Oregon Car Accident Attorneys

Yes. This means that, at first glance, each person involved in an Oregon car accident is responsible for their own damages, repairs, and injuries. However, some exceptions will be made based on traffic laws, police reports, and insurance adjuster investigations. For this reason, it is critically important to have a knowledgeable and skilled attorney to advocate for you from the beginning, like those at SLP Law. Whether you live in Portland, Salem, or elsewhere in Oregon, we can help.

Two years or six years, depending on the claim. The statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is two years in Oregon. The statute of limitations for a property damage claim—such as damage to your vehicle or other property—is six years.

You must file an Oregon Traffic Accident and Insurance Report within 72 hours of the accident if the damage is worth over $2,500 or if either party sustained injury. This includes single-car crashes. Failure to do so could result in driver’s license suspension. You can file one of these reports with the Oregon DMV.

Unfortunately, yes. If you’re found at fault in a car accident and damages exceed the value of your home, you can be sued for damages and risk losing your primary residence. It’s best to ensure your liability insurance covers your net worth to avoid this. But if that’s not possible, contact the legal experts of SLP Law.

In Oregon, car insurance companies must pay out claims within sixty days. They’ll spend the first thirty days acknowledging the claim and giving the policyholder the necessary paperwork. Then, they’ll spend the following thirty days deciding on the claim and pay the amount if necessary.

However, it is crucial that you not settle your claim until you understand the full range of your losses and their ramifications. If you settle, the claim cannot be reopened. Having an attorney fighting for you, ensuring that your rights are protected and that all your losses are paid, is what we do, and we do it extremely well.

Tricky question. Oregon law requires you to file an accident report within 72 hours after the accident occurs. For the injury claim itself, you typically have two (2) years from the accident date to either settle your case or file a lawsuit. Some auto accident cases do have shorter timelines and crucial evidence can disappear quickly. That means that there’s no time to lose when it comes to contacting a car accident attorney and getting the assistance you need.

Insurance companies begin right away to build a case against you. They know that if they can get to you early, they’ll get a recorded statement from you, get you to sign authorizations and even accept a small amount quickly to resolve your case. They are experts at what they do. For this reason, you need your own expert. The lawyers at Swanson, Lathen, Prestwich, PC, have decades of experience and have handled tens of thousands of cases. Contacting us early in the process will ensure your case is best positioned for you.

As soon as an accident occurs, you need to stop at the scene of the accident. Then, call 911 and report the accident, even if there are no injured persons at the scene of the crash. In Oregon, police and emergency personnel don’t always respond. In that case, you’ll need to do some work on your own to protect yourself and your rights.

In every accident, it is critical to take photos. Most of us carry cell phones these days. Take photos of the cars, i.e. yours and the others involved. Take photos of the scene for any debris or skidmarks. Exchange information with the other drivers. This includes driver’s license, insurance and personal contact information. Take a photo of these things so you can get accurate information. Then contact Swanson, Lathen, Prestwich, PC, and allow us to take over for you and make sure you’re protected.

You can recover both economic and non-economic losses from a car accident. These include:

• Medical costs: coverage for ambulance rides, medical stays, medications, injury treatment, and future medical treatment to name a few;
• Property damages: damage to your vehicle as well as tow truck expenses, storage fees and rental car costs while you wait for your vehicle to be repaired. If your car is repaired, you may also qualify for diminished value (DV), i.e. the difference between your car’s value after an accident versus its worth before.
• Wage losses & income impairment: coverage for time during which you were unable to work due to your injuries, future loss of earnings, the value for losses in benefits or other compensation you earned as part of your job.
• Pain and suffering: compensation pain, suffering, disruption of your life, inconvenience, permanent disability, death of a loved one, disfigurement, and PTSD caused by the accident are just some examples.

An expert car accident attorney can help you determine which of these losses are owed to you.

In the event that an at-fault driver had no insurance or insufficient insurance to cover your losses or pay you compensation, your own insurance will provide the compensation that the other driver should have provided. This is called uninsurance (UM) and underinsurance (UIM) benefits in your Oregon insurance policy. It is mandatory coverage and really is the best way to protect yourself from serious financial harm.

We strongly advocate that clients carry higher insurance limits so as to protect themselves from situations where the at-fault driver has no, or very little, insurance. Most insurance companies charge relatively little to increase your insurance limits of coverage for this.

The short answer is no. For this reason, it is critical that you know all the facts and all possible outcomes for your case. Having a skilled and experienced personal injury attorney can help ensure that you get all the compensation you deserve because, once the case settles or goes to a hearing, that’s it. There is no way to re-open your case for more, even if the circumstances change

Absolutely. We tell people all the time, even in smaller cases, that it is to your serious advantage that you have a highly skilled and experienced car accident lawyer on your side. And the sooner the better for you to help make sure you don’t make mistakes early in your case and to be your advocate from start to finish.

In addition, having a car accident lawyer working for you increases the chance that you’ll get a significantly higher settlement from your accident. Moreover, we won’t charge a fee unless we win your case.