Personal Injury

Defective products injure thousands of people each year. In fact, many common household items could be dangerous, including furniture, appliances, toys, clothing, and food. Many people suffer serious injuries when these products malfunction and could suffer permanent disfigurement or disabilities.

At Khan Law Firm, our thriving product liability practice represents those hurt by defective products. Below, we highlight some of the important ways we help our clients bring successful claims for compensation. Contact us to learn more.

We Can Establish the Product Was Defective

The fact that you were injured by a product doesn’t necessarily mean it was defective. You might have used it the wrong way or ignored prominent safety warnings. If so, then you are probably responsible for your own injuries.

Instead, we usually need to show that the product was unreasonably dangerous based on design or manufacture. We can rely on all sorts of information. For example, our attorneys might work with experts to identify the flaws in the design or the materials used. We can also research whether other people were injured in similar incidents by the same product.

Legally, a consumer product is defective if it doesn’t work as a consumer would normally expect or if the risk of harm was too great. These are usually factual determinations, and we can gather the necessary facts to convince a judge or jury.

We Can Identify All Defendants

When a product is defective, you might sue:

• The manufacturer for defective design or manufacture, or for inadequate warnings
• A product seller, like a retailer, if they were negligent or breached a warranty
• A distributor or wholesaler for negligence

Suing the manufacturer is usually the easiest. However, adding defendants has certain advantages, such as increasing the likelihood you will receive full and fair compensation for your injuries. We can investigate just what these other parties knew and whether they used sufficient care when handling the product or selling it.

We Can File a Lawsuit in a Timely Manner

You might hope to settle your claim outside of court—and most product liability cases do settle. But filing a lawsuit is always a possibility, especially when negotiations falter. Washington state gives victims a short amount of time to get a lawsuit properly filed—three years. One reason to hire our product liability lawyers is that we can protect your rights.

We Can Connect Your Injuries to the Defective Product

You can only sue if you can draw a link between the product defect and your injuries. For example, watching a defective car explode from the safety of your home is terrifying, but it doesn’t give you a right to sue unless you were injured.

Sometimes defendants claim your injuries were caused by something else—such as a pre-existing injury. We work to create a link between your current injuries and the defective product.

Contact Our Seattle Products Liability Attorney

Khan Law Firm realizes that accident victims feel betrayed when dangerous products hurt them. Let us help you hold the manufacturer or other parties accountable. Call us to schedule a free consultation.

Spinal cord injuries can have many different causes, and they can occur in a wide range of accidents, including motor vehicle collisions, pedestrian accidents, and slips and falls. The severity of spinal injuries can also vary significantly depending upon the circumstances of the injury and where, precisely, in the spine or spinal cord it occurred. How can you know if you have a spinal injury in order to file a claim against the liable party? Our Seattle personal injury lawyers can explain in more detail.

Head or Neck Injury Should Lead to Immediate Assessment

After a car crash or another serious type of accident, you may realize that you have some injuries but may not know if you have suffered a potentially catastrophic injury such as a spinal injury. According to the Mayo Clinic, signs and symptoms of a severe spinal injury are not always obvious or immediate. In fact, the numbness or even paralysis that results from many spinal injuries can “come on gradually,” as the Mayo Clinic clarifies.

Given that many head and neck injuries also result in injuries to the spinal cord or the spine, it is critical to have a full medical assessment any time you suspect you may have suffered a head or neck injury. The Mayo Clinic even suggests that a person with signs of a head or neck injury should assume they have a spinal injury until a doctor has said that they do not since “the time between injury and treatment can be critical in determining the extent and severity of complications and the possible extent of expected recovery.”

Common Emergency Signs of a Spinal Injury

While some spinal injuries after accidents do not result in immediate signs or symptoms—but could later lead to paralysis if not properly identified and treated—some spinal injuries produce immediate signs and symptoms that should involve emergency treatment. The Mayo Clinic cites the following as indicators of a spinal cord injury that should be handled as an emergency situation:

• Extreme pain in the back, neck, or head following an accident;
• Weakness or paralysis that occurs in any part of the body, even if it is not near the spinal cord or spinal column;
• Lack of coordination or any difficulty walking or maintaining balance;
• Any loss of bladder control or bowel control;
• Difficulty breathing after an accident and injury;
• Numbness or tingling that occurs in the hands, fingers, feet, or toes;
• Neck or back that has become “oddly positioned” following an accident.

Contact a Washington State Spinal Cord Injury Attorney

Spinal cord injuries are extremely serious, and they need to be identified by a health care provider as early as possible so that you can receive treatment. When spinal injuries are not identified in a timely manner, they can result in permanent paralysis that can include paraplegia or tetraplegia. If you have any signs of a spinal injury, or if you even have any signs of a head or neck injury after an accident, you need to be assessed for a possible spinal injury. An experienced Washington State spinal cord injury lawyer at our firm can help you with your case and assist you in seeking compensation after a spinal injury in an accident. Contact Khan Law Firm today.

Brain injuries are some of the hardest to bounce back from. The brain is so central to everything we do—eating, breathing, thinking, and moving—that any injury can dramatically change your life.

At Khan Law Firm, our brain injury lawyers in Kent seek the maximum compensation for our clients. The amount you can receive depends on many factors, which we review below.

Calculate Your Medical Expenses

You should receive compensation to cover the costs of treating your brain injury. Many patients need diagnostic tests, doctor’s visits, and time in the hospital to recover. There are also rehabilitation costs if the patient’s movement, speech, or behavior is impaired (which is likely when the brain injury is serious). You should also add in any prescriptions to treat symptoms (like sleeplessness) or assistive devices, like a wheelchair.

Add Up Lost Wages/Income

If your brain injury keeps you out of work, you should receive compensation for lost income. If you have a regular job, calculating your losses is easy. Just add up the number of weeks missed and multiply by your average weekly income. If you are self-employed, take a more intensive look at how much you usually make and consider any canceled contracts.

Estimate a Fair Amount for Pain and Suffering

This is trickier. A brain injury can cause intense headaches. Other victims are paralyzed or feel trapped in their homes because they cannot leave due to dizziness and confusion. “Pain and suffering” is the term used to cover a range of inconveniences and non-financial losses, like depression, emotional distress, disability, etc.

What’s a fair amount? That depends on who you ask. Khan Law has helped many personal injury victims, and we can use our experience to estimate a realistic amount you can receive based on your symptoms.

Analyze Fault and Contributory Fault

You can only receive compensation if someone else is at least partially at fault for your brain injury. If this is something you did to yourself, then no one must pay you compensation.

Washington also recognized contributory fault. The rule found at RCW 4.22.005 states that a victim’s financial recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault. For example, you might have suffered a brain injury while walking as a pedestrian. But if you were jaywalking at the time you were hit, then your negligence is a contributing factor in your injuries.

You might have suffered $80,000 in compensatory damages listed above. But if you were 50% at fault, then the most you can receive is $40,000. Similarly, if you were 75% to blame, then the most you can get is $20,000.

Identify How Many Assets the Defendant Has

You can have $100,000 in damages and be 0% at fault. But what if the person who injured you has no money? That sometimes happens, in which case you probably won’t receive any compensation—or not as much as you are entitled to.

Sometimes, a defendant has insurance, and you can make a claim on the policy to receive something. Of course, you will be limited to the maximum policy amount.

Contact Khan Law Firm today to review your brain injury case. We fight to get our clients the most compensation we can.