Personal

How to File a Personal Injury Claim

Filing a personal injury claim can often feel overwhelming. Many people do not file injury claims even if they’re entitled to compensation simply because they’re unsure of the steps to take in addressing these legal matters. Personal injury lawyers help clients address these issues.

Here are some useful tips on how to file a personal injury claim for your accident.

What is a Personal Injury Claim?

Personal injury is a legal term that includes physical or nonphysical harm to an individual. This injury might have occurred because of the negligence of an individual, group, or business or this person’s or groups deliberate misconduct.

Both physical and nonphysical injuries may be eligible for compensation in the form of money. This monetary compensation is referred to as damages.

Types of Personal Injuries

Generally, the law in states like Oregon classifies personal injury into these categories:

Car accidents
Truck accidents
Motorcycle accidents
Pedestrian or bicyclist accidents
Premises liability including: tripping/slipping and/or falling

Note: These types of personal injury cases are most often classified by referring to the causes of a personal injury.

Things You Should Know before Making a Personal Injury Claim

1. Don’t expect that your claim is an automatic win

The majority of personal claims must be initiated within two years of the accident or injury. Some claims have shorter limits. If you feel you might have a claim it is important to contact a personal injury lawyer immediately to discuss the possibility of a claim.

In order to file a claim, you must be able to prove that there was negligence by an individual, business, group or organization or that someone group business or organization is guilty of deliberate misconduct.

If the accident was your fault or no one is to blame, then you have no personal injury claim. It’s important to discuss your situation with an experienced attorney who specializes on personal injury claims.

Discerning Blame

There may be partial blame on both sides. If you and another party are each to blame then you may still have a claim. In Oregon, as long as you were less at fault than the other party you are able to recover for your injuries.

2. Personal injury claims are time sensitive

Depending on the state where you live, the majority of personal claims must be initiated within two years of the accident or injury. Some claims have shorter limits. If you feel you might have a claim it is important to contact a personal injury lawyer immediately to discuss the possibility of a claim.

3. Keep careful dated notes about the accident or injury

If you decide to file a personal injury claim, your attorney must have details about the accident or injury.

Your personal injury lawyer will need to know:

How the accident or injury occurred.
The date and time of the injury or accident.
The location of the accident or injury: address, company.
The manner of your injuries and medical treatment you received.
Names and addresses of anyone involved including witnesses.

4. Collect data

Photographs and/or video are very helpful in supporting your claim.

The accident location
Accident cause for example: an uneven sidewalk, a hidden obstacle, a road pothole, a broken step, a defect in the walkway, a wet floor…
Damage to your and other vehicles
Property damage
Your injuries- cuts, scrapes bruises, etc.

5. Measure it

If you’ve had an accident that involved tripping, slipping, and/or falling taking measurements and photographs is helpful to your personal injury claim.

6. Report it

If your accident occurred in a store or mall, report it to the mall manager and/or store employee/owner and be sure it is recorded by them.

Do these before you leave the business, shop, store or mall. Note the time and to whom you reported the accidents. to

If this is a road accident, call the police. Carefully exchange all registration numbers, insurance information, details of those involved and any witnesses.

Obtain a copy of the police report. All road accidents must be reported to the police and to your insurance company.

7. Keep receipts of your losses and expenses

If you are making a claim your personal injury lawyer will need receipts of your expenses as a result of this personal injury. These might include: medical costs, travel expenses, missed work, items that were damages.

8. Collect medical records of your injury

You need medical evidence to support your claim.

If your injury required transport by ambulance keep those receipts. If you consulted your doctor, get a copy of that visit and expenses. If your doctor prescribed anything as a result of the injury, keep those receipts. If you needed assistive equipment like crutches, a sling, a walker, or a wheelchair keep those receipts.

Talk to your personal injury attorney. He/she may want you to be seen by an independent physician to get a report of your injuries.

9. Keep daily notes of your post-accident health

Note especially how you are feeling, how much pain resulted from your injury and how this injury has affected your daily life activities.

If you are receiving home or other care, keep notes of personnel, type of care, date, duration of that care.

Record lifestyle effects like disruption of sleep, hobbies, work, social activities…

10. Keep your eye on the ball!

You may be contacted by a building owner, vehicle owners, or insurance firms encouraging you to take a settlement. It’s important to know that those you are suing or even thinking of suing and their insurers are looking out for themselves. Your welfare is not what they care about.

