Washington Injury Law Blog

This post continues my series with answers to frequently asked questions about Washington car accident claims.

Q: I was on a jury and the plaintiff was asked for her medical bills to be repaid. The jury thought that the bills were probably all covered by insurance. Was this correct?

A: In Washington, as in most states, evidence about whether or not a plaintiff’s medical bills have been paid by insurance is kept from a jury during a trial. There are many reasons for this law. Sometimes, however, juries attempt to account for the fact that insurance has paid the medical bills and adjust their award accordingly.

If you are on a jury in a personal injury case you should not do this. The reason is that insurance is not simple and different insurance “rules” may apply to the claims at hand. In most cases the plaintiff has to pay back her insurance company out of any award, so she really was not insured at all! Almost all insurance policies require the injured person to pay back any amounts the company paid for the medical bills if the plaintiff wins her lawsuit.

Insurance policies differ and not every insurance policy requires this type of reimbursement. What the courts have done, however, to make the issue fair for everyone, is to simply take insurance out of the consideration of the jury.

If you’re a juror please don’t discount a plaintiff’s damage award because you think the medical bills have already been paid. In almost all of my cases my clients have to repay the insurance company that paid the medical bills. Insurance companies would love this to happen, but it really only hurts the injury victim.

If you’re called for jury duty please go. The justice system in Washington and all other states depends on citizens showing up for jury duty when called. I know it’s a pain and you get paid peanuts, but I need you and my clients need you. We need jurors like you to fight the greed of the insurance companies that force their customers to file lawsuits to get the insurance benefits owed.

This post continues my series with answers to frequently asked questions about Washington car accident claims.

Q: The insurance company for the driver who hit me says they need me to sign a document (medical records release) before they can pay my medical bills. Should I sign the medical release?

You should never, ever sign the medical release that it sent to you by the at-fault driver’s insurance company. While releases are sometimes important to the claim every release that I have ever seen from an insurance company is overbroad–contains no time limit–can be sent to anyone at all–and allows the insurance company to re-release the information to others. There is no requirement that you sign their release.

While you’re still going to the doctor treating your accident injuries there is no good reason for the at-fault driver’s insurance company to be monitoring your medical records. The only reason they want to see your medical records is so they can look for things to use against you–and ways they can weaken your injury case. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been called and told me the at-fault driver’s insurance adjuster is telling an injury victim that–they should have been healed by now–and they weren’t really hurt that bad in the car accident. Don’t fall for this tactic. Your doctor is the expert on the severity of your injury and how much treatment you need to recover.

My advice to you is that if an insurance adjuster calls you requesting you to sign anything, tell them to mail you the form and you’ll be happy to review it with your attorney.

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

This post continues my series with answers to frequently asked questions about Washington car accident claims.

Q: I have been involved in a Seattle car accident and the medical bills are mounting. The insurance company for the driver who hit me says they will pay my medical bills and give me a “little something” for pain and suffering. They have asked me to sign a release. Should I take them up on their offer?

No, especially if you are still under the care of the physician. Once you settle with the insurance company, that will be the end of your claim, even if your injury gets worse. Your medical bills will not be paid by the driver of the car that hit you as they are incurred. The other driver’s insurance company will only agree to pay your medical bills in exchange for a release of all claims, which ends any further payments of your medical bills or otherwise.

There may be other sources available to pay your medical bills while your claim is pending. You may have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance on your own car insurance, which is specifically designed for paying your medical bills in a car accident regardless of whose fault the accident was. My previous post on PIP insurance (click here) explains this insurance more fully. Another source is your health insurance. Your health insurance will pay for your medical bills from your car accident. If you have either PIP or Health insurance these are the people you need to contact to get your medical bills paid while your actively treating your car accident injuries.

I often hear people say “Why should my insurance pay when the accident was the other guy’s fault? I don’t want my rates to go up.” Don’t fall into this trap. You purchased PIP and health insurance for the very purpose you are now facing after suffering injuries in a car accident. I can’t say for absolute sure, but in my experience I have not seen any of my client’s car insurance rates increase for making a PIP claim. The reason being is they are entitled to be repaid down the road when you do settle your case.

