Western Washington Personal Injury Law Blog

When a person goes onto another person's land as a guest of some kind, the visitor can generally expect that the owner will provide them with a reasonably safe environment. Washington law provides that the owner has a duty of care to visitors. If the owner's carelessness leads to unsafe conditions, and the unsafe conditions lead to the visitor being injured, the owner can be held liable for the injured visitor's damages.

However, the law recognizes that not all visitors have the same legal status, and owners don't owe the same duty of care to every type of visitor. The law recognizes several categories of visitors, including invitees, social guests, licensees and trespassers.

When the brain suffers an impact, penetration trauma or another serious contusion a traumatic brain injury may result. Traumatic brain injuries can be mild and remedy themselves over time, or a Washington victim may suffer the effects of a serious traumatic brain injury for the rest of their life. Although traumatic brain injuries can look different in different victims, this post will provide general information on what issues a traumatic brain injury victim may have to live with following their harm.

Traumatic brain injuries can have symptoms that impact the physical, mental, and sensory functioning of a person's body. On a physical level, a person's balance and coordination may be compromised or they may have pain, dizziness, or even a loss of consciousness. On a sensory level, a traumatic brain injury can cause a victim to suffer from blurred vision, light sensitivity, and ringing in the ears.

Readers may not know it, but in most situations where they may encounter other people they owe strangers a general duty of care to act reasonably given their circumstances and surroundings. For Washington drivers, that can mean paying attention to the roads and using proper driving techniques to avoid collisions and injuries with the other cars and pedestrians that may be near them. A driver's duty to others can be breached if they allow negligence and distraction to creep into their vehicle operating habits.

When a driver fails to obey traffic laws or chooses to let distractions take their focus off of the road, they become a danger to everyone that they encounter. Their negligence can take on many forms, and this post will examine just how negligence may serve as a breach of a driver's duty to pedestrians with whom they must share the roads.

When faced with a threat and with no option to retreat, even the most mild-mannered person may find themselves in an altercation that they would have otherwise wanted to avoid. Washington residents who are involved in alleged assaults and batteries can sometimes find themselves facing serious criminal charges if the other parties claim that the accused individuals were the aggressors in their attacks. It is therefore possible for crime victims to be charged with criminal accusations for their involvement in protecting themselves and others when assaults and batteries occur.

In such cases it may be possible for individuals to use self-defense as a means of overcoming their legal challenges. In order to plead self-defense, certain elements must be proven and as with all posts included on this blog, readers are advised not to read the information contained herein as legal advice.