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Your choice of an electrocution accident lawyer can affect how much compensation you recover and how well you are able to provide for yourself and your family in the years ahead. An electrical injury can be painful and difficult to recover from, and you need an attorney who will fight for you so you can heal and get back to your life. Freeman Law Firm has recovered millions for clients, and our attorneys pursue every party responsible for your injuries, including Tacoma Power and other utility companies.
Call (253) 383-4500 for a free consultation. You'll pay nothing unless we obtain financial recovery on your behalf.
You may have a case if another party's negligence caused the electric shock that injured you. To recover compensation, you and your attorney need to prove the following to the insurance company or, if your case goes to trial, to a jury:
Freeman Law Firm's attorneys investigate how the shock happened and gather evidence for each part of your case, including inspections of the wiring or equipment and the records your doctors keep on your treatment.
Freeman Law Firm's attorneys investigate every party connected to the wiring or equipment that shocked you. Utilities, contractors, property owners, and manufacturers are four of the parties our attorneys pursue in electrocution cases.
Washington law holds electric utilities to "the highest degree of care" when their lines and equipment carry a risk of serious injury or death (Keegan v. Grant County PUD No. 2, 34 Wn. App. 274 (1983)). A utility can owe you compensation when its crews leave a downed line energized or fail to maintain the lines and equipment that shocked you.
When a city-owned utility like Tacoma Power or a public utility district supplied the electricity, your case starts with a claim for damages presented to that local government (RCW 4.96.020). Washington law does not allow a lawsuit against a local government until 60 days after the claim is presented, and Freeman Law Firm prepares the claim and presents it on your behalf.
An electrician or contractor who installs wiring incorrectly or leaves live circuits exposed can owe you compensation, whether the shock happened at your home, a business, or a job site. Washington's construction safety rules set specific requirements for electrical work, and a contractor's violation of a safety rule can serve as evidence of negligence in your case (RCW 5.40.050). Examples of the requirements contractors need to follow:
Property owners in Washington can owe compensation for an electric shock caused by a hazard on their property that they knew about or should have found and fixed, for example exposed wiring or a broken outlet. Our attorneys bring electrocution cases against property owners as premises liability cases.
Landlords have a separate obligation under RCW 59.18.060 to keep the electrical systems they supply in "reasonably good working order." A landlord who ignored your repair requests about faulty wiring can owe you compensation for the shock that followed.
A defective tool, appliance, or other electrical product can shock you even when you use it the way the manufacturer intended. RCW 7.72.030 allows injured victims to recover from the manufacturer for three types of defects:
Washington's workers' compensation system, run by the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I), pays benefits for electrical injuries on the job, and RCW 51.04.010 bars you from suing your employer over a workplace injury in most cases. However, RCW 51.24.020 allows a lawsuit against an employer when the injury results from the employer's "deliberate intention" to produce it, and the Washington Supreme Court has held that an employer meets that standard when it knew an injury was certain to occur and willfully disregarded that knowledge (Birklid v. Boeing Co., 127 Wn.2d 853 (1995)).
RCW 51.24.030 gives you the right to bring a separate case against a third party outside your employer's company whose negligence caused your electrocution. L&I benefits do not pay for pain and suffering, and a third-party case can recover compensation for pain and suffering along with your medical bills, lost income, and other losses. Examples of third parties in a construction accident or other workplace electrocution:
Freeman Law Firm pursues the third-party case against every company responsible for the shock and does not represent clients in their L&I claims.
An electrocution case can put you up against a utility company, a contractor's insurance company, or a local government, and the attorney you hire needs the experience and resources to take them on. Before you hire a lawyer, ask the following questions:
Bring your questions to your free consultation with Freeman Law Firm, and our personal injury attorneys will explain our experience with similar cases and how we would pursue yours.
The steps you take after an electric shock protect your health and the evidence you need for your case:
An adjuster's job is to limit what the insurance company pays, and adjusters for utilities, contractors, and property owners may use the following compensation traps in electrocution claims.
