• The injuries are minor and usually resolve within a few months.
• The medical bills and wage loss are usually no more than a few thousand dollars combined.
• The injuries are not considered permanent, or the injuries did not have a huge impact on your daily activities.
• If the case involves an auto accident, the property damage is not significant.

If you have a small case, here are some guidelines to help you settle the claim yourself:

WARNING: There are some cases that require the assistance of an attorney.  If you have a larger case, and if you try to settle the claim yourself, and do something that may damage the claim, it may cost you a lot of money.  No attorney can “undo” a significant mistake, like a damaging statement you make to the adjuster during negotiations.  So if you decide to represent yourself, you’ll have to accept the risk that you may do or not do something that might permanently damage the claim.  Here are the guidelines if you want to settle your own claim:

    1. Limit your communications with the insurance adjuster until you are ready to settle the claim.  Tell the adjuster that you will finish your medical treatment and then make contact again when you’re ready to resolve the claim.

    2. Make sure most of your communications with the adjuster are in writing, at least until you are ready to negotiate the claim.  It’s important to have a record of all communications so if something happens later on, or if there’s a dispute about what was communicated, you’ll have proof.

    3. You don’t want to settle the claim until your medical treatment has concluded, so make sure you make all of your medical appointments and follow your doctor’s instructions.

    4. All of your claimed damages must be documented so you’ll need to gather all records and documents to support your claim.  You’ll need to collect your medical records, billings, employment records or tax returns if making a wage loss claim, the police report (if one exists), witness statements (particularly if there’s a dispute regarding liability, photographs, receipts and any other written materials that prove or corroborate the damages you have incurred.

    5. You’ll want to draft a settlement demand letter that sets forth the facts of the accident or incident giving rise to your claim, describes your injuries and the damages your claiming. The letter should be organized, legible and concisely written. Avoid exaggeration or puffery.  The letter should be matter of fact and to the point.

    6. For your general damages (e.g., pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment, etc.), you’ll want to discuss all of the intangible ways your injuries have affected you and various aspects of your life (impact on leisure activities, relationships, and work to name a few).

    7. Written statements from others who can verify that you were injured and that the injuries have negatively affected you can be helpful.  For example, if one of your activities is playing tennis or golf then include statements from your golf or tennis buddy stating that you missed playing this activity for a period of time.  This can be very helpful to show the claims representative that the injuries did impact your life.

    8. Ask for a settlement figure that leaves plenty of room to negotiate.  The insurance adjuster is trained to negotiate the claim and offer as little as possible. Just like the first offer from the carrier is unlikely to be the last offer, you’ll be expected to come down off your initial demand figure.

    9. Be prepared to negotiate the claim.  Sometimes negotiations can take place over many days.  Sometimes the negotiations will finish in 10 minutes.  Each case is different.  But prepared to dicker over what the claim is worth.

    10. Be patient.  Negotiation is as much about demeanor and how you come across, than by what you actually say during the process.  If you appear like you desperately need the money, or that you really want the claim to settle immediately, this will cue the adjuster to drag the negotiations out and offer a very low amount to settle the claim. The adjuster will use your impatience against you.  I’ve had negotiations take as long as 6 mos.  If you can be patient, it will pay off.

   Good luck.

The lawsuit is being filed by the Estate of Kenneth D. Bock for Mr. Bock’s wrongful death.  According to the complaint, Bock was working at Chain Lake Mini-Storage in Monroe, WA on February 9, 2010 when the defendant, Konrad Haskins, visited the facility with his dog Buddy.  Haskins allowed his dog to roam free on the Chain Lake property.  The dog then bit two men, including Mr. Bock.  The bite to Mr. Bock was on his index finger.  Soon after Bock developed a life-threatening infection and died ten days later. 

Bock was diagnosed with Capnocytophaga canimorsus sepsis which is a bacterium commonly found in the saliva of cats and dogs.  This bacterium can, as in Bock’s case, result in multiple organ failure due to compromised circulation, renal failure, meningitis, systematic rotting of the flesh, and ultimately death. 

Dogs are the most common household pets in the United States.   The Center for Disease Control estimates that 50% of all Americans will be bitten by a dog during their lifetime and that approximately one million dog bites occur annually.  Capnocytophaga canimorsus sepsis is the main human pathogen associated with dog bites.  The organism frequently causes septicemia, meningitis, endocarditis, and sometimes ocular infections.

