What to Do After a Personal Injury

Being involved in an accident and suffering a serious injury can be a jarring experience, to say the least. For many people, the time following their accident is a whirlwind of flashing lights, medical professionals, and more.

Once the dust settles and you realize the full extent of your injuries, it is natural to wonder what to do next.

First, you always want to continue your treatment and follow your doctor’s instructions. If your medical team says to stay home and rest, you should do just that. Try not to miss doctor’s appointments or physical therapy sessions. If you fail to keep up with your treatment, the insurance company might claim your injuries are not as serious as you claim or that you failed to mitigate the damage of your injuries.

Next, you want to take notes or keep a journal about your experiences with your injuries. Some damages are intangible, and it can be challenging to prove them without any concrete evidence. If you regularly write down pain levels, how your injuries restricted your activities, and other impacts each day, it can serve as important evidence.

One thing you should not do is discuss your accident, injuries, or case on social media. Insurance companies have investigators who look for anything they can use to challenge liability for the accident or the severity of your injuries.

If you post photos of you out with friends, at a sports game, or other activities, it can impact your claim. You also never want to say anything about how the accident happened or the nature of your injuries, as it might not match up word-for-word with what you told the insurer.

It is wise to refrain from social media posts altogether for the time being.

Finally, you should contact a Seattle personal injury attorney who can determine the best next steps and provide you with advice. The right lawyer can evaluate the damages you need to cover your losses.

Common Damages for Personal Injuries

As in most other states, in Washington when someone’s negligence or intentional misconduct causes harm to another person, that person has rights to seek compensatory damages from the wrongdoer.

Generally speaking, lawyers classify these damages into two categories: economic (or special) damages, and non-economic (or general) damages.

Economic damages reimburse victims of personal injury for their out-of-pocket costs stemming from the injury. Economic damages typically include:

Unreimbursed medical bills. When you suffer an injury, getting the medical care you need should be your top priority, and you should never put off a medical evaluation or treatment because you have concerns about the cost. I

f someone else caused your injuries, they should be responsible for covering all of your medical expenses, so you should never hesitate to seek treatment to ensure the best possible prognosis. You can include all types of medical bills in your claim, including:

• Ambulance transportation
• Emergency room treatment
• Diagnostic testing
• Hospitalization and ICU admission
• Surgical procedures
• Medication
• Medical equipment
• Rehabilitation facilities
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Home health care

You can include all of these unreimbursed bills in your claim.

Chronic or long-term care costs. Some injuries result in lasting medical issues and complications that require ongoing care. Some patients might need to reside in a long-term care facility because their injuries prevent them from caring for themselves, which is common with broken hips in senior adults.

If you require regular doctor’s visits or other continuing treatment for a chronic condition that stemmed from your injuries, you can seek damages for those future losses, as well. These losses can be difficult to calculate, and our legal team often employs the help of medical experts to estimate your long-term care costs.

Assistive medical devices and home modifications. Injuries that result in permanent disfigurement or disabilities might require that you use assistive medical devices, such as custom wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, and more.

You might need modifications to make your home or vehicle accessible, including the installation of ramps, assistive equipment for bathing, custom vehicle fittings, among other things. These can all be costly and might require replacements in the future, which your lawyer should consider as part of your claim.

Property damage. While it can be natural to focus on your physical injuries and medical treatment, it is also important to consider property damage. Did an accident total your car? Did a defective product cause a fire and damage your home? Many times property damage can accompany personal injuries, and you can include compensation for it in your claim.

Lost wages from time off from work while recovering or helping a loved one recover. Injuries can cause you to miss work for different reasons. Your doctors might instruct you to refrain from all work activities to help your recovery, especially following surgeries. Your injuries might also cause movement restrictions that prevent you from performing your job.

Many people lose significant wages following a serious injury. You can also lose income if you need to take unpaid family and medical leave to care for a close family member who sustained a personal injury and needs assistance.

Lost earning ability or employment opportunity due to injuries. Sometimes, a break from work due to your injuries is not temporary. If your injuries resulted in lasting impairments, you might never return to your previous job or line of work.

For example, if you were a contractor and you suffered paralysis below your waist, you likely cannot perform the functions of the occupation anymore. If you are a medical researcher, the cognitive effects of a traumatic brain injury could force you to switch professions.

