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PORTLAND PERSONAL
INJURY LAWYER

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Home » Cases We Handle » Personal Injury

We Handle Serious 
Personal Injury Claims in
Portland and Throughout Oregon

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About Johnston Law Firm

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Accidents can happen anywhere, and the resulting injuries can be serious and even debilitating. You may find yourself dealing with the financial impact of heavy medical and hospital expenses, while the time it takes to recover could result in lost wages and prevent you from engaging in hobbies and activities with friends and loved ones. In many cases, these so-called accidents are often the result of someone’s careless or negligent conduct.

Personal injury law deals with various types of accidental and unintentional injuries, car accidents is a common example, and can be used to hold responsible parties accountable in order to obtain the compensation injured victims need. If you or someone you care about has suffered from these types of injuries, our Portland personal injury lawyers can help you recover.

Types of
Personal Injury Cases

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accidental injuries result in more than 30 million hospital emergency room visits each year, and are the fourth leading cause of death in this country. While the injuries sustained in these accidents may have been largely unintentional, the fact is that there is generally someone or something who is ultimately responsible. In personal injury law, negligence is a legal theory under which a responsible party may be held liable for the injuries and other damages an injured victim suffers. Negligence is defined as doing something or failing to do something a reasonable person would have done under similar circumstances. Negligent actions or inaction form the basis for many types of personal injury cases, including the following:

  • Motor vehicle accidents, in which a driver, passenger, or pedestrian is injured as the result of another driver’s reckless behavior;
  • Slip and fall accidents, such as injuries sustained as the result of wet floors or uneven sidewalks;
  • Premises liability cases, in which a person is injured due to dangerous conditions on another’s property;
  • Product liability cases, in which injuries occur as the result of defective or dangerous products;
  • Medical malpractice, in which a medical error or mistake results in injuries or damages;
  • Wrongful death, in cases where unintentional injuries result in death.

Elements of A
Personal Injury Lawsuit

Even if you were partly responsible for your accident and injuries, you may still be entitled to compensation through Oregon’s comparative negligence laws, which allows for the apportionment of damages based on the percentage for which a party is responsible for your injuries.

Under Chapter 31 of Oregon Revised Statutes, tort actions are those which seek financial compensation for injuries suffered as the result of someone’s reckless or negligent actions. As a tort action, elements of a personal injury lawsuit include the following:

  • Claim for damages
    The legal paperwork filed by your attorney with the court on your behalf, naming the parties responsible for your injuries and the types of damages you are seeking.
  • Mediation
    Negotiations before an impartial party with you, your attorney, and the at fault party during which an attempt will be made to settle or resolve your case.
  • Settlement
    A financial amount agreed upon by all parties out of court to compensate you for your injuries and resolve your claim.
  • Damages
    Under Oregon law, you may be entitled to economic damages, such as medical expenses and lost wages, as well as non-economic damages including mental anguish and pain and suffering.
  • Judgment
    A verdict handed down by a judge awarding damages for your personal injury claim.

Steps to Take
After an Accident

The steps you take after any accident are crucial to any claim you may file in the future. The most important of these include:

  • Call the police if your accident involved a vehicle
  • Fill out and obtain a copy of any incident report you file, such as if you slipped and fell inside of a business
  • Locate witnesses who saw the accident and obtain their contact information
  • Write down any details you can remember as soon as possible after an accident, such as what caused your accident, as well as the time, date, and location of the accident and any other pertinent details
  • Take photos and video footage of important details, such as any vehicle that was involved in the accident, your injuries, and physical evidence, such as skid marks on the road
  • Do not admit fault or sign any documents the insurance company presents to you

Lastly, it is critical to contact a Portland personal injury attorney who can advise on your case and the next steps to take.

How Much is Your
Personal Injury Case Worth?

The value of a personal injury case depends on many different factors. No two cases are exactly alike and many variables will affect the value of a claim. These include:

  • The nature and severity of your injuries, as well as the permanency of them
  • The medical treatment required to ensure the injuries do not become worse
  • The wages, bonuses, and benefits you lost at work due to your injuries
  • Whether you can return to the same type of work again in the future, and if you can earn similar wages in the future
  • The amount of insurance that is available

An injury lawyer can only value your claim after they have fully reviewed your medical documentation, employment records, and the specific facts of your case. Lastly, the value of a case can change as new information is uncovered.