“This is a very tragic case that never should have happened,” says Chris Davis, the Bock family’s attorney.  “We know that Mr. Bock was the second person bit by the Haskin’s dog on the day in question, which tells us that Mr. Haskin knew his dog was a danger to other human beings when Mr. Bock was bitten.”  According to Davis, Mr. Bock died a very painful and agonizing death.  “We know that the bacterium from the bite led to multiple organ failure and tissue necrosis – it means that Mr. Bock literally ‘rotted to death’ according my medical experts,” states Davis. 

The complaint alleges that Haskins had prior knowledge that the dog had vicious and/or dangerous propensities that could lead to an attack on humans since the dog had previously bitten, injured or acted aggressively toward other people.  By failing to control the dog the defendants were willfully putting the public in danger.

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About Attorney Christopher M. Davis

Christopher M. Davis has been a licensed attorney in the state of Washington since 1993 and is the founder of the Davis Law Group.  He is the author of several books about injury law including When The Dog Bites: The Essential Guide To Dog Bite Claims In Washington in which Davis explores the legal rights of dog bite victims; outlines the legal and settlement process for dog bite claims; gives tips on dealing with insurance companies; answers common questions asked by dog owners and bite victims; and address legal issues that are often present in animal attack cases. You can learn more about Chris Davis and the Davis Law Group by visiting www.DavisLawGroupSeattle.com.

Media Contact:
Mischelle Weedman-Davis
Davis Law Group, P.S.
Mischelle@DavisLawGroupSeattle.com
Office: 206-727-4000 x102

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 important question is: Can the parents be held legally responsible for that car accident?  In a word, yes.

In Washington, there is a law known as the Family Car Doctrine.  This doctrine states that the parents can be held legally liable for the child’s negligence in causing a car accident if the car being driven by the child was owned or maintained by the parents, and the parents provided the vehicle for the general use, convenience and pleasure of the family.

Under the Family Car Doctrine, the parents can be sued individually if their child causes a car accident and injures someone.  That means the parents could be financially ruined if their child causes serious injuries and/or property loss.

Parents need to be careful when letting their children drive their car.  Some steps that parents can take to protect themselves from the loss or damages caused by their children’s use of the vehicle:

1. Think about registering the car in your child’s name, and require that your child actually purchase the vehicle.
2. Require your child to maintain the vehicle by purchasing gas, insurance, and paying for routine maintenance.
3. Take out more insurance on the vehicle that will be used by your child.
4. Think about purchasing a high value umbrella policy which should provide additional coverage if your child causes a serious accident.
5. Maintain strict rules for your child about the use of the family car (no passengers until a certain age, no infractions, no alcohol use, curfew hours, etc.).

Now, even if you utilize all of these precautions it still may not prevent  you from being sued over a car accident caused by your child.  But they will help to minimize and/or eliminate your financial responsibility in a subsequent lawsuit.

The clot turns into a blood infection.  It spreads rapidly, causing severe pain to your extremities.  It feels as if your “skin is on fire.” 

Then, within 10 days you are dead.

Can it happen?  Absolutely yes.  We are handling just such a case.

The dog bite spread a bacterium known as Capnocytophaga Canimorsus.  This bacterium is commonly found in dog and cat saliva, and it can cause serious problems in humans.

Once the person is infected, he or she becomes increasingly unwell, with initial lethargy, tiredness, listlessness, and subsequent fevers, rigors and embolic events, including necrosis of the extremities (i.e., tissue dies). Multi-system organ failure follows (Hore, 2001). In these scenarios, infection is often fatal, with mortality rates in the order of 30%.

There are cases reported where a dog lick to a person’s exposed wound has caused the bacterium to spread in a human and then cause death.

In our case, a man was bitten on the finger.  He died within 10 days.  His family is devastated.  The dog owner is legally liable for this wrongful death.  All dog owners are strictly liable for their animal’s bites and attacks, except in limited circumstances.

If you are bitten by a dog, no matter how small the wound, please get prompt medical attention.  It may save your life.

1. Seek medical attention promptly.  Do not delay seeing a doctor.  If you are injured, then you must get the proper medical care immediately.  The longer you go without treatment, the stronger the argument made by the insurance claims adjuster that your injury is not that serious.

