Legal Question in Personal Injury in Washington

Re: MVA with undercover cop

If the accident occurred in Washington you have three years to file suit on a negligence claim. However, there are tort claim filing requirements which must be complied with. We have handled a number of similar cases and I would be happy to speak with you. Please email and we can arrange a time to chat. Thanks.

Re: MVA with undercover cop

Yes, generally 3 years from the date of injury. However, actions against a governmental agency require that a specific claim form be filed to preserve your right to pursue the defendant. If a claim form is not filed, or if the claim form is defective in some way, your case could be dismissed and you get nothing. I would be very concerned about your attorney if his advice is merely to "wait." I would be happy to speak with you further about this, or you may visit my website www.injurytriallawyer.com for more information about me and my office.

Re: MVA with undercover cop

I would agree generally with the advice you've already received from two other lawyers who posted answers on the LawGuru site. In addition, the specific document which ALSO has time limits assocaited with it, is the TORT CLAIM NOTICE.

In Washington, as in Oregon, you are required to send a specified type of statutory Notice, "Tort Claim Notice," to the state or local government agency involved as a possible defendant. You should ask your lawyer if that has been handled or not.

I presume in your case that the defendant in question IS the local county, since you mention something about "the county." IF the undercover officer was from a Federal agency, then different Tort Claims Notices would be sent.

Since the accident was a bit less than a year ago, it is indeed NOT unusual that your claim would still be pending. Most personal injury lawyers prefer to be sure that the client is medically stationary before trying to conduct settlement negotiations. In serious injury claims, that can take more than a year.

As for your lawyer wanting to "play nice" with these guys, that may well be a decent INTERIM tactic that could well be warranted by your lawyer's own judgment and experience. I would NOT presume to take that as a sign of some weakness or misdirection on the part of your lawyer. Without knowing a great deal more DETAIL about your case, it sounds premature to conclude that your lawyer is doing anything wrong. From what I can tell so far, I don't see it. But, that's just one opinion, without a lot of facts.

Having said the above, I would still advise you to SIT DOWN WITH YOUR LAWYER and get some ANSWERS that make sense to you. It may be only that you need a little more dialog with your lawyer, to be comfortable with the direction the case is taking.

Best of luck to you!

Sam