Shoreline Car Accident Lawyers

Shoreline, WA, Car Accident FAQs

When should I contact a car accident lawyer in Shoreline, WA?

A team of lawyers usually starts working for an auto insurance company within a few hours of a serious wreck. These professionals know how to exploit legal loopholes and reduce or deny compensation to victims and survivors.

No Shoreline, WA, car accident lawyer can match an insurance company’s financial resources. These companies collect over $1 trillion a year in premiums. So, it’s important for your lawyer to begin work as soon as possible. It’s almost impossible to successfully play catch-up against a better team. But with a strong start, there’s a much better chance.

At Strong Law, we make the process easy. We offer virtual, home, after-hours, and hospital visits.

My accident was not in Shoreline, and the at-fault driver and I live in another city. Do I have to use your Shoreline office?

Absolutely not. Since vehicle collisions happen everywhere, our car accident lawyers have offices throughout Washington, Oregon, and Utah. Wrecks that happen far from home have some unique emotional and legal issues.

Emotionally, when people are seriously injured far from family, friends, and everything else that’s familiar, recovery is much more difficult.

Legally, such wrecks involve venue questions. Basically, venue is a court’s legal authority to preside over a dispute. In Washington State and most other jurisdictions, venue is proper where the wreck occurred or where the victim resided.

Either alternative has some pros and cons. For example, it’s usually more convenient for victims to file legal claims in the counties where they reside. That’s especially true if the victim was seriously injured and is physically immobile. However, most of the evidence, including all the physical evidence, is in the county where the wreck happened. Cases are usually easier to win if evidence is accessible. A Shoreline, WA, car accident lawyer must carefully review these things.

The insurance adjuster for the defendant’s insurance company keeps calling me. What should I do?

This issue is very common. As mentioned, insurance company lawyers immediately begin work in injury cases. Insurance company adjusters kick into high gear as well. These individuals seem helpful and friendly in TV commercials. But in the real world, insurance adjusters relentlessly try to convince accident victims to settle their claims for pennies on the dollar. Frequently, these phone calls begin while the victim is still in a hospital bed.

Our King County car accident lawyers take care of this problem. As soon as you partner with us, we field these phone calls for you. It’s illegal for insurance companies to directly contact people who have lawyers. So, victims can focus on getting better.

I need to have my car fixed before my case settles. How do I get it fixed?

Substitute transportation is often an even higher priority than medical treatment. Victims want to get better, but their desire to take care of their families is even greater. The kids need to be dropped off at school, and there are many other promises to keep.

Most auto insurance companies have separate property damage and personal injury divisions. Property damage claims often settle rather quickly. Personal injury claims, which usually involve a lot more money, often take some time to resolve.

Unfortunately, the insurance company’s definition of “quickly” is usually a lot different from a victim’s definition. Additionally, insurance companies are quick to make settlement offers that are in their best financial interests.

So, if necessary, our King County car accident lawyers connect victims with providers who charge nothing upfront for their services. We make sure that victims get the vehicle replacement or repair they need, and not the services an insurance adjuster is willing to authorize.

If the driver who hit me was on the job, can I also collect from his or her employer?

If the employer is found to have some fault in the accident, you can also sue the employer’s insurance company. For example, if the investigation finds that the brakes failed on a delivery car and the employer knew that the brakes were malfunctioning but told the driver to drive the car anyway, the employer could share in the responsibility for your damages.

If I caused an accident because of a defective part on my vehicle that the manufacturer would not recall, can I sue the manufacturer?

Yes and no. Generally, manufacturers are strictly liable for the injuries their defective products cause. However, if you knew about the defect and did nothing to make your vehicle safer, the manufacturer could use that inaction as a defense.

Strict liability is a higher standard than negligence. A defective product, like a defective tire or an ignition issue, could seriously injure thousands of people. There are basically two kinds of product defects in Washington law:

• Design Defect: The 1970s Ford Pinto is an example of a design defect. To make the car lighter and cheaper, designers put the Pinto’s unlined gas tank behind the rear axle. As a result, it was overly prone to rupture and explosion, even in a relatively low speed accident.
• Manufacturing Defect: 1990s Takata airbags are an example of a manufacturing defect. To cut costs, the manufacturer replaced a stable and expensive chemically propellant with ammonium nitrate, which is unstable and cheap. Ammonium nitrate is basically the same compound Timothy McVeigh used in the Oklahoma City truck bomb.

The unforeseeable use doctrine is basically the only legal defense in a defective product claim. Manufacturers are not liable for damages if individuals misuse a product, and that misuse causes injury. The misuse must be extreme, like using racing tires to go off-roading in the Cascades.

Is it possible to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder after an accident?

Absolutely. In fact, it’s also possible to suffer from PTSD-like symptoms, and obtain compensation for them, even if you were not otherwise injured.

About half of car crash victims suffer from PTSD. Going through a stressful event, like a car wreck or combat firefight, alters brain chemistry. The amygdala (part of the brain that controls emotional responses) enlarges, and the cerebral cortex (logical responses) shrinks. This imbalance causes effects like depression, anger, flashbacks, and other symptoms that make it difficult or impossible to function in everyday life.

Furthermore, the additional stress parents feel when they see their children injured triggers a special legal doctrine, called the zone of danger rule. Therefore, parents in these situations are entitled to compensation for bystander injuries. This compensation could include both the economic and noneconomic damages mentioned above.

What if the accident was my fault?

Tragedies like car crashes often have multiple causes. So, both drivers could well be partially responsible for the wreck. However, there are two important things to remember in this area.

First, there is a difference between fault and legal responsibility (known as “liability”). An insurance adjuster, who will have the insurance company interests as their focus instead of yours, usually determines fault based solely on the immediately available evidence. If your case goes to trial, a jury or judge determines liability based not only on the evidence at the scene, but also on electronic and other subsequently available evidence.

Additionally, even if you were partially responsible for the accident, compensation is still available. Washington is a pure comparative fault state. So, even if the victim was 99 percent responsible for the collision, the negligent driver is liable for a proportionate share of damages.

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