Legal Question in Personal Injury in Washington

Re: settle without a lawyer

First, I cannot, and no lawyer of any experience that I know of cannot, evaluate your case in the abstract, especially given the relatively serious nature of your back injury. I have successfully sued lawyers for giving advice that resulted in claims being settled for less than they were worth. My advice, my best advice, is for you to talk to an experienced lawyer about your case. Whether it may be me or someone else is not as important as getting someone experienced in this field to look at your case. A persisting back injury with $11,000+ in damages is a serious matter - one that may affect the rest of your life. Don't try to negotiate this yourself with the insurance company. Get some help.

Bill Savage

Practice in Oregon and Washington for 25 years.

(503) 222-0200

Re: settle without a lawyer

Mr. Savage's advice is good advice. An experienced attorney will be able to deal with the insurance company in a way that most injured people will not be able to. The attorney will be able to ensure your medical care is being properly managed and, if necessary referred. The attorney will be able to review all aspects of your case, which may include sources of recovery you would not consider or be aware of. The insurance company knows that you will be less likely to effectively negotiate with them, and that you may settle for less (or much less) than the claim is actually worth. Finally, the attorney has the ability and experience to go to court if any legal or factual questions stand in the way of the insurance company settling.

Re: settle without a lawyer

The responses by the other two attorneys are quite true. Your injuries are serious enough that you will need to have certain evaluations of your medical and physical condition done and then you will need to have a comprehensive evaluation of your total damages picture. For you to attempt to settle your own claim is not adviseable under any circumstances. There are certain aspects of this type of case that no layman can be aware of much less properly work with to the end of maximizing the recovery and providing for any possible future medical costs. You should find someone to begin work on this very shortly because the evaluation of whole body impairment, among various other factors, takes time to be done comprehensively and accurately.