2. Don’t miss medical appointments.  You’d be surprised how many clients we see who are truly injured, then miss a number of medical appointments.  Yes, I understand that the occasional appointment may need to be rescheduled, but do not create a pattern of missing doctor or therapist appointments.  If you do, the insurance adjuster will argue that you weren’t injured that bad, or that you are not motivated to get better.  A jury can also become skeptical of your claim if you don’t bother to seek consistent care.  Also, if you are going to miss an appointment, call the healthcare provider and explain why so it doesn’t look like you just forgot to show up.

3. Avoid gaps in treatment.  If you stop treatment for a period of time and then start up again weeks or months later, this may cause damage to your legal claim.  The insurance company will question the gap, and surmise that you stopped treatment because you recovered from your injuries.  If you start up again, the carrier may assert that something else caused your ongoing complaints.  A significant gap in care also impacts the credibility of your claim because it raises the possibility that your injuries were not that bad or that something else other than the accident caused  your complaints. 

4. Be careful about what you communicate to your healthcare provider.  Your doctor or therapist is trained to record what you tell them in your chart.  Your statements can then become a permanent record in your case.  So innocent statements can be taken out of context and show up in  your chart that might hurt your case.  For instance, describing the accident as “not that bad” or “minor” can hurt your claim if the accident was serious and you were seriously injured.

5. Avoid too much palliative care.  The term “palliative care” refers to treatment that may reduce or eliminate your symptoms for a short period of time, but does not cure them.  Examples of this type of care can include chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture.  The tendency for some people is to get a lot of this care because it feels good.  But this can add thousands of dollars in treatment expense that may be disputed by the insurance company.  There are exceptions, like when your PCP or medical doctor recommends the treatment on a continuing basis.  But even then the claims representative may still dispute the treatment as unnecessary or excessive.  If you plateau with certain treatment, it is time for you to discuss other treatment options that may provide more permanent relief.

6. See a specialist if necessary.  If your injuries persist, you should consider seeing a specialist.  The specialist will often be more knowledgeable about your specific injury, and offer treatment that has a better chance of resolving your problem.  Plus, the specialist adds more credibility to your claim (i.e., more proof that your injuries are real and caused by the accident).

Now, even if you follow these 6 steps exactly, it may still not guarantee a successful outcome in your case.  But I can tell you that it will increase the chances of a successful outcome considerably.  Good luck.

Unfortunately, “backing up” accidents become more common as the weather gets nicer and more children start to play outside.  Every parent should double-check the rear of his/her vehicle before exiting the driveway.  Every child should be accounted for before someone starts the car in reverse.

This is the second time this week where a child has been fatally hit by a vehicle backing out of the driveway.  Earlier this week a 3 year old girl on a tricycle was killed when a vehicle backing out struck her without warning.

Our hears and prayers go out to the family.  This is tragic, and we feel very sad for the father and the child’s mother.

Resolving lien claims can be difficult because of the many complex laws that apply to them, and because holders of lien claims are often slow to respond in writing to questions about their liens. Unfortunately, the law does not always say that lienholders are required to respond to your lawyer within a specific time.  Sometimes it takes months to get an appropriate answer. This delay prevents prompt payments of settlement funds to clients like you, and can be frustrating for you and your lawyer. Unfortunately, this time delay may be unavoidable depending on the type of lien and the identity of the lien holder.  Your law firm should work hard to obtain this information and resolve these issues, so that the settlement can be distributed and you can resolve your case.

One example of a complex lien claim that may take some time to resolve is a Medicaid or Medicare lien.  If Medicaid or Medicare has paid for some of your treatment they are entitled to reimbursement of those payments. These federal programs will then have a lien on your settlement. Your lawyer will probably have to hold back a part of your settlement equal to the debt until you can negotiate an agreement and pay the agency. 

Medicare and Medicaid are notoriously slow in responding to information about their liens, so delay is likely.  In some cases the delay may be several months or more.  Again, your settlement funds cannot be distributed until you reach an agreement and pay Medicare or Medicaid to resolve its lien.  This is because your attorney may be personally liable for the lien if it is not resolved. 

