Call us: 503-255-8795

Tag: car accident oregon

What Type of Attorney Do You Call If You’re Injured in a Car Accident?

What Type of Attorney Do You Call If You’re Injured in a Car Accident?

Written by George McCoy on . Posted in Car Accident.

When you’re injured in a car accident, life can feel like it has been turned upside-down. One moment, everything is normal, and the next, you’re dealing with a damaged vehicle and insurance adjusters. Injuries add an extra layer of complication to the aftermath of a car accident, with doctor’s visits, medical bills, and even more insurance company involvement. It’s a lot to handle, but you don’t have to do it alone. You can hire an attorney to represent you.

Specifically, if you’ve been injured in a car accident, you should call a personal injury attorney. Different types of lawyers specialize in different types of cases, and it’s to your benefit as a client to always choose an attorney who is experienced in the field you need. They’ll have the knowledge and know-how to best assist you with your particular case.

Below, we’ll explain why an experienced personal injury attorney is the right option if you’ve been injured in a car accident.

Demonstrate Appropriate Knowledge and Connections

When someone’s careless actions cause harm, in a vehicle or other accident, personal injury attorneys are the ones who help hold people and companies accountable. They know how to read accident reports, understand insurance contracts, and negotiate with insurance companies. They understand common injuries and can read medical records. Their connections tend to be made up of medical providers, accident reconstruction experts, and other relevant professionals.

Personal injury attorneys also recognize what your claim might actually be worth—not just what an insurance adjuster says it’s worth. In Oregon, understanding how fault is divided between parties after an accident is particularly important because it can affect how much compensation you receive. 

When you’re hurt and trying to recover, it’s tempting to accept whatever settlement is offered, just to end the stress. But insurance companies’ compensation offers are typically minimized as much as possible, which could cause more stress later on if further treatment is required and you’ve run out of funds.

Having someone trustworthy and knowledgeable in your corner means you don’t have to guess whether a settlement offer is fair or what steps need to be taken. You don’t have to let anyone rush you. A personal injury lawyer makes sure your voice isn’t lost in the system.

Skilled at Accident Investigation

When you’re injured in a car accident, it’s easy to think that the facts will speak for themselves. In reality, accidents can get messy and confusing. Stories change over time. Tire marks fade. Damage is repaired. People forget what they saw—or flat-out lie. When a personal injury lawyer steps in early in the process, they can help preserve the truth while it’s still clear.

A careful investigation begins with gathering accident reports, witness statements, medical records, photos, and sometimes video footage. Then the evidence is analyzed, piecing together what happened in a way that can stand up to scrutiny. Attorneys might consult with a variety of experts to ensure they understand everything there is to know about your case.

Experienced in Pursuing Compensation

The cost of a car accident injury isn’t just the first trip to the emergency room. There may be follow-up appointments, physical therapy, hours of missed work, unavoidable lifestyle changes, and so on. While some injuries immediately change how you live day-to-day, others take time to show their full impact. An experienced personal injury attorney will help you get the compensation you deserve.

You might get an offer that seems decent on the surface, enough to fix your car, maybe cover current medical bills, but without someone experienced looking closer, it’s hard to know what’s missing. Is there a possibility of future doctor or therapy appointments? Have your injuries caused long-term or even permanent damage that requires further expenditures or accommodations? Are there lost wages (past and future) that need to be accounted for?

A personal injury lawyer looks at the complete picture, calculates what your recovery may truly cost, including future care, lost income, and the emotional weight of what happened. Don’t let someone else’s negligence shrink the value of what you’ve lost.

When your attorney builds your claim, they do it with purpose. Every document, every report, and every testimony comes together to tell your story in a way that insurance companies and courts can’t brush aside.

Adept at Negotiations

Many people incorrectly assume that insurance companies will handle things fairly if you’re injured in a car accident. After all, that’s why you pay for insurance, isn’t it? The reality is often much less comforting. Insurance companies often strive to protect their own interests first, and that usually means paying you as little compensation as possible.

A personal injury attorney steps in and changes the conversation. They understand the full breadth of the costs of your injuries and make sure you’re not pressured into agreeing to something that doesn’t actually help you rebuild your life. An experienced attorney understands how to use facts, records, and laws to keep the playing field even. That’s often when insurance companies start taking the situation more seriously.

Plus, instead of you fielding calls, answering questions, and feeling cornered, your lawyer takes on that burden.

Give Yourself Peace of Mind

There’s much more at stake than just paperwork or courtroom presentations. If you’ve been injured in a car accident, there’s a weight you carry every day: stress, uncertainty, and endless questions that don’t seem to have clear answers. That can wear a person down faster than they realize. When you have a personal injury lawyer handling your case, you are no longer the one chasing phone calls, gathering evidence, or trying to decipher legal language. You have an expert to help you take on the burden.

