This is perhaps the question I am asked most often by clients and prospective clients.  How does one determine the value of a case?  What factors are used to determine value?  How can one maximize the value of his or her case?

Great questions, but often times no easy answers.  Let’s first discuss how personal injury claims are valued.  There are numerous factors that may influence value.  These may include:

1. Who’s at fault?  Just one entity or a combination of entities?
2. Is there comparative fault (fault against YOU)?
3. How much insurance exists?
4. What type of accident or event caused the injury or harm?
5. Extent of injuries?
6. Type, nature and frequency of medical treatment?
7. In what ways have the injuries affect you and your daily activities?
8. Are your injuries permanent and life changing?
9. What are the economic or special damages (medical bills, lost wages, property loss, etc.)?
10. What facts support the non-economic damages (pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.)?
11. Who is the carrier that will be defending the claim (Are they difficult to deal with? Do they fight to the death on every case?)?
12. Will litigation be necessary (and hence lead to more costly litigation expense)?
13. Which venue will the case be tried in (Are jurors there more or less conservative with awarding money damages?)?
14. Who is the judge that will preside in your case (is he/she a defense minded judge or a plaintiff’s minded judge)?
15. How do you (the injured plaintiff) appear as a witness (are you credible, trustworthy, attractive, etc.?)?

There may be many more different factors that can affect the value of your case.  With so many different variables, it can be next to impossible to determine with accuracy what the true value of a case is.

In the end, the value of a case is what a jury says its worth.  That’s why the parties, attorneys, and insurance companies involved try to predict how a jury will decide a case.  But when it comes to predicting how 12 jurors will see the case, there’s quite a bit of speculation involved.

In any event, you’ll want to hire a very experienced and successful injury attorney to work on your behalf.  To uncover and advocate the facts in your favor that may lead to a higher case value.

The driver was a 22-year-old young woman.  She had no insurance, and worked as a waitress.  She was allegedly using her cell phone at the time of the accident.

I had to decline the case.

The reason?  The parents of the 15-year-old did not purchase Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage under their own auto policy.

In Washington State, auto insurance companies have to offer UM coverage unless it is rejected in writing by the insured.

The parents had rejected UM coverage five years ago as a way to save money.  That decision proved tragic, and in the end deprived their son with the opportunity to obtain full compensation for his medical treatment and injuries.

Relatively speaking, the cost of UM coverage is very cheap.  Right now I pay about $150.00 per year for $1 Million in UM coverage on two separate vehicles.

Statistically, most accidents are caused by uninsured and underinsured motorists.  These are individuals that are more likely to be irresponsible on our roadways.  Most of us have to protect ourselves from irresponsible drivers.  Adequate UM coverage is one way to do this.

The mother of that 15-year-old boy told me that she and her husband will likely have to declare bankruptcy because they won’t be able to pay for their son’s medical bills.  Understandably, she and her husband are angry that this could happen.  Through no fault of their own, they may be ruined financially.

My message to parents is to carry adequate auto coverage, including coverage for uninsured motorists.  This coverage can prevent financial ruin if one of your family members becomes the victim of an accident.

In Washington, you will typically file your case in the county where your accident happened, or in the county where one or both of the parties involved lives.  If you are filing suit against a business or corporation, then the venue can occur in the county where the company does business.  Your lawyer can explain to you how these rules affect your case.

A lawsuit formally starts when you file a written complaint with the court. This complaint describes the facts of the case, your injuries and why the person you are suing is responsible for your injuries. It then separately lists each “cause of action,” which is a reason for suing. 

The complaint ends with a request for financial compensation for the injuries you have listed. This can be quite detailed, depending on your state’s requirements, but it always contains enough information to inform the other parties why they are being sued.

Along with the complaint, your lawyer will also file a summons, a document that must be personally served on the defendants. The summons explains how the defendant should respond to the complaint and gives a deadline to do so. As a courtesy, your lawyer may send a copy of the complaint to the defendant’s insurance company.

After the complaint is filed, your lawyer may have to specify whether you prefer a jury trial or a “bench trial.”  A bench trial is one that is conducted before a judge and not a jury.  The judge decides the case.  Most of the time the defendant’s lawyer will request a jury.  The conventional wisdom is that a jury may be more conservative on damages then compared with a judge.  A jury will also be more influenced by matters outside the law, whereas a judge is trained to disregard irrelevant evidence.

You and your lawyer should have agreed on this ahead of time. In a jury trial, a group of randomly selected citizens from the area decides the case while the judge acts as a referee and resolves legal issues involved in the case. By contrast, a bench trial involves a judge deciding the entire case (issues of fact and legal issues). Bench trials are less common than jury trials. If your lawyer recommends one, he or she should be able to explain why.

