Washington Injury Law Blog

Early this morning at approximately 1:00 am a semi-truck crashed into the center median of I-5 then into a bridge over pass killing the driver of the truck. According to reports from the Washington State Patrol the truck driver was new and only had been driving semi-truck for one month.

It unknown why the truck driver lost control but wet conditions did play a role in the traffic fatality. As a Seattle Truck Accident Attorney I have seen that one of the leading causes of serious semi-truck accidents is inexperienced drivers. The truck driver here only had 3 1/2 weeks of training. Perhaps better training could have prevented this tragedy. Fatigue often plays a substantial role in serious truck accidents - especially ones that happen late at night.

Anyone who involved in a semi-truck accident needs to consult with a Washington truck accident attorney immediately. Facts and evidence from the scene of the accident must be documented and collected as soon as possible. This is very important in semi-truck accidents because the injuries involved are more often than not very serious.

 Max Meyers, Esq. 

Resources:

Semi-truck driver killed in Olympia crash

Pain is the natural side effect from any type of personal injury recovery, including car accidents and major trauma injuries. Unfortunately for many of those accident victims, the pain never goes away. This is something that accident survivors have always known but now a major pain study by the University of Washington has come to the same conclusion. The study which was published in the journal, Archives of Surgery was conducted by Dr. Frederick Rivara, MD. According to the study almost 63% of all trauma patients still experience moderate to severe pain one year after the accident.

The study included 3047 patients ages 18-84. They all had experienced acute trauma from an accident. The researchers followed the people for over one year and discovered most of the pain was reported in the joints and extremities (44%), back (26%) head (11%) and neck (7%). Moreover, 59% of those patients with injury-related pain had three or more painful areas one year after injury.

Other findings worth noting in this March 2008 study were that pain levels at the 3 month marker were indicators on how long pain severity would continue. Basically, if you had severe pain after three months of a single trauma, most likely you would be experiencing at least moderate pain in one year’s time. The study findings encourage doctors to treat the pain as well as the injury. One important conclusion reached by the study is that “Earlier and more intensive interventions to treat pain in trauma patients in needed.”

Information for early pain management options should be available to patients so that they can choose the best treatment according to their injury and lifestyle. Where can a person go to get unbiased information? First, always keep a good line of communication open with your doctor and then start with the following resources:

A general overview of evaluating Health Information on the Internet can be found at, http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/evalhealthinfo.html.

A comprehensive non-profit organization called the American Pain Foundation has several resource guides for managing and understanding your pain. Here are a few helpful links:

Pain Resource Guide,

Discussion Guide for you and your doctor,

Pain Treatment Options,

Options for Managing pain,

Target Chronic Pain guide.

Pain can rob you of your family time, work productivity and quality of life. Pain is a major part of any injury claim. That’s why it is important to choose an experienced Washington Injury Accident Attorney if you have been in a car accident of other accident caused by the negligence of another person.

Yesterday I wrote a post about how dangerous big truck or commercial vehicle accidents can be and how serious injuries more often than not result.  What do I wake up to this morning on the news – in Everett, Washington a little after 4:00 a.m. – a truck vs. truck accident happened causing one driver to be ejected from his truck, killing him at the scene of the accident. 

Police report that there was a traffic light controlling the intersection where the accident happened, and it appears one of the trucks ran a red light. The investigation is ongoing – which driver had the green light has not yet been determined.

I can’t emphasize enough as a Kirkland Washington truck accident attorney how careful you need to be when driving near semi-trucks or large commercial vehicles. In the news we see time and time again how serious injury and deaths are the common result of truck accidents. There were 567 traffic related deaths in Washington in 2007, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Please drive carefully, stay focused, and don’t drive if you’re sleepy.

If you or a loved one is in a Washington truck accident it’s important that you speak with an experienced Washington injury attorney. There are some additional or different rules that apply to commercial truck drivers and an investigation needs to be conducted as soon as possible following an injury causing truck accident.

Source: KOMOTV.com

A charter bus taking the Garfield High Women’s Softball team home from a game in Kirkland, Washington against Lake Washington High School crashed into a pedestrian bridge shearing off the roof of the bus last night. Five students were taken by ambulance to the Harborview hospital with complaints of neck and back pain, luckily none of the injuries appeared serious. 

 The bus accident happened in Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum.  The bus driver appears to have been distracted and failed to see the bridge clearance was only 9 feet, when the bus was 11 feet 8 inches tall. 

As a Kirkland, Washington truck accident attorney I have seen cases where a commercial vehicle or truck accident is caused by a distracted driver. Driver distraction is a common cause of commercial vehicle or truck accidents in Washington. It is very dangerous for other drivers and passengers when the driver of a huge vehicle – that can crush another car if an accident happens – does not maintain focus on the task of driving. This is especially dangerous when it’s a bus or other common carrier of large numbers of passengers. People can be seriously hurt in the blink of an eye when a big bus or semi-truck is in a bad accident.

