(360) 733-3773 Bellingham, WA

SHEPARD_ALLEN2

Author Archive for David Brown – Page 43

What Is Personal Injury Protection Coverage?

Posted by David Brown 
· November 24, 2020 

An accident can happen at any time and it is important for everyone to make sure they are prepared. Even the smallest accident can lead to serious injuries that could end up with someone going to the hospital. If this involves an overnight stay, an emergency surgical procedure, or a stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), this is going to lead to significant bills. Even though many people do not want to think about the financial cost of recovery, it is a reality of the situation. That is why it is important for everyone to be familiar with personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. This type of coverage is used to pay for people’s medical treatment, allowing individuals to focus on their recovery instead of the financial aspect of their accident.

One of the major advantages of this type of coverage is that this is no fault covered. This means that the insurance company responsible for the bills does not care about whose fault it is. Regardless of who is blamed for the accident, the type of coverage will cover the cost of medical bills, lost income, and other expenses without considering who might have caused the collision. Instead of one insurance company demanding reimbursement from the other insurance company, personal injury protection coverage is much more straightforward. Everyone has coverage regardless of whose fault the accident might have been.

Another major advantage of this type of coverage is that it makes the tort system much more straightforward. Tort is the legal term that is used to describe a civil wrong or negligent act that one person might have committed against another individual. For example, if one driver collides with another, this accent is usually referred to as a tort. No matter how small the injury might have been, the person who has been injured usually has the right to file a lawsuit against the other person involved to recover damages.

Lawsuits are never easy. Instead of having to worry about a lawsuit, it is better to go with personal injury protection coverage. That way, individuals do not have to worry about whose fault the accident was or the financial status of the other individual. Everyone should consider personal injury protection coverage.

Categories : News
Tags :

Amazon’s Workers’ Compensation Premiums Might Increase in the Near Future: Why Is This Happening?

Posted by David Brown 
· November 19, 2020 

During the past few years, online sales have risen steadily and are poised to pass brick and mortar sales in the near future. As a result, many companies, such as Amazon, are relying on warehouses to help them fulfill orders. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Amazon is pushing its workers harder to fulfill orders and keep customers happy. Unfortunately, this might also be leading to more workplace injuries. Recently, it was reported that local governments are thinking about charging Amazon more money in worker’s compensation premiums to reflect this higher risk.

Studies that have been published recently have found that individuals are more likely to get injured working in an Amazon warehouse center than in other high-risk Industries, such as logging operations and meat packing plants. Essentially, if Amazon’s worker’s compensation premiums go up, the company might be in its own category.

There are a number of injuries that people may suffer when working on an Amazon fulfillment center or warehouse. For example, individuals who are asked to lift multiple heavy objects repeatedly during the course of their shift run the risk of suffering serious back injuries. Another injury that people might suffer involves a slip and fall accident. A slip and fall accident could lead to a bone fracture, a head injury, or other types of contusions. In some situations, these injuries might leave individuals out of work for an extended period of time.

Finally, it is also important to note the risk of being struck by a falling object. With so many objects being pulled from shelves on a regular basis, it is not unusual to see objects tumble to the floor. If they strike someone on the way down, this might lead to a serious injury.

It seems that regulatory authorities are finally starting to take note of the risk of injury when it comes to working in an Amazon fulfillment center. Anyone who is hurt on the job, including an Amazon fulfillment center, needs to remember that they are not alone. There are always trained professionals who are willing to help them file a workers’ compensation claim and state the compensation they deserve.

Categories : News
Tags : ,

Tips for Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Washington

Posted by David Brown 
· November 17, 2020 

Suffering from a personal injury can be a very challenging experience. Those that have suffered an injury could find that their medical bills will add up quickly, they may no longer be able to work or earn an income and their quality of life will be affected. Due to this, it is natural to file a claim against another party if their negligence or mistake led to your accident and injury. If you are going to file a personal injury claim in Washington, there are several important parts of the process that you need to understand.

 

Time to File a Claim

A personal injury claim can take some time to file. Normally, you will want to make sure that you fully understand your injuries and what your total related expenses could be. This will ensure that you are able to file a full claim that covers all of your costs. However, you do not want to wait too long. In the state of Washington, you generally will only have three years to file a personal injury claim. If you do not file it in this time, the statute of limitations is up and you could not take the other party to court.