The students at Chiawana High School listened to Reggie Shaw from Utah.  Mr. Shaw a 19-year-old college student was working as a house painter.  He was driving to work in an SUV.  Approaching him, in a Saturn sedan, was James Furaro, 38, and his passenger, Keith P. O’Dell, 50. They were rocket scientists commuting to their work at ATK Launch Systems.

Mr. Shaw crossed the center line on the two-way road, and clipped the Saturn. The Saturn lost control and spun across the road where it was hit by another vehicle that was towing a trailer.  The two scientists were killed instantly.

The police talked to a witness who observed Shaw swerving within his lane just prior to the collision.  The investigating officer watched Shaw after the accident take out his phone and start texting.  The officer was skeptical, and decided to subpoena Shaw’s cell phone records.  The records showed that Shaw had sent 11 text messages to his girlfriend in the 30 minutes before the crash.  The last one occurred just one minute before Shaw called 911.  The police determined that the last text message was the one which caused Shaw to cross into the other lane.

In the end Shaw’s conscious got the better of him.  He later pled guilty to two counts of negligent homicide.  Shaw now tours his home state of Utah and other states to talk about the dangers of texting while driving.

I applaud Mr. Shaw’s willingness to devote his time and attention to teaching other young people about what can happen while using your cell phone and driving.  It’s a shame that he had to take the lives of two innocent people to realize what I and many other lawyers have known for years: texting while driving a motor vehicle is extremely dangerous. 

I hope the students in Paco, Washington were moved by Mr. Shaw’s story.  I have to believe that hearing from someone who has actually caused the death of two other people due to texting and driving will cause most of these young people to re-think whether to use a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle.

For more information about Shaw’s story and the dangers of texting while driving, please read this story by NPR.

Myth #1:         All personal injury lawyers have basically the same training and experience.

Myth #2:         Any lawyer that graduates from law school can try a personal injury case in court.

Myth #3:         All personal injury lawyers go to trial at some point.

Myth #4:         A personal injury lawyer that never goes to trial can get just as good settlements as one that does go to trial.

Myth #5:         A lawyer who is good at “DUI” cases or “real estate law” will also be good at personal injury cases.

Myth #6:         The personal injury lawyer who advertises on T.V. must be a great lawyer and super successful or else he couldn’t afford the expensive commercial.

Myth #7:         The personal injury lawyer who takes out big glossy ads in the Yellow Pages is usually the best lawyer to choose.

Myth #8:         A “lawyer referral” service is always a good way to find the right lawyer for your case.

Myth #9:         The bar association determines whether a lawyer can advertise that he is a “personal injury specialist.”

Myth #10:       The personal injury lawyer who advertises will actually be the lawyer who handles your case.

Remember, all lawyers are not the same.  The same is true for personal injury lawyers.  Make sure you do your homework when it comes to choosing a lawyer.  The decision you make can have good or bad consequences in your personal injury case.

The first thing to consider is that lawyers, much like doctors, often concentrate their practices in a specific area of the law. If you need hip replacement surgery, you probably want to see an orthopedic surgeon, not a cardiologist. You may also want that surgeon to routinely perform hip surgery on other patients instead of doing the procedure a few times per year. 

Similarly, if you are in an accident, you will not want to hire a lawyer who focuses on divorce or real estate or business law. Similarly, you probably don’t want a lawyer who just does a few personal injury cases a month or in a given year along with other types of cases. 

Although a non-specialist lawyer may be able to help you, he or she will likely not have the same experience and skills that a lawyer who specializes in personal injury law day in and day out. No one person can do it all.  The same is true for lawyers who specialize in a particular practice area. 

A lawyer who specializes in personal injury law will likely understand the individual nuances in the legal, procedural and evidentiary areas that come with representing accident victims.  And believe me, there are many “nuances” in the field of personal injury law.  They may deal with questions concerning insurance coverage, subrogation claims, medical expertise, proving the injury in question, proving the amount of damages, procedural traps, and a host of many other issues that may arise in the typical personal injury claim.

The personal injury specialist will also better understand and implement the successful strategies, arguments, and tactics that can maximize the value of your personal injury claim, because they work with these issues every day.

At Davis Law Group, we find that most of our clients come to us after a recommendation from someone they know who has used us in the past. For this reason, you may want to begin the search by talking to family and friends. Ask if anyone can refer you to a personal injury lawyer who helped them get good results, or who they have heard good things about.

You can also do your own research to find a lawyer.  The internet is a good place to start.  Some very reputable personal injury lawyers provide substantial information on personal injury claims and the law on their websites.  Sometimes the lawyer’s successful cases are reported in the press and may show up on news feeds or in newspaper stories.  Sometimes the lawyer may be featured on news stations or other programs as a credible source the media turns to for information about personal injury matters.  If that’s true, that lawyer may be a good choice.

