Personal Injury Litigation

The negligence claims we handle

Most personal injury cases come down to negligence: someone owed a duty of care, breached it, and caused harm. We handle the common and serious forms, motor-vehicle collisions involving cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, and cyclists; premises liability when an unsafe property causes a fall or other injury; and dog-bite cases, where Washington imposes strict liability on the owner regardless of the animal's history (RCW 16.08.040). What unites them is a person hurt through no real fault of their own and a defendant, usually backed by an insurer, with every incentive to dispute it. We prove the duty, the breach, and the causal link that turns an accident into a claim.

Insurance: your coverage and theirs

Most injury claims are really fights with insurance companies, and Washington drivers carry coverage that matters on both sides. Beyond the at-fault party's liability insurance, your own policy often includes personal injury protection (PIP) that pays early medical bills regardless of fault, and underinsured-motorist (UIM) coverage that fills the gap when the at-fault driver carries too little insurance, which Washington requires insurers to offer (RCW 48.22.030). Coordinating these sources, and dealing with an insurer that delays or lowballs, is much of the work. When a carrier handles a claim in bad faith, that becomes its own claim, which our insurance-dispute practice pursues.

Proving fault and comparative-fault defenses

Liability is rarely conceded, so the case turns on proof, and on defeating the blame the defense tries to shift back. Washington follows pure comparative fault: an injured person's recovery is reduced by their share of responsibility but not barred even if they were mostly at fault (RCW 4.22.005 and RCW 4.22.070), which makes the percentage of fault a central battleground. We build liability with the evidence that decides it, the police report, scene and vehicle data, witness accounts, and accident reconstruction where needed, and we push back hard on inflated comparative-fault arguments designed to discount a serious claim. Where multiple parties share blame, we sort out who is responsible for what.

Damages: the full measure of the loss

An injury claim is only worth what you can prove it cost, so building the damages case carefully is where real value is won or lost. The recovery covers economic losses, past and future medical care and lost earnings or earning capacity, and noneconomic losses, the pain, disability, disfigurement, and loss of life's enjoyment that don't come with a receipt. Washington places no cap on those noneconomic damages (Sofie v. Fibreboard), unlike many states. For a lasting injury we work with treating physicians, life-care planners, and economists to document what a lifetime of consequences actually costs, because an insurer will only pay for the loss you can prove.

Wrongful death and catastrophic injury

The hardest cases are the ones where the injury is permanent or the person did not survive. When negligence causes a death, Washington's wrongful-death statute lets a personal representative recover on behalf of the family for the loss of financial support, companionship, and guidance (RCW 4.20.010 and RCW 4.20.020), and a separate survival action recovers what the decedent themselves could have claimed (RCW 4.20.046 and RCW 4.20.060). Catastrophic injuries, brain and spinal-cord trauma, amputation, severe burns, demand the same rigor: a lifetime of care, a lost future, and altered family life, all proven and valued. These cases are about securing a future, and we treat them that way.