 

Determination fo Damages

A big part of any personal injury claim is to determine what your true costs and damages are. An attorney will work hard to determine what your full costs are, which can include medical bills, future therapy costs, lost wages and even pain and suffering. This claim will likely be contested by the other party and ultimately would need to be reviewed in the courtroom.

 

Pure Comparative Negligence

In Washington, the court of law uses a concept called Pure Comparative Negligence. During a court proceeding, the court will work to determine how much you are owed from your claim. However, they will also determine if you were partially at fault in the case. It is very common for the plaintiff to be assigned a small percentage of the blame in an accident. If this occurs in your case, your total reward will be reduced by the amount of your assigned blame.

Categories : News
Tags : ,

St. Louis Gun Couple Sue over Viral Photo

Posted by David Brown 
· November 10, 2020 

You might have seen the image of the St. Louis couple pointing their guns at Black Lives Matter protestors who were marching outside of their mansion. Their names are Mark and Patricia McCloskey, and they’re personal injury attorneys. The couple decided to file a lawsuit against the United Press International photographer Bill Greenblatt. The court documents claim that Greenblatt and his associates are profiting from masks, t-shirts, and using photographs of the plaintiffs’ likeness without their consent. The suit also mentions an online shop that sells merchandise was using their image with captions that were hurtful. The plaintiffs claim that these postings were causing them mental anguish, severe emotional distress, and humiliation.

UPI said earlier that they were thinking about sending a cease and desist to the couple since the couple was using this image in a personal greeting card despite it being the news service’s photo. This is thanks to the law that allows newspaper photographers to take images from the public rights of way. As you can imagine, this is becoming a tricky situation. The newspaper didn’t use disparaging comments or captions in the original photo, though the plaintiffs are suffering emotional distress from captions that were used elsewhere on the photographer’s snap.

The gun-toting couple also argues that BLM trespassers were trespassing during the incident that was captured. They live on a private street and they believe that they were protecting their property. The couple came to so much fame that they even had a spot in the Republican National Convention to talk about their experience. Since then, they have been indicted on charges that include unlawful use of a weapon as well as tampering with evidence. They plead not guilty and there’s no further update to that case. The couple has asked the court not to use the photo, and actually ban it from the courtroom. They also said that they should get the ownership of the images that were taken and used, along with any other pictures that were taken of them around their property. This is due to the fact that they believe the photographer was trespassing when he took the initial photo of them waving their guns at BLM protestors.

Categories : News
Tags :

Seattle Protestors Sue for Wrongful Death, Civil Rights Violations, and Personal Injury

Posted by David Brown 
· November 5, 2020 

There have been a number of people filing lawsuits against the city of Seattle. As protests continue to rage against civil rights issues, the police have been using force time and time again.

50 plaintiffs from Seattle decided that enough was enough. They all took legal action and filed lawsuits against the city of Seattle as well as the state. The suits ranged from wrongful deaths, civil rights violations, and personal injury due to excessive force from police members.

A lot of these cases are coming from the recent killing from a driver running into protestors on the I-5 in Seattle.

Cedar Law PLLC clients have been injured by police while expressing their right to protest. Namely, Kel Murphy-DuFord was slammed by officers onto the ground. Witnesses heard the slam and later remarked that there was a cracking noise. It was later revealed that this noise came from Murphy-DuFord’s head hitting the pavement. He’s currently receiving care and is in satisfactory condition.

The police don’t give any details about the event besides him suffering a medical episode “related to a substance… ingested”. His lawyer believes this statement is an attempt to divert the attention away from police misconduct. Murphy-DuFord is not able to speak or stand up for himself due to his injuries suffered.

The claims were filed back in September, but the city said that it needs additional time. The city delayed the filing until December, saying that COVID-19 is slowing down the process.

K&L Gates got involved on the defense’s side. They are a firm with nearly 2,000 lawyers on staff, and the plaintiff’s lawyer believes that the city is going to pay these lawyers millions of dollars to avoid settling.

The city obviously wants these claims and filings to be thrown out. The lawyers pressing charges against the city are adamant that they are not going to stand down. They are representing their clients pro bono, so their clients won’t get bogged down with legal fees.

At the end of the day, the citizens of Seattle want to see justice. They want their voices to be heard, and they are tired of police officers using excessive force without any repercussions.

There’s no saying how many more people will file suits against the city in the coming weeks until the case is finally opened.

