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Work injury combined with auto accident injury

I injured my back and arm while moving a 300 lb tire at work. Then a week later was rear ended while stopped at a stop light. I was returning from the L&I doctor's office who had released me from work due to the back injury. Now L&I wont pay anything since I was in the MVA and the auto insurance wont pay since I had the work injury claim. This has been going on since 1/16/08, I have lost over $20,000 in wages alone which Im told is not recoverable. On top of that if L&I were too pay me anything it would only be 60% of which the attorney will take their 30% which doesn't leave much to live on. Is there any way out of this mess?

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Attorney answers (3)

Avvo Pro

Reputation Level 11
It sounds like you already know the answer. You've got to hire an attorney immediatley. In your situation you have L&I pointing the finger at the auto accident, and the auto accident pointing the finger at L&I. You need an advocate who is on your side that can hold both sides feet to the fire and get a resolution that puts you in the best position possible.
1 person marked this answer as good
Shalini D Gujavarty
Shalini D Gujavarty, licensed in New York

Avvo Pro

Reputation Level 19
Yyou really need an attorney, like yesterday, preferably one that does both personal injury and workers compensation.

Avvo Pro

Reputation Level 7
This is a very common situation when you have multiple parties involved. They usually like to point the finger at each other. You quite possibly have two separate claims here. The first is a worker's compensation claim and the second is a negligence claim for the auto accident. Some lawyers do both types of cases, but sometimes you may end up having to hire two separate lawyers. Regardless, it really sounds like you need to hire a lawyer to go over all of the facts surrounding your possible claims. Just remember that you should act quickly. Good luck.

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