What Is a Personal Injury Case?

A personal injury case is what happens when someone else’s carelessness causes you harm and you decide to hold them accountable for it. That can happen in a lot of different ways.

Common types of personal injury cases we handle include:

• Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Workplace injuries
• Dog bites
• Wrongful death
• Medical and professional malpractice

What You Can Be Compensated For

One of the first questions people ask is what their case might actually be worth. Compensation generally falls into two categories.

Economic damages are the concrete, out-of-pocket costs:

• Medical bills, past and future
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Property damage
• Rehabilitation and ongoing care

Non-economic damages cover the parts of your life that are harder to put a dollar figure on:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of companionship

In cases where the other party’s behavior was especially reckless or intentional, additional punitive damages may also be on the table.

How Fault Works in Oregon and Washington

Most personal injury cases come down to proving negligence, which basically means showing four things:

1. The other person had a responsibility to act carefully around you
2. They failed to do that
3. That failure is what caused your injury
4. You have real losses because of it

Both Oregon and Washington use a modified comparative fault rule, which means you can still recover compensation even if you were partly to blame, as long as you were less than 51 percent at fault. Your payout is reduced by whatever percentage you were responsible for.

The Insurance Company Is Not on Your Side

After an accident in Portland, Gresham, or anywhere in Multnomah County, the other driver’s insurance company will often reach out to you quickly. That speed is not a coincidence. Their job is to settle your claim for as little as possible, ideally before you know what it is really worth.

A few things worth knowing before you talk to any adjuster:

• You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer
• Early settlement offers are almost always lower than what your case is actually worth
• Signing a release ends your claim for good, even if your injuries turn out to be worse than expected
• Gaps in medical care can and will be used against you

How the Process Actually Works

Most personal injury cases follow a similar path, though how long it takes depends a lot on how serious the injuries are and whether the insurance company plays fair.

1. Get medical treatment

Your health obviously comes first. But your medical records are also the backbone of your case, so consistent care and documentation really does matter.

2. Gather evidence

This includes police reports, photos, witness statements, medical records, and anything else that helps tell the full story of what happened and how it affected your life.

3. Send a demand and negotiate

Once your treatment is complete or your condition has stabilized, your attorney puts together a demand package and sends it to the insurance company. Back and forth negotiation follows.

4. Settle or go to court

Most cases in Portland and Gresham settle before trial. When the insurance company refuses to make a fair offer, filing a lawsuit and heading toward trial is how you force the issue.

How Attorney Fees Work

At Gamboa Law Firm, we handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. That means no upfront costs and no hourly bills. We take a percentage of the settlement or verdict at the end, and if we do not recover anything for you, you do not owe us anything. It is that simple.