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Personal Injury

Enforcing Personal Injury Claims Is Not Just a Job – It’s Our Mission

The human body is a fragile, easily injured organism, and Washington personal injury law is designed to compensate victims who are injured due to the fault of another. The meaning of “fault” varies depending on the claim – professional negligence (e.g., medical malpractice), ordinary negligence (e.g., car accidents) or strict liability (e.g., products liability and dog bites).

If you win your claim, you could be entitled to compensation for:

• Past, present, and future medical bills;
• Lost earnings or lost earning capacity;
• Incidental expenses such as travel expenses to and from clinics; and
• Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and/or other intangible losses.

Washington, unlike most states, does not allow punitive damages.

Washington’s “Pure Comparative Negligence” Rule

A few decades ago, U.S. courts would award a personal injury victim either all of his damages or none of them, even if he shared fault for the accident. These days most states, including Washington, have adopted a “comparative negligence” rule that apportions fault between the parties and in some cases allows a victim a partial recovery even if he was partially at fault.

There are three versions of “comparative fault” currently used by the various states. The version used in Washington is called “pure comparative negligence.” Under this system, the victim loses whatever portion of his damages that equate to his own percentage of fault. Theoretically, then, he can recover one percent of his damages even if he was 99 percent at fault.

Washington’s comparative negligence regime is yet another reason why you are likely to need a lawyer to maximize your recovery. This negligence scheme can get complex very quickly, especially if you’re trying to figure it out after having just been the unfortunate victim of a personal injury. If you have questions about the negligence involved in your personal injury, contact us today.

Wrongful Death

Washington State Law Provides a Legal Remedy

The death of an injured accident victim is a tragedy. It is an outrage, however, when the death was caused by someone else’s wrongful conduct. Washington wrongful death law allows a recovery under these circumstances, even if the defendant’s misconduct was not serious enough to warrant criminal charges.

A wrongful death claim is distinct from a personal injury claim, in that the goal is not to compensate the victim, but to compensate close relatives and heirs of the victim. The following people can serve as plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit:

• The personal representative of the victim’s probate estate (representing heirs)
• The victim’s spouse or domestic partner
• Incidental expenses such as travel expenses to and from clinics; and
• The victim’s children or stepchildren

The Death of a Child

If the victim is a child, either or both of the child’s parents may file a wrongful death lawsuit, as long as the parent regularly contributed to the child’s financial support (e.g., a “deadbeat dad” might be disqualified). If the parents are separated and one parent files a lawsuit, the other parent must be notified in time to join the lawsuit.

Damages

Damages from a wrongful death lawsuit are paid to the victim’s probate estate or, if the victim is a child it would be paid to the parents. Damages can include:

• Funeral and burial expenses
• The victim’s medical bills
• The victim’s lost earnings
• The victim’s pain and suffering
• Loss of companionship, guidance, and other psychological benefits by family members.