Both PIP and health insurance companies have a repayment right called a “subrogation interest” against your accident claim. If you hire an injury attorney to handle your car accident case he will negotiate and handle this repayment for you. If you don’t have an attorney, the insurance companies generally talk to each other and work out repayment between themselves. All you generally need to do is give the PIP adjuster or health insurance person the name, address, and phone number of the at fault driver’s insurance adjuster. I know this can sound complicated, but you can handle it with some patience and asking a few questions, or you can hire an attorney to take care of these details for you. 

An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to help you understand your rights. My advice to you is that if an insurance adjuster calls you requesting you to sign anything, tell them to mail you the release and you’ll be happy to review it with your attorney.

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

This post continues my series with answers to frequently asked questions about Washington car accident claims.

Q: A friend was in a car accident and broke his leg. He got a lot of money. Will my case be worth as much as his?

Each Washington car accident case is different. Each injury affects a person differently. Even if you both broke the same bone, your pain tolerance might be different. You might need surgery to correct the problem, whereas your friend didn’t. Your friend might be a football player for the Seattle Seahawks, and as a professional athlete his broken bone means he lost months of work. Your situation is probably different.

It’s important to know how your injury has affected your daily life. Has it impaired your ability to do your daily tasks like tying your shoelaces, taking a shower, making breakfast, going to the bathroom, holding groceries and similar activities?

If you were to ask me when you should try to resolve your injury claim, like nearly every one of my clients asks when they hire me, my recommendation is that you shouldn’t begin the process of trying to resolve your injury claim with the insurance company until you have fully healed and recovered from all of your injuries, or your injuries have reach a point of maximum improvement and will not likely get any better in the future. Once you’ve reach this point, the value of your case is based upon all of your damages. So if your broken leg injury was so severe that you now will walk with a limp for the rest of your life, well that has more value than if your leg healed without any permanent limp. This is just one example of the kinds of factors that go into establishing a value of your Washington car accident injury case.

Since everyone is different, and injuries affect each person differently, the value for each case is different. I can tell is this, if the insurance company calls you right after the car accident and offers $500 to settle your broken leg injury claim, $500 is nowhere close to the true value of your case.

Anyone who suffers a serious injury in a car or other vehicle accident should get the advice of an experienced Washington injury attorney as soon as possible. Or better yet, order my free book for Washington residents “The Guide to Washington Injury Cases.” The book has good quality information for you to use before speaking with an insurance adjuster or meeting with an attorney for a “free consultation.”

As a Kirkland injury accident attorney I handle many cases involving very serious injuries. I am frequently asked questions by clients and family members about issues common in many injury accidents. I want to provide you with some good information and tips about serious injury cases in Washington, so I’ve decided to do a series of blogs on the frequently asked questions I get about injury accidents in Washington.

Q:   If an insurance adjuster calls me after my accident to ask me questions, can I talk to her?

Of course you can, but I don’t recommend it following a serious accident. The insurance adjuster is calling to get you to make statements (usually in a recorded call) about the events leading up to and including the accident. They will also ask you about your injuries and whether you went to a hospital or a doctor following the accident. They will ask how you’re doing and if you missed work. She will be looking for ways to limit your claim based on your answers.

The inherent problem with talking to an adjuster following a serious accident is that they’re probing and trying to make a record of your statement. They can then use it against you at a later time should you bring a lawsuit against the driver or owner of the other car involved in your accident. They will also use it against you even if you don’t have an attorney, they will often try to make you feel guilty for not have recovered from your injuries quickly enough or that you’re going to the doctor too much. Don’t fall for the insurance companies deceptive tactics.

If an insurance adjuster calls to talk to you, tell them you’ll be happy to speak to them, after you speak with your attorney. Or better yet order my free book “The Guide to Washington Injury Cases” by clicking here. My special report will give you some good information about handling injury accident claims before you speak with that willy insurance adjuster.

