Practice Areas

Dangerous Bollards on the Burke-Gilman Trail

Biking is supposed to be safe. Unfortunately, far too often, drivers hit and hurt cyclists, the roads and bike paths are a disaster, and it seems like on every popular bike route there is at least one ghost bike. Bikers are regularly doored, T-boned, rear-ended, right hooked, left hooked, 'bollarded', and flat out run off the road. Biking can be anything but safe...     
 

I've been a bike lawyer since 2007. I've represented cyclists hit by motorists, and have been litigating over the safety of the Burke-Gilman Trail since 2011. I was responsible for forcing the City of Seattle to remove the dangerous bollards from the Burke-Gilman trail, and am still fighting to get bollards removed or fixed in Seattle and country-wide. I've advocated and educated bicycle infrastructure decision makers across the country to bring their bicycle infrastructure up to state and federal standards.    As every cyclist knows getting hit by a car can cause severe injuries, or death, to the cyclist. Most bike 'accidents' are from either:  

Driver Negligence: 

• Speeding,
• Reckless Driving,
• Running a Red Light,
• Failure to Yield for      a  left turn,
• 'Dooring' the      cyclist,
• Hitting a Cyclist in      Crosswalk, 
• Illegal Passing, 
• Failure to Provide      Adequate Space when Passing,
• ...these are just a      few of the examples of how motorists hurt or kill cyclists... 

Road or Trail Conditions:

• Speed Bumps,
• Defective Drainage      Grates,
• Bollards,
• Potholes,
• Defective Road      Design,
• Poor Maintenance,
• ...these are some of      the ways that the State or City cause bike injuries.

If you've suffered a bike injury, you need an experienced bike lawyer. If you were hit by a car, you likely are entitled to medical payments coverage. You are legally entitled to compensation for your injuries. But you need to concentrate on getting better, we can concentrate on handling  

(Staged Photo)

  Getting injured by someone else is no fun. Nobody ever wants to get injured whether it’s a car, motorcycle, bicycle accident, or something else, getting injured is a real setback. It disrupts your life, screws up your plans, and puts you back financially. Ultimately, there is no real compensation for any injury. But the person who injured you is supposed to try to compensate you by paying money to get you back to the place you were in before you got injured. So you may be entitled to recover damages for your pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disability, medical expenses, loss of earnings, and property damages.

    Washington law requires minimum automobile liability insurance coverage for all vehicles registered in the state. Depending on the terms of the policy, liability insurance usually covers the cost of property damages, and pays medical bills and lost wages as a result of the accident.

     Everybody knows that the insurance companies just want to get rid

of your claim as cheaply as possible. What most people don’t know is

that the insurance industry is the largest employer of non-practicing

attorneys, many of them working as senior adjusters. So if you try to

negotiate with the insurance company alone you stand a good chance

of negotiating against a seasoned lawyer… A good lawyer n your side

maximizes your chances of getting a good settlement of your claim.  

     A skilled attorney is essential to maximize the value of your claim.

Lawyers are trained in how to see the potential value of your claim and

the damages you suffered, and understand how to trace liability back to

the responsible party. Only about 2% of all claims result in a trial. The

vast majority are settled out of court, either through direct negotiation,

or arbitration. This results in less stress for the injured party and a streamlined process for getting to a fair settlement. Unlike many other lawyers, I’m a trained mediator skilled in advanced negotiating techniques and in how to evaluate the value of your claim at each stage of the process. 

Like other lawyers, I take most of these cases on a contingent fee, so you pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover from the other party. 

Call me today for a free discussion on what we can do about your claim. I look forward to working with you. 

1 in 10 Table Saws will cause a serious injury! 

      Table Saws are one of the most dangerous tools in the marketplace. Every year there are about 60,000 injuries on table saws; injuries that ruin lives and cost billions of dollars in medical expenses, lost wages, and other economic effects. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission states that table saws cause: 

• 60,000 injuries
• 3,000 plus amputations,
• $2 billion in injury-related costs,
• An injury every 9 minutes!

        These injuries are horrific; fingers cut off, hands sliced open to the bone, amputations. But table saw design hasn’t changed much in about a century. They are still just as dangerous as they have ever been, with one exception (see below).
        I used to be a furniture maker doing antique reproductions. In fact my first career was in the wood products industry, where I worked for 16 years as a furniture and cabinet maker, rough and finish carpenter, cooper (barrel maker), and did custom home remodels. 

