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Edmonds, WA Car Accident Lawyer
A crash changes the shape of your day in seconds, and then it keeps taking. Pain that won’t ease, a car you can’t drive, phone calls from adjusters you never wanted to meet, and bills that arrive, but your finances are dwindling. If someone else’s carelessness put you here, you shouldn’t have to carry the financial fallout on top of the physical recovery. An Edmonds, WA car accident lawyer at Brett McCandlis Brown & Conner can take that weight off your shoulders so you can focus on healing.
Our firm has represented injured Washingtonians since 1972, recovering more than $100 million for our clients. We handle everything on a contingency-fee basis, which means you pay nothing up front and no attorney fee at all unless we win for you. We handle the insurance company, the paperwork, and the deadlines.
Contact our office to learn about your legal options.
What Are Common Causes of Car Accidents?
Edmonds sits at a busy crossroads. Ferry traffic backs up along SR 104 waiting for the Edmonds-Kingston run, commuters pour down Highway 99 and 196th Street SW, and drivers unfamiliar with the Five Corners roundabout hesitate or push through when they shouldn’t. Most collisions in and around town trace back to a handful of preventable choices.
Speeding
Speeding gives a driver less time to recognize stopped traffic, a changing signal, a pedestrian, or another vehicle entering the roadway. It also increases the force transferred to vehicle occupants during a collision.
Drivers must adjust their speed to the road, weather, visibility, and surrounding traffic. A driver may still be negligent while traveling at or below the posted limit when rain, darkness, congestion, or limited visibility makes that speed unsafe.
Impaired Driving
Alcohol, cannabis, and some medications can affect coordination, judgment, attention, and reaction time. An impaired driver may drift between lanes, misjudge the distance needed to stop, enter an intersection against a signal, or fail to notice traffic slowing near the ferry approach.
A criminal DUI case may punish the driver, but it does not automatically compensate an injured person. The civil claim is a separate process used to seek payment for medical expenses, lost income, pain, and other losses caused by the collision.
Disregarding Traffic Lights and Signs
Traffic lights and signs control who may enter an intersection, when drivers must stop, and how vehicles should move through the area. A driver who runs a red light, rolls through a stop sign, or makes a prohibited turn can place others directly in the path of a collision.
Photographs of the intersection, nearby video footage, witness statements, and traffic-signal records may help show which driver failed to obey the posted direction.
Distracted Driving
A driver does not need to be typing a long message to become dangerously distracted. Looking at a notification, adjusting navigation, reaching for an item, eating, or focusing on a passenger can take attention away from changing traffic.
When distraction is suspected, an investigation may examine witness accounts, video, phone records obtained through the legal process, and the driver’s actions immediately before impact.
Fatigue
A fatigued driver may have slower reactions, poor judgment, reduced awareness, or difficulty staying within a lane. Long work hours, inadequate sleep, overnight driving, and untreated sleep disorders may contribute to these problems.
Fatigue can be difficult to prove from the crash report alone. Work schedules, driving records, witness statements, surveillance footage, and the driver’s own account may help establish how long the person had been awake and whether tiredness affected their driving.
Failure to Yield
Failure-to-yield crashes commonly occur when drivers turn left across approaching traffic, enter a main road from a driveway, or proceed through an intersection without allowing another vehicle to pass. These mistakes can lead to side-impact collisions because the approaching driver may have little time or space to avoid the turn.
Evidence about vehicle positions, traffic signals, sight lines, and speed can help determine whether the turning driver violated that duty.
Vehicle Defects
Worn tires, faulty brakes, broken lights, and other mechanical problems can contribute to a collision. A driver or vehicle owner may be negligent if they knew or should have known of a dangerous problem and continued using the vehicle without repairing it.
When a newly manufactured part fails unexpectedly, the investigation may also consider whether the manufacturer or another company bears responsibility.
Bad Weather
Rain, fog, ice, and standing water do not excuse careless driving. Drivers must reduce their speed, leave more space between vehicles, use their lights, and avoid sudden movements when conditions make the road harder to navigate.
A driver may be negligent by continuing too fast for the conditions, following too closely, or failing to respond to reduced visibility.
Road Hazards
Potholes, debris, broken traffic lights, unsafe construction zones, faded lane markings, and other road defects may point to negligent maintenance by the government agency, contractor, or other entity responsible for the roadway.
Claims involving public roads may also have special notice and procedural requirements, making early investigation especially important.