When multiple insurers or debts are involved in your claim, this can become quite complex. For example, you might run into complicated lien problems when you have your own private insurance (including a settlement from a personal injury case) but are using Medicare as a secondary insurer. When it is not certain whether Medicare is a primary or secondary insurer, Medicare will make a conditional payment. If it is later determined that some other party was responsible for that payment, Medicare is entitled to a refund from that party, or from you or the health care provider, if one of you was paid by that party. The federal government may place a lien on your property to recover this type of conditional payment.

In addition to Medicare and Medicaid, there may be liens asserted by a state governmental agency.  In Washington, the Department of Labor & Industries (DLI) and the Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) are common lien holders in a personal injury case.  These departments often provide medical benefits for many people who have been injured in an accident.  When this happens, these departments are granted a statutory lien on your personal injury recovery.  This means that DLI and/or DSHS must be paid back out of your settlement.  However, your lawyer will often be able to get the lien amount reduced to account for your attorney fees and costs incurred in pursuing your claim. 

Another problematic lien is the ERISA lien, which stands for “The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.”  ERISA is a federal law that gives special rights to employers with respect to health care plans.  Typically the ERISA lien is much more onerous than your typical state law created lien.  For instance, there are certain equitable defenses available to you when dealing with a state-law created health plan lien.  This means that your attorney may be able to compromise or completely eliminate the state law lien, and thereby maximize your settlement recovery.  Not so with the ERISA lien.  Recent federal and Supreme Court decisions have taken many of these state law defenses away. 

Unfortunately, if your ERISA health plan has paid for your medical treatment then you may have to pay back the ERISA plan 100% out of your recovery.  You should consult with your lawyer about the ERISA lien because there still may be certain defenses available so that the lien amount can be reduced or avoided entirely.

The laws governing government lien claims are complicated so it is often best to consult with a lawyer if you have a claim where the government has paid for some or all of your medical treatment and/or income loss.  This is especially true if ERISA applies to your claim.

Mr. Quaid takes issue with the secrecy and lack of transparency when it comes to medical mistakes.  He states:

“When a crash happens, it’s so public,” he said. “No one is going to fly on their airplanes unless they have that trust.  But when a mistake occurs in a hospital, the public might never hear about it. Although an estimated 100,000 Americans die each year because of medical errors, their deaths are scattered over thousands of hospitals, “where people die anyway,” Quaid said. “It doesn’t get the same type of attention.”

 Mr. Quaid understands the problem when it comes to medical errors.  In my practice, we receive dozens of calls every month from medical malpractice victims who are not fully informed of what actually happened, and why the error was committed in the first place.

What is so disturbing is that medical errors kill 100,000 people every year — more than the number of people killed every year in car accidents.  But the public doesn’t know about it.  Many of these victims and/or their families have no idea that an error was committed. 

I admire Mr. Quaid’s efforts to raise awareness about the prevalence of medical errors and the number of deaths that these errors cause every year.  I hope it pays off.

KOMO 4 TV has reported previously reported on an alcohol-related auto collision that occurred early Monday morning.  A vehicle slammed into the back of a DOT truck.  A passenger in the vehicle was killed.

KOMO 4 now reports that the person killed was Damien Mendenhall, age 25.  The police have reported that Mr. Mendenhall was not wearing his seatbelt.  The driver of the vehicle, who has been alleged to have been intoxicated, was Shane Gram.  Police report that Mr. Gram smelled of intoxicants, and that he appeared inebriated at the scene.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Mendenhall’s family.  We know that this must be a very difficult time for them while they grieve the death of their loved one. 

But what are the legal implications of Mr. Mendenhall not wearing his seatbelt?  Nothing, actually.  In Washington, a victim’s failure to wear a seatbelt cannot be used in a subsequent personal injury suit brought against the responsible driver. 

The defense cannot argue that the failure to wear a seatbelt was a cause of death or of the person’s damages.  The reasoning behind this law is that a negligent actor should not be excused from his/her negligence just because a victim has not worn his seatbelt.

Davis Law Group has handled several wrongful death cases over the last 16+ years, some of them high profile cases.  These types of wrongful death cases are complicated.  They potentially involve several different statutes and laws in Washington that apply to wrongful death claims, and claims against a governmental entity.

Davis Law Group founder, Seattle attorney Chris Davis, recently authored and published his book, Wrongful Death in Washington State.  The book was written for consumers and surviving family members of those wrongfully killed in motor vehicle accidents.  Davis Law Group offers the book for free to citizens in Washington State.