Unfortunately, your life doesn’t pause just because you’ve been injured in a car accident. Bills still come. Work still calls. Responsibilities don’t disappear. That’s why having the right legal support isn’t just helpful; it can change the way you manage the months ahead. The experienced personal injury attorneys at Warren Allen LLP are dedicated to helping people find their balance again after an injury. We make sure the deadlines are met, the facts are protected, and your claim isn’t ignored. That lets you focus on your healing, on your health, and on the people who care about you.

How to Handle an Uninsured Driver Accident in Oregon

How to Handle an Uninsured Driver Accident in Oregon

Written by George McCoy on . Posted in Car Accident, Personal Injury.

Getting in a car accident is always stressful, but when the other driver is uninsured, it can add additional complications. In Oregon, drivers are required to carry uninsured motorist coverage and personal injury protection (PIP), which provides some financial help if your car is damaged or you are injured. Sometimes, though, drivers don’t meet the insurance requirements. Is there any way to seek damages from an uninsured driver?

If you are involved in an uninsured driver accident in Oregon, there are certain steps you should take, including reporting the incident, gathering evidence, and contacting your insurance provider. To provide you with some general guidance on these issues, we’ve put together the following article. However, it’s also a good idea to consult with a reputable personal injury attorney like the ones at Warren Allen LLP for assistance recovering damages.

Immediate Steps to Take at the Scene of an Uninsured Driver Accident

First, the physical safety of everyone involved is of utmost importance. To the best of your ability, ensure that everyone is safe. This might involve moving vehicles out of traffic, but don’t leave the scene of the accident. Call 911 to request police assistance, especially if there is significant damage, or for medical assistance if there are injuries.

Exchange contact information with the other driver(s) involved, including name, address, phone number, email, driver’s license number, license plate number, and insurance information (if available). Be careful not to admit fault. Even a simple apology might be used as evidence of wrongdoing on your part later.

If it’s safe to do so, document the scene by taking pictures or video of all damage to vehicles or property, license plates, road conditions, the position of vehicles, traffic signs or signals, and injuries. Collect names and contact information of any passengers and eyewitnesses. Make note of the time, date, weather, location, and anything else you think might be relevant.

Ask for the reporting law enforcement officer’s name, badge number, and incident report number, which will help you or your insurance company access the police report later.

Finally, seek medical attention as soon as possible, even if you have no visible injuries and feel fine initially. Not all injuries are immediately evident, including concussions or internal injuries, and you may not experience symptoms right away. Getting early treatment, however, provides documentation and establishes a correlation between the accident and your injuries, which may be important for insurance purposes.

Report the Incident

Oregon drivers are required by law to file an Oregon Traffic Collision and Insurance Report with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) within 72 hours under certain circumstances, including if the accident caused:

  • Any injury or death
  • More than $2,500 damage to your vehicle
  • More than $2,500 damage to any vehicle and any vehicle to be towed from the scene
  • More than $2,500 damage to property other than the vehicles involved

Failure to file a report with the DMV, even if law enforcement filed a report, could result in the suspension of your license.

Work with Your Insurance Provider

Many insurance policies require prompt notification of any accident you might be involved in, so you should report the incident to your insurer as soon as possible. Let them know that the other driver was uninsured.

Oregon requires all drivers to carry insurance coverage, including a minimum of $15,000 in PIP and uninsured motorist protection of $25,000 per person or $50,000 per crash for bodily injury. Confirm the details of your specific policy with your insurance provider.

Make a note for your records of all your claim details. Include your claim number, contact information for your insurance adjuster, and any deadlines. Maintain documentation of all communications, including taking notes and preserving emails and other written communication in a file for easy reference.

How Does Uninsured Motorist (UM) Coverage Work?

If you have the minimum mandatory amount of UM coverage, your insurance will help cover costs for medical expenses like hospital stays, physical therapy, and medication; lost wages; and pain and suffering up to $25,000 or up to $50,000 if you and a passenger are injured. If you have additional coverage, your insurance will cover costs up to your limit. This coverage also helps protect drivers involved in a hit-and-run collision, where the other driver left the scene.

You should also ask whether you included Uninsured Motorist Property Damage Coverage, which is optional, in your policy. This coverage would help pay for vehicle damage or replacement.

How Does PIP Work?

Oregon’s required PIP provides $15,000 of coverage no matter who is at fault. Drivers can use these funds for their medical expenses (including hospital stays, dental expenses, surgery, or ambulance services) for themselves or their passengers. Just note that those medical expenses must be considered both reasonable and necessary and must occur within a year of the accident. PIP coverage also provides up to $3,000 per month in lost wages if you are disabled and unable to work for at least two weeks.

Handling Disputes with Your Insurance Company

Working with your insurance company can sometimes be difficult, and disputes are common. Your insurance company might even try to undervalue or deny your claim. If your insurer disputes your claim, you might need to begin an arbitration process to resolve the dispute. Consulting with a personal injury lawyer can be very helpful in cases of dispute or denial.