How Long Does a 
Personal Injury Case Take?

Like the value of any personal injury case is very fact-dependent, so too is the length of time any personal injury case will take. The majority of injury victims cases take between 6 and 18 months once an attorney is hired. In other instances, a case may take many years before it is finalized. How long your personal injury case will take from start to finish depends on the medical treatment that is needed, the length of time it takes to collect the necessary records, and how successfully negotiations with the insurer proceed.

How to Pay Your 
Medical Bills After an Accident

It can take some time to receive a fair settlement after an accident. In the meantime, medical bills will pile up and you may worry about how you will pay for them. If you were involved in a car, pedestrian, or bicycle accident and you carry your own auto insurance, you may be able to file a claim with your own insurer. While auto insurance is governed by tort law in Oregon, Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is also a requirement in the state. PIP coverage can provide you with compensation for your medical expenses and a portion of lost wages up to the policy limits.

If you were involved in another type of accident that is not covered by auto insurance, private health insurance can help cover the cost of your medical expenses. Any medical expenses not covered by PIP or private health insurance is your responsibility. An experienced personal injury attorney can advise fully on how to pay your medical bills before receiving a settlement.

Don’t miss out on these common personal injury mistakes.

Get the legal counsel you need to guide you through the process of filing an injury claim.

How an Injury
Lawyer Can Help with Your Case

People are reluctant to reach out to an injury lawyer after an accident for many reasons. They may think they cannot afford an attorney, or they may not even know if they have a valid case. If you have been hurt, working with an injury lawyer will help you obtain more damages than you may if you take on your case alone. It is never easy to negotiate with insurance companies, or collect the evidence necessary to prove your case. These tasks, and the others that go into building a strong injury case, are almost impossible to perform while you are trying to recover from serious injuries. A lawyer can help with your case in many ways, including:

  • Conducting the investigation: Determining how your accident occurred, and who is liable, requires a full investigation. An injury lawyer will visit the scene of your accident to become more familiar with important details, find local businesses who may have video footage, and reach out to professionals such as accident reconstruction experts who can advise on how your accident occurred.
  • Collect important evidence: Evidence is critical when proving your case. Physical evidence from the scene, cell phone records, photos, video footage, and eyewitness statements are some of the strongest pieces of evidence. An attorney will have the resources to subpoena certain types of evidence, locate witnesses, and the know-how to collect other pieces of evidence.
  • Negotiate with the insurer: Insurance companies prioritize their own profits over the health and safety of accident victims. They are very reluctant to offer fair settlements that will fully cover the cost of injury and other losses. It takes a skilled negotiator to enter into negotiations and obtain the full and fair settlement you deserve. An injury lawyer will have the experience and expertise to help you obtain yours.
  • Trial representation, when necessary: Very few personal injury cases actually make it to the trial stage. Still, sometimes this step is the only way to make sure you obtain the full damages you are entitled to. If you get to the trial stage and are not working with an attorney, you should definitely contact one before you attend any court hearing. Trials are very overwhelming, particularly for those who have never been through the process before. A lawyer will make sure you are prepared and provide the strong representation you need.

The above are just a few of the ways in which our Portland personal injury lawyer can help with your case. Essentially, an attorney will handle every aspect of your claim so you can focus on getting better.

Accepting a Settlement
vs. Going to Trial

When a lawyer submits a claim to the insurance company, they will work diligently to negotiate a fair offer that will fully cover the cost of your injuries and other losses. Negotiations sometimes take time, but offers and counter-offers are necessary to ensure you receive the full and fair settlement you are entitled to. The vast majority of personal injury cases, over 90 percent, are resolved during the negotiation phase.

There are times, however, when insurance companies and other liable parties refuse to offer a fair settlement. In these cases, it is often necessary to go to trial to obtain the maximum damages you deserve. If your case goes to trial, a jury will determine whether you deserve compensation and if so, the amount of damages you are entitled to. It is always important to work with an injury attorney that has trial experience in the event that your case ends up in the courtroom. Trials are very stressful and overwhelming experiences but a lawyer will have the experience and expertise to give you the best chance of success.

