Oregon Auto Accident Lawyer

• Rear Impact

  Although a rear-end car accident collision is the least likely fatal type of car accident, they are the most common incidents on the road today – with approximately 2.5 million occurring each year. But, they are also the least protected by auto manufacturer safety measures. The rising use of onroad distractions such as cell phones coupled with the expanding number of careless drivers on the road, have contributed to an annual increase in rear-end car accident collisions and the injuries stemming from such collisions.

  While insurance companies systematically deny that many victims of rear-end collisions are injured in any way, chronic and debilitating injuries often result from even a minor collision. The only appropriately conducted research on the topic demonstrates that there is no correlation between vehicle damage, and occupant damage. Despite this, insurers will fight these claims through to trial using experts reliant upon junk science to deceive jurors to believe no injuries can occur, and making minimal settlement offers if any at all. Symptoms of injuries, such as “whiplash” (hyperextension and hyperflexion of the neck) can appear days and even months after the incident, and can be lifelong and excruciatingly painful. Don’t take any chances on your physical health – see a doctor trained in treating traumatic injuries immediately.

  If you have received injuries because of driver negligence, you should contact a qualified and experienced personal injury lawyer who understands the complexities of personal injury law and insurance company procedures. It’s important to start the process as soon as possible so that the statutes of limitations doesn’t prevent you from filing a claim.

• Side Impact

  A common collision on American roads occurs when the front of another vehicle strikes the side of your vehicle, resulting in a side impact (or “T-Bone”) collision. These side impacts are the most likely of all collisions to cause serious injury.  These types of collisions are also responsible for over 9,000 deaths annually – only head on collisions are more deadly. Most of T-Bone collisions occur at intersections as the result of a failure to stop at a stop sign or red light, and are thus preventable. Since they are preventable, these aren’t “accidents;” these are the result of someone’s negligence, and are correctly called a “crash” or a “collision.”

  Part of the danger of side impact collisions is that the anatomy of the head and neck are not set up to protect a high-force side-impact.  Real human subject crash tests demonstrate that even in a low speed side impact crash, the head is thrown to the side of impact, rebounds (often into the opposite side window) and then is thrown back toward the side of impact which in some cases results in serious injuries.  In one of our cases, the side impact of a small car by a Ford F-150 resulted in the pickup's bumper going through the window into our client's head leaving her with a brain bleed and permanently disabled.  In crashes where the vehicles are at a more comparable height and there is no bumper intrusion through the window, the cervical nerve roots that exit the neck at the side, can be compressed or discs torn resulting in herniated discs that impinge the nerve root and cause pain and dysfunction in the head, neck and arms.  Facet joints in the neck, intended to allow normal back and forth gliding, can be torn resulting in chronic facet syndrome.  

  If you are injured in a collision, it’s important to start formal health care treatment as soon as possible because it improves your ability to heal completely from the injury. Unfortunately, many people injured in collisions, despite their best efforts, do not fully recover from their injuries.

• Head on Impact

  Head on impacts are the most deadly of all collisions. They also are a high percentage of the cases that we deal with, including cases in which one or more of the people involved die as a result of the impact. But for those who don’t, the collision can often be devastating, causing serious injuries, lifelong disability, and the need for permanent ongoing care. Often times, these cases also raise other important issues in a legal case because the oncoming driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

• High Speed

  Although a person is injured in a motor vehicle accident every 10 seconds in the United States and someone is killed every 13 minutes, high speed collisions can be especially devastating. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that speeding alone was a contributing factor in almost 30% of all fatal crashes last year. For the innocent survivors of such severe car accident crashes, the recovery process can be horribly painful and exceedingly expensive.

  We have dealt with many high speed collisions, speed racing, high speed police chases in which our client was injured, multiple high speed rear end impacts from drunk and drugged drivers, and much more.