           I left the industry because it is so dangerous. I know that not getting injured in a woodshop is not just a matter of the woodworker’s skill, good habits, but also a dash of luck, otherwise injuries happen. I’ve shot a nail through a hand, nicked a live router bit, and had a radial arm saw try to eat my left hand. Fortunately I’ve never been injured from a table saw—yet. But I used to regularly spend 6-10 hours a day working on a table saw so I really know how dangerous they are.
    I know what a dado, rabbit, tenon, lap, and a half-blind dovetail are, and how to make them. I know what kickback, blade bind, and strobe effect are, and what they do. You don’t have to explain the dangers of a shop to me.
        Almost all table saws are defectively designed. Manufacturers could make them safer, the technology exists, but they don’t. They choose to sell a product that they know 1 out of 10 are going to injure someone seriously, rather than license the technology, retool, and sell a safer product.
    If you are injured in a woodshop, you need to call me. Most lawyers haven’t a clue as to why the ‘safety’ equipment on a table saw is commonly removed from the saw. They think that if the woodworker takes the ‘safety’ equipment off, the case is done. I know different. I know legal arguments to counter the ‘removal’ argument of the defense. I know why the ‘safety’ equipment is removed. I know how the tool is used. I know how the injuries occur. I know why the manufacturers and retailers should be selling a safer product. And I know how to explain all that to a jury.
    If you are a woodworker seriously injured by a table saw, you know that your career in the industry is probably over. You will need a settlement or award that covers your past and future medical bills, lost wages, job retraining, and pain and suffering. You should call a lawyer who has a table saw in their shop and knows all about them. Don’t trust your case to someone who doesn’t truly recognize the unique dangers these tools create. Call a furniture maker who became a lawyer. Call or email me. Our first conversation is always free, so you have nothing to lose by calling me to discuss the merits of your case.
    And if you are going to buy a table saw, do yourself a favor, buy this one: www.sawstop.com

Placeholder

Placeholder

 Personal Injury FAQ

I have been injured in an accident. Can you represent me? Probably. Remember if you’ve been injured, the defendant’s insurance company IS NOT your friend. Their goal is to get rid of your claim for cheap. They don’t care about you. You’re just a number to them that will reduce their profit margins by $XX.XX, biting into what they pay in bloated salaries, bonuses, inflated CEO pay, and to Madison Avenue advertising agencies for their slick marketing, etc. It’s not personal, it’s business. You need to get full and fair compensation, even when the deck is stacked against you, but they have lots of lawyers working to get rid of your case for cheap; you would be a fool to go up against them without your own lawyer to fight them.

The Insurance Company made me an offer should I accept it? Probably Not. The insurance company is trying to get rid of you as cheap as possible; they are trying to preserve their assets, not make fair offers. Usually what they offer is far below what your claim is worth. But they will often try to convince you that you are getting the same amount or more, without a lawyer, ‘because you aren’t paying an attorney fee.’ So the question is ‘should you believe the insurance company is telling you the truth when they have a financial interest in misleading you?’. The answer is almost always – No.

The Insurance Company claims that I’m partly at fault, what do I do? This is a common tactic by the insurance companies. Remember they are trying to get rid of your case for cheap. So if they convince you that you are partly at fault, then they reduce their already cheap offer even more. I’ve seen insurance companies try to claim that a client who got rear-ended while stopped at a marked crosswalk for a crossing pedestrian, or another client that was t-boned when a driver shot out of an alley across three lanes, was partly at fault. Most likely they are making it up to see if you are dumb enough to accept some liability and they can write an even smaller check. Don’t make that mistake; they are trying to cheat you.

I was injured by a Table-Saw, can you help me? And why should I hire you? I’m one of the only carpenter/furniture-maker-turned-lawyers in the country; I own two table saws. I used to spend up to 10 hours a day on a table-saw. I understand table-saws in a way that no other lawyer ever will. If you’ve been injured by a table-saw you need a lawyer who can tell the story of your injury to a jury with conviction and understanding. The best person to do that, is a lawyer who has seen their friend’s finger laying on a table-saw like I have.