The Atlanta Injury Law Blog tipped me off to an interesting article by the Commerce Clearing House about semi-truck driver fatigue. One of the common causes of semi-truck accidents in Washington is driver fatigue. Trucking companies push for longer and longer hours-of-service rules for their truck drivers, which wears out the drivers but allows the trucking companies to squeeze more profits out of each truck driver. As a Kirkland truck accident attorney I can tell you the devastation my clients suffer when hit by a semi-truck is frightening.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently approved a rule that allows truck drivers to be on the road 11 hours on any 14 hour work shift, after that the driver must go off duty for at least 10 hours. A one hour increase from the previously approved amount. The Teamsters Union and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (AHAS is a safety group) are fighting the new rule in a Washington DC court because they say the new rule will allow drivers to be on the road as much as 84 hours a week, which could lead to dangerous driver fatigue.

According to court papers submitted by the Teamsters and AHAS, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported that deaths in truck accidents increased in 2004 and 2005. The percentage of fatal crashes that result from driver fatigue rose 20 percent from 2004 to 2005. The increase in deaths was because 2004 was the first year in which the new, longer hours of driving and work were put into effect.  It’s also interesting to note that the FMCSA has acknowledged in the past that the risk of a crash doubles from the 8th hour to the 9th hour of driving, and doubles again from the 10th to the 11th hour. Our highways have just become a much more dangerous place because of this new truck driver rule.

The new rule was put in place by Bush administration for who know what reason. Smells like president Bush is giving his trucking company buddies a boost before he heads out of office.  The 11-hour rule has twice previously been declared illegal by the courts.  We’ll have to see if 3rd time is the charm for the truck companies or whether public safety triumphs again.

According to Teamsters President Jim Hoofa the Bush administration has no shame about breaking the law.  Mr. Hoffa believes people are dying on the highway because FMCSA is more concerned about making its corporate bosses happy than it is about making our highways safe. Let’s hope common sense wins and we are not faced with semi-truck drivers drunk from fatigue flying down our highways towards a preventable increase in fatal truck accidents. 

No texting while driving!

Drivers are banned from text messaging while driving starting in 2008. Police say they are going to put special emphasis on this new law. So beware! It’s at least $101 fine if caught. However, the police have to stop you for some other traffic law violation before you can get the texting ticket.

What about banning cell phones while driving?

Ask and you shall receive. As of July 1, 2008 cell phones are banned while driving unless used with a hands free device. So those of you who have been salivating over a new blue tooth headset its time to buy. I for one am counting down the days until this law takes effect. As a lawyer I use my cell as much as the next guy, but people need both hands while driving. How many times have you been following someone and they’re swerving all over the road, speeding up then slowing down, and you’ve thought they must be drunk, only to pull along side and see a cell phone glued to one ear with the driver oblivious to any traffic around them. It drives me crazy! Plus there’s at least one study that states driving while using a cell phone distracts people as much as if the were actually driving drunk. That’s just scary to me. Be safe, hung up the phone and just drive!

Boat license anyone!

Starting in 2008 anyone under 20 years old will have to take a boating safety class before they can obtain a boat license. After 2008 the age increases by 5 each year thereafter. So by 2018 anyone under the age of 70 will have to take a safety class to get a boat license. The good news is that taking such a class often gets you cheaper insurance and the class can be done online.  Also, if you’re born before 1955 you’re grandfathered in and never have to take the class. Call it an early senior discount!

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Attorney Jonathan Stein author of the California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog has an interesting recent post about Allstate. It appears that Allstate thinks a Missouri judge and the Missouri Supreme Court do not know what the law is. This seems to be Allstate’s position in a bad faith case in Missouri. The bad faith case arises from a rear-end car accident that an Allstate customer caused and Allstate refused to pay the claims its customer owed for years. 

According to Joe Lambe of the Kansis City Star Allstate was ordered in September to turn over documents that plaintiff’s attorneys allege may show that in the 1990’s Allstate set up a claims payment systems that short changed clients while earning Allstate huge profits. The MO judge set the fine for Allstae’s refusal to produce the documents at $25,000 per day. In November the MO Supreme Court agreed with the judge, yet Allstate continues to refuse to produce the documents.