Often insurers “low ball” claims to get rid of them. NEVER settle without the representation of your personal injury lawyer. He/she has your best interests. Listen to the advice of your personal injury lawyer.

Conclusion

If you feel you might have a personal injury claim, give us a call. Ryan Hilts would be pleased to help you with the process of filing a claim.

At Ryan Hilts Law, we offer initial-meeting advice about whether you have a personal injury claim at no charge. If you decide to proceed, we will show you how to file with the greatest chance of getting you full compensation for damages. Moreover, our firm will work with you every step of the way.

As an experienced Oregon personal injury attorney, I know how to get you the money you deserve.

July 29, 2019/0 Comments/by admin

Car Accident, Oregon, Personal

Driving Uninsured ORS

There is no reason to risk driving uninsured in this day and age. Getting insurance for your vehicle should be an utmost priority. The consequences of failing to get insurance for your car can be very costly in the long run, especially in states like Oregon.

Oregon is one of the 22 states that electronically monitors vehicles in order to verify their registration and insurance status. Each state has varied penalties for driving uninsured, but Oregon’s penalties are among the highest.

Uninsured? Read Oregon Uninsured Motorist Laws

Oregon Car Insurance Law

In accordance with Oregon’s Department of Transportation, all drivers within the state are required to present proof of liability insurance when they register their vehicle. Oregon goes further than just requiring drivers to have insurance, like most states, they require vehicle owners and drivers to maintain certain types and amounts of insurance coverage. Every state insurance standard is different, but Oregon’s are among the strictest.

Oregon State’s Car Insurance Standards:

Oregon law requires these minimums in insurance coverage:

Bodily Injury: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident
Property Damage: $20,000 per accident
Personal Injury Protection: $15,000 per person
Uninsured Motorist Coverage Bodily Injury: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident

What Instances Require Proof of Insurance in Oregon?

Apart from accidents such as a collision, there are many other times in which Oregon requires drivers to show proof of insurance. Any time you are stopped by police in Oregon you are required to provide your registration and proof of insurance. This would be for any police checkpoint or any other minor infraction you may be pulled for.

Types of items that prove you have insurance can change from person to person, but these are some of the things that you may show in order to prove insurance ownership:

A current insurance ID card
A current insurance binder or policy
A signed letter from your insurance provider or agent, on company letterhead
A certificate of self-insurance from the Oregon Department of Transportation

What Happens if You Fail to Provide Proof of Car Insurance?

Oregon has some severe penalties if you are unable or do not have proof of insurance. The law says failure to provide coverage is equal with a class B driving violation. These violations are the same as if someone had exceeded the speed limit over 21 to 20 mph or fails to obey a traffic signal. The penalties associated with this are hefty fines which can be up to $1000 and even can lead to a suspension in your license. Just like getting a ticket these violations can add up to even bigger fines and longer suspensions in the future.

Fines for Driving Uninsured ORS

The fine for driving uninsured ranges from a massive $1000 to a $130 slap on the wrist. Like most tickets the fine changes based on the situation in which you were caught without coverage. A minor speeding infraction would show a lower penalty than if you were caught without insures after running a red light or caused a traffic accident. These fines are always situational and can vary depending on how many time you have been pulled over as well.

Note: If you are required to go to court, the court may decide to impose heavier fines.

Oregon’s Presumptive Fine Option

In most cases, people take the presumptive fine option in order to resolve the violation. This option shows you have decided to enter a Plea of No Contest meaning you acknowledge you were at fault and will not need to go to court to plead your case. The fine when you take this option requires two things:

You will send a written explanation to the court
Pay a flat fee of $260

Note: In some cases, the court may that the presumptive fine option is not enough, often because of the seriousness of the accident or insurance violation, This may require you to show your presence in the court and pay a higher fine. Going up to $1000.

Suspensions for Driving Uninsured in Oregon

Fines are not the only form of punishment Oregon has for driving without insurance. Like many other states, call B driving violations can lead to suspension of your license, and Oregon is no different. The time of the suspension can vary from situation to situation. The max suspension can be up to a year and can be applied even if you didn’t directly cause the accident.

Depending on the severity of the situation you could be facing a $1000 fine, suspension of your license up to a year, and the impounding of your vehicle.