If your injury resulted in lost earnings and opportunities, you can seek financial recovery for those future losses. Under Washington law, the party with legal liability for economic damages may have the right to pay them to the person harmed in periodic installments instead of in a lump-sum.

Your attorney can give you an idea of what to expect when it comes to compensation for your economic damages.

Non-economic damages provide a remedy for more intangible harms that are more difficult to calculate. These may include:

• Pain and suffering. Injuries result in much more than financial losses for many people. Injuries can cause extreme—and sometimes, chronic—pain. This pain can wear on you and cause depression, anxiety, and many other emotional disorders. While pain and suffering have no quantifiable dollar value, there are formulas that your lawyer can use to determine the value of these non-economic losses.
• Damage to personal relationships (a.k.a. loss of consortium/companionship/parent-child relationship). Having an injury not only hurts you, but also those who you love. An injury can put great pressure on a marriage, parent-child relationship, or other close companionships. Some people can no longer be intimate with a spouse or play with their children, and this can damage everyone involved.
• Negative impacts on quality of life. Injuries can disrupt your life in many ways and cause you to lose much enjoyment from your life. The daily impacts of your injuries add up. If you cannot participate in sports or other recreational activities you enjoyed, work in the garden, coach your child’s sports team, or even care for yourself, your damages should reflect this.

Non-economic damages have a reputation in popular culture as being very large. That is not necessarily the case in Washington, however. Washington law subjects non-economic damages to a cap.

The plaintiff may recover a maximum of 43 percent of the average annual wage in Washington (an amount set by law) multiplied by his or her life expectancy at the time of the personal injury (but no less than 15 years). Washington law also does not generally allow for punitive (or exemplary) damages.

Consult Our Personal Injury Lawyers as Soon as Possible

At Boohoff Law, we appreciate how difficult it can feel to confront life after an unexpected personal injury. Suddenly, you face a long road to getting your health and mobility back.

You have trouble with basic life tasks. Your expenses have skyrocketed while your income has fallen. This is a stressful, painful time. You may not have given much thought to hiring a personal injury attorney yet, but you should.

The longer you wait to hire an experienced Seattle personal injury lawyer, the more difficult it may become to obtain the compensation you deserve under Washington law. That’s because the general statute of limitations on personal injury claims in Washington is three years, which isn’t as long of a time period as you’d think when it comes to investigating and filing a claim for damages.

But, even more importantly, as time passes it becomes harder and harder to build a successful personal injury case. Evidence relating to your accident or illness goes missing, witnesses start to forget critical facts, and insurance companies place less priority on resolving your claim.

Even though the statute of limitations is three years, the strength of your case could begin to decline in a matter of weeks and months. Seeking help from a lawyer is your best chance of stopping that decline.

Moving quickly in seeking legal advice after a personal injury is also important because of the role insurance plays in personal injury claims. In many, if not most, personal injury matters, someone’s insurance policy covers at least some portion of the legal liability. Insurance companies want to try to keep the amount of that liability as small as possible.

The moment insurers learn you’ve been injured and that their policyholder may face liability, they will begin building a case for why they should pay you the minimum. They may try to contact you directly, hoping you will say something that undermines your claim.

Or, they may offer you a token settlement, hoping you will need the money so badly that you’re willing to give up much more valuable legal rights in return. Hiring an attorney can help protect you from these insurance tactics.

You deserve to have someone on your side fighting for your right to receive every dollar available from insurance and other parties.

Personal Injury FAQs

Millions of individuals across America fall victim to personal injury each year. Because the term is utilized as an umbrella to refer to a multitude of potential causes and scenarios, personal injury attorneys are some of the most sought-after attorneys in the legal industry.

Three million injuries each year can be traced back to car accidents alone. With so many Americans getting hurt, it’s easy to understand why many people seek information about personal injury law and legal representation. The time following an accident or injury often proves hectic.

Many victims don’t know where to begin their search for legal assistance (or even whether they can receive assistance at all). Personal injury attorneys in Washington state can help injured individuals who have undergone a myriad of experiences.

If you or a loved one are unsure about your legal standing, options for representation, or chance at receiving compensation, you deserve clarity.

What Is a Personal Injury?

Cornell Law School defines personal injuries as those occurring to the “body, mind, or emotions.” It is an entirely separate concept than injury to property.

Oftentimes, personal injuries occur as a direct result of someone else’s negligence or harmful actions. Many individuals believe that personal injury law only covers injuries incurred through a physical altercation or some other kind of human contact. This is not true.

