Auto Accidents

At Budd Bay Law, P.S. in Olympia, our personal injury attorneys frequently represent victims of auto accidents in western Washington and the South Sound, who deserve compensation for their medical expenses and other damages caused by the negligence or misconduct of another. 

Car crashes are not always the fault of the negligent or reckless behavior of the other driver. Sometimes a defect in either car may be the cause or contributing factor to a crash, or it may cause more serious injuries from the collision than would otherwise have occurred, such as if the seat back collapses or the air bags fail to deploy. Our attorneys carefully investigate the cause of the accident and look at whether the vehicle or a component part was defectively designed or manufactured, as well as determining the extent of the other driver’s negligence and fault. Even the roadway itself may be defectively designed or poorly-maintained so as to present a road hazard, which may be the fault of the city, county, or a private contractor. Our team works to identify all responsible parties and hold them accountable for the damages they have caused.

Trucking accidents are another significant source of motor vehicle accidents in and around Thurston County and the Puget Sound area. With an extensive timber and logging industry in the Pacific Northwest, logging trucks are prevalent on roads and highways throughout the region. These heavy vehicles require increased stopping distance and reaction time to avoid collisions, while their size creates blind spots for both the truck driver and surrounding vehicles. Also, the loads carried on logging trucks are more susceptible to shifting and becoming unbalanced compared to the more standardized cargo usually hauled by your average semi-truck tractor-trailer. Due to the immense weight of a fully-loaded rig, a collision between a logging truck and a much smaller, lighter, automobile is likely to cause serious personal injury or wrongful death to the occupants of the automobile.

If you are injured in an automobile accident, you will most likely be dealing with the other driver’s insurance company, or maybe your own insurer in the case of an uninsured motorist. In either case, the insurance carrier is financially motivated to pay as little as possible to settle the claim, or to avoid paying anything at all if it can. If you are not represented by an attorney, the insurance company will almost always offer you far less than your claim is actually worth. The same is true if your attorney does not have much experience in personal injury matters or rarely takes cases to trial.

The insurance companies know that our team takes cases to trial and achieves success. As a result, they are more likely to negotiate a reasonable settlement from the start. If you or a loved one has been injured in an automobile accident in Thurston, Pierce, Mason, Lewis or Grays Harbor counties, contact the personal injury attorneys at Budd Bay Law, P.S. for a free consultation.