What You Need to Know About Car Accidents & Personal Injury Law in Washington State
When you are injured, the effects can have devastating financial consequences. Fortunately, there is a compensatory relief when another person is to blame for your injuries. The personal injury laws established in Washington allow you to recover from the responsible party. You are entitled to compensation for financial losses, medical expenses, pain, and suffering. Even your spouse is entitled to compensation under a recovery theory called “loss of consortium.”
Personal injury laws vary depending on the type of injury you suffer, and they also vary with the responsible party. For instance, when you get injured during the course and scope of your employment, then you are likely entitled to worker’s compensation. When you get injured in an auto accident, then recovery often comes from the responsible driver’s insurance company. Sometimes the recovery comes from your auto insurance company when the responsible driver is underinsured or uninsured.
Recovery under worker’s compensation is different than recovery from a car accident because worker’s compensation entitles you to monthly wages and medical coverage. In most states, worker’s compensation insurance is mandated by law. When a work injury occurs, an employee is entitled to coverage regardless of fault. However, when a person gets injured in an auto accident, then the injury victim needs to prove that the responsible driver acted with negligence. Negligence is a legal term, and it’s interpreted by courts differently than its ordinary and everyday usage. Whether a responsible driver acted with negligence is often a fact-driven analysis performed by legal experts.
In most cases, an insurance company will handle a claim on its insured’s behalf. Insurance companies hire attorneys and claims professionals to value your injuries, and they attempt to settle your claims. However, the representatives employed by the insurance company want to settle your claim quickly, and they want to settle it for less than it’s worth. The quick and low settlement allows an insurance company to show less loss to shareholders, and it allows an insurance company to save money.
It’s imperative that you do not try to settle a case with the responsible insurance company by yourself. When you try to handle an accident alone, you might undervalue your case, and you might settle for less than you are owed. When you hire a Vancouver, Washington personal injury attorney, we can guide you through the injury process, and we can help you to maximize monetary recovery from your accident. Contact our firm today for help with your personal injury claim.