This is where it gets good. Allstate’s attorney told the MO judge that Allstate had a principled difference they’re “not able to resolve until somebody says what the law is.” Everyone generally knows it’s the courts who tell us what the laws is. The courts decide what the law is and we follow what it says, it’s that simple.  Allstate’s attorney then told the judge Allstate would not turn over the 12,500 documents without protective order sealing the records from public view. You have to wonder what is Allstate fighting so hard to hide?

The judge in response told Allstate he had told them what the law was. But Allstate seems to have decided the judge was wrong, the Mo Supreme Court is wrong, and the law doesn’t apply to them. Apparently, Allstate lives by some other set of laws that only apply to them. 

As Jonathan Stein said in his post Allstate is fighting awfully hard to keep these documents secret and I’ll bet that if made public they would strike a might blow to Allstate and its image of “good hands.” We’ll have to see how this turns out.

One of my goals in this blog is to help those of you handling your own injury claim. I found a great blog post by attorney Jonathan Stein at the California Personal Injury & Insurance Blog about the various levels of insurance adjusters that may shuffle through your case. Here is his post:

Their is a hierarchy of adjusters. It goes something like this:

Step 1:         When you first report a claim, if the report comes in as property damage only and it is a clear liability case, the claim is assigned to a fast-track adjuster. These people handle claims quickly, but do not deal with injuries or arguments about fault. Some insurance companies, if not most these days, use these people to deal with any non-injury claim.

 

Step 2:          Your claim involves clear liability (in other words, everyone agrees that the guy who hit the parked car is at fault) and an injury, then you get into an adjuster who handles injury claims. But, as you probably figured, there is a catch. Call them step 2A and step 2B.

              Step 2a:  2a involves clear liability claims with subjective injuries. In other words, soft tissue type claims like whiplash. There is one type of an adjuster for these cases, usually someone promoted from step 1.

              Step 2b: 2b involves clear liability claims with objective injuries. In other words, someone has a broken bone. This is usually a promotion from 2a.

 

Step 3:          Step 3 involves disputed liability claims with an injury. At this point, most insurance companies do not break claims down into subjective and objective. Disputed liability with an injury usually ends up here.

 

Step 4:          Attorney represented claims. Up until now, steps 1 through 3, the claims involved people trying to do it themselves. Once you get an attorney, you move to step 4. And you are lucky. Seriously. These are better quality adjusters with more experience who understand the system. They try to resolve most cases without lawsuits being filed.

 

Step 5:          Litigation adjusters. These are the adjusters who take step 4 claims after a lawsuit has been filed. Usually, they are the most experienced adjusters and understand how to resolve cases, and what a case is truly worth. These are, in my experience, the best adjusters.

 

Now, is this true for every insurance company? Of course not. But, it is true often enough. Now you will at least have some idea who you are dealing with and why you may be passed around like a hot potato.

In Washington the same type of adjuster switching occurs. Please remember that the insurance adjusters at all levels are trained how to speak to you and how to use your words against you. Don’t give that records statement or sign anything until you have ordered my FREE book – The Guide To Washington Injury Cases and get the basic info you need before speaking with any insurance adjuster.  

Come January 1, 2008 all of you in Washington who text message while you drive will be breaking the law. The law banning text messaging while driving takes effect at the new year. Please for my sanity stop texting while you’re driving it’s so dangerous.

In my view the law isn’t strong enough. The police cannot pull you over for texting while driving because such an offense has been classified as a secondary offense. This means the police must wait for you to break another law that they can pull you over for. Then the police can add a second charge of texting while driving on top of the reason for pulling you over in the first place, so you get two tickets. Two tickets sounds good but I’d rather have people ticketed simply for texting while driving without the need for anything more.

There are some exceptions as there always is.  You are allowed to text message if you are driving an emergency vehicle, reporting an emergency, or reporting illegal activity. So you can text message the police that another driver is text messaging while driving. That makes sense!

For more info here’s an interesting article by the Seattle PI about cell phone use while driving. All you cell phone users, you’re day is coming. July 1, 2008 the ban on cell use while driving takes effect. After July 1, 2008 only hands free cell phone devices may be used while driving. Can I here an Amen?

Be safe, stop texting while driving and Merry Christmas!