Bellevue Personal Injury Lawyer

Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Bellevue, WA

We couldn’t possibly list every kind of personal injury claim we handle, but here are some of the more common cases we tackle:

• Car accidents
• Slip and falls
• Truck crashes
• Jones Act and maritime law incidents
• Wrongful death
• Motorcycle collisions
• Workplace accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Dangerous products
• Dog bites

Our law firm helps people who are injured because of someone else’s mistake or carelessness. If you don’t see your situation on this list, don’t worry. We can still assess your eligibility during your free consultation.

Benefits of Working With Our Bellevue Personal Injury Attorneys on Your Case

We go the extra mile for our Bellevue personal injury clients. You deal with your health and well-being, and we will take care of the legal matters.

We will investigate the accident or incident, collect the evidence to build your case, and negotiate with the liable party’s insurer to reach a fair settlement. We can file a lawsuit if your personal injury case does not settle.

Recoverable Damages in Bellevue Personal Injury Claims

The amount and types of monetary damages you can pursue in your Bellevue personal injury case will depend on your unique circumstances. No two personal injury cases are identical because each injured person suffers unique losses.

Here are some of the categories of compensation we have recovered for our personal injury clients:

• Lost wages. When a person suffers a severe injury, they often miss time at work while recuperating. If you only received partial pay or no pay during that time, you could claim lost wages from the negligent party.
• Medical expenses. Typically, the cost of your medical treatment is recoverable. The ambulance, trauma center, doctors, hospital, surgery, physical therapy, prescription drugs, and other related medical bills can be included in your demands.
• Out-of-pocket expenses. Your injury may have compelled you to spend money out of pocket on childcare costs and transportation expenses. Those losses are recoverable through a claim or lawsuit.
• Pain and suffering. The physical discomfort and emotional distress of the accident and your injuries can be added to your personal injury case in addition to your lost wages and medical expenses.

This list is a small sample of the damages an injured person could pursue. It will still benefit you to talk with your personal injury attorney in Bellevue about all of the effects the accident and injuries have had on your life. We want to pursue compensation that will help to lessen your suffering now and in the future.

What We Have to Prove to Establish the Liability of the At-Fault Party

Washington law requires us to prove liability in personal injury cases. We cannot automatically collect compensation from the other driver in a car crash, for example. We must establish all four of these factors to hold the other driver liable:

• Duty of care. Everyone who operates a motor vehicle in Washington must obey the traffic laws and drive carefully.
• Breach of duty. When a person does not live up to their legal duty of care, they are negligent. Let’s say that the at-fault driver ran a red light. That conduct breaches the duty to drive safely and obey traffic laws.
• Causation. Negligence, by itself, does not make a person liable for a collision. People make countless mistakes when driving. Only the mistakes that cause or contribute to an accident will subject a person to liability for the accident.
• Quantifiable losses. If you have measurable damages, like medical bills, from the accident, you have satisfied the fourth and final element.

We can go after damages from the at-fault party after establishing all of these elements. The process will look different depending on the type of personal injury case you file. In all cases, we use evidence like accident reports and eyewitness testimony to demonstrate the at-fault party’s liability.

Time Limits in Bellevue Personal Injury Cases

Most personal injury and wrongful death cases in Washington have a statute of limitations of three years under RCW § 4.16.080. Depending on the type of case you file, you may have more or less time. If you do not file within this time limit, you may lose all your leverage in negotiations. Don’t lose your right to compensation because of a missed deadline.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer in Bellevue, WA?

You will not have to pay us any upfront attorney’s fees to take care of your Bellevue, WA, personal injury case. We use contingency-fee arrangements, so we only get paid a percentage of the settlement or court award after the resolution of your case.

We have a strict “no-fee” guarantee, which means that you only owe us money for legal fees if you win compensation.