Talk to a Personal Injury Lawyer

Talking to a personal injury lawyer who has experience with uninsured driver accidents can provide the support you need in navigating the insurance claims process, maximizing the valuation of your claim, gathering evidence, and representing you during arbitration or in court if you choose to pursue a case against your insurer or the uninsured driver. They can help you avoid mistakes and missed deadlines that could hurt your case and ensure you are accurately assessing your total damages, including pain and suffering, emotional impact, lost earning capacity, and future medical needs. If you have been involved in an uninsured driver accident in Oregon, contact the personal injury team at Warren Allen to get solid legal advice about your specific case today.

Take These Steps If You’ve Been in a Car Accident in Oregon

Take These Steps If You’ve Been in a Car Accident in Oregon

Written by George McCoy on . Posted in Car Accident.

A car accident is a terrifying and incredibly stressful event, especially when injury or death occurs as a result. Even a minor incident on the road can create long-term financial and emotional consequences, as dealing with the complex legal and medical paperwork can feel overwhelming, especially after you’ve suffered a traumatic experience. After a car accident, your main focus should be recovery, yet the police, DMV, insurance companies, and medical institutions will all be making demands for more information.

Our Oregon-based legal firm, Warren Allen LLP, is here to help. While we can’t make the accident itself any less stressful, we can help you navigate the steps you need to take so you can minimize some of the chaos and confusion in its aftermath. If you’ve experienced a car accident in Oregon, we offer legal advice and representation .

As soon as possible after an accident has occurred, follow this guide to ensure a smooth return to normalcy.

Seek Medical Attention as Soon as Possible

The first priority after any car accident is to see to the health and safety of the people involved. If any injuries or fatalities have occurred, call 911 immediately. In severe accidents, emergency medical care may be required. If emergency services are called to the scene, heed their instructions and ensure that everyone affected by the accident receives the appropriate care. Note that it is not always obvious when an injury has occurred. Symptoms may sometimes manifest themselves days or even weeks later, particularly as the adrenaline caused by a traumatic event may mask pain and discomfort.

Even if there aren’t clear signs of an injury, you and anyone else involved in the accident should see a medical professional as soon as possible. Not only will this allow any problems to be addressed before they become more serious, but it will also help to ensure that any diagnoses that are made can be directly linked to the crash. If you wait too long, you may have difficulty proving your injuries were caused by the accident should any legal action need to be taken.

Obtain Insurance Information

The next task is to obtain insurance information for all parties involved in the accident. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, this may or may not be a simple matter, but it’s important to get it sorted out at the scene, if possible. Exchange insurance information with the other driver (or drivers) involved. At the bare minimum, you’ll need a name, phone number, and the name and phone number of their insurance company. You should also take note of some basic details about the cars involved, including the makes, models, and license plate numbers.

Follow Up Afterwards if Necessary

Of course, it isn’t always as simple as just trading information at the scene. If a hit and run occurred, or if the injuries involved were too great to discuss paperwork details before an injured party left by ambulance, then you may need to follow up afterward to get the information you need. Typically, this can be done by checking the police report from the accident scene or contacting the DMV.

Document the Scene – Including Photos

After an accident, you will likely need to file an insurance claim, and you may eventually choose to seek legal counsel as well. In both cases, it’s important to be able to provide as much information as possible from the scene, so ensure that you have clear documentation, if you can.

Part of this will include your statement as a witness, so try to recall as many details as you can in the moment, including the exact location and time of the accident, the weather, the state of the roads, and so on. Write down everything you remember, including the circumstances leading up to the accident and its immediate aftermath. Get information from anyone else who was in the vehicle or may have witnessed the accident as well.

If you can do so safely, you should also compile photographic documentation of the accident scene. Take pictures of the damage to the vehicles as soon as possible after it has occurred, as well as the surrounding area, including the road conditions. How is each car positioned? Are there any hazards nearby? Is the road wet or icy? The better you can paint a clear photographic picture, the more help you can provide to the authorities, insurance companies, and if necessary, your legal team.

File a Police Report

In some cases, the police will be called to the scene of an accident to assist. In other cases, however, you may need to contact them after the fact to file a report. After a less serious car accident in Oregon, police departments have non-emergency numbers you can call, which should be done as soon as possible to ensure a timely report is made. In the state of Oregon, you are legally required to make a report if an injury or death occurs or if more than $2,500 of property damage has taken place.

Notify Your Own Insurer

Your own insurance company will also need to receive thorough documentation of the accident so that you can collect any damages you may be entitled to. The information you have collected should be submitted to them, particularly any photographic evidence. Your insurance company will also need records of any damage to your vehicle or any medical costs that have been incurred.