Mistakes to Avoid in
Personal Injury Cases

While the law allows accident victims to recover compensation for their medical expenses, lost income, and more, obtaining it is not easy. Personal injury cases present many obstacles and there are many mistakes that can be made. The most common of these are as follows:

  • Talking about your case: While you can talk about your injuries and how they are affecting your life with your spouse, children, and loved ones, you should be careful about who you share details about the legal aspect of your case with. Certainly, do not share any information on social media and in fact, stay off of all platforms until your case is over.
  • Failing to seek medical treatment: Getting treatment for your injuries is of critical importance so they do not become worse and you can recover more quickly. Seeing a doctor and receiving a diagnosis also documents the full severity and nature of your injuries, making it easier to prove them to the insurance company. Failing to follow through with treatment or your doctor’s recommendations will also hurt your case, as the insurer will argue that you are not as injured as you claimed.
  • Returning to work too quickly: You should take the full amount of time necessary to recover. Never return to work, or intense physical activity, until your doctor has approved it. If you return to work too soon, start working out again, or otherwise push yourself physically, the insurance company will again argue that your injuries are not as bad as you had said.
  • Accepting a settlement offer too quickly: You may be shocked, and relieved, when an insurance adjuster contacts you in the days, or even moments, following an accident. You may feel surprised that they are so willing to offer you a settlement right away. Unfortunately, they are only hoping you will accept the settlement because it is far too low to fully cover the cost of your injuries. If you accept it, you cannot return to them in the future for more compensation. Never accept a settlement offer until you have let an injury attorney review it.

Personal Injury 
and Insurance Companies

If you have been seriously injured due to the negligence or careless actions of an individual or business, enlist the help of a personal injury attorney right away. Settling with an insurance company may result in you receiving far less compensation than you actually need.

At Johnston Law Firm, P.C., in Portland, Oregon, we pride ourselves in our ability to work hand in hand with insurance companies to resolve coverage disputes and denials for our clients. Our experience with insurance denials is a great benefit to our personal injury clients. We know exactly what the insurance companies are looking at, and we can head off many of their challenges proactively. This helps us build a persuasive claim that pursues full and fair damages for your pain and suffering.

Personal Injury
FAQs

When you sustain an injury in an accident, you likely have many questions about how to seek compensation for your injuries. The following are some Portland personal injury FAQs that may help you with your case.

Many different incidents can lead to serious injuries and a subsequent lawsuit filed by injured victims. The following are some events that are commonly at issue in a personal injury case:

  • Car accidents;
  • Truck accidents;
  • Pedestrian and crosswalk accidents;
  • Bicycle and motorcycle accidents;
  • Slips, trips, and falls;
  • Workplace accidents;
  • Injuries caused by dangerous or defective products;
  • Injuries caused by dangerous property hazards;
  • Medical malpractice.

In addition to the above accidents, any accident that occurred because another party was negligent can lead to a personal injury case.

When you think of a court case, you may first think about a trial in front of a jury. In reality, the large majority of cases involving personal injury do not require a trial to resolve the matter. Instead, an experienced personal injury lawyer will know how to seek a favorable resolution in other ways. Engaging in mediation can often result in an outcome that is mutually agreeable and can save time, energy, and resources required for litigation. In addition, in the time leading up to a trial date, your attorney can use evidence and arguments to negotiate with the other party to try to reach a favorable settlement agreement that will cover your losses. Only if mediation and settlement negotiations fall through will your case go to trial.

In order for a claimant to be successful during the claims process, they must satisfy the elements of a personal injury claim. The elements of a personal injury claim, regardless of the type of claim, are:

  • Duty. The first element of a personal injury claim is duty. This means that the plaintiff must be able to show that the defendant in the case owed the plaintiff a duty of care. Sometimes, duty of care is implied. For example, all drivers owe a duty of care to others on the road, and all doctors owe a duty of care to their patients. In other cases, though, duty will need to be established.
  • Breach of duty. Once duty has been established, the second element that a plaintiff will need to prove is breach of duty. Usually, a breach of duty occurs in the form of negligence – the failure to act with the same level of care that a person of ordinary prudence would demonstrate in the same situation. For example, a driver acts negligently when they breach the duty of care owed to other drivers on the road by driving while distracted.
  • Causation. The third thing that you will need to establish in a personal injury claim is causation – that is, that the accident and your injuries would not have occurred but for the breach of duty of care that occurred. Another way to think about this is that your accident was caused by the defendant’s actions.
  • Damages. Finally, in addition to proving all of the above, you’ll need to establish that actual damages were suffered as a result. Medical bills, pain, suffering, lost wages, and property damage expenses are all examples of damages. Remember, you must be able to connect these damages directly to the accident caused by the defendant’s negligence.