Three Things to Do After Suffering an Injury

You can take steps to protect your health and the financial value of your injury claim even after the dust has settled from the accident, whether it was a motor vehicle collision, a dog bite, a slip and fall, or some other event. Every situation is different, so some suggestions might fit your circumstances better than others. For example:

1. Get prompt medical attention for your injuries. Injuries usually heal better with appropriate evaluation and treatment. Some conditions do not reveal symptoms immediately, so it can be a good idea to get checked out after a significant accident, even if you are just feeling discomfort. For example, internal bleeding could take hours to show symptoms.
2. When applicable, such as after a car accident where you need the Bellevue car accident lawyers, call law enforcement to come to the scene, investigate, and write a crash report. Without a police report, the other side might try to blame you for the accident, and it would be your word against theirs.
3. Talk to a Bellevue personal injury attorney as soon as possible. We perform an investigation of all personal injury cases we handle. Evidence can disappear quickly, and we want to build the strongest case we can for you. So, the sooner you call us, the better.

After we talk to you, we will likely have additional recommendations that could preserve the economic value of your injury case.

Four Mistakes to Avoid in Your Bellevue Personal Injury Claim

Just as some actions could protect the financial value of your injury claim, some potential pitfalls could decrease the amount of monetary compensation you might collect. Here are four examples of mistakes you will want to avoid:

• Not finishing your prescribed medical treatment plan. If you choose to skip some of the treatments your doctor prescribed, like the last round of physical therapy, the defendant could use that fact against you. They might try to pay you less money, saying that you would have healed better with all of the medical treatments.
• Giving a recorded statement to the claims adjuster. Do not be fooled when the claims adjuster says that the recorded statement gives you a chance to tell your side of the story. The insurer uses the transcript to “cherry-pick” your statements, cobbling them together into something you did not intend and using your words against you.
• Posting photographs or comments about the accident on social media. This is another situation in which the claims adjuster can take things out of context, twist them, and try to deny your claim or pay you less money than they should. Even after the settlement, you want to avoid posting about the incident, especially if the settlement included a confidentiality agreement.
• Accepting the first settlement offer. You cannot come back later and request more money for surgery, physical therapy, or anything else after you settle your injury claim. Those costs would come out of your pocket.

We have your back and help you avoid pitfalls like these.

Can You Recover Damages if You Were Partly at Fault?

The at-fault party’s insurance company might initially deny your injury claim if you were partially responsible for causing the accident. In some states, that denial could be valid, but not in Washington. We apply the rule of pure comparative fault to negligence cases.

Under pure comparative fault laws, your monetary compensation can get reduced by your percentage of the total fault, but usually, you could collect at least some of the total money damages awarded.

Comparative fault is a complicated legal concept. It would be wise to talk with a Bellevue personal injury lawyer about how your partial fault could impact your case.

Three Things the Claims Adjuster Will Not Tell You

Claims adjusters are often friendly and sympathetic––but do not be fooled. They do not work for you. Here are three things to keep in mind about the claims adjuster in a personal injury claim:

• Typically, their first offer is low-ball. The claims adjuster receives a settlement range authorized by their supervisor. The first offer is usually nowhere near the full amount the adjuster could pay you for your losses. Do not accept this initial offer. People who try to settle their own claims without an attorney on their side often find out later that they missed out on claiming thousands of dollars or more.
• The insurance adjuster’s job is not to pay you as much as you deserve. In fact, the adjuster’s job is the exact opposite of that. Insurance companies make their profits by paying as little money as possible on valid injury claims. The insurance corporation answers to its shareholders, not to injured people.
• It is in the best interests of the at-fault party and their insurance company for you to miss the filing deadline. Do not expect the adjuster to explain the statute of limitations that applies to your case. The filing deadline can be like a “get out of jail free” card for the insurer because you will lose the right to sue the defendant for compensation after the deadline expires.

Here is a bonus thing that you will not hear from the claims adjuster. The insurer could deny your claim, even falsely blame you for the accident that injured you. If you do not know the law and your legal rights, the insurance company could get away with those tactics.

Get Help from a Lawyer on Your Personal Injury Claim in Bellevue

At Herschensohn Law, we fight for the little guy against the insurance companies. If you were hurt because of someone else’s mistake or carelessness, we want to talk with you about the compensation you could receive from the at-fault party.

It is a simple matter to get started with our team on your Bellevue personal injury claim. All you need to do is reach out to us today for a free consultation. Call (206) 588-4344 to get started.

There is no financial risk when you work with our team.