Miscellaneous | InjuryBoard Seattle

Accidents involving serious injuries or death need to be investigated promptly so that the facts surrounding the accident can be determined before memories or evidence fades.Early Sunday morning Department of Transportation crews were trying to clear snow and ice off major highways in Eastern Washington when one of the snow plows hit and killed a pedestrian. The plow was clearing snow off the...

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Delores Magneson, 59, has been charged with the death of bicyclist Craig Hatt, 41. Magnesson allegedly hit Hatt last September on Mile Hill Drive in South Kitsap. Magneson claimed that her windshield had fogged up, as a result of just behind washed and glare from the sun, obscuring her vision. However, upon investigation it was discovered that Magneson's driver's license had been canceled...

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We see it all the time. A driver waves another car to "go ahead". Or signals to a pedestrian that it's okay to cross. But what happens if an accident happens? In the following story the injured pedestrian could have a claim against not only the driver who hit him but also the driver who signaled that it was safe for him to cross. A 40-year old pedestrian was hit on Route 99 in Federal Way on...

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Retailers selling products from China have been beleaguered by claims arising from defects in the Chinese-made products. One of the most publicized cases involved dog and cat food. We filed the first nationwide class action lawsuit in that case against Menu Foods and the companies that sold tainted pet food. Now another Chinese-made product is harming American consumers, the seemingly...

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Well, all right; bicyclists have multiple nemeses. But a recent front page article in the Seattle PI has brought attention to a problem many cyclists have been battling for years: unsafe street drains. Drains covered with grates that have slots parallel to the roadway are dangerous to cyclists as bicycle wheels can get caught - and stuck - in the slots. In 2004 one biker was biking through...

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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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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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We recently met with an owner of points in Vacation Internationale. When upgrading his ownership interest from a term of years to perpetual, representatives of Vacation Internationale advised that it owned the various vacation properties in fee simple. Based on information obtained from a former VI employee, it appears that this was a material misrepresentation and VI does not own many of its...

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I like to write about accidents. They frequently provide good examples of legal principles or issues that we encounter frequently in personal injury cases. But I also write about them with the intent of reaching accident victims or the people who care about them.Recently I received the following link:...

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A recent press release offered the following warning about Holland America and the other major cruise lines:This Christmas break, unsuspecting college students and their parents may discover dangers on some cruise lines including serious injury and death. Newspapers, television and the Internet are reporting a number of injuries and deaths on cruise ships including disappearances and overboard...

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This summer we tried a case against the Wizard (one of the vessels shown on Disney's "Deadliest Catch" television series). Captain Keith Colburn was one of the witnesses in the case.The case arose from a career ending shoulder injury suffered by a crew member when he slipped and fell down the engine room stairs. We prevailed in court and established that the Wizard was negligent and...

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Many of you experienced damage to your houses during the wind storms last year. The majority of the losses occurred on December 14 or 15, 2006. Generally homeowners' insurance policies in Washington have a one year statute of limitations: that is, any claims against the homeowner's carrier must be brought within one year of the incident. Failure to bring a claim in time means it might be...

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