  If you have been injured in a high speed car accident collision, you may be injured more seriously than you initially know. Often injuries to the ligaments in the spine will lead to “instability” which can compromise your spinal cord. We often see traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) and inner ear injuries result from these collisions, that are not immediately apparent to you or your doctors.  These are the type of cases we deal with regularly, but they are often overlooked or misunderstood by many doctors and lawyers. You should communicate with a qualified and experienced personal injury lawyer as soon as possible so that you can be appropriately compensated for the injuries caused by the car accident collision, and for the consequences of the injuries on your life.

• Uber / Lyft Rideshare

  We have handled several catastrophic injury cases involving rideshare vehicles.  Some have been obvious rideshare cases, while others have involved drivers who turned off their app without our client's knowledge.  These cases can involve stacking liability insurance, Personal Injury Protection, and Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist insurance coverage.  If Uber or Lyft are at fault, it could also involve self-insurance of the company.  This may address issues regarding Oregon employment law pertaining to rideshare drivers - an issue we have already handled in litigation.

  Even more confusing, these companies appear to keep changing insurers, and have multiple insurers operating in different parts of the United States.  In one of our cases we identified six different insurance policies total, for a woman with severe injuries requiring multiple surgeries including neurosurgery.  In another we are suing Hertz which owned a vehicle leased by Lyft for rideshare services and in which our client sustained multiple fractures (including serious fractures of the C1 and C2 vertebra), had temporary quadriplegia and had medical bills in excess of $500,000.

  If you were seriously injured in an Uber or Lyft vehicle, we have extensive experience in settlement and litigation with these companies.  Please call our office to discuss your case.

• Taxi Crash Cases

  We have handled several injury cases caused by taxi drivers.  Often these involve drivers with a less than safe driving history, and small taxi companies that seem to disappear before litigation can be filed. These cases can also involve stacking liability insurance, Personal Injury Protection, and Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist insurance coverage.  

  If you are seriously injured in taxi, please call us immediately. 

• SUV Rollover

  Sales of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) have sky-rocketed in the United States, accounting for over 25 percent of all new-vehicle sales in 2004 and representing almost 14 percent of all registered vehicles in the nation. There are now more than 22 million SUV’s on the road. Many buyers ironically cite safety issues for their decision, claiming that they feel more protected because they are larger, heavier and higher than cars. Unfortunately, when it comes to rollover car accidents – the leading cause of death on America’s highways – SUVs are the riskiest vehicles driven today. New fatality statistics show that over 14,000 people died last year in car accident rollovers, with SUVs averaging the highest rate at nearly 62 percent. This comprises about 33% of all crash fatalities, despite the fact that rollovers constitute only 4% of all crashes.

  To make matters worse, few meet the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration roof safety standards for automobiles – which are woefully low to begin with. Rollovers are among the most precarious of these situations, usually occurring because of the absence of a lower center of gravity. Tragically, when making a normal evasive maneuver that cars are able to safely complete every day, rapid-fire corrective action causes SUVs to tip and roll and the results can be disastrous.

  The danger of SUV rollovers is now epidemic. Rollovers themselves accounted for more fatalities in the United States than side and rear crashes combined. Car accidents from rollovers also resulted in tens of thousands of serious personal injuries, including fractured skulls and paralysis. Rollover accidents in SUVs are even more dangerous than rollovers in regular cars – based on studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), 79 percent of fatalities in a single-SUV crash involve a rollover compared to only 45 percent for passenger vehicles.  We have experience handling wrongful death cases resulting from a vehicle rollover.

If you were injured in an auto vs. auto collision or other car accident, Dr. Aaron DeShaw Esq is the experienced personal injury attorneys who can help you. Extensive experience in representing clients seriously injured in car accidents allows our law firm to better help clients who have received head injuries, brain injuries, inner ear injuries, neck and back injuries, amputations, paralysis, paraplegia, quadriplegia, or death. Hesitating in pursing your case may prevent you filing a claim for injuries, under what is called a “statute of limitations.”

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