Another question that our lawyers often hear–and that those who have been injured often have–is whether or not working with a lawyer is really necessary. We understand that working with a lawyer is a very personal choice, and may not always feel essential. Here are some circumstances when working with a lawyer is in your best interests:

  • Your injuries are serious. If your injuries are serious, you probably don’t have the capacity to handle your claim yourself. What’s more, you probably desperately need a settlement in order to compensate you for your losses. Additionally, the more serious your injuries, the more pushback that you’ll likely get from an insurance adjuster, as an insurance company will be loath to pay out what you deserve. An attorney can help you to fight back.
  • Your claim has been denied or low-balled. If your claim has been denied or if you have been offered a settlement that is less than what you believe you deserve, you should get an attorney immediately. An attorney will know how to appeal a denied claim on your behalf, as well as how to negotiate a settlement offer that it’s fair.
  • Fault is disputed. When fault is disputed and you’re being blamed, in part, for your accident, you need an attorney. If you are found to be partially at fault, your settlement award can be diminished in proportion to that degree of fault. Which is why if you’re being blamed, you need to get an attorney who will present evidence that disproves the allegations of fault made against you and makes a clear case for the full liability of the other party.

Proving the elements of a personal injury claim and winning your case in court will require submitting a lot of compelling evidence; knowing what type of evidence is most important for your claim and when and how to collect it can make a big difference. Essential types of evidence in a personal injury claim usually includes photographs of the accident scene and your injuries, eyewitnesses’ testimonies, police/accident reports, the opinions of various experts, medical records, and more. Our lawyers can help you to collect this evidence by traveling to the accident scene, tracking down eyewitnesses, sending spoliation of evidence letters, and more. We’ll focus on the investigatory process so that you can focus on your recovery.

One reason that people may be hesitant to hire an attorney is because they’re worried that they won’t be able to afford an attorney’s services. Good personal injury attorneys, though, work on a contingency fee basis. This means that you won’t have to pay out-of-pocket for your legal services; instead, your attorney will be paid a portion of your settlement. If you don’t recover a settlement, you won’t have to pay your attorney anything. Your attorney won’t charge you upfront or hourly fees, and can also front costs to pay for experts and other expenses incurred during the claims process. When you work with an attorney, there is nothing to lose; when you don’t work with an attorney, there’s a lot on the line. Hiring an attorney almost always improves the outcome of your claim.

Compassionate and Dedicated
Service from Marc A. Johnston

Whether your personal injury is a brain injury, car accident involving a drunk driver or wrongful death we are here to help. Our founder, Marc A. Johnston is known for his dedicated representation and exceptional client service throughout Portland, OR and surrounding areas. He truly gives it his all when investigating claims and preparing a personal injury case that tells your story. You can feel confident having him as your attorney when you seek our firm’s legal services for claims.

At Johnston Law Firm, we use a strategic approach to seek maximum compensation in all types of personal injury claims, involving:

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Testimonials

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Sally Martinez September 28, 2020

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– Michelle E.

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Mr. Johnston and his firm were incredibly thorough in getting us a fair settlement from our insurance company with little to no pressure. We really appreciated having someone who truly cared about us every step of the way. I would highly recommend the Johnston Law Firm to anyone in need of personal injury representation.

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Contact us today at 503-713-6839 to get a FREE, confidential case evaluation. We’re conveniently located in downtown Portland, and we offer flexible hours by appointment.

Johnston Law Firm, P.C. represents clients in all cities and counties in Oregon including: Portland, Gresham, Milwaukie, Lake Oswego, Tigard, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas.

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