Seattle Car Accident Attorneys

You will have peace of mind that your attorneys truly care about you and your family. Michelle & Court have over 35 years of combined experience and will use all of that experience towards helping you.

We will take the stress of dealing with the insurance companies away from you, and will get you the compensation you deserve. Money that will help to cover lost wages, medical expenses, pain & suffering, etc.

We will personally handle your case every step of the way, including contacting the insurance companies, contacting the at-fault party and/or their attorney, investigation, research, drafting pleadings, conducting depositions, and taking cases through trial when necessary. This process will often be resolved over the course of several months, but can sometimes take years. Throughout this process, we are there for our clients. We care about what our clients are going through and we want them to feel comfortable that they are in the best hands.

We will meet with you, gain an understanding of your individual situation and if we decide to work together, our fee does not get paid until the insurance company pays you.

It is scary to find yourself or your loved one a victim of any type of injury or loss. It is your job to heal. It is our job to deal with everything else.

The responding police officer(s) may put their opinions into the police report but ultimately both parties’ insurance companies will conduct their own independent investigations to try and determine where the fault lies. You want to have your own attorney to protect your claim.

It depends on your policy. You can take a look at the following sections of your policy for this:

• Personal Injury Protection (PIP);
• Collision Coverage; and
• Underinsured/Uninsured Coverage

The other driver’s liability insurance is supposed to pay.

First, we are very sorry for your loss.  We understand that despite this horrible loss, you may still be stuck with medical bills, funeral costs, and other expenses. You may be able to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit to recover these costs and more. Please visit our wrongful death page and reach out any time for a consultation.

Your Personal Injury Protection pays first. If/When that were to run out, then health insurance can start picking up the tab. However, you may need to reimburse them out of any compensation you receive from a settlement or trial verdict.

Nope. Let us do that.

If your bills/expenses get paid by your own insurance company, they will seek to recover their costs from the at-fault person. This is a process called subrogation. Once a settlement or verdict is reached in your favor, your insurance company will start this process.

It’s not uncommon for injury victims to be partially at fault for an accident. This does not mean you are completely responsible and you very well may still be entitled to compensation for your injuries.

Washington State uses a “pure comparative negligence” calculation, where the amount of money you recover gets reduced by the percentage you are considered to be at fault. For example, Let’s say you recover $100,000 but are determined to be 25% at fault, your total recovery would then be $75,000.

PIP is offered through your insurance provider. If you have it, it will cover medical bills and loss wages as a result of an accident. There may be some exclusions, however.

Pursuant to RCW 48.22.100, an insurer providing automobile liability insurance policies must offer PIP coverage for each insured with benefit limits as follows:

• $35,000 for medical expenses;
• $2,000 for funeral expenses;
• $35,000 for lost wages, with a limit of $700/week;
• $14,600 for loss of services (if you need to pay other people to do things you can no longer do like chores such as house cleaning, yard work,

In WA State, all drivers must carry proof of auto/liability insurance, including motorcyclists. RCW 46.30 requires anyone who drives a motor vehicle or a motorcycle in our state to do one of the following options:

• Carry liability insurance with liability limits of at least:
  • $25,000 for injuries or death to another person
  • $50,000 for injuries or death to all other people
  • $10,000 for damage to another person’s property
    
    
• Apply for a certificate of deposit to pay for your liability insurance with the Department of Licensing.
• Have a liability bond of at least $60,000 filed by a surety bond company that’s authorized to do business in Washington.
• Self-insure if you have 26 or more vehicles.

Your own auto insurance policy may cover you for uninsured motorists (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) collisions. If so, you may be able to file a claim with your own insurance company. Your collision and personal liability coverage can help cover your losses. The same often goes for a collision where you are the victim of a hit-and-run driver.

Also, UIM coverage is a floating layer of coverage. In other words, it’s coverage in addition to the coverage held by the at-fault driver.

UM/UIM is required to be offered in the same amount as your liability coverage.

Uber and Lyft drivers have the same responsibilities as all other drivers on the road, so you can still pursue legal action.  In fact, ride share companies carry supplemental insurance for their drivers when the app is ON as follows:

In a personal injury case, medical bills can skyrocket and healthcare providers understandably want to get paid for their services. In many cases, they do not get paid up front or at the time of service, but rather place a lien on your insurance claim. In other words, when there is a medical lien involved with your personal injury case, when you ultimately settle your case or win at trial, the unpaid medical bills are then paid to the healthcare provider out of your settlement.

If the healthcare provider is not willing to wait for payment, your insurance company can pay these medical bills instead and then the insurance company will in turn place their own lien on your settlement so they can recoup these payments. This is a process called subrogation.

Overall, a medical lien can be very helpful in that you do not have to pay out of pocket for your needed treatment. We step in to the process to negotiate the lien to reduce what is owed for medical bills and leave more of that money in your pocket.

A Phantom Vehicle refers to a vehicle that causes damage or injury without making physical contact. For example, let’s say another car swerves into your lane, and to avoid a collision, you swerve out of the way, but then you hit something else. Do what you can to stop the “Phantom Vehicle” and exchange information; if you are unable to do this, at least get the license plate number. Washington State requires that you report a “Phantom Vehicle” collision to the police within 72 hours if you intend on filing an insurance claim.

The most common defenses we see is that the insurance company will try to claim:

• You are at fault for the accident
• You are partially at fault, referred to as contributory negligence
• No proximate cause – they acknowledge the injury but try to claim it was not caused by the accident (this is more common in car accident case as the cause in most pedestrian accident cases is usually obvious).**
  
  

Despite these available defenses, we will do everything possible to still maximize your recovery.