Motor Vehicle Personal Injury FAQ

When the time is right, I meet with all of my clients to discuss the possibility of filing a lawsuit. Unless we are up against the statute of limitations, I never file without the consent of my clients.

Keep in mind that your leverage against an insurance company is your right to take your case to a jury. Sometimes it is necessary to exercise that leverage in order to get the insurance companies to take your claim seriously.

When you deal directly with an insurance company or any defendant, you are dealing with an adversary. The party on the other end of the telephone is trained at minimizing your claim. Right away they will ask you to sign a medical release and give a taped statement just in case you get an attorney later. They will sound sympathetic to your plight, but in the end, they will do what they can to settle your case as quickly and cheaply as possible. By representing yourself, you are giving up your only leverage, your right to sue. Why would an insurance company fear being sued if you do not even have an attorney? They will not take your claim seriously unless you are represented.

Being a victim is hard enough. Most people that are injured prefer to focus on recovery and not on insurance claims. Why not give your headache to a professional who understands how to deal with the quagmire of litigation.

You should hire an attorney as soon as possible. An attorney can help with any investigation.

Do photographs need to be taken? The insurance company might send over an adjuster to take pictures that do not show the full extent of the damage to a vehicle. Are there witnesses to get statements from?

Once you have an attorney, the insurance companies can no longer contact you. I can help get your medical bills paid. I also help clients get through the property loss portion of a case.

In Oregon you must stay at the scene of the collision and exchange names, addresses and insurance information with the other party involved. If there is a severe injury, then you are required to provide reasonable aid to the injured persons until police and or emergency services arrive. You are required to file an accident report within 72 hours with the Department of Motor Vehicles even if the police made a report. If you are the victim of a hit-and-run or a party involved is uninsured, then you must file a police report within 72 hours. Click on Oregon DMV for your responsibilities after a motor vehicle collision. Click to download the Oregon DMV Accident Report Form.

In Oregon all personal auto insurance policies have Personal Injury Protection (PIP). PIP will pay for reasonably related treatment up to a year or $15,000.00 in medical payments, whichever comes first. You can increase the amount by paying for more than the minimum of $15,000.00, which I recommend.

In Washington, you can elect to not purchase PIP. If you do not have PIP as part of your policy and you have no health insurance, you are probably going to have to find a provider that will allow you to make payments until the case resolves.

If you are in a crash, you should contact your own insurance company and open up a PIP claim even though the crash is the other driver’s fault. Your insurance company will give you a PIP claim number. For all of your treatment you should give the medical provider your PIP claim number as the primary source for billing.

Do not give another party’s insurance company a statement. They are only interested in protecting themselves and will try and find ways to deny or minimize your case. They will also send you a release and other paperwork hoping you will sign off your right to privacy. Do not sign anything from another party’s insurance company without an attorney looking it over.

If you are injured your insurance company will require you to fill out a PIP Application and sign a medical release. They may also require you to give a taped statement. Part of your contract with your insurance company requires you to cooperate with them. If you want PIP benefits, you will need to cooperate and fill out the application and give the taped statement. I typically like to listen in on my client’s taped statement via a conference call. I also review all of my client’s PIP applications prior to submitting them.

If you have property damage coverage you can take your car to any shop you want. Call your insurance company and let them know where your car is at and they will inspect the vehicle. If they decide to total out your vehicle, they need to give you in writing comparable vehicles that they based their value on. If you had spent some money on the car recently, show the adjuster the receipts and that may increase the value of the vehicle.

If you do not have property damage coverage or do not want to pay your deductible, then you are at the mercy of the other insurance company and their time frame. They might decide that you have a percentage of fault and reduce their offer by that amount. If you have your own property damage coverage it is better to see if you can recover the deductible from them later as part of your settlement.

I only help with property damage cases for my injury clients. I do not take on property damage only cases. I do not take a fee for any of the property damage portion of the case unless we sued under an attorney fee statute.