When you have been injured in an accident, one of the first parties you’ll likely hear from is the insurance company from the other driver. While the ‘official’ mission of these companies is to simply find out what happened that led to your injuries, the reality is that every insurance company has a team of in-house defense attorneys working for them to do whatever is possible to minimize their financial exposure when one of their policy holders is at fault for an accident.

Therefore, the last thing you should do when you hear from these parties is offer a statement. Instead, refer them to your attorney, which is only one of the many ways in which you’ll be taking steps towards maximizing your Washington car accident settlement. An experienced attorney will know exactly what to say and not to say to the other party’s insurance company and/or attorney, thereby making sure that you don’t leave yourself open to a reduced amount.

After the initial steps regarding your case have been taken, including the filing of a legal action if necessary, your attorney will be able to analyze your situation as a whole and take every potential loss you could incur into account. These potential damages could include:

• Property damage to your vehicle
• Medical expenses
• Lost income
• Ongoing medical needs and their associated costs
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of companionship

The list above are merely examples, and do not represent all of the potential types of damages available. Additionally, not every type of damage award would always be relevant to your case. Regardless, you need an attorney who not only understands how to properly quantify your damages, but also how the governing laws apply to your situation, how to negotiate with the other side and how to cut through the red tape that could delay the payment of your settlement for years.

Therefore, if you have been injured in an accident in Washington, contact the auto accidents attorneys at Phillips & Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.

According to a report filed by the Seattle Times, the lawsuit has settled:

“Lewis was riding with friend Caleb Hall in a bike lane on Eastlake Avenue East near the University Bridge in September 2007 when a Nelson & Sons dump truck driven by David McClane made a sudden right turn into the young men at Fuhrman Avenue East

Hall banged on the side of the truck and yelled for McClane to stop, but Lewis was pulled under the truck and was killed. McClane, apparently unaware that he had hit the men, kept driving a short distance down Fuhrman before stopping.

Hall, who had recently moved to Seattle with Lewis from Colorado to attend college, was not seriously hurt.

A couple of months after the accident, scores of bicyclists mounted a wheeled demonstration through the streets of Seattle to remember Lewis and to call on the city to do more about bike safety, particularly in the Eastlake neighborhood.”

The amount of the settlement was not disclosed, which is customary in these sorts of situations. If you or someone you love has been injured or worse in a bicycle accident, contact the personal injury attorneys at the Seattle law firm of Phillips & Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.

In a report filed by The Spectator, Seattle University’s newspaper, the incident was brought to court because of the dangerous nature of the practice and the alleged negligence in how it was run:

“Clay had been practicing with his teammates in West Seattle High School’s cafeteria when he collided mid-air with a fellow teammate. He suffered a partial spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down with limited upper-body mobility.

“It was mostly about the way the practice was run, and the way it was supervised,” Clay said of the suit. “The coaches were having us do things that we weren’t supposed to be doing.”

Clay has remarkably continued his studies and is now an active member of the Seattle Slam, a local quad rugby team. The settlement will provide for him as he continues to need medical attention and physical rehabilitation in order to continue to gain more control of his motor skills and to maintain the advances he’s already made.

The process of filing a legal action against a public entity such as a school district can be a complicated matter, and not one that you should attempt to handle yourself if you’ve been injured by such an entity. Instead, you need to seek the help of an experienced personal injury attorney in Seattle. Contact Phillips & Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.