to do what they’re supposed to.

What if none of those issues come up though? What if PIP does pay everything and the insurance company makes what seems to be a very reasonable offer? Well, there is still the question of maximizing that offer. When you settle directly with an insurance company, what you are receiving is the “pain and suffering” portion of the settlement only. The insurance company is then going to resolve the bills or other items as they see fit, without your involvement. That doesn’t always mean that they pay those bills though, or that they pay back your PIP or health insurance as they’re supposed to. Their failure to resolve those can lead to issues for you later down the line.

The bigger thing though, is that any time an attorney is involved in a case, that triggers a number of rules and laws that change how those things are paid for, or paid back. Those changes are to your benefit. There are reductions that should be made in the pay back of the medical bills and coverage for them. Those reductions also vary depending on the type of insurance, so it is very important to have someone helping route those bills. You want them routed, not just so that they get paid, but routed to the best coverage available, that will open doors for the largest reductions possible. With an attorney involved, your medical bills and all of the other items that come up are included in the settlement, not just the pain and suffering. What that means is that when we handle a settlement, you see the benefits of those reductions and offsets, rather than the insurance company getting those benefits. The end result is that most times, we are able to get more funds into our clients’ pockets from a settlement, even after attorney fees are paid, than the clients would have received without our involvement. Not only can we help make everything much easier and less stressful, but you potentially will receive more money out of the settlement as a result.