In an instant, your life can change due to a devastating car accident. While the event may be over in seconds, the aftermath can leave you reeling for months or years. Many car accident victims face mounting medical expenses, an inability to work, and severe physical injuries. It may be hard to know what you need—or what to do next. Contacting a Cle Elum car accident lawyer is the first right step to reclaiming your life.
While things may never be back to how they were before your accident, an auto accident lawyer can help you obtain the just compensation you deserve.
Is Washington a Contributory Negligence State?
A car crash lawyer knows that Washington adopts the doctrine of comparative negligence when it comes to personal injury cases. However, you may not know what impact this may have on your case. Comparative negligence addresses a scenario where multiple parties may share liability. In Washington, if you are partially to blame for your own injuries, your compensation will be reduced proportionate to your fault.
In other words, let’s say you were involved in a car accident. You file a lawsuit against the at-fault party. However, you are 20% at fault for the accident. This 20% liability reduces your total compensatory award. If you seek recovery of $100,000 in compensatory damages, your responsibility reduces the original amount to $80,000.
This rule applies even if you were mostly at fault. For example, if you were 80% at fault in the above scenario, you could still recover $20,000.
How Can a Cle Elum Car Accident Attorney Help Me?
When you suffer a severe injury and property damage in a car accident, your priority should be your recovery. However, this may be difficult if you are overwhelmed by insurance claims, medical bills, and property repairs on top of your everyday expenses. A qualified personal injury attorney can help alleviate this burden so you can focus on getting your life on track.
A personal injury attorney represents your best interests while aggressively negotiating with insurance companies and opposing counsel.
Hiring a Cle Elum car accident lawyer helps in numerous ways to represent your interests in a personal injury lawsuit. One of the most vital aspects of your personal injury case is establishing the at-fault party’s negligence. Proving negligence requires gathering the necessary evidence to support your claim.
A valid car accident claim must show the following:
- The other driver had a duty to operate their vehicle reasonably,
- The other driver breached this duty,
- The other driver’s breach caused an accident, and
- The accident directly caused your injuries and property damage.
Proving negligence is far more complicated than many car accident victims realize. However, a failure to adequately establish negligence could mean the difference between recovering compensation and recovering nothing. A Cle Elum car accident attorney provides you with the legal representation needed to obtain the compensation you need.
Why Should I Choose Kapuza Lighty?
With over 50 years of combined legal experience representing clients in complex personal injury cases, the trial lawyers at Kapuza Lighty are available to serve anyone in need in Cle Elum and Kittitas County.
Experience
The attorneys at Kapuza Lighty are not just an average personal injury firm but car accident lawyers providing the highest-caliber legal representation to our clients. Although personal injury cases rarely go to trial, Kapuza Lighty attorneys prepare each case for the courtroom. Our unmatched level of preparedness allows us to achieve higher settlements for our clients. Both of our attorneys are designated “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics Magazine. They have also both obtained a perfect 10 out of 10 “Superb” rating on AVVO, an independent online attorney rating website.
Compassion
Kapuza Lighty car accident lawyers believe that your needs come first. Our clients deserve the best representation, and we work diligently to obtain just compensation. We understand the unimaginable stress you may be under during such an emotional time. We provide clients with legal guidance and care throughout your recovery process.
Local
For decades, our car accident attorneys have called Central Washington home. In that time, our legal team has acquired extensive knowledge of the area’s courts, judges, and attorneys. This knowledge provides an advantage proven through the satisfactory results we’ve obtained for our clients.
Contact Us
The car accident lawyers at Kapuza Lighty possess an impeccable track record of the highest caliber legal representation in Kittitas County. We pursue the negligent driver that caused your injuries to get you the compensation you deserve. We understand that each personal injury case presents a unique set of facts. For this reason, we tailor our representation to each individual client. Under the circumstances, you need the Kapuza Lighty team to represent you and fight for your rights. Contact our Cle Elum car accident lawyers today for a case review.
