Document everything. Collect photographs and information beginning with the crash scene, information of all individuals, witnesses and companies involved, the police report (if any), property damage, your injuries, names of doctors and medical providers, and all insurance information. Save all subsequent records you collect related to the events giving rise to your injury.

If you are an Oregon resident with an Oregon auto insurance policy, then you very likely have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits through your auto policy. These PIP benefits cover your crash-related medical expenses and some wage loss at a minimum of $15,000, and potentially more depending on your policy. If you are a Washington resident, since you may legally waive PIP benefits in Washington, you may or may not have PIP benefits to access for your medical care related to your injuries from the crash.

If you do not have any PIP benefits to access, then your health insurance carrier would cover your medical expenses related to the crash.

If you do not have an auto policy with PIP benefits or health insurance, then your medical care may need to be paid out-of-pocket.

If you are an Oregon resident with an Oregon auto insurance policy, then you very likely have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits through your auto policy. These PIP benefits cover medical expenses and may cover 70% of your wage loss at a minimum of $15,000, and potentially more depending on your policy. If you are a Washington resident, since you may legally waive PIP benefits in Washington, you may or may not have PIP benefits to access for your wage loss incurred due to your injuries from the crash.

Regardless of whether you have benefits to defray the expenses of your injuries, lost wages, benefits, and medical expenses may be sought through a personal injury claim and/or lawsuit.

The purpose of social media is to document our lives and activities. The purpose of a lawsuit for personal injuries is to be compensated for a harm to your life and activities. While there is no consensus, the argument can and is frequently made that a personal injury victim’s social media is relevant to proving (or disproving) your claim for diminished quality of life, future outlook, happiness, and health, for example. Courts can and do order individuals to produce their entire social media archive, which means you must comply.

In order to reduce the potential harm your social media posts could do to your personal injury claim, it is recommended that you make your accounts private and not utilize social media for any reason for the duration of your legal matter. Your attorney cannot be guaranteed to be able to prevent the disclosure and therefore it poses a potential risk. Post at your own peril.

Then again, if you’re not going to retain an attorney, have at it.

In general, nothing. Oregon and Washington are what we call “no-fault” states when it comes to personal injuries sustained on the roadways. This means insurance carriers typically provide benefits including medical care and representation to prevent folks from becoming personally liable for an insurmountable jury verdict and other expenses as a result of driver neglect.

Even cases based on medical negligence, wrongful death, and catastrophic injuries are largely handled and resolved through insurance policies, without any of the named parties becoming directly responsible for the outcome. You should be aware, cases that are filed are a matter of public record, as well as any trial, were it to take place. However, only a limited number of those cases filed actually become reported on by news outlets, if at all.

That depends! If you have an injury that took place in Oregon, you typically have two (2) years from the date the injury occurred to file a lawsuit or settle with those at-fault. If you have an injury that took place in Washington, generally you have three (3) years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit or settle with the at-fault party or parties. This includes auto crashes, trucking crashes, slip and falls, and catastrophic injuries

If this is a medical negligence claim in Oregon or Washington, you still have your two or three year period, respectively, but the clock for the statute of limitations does not begin to tick until you know, or reasonably should know, that you suffered an injury and who caused it. Often times with medical neglect it may take some time after the bad medical care occurs for you to discover that something went wrong that is hurting you.

If you are a railroad employee injured while working for the railroad, you have three (3) years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit or settle with the railroad. If you are a railroad passenger, you may have two (2) to three (3) years within which to file a lawsuit or settle with the railroad or at-fault party depending on the parties involved, and location and facts surrounding the incident.

However, if the claim is for the wrongful death of a loved one, beneficiaries have three (3) years from the date of the injury that caused the death within which to file a lawsuit or settle with the at-fault party or parties. It is not counted from the date of the loved one’s death. Typically, folks only have one year from the date of a loved one’s death, in Oregon or Washington, to bring a wrongful death claim.

If the injury occurred to a minor, the statute of limitations is tolled until the minor reaches the age of majority, after which they have one year from their 18th birthday to file or settle their personal injury claim.

This information also only covers statutes of limitations and does not include any considerations for timely tort claim notice, if any, the statute of ultimate repose, or any other tolling of the statute of limitations that may be applicable.

If you’re still unsure after reading all of this if your claim is viable, give us a call.