Luckily, in this case it appears the injuries where minor. That is not always the case, and we should count our blessings that a much bigger tragedy was avoided. 

Source: Seattle PI

The tax man is coming! April 15th is fast approaching, meaning it is time to pay Uncle Sam his due. As a Kirkland Washington personal injury attorney I rarely wade into tax law issues. However, for all my Washington personal injury clients, there is one very important tax regulation that applies to personal injury lawsuit verdicts or settlement money.

If you are the injured victim or family member that recovers money as the result of a personal injury lawsuit or claim – then the money received is not taxed. Under Federal Treasury Regulation § 104(a)(2) Gross Income (potentially taxable income) does not include money (unless punitive damages – which aren’t available under Washington laws) received as the result of personal injury lawsuit /claim settlement, judgment, or verdict.

If you settled your car accident or other Washington injury accident case in the last tax year you will not have to pay taxes on it. You will probably have to report that you received a personal injury settlement or verdict, but no taxes will be charged against it. So when your accountant or tax software asks you about the amount received don’t worry, you won’t pay more taxes by telling the IRS about your injury settlement/verdict money. 

The tax code section reads specifically: “Section 104(a)(2) excludes from gross income the amount of any damages received (whether by suit or agreement) on account of personal injuries or sickness. The term “damages received (whether by suit or agreement)” means an amount received (other than workmen’s compensation) through prosecution of a legal suit or action based upon tort or tort type rights, or through a settlement agreement entered into in lieu of such prosecution.”

Ben Sansone of the Missouri Injury Law Blog had recent post on the same subject. If you live in Missouri you should definitely check out his blog, it is excellent.

I came across another great post by Ken Shigley of the Atlanta Injury Law Blog  about electronic logs for semi-truck drivers. Interstate trucking companies and their drivers are required to keep paper logs that record the numbers of hours driven per day (11 hours is the maximum),  activities, and locations of stops. The abuse of these paper logs is so bad that they are often referred to as “comic books.” Many semi-truck accidents result from the abusive practices that commonly occur in paper logs.

Trucking companies put huge pressure on drivers to make delivery schedules that are impossible to do legally. Mr. Shigley had a truck driver during a deposition admit that he had destroyed log pages and replaced the pages with fakes showing less hours of driving. The driver had been driving 20 of the last 24 hours before the truck accident that killed a child of the family represented Mr. Shigley. 

Electronic driver logs have been development but are not required. The electronic log devices make it nearly impossible to change or alter the hours of driving or other activities. As you might imagine, the trucking industry doesn’t mind keeping their dirty little secret in place. Allowing their drivers to ignore the trucking laws results in profits for them. The trucking industry is unlikely to voluntarily adopt the usage of electronic driver logs.

We need to tell our legislators that allowing devastating injuries and deaths caused by big rig truck drivers who are over fatigued is unacceptable and must stop. Laws need to be passed requiring tamper proof electronic driver logs in all semi-trucks that drive on our roads and highways.

I recently wrote a post about a rule change that allows semi-truck drivers to be on the road longer each day. Increasing driving hours can cause more fatigued and distracted truck driver’s to be on the road each day. Last night a truck driver was reaching onto the floor boards of his truck for something and left the roadway, crashed through a cable barrier, crossed the median, and drove into on coming freeway traffic causing a horrible Truck Accident. The 24 year old driver of a Kia Sephia crashed underneath the semi trailer pinning the Kia under the trailer.  The young driver of the kia was from Enumclaw and died at the scene of the truck accident.  The KOMO 4 TV report did not say how many hours the driver had been on the road so fatigue may not have been a factor, but the driver was definitely distracted.

The freeway was guarded by a cable barrier that failed to stop the truck from crossing into on coming traffic. Washington DOT claims that a cement barrier probably would not have stopped the truck either given the truck was doing the speed limit when it left the roadway. I wonder if this is really true?

If I recall correctly about six months ago there were several news stories about cable barriers failing to stop cars from crossing into on coming freeway traffic on a particular stretch of I-5 in Marysville, Washington. It seems to me that Washington DOT had better start re-evaluating whether cable barriers are doing the job needed. Perhaps if a cement barrier was in place – there would have been less chance of the truck crossing into on coming freeway traffic. Too many people are dying on Washington highways for this to be a coincidence.

A young man has been stolen from a family far too early. The family must come to grips with the wrongful death of their loved one. Let’s help stop this kind of tragedy and begin considering why cable barriers are still being used when they fail to do the job needed!

Source: KOMO TV 4

An interesting video was posted by the Atlanta Injury Law & Civil Litigation Blog showing the braking characteristics of the front cab of a semi-truck that is driving without pulling a trailer. Here in Washington you can often see trailer-less semi truck cabs driving around to and from the Port of Seattle or Port of Tacoma.

The video shows a skidding test for a trailer-less semi-truck cab on a wet road. The results seem to indicated a predictable, repeatable and unsafe result.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=584OPjR2dw0[/youtube]

Another reason to give semi-trucks more room when driving on busy Seattle highways during our wet winters.

