Seattle Personal Injury Lawyers

The Seattle personal injury lawyers at Hagens Berman have delivered exceptional results for our clients by obtaining impressive verdicts and settlements in personal injury litigation.

Our firm has successfully litigated a variety of personal injury claims in all practice areas and bring a skilled, unique approach to this area of our practice, as well as deep resources to maximize your personal injury claim.

If you or a loved one was injured in the Seattle area, contact us today for a free consultation and case evaluation.

SELECTING A SEATTLE PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER

The attorney you choose to represent you is a very important decision. Your personal injury attorney will have the responsibility of representing you and your interests in a complex, challenging legal process.

The legal team at Hagens Berman has the resources and experience to properly prepare your case. Every successful verdict and settlement we achieve for our clients can be traced back to our experience.

PROVING NEGLIGENCE IN A SEATTLE PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM

Personal injury law primarily involves wrongs and the law of negligence. If somebody was injured or died as a result of the carelessness and negligence of a legal entity, the wrongdoer can be held liable for damages and monetary compensation.

Negligence involves a failure to exercise the degree of care and caution that would be expected of an ordinary, reasonable and prudent person under the same or similar circumstances. In every negligence case, certain legal elements must be proved. Those are whether:

The defendant owed the injured person a duty of care.
There was a breach of that duty.
A breach caused the injured person’s accident and alleged injuries.
Whether the victim suffered personal injury damages.

Some examples of negligence include a driver who is distracted by their phone and causes a wreck, a property owner who neglects a balcony which collapses and injures visitors or a nursing home which fails to properly train staff.

COMPENSATION FOR PERSONAL INJURY DAMAGES IN WASHINGTON

The victim of a personal injury accident has the right to seek compensation for the injuries and damages that they suffered. The personal injury team at Hagens Berman aggressively pursues the maximum compensatory damages available for the injuries and losses of our clients. Although the nature and extent of the injuries and damages of every personal injury case is different, the damages suffered by victims are usually categorized as follows:

Economic Damages: These consist of monetary losses including hospital, doctor and rehab bills. Lost earnings and diminished earning capacity might also be considered.
Noneconomic Damages: These can include pain and suffering, any permanent disfigurement or disability, diminished enjoyment of life and loss of consortium.

COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE IN WASHINGTON PERSONAL INJURY CASES

There are times when the parties to an accident might share fault. The law of comparative negligence is a principle of Washington personal injury law that requires the percentage of negligence attributable to the parties to an accident to be apportioned between them when allegations of shared fault are made. For example, if a jury finds the injured victim in an intersection accident to have been 20% at fault, a $100,000 jury award would be reduced to $80,000.

Insurance companies often use an argument of comparative negligence in accident cases in an effort to mitigate their losses. A skilled personal injury attorney you choose can help combat this commonly used tactic. With a thorough investigation into the facts surrounding a case and intensive preparation of the evidence that we assemble, our Seattle personal injury lawyers confront allegations of comparative negligence, giving the client the best chance at maximizing their settlement or award.

EFFECTIVELY NEGOTIATING A PERSONAL INJURY CASE

Given the Hagens Berman personal injury team’s years of experience and results, our lawyers effectively negotiate cases with opposing insurance companies and self-insured entities. Our team knows how insurance adjusters, claims managers and insurance defense lawyers think. We provide the medical and economic documentation and legal authority that those individuals need to settle a case. Each one of them is attributable to case preparation, more preparation and even more preparation by talented and dedicated Seattle Hagens Berman lawyers.

WASHINGTON’S STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR PERSONAL INJURY

The statute of limitations is the time limit that an accident victim has to file a lawsuit. In the state of Washington, an accident victim typically has three years from the date of their accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. In a medical malpractice case, certain circumstances might extend the time for filing. If the victim was a minor at the time of the accident, the statute of limitations extends to three years after the individual’s 18th birthday. Other notice requirements apply if a person was injured by a state or local government employee or entity.

We encourage accident victims to preserve and protect their right to pursue compensation for injuries suffered in an accident by contacting Hagens Berman for a free consultation and case review at their earliest possible convenience.

CONTACT A SEATTLE PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER AT HAGENS BERMAN TODAY

Hagens Berman’s blend of professional expertise, resources and commitment to our clients has made us some of the most well-respected and successful mass tort and personal injury lawyers.