Categories : News
Tags :

Personal Injury Lawyer Gets Indicted for Staging a Crash

Posted by David Brown 
· November 3, 2020 

Recently, federal prosecutors indicted a personal injury lawyer for a huge conspiracy involving staged crashes. The lawyer reported collected nearly $358,000 dollars from 31 different lawsuits. The problem is that these lawsuits were the outcome of staged accidents. The clients in these accidents received around $1.5 million. The lawyer’s name is Danny Patrick Keating, and he is indicted with one charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. If Keating is convicted, he’ll be facing up to a $250,000 fine and five years in prison. After that, he’ll have up to three years of probation under supervision. A third party was paid to refer crashes to Keating, his name is Damian Labeaud. They would get paid $500 if there was not a tractor-trailer involved, and a thousand dollars if there was.

Keating apparently fronted the money to Labeaud and told him that he had to refer a certain amount of accidents to make up for the fronted cash. The cash in question added up to thousands of dollars. Allegedly, the two had numerous conversations about how to stage the crashes. In fact, it was found that they were using coded language to talk about crashes before they even happened. The official statement from prosecutors claim that the lawsuits “fraudulently alleged who was driving the vehicles, misrepresented who was at fault in the staged accidents, and falsely claimed injuries.”

On top of that, it’s alleged that many of Keating’s clients lied about the events during their respective accidents. The belief is that Keating coached them on what to say and how to deliver their testimony to make sure they would get a payout. This elaborate fraud scheme is said to involve upwards of 77 people. Some of those people were paid money via USPS to addresses outside of Louisiana (where Keating is based and operates). Labeaud pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy back in August, and he admitted to being one of the ringleaders in the events. He would stage and set up the crashes before reporting them to Keating.

As the story develops new people are being revealed, but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that Keating is going to be fighting an uphill battle during this lawsuit.

Categories : News
Tags :

Florida Lawyers Obtain a $411 Million Jury Verdict on Zoom

Posted by David Brown 
· October 27, 2020 

A “miraculous” discovery in online litigation — in a case conducted entirely over Zoom, jurors don’t have to lose their connection.

What started as a personal injury lawsuit with a potential $1 million settlement ended in a historic trial conducted entirely online, with a $411 million jury verdict.

The trial — a former U.S. army sergeant sued against trucking company Top Auto Express Inc. after becoming partially paralyzed — was the first virtual jury trial in northern Florida’s Second Circuit Court, and it appears to be the largest Zoom verdict so far.

The 2018 accident occurred when two 18-wheeler trucks lost control during bad weather on Interstate 10, resulting in a 45-car pileup.

The attorneys on the case commented that the case set a good precedent, particularly in being an example that people can still have access to justice despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it ushered in in all corners of everyday life. This discovery that jurors don’t lose connection to a case during online litigation is, one attorney said, “miraculous”.

One main concern with online litigation was that not enough jurors would tune in, but of the 60 people who received summons, nearly 40 entered the online courtroom (ultimately six were chosen, with on additional alternate).

The pandemic pushed jurors to learn new skills, including ensuring accessiblity when it came to technological issues like establishing hotspot connections. Even the jurors who did not understand technology put in the time and energy to learn, proving that the pandemic, not matter how long it lasts, won’t get in the way of the wheels of justice.

Another hurdle in online trials is timing. This particular case would normally have been a five day trial, but the online format forced it into just five hours. It’s a new phenomenon, but it’s understood that it would be impractical for online trials to last more than a day.

Ultimately, though, the biggest worry was whether the attorneys would be able to connect with people the same on a screen as they normally would in a courtroom. And the answer was yes — not even the smallest bit of human emotion was lost online.

Categories : News
Tags :

What You Need to Know About Settling a Car Accident in Washington

Posted by David Brown 
· October 22, 2020 

After getting into a car accident, you probably have a few questions about what the next steps are and how you can get your car fixed or replaced. In a serious collision, you might even have medical bills and other costs that need to be taken care of. Thankfully, we’ve put together a brief guide to help you out. Here are a few key things you need to know about settling a car accident in Washington.

Reporting and Coverage Laws

Before you can think about timelines, it is important to understand the reporting and auto insurance coverage laws in the State of Washington. The minimum legal coverage for all vehicles is $25,000 for bodily injury or death to a single person; $50,000 for bodily injury or death to more than one person; and $10,000 property damage. Not having this minimum level of coverage is considered illegal, so there is a good chance the person who caused your incident likely has at least this level of coverage.

