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“Seat Belts Save Lives” is not just a public service announcement; it is reality. A recent publication by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) found a clear correlation between seat belt usage and lower rates of death in automobile collisions.  The study looked at overall ...

Welcome to a basic primer on “the Rescue Doctrine”. If a careless person puts himself or another at risk of injury, and a third person is trying to help gets hurt, can they be held responsible for the attempted rescuer's damages? The answer in Washington State as well as in Oregon is definitely, “Yes”. 

Should I see my primary care doctor after a car accident? By Brad Thayer As we've discussed on this blog before, we stay in our lane as attorneys and don't unduly influence our clients' course of medical care.  We are attorneys, not doctors, and we know that.  Our clients are, more often than n...

A near-death experience will change any person. But when a parent sees a child have a near death experience, a law will change. When Robin Abel's daughter, Maria, was almost killed by an unsecured load outside Seattle, she knew something would have to change to limit these preventable events. Ms...

We don't like giving unduly influence our clients' course of medical care.  We are not doctors.  We don't play pretend.  We do try and help our clients solve problems on every level. Sometimes a big problem is being able to obtain the medical care they need to address their injuries and symptoms—but, even then, we stay in our lane as much as possible.

Washington UM/UIM Cases: In an Ideal World A significant reason people purchase insurance is for protection. Your liability coverage will protect you if you cause a collision. Your Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage will protect you in a collision when the other driver has no insurance or ...

SAS RIDESHARE INSURANCE Driving for Uber, Lyft, or any other rideshare service is a way many people earn some much needed extra cash, and part of the enticement might be the apparent ease –just needing a car and the app (this probably oversimplifies a bit, but you get the idea). Some may assume ...

Talking with my dad not long ago, he recounted the helplessness and anxiety he felt watching me head down the driveway in my car on my 16th birthday, realizing his life had forever changed. Looking back, I can't believe I was allowed to drive at that age. Sixteen-year-old me doesn't seem that sma...

UIM LIMITS FOR NAMED INSUREDS Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) exists to provide additional insurance coverage for accident victims where the at-fault driver's liability insurance limits are insufficient to cover the injured person's damages. The UIM benefits are limited by the coverage limi...

As personal injury attorneys, we're well familiar with Washington's prohibition on driving while using electronic devices, RCW 46.61.672. Police officers are diligently seeking out drivers who are texting because they know that 1 in 4 car accidents are caused by cell phones.  Although cell phone...

Here are 10 things to remember after you have been involved in a car accident.

After a car has been wrecked and repaired, it is simply worth less money. The eventual potential buyer of a wrecked car is either going to ask about the crash history or get some sort of Carfax or similar report and find out about it, probably. There is a stigma associated with cars which have been involved in crashes, right or wrong. It can be necessary to hire a "diminished value" legal expert to measure the amount of this damage.

New study explains the gender differences that cause more women than men to be seriously injured in car crashes--women are more likely to be driving smaller, lighter cars than men.

 It seems that most of my day is spent on the phone talking to insurance adjusters. Over the years, I have formed some outside impressions that my clients seem to find helpful to make sense of how the whole personal injury claim process works. To be fair, this is probably painting with too br...