Workplace & Third-Party Injury
When you're hurt on the job, workers' compensation rarely makes you whole, and it never pays for your pain. If someone other than your employer caused the injury, you may have a second claim worth far more. We find the third-party case inside a workplace injury and pursue it.
Talk to an attorneyFounded
1965
Attorneys
11
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Founded
1965
Attorneys
4
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Workplace injury attorneys for Bellevue and Seattle injury clients
Oseran Hahn represents injured workers in the claims that go beyond workers' compensation. In Washington, the comp system is your only claim against your employer, but it doesn't cover pain and suffering and often falls short on wages. When a non-employer caused the injury, a negligent driver, a property owner, a general contractor, or the maker of defective equipment, you can bring a separate third-party lawsuit for the full measure of harm. We identify that defendant, run the claim alongside your L&I benefits, and protect your net recovery from the lien. The first conversation is free.
A workplace injury can hide a second, larger claim, and finding it is the work. We explain why workers' compensation is your only route against the employer and where its narrow exception lies; we identify the non-employer whose negligence opens a third-party lawsuit; we pursue the on-the-job defendants the comp system ignores, from equipment makers to property owners; we coordinate the case with your L&I benefits and the reimbursement lien that comes with them; and we account for comparative fault and the filing deadline that governs the third-party claim.
Workers' comp, and its limits, against your employer
In Washington, the Industrial Insurance Act makes workers' compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer. Under RCW 51.04.010, you generally cannot sue the company you work for, even when its negligence caused the injury, and in exchange comp pays medical and partial wage benefits regardless of fault. There is one narrow exception: under RCW 51.24.020 and Birklid v. Boeing Co., 127 Wn.2d 853 (1995), a worker can sue the employer directly only where the employer had actual knowledge an injury was certain to occur and willfully disregarded it. That bar is high, and most cases look elsewhere.
The third-party claim against a non-employer
What comp does not bar is a claim against someone other than your employer. Under RCW 51.24.030, an injured worker may pursue a third-party action against a non-employer whose negligence caused or contributed to the injury, and that claim covers the full damages, including the pain and suffering comp never pays. Finding the third party is the heart of these cases. It might be a driver who hit you while you were working, a property owner, a general contractor on a multi-employer site, or the manufacturer of a machine that failed.
The defendants a job site hides
Serious workplace injuries often involve more than the employer. A defective tool or machine can support a product-liability claim against its maker under Washington's Product Liability Act. A general contractor that controlled site safety can owe a duty to a subcontractor's employees. A property owner, a delivery driver, an electrician, or another trade on a job site can all be the negligent third party. We investigate the whole scene and every company that touched it, because the recovery often depends on a defendant the comp claim never named.
Coordinating with L&I and the reimbursement lien
A third-party recovery and your workers'-comp benefits are connected by a statutory lien. When you recover from a third party, the Department of Labor and Industries or a self-insured employer is entitled to be repaid for the benefits it paid, but RCW 51.24.060 sets the distribution: attorney fees and costs come out first, you receive a statutory share, then the lien is paid, and the lien is itself reduced by its share of the attorney fees. Some settlements need L&I's written approval under RCW 51.24.090. We run the third-party case and the benefit coordination together so the lien doesn't swallow the result.
Full damages, comparative fault, and the deadline
The reason the third-party claim matters is the damages. Comp pays a fraction of wages and nothing for pain, disability, or loss of enjoyment; the third-party case pursues all of it. Washington's pure comparative-fault rule, RCW 4.22.005, reduces a recovery by the injured worker's own share of fault but never eliminates it, and defendants will try to shift blame. The third-party claim generally must be filed within three years under RCW 4.16.080, separate from any deadline in the comp claim, so the two should be handled in tandem from the start.
Insurers keep track of which firms prepare a file like it's headed to a jury and which ones take the first offer. We're in the first group, and it changes what your claim is worth.
You pay nothing unless we recover.
We handle injury cases on a contingency fee. The consultation is free, we advance the costs of building the case, and our fee comes out of the recovery, not your pocket. If there's no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
Built for trial, which is why most settle.
Every file is prepared as if a jury will see it: evidence preserved, experts lined up, damages documented. That preparation is exactly why the other side settles, and settles higher. The firm's trial group has been in Washington courtrooms for decades.
Senior attorneys, straight talk.
You work with experienced attorneys, not a rotating case manager, and you'll get an honest read on your claim, including when a case isn't worth bringing. Communication is steady and in plain language, so you always know where things stand.
The attorneys behindthe work.
Our business and corporate attorneys handle this work alongside our litigation team, so you have coverage whether your matter stays transactional or becomes something more.
What clientsask us first.
Can I sue my employer for a workplace injury?
Almost never directly. Washington's Industrial Insurance Act, RCW 51.04.010, makes workers' compensation your exclusive remedy against your employer. The only exception, under Birklid v. Boeing, is where the employer had actual knowledge an injury was certain and ignored it, which is rare. The real opportunity is usually a claim against someone else.
What is a third-party claim?
It's a lawsuit against a non-employer who caused your on-the-job injury, allowed by RCW 51.24.030. Unlike workers' comp, it covers the full range of damages, including pain and suffering and full lost earnings. The third party might be a negligent driver, a property owner, a general contractor, or the maker of defective equipment.
Will a third-party claim affect my L&I benefits?
You keep your benefits, but the two are coordinated. L&I or your self-insured employer has a lien to be repaid from a third-party recovery. Under RCW 51.24.060, attorney fees come out first, you receive a statutory share, then the lien is paid and reduced by its share of fees. We manage that so the lien doesn't eat your net recovery.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. We handle workplace third-party cases on a contingency fee: the consultation is free, we advance the costs, and our fee comes from the recovery. If we don't recover anything for you, you owe no attorney fee. The L&I coordination is part of the representation.
How long do I have?
The third-party lawsuit generally must be filed within three years of the injury under RCW 4.16.080, and that clock runs separately from your workers'-comp claim. Because the comp file and the third-party case affect each other, the sooner both are in motion, the better the result.
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Oseran Hahn P.S. · 11225 SE 6th St, Suite 100 · Bellevue, WA 98004
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