The Seattle Personal Injury Blog
Posted Wednesday, April 22, 2015 by
Chris Thayer
Seattle injury lawyers may retain case files. They can explain these important files contain the following:
Correspondence
All communications between you and your Seattle injury lawyers is retained in the case file.
Medical Bills
Your case file should also contain evidence that can help support your damage claim, including medical bills and documents.
Photographs
Your case file will also likely contain pictures of the accident scene and your injuries.
Lost Earnings
Also to substantiate your claim for damages, employment records will be part of your official case file. For more information about your case file, contact Chris Thayer at (206) 340-2008.
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2015 by
Chris Thayer
While you might feel completely frustrated if a defendant lies about an accident, our personal injury lawyer Seattle WA can provide you with specific help in this situation. The person might not be forthright about what happened to cause the accident. He or she might not want to accept responsibility and might put the blame on someone else even when his or her involvement was obvious. The claims adjuster or insurer might believe the witness and deny your claim. You will then need to litigate the case with the help of your lawyer and possibly even take it to trial. Our attorney has had similar cases when a defendant was less than honest and handled them effectively.
Confronting a Defendant
The truth will probably come to the surface, and the case will be resolved. Your attorney will look for other witnesses and evidence to back your version of events. However, you are not allowed to contact these individuals while the case is going through the court process, or you risk your entire case.
Possible Options for an Attorney
While you might not be able to control what the other party does, opposing counsel bears some responsibility in the matter but only if he or she knows that the person intends to commit perjury. The lawyer might try to convince the client not to lie on the stand. However, the person might ignore their attorney’s sage advice and proceed to take the stand despite the wishes of counsel. In certain cases, the lawyer might then decide to withdraw as legal representation. However, the next attorney will find him or herself in the same situation. A lawyer might also consider telling the court that the client plans to commit perjury. This causes additional problems because the lawyer will then breach his or her duty to keep matters confidential. In addition, the court has still not resolved specific laws regarding an attorney’s duty to a client.
Contact Our Personal Injury Lawyer Seattle WA at (866) 884-2417 A lying defendant poses specific challenges for your legal counsel. Discuss your situation with Chris Thayer. Our accident attorneys Seattle are willing to provide suggestions on how to proceed in this case.
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Posted Wednesday, April 8, 2015 by
Chris Thayer
Seattle Personal Injury Lawyers on Establishing the Legitimacy of Pain
Pain and suffering is a legitimate, established and well-recognized component of potential damages in a personal injury lawsuit. Nonetheless, it is not unusual for defense medical experts to attempt to minimize the actual pain the victim reports. Experienced personal injury lawyers understand this tactic and will work towards establishing the exact nature and level of the pain.
The Defense Tactics
Although pain is subjective in nature, there are several medically established pain scales by which an individual is asked to assess his or her pain. Unfortunately, some defense medical experts never administer such tests. Another approach the defense may take is to allege the injured victim is exaggerating or faking the pain. Alternatively, the defense may acknowledge that the person’s injury did in fact cause some pain but contend it should be not as severe as reported or the injury should be healed and no longer causing pain.
Your Injury Lawyer’s Approach
Based on the specific facts of how the defense dealt with the pain issue, knowledgeable counsel will craft a strategy to counteract the defense expert’s opinion. In most cases, it will be necessary to establish two main points. First, the injury suffered is likely to result in some level of pain. Second, pain is individualized, and different people experience pain differently. It will be difficult, even for a defense expert, to find these two fundamental points objectionable. Once it is agreed that pain is a unique experience, your injury lawyer can proceed to develop how the defense expert arrived at his or her conclusion. If no pain assessment test was given, it will be difficult for the defense expert to support an opinion that the pain is minimal. Further questioning can focus on specifics, such as establishing that:
Pain is real.
The person suffering the pain is in the best position to know how frequent it is.The sufferer is in the best position to know how severe the pain is.It is impossible to understand how much pain another person is suffering.Contact Seattle Personal Injury Lawyers for Legal Advice
Pain and suffering can be both physical and mental. Be certain you explore and understand all the damages you are entitled to in your personal injury claim. Begin with a call to Chris Thayer, a Seattle injury lawyers group, at (206) 340-2008.
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Posted Monday, April 6, 2015 by
Chris Thayer
A Seattle accident lawyer will discuss each important aspect of the case with you before your trial. One such aspect is that of a forgetful witness.
It is easy for a lawyer to identify a forgetful witness; he or she only needs to count the number of times the witness claims that he or she doesn’t remember. While it is perfectly acceptable to answer in this manner when it is true, it is dishonest when this statement is not the real truth. Here are a few ways that Seattle accident attorneys handle forgetful witnesses.
Assess Credibility
A personal injury lawyer can have a good sense as to whether the witness is lying by evaluating the other questions that he or she has asked. If the statement that the witness does not remember is consistent with the witness’ other answers, the lawyer may attempt to refresh the witness’ recollection.
Refresh Recollection
If the accident lawyer believes that the witness truly does not remember, he or she may attempt to refresh the witness’ recollection. For example, he or she may discuss something that another witness said to see if the witness agrees with it or not. Likewise, the attorney may present a document, picture or other form of evidence that may help trigger the witness’ memory. The lawyer may specifically ask if there is anything that would help refresh the witness’ memory. When finished with this analysis, the accident lawyer asks the witness if the information refreshed his or her memory.
Ask Other Questions
Another method that a personal injury lawyer may employ to refresh a witness’ memory is to move away from the subject for a moment in order to ask other questions. The other questions may be related to the same issue but may illicit a different response. Once the questioning circles back to the question that the witness was having trouble remembering the answer to, the lawyer finds that the other questions may have jarred the witness’ memory.
Legal Assistance
If you would like more information on other strategies that a Seattle accident lawyer uses when dealing with forgetful witnesses, contact Chris Thayer by calling (866) 884-2417.
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Posted Tuesday, March 31, 2015 by
Chris Thayer
Seattle car accident attorneys can explain that pedestrians may still be able to recover some compensation for their injuries even if they were hit when they were jaywalking. Right-of-Way Seattle auto accident attorneys can explain that drivers have the legal duty to watch for any dangers, including pedestrians. In some cases, Seattle auto accident attorneys have presented evidence that the driver was speeding, driving around a blind curve or driving in a negligent manner where he knew pedestrians would be. Legal Assistance If you would like to know more about this topic, contact Chris Thayer by calling him at (866) 884-2417.
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