Victims of personal injury may experience mental or bodily harm as the result of many circumstances, including:

• Car accidents;
• Motorcycle accidents;
• Truck accidents;
• Medical malpractice;
• Product liability;
• Workplace accidents; and/or
• Pharmaceutical negligence.

How Do I Know if I Have a Case?

If you’ve been injured as a result of somebody else’s negligence, you may have a personal injury case. There’s no way to determine your case’s validity unless you meet with a seasoned personal injury attorney.

Many victims find themselves surprised when they learn that their experience does, in fact, qualify them to receive damages. Empathetic personal injury lawyers work hard to help as many victims as possible seek the compensation that they deserve.

Should I See My Doctor?

Yes. You should always seek medical care as soon as possible after sustaining an injury. The most important thing is that victims are as comfortable and healthy as possible during the legal process.

Do not sacrifice your wellbeing for the sake of speeding up your case or out of fear that you could be making a mistake. If you have been injured, you should visit a doctor as soon as the opportunity arises.

Follow their instructions, copy down any pertinent information relating to the appointment (which doctor saw you, what they said), and make sure to get copies of any documents that you might need for medical evidence later.

Not only does this benefit your health, but it also helps document your situation more clearly and may result in an easier claims process.

What Symptoms Should I Watch for?

Many accidents and circumstances cause injuries that are not immediately identifiable. Oftentimes, a medical professional can pick up on such injuries and help inform victims about how to stay safe and healthy during the time that follows their injury.

Still, in some cases, an injury or condition may slip through the cracks. Personal injury victims need to know the potential pitfalls that can lurk in the shadows after an accident.

If you or a loved one have suffered a personal injury, watch for the following symptoms and seek medical care immediately should they present themselves:

• Headaches and dizziness are often signs of neck injuries or concussions. Some victims even experience traumatic brain injuries or blood clots that can result in more serious long-term health consequences.
• Stomach pain can be a symptom of internal bleeding.
• Radiating pain or numbness may be relatively benign symptoms, but they can also indicate the presence of herniated discs or pinched nerves. These problems often prove manageable if victims receive prompt medical attention, but, if left untreated, they can lead to severe conditions such as paralysis.

How Long Do I Have to File a Lawsuit?

According to Washington state law, personal injury victims must file a lawsuit within a certain time frame following their injury.

This law, known as the statute of limitations, states that victims have three years from the date of their accident or injury before they may be permanently barred from recovering compensation.

Making decisions based on this time limit is crucial—if you decide that you deserve compensation for your experience too late, you could be left without the ability to recover damages at all.

What If I Was Partially at Fault for My Injury?

Some personal injury victims carry some of the fault for their accident. If you are one of these victims, this does not mean that you’re wholly responsible for your injuries and suffering; sharing responsibility for the circumstances that led to the event is common. This does not disqualify you from seeking the compensation you deserve.

How Long Until My Personal Injury Case Is Resolved?

The answer to this question is highly dependent on the circumstances surrounding your injury. The extent of your injuries, the time it took to file your claim, and the information you were able to provide your attorney all have an impact on the length of time it may take to resolve your case.

Personal injury claims and lawsuits may be resolved in two different ways. In some cases, victims and the other involved parties settle during the negotiation stage of the case. This can result in a relatively quick legal experience. Other cases proceed to trial, where the final decision is left up to a jury or a judge. These cases last longer than those that end in settlements.

There is no way to predict the exact length of time that will pass before your claim is resolved. If you experienced especially grievous or long-lasting injuries, your claim will likely take longer than it would if you had only sustained minor injuries.

You may be able to get a sense of how long your claim will be active based on your medical wellbeing. The longer it takes you to reach maximum medical recovery, the longer your case is likely to be open.

How Can an Attorney Help Me?

Personal injury victims often contend with heightened emotions and a sense of anxiety around their injuries. They may worry about the validity of their case or what the experience of pursuing compensation for their injuries will look like.

The days, weeks, and months that follow an injury can be a confusing and stressful time for victims. This is why it’s best to seek the advice of a trustworthy personal injury attorney.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of personal injury, legal assistance could be essential to helping you return to everyday life. A personal injury lawyer can help you seek the benefits and compensation that you deserve after enduring a painful event.

What If the Insurance Company Tells Me I Don’t Need an Attorney?

