Washington Injury Law Blog

There’s a crazy idiot out there shooting a blow gun at Seattle bicycle riders.  Avram Dolen of Seattle was riding his bike across the Ballard bridge Monday when he was hit in the butt with a 4″ steel blow gun dart.  A female bicyclist was hit in the thigh in the same area.  Dolen reported the attack to police and received a tetanus shot at the hospital later.  The blow gun toting attacker has not been found.

As a Kirkland Washington Bicycle Accident Attorney I often hear about bicyclists being shot with paintballs, garbage thrown at them out windows, drivers yelling at them as they go by, or even cars swerving at them.  But being hunted with a dangerous weapon is another matter.

In my practice I see how many people hold a bias against bike riders and don’t feel they should have to share the road regardless of Washington law requiring it.  If your an avid cyclist in western Washington you no doubt have your own story to tell about some crazy idiot who almost killed you.  Some people take this bias too far and try to hurt innocent bicycle riders.  It’s a real shame, and it needs to stop.

A few years back some friends and I were riding our road bikes on a back road heading into Monroe, Washington.  There were four of us riding in a single file pace line.  A pick-up truck raced by us driving dangerously close to us, and the passenger yelled and threw something at us.  After one of my friends comminicated his objection to being hit with something with a one finger salute the truck decided to pull over ahead of us on a side street, so he and his passenger could yell at us some more.  These guys were crazy lunatics for sure.  of course, flipping them off didn’t help matters but I couldn’t blame him.  Luckily, the truck decided to drive off when we got close enough to read its license plate.  We were doing nothing but enjoying a nice bicycle ride, when we were attacked simply because we were bicyclists.

If you’re a person who doesn’t particularly like sharing the road with bikers please be patient with them.  I know they may go too slow for you and there are some bikers who don’t stop at all the stop signs and blow through red lights, but there are car drivers who do the same.  It doesn’t mean all bikers are bad news scofflaws.  Things can get out of hand and crazy if we all don’t look out for each other.

Ride and drive safe!

Max J. Meyers, Esq.

A man tossed a bicycle into the path of actor James Caviezel yesterday in Leavenworth, Washington.  Caviezel was riding his 2006 Harley-Davidson 14 miles outside of Leavenworth when the man threw the bicycle.  It’s unknown why the man threw the bike.

Caviezel was born in Mount Vernon, Washington and currently lives in California.  Caviezal suffered cuts and bruises in the Washington motorcycle accident.  He was treated at Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth according to the Washington State Patrol.

Washington Troopers plan to forward the results of their investigation to the Chelan County prosecutor’s office for possible charges.

Caviezal was lucky to escape the Washington motorcycle crash with only cuts and bruises.  Motorcycle wrecks often results in much more serious injuries like broken bones and brain trauma.  If you find yourself dealing with injuries from a Washington motorcycle accident caused by the carelessness or recklessness of another person, please order my book the 7 Biggest Mistakes That Can Wreck Your Washington Motorcycle Accident Case or contact me to discuss your rights before speaking with any insurance adjusters or signing any documents.

Safe riding!

Max J. Meyers, Esq.

A recent national survey by federal safety officials on alcohol and drug use by drivers found 16% of drivers tested on weekend nights were positive for drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and prescription sedatives.  Scary!  But really, you kind of suspected this anyway.  If you’re driving on a Friday or Saturday night don’t you already expect a fair amount of the drivers may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. 

There is some good news, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration survey for 2007 found 2.2% of weekend drivers were over the alcohol limit of 0.08%.  This is down from 1996 where the weekend drunk drivers were 4.4% of all drivers.  Alcohol related fatal car accidents has also gone down by half in the last decade.

The survey also found that men are 42% more likely to be a drunk driver than women.  Early morning hours, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., was the time drivers were most likely to be drunk.  This is a bit obvious, but confirmed by the survey none the less.

Many of my Kirkland car accident clients have been hit by drunk drivers.  My clients often suffer serious injuries while the drunk walks away injury free.  Although, in the end hopefully the drunk driver is held accountable for his negligence and recklessness in causing the accident.   

You might think that if you have an injury case involving a drunk driver you’re case must be better than most.  And yes on its face it is, but the insurance company will likely admit to liability for causing the accident and your injuries.  An injury case is divided into two legal parts, liability and damages.  The liability part is where it is determine who is at fault for causing the accident, i.s. who was negligent.  The damages part is where it’s determine how badly you were injured, i.e. medical bills, lost wages, out of packet expense, physical pain endured, and mental suffering endured.

When the insurance company for the drunk admits fault, then as a general rule you don’t get to talk about what caused the accident in any lawsuit that may follow.  Shockingly, judges routinely order me to not talk about or ever mention my client was hit by a drunk.  Insurance company lawyers argue and judges often agree, that it is too prejudicial to the drunk driver to mention that he/she was drunk when fault has been admitted.  They fear the jury will punish the drunk driver for driving drunk alone and ingnore how badly you were or weren’t injured.  I believe this under estimates the capacity and intelligence of jurors. 

Where does that leave you the injured person?  You are left only with the ability to talk about the extent of your injuries and all you had to go through during recovery.  There is an exception for people who have suffered emotional trauma as a result of being hit by a drunk.  If you have received mental health counseling to deal with your trauma from being hit by a drunk driver, then it may be possible to mention the fact that the driver was drunk to the jury.  It depends on the specific facts of your situation and you should speak with an experienced personal injury attorney who has handled drunk driver car accidents in the past.

For now, when driving on Friday or Saturday night keep in mind that a fair number of the other cars on the road are likely being driven by people under the influence.  Drive safe!

Max J. Meyers, Esq.

A tragic accident happened in Florida involving an escaped pet albino Burmese python and a 2 year-old girl.  The 8 foot long snake strangled the young girl yesterday despite the owners attempts at freeing the girl.  The pet python somehow escaped its glass terrarium and made its way into the girl’s room where it attacked her.  The snake was owned by the boyfriend of the girl’s mother.

The attack is being called a rare incident, but you never know what a wild animal will do.  The python was operating on basic animal instinct despite it being a family pet.  Special care is needed when you have an exotic and potentially dangerous pet.

If this was to happen in Washington state the owner of the snake could be subject to a wrongful death lawsuit.  Investigation at the scene revealed that the python had not been properly secured in its container.   The fact that it happened in the family home with a family pet with the consent of the mother could definitely give the boyfriend a very good defense.  But imagine if the python got out of the house and attacked a child playing outside.  In that case, the snake owner would have a serious problem and likely facing a wrongful death lawsuit in the immediate future.

Exotic pets that can be dangerous require great care and caution in making sure they are kept in a secure environment.  If you know a pet may be dangerous in certain situations, then you as an owner have the duty to take all the reasonable steps you can to make sure that situation does not happen.