Yakima Spinal
Injury Lawyers

After suffering a spinal cord injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you likely have serious concerns. You may not be certain what kind of future you’re facing health-wise.   You may feel overwhelmed by the changes in your daily life.  If you’ll be unable to work for a significant period of time, you may have fears about your financial future. Your quality of life may be significantly impacted for a long time after the accident. Our Yakima spinal injury lawyers know how this uncertainty creates stress for accident victims. Your life has been completely upended through no fault of your own. You should not have to pay your medical bills yourself. Although we know a financial settlement cannot truly help you return to your life as it was before the accident, it can help you deal with the future you’re facing. We take pride in defending the rights of victims and helping them receive the settlements they deserve.

Trust the spinal injury lawyers at Montoya Hinckley to defend your rights as a victim of an accident that was not your fault. Call us as soon as possible at 509-895-7373 for a free case review.

A person who is driving a vehicle unsafely and causes your spinal cord injury is potentially liable for negligence.  Had the negligent driver taken a different set of actions, you would still be safe and healthy. Instead, the negligent  driver’s actions led directly to your significant injury. In this instance, the at fault driver, and his or her insurance company, can be financially liable to pay for your pain, suffering, lost enjoyment of life, lost wages, and medical bills. Although spinal injuries in car accidents represent a common cause for this serious type of injury, it is not the only cause. Some other causes of back injuries involving negligence include:

• Falls from height
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Slips and falls on unsafe property
• Assaults

Our spinal injury lawyers can give you the high level of representation you deserve. Our attorneys have more than four decades of combined experience, delivering winning results for our clients. Our cases involve both state and federal court appearances. We have settled and won cases for our clients where our clients’ damages were in the millions of dollars. We do not back down when insurance companies and their lawyers try to minimize your damages. We rely on the facts to show why you deserve the settlement we are requesting. We give our clients our full attention, and we will not back down. We prepare your case to try present the strongest position possible so that we can negotiate the best settlement possible.  We prepare thoroughly so that we can effectively address and respond to any attempts by the insurance company to avoid paying you what you deserve. We talk with you, and often times your loved ones, to make sure that we understand your concerns and worries, and your goals in obtaining a settlement.  Our preparedness and attention to detail allow us to provide you with outstanding representation and to obtain the best result for you. Because every client and every case is not the same, we do not use the same approach for every case.  We take the time to get to know you and to develop an approach that is tailored to you and that is designed to get you the best outcome possible. Personal injury cases involving back injuries and spinal cord injuries can be challenging. Insurance companies may question your level of pain and disability. They may believe you can return to work sooner than you believe you can.  They may try to minimize the severity of your injury and the impact it has had on your life.  Count on us to interview your doctors and work with experts to learn the full extent of your injuries so that we can demonstrate the nature and severity of your injuries and prove the extent of your damages. We understand that some accident victims may worry about being able to afford hiring a lawyer. Montoya Hinckley offers a free consultation for all accident cases.  And because we work on a contingency fee basis for accident cases, you do not need to pay us a retainer before securing our representation, and you will not pay us a fee until we settle or win your case. Our payment will come from a percentage of the final settlement in the case.  We will discuss the terms of payment with you during your free initial consultation. If you hire us, we will enter into a written agreement with you guaranteeing that if we do not win an award for you, you do not owe us any fees. In the state of Washington, RCW 4.16.080 sets the length of time allowed to file a lawsuit. Victims in personal injury accidents typically must start the process of filing a lawsuit within three years. This means you typically have to actually file the lawsuit within the three-year window, not that you have to settle within three years. Although you likely have three years to file a lawsuit, we recommend contacting Montoya Hinckley’s Yakima spinal injury lawyers as soon as possible after the accident. This allows us to begin investigating the case while witnesses’ memories are still clear, and before evidence is lost or destroyed. When you hire our Yakima back injury lawyers to represent you, count on us to keep your case on track. Regardless of the complexity of your case, our personal injury lawyer will give you the representation you deserve. If the insurance company refuses to negotiate fairly and is unwilling to pay you a fair settlement, we have the skill and expertise necessary to take your case to court. Throughout your case, we will provide advice on how we believe you should proceed with your case, but the ultimate decision about whether to settle, and for how much, always rests with you.

Contact our Yakima spinal injury lawyers as soon as possible for a free consultation. We represent you with the professionalism you deserve. Call us at 509-895-7373.

