The Seattle Personal Injury Blog
Posted Thursday, April 26, 2012 by
Chris Thayer
A common procedure in almost every personal injury lawsuit is to have the defendant’s attorney (typically hired by an insurance company) take your deposition. This is a process where the attorney will ask you questions with a court reporter present. Depositions typically take place in an attorney’s conference room. The court reporter will swear you in, just as if you were on the witness stand in court and will transcribe word for word all of the questions, your answers, and any objections by your attorney.
I usually spend several hours working with my client prior to their deposition. This public forum (my blog) is not a place to include detailed advice about how to handle a deposition, but I will provide a few tips, and I intend to revisit this topic from time to time with additional pointers.
Depositions allow a defendant to find out information about your background, including your medical and employment history, as well as how your personal injuries may have affected your life. The defendant’s attorney will tell you that they are not there to trick you and “all I want is information”. That is not entirely true - they do want information, but what they want is information that will arguably harm or reduce the value of your case.
There are two pieces of basic advice that I tell all my clients before they have their deposition taken:
(1) BE PREPARED. Review medical records, accident reports and other records to refresh your memory about your injuries, treatment and the general overall timeline. This will also help you feel less anxious, as you won’t be worried about forgetting something, and will reduce the risk you will answer a question incorrectly - which defendant may try to use against you later if you attempt to correct the mistake. I usually meet with my client several days before their deposition and spend a few hours with them helping them prepare for the likely questions.
(2) TELL THE TRUTH. This seems very obvious, but it is worth emphasizing. The scope of potential questions that can come up in a deposition are quite broad, and to the average layperson at times seem like they are entirely unrelated to your actual claim. You may be embarassed or concerned about something that happened in your past that you would rather not talk about. Even though it may be entirely unrelated to the underlying accident, it may still come up in your deposition. You are far far better off to answer honestly and just deal with the issue head on. If you lie about something, not only are you potentially perjuring yourself, but you run the risk of doing far more damage to your claim if/when the truth comes out. You can anticipate that the defense will make a huge issue about this - and attack your credibility. Even what a lay person might consider a “little white lie” can have huge consequences. Your best option is to discuss all “skeletons” in your closet with your attorney before the deposition. An experienced personal injury attorney will know how to advise you on how best to answer such questions.
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Posted Friday, February 17, 2012 by
Chris Thayer
The WA Department of Transportion recently released an interactive map depicting the number of bicycle accidents, including those involving fatalities, in the City of Seattle. Not surprisingly, the largest concentration of accidents are found in the downtown area, with the heavy concentration of bicycle commuters, bicycle messengers, combined with congested traffic and frequently limited sightlines.
Here is a link to the Seattle Times story which includes the interactive map -
Accident Map
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Posted Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by
Chris Thayer
An “IME” (independant medical examination) is an examination by a supposedly independant doctor or chiropractor, generally performed at the request of an insurance company. These arise primarily in two contexts: at the request of your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurer, or at the request of the third party liability carrier.
Your PIP policy typically provides that it will pay for all medical expenses that are “reasonable, necessary and related [to the accident]” or words to that effect. This means that, regardless of fault in the accident, your PIP policy will cover your medical expenses. However, if the insurance company starts to have concerns about whether or not the treatment you are receiving is “reasonable, necessary or related”, it may request an IME by a doctor or chiropractor of its choosing. You have certain rights with respect to a PIP IME, and if you have not already retained an attorney to protect your interests, if you receive a request for a PIP IME, you should consider consulting an attorney. Very generally, you are typically going to be required to undergo the IME as there is most likely a “cooperation” clause in your insurance policy, but you should be aware of your rights before you attend the examination.
An IME by a third party liability carrier typically only arises after a lawsuit has been filed. If the third party carrier requests such an examination pre-lawsuit, you should absolutely consult an attorney. You have the right to refuse this examination pre-lawsuit and most cases you should refuse.
Keep in mind that insurance companies typically refer IME request to the same select group of doctors and chiropractors. Some of these doctors and chiropractors no longer maintain a clinical practice and their entire business is devoted to working with insurance companies. The insurance companies are looking for ways to reduce the amount they have to pay on claims. It is not surprising then that many of these IME doctors and chiropractors retained by the insurance industry are very conservative and routinely issue reports that are contrary to the claimant’s own treating healthcare provider’s assessments and recommendations.