Furthermore, accidents that result in damage to property over $1,000 or the death or injury of another person must be reported to law enforcement within four days. This means that if you are in an accident and feel fine but still go to the doctor two days later, you’ll need to report the accident to your local law enforcement agency.

Submitting an Accident Claim in Washington

The process of submitting an accident claim starts by contacting the other person’s insurance company. From there, they will take down details such as the make and model of all cars involved, where the damage is, and if you are injured. They’ll also ask for facts of the accident to make their own determination of who is considered at-fault for the incident. Once they’ve made a decision, they’ll contact you to either pay for your repairs and medical bills or explain why they are denying the claim. If there are issues with settlement or the other person’s insurance denies your claim, you can file a lawsuit. However, you only have three years from the date of the incident to do so.

Being involved in an auto accident is a scary situation. Contacting an attorney to help you get through the process is important. Please contact us today for details.

Categories : News
Tags :

University of Washington’s COVID-19 Lawsuit Gains More Attention

Posted by David Brown 
· October 20, 2020 

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting closures of schools and drastic changes to the way education in this country is approached cannot be denied. Many students are suffering financially because of it and are starting to push back against the colleges and campuses who they feel are cheating them out of their tuition money. Recently, a University of Washington graduate student filed a class-action lawsuit, accusing the school of a breach of contract because of how it handled the COVID-19 closures and what it refused to do for students, and how it continued to charge students normal tuition rates for an educational experience that are sub-par.

The lawsuit alleges that even though the campus voted fairy early on to send students home and began transitioning to online instruction, the University of Washington continued to charge students as they would normally. There was no discount or reimbursements offered for tuition, and/or fees associated with normal academics and amenities associated with being a student. The board continues to get the financial benefit of millions of dollars from students who were still paying normal tuition and campus fees without promised amenities and services; the lawsuit argues that these actions would be seen as cases of attempted fraud.

Thousands of students enrolled and paid for an on-campus experience yet they got something far less impactful and beneficial. There were no in class services, tutors, amenities, events, and options that the students argue they paid and were still paying the school for in an unjust oversight. The primary focus of the lawsuit is on how the university and board of directors failed to do due diligence and to operate in good faith by doing things that they should have been doing as soon as the campus began shutting down due to the pandemic.

The cases are being heard and while evidence is still being gathered and both sides are arguing their cases, many eyes are glued to these proceedings as it could set a precedent for how colleges and universities across the country may have to respond to criticism of their handling of the pandemic.

Categories : News
Tags :

An Overview of Worker’s Compensation Claims: Understanding What They Are and Why They are Denied

If you get hurt at work, then he might be concerned about how much time you’re going to miss. If you miss too much time from work, then your income might start to dry up. When this is compared to the medical bills that are continuing to mount, it is easy to see how does might be a source of stress. The good news is that workers’ compensation is available. Workers’ compensation is designed to help you cover the cost of your medical bills and make up for lost income as you recover. At the same time, what happens at your claim is denied? What should you do?

First, it is important to understand why your worker’s compensation claim might have been denied. One of the most common reasons why your claim might get denied is that the medical records do not support your injury. Make sure that you are able to collect medical records that support your claim. Second, your claim might also be denied because your employer will claim that your injury occurred outside the scope of your employment. This is where it is critical for you to take a look at your employment contract and make sure that your injury occurred within the scope of employment. Finally, your claim might also be denied because you missed a deadline. Do not let this happen to you. This is where working with a trained legal professional is critical.

Workers’ compensation claims are difficult to navigate and there are a lot of nuances involved in making a successful claim. By working with a lawyer who understands how workers’ compensation works, you place your claim in the best position possible to be successful.

In the end, if you file a worker’s compensation claim and it is denied, do not despair. There are still options available. Remember that there are trained legal professionals who are always willing to help those who are in need. Just because your claim is denied doesn’t mean that you cannot appeal. It is possible that your claim may get overturned on appeal. Make sure that your rights are vigorously defended by someone with experience in this area.

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Bellingham Office:

2011 Young Street
Suite 202
Bellingham, WA  98225
(360) 733-3773 or 647-4567
(360) 647-9060 (facsimile)
info@saalawoffice.com

shepard_allen