Portland Personal Injury Attorneys

Don’t Drive with a Cold – Surprising Study

It’s the time of year when thousands of Oregonians are suffering with colds and flu. People still drive to the shops; mothers drive the kids to school and some people try to tough it out and drive to work, even when they should probably be at home in bed with a hot drink, a cold remedy and some cough lozenges. Now, a new study carried out in England has revealed that people who drive when they’re under the weather may end up causing accidents that necessitate the services of Portland auto accident attorneys.

The surprising results of the Lloyds TSB Insurance commissioned study have shown that driver illness has a significant impact on accident rates. To put it in terms that anyone can understand, driving with the flu is like driving after drinking a double whiskey. In statistical terms, driving with a cold or flu virus impairs driver awareness by up to 11 percent, so in any terms you care to use, that’s a significant increase in risk for both the sick driver and the people sharing the roads with him or her. (more…)

Bicycling is on the Rise in Portland

You’d be forgiven for thinking that for a city to be the most popular in the nation among cyclists, it would need 12 months of good weather per year. It may surprise you, then, that Portland has more cyclists per head of population than any other major metropolitan area in the country, and recent studies show the trend for people using bicycles to get around the city continues to grow. One unfortunate side-effect of this trend is that Portland bike accident lawyers are increasingly being called on to represent clients who have been injured by motorists who either didn’t see the cyclist sharing the road, or simply didn’t see any need to take appropriate precautions.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) recently released a report which detailed the growth in Portland bicycle traffic, and there’s simply no denying that the statistics show cycling in Portland is more popular than ever. In 2011, Portland saw an increase of more than 6 percent in bicycle traffic. (more…)

School District Liability for Child Injury Accidents

Schools are not just places children go to for learning. They also take part in playground games, physical education and extracurricular activities. Thousands of Oregon school children are injured every year, some seriously, in almost as many ways as there are injuries. Portland child school injury lawyers are frequently asked if the school can be held liable when a child is injured on school property. The honest answer in most cases is “probably not.”

Oregon, like most other states, has its own rules that grant school districts a certain amount of immunity. Even if the school is actually responsible for your child’s injuries and you can prove it, you may not be able to file a lawsuit.  However, this immunity does have exceptions, so as a parent you need to find out how to determine if the school is liable for injuries to your child. For starters, if you can show negligence, extreme negligence or criminal activity as the cause of injuries to your child, you may be able to file a claim against the school. (more…)

How NOT Seeing a Doctor Can Decrease the Value of Your Injury Claim

Portland injury lawyers always tell people that the first thing they should do after any traffic accident is to see a physician, but many people fail to heed this advice. Many people think they’ve just been shaken up and that there’s no real damage done. Still others say they haven’t got the time, or that they can’t afford the added expense, or even that without their damaged vehicle, they simply have no way to get to a doctor’s office. What these people fail to realize is that not seeking medical treatment as soon as possible after an accident is dangerous on two fronts, both physically and financially.

Delays in Getting Treatment Can Negatively Affect Your Claim

Failing to see a physician as soon as possible after an accident is known as a “delay in treatment.” This delay can have seriously negative consequences in the recovery process which is just one reason why not seeing a physician after an accident is a big mistake. It is far better to see a doctor and having him confirm there’s nothing wrong with you, than to not see a doctor when you have soft tissue damage, whiplash or other injuries that people often put down to being “just a bit shaken up,” or a “few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious,” two phrases often used by people when asked if they’ve been hurt. (more…)

Auto Accidents Downtown Prompt Traffic Signal Changes

The intersection of any two streets you care to mention will always come with its own inherent set of dangers. The busier the street, the greater the chance that someone will do something at that intersection that leads to someone’s car getting banged up. However, Portland car accident attorneys have noticed that one intersection in particular has had more than its fair share of incidents, and it seems that the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has noticed it, too, and they plan to do something about it.

The intersection of NW Broadway and Couch has been identified as being one of Portland’s most notorious accident black spots for both drivers and cyclists. No fewer than 103 collisions have been reported at this one intersection in the past five years. Worryingly, seven of those involved bicycles; it’s a situation that has gained unwanted attention, so city traffic engineer Rob Burchfield has brought new plans to keep Portland streets safer before the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC). (more…)

Why Mandatory Binding Arbitration Can Be Hard on Injured Oregonians

Oregon drivers who have been injured by other negligent road users have always had the right to consult Portland personal injury lawyers and seek compensation through the court system. In these cases, a judge or jury listens to the evidence presented from witnesses to the accident, doctors who have treated the injured driver and employers or accountants who can testify as to lost income.

The court then makes a fair determination of the award that should be made to the injured party. Most would see this as a fair and just system, but more and more insurance companies are trying to have cases settled through a system known as binding arbitration.

Rather than streamlining the process and speeding up the settlement of claims, which is the slant being placed on the issue of binding arbitration by the insurance companies, opponents say it’s really about saving money and increasing corporate profits by taking away a consumer’s right to get justice through the courts.

How Binding Mandatory Arbitration Works

“Mandatory binding arbitration” means both sides to a potential dispute supposedly agree to allow a third party arbitrator (or a panel of arbitrators) resolve a dispute. This would remove a jury and/or judge from the process completely. Instead, the arbitrator—who is not required to have any legal training whatever, and who is not even required to follow the rule of law—makes a final decision on the case. In binding arbitration, no one is allowed to appeal or dispute that decision in any way. (more…)

Does My Auto Accident Affect My Homeowner’s Insurance?

Let’s say you had a bad year on the roads that meant you had to file an insurance claim or two. Maybe your teenage son, driving under your policy, made a bad left hand turn and sideswiped a parked car, or you skidded on an unseen patch of ice and ran into the back of a station wagon at a stop sign. Under such circumstances, our Portland auto insurance attorneys will tell you that it might be reasonable to assume your car insurance premium would go up the following year.

But should your home insurance go up as well?

According to Allstate’s new House & Home policy, which they recently rolled out in Oklahoma, that’s exactly what should happen. While it’s only in the Sooner State for now, Allstate plan to have the policy in place in several other states by 2014. The company unashamedly admits the reason they are linking driving records to home insurance premiums is to raise their bottom line. (more…)