How to Reinstate Driving Privileges in Oregon After Being Suspended

After you have served your suspension time in Oregon you can start the process of applying for your license again. Before you do anything else your insurance company will need to file an SR-22 which will be proof of you having insurance and be considered evidence that you can provide financial responsibility in the future. The SR-22 has to be maintained for the 3 years without defaulting of any kind. If at any point during these 3 years it defaults your license will be suspended again and you will need to start this process all over again.

With the SR-22 that is filed with your insurance company, you will have to pay a $75 fee to Oregon. This fee is a reinstatement fee and its used to file all the proper paperwork and get you a new license.

If your car was impounded the next step would be to recover your vehicle. The first step will require notice from the police officer that ordered the impoundment of the vehicle. By law, they must send within 48 hours a release notice to both you and the impound lot. This will add additional fines such as a storage fee, for the time your car was heald, and a towing fee, of course, to pay for your car being towed. There also may be some impoundment administration fees. The grand total will be found on that notice sent by the officer.

Monthly Verification

To help prevent drivers from continuing to not having insurance in Oregon, their Department of Transportation has implemented an insurance verification program. This program is for those who have already had a suspension and have filed the SR-22. This monthly verification is part of that 3 year period which you are not allowed to have your insurance lapse. If it does your license will be suspended again.

This monthly verification works by requiring you to submit proof of compliance (a receipt that shows you are paying and maintaining coverage since recovering your car and license).

Note: if you fail to make premium payment quickly, there is a likelihood that your insurance company could end up canceling your policy and SR-22. In the end, your license will end up being re-suspended, until it’s done right.

Conclusion

Although Oregon is restricted on its insurance policies it is not the only state which views drivers insurance as a necessity. Driving uninsured in Oregon can be time-consuming and costly. With all the fines and potential of suspension, one would think it would be easier just to have insurance. It pays to have coverage, and if you follow the insurance coverage Oregon requires, and that was laid out above you can stay on the open road with peace of mind.

June 28, 2019/0 Comments/by admin

Car Accident, Personal

Personal Injury Claim Letter

While there are many types of personal injuries, most personal injuries in the United States are from vehicle accidents .

Injuries from vehicle accidents can lead to lost wages, medical bills, and, in some cases, permanent physical damage.

Who Is At Fault?

In the state of Oregon, if there is an automobile accident and someone was injured, the person who is responsible for causing the accident is liable to pay for any damages if they are at least 51% at-fault for causing the accident.

Very often an insurance company or their insured driver will admit fault in causing an accident. In other cases it is often easy to determine the fault of the other party because they were driving-under-the-influence, or they were speeding, or they failed to stop at a light, etc.

If there is no evidence that the other party violated their legal duty then it becomes more difficult to determine fault. If you can’t prove that the other party is more than 51% responsible for causing the accident, your claim can be lost.

Proving fault is a process that is conducted based on the evidence that is available. In automobile accidents, there are often witnesses, as well as sometimes security camera footage. These two pieces of evidence are exceptionally useful and make the facts of the case much easier for the attorneys to parse.

What Happened?

When writing a personal injury claim letter it is important to convey all of the facts of your injury, how the injury has affected you and how it continues to affect you.

If you missed work and lost out on wages that you would normally receive, you need to provide the proper documentation.

In Oregon, you can also receive compensation for pain and suffering, emotional anguish, and loss of enjoyment. Pain and suffering can be shown through medical documentation that describes the treatment of the symptoms of the injury.

The letter should consist of your description of what took place, the medical documentation, photographs, police report, wage loss documentation, out-of-pocket expenses, medical bills, and any other relevant damages.

What’s Next?

Once you have finished drafting the personal injury claim letter, settlement negotiations will begin once the insurance company has a chance to review the claim and get authority to make an offer.

May 24, 2019/0 Comments/by

Personal

What is an Injury Claim?

What is an Injury Claim

An injury claim is a legal route for an injured plaintiff to receive compensation for someone else’s negligent or intentional acts.

The most common personal injury case are car accident cases, where one party is injured because another party was not respecting the rules of the road. Less common are medical malpractice cases, where a patient believes the doctor or other health care professional failed to provide reasonable levels of care. Other injury claims include slip and fall cases and dog bite cases.

Assault and battery can also lead to personal injury claims, as one party injures another with intent. While these cases are also criminal cases, the victim can still file a personal injury claim.

December 4, 2017/0 Comments/by admin