More and more lawyers are using video on the internet.  This may be a good source to check out a lawyer.  Look for a lawyer who actually offers helpful information about the type of case or injury you may have.  Stay away from those lawyers who only brag how good they are, or how successful they have been in the past.  Although success is certainly important for obvious reasons, the lawyer’s video should do more than just brag, it should actually help the potential client understand his or her rights or some potential problem that often arises in personal injury cases.

There are some lawyers who advertise heavily on TV and in the phone book.  Although this may be a good place to start your search, I would not rely entirely on a lawyer’s TV or yellow page ad.  Sometimes the lawyer who advertises heavily on TV or in the phone book will operate a volume injury law practice that relies heavily on the quick settlement of cases.  That may not be in your best interest because often times a case requires a tremendous amount of work before a good settlement can be achieved. 

There are also companies that run TV commercials where the lawyer pays to be the “next lawyer” on the referral list.  Any lawyer can pay to be on the referral list so that lawyer may not necessarily be the best lawyer for your case.  Be careful.

In the end, do your research.  Go to the lawyer’s website.  Review articles or books that the lawyer has written.  You’ll want a lawyer who commands credibility, in and outside the courtroom.  You’ll want a lawyer who has been successfully representing injury or accident victims for several years, not someone who’s only been testing the waters for a few years.  After all, you don’t want to be the “test case” for a lawyer who is still learning.

One common defense is to suggest that the victim suffered from similar injuries before the accident, or that the victim was predisposed to the type of injury he or she suffered.  We at Davis Law Group have had cases where the insurance company actually relied on a medical record that pre-dated the motor vehicle collision 15 years earlier!  Even though are client was symptom-free for more than 12 years, the insurance company still tried to argue that her “pre-existing” injury predisposed her to an injury 15 years later in the car accident!  That gives you some idea as to how absurd some of the defenses the insurance company will allege.

Yet another defense is to try to prove that the victim’s injuries were not caused by the accident, but by other events in the victim’s life (e.g., a prior fall, prior accident, or some other medical condition). When insurance companies cannot dispute fault for the accident they may resort to the age-old tactic of attacking the accident victim’s character or preexisting medical history.

A good lawyer will successfully challenge these common defenses and help the victim present his or her injuries clearly, concisely and coherently.

For example, even if you suffered from a similar medical problem (such as a back or neck condition) before the accident, your lawyer can help you prove that your previous injury was made worse as a result of your accident.

 Washington law supports the premise that a wrongdoer “takes his victim as he finds him.” This means victims are entitled to recover full compensation even if they were particularly susceptible to an injury, or predisposed to experience greater pain or suffering than could have been foreseen by the defendant.

For example, you have a bad back that never required surgery, but then you are involved in a serious car accident that aggravates the back condition enough to require surgery, you are entitled to recover compensation for the surgery. After all, you would not have needed it if the accident had never happened.

If you have a claim where the insurance company seems to be looking for any fact, circumstance or excuse to deny your claim or lessen its value, it’s time for you to speak with an experienced attorney.  Don’t try to fight the company alone.  With its vast resources and knowledge, the insurance company can be a very formidable opponent.  The things you do or say early on in the claim process can make a difference on whether you achieve a successful outcome.

As you work to resolve your accident claim, you may hear insurance adjustors, lawyers and doctors talk about different degrees of injuries. You may hear injuries described as minor, moderate, severe or catastrophic. Minor or moderate injuries can be injuries such as sprains, strains, fractures, bruising or superficial cuts. These may be painful, but they usually heal well and quickly, with minimal medical treatment.

You may hear insurance adjustors refer to “soft tissue injuries.” Soft tissue injuries are injuries to the non-bony parts of the body, such as internal organs, nerves, muscles and connective tissues. Sprains, whiplash and pulled muscles are all types of soft tissue injuries. Even if you have a bruise over the affected area, you and your doctor may not realize you have a soft tissue injury under the bruise, because it can be hidden from sight and hard to detect with tests. Soft tissue injuries may heal quickly, but some do not. Some can even result in chronic pain and disability, which can be permanent if not treated properly. Typically, it is harder to recover substantial compensation in these cases than in cases involving serious or catastrophic injuries.

A catastrophic injury is a serious injury that is expected to permanently change the victim’s life. Examples of this type of injury include burns, amputations, spinal cord injuries, paralysis and head injuries (also called traumatic brain injuries). These types of injuries result in the most significant settlements and verdicts, because the injuries can be proven objectively and are more obvious to the insurance company or a jury.

Although catastrophic injuries are obvious in most cases, sometimes the full extent of the injury is not immediately revealed. This is especially true when the victim has suffered a traumatic brain injury, also called a closed head injury. In some cases, the brain may be affected in ways so subtle that only people close to the victim notice changes in abilities, behavior or personality.