There’s another good post by Missouri Injury Law Blog concerning Allstate’s settlement tactics. Allstate advertises that you’re in “Good Hands” with them. But ask any experienced Washington injury attorney or injury victim who has had to deal with Allstate on an injury claim and you’ll quickly hear how those hands came wrapped in boxing gloves.

Many of my clients have found dealing with Allstate on your own is like going a few rounds with Mohammad Ali. There’s a lot of jabs, some body blows and eventually you’re seeing stars wondering what happened. There are numerous stories of how Allstate adjusters have not dealt with people on a level playing field just like the story of attorney Ben Sansone’s client. 

A case in Washington had to reinforce the fact that Allstate cannot tell a Washington car accident victim they don’t need to speak with an attorney because the insurance adjuster is looking out for them and attorneys will only take money out of their pocket. When an insurance company tells someone they’re looking out for them and they don’t need an attorney to review a release of all claims form they want signed – the insurance company is giving legal advice without a license to practice law. That’s illegal – and just not right.

Although I haven’t personally had an insurance company threaten bankruptcy of the at fault driver as a way to force a low settlement — it doesn’t surprise me. An experienced Washington injury attorney should know that a bankruptcy has no effect on the available insurance. This underhanded tactic does not work on experienced injury attorneys, but if it were you — would you know the threat was hollow? I have had several cases were the at fault party went bankrupt, but the insurance coverage was still available and paid despite the bankruptcy. This is definitely a trap for the unwary and another reason you should speak with an experienced Washington injury attorney before speaking with an insurance adjuster.

Or better yet order my free book “The Guide to Washington Injury Cases” by clicking here. The book will give you some good information about the whole Washington car accident claim process before you speak with that pushy insurance adjuster.

Think your MySpace, Facebook, or social network page is not really going to come back to haunt you someday? Think again — it could happen in the worse of circumstances. A recent King 5 story tells the story of a young Arlington, Washington woman, Marissa Schneider, who was in a severe car accident and suffered very serious injuries that have left her in a nursing home unable to talk or care for herself at 21 years old.

The car accident that hurt Marissa so badly was caused by a driver that crossed the I-5 median into oncoming traffic and hit Marissa’s Dodge Spirit head-on. Marissa and her family have sued the driver and Chrysler — the maker of the Dodge Spirit — due to an alleged design flaw. Chrysler’s attorneys are being very aggressive and have subpoenaed Marissa’s MySpace account records including her private blog entries.

Corporation and insurance company lawyers are conducting these kind of “cyber-investigations” more and more. Chrysler believes the information on Marissa’s MySpace page will lead to relevant evidence in her car accident case. Defense attorneys in fact promote these kind of tactics openly as can be found on this defense attorney blog. Corporation and insurance company lawyers are looking for things on your MySpace page that contradict your injury claims or “there could be interesting stuff we’d like a jury to see.”

Kind of makes your stomach turn a little doesn’t it? Anything you put out there on the web could someday be fodder for a jury to decide your fate. Ouch, that’s scary! It’s enough to make you second guess that video from Friday night’s party you were thinking about posting. Defense attorneys have discussed the possibility of subpoenaing your online “friends” as witnesses including using your “friends” access to your page’s private areas, or even trying to become on of your “friends” to spy on you. These kinds of sneaky and underhanded tactics are what big corporations and insurance companies do in an effort to attack your credibility in a car accident case.

You may be asking yourself, is my Facebook or MySpace page in anyway relevant to my car accident? Why should I have to turn over my private account information for something that has no relevance to my car accident injuries? I totally understand that feeling of frustration and it’s what nearly everyone of my clients feels when faced with questions from defense attorneys in areas that seem irrelevant to the car accident.

Rules that apply to Washington car accident lawsuits allow a broad scope of questioning by defendants. This area of questioning is called discovery. During discovery both sides get to ask each other questions that will help find the truth about what happened and how badly you were injured. The rules give a very broad scope of things that can be questioned and discovered about you.  Sometimes this results in over-reaching or requests for stuff that is out of bounds.

The ultimate question is given Washington discovery rules is your MySpace, Facebook or other social network page out of bounds in your Washington car accident lawsuit? Unfortunately, the answer is not clear. In some circumstances your MySpace page may be relevant because it shows you doing things your injuries should not allow you to do. Other times there may be nothing there. The general rule the courts follow is whether the information requested could lead to information that is relevant to the car accident lawsuit. So if there’s a possibility that information requested could lead to information that could be used in your injury case, then a judge is likely to grant access to your MySpace page.

Washington appellate courts have not had an opportunity to address a question regarding access to a person’s MySpace, Facebook or other social network page. However, it is only a matter of time before we see some rulings from the Washington high courts to give this area added guidance. Until then — it’s probably a good idea to speak with an experienced Washington car accident attorney about the effect your MySpace page may have on your car accident case. There are steps that your attorney can take to protect you in certain circumstances.

But for now — BEWARE — you’re private MySpace page may be an open book when you least want or expect it.