Seek Legal Counsel

In any situation involving police, insurance companies, and potential lawsuits, it can be to your benefit to have legal representation on your side. Without the help of a legal professional, you may not be aware of your rights in the situation or the risk of litigation or charges you may be facing. A dedicated legal counsel can also help ensure you receive the maximum insurance payout or other compensation you may be entitled to.To help you navigate the complexities of Oregon law, contact us at Warren Allen LLP. We’ll go to work to help you recover legally and financially from this traumatic experience.

Who Do I Call After a Car Accident in Oregon?

Who Do I Call After a Car Accident in Oregon?

Written by George McCoy on . Posted in Car Accident.

No one expects to get in a car accident, but having a plan in case a collision happens can take some of the stress out of the actual event and make navigating the experience easier. In particular, it’s important to know the steps to take and who to call following an accident. Responding proactively can help you prioritize the health and safety of the people involved and ensure everything is documented properly.

This guide will cover the essential contacts to make following a car accident in Oregon to ensure safety, compliance, and proper documentation. Whether you live here or are just passing through, understanding the proper protocols will give you a head start in terms of both meeting your responsibilities and protecting your rights.

Notify Law Enforcement

Your first call after getting into an accident should always be to law enforcement. Depending on the severity of the crash, you can call emergency services or contact a non-emergency police phone number to report the accident. Once they arrive, officers will help ensure your vehicle and others involved are out of harm’s way by directing traffic, and they’ll help facilitate the exchange of contact and insurance information between the drivers.

Law enforcement will also fill out an Oregon Police Traffic Accident Report. This report will be an unbiased, publically available statement documenting the details of the crash, including the location where it happened, the time of the accident, vehicle damage, whether there are injuries, weather conditions, the contact and insurance information of those involved, driver or passenger factors involved, and so on. Having a police report may help establish liability in a collision, which can be valuable when you seek compensation for damage or injuries.

Request Medical Assistance

If anyone involved in the accident needs medical attention, request an ambulance when you notify law enforcement. Injuries sustained in accidents are not always immediately apparent, so even if you and your passengers feel fine after the accident, you may want to obtain a medical assessment in the next day or two to ensure nothing is missed. An assessment will also provide clarity as to whether or not you need to fill out an accident report with the DMV (more on this in a moment).

Contact Your Insurance Provider

It’s incredibly important that you report the accident to your insurance company as soon as possible after it happens. Typically, this involves simply notifying them you were involved in a car accident and providing them with the insurance information you collected from the other drivers involved. Some insurance companies even allow clients to report accidents right from an app.

You should not need to interact with the other driver’s insurance company; that is for your insurance company to do on your behalf. If another driver’s insurance company contacts you, it is your right—and usually in your best interests—to decline to provide information, even if they are simply looking for a statement “for the record.” The intent behind that request is to gather information that could be used against you in the future.

Report the Accident to the DMV

According to Oregon law, you must submit an Oregon Traffic Accident and Insurance Report with the DMV within 72 hours of a crash if the crash meets the mandatory reporting criteria. A report must be submitted if damage to any vehicle is over $2,500; damages are over $2,500 and any vehicle is towed from the scene; injury or death resulted from the accident; and/or there was damage to property other than a vehicle over $2,500. If the damages are less than $2,500 but the other party does not have insurance, you can report the accident to the DMV.

When you submit the report, you will have to include identifying information, details about the crash and the vehicles involved, and your insurance information.

Seek Legal Assistance

If you were injured in the accident, you should also seek legal assistance. An Oregon personal injury attorney can help you determine if you have enough evidence for a case and, if so, help you build that case. For instance, you may have a valid case for personal injury if you were injured in an accident and were not at fault for the accident or if your car incurred physical damage in addition to the injuries you sustained.

Personal injury attorneys are experts at navigating personal injury cases after car accidents in Oregon. They speak to the insurance companies involved, fill out the necessary paperwork, and negotiate on your behalf so that you can continue recovering and carry on with your life. According to Oregon law, you have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury case.

Communication and Documentation

Knowing who to call after a car accident will help you successfully navigate the process of reporting and documenting the accident and ensure your health and safety are a priority. As you make these calls, be sure to relay clear, consistent information about the circumstances of the accident, the drivers and passengers involved, any witnesses to the accident, damages to all vehicles involved, and any injuries.

Keep written and photo documentation of injuries and damages as well, including medical records and repair bills. You might consider keeping a journal throughout the process as well so no important details are missed or forgotten. Communicating details clearly and having the necessary documentation readily accessible will help you and your attorney build a valid case for due compensation. Let Warren Allen LLP help you get the compensation you deserve. Insurance companies will attempt to minimize the amount of compensation that you receive, and that’s where we come in. If you have been in a car accident in Oregon and sustained injuries or damages to your vehicle, contact us and get the help you need.