Hermiston Personal Injury Lawyer

DO I NEED A PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER?

The first question you may be wondering is if you even need a personal injury lawyer. You likely have a personal injury claim if you have been injured due to someone else's fault (negligence). Depending on the type of case, you might encounter an insurance company representative called a claims adjuster. Their job is to "adjust" insurance claims, preferably all the way to nothing.

If you feel like you might be at a disadvantage going up against a large insurance company and all their lawyers, it is because you are at a disadvantage. The adjusters start by knowing what you are actually entitled to. Shouldn't you at least know what you may be entitled to?

Not every injured person needs a lawyer. Sometimes, there are limits with insurance policy limits that make the total amount that is likely to be collectible limited. In these situations, you might not need a personal injury lawyer. An honest personal injury attorney should tell you when you do and do not need help for your personal injury case.

The first question any personal injury attorney must answer is whether there is possibly a case. The second is whether the potential client needs a personal injury lawyer. If the answer to either question is no, the lawyer should explain why. We talk to potential clients daily, and help them understand their options and whether they need a lawyer.

ABOUT PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY CHAD STAVLEY

Chad Stavley is an experienced personal injury lawyer based out of Portland, Oregon who handles serious injury and wrongful death cases throughout Oregon and Washington. He has been practicing law since 2003 and in private practice handling personal injury and wrongful death cases since 2007.

In an era when most lawyers never try a case, Chad has tried approximately 100 cases before Oregon juries. He is passionate about the jury system and getting justice for clients. Most cases do not go to trial, but every case must be prepared for trial.  Our preparation will give us confidence in the strength of your case.

Chad Stavley has real courtroom experience winning cases against major insurance companies. He knows how to prepare a case, negotiate from a position of strength, and get a verdict if a settlement cannot be reached. You should have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side.

WHAT DOES THE LAW OFFICE OF CHAD STAVLEY DO?

We are 100% focused on representing the injured against powerful insurance companies and corporations.

Whether it is a simple car accident case or a complicated medical malpractice case, we only represent people, never insurance companies or corporations. And we only handle personal injury claims and wrongful death claims. Many personal injury lawyers also do other cases; we do not. Our law firm accepts only personal injury and wrongful death cases. Personal injury cases we take in the Hermiston and Umatilla County area include:

• Car accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian accident cases
• Boating accident cases
• Bicycle accidents
• Dog bites and dog attacks
• Rideshare accidents (Uber & Lyft)
• Trucking accidents
• Auto accidents
• Workplace injury cases
• Medical malpractice cases
• Jail medical malpractice cases
• Wrongful death cases
• Premises liability cases (slips, falls, etc.)
• Crime victim cases

We have represented clients with many different types of serious personal injuries including:

• Amputations
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Burn injuries
• Surgeries on joints like knees, ankles, hips, and elbows
• Spinal injuries
• Permanent scarring
• Broken bones with and without surgery
• Catastrophic injuries

HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT

At The Law Office of Chad Stavley, we do things differently than most personal injury lawyers. Most personal injury lawyers take as many cases as they can and run a settlement factory. Cases are pushed onto assistants, "case managers," or associates. Clients rarely, if ever, meet or speak to their lawyer. The cases are not prepared for trial, so the client is pushed hard to accept the last/best settlement offer. And those offers are often low because the defense knows the threat of trial is not real.

OUR APPROACH TO PERSONAL INJURY CASES

We limit our caseload so that we can prepare your case.

We intentionally limit the number of cases we agree to take and refer the cases we do not accept to other competent counsel. By limiting our caseload, we can put all our effort and resources towards preparing every case for trial.

When negotiating doesn't work, we try cases.

Because we prepare our cases for trial, we can negotiate from a position of strength with opponents who have seen our work and know we are prepared for trial. If we cannot reach a fair settlement acceptable to the client, we try cases to juries. Our trial results have beaten last/best offers by large margins.

Chad Stavley handles every case personally.

Chad Stavley handles every case in our office personally. He likes to meet his clients and understand their cases. No client is ever pushed off on an associate. Chad works up the damages on each case including, medical bills, future medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. Then he makes sure the clients understand the process and what they can expect.

All our cases are done on a contingent fee and we advance all costs.

A contingent fee means that our law firm does not get paid unless we win and then we take a percentage of what we recover. That is pretty standard with most Hermiston personal injury lawyers. But we also advance all the costs necessary to prepare your case, which can be a large amount of money. This means that, unlike some personal injury law firms, we will never ask you for a penny. You should have a Hermiston personal injury attorney who is willing to take all the financial risk.

We use a fair fee agreement where the fees are based on the net, not the gross recovery.

Most personal injury attorneys base their fees on the gross settlement before repayment of medical liens and outstanding medical expenses. We base our fee on the amount after outstanding medical expenses and liens are paid. In serious injury cases where liens and outstanding medical expenses can be very high, that can make a huge difference to the client. For example, in a case with $300,000 in liens and expenses that have to be repaid, our fee agreement would result in an additional $100,000 to the client.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Your next step is to get a free consultation and learn all your options, including what financial compensation you might be entitled to. During your free confidential consultation, Chad will want to know what happened to you or your loved one, and then he will make sure he is available to answer all your questions. See what a difference an experienced personal injury attorney can make.