A closed head injury can be caused by physical trauma (a hard blow or penetrating wound), a blast wave from an explosion or violent shaking of the head. It often results from actual jostling of the brain. Such trauma can damage the tissues of the brain, which in turn affects the abilities controlled by the damaged tissue.

A concussion is the mildest form of a brain injury, but more serious brain injuries leave their victims permanently disabled. As one often expects, a brain injury may affect many aspects of the injured person’s life, including physical movement, the senses, intellectual ability, creativity and even personality. Sometimes, what appears to be a minor concussion or brief loss of consciousness following a car accident can turn into in a more serious closed head injury later on, with symptoms such as chronic headaches, memory loss, loss of concentration or changes in a person’s personality or behavior.

One of the more severe, significant and complex types of claims is the wrongful death case.  Each state typically has their own laws and procedures governing a wrongful death claim.  In Washington, the wrongful death statutes are complex, both substantively and procedurally.  A personal representative must be appointed by the court to represent the deceased’s estate and the surviving family members.  Only certain surviving family members can recover compensation for the loss of their loved one.  There may be several claims involved in one case – the estate’s claim, and each claim brought by a surviving spouse and children.

The law of personal injury and insurance law is continually changing and evolving.  You should definitely speak with a qualified and experienced personal injury attorney about your claim, especially if it involves permanent or longlasting injuries and/or the loss of a loved one.

You should understand how insurance works in Washington State. There are two types of auto insurance systems in the United States, and which one you use usually depends on where you live. Most states are at-fault or tort states.  This means the at-fault driver is legally responsible for any injuries and financial costs caused by the accident. The other driver’s insurance policy is supposed to pay those costs, but you may have to sue the other driver to get payment if the facts are in dispute.

In Washington we also have no-fault auto insurance coverage. If your insurance policy has coverage called Personal Injury Protection (PIP), your own insurance company is required to pay for certain damages (like medical bills and lost wages) regardless of who’s at fault for the accident.  This is important coverage because it requires your carrier to pay for these expenses when they are due.  However, this coverage is limited by the terms of your insurance policy. 

Most people who have PIP will have coverage of at least $10,000, but some may have the maximum of $35,000 (as of the date of this writing).   Also, most PIP policies will only pay up to 85% of your lost wages starting two weeks after the accident.  You should read your policy carefully to understand what other limitations and/or restrictions may apply.  If you have questions you should speak to an experienced personal injury lawyer.

After you receive medical care and recover from the immediate effects of your accident, one of the first things you should do is call your insurance company. You will probably also have to call the other driver’s insurance company and let them know that an accident has occurred and a claim will be pursued. You should make that call as soon as you reasonably can, because waiting too long might make it look to the insurance company like you are exaggerating your injuries. Calling quickly is also part of your obligations under the contract you signed with your insurer.

This first call should be fairly short. Its purpose is only to give the insurance adjuster the basic facts about your accident and the information for the other driver’s insurance company, if there is one. In fact, during the call, the insurance adjustor on the other end should never ask to record you or ask you to sign anything, especially in exchange for money. If you get this kind of request, you may be dealing with a dishonest company; you should politely decline and call a lawyer as soon as possible.

During your initial call, the insurance adjustor will probably ask you who was at fault for the accident or who was to blame. She might also ask if anyone got a ticket. If this is disputed or you truly are not sure, just stick with the facts.

During this first conversation (or any other conversation) with an insurer, it is important to avoid apologizing or accepting blame just to be polite, because that could be taken as an admission of guilt. Also, if you were knocked unconscious or taken to the hospital, you may not have gotten the full story. One way to get it is to obtain a copy of the accident report made by the police (if one exists). If they will not release it, your insurance adjustor can get it for you and use it to start your claim. 

Seattle attorney Chris Davis of the Davis Law Group in Seattle announces that he has recently published his fourth book in the field of personal injury and accident law.  This book, “Wrongful Death in Washington” focuses on the wrongful death claims.

In the book, Mr. Davis discusses the following topics:

1. Basic Facts About Wrongful Death Cases.

2. Planning a Funeral After a Wrongful Death.

3. Overview of Washington State’s Wrongful Death Laws.

4. The Pre-Litigation or Claims Process for Wrongful Death Claims.

5. The Wrongful Death of a Child.

6. Determining the Value of a Wrongful Death Case.

7. Specific Damages Recoverable in a Wrongful Death Case.

And many more topics of interest to surviving family members who may be contemplating a wrongful death case.

“I really wrote the book to help surviving family members, by answering the most common questions my firm gets from prospective clients,” says Davis.  The book has received some favorable reviews from other attorneys across the country and in Canada, states Davis.

Seattle lawyer Chris Davis has been handling wrongful death cases in Washington State for the last 16+ years.  Most recently, Davis recovered $4 Million for the surviving family of a woman that was killed in Kent, Washington.  That case was featured on Seattle’s KOMO TV News.