Kent Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

We know that speed, alcohol, and distracted drivers are extremely dangerous on the road, especially to motorcycle riders who have very little protection in the event of a motor vehicle accident, but our Kent motorcycle accident attorneys find that more often than other contributing factors in motorcycle accidents, the at fault driver simply did not notice the motorcycle. Drivers have a duty to all motor vehicles on the road, but for some reason many of them just do not realize the importance of looking out for and exercising caution around motorcycles, and that puts motorcycle riders in a perilous situation.

Insurance companies

When another driver causes an accident, his or her insurance company may contact you to try to settle the case. Motorcycle injuries can be very severe and long term,which is why insurance companies will often try to do anything to get rid of the case quickly and for a very low settlement amount. Our motorcycle accident attorneys at Russell & Hill, PLLC recommend that you do not speak with the at fault party’s insurance company until you have spoken with an attorney. See below for common tactics used by insurance companies against motorcycle accident victims.

• Admissions – Insurance companies may contact you with the goal of getting you to admit to facts that put liability on you. They may have a strategy to their line of questioning that is designed to get you to ultimately admit something that is not true or is misrepresented, or to admit to something that helps clear their client of wrongdoing. They may also try to use your description of your injuries and medical treatment against you to show that your injuries are not as extensive as you claim they are.
• Intimidating – A common insurance company tactic is to intimidate you into signing a settlement by offering you a settlement amount and then giving you an arbitrary deadline by which to accept it and if you do not accept it, they will not give you anything. When you are faced with the prospect of something or nothing, something looks pretty good, but it probably is a fraction of the recovery that you are actually entitled to.
• Undervaluing–Insurance companies may significantly undervalue your claim and if you do not know any better, it may sound like a good deal to you. Motorcycle accident experts will know how to value your claim,they will know what economic and non economic damages should be included in your claim, and what they are worth.

Something important to keep in mind is that in the state of Washington, even if you are partially responsible for the accident, you may still recover for your injuries and damages from another at fault party which will then be reduced by your amount of fault. Do not let insurance companies take advantage of you and do not think that because you may have been partially at fault that you are not entitled to any recovery. If you have been injured in an accident caused by someone else, contact our Kent motorcycle accident attorneys at Russell & Hill, PLLC to discuss the facts of your case and the injuries you sustained.