InjuryBoard Seattle

In a recent federal court case (Benton v. Dlorah, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. D. Kan, Oct. 30, 2007), the plaintiff testified at her deposition that she had deleted emails related to the case. The court ruled that deleting emails did not necessarily remove them from the plaintiff's possession. It reasoned that deleted emails should be retrievable from her computer system and thus remain within in...

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You get hurt at work. You file a workers compensation claim. But that shouldn't be the end of the story. Workers compensations claims yield significantly less money for injured workers than third-party personal injury claims. A good example appeared in the paper recently. Rolondo Dudley, 32, suffered a compound fracture on his right leg during a construction accident this past Friday. Dudley...

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A recent article from King 5 notes that Seattle is considered one of the safest cities in the United State for cyclists. However, it is important to remember - as a cyclist or as a driver - that city roads still pose real dangers to those traveling on two wheels. Since 2001 1,800 cyclists have been injured and 6 cyclists have been killed on Seattle streets. That's about one accident every...

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On New Years Eve a car jumped a curb on Alakan Way, near Pier 30, went through a fence, across a parking lot and slammed into a cement barrier. The driver and passenger in the car were trapped for several hours inside their demolished car. Once firefighters arrived on the scene of car crash it took some time for them to be able to free the male driver and the female passenger. Both were taken...

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Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, were returning from a ski trip to Stevens Pass when their vehicle crossed the centerline and hit a pickup truck head-on. One of the boys, 17, was killed. Four others were injured in the car accident, including both people in the pick-up truck. Police are not sure why the vehicle crossed the centerline. They do not believe alcohol, drugs or speed was a...

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Texting while driving officially becomes illegal on January 1, 2008. The law is a secondary violation, meaning that a police officer must first spot another violation (such as a person not wearing a seatbelt or speeding) before someone who is texting can be pulled over. This law and the law against cell phone use while driving (which will be enforced starting July 1, 2008) are attempts to...

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Dennis Ray Lunde, 60, of Poulsbo, Washington, has been charged with first-degree theft in an alleged Internet commerce scam.  The scam involved Lunde posing online as a Navy captain and selling model ship kits. Buyers of these kits would send money to Lunde but never received the kits.  Several buyers received an e-mail from Lunde's "wife," claiming that Lunde had suffered a heart attack, was...

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I've written about it before. The defense bar never ceases to surprise. Affirmative defenses--legal tools to avoid taking responsibility--seem to be multiplying and mutating. The sudden medical emergency defense is an example. And it is frequently applied to situations like the really tragic one we blogged about here on December 17th. To recap, a jogger was hit and killed by a motorist last...

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Lists are popular at the end of the year. Sometimes lists celebrate accomplishments. Other times they record dubious achievements. This one itemizes key advice for personal injury victims: 1. Politely refuse to give recorded statements to adjusters before retaining counsel.2. Take photographs of visible injuries before they heal.3. Take photographs of property damage before...

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On November 27th, a Seattle woman in her 50's was hit while crossing at a crosswalk at the intersection of Aurora Avenue North and North 90th Street. The accident occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. The woman was hit by a pickup and dragged underneath it. The driver of the pickup left the scene. He was stopped several blocks away by police. The woman suffered head and pelvis injuries and...

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