Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly 1/3 of all motor vehicle accidents in the United States are single-vehicle crashes. Of those, more than 2/3 (roughly 70%) involve vehicles running off the road. Even if no other vehicle is involved, these accidents can be very serious or even catastrophic. While single-vehicle crashes account for only 33% of all crashes, they account for 53% of all traffic fatalities, according to the National Safety Council. If you are a passenger who was hurt in a single-vehicle crash, you have rights. To protect yourself and your ability to get a proper recovery, start by talking to an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer about your situation.
One such accident occurred earlier this month in eastern Oregon. According to the Oregon State Police’s investigation, a Honda CRV was traveling eastbound on Interstate 84 “when it left the freeway for an unknown reason,” Apple Valley News Now reported. The CRV subsequently entered the median, went airborne, and caught fire upon landing.
The driver suffered serious injuries. A passenger in the CRV died at the scene.
At this point, we do not know why this vehicle left the road and entered the median. We do, however, know that many single-vehicle crashes involve elements of driver negligence. Common causes of single-vehicle accidents include drivers going too fast, driving while distracted, driving while drowsy or fatigued, or driving while impaired.
If you are a passenger who suffers serious or catastrophic harm in a single-vehicle crash, you need to know that you have especially strong rights. In accidents involving multiple vehicles, the drivers involved may share the blame for the crash. Passengers, by contrast, very rarely have any degree of culpability for the crash that injured them.
Pursuing Insurance Claims
The law in Oregon (as well as Washington) allows you to pursue insurance claims against all available policies at the same time. That means that, in a single vehicle crash, you can pursue claims with the driver’s liability coverage, the PIP coverage under your own insurance, and your uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) coverage if the driver had insufficient coverage or no coverage at all. If yours was a crash involving multiple drivers, then you can pursue the liability coverage of all of the drivers who contributed to the crash, in addition to your own PIP and (potentially) UM/UIM coverages.
Pursuing these claims is often not easy. Insurance companies may try to deny your claim or, even if they do not deny it outright, to settle your claim for far less than it is really worth. You need a knowledgeable and diligent advocate to take on the insurance companies and ensure they pay you the proper amount for your claim.
When Your Accident Case Requires Suing the Government
Sometimes, one of the factors that contributes to a single-vehicle crash is completely outside the driver’s control: road conditions. An improperly designed or maintained road may contribute to a driver leaving the road and crashing. When that circumstance arises, it may become necessary to pursue a claim against the state or a local government. Be aware that these claims operate under a different set of procedural rules than lawsuits against private individuals or entities. These matters are controlled by the Oregon Tort Claims Act. One important difference between these claims and those against private entities concerns deadlines. In a private lawsuit, you generally have two years to sue. In a case against a governmental entity, you have only 180 days to file a notice of claim if the case did not involve death (or one year if the case did involve death).
As you can from these descriptions, obtaining a proper recovery after you have been hurt a passenger in a motor vehicle accident is something that often involves multiple steps, and requires an in-depth knowledge of the procedures required as well as experience in taking on well-funded opponents like insurance companies. If you have been seriously hurt, count on the skilled Oregon auto accident lawyers at Kaplan Law LLC to deliver that kind of knowledgeable, experience-driven advocacy combined with the personalized attention you deserve. Call (503) 226-3844 today or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.