After suffering a spinal cord injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault, it is normal to be concerned about your future. Spinal injuries can result in both temporary and permanent injuries. They can leave you unable to work for weeks or months. In the most severe cases, you may never be able to return to work. Typically, those who have the most serious back and spinal cord injuries will be eligible to receive the greatest level of compensation. The most serious injuries to the spinal cord can result in paralysis. Depending on the site of the injury, the level of paralysis could involve all four limbs. If the injury occurs lower on the back, paralysis to the legs is possible. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, spinal cord injuries and paralysis can fall under two categories:

• Complete: A complete injury leaves the victim unable to have any feeling or motor function below the site of the trauma.
• Incomplete: An incomplete spinal injury means the victim may have limited nerve and motor function below the site of the trauma.

The extent of disability depends upon the part of the spinal cord that is injured and how bad the injury is. Spine injuries that don’t cause paralysis are considered a less serious spinal cord injury. However, our Yakima spinal injury lawyers know that any back injury can greatly affect your life both now and into the future. Back injuries that don’t involve paralysis still can have long-lasting effects, causing chronic pain and weakness. Someone who suffers a back strain or damage to one of the vertebrae in the spine during an accident may never fully recover. These injuries can affect the victim’s ability to work or to enjoy activities with family and friends. Our back injury lawyers understand that proving the severity of a back injury can be a tricky process. Insurance companies work hard to avoid paying large settlements to accident victims. The insurance adjusters and lawyers will try to show that your injuries are less serious than you claim. Insurance companies may even accuse you of lying or exaggerating your injuries. Montoya Hinckley will defend you against these types of accusations. We will use the facts in the case to show the insurance company why your injuries are life-altering. We will interview your doctors to obtain information about your injuries, your recovery process, and what kind of future you are facing. We will consult with experts who can help prove the cause, nature, and severity of your injuries and the impact that your injuries are likely to have on you in the future.  We know how to give our clients the best possible representation. We will use our experience to determine the proper amount to request from the insurer. We can seek damages for things like:

• Medical care reimbursement, including future medical costs
• Lost wages, including future lost wages
• Reimbursement for home health care
• Reimbursement for medical equipment
• Judgment for pain and suffering
• Judgment for emotional trauma

In some cases involving a back injury accident, it’s clear which party is at fault for your injuries. If someone was driving a car while drunk, ran a stop sign, and hit your car, for example, the drunk driver is clearly at fault. In some other cases, though, the cause of the crash is not as clear. If the cause of your car accident is in doubt, that can complicate your case. Perhaps the other driver claims you were driving recklessly just before the crash, meaning that he or she is accusing you of causing the crash and being responsible for your own injuries. In such complex situations, it’s crucial to seek legal guidance from an experienced car accident lawyer who can help you navigate the difficulties of your case and build a strong defense on your behalf. Count on our spinal cord injury lawyers to work to prove the facts in your case and show that the other party was responsible for your accident. To be eligible to receive a judgment in your spinal cord injury accident case, you have to be able to show that another party is liable. We have to prove that another party acted negligently and caused your accident. Once we have established that another person is at fault for your accident, we can then seek to recover damages for things like pain and suffering, medical bills, and wage loss. After your serious back injury, you may hear from the insurance company for the negligent party. The insurer may promise to help you with the case, and help pay your medical bills. The insurer may even claim that they are trying to help you and that they are on your side.  This, however, is not the case. The at fault party’s insurer will try to limit the amount they pay you to the lowest amount possible, because that is how insurance companies make money.  The insurance company will often attempt to avoid voluntarily paying you the full compensation that you deserve.  By hiring our Montoya Hinckley’s spinal cord injury attorneys, you will have an advocate who truly works for you. At Montoya Hinckley, we understand that injured parties frequently want to receive a judgment as quickly as possible. When personal injury cases drag on, it can be emotionally traumatic for the victim. We will work as quickly as we can to achieve a settlement that you deserve. However, you can rest assured that we will not agree to an unfair settlement amount just to ensure a quick resolution. We are much more concerned that our clients receive a fair settlement than a fast settlement; the two are often not the same. When victims of negligence suffer a spinal cord injury in an accident, they may have other injuries as well. According to Mayo Clinic, brain injuries and spinal cord injuries often happen in the same accident. You can trust our brain injury lawyers to work to present a comprehensive of all of your injuries, and all of your damages resulting from the injuries, to the insurance company and, if necessary, in court. When you suffer multiple injuries in an accident, you deserve reimbursement for all of your physical injuries and emotional trauma. As a spinal cord injury victim, you may feel overwhelmed and uncertain about your future. Montoya Hinckley can provide you with direction and high-level legal representation that will help put your mind at ease.

You deserve a fair settlement. Call our spinal injury attorneys at Montoya Hinckley today at 509-895-7373 for a free review of your situation.