Remember: your best interests and your insurance company’s best interests do not often align. Your insurance agent’s goal is to benefit the company that employs them; if it seems like you may be able to receive better benefits with the help of a lawyer, it’s not difficult to believe that an insurance agent could try to deter you from that path.

Many insurance agents and adjusters also offer unsolicited, uninformed, and illegal advice regarding the legal factors pertinent to your claim. The law dictates that non-attorneys are not permitted to offer such advice.

If you end up relying on an insurance agent to help you make legal decisions, you’ll be looking to an illegitimate source for some of the most important advice you’ll ever receive.

An experienced and professional personal injury attorney can offer you an unbiased legal opinion of the circumstances around your injury and your pursuit of compensation. Even if your insurance company insists that you don’t need an attorney, it’s well worth it to seek trustworthy advice.

Can’t I Handle My Claim on My Own?

Countless victims attempt to navigate the tangled web of legalities surrounding personal injury law on their own. Not only can this be an ineffective and frustrating way to pursue compensation, but it oftentimes leaves individuals without the resources and funds that they truly deserve.

Grappling with insurance companies, gathering evidence, and fighting for your rights in court are complex processes. Personal injury victims are far better served by focusing on the healing process and partnering with a trustworthy legal professional for assistance.

With an attorney by your side, there’s no need to worry about insurance providers protecting their best interests over yours or the party responsible for your injury trying to escape responsibility altogether.

What Are Contingency Fees?

Most personal injury law firms partner with clients on a contingency fee basis. That means that victims never need to worry about paying for our services unless the attorney wins or settles their cases.

You want an attorney whose commitment to helping personal injury victims seek the compensation they deserve comes before any concern over funds or finances. This is one excellent example of how helpful partnering with a personal injury attorney can be.

What Damages Can Be Recovered?

There’s no surefire way to predict what sorts of damages you are legally entitled to recover following your injury. The nature of your case and the damages that you sustained play heavily into the compensation you may be able to receive.

Medical treatment. In a majority of cases, personal injury victims may pursue damages for medical treatment costs. This category is a broad one and includes everything from emergency medical transport (if it was necessary) to extended physical therapy or other care services after an injury. Past, present, and future medical treatment costs may all be recoverable.

Wages. Any past, present, or future lost wages accumulated as a result of your personal injury can also be recovered in many cases. Countless injuries have the potential to render individuals unable to work for extended periods of time. If you’ve missed work and lost wages due to your injuries, you deserve fair compensation.

Many victims also pursue damages for diminished earning potential when their injuries impact their ability to work and earn money. If you’ve had to make the switch to a lesser-paying position or career field, you may have a chance at receiving compensation for your diminished earning potential.

General damages. General damages may come into play following an injury. If you’ve experienced pain and suffering as a result of the incident, you have the option to pursue compensation to offset your experience.

Victims may also seek general damages pertaining to:

• Loss of enjoyment of life;
• Emotional distress; and/or
• Injury-associated inconveniences.

If your injury was the result of a vehicle accident, you may also be able to recover compensation for damage to your vehicle.

Compensation is even available for “loss of use” if your vehicle required repairs or replacement due to damage.

Why You Want to Call Boohoff Law Seattle Personal Injury Lawyers

For Tatiana Boohoff and the talented team of legal professionals at Boohoff Law, representing Seattle residents who have suffered personal injuries through no fault of their own is a mission with a purpose.

We believe no one should have to confront a personal injury without legal support that gives them the best possible hope of obtaining an appropriate financial recovery. Please do not wait to connect with one of our knowledgeable, diligent personal injury lawyers.

If a preventable tragedy in the Seattle area left you with a serious personal injury, or mourning the loss of a loved one, then now is the time to obtain legal counsel.

You may have the right to substantial compensation, but the clock is running and there is no time to lose.

Contact or call Tatiana Boohoff and her team at Boohoff Law today at (877) 999-9999 to schedule a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation.

Client Testimonial

“Boohoff Law, Definitely stands behind Integrity the staff is extremely professional. Tatiana is not only a fantastic attorney in her expertise however she’s also down-to-earth, truly a people person. I believe in establishing relationships in any type of business that you do, they definitely bring that to the table. Thank you for all your help in my time of need. I would highly recommend this firm to represent you.”

-Elissa M.

Review: 5/5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Boohoff Law P.A.
Seattle Location
2200 6th Avenue,
Suite 768 Seattle,
WA 98121
(877) 999-9999