If you’ve been injured in Bellevue because of someone else, work with a personal injury lawyer to recover the compensation you deserve.

Generally, all types of harm—short-term, long-term, mild, and serious injuries—are eligible for compensatory damages, as long as the negligence of someone else can be proven. Sounds simple enough, but how do you go about proving that someone else was negligent?

It isn’t easy, especially when the person who harmed you is doing everything possible to avoid the blame. That’s why it can be so helpful to work with a qualified personal injury lawyer.

To get a better idea of the merits of your case, contact a Bellevue personal injury lawyer at Craig Swapp & Associates.

What Type of Bellevue Personal Injury Claim Do You Have?

To successfully file a personal injury claim, you will first need to identify the type of accident you experienced.

Common types of accidents responsible for personal injuries in Bellevue include the following:

  • Motor Vehicle Collisions – Whether due to distraction or drowsiness, the number of fatal accidents in the United States increased by nearly 6 percent from 2015 to 2016, highlighting how prevalent and dangerous crashes still are. Proving another driver’s negligence and your lack thereof will be key to receiving the damages you deserve for your car, truck, or motorcycle crash.
  • Product Liability – The mere notion of buying something that injures you is damaging in itself, but product liability cases do happen. An injury-causing good can be anything from a toy car to an SUV. Once again, you will have to prove that the product’s manufacturer or another party in the supply chain was negligent, meaning it didn’t fulfill an expected duty of care.
  • Premises Liability – If you’ve been injured on someone else’s property in Bellevue, you may have a viable premises liability suit on your hands. Anything from a slip-and-fall accident to a loose dog that causes physical harm can lead to a valid claim.
  • Workplace Injuries – While we all expect our employer to keep us safe and secure in the workplace, workplace accidents do sometimes happen, especially in the construction industry. If you have been injured in the office or another work environment, you may be eligible to sue for compensation outside the workers compensation system.
  • Medical Malpractice – Should your physician make a serious mistake during a procedure or do something ethically wrong, such as misrepresent his or her credentials, you may be able to file a medical malpractice suit. Ultimately, a medical practitioner’s intent matters much less than how a lack of diligence has caused you serious injury.

Legal Factors to Consider in Washington State

To help ensure a favorable verdict, personal injury victims in Washington state should be familiar with a handful of legal concepts that may pertain to their case. For example, our state uses the standard of comparative negligence for determining liability in personal injury suits, which can reduce your damages if you’re not careful.

Say, for example, you’re found to have committed an act that partly led to your injuries, leaving you with 20 percent liability. This judgment would reduce your total award by a corresponding 20 percent.

Another legal factor to consider is Washington’s statute of limitations for personal injury cases, which is three years. In other words, personal injury victims are given three years from the date of their accident to actually bring forth litigation.

While these two particular legal concepts represent a small fraction of what may apply to your case, a Bellevue accident injury lawyer would be glad to explain any others.

Contact a Bellevue Personal Injury Attorney

Getting injured is bad enough; having to worry about how you’ll pay for the medical care you need only rubs salt in the wound. Fortunately, those injured in the state of Washington have the right to fair compensation through the state’s personal injury laws.

To accelerate your full physical and financial recovery, contact a Bellevue personal injury lawyer at Craig Swapp & Associates. Call us at 1-800-404-9000 or fill out the form at the bottom of this page to schedule your free consultation.