Getting injured by someone else is no fun. Nobody ever wants to get injured whether it’s a car, motorcycle, bicycle accident, or something else, getting injured is a real setback. It disrupts your life, screws up your plans, and puts you back financially. Ultimately, there is no real compensation for any injury. But the person who injured you is supposed to try to compensate you by paying money to get you back to the place you were in before you got injured. So you may be entitled to recover damages for your pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disability, medical expenses, loss of earnings, and property damages.

Washington law requires minimum automobile and motorcycle liability insurance coverage for all vehicles registered in the state. Depending on the terms of the policy, liability insurance usually covers the cost of property damages, and pays medical bills and lost wages as a result of the accident.

Everybody knows that the insurance companies just want to get rid of your claim as cheaply as possible. What most people don’t know is that the insurance industry is the largest employer of non-practicing attorneys, many of them working as senior adjusters. So if you try to negotiate with the insurance company alone you stand a good chance of negotiating against a seasoned lawyer… A good lawyer on your side maximizes your chances of getting a good settlement of your claim. 

A skilled attorney is essential to maximize the value of your claim. Lawyers are trained in how to see the potential value of your claim and the damages you suffered, and understand how to trace liability back to the responsible party. Only about 2% of all claims result in a trial. The vast majority are settled out of court, either through direct negotiation, or arbitration. This results in less stress for the injured party and a streamlined process for getting to a fair settlement. Unlike many other lawyers, I’m a trained mediator skilled in advanced negotiating techniques and in how to evaluate the value of your claim at each stage of the process.

Like other lawyers, I take most of these cases on a contingent fee, so you pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover from the other party. However I take a smaller contingent fee than almost any other lawyer out there. This results in my clients saving on average about 20% in fees over other lawyers (see table below). The bottom line is I’m not out to gouge my clients, so I work to put more money into your pocket, to help set you back to where you were before the injury.

Call me today for a free discussion on what we can do about your claim. I look forward to working with you.

Fee Structure

My contingent fee amount is usually one third (33.33%) of the settlement after expenses, costs, etc, and medical/nursing bills for treatment related to the claim are paid. (Some unusual rare cases have a different fee structure). This is called a net recovery, and is another way that I save you money. Let me explain.

Almost all lawyers doing this work charge a gross recovery, which means that their 1/3 fee is taken after experts are paid, but before costs and medical expenses are paid. The medical expenses come out of the clients 2/3 portion! I don’t do that. I pay almost all claims first, except for property damages, then split the money. Bottom line: you get more money for your claim!

For example assume you settle your case for $30,000 including all medical expenses, and you have $7,000 in medical expenses and $1,000 in costs. Under the gross recovery formula, these medical expenses and costs are deducted from the settlement amount after calculating attorney fees. The attorney fees would be 1/3 of $30,000 or $10,000; you would get $12,000. In my method—a net settlement, medical bills and costs are deducted from the settlement amount before calculating attorney fees. In the same example my fee would be 1/3 of $22,000, or $7,333, you would get $14,667, about 20% more!

The bottom line is, I work to put more money into your pocket, to help set you back to where you were before the injury. I want to help my clients move forward with their lives.

Call or email me for a free discussion on what we can do about your claim. I look forward to working with you.