Understand the role of the IME doctor or chiropractor before you attend your examination. Also, you should reach agreement that the examination will be videotaped, or at least audiorecorded to protect yourself and ensure that the examining doctor or chiropractor honestly reports their findings. You should familiarize yourself with “Waddell Signs” which are a series of tests that the examiner will likely conduct, with the purported purpose of determining whether or not a person is exaggerating or manufacturing certain symptoms.
Dealing with an IME request by an insurance company can be challenging and complicated. You do have rights and there are measures that can be takent to try to ensure you are treated as fairly as possible. If you have received a request for an IME from an insurance company, you should consider consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney promptly, to ensure your rights are protected.
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Posted Wednesday, November 9, 2011 by
Chris Thayer
One component of damages that a claimant in a personal injury action is entitled to are what is known as “non-economic” damages. These are very broadly defined as subjective, nonmonetary losses, including but not limited to pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, disability or disfigurement, emotional distress, loss of “society and companionship”, loss of “consortium” (if married), and other similar injury.
There is no fixed mathematical formula for calculating the amount of award that is reasonable to compensate an injured person for his or her “non-economic” damages. The factors that are generally to be considered are: the nature and extent of injuries, the amount of pain and suffering, and the duration of any disability (and the expected duration of such disability). The majority of these elements are typically established by medical experts and as documented in your medical records.
Keep in mind that, although there is no set formula for determining what constitutes a fair or reasonable award for pain and suffering, many insurance companies nonetheless will attempt to do just that. There are a number of insurance companies that utilize proprietary computerized software to come up with what they think is a “fair” award. Most often these calculations dramatically undervalue a claimant’s actual experience, and in order to ensure that you are fully and fairly compensated, you will need to consider consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney to help protect your rights.
As noted in previous blog posts, one thing you can to do help ensure that your claim gets fairly evaluated is to ensure that you provide a clear, detailed (and honest) description of all of your symptoms to your medical providers. Make sure to the best of your ability that your pain complaints and any limitations on your daily activities are clearly documented by your provider. This will not only help with directing your care, it will help the insurance adjuster properly evaluate your personal injury claim.
Keep in mind that documentation (and for some items pictures or video) are essential. Maintain a journal that details how the accident and your injuries are affecting you on a day to day basis. Take pictures of bruises or other visible injuries or scarring. There are other tips that an experienced personal injury attorney can provide, which cannot be shared on such a public forum. If you have questions, I would encourage you to call me for a free initial consultation or evaluation.
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Posted Monday, October 10, 2011 by
Chris Thayer
As previously discussed, the contents of your medical records will play a large role in how the insurance companies evaluate your personal injury claim. Most people go their whole lives without ever looking at their medical chart and really have no idea what their doctors and other healthcare providers write down. Insurance adjusters frequently seek to take comments in medical records out of context or to overemphasize offhand notes referenced by your healthcare provider.
A common scenario: you are injured in a motor vehicle accident and receiving physical therapy. After a few months of treatment, you start to experience some improvement, but you have “good” days and “bad” days. You find that even limited activity aggravates your symptoms, but you are managing to get through the day and function. During one of your PT appointments you are asked at the beginning, how you are feeling. This is one of your “good” days, so you tell your PT “pretty good”. Later, when pursuing your personal injury claim, the insurance adjuster latches onto this and draws the conclusion that, based on this statement, you must have been doing fine and have been recovered from your symptoms. Obviously, this is an oversimplification, but this is a very common situation that I see played out over and over again with insurance adjusters who are evaluating personal injury claims.
What should you do? A few pieces of key advice:
(1) Be completely honest and forthcoming about how you are feeling. Don’t feel an obligation to be the “tough guy” or to minimize any complaints you have.
(2) At the same time, do not exaggerate your symptoms - just provide a complete and accurate explanation.(3) If you are still having symptoms but are having a “good” day, make sure that is clear with your healthcare provider. Let them know you have “good” days and “bad” days. If you are generally improving, then certainly let your healthcare provider know that; but it is equally important to let your provider know if you are still suffering significant symptoms and have had to curtail your activities as a result.(4) Ask for copies of your records if you have any concerns or questions
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