What Should I Do After a Car Accident in Edmonds?
What you do in the minutes, hours, and days after a crash can shape your health and your legal claim. Here is a practical roadmap.
Call Emergency Services
Call 911 from the scene. Depending on where the crash occurred, the Edmonds Police Department, the Washington State Patrol, or the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office will respond, secure the area, and create a collision report.
Seek Medical Attention
Get checked out by emergency medical personnel even if you feel okay. Adrenaline masks pain, and injuries like whiplash, concussions, and internal bleeding can take hours or days to reveal themselves.
Prompt treatment at a medical facility like Providence Swedish Edmonds protects both your health and your claim by creating a medical record that ties your injuries to the crash.
Capture the Accident Scene
If you can move safely, take photos and videos with your phone. Capture vehicle damage from multiple angles, skid marks, debris, traffic signals, road conditions, and your visible injuries.
Then look around for cameras. Businesses often have exterior surveillance, and many homes near residential crash sites have doorbell cameras.
Note their locations. Footage is often deleted or recorded over within days, so we move quickly to send preservation letters and secure video before it disappears.
Exchange Details with Other Parties to the Accident
Collect each driver’s information, including:
- Name,
- Phone number,
- Address,
- Driver’s license number,
- License plate,
- Insurance information, and
- Make and model of every vehicle involved.
Stay calm and stick to the facts. Don’t apologize or speculate about who caused the crash, because those words can resurface later as an admission of fault.
Identify Witnesses
Bystanders, other drivers, and nearby shop employees may have seen exactly what happened. Get names and phone numbers before they leave the scene. Independent witnesses carry real weight with insurance companies and juries because they have no financial stake in the outcome.
Contact an Edmonds Auto Accident Lawyer
The sooner we get involved, the more we can do. Early on, we can preserve video footage, photograph vehicles before they’re repaired or scrapped, interview witnesses while memories are fresh, and shield you from insurance adjusters. An Edmonds, WA car accident lawyer from our team can evaluate your case for free and provide an honest assessment of its strengths, challenges, and potential value.
What Should I Avoid?
Insurance companies profit by paying out less than claims are worth, and they know how to use your own words and actions against you. Working with an Edmonds car accident lawyer helps you avoid certain actions that can be taken out of context.
Don’t Speak to the Insurance Company Alone
Soon after the crash, an adjuster will likely call, sounding friendly and concerned. Their job is to protect the insurance company’s bottom line, not yours.
Common tactics include requesting a recorded statement and mining it for inconsistencies, and offering a fast, lowball settlement before you know the full extent of your injuries.
Once you accept a settlement, your claim is closed forever, even if your injuries turn out to be far worse than you thought. Let us handle every conversation. We know these tactics and how to counter them.
Don’t Miss Medical Appointments
Follow your treatment plan and attend every appointment, therapy session, and follow-up. Gaps in treatment give the insurance company an opening to argue that you weren’t really hurt or that you made your injuries worse by skipping care.
Consistent medical records document your pain, your progress, and your losses in a way an adjuster can’t easily dispute. If cost is keeping you from care, tell us. We can help coordinate with your providers so treatment continues while your claim moves forward.
Don’t Post on Social Media
Assume the insurance company will see everything you post. A smiling photo at a family barbecue or a check-in at the Edmonds waterfront can be twisted into “proof” that your injuries aren’t serious, even if you spent the rest of that day in bed recovering.
Don’t post about the accident, your injuries, or your activities, and ask friends and family not to tag you. The safest approach is to stay off social media entirely until your claim resolves.
How Long Do I Have to Bring a Car Accident Claim?
Washington law gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit under the state’s statute of limitations. If you miss that deadline, the court will generally dismiss your case, no matter how strong it is.
Talk to a car accident attorney in Edmonds, WA, soon after your crash to help protect your deadline.
Put Your Recovery First with an Edmonds Car Accident Lawyer
You didn’t choose this crash, but you can choose who fights for you after it. Brett McCandlis Brown & Conner can handle the investigation, the insurance negotiations, and, if necessary, the courtroom.
Before we ever agree to represent you, we give you a straightforward evaluation of your case: its strengths, its risks, and what you can realistically expect to recover. We return your calls promptly, keep you updated at every stage, and prepare every case as if it’s going to trial.
Contact Brett McCandlis Brown & Conner today and let us start fighting for the compensation you deserve.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
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