An adjuster may point to a small entry wound, or to no visible burn at all, and argue that you were barely hurt or that you received more treatment than you needed. An adjuster can use gaps in treatment and missed appointments to support that argument. Freeman Law Firm gathers the records from your doctors and specialists that document the damage to your nerves, heart, and muscles, and we connect you with medical providers who can keep your care consistent.
An adjuster may argue that your symptoms come from an older condition or from something that happened after the shock, and may ask you to sign an authorization that releases your entire medical history to look for one. When a doctor treats you soon after the shock, the doctor's records tie your injuries to the electrocution, and Freeman Law Firm limits the records the insurance company receives to the treatment connected to your injury.
An adjuster may argue that you touched the line, ignored a warning, or used the equipment the wrong way, even when the evidence points to the utility, contractor, or property owner. Any share of fault assigned to you reduces your compensation, so our attorneys investigate what warnings were posted, whether the hazard was visible, and whether the company in control of the hazard met the safety rules that applied to the wiring or equipment.
A utility may blame the contractor, and the contractor may blame the utility or the equipment manufacturer. Our attorneys bring the case against every company that contributed to the shock, so one defendant cannot project its share of the fault onto a company that is not part of your case.
An adjuster may sound friendly and present a settlement offer as a favor before you and your doctors know the long-term effects of the shock, which can include nerve damage, memory problems, and PTSD. A signed settlement release ends your right to seek more compensation for the shock. Our attorneys compare any offer against your doctors' opinions on your future care, and we take your case to court when an insurance company refuses to pay full compensation.
Your compensation can cover any burn injuries you see on your skin and the injuries that continue to affect you months or years after the shock. Electrocution survivors can live with nerve damage, weakness, trouble with balance and coordination, memory and attention problems, and PTSD or depression after their burns heal.
Washington law allows you to seek compensation for your past and future losses, which can cover the following:
An insurance adjuster reviews your medical records, your doctors' opinions, and proof of your lost income before making a settlement offer, and a jury looks at that evidence if your case goes to trial. Freeman Law Firm documents the cost of the care your doctors expect you to need in the years ahead, and our attorneys present that evidence in settlement negotiations and, when a case goes to trial, to the jury.
Washington law gives you three years from the date of your electrocution injury to bring a lawsuit (RCW 4.16.080(2)). Other deadline rules can apply depending on who caused the shock and who was hurt:
Washington follows pure comparative fault, which means you can recover compensation even if you share part of the blame for the shock, and your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault (RCW 4.22.005). A jury that finds you 20 percent at fault reduces your compensation by 20 percent.
RCW 4.22.070 requires the jury to assign a percentage of fault to every entity that caused your injuries, other than an employer that is immune from suit under Washington's workers' compensation laws. Each defendant generally pays only its own share, but when the jury finds you were not at fault, the defendants against whom a judgment is entered are jointly and severally liable for their combined shares, which means you can collect those combined shares from any one of them.
When an electric shock is fatal, the personal representative of the estate can bring a wrongful death case for the benefit of the family (RCW 4.20.010). RCW 4.20.020 names the spouse or state registered domestic partner and the children, including stepchildren, as the first beneficiaries, and the parents or siblings when no spouse, partner, or child survives. Freeman Law Firm's wrongful death attorneys represent families in Tacoma and across Washington who lost someone to an electrocution.
Freeman Law Firm's attorneys and staff work on your case from your first consultation until it is resolved. Here is what our clients can expect:
Our attorneys have litigated cases at every level of the Washington state and federal court systems, including the Washington Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
An electrocution injury can change your health, your work, and your family's plans, and you deserve attorneys who will stand up to the utility, contractor, or insurance company responsible. Freeman Law Firm has recovered millions for injured victims across Washington, and when an insurance company refuses to pay the compensation your injuries call for, our attorneys take the case to trial.
Call (253) 383-4500 for a free consultation. You'll pay nothing unless we obtain financial recovery on your behalf.
An electric shock can cause serious injuries without leaving a visible burn, and a lawyer can help you prove those injuries and recover compensation for them. Freeman Law Firm works with your doctors to document the damage to your nerves, heart, and muscles, and we present that evidence to the insurance company.
L&I gets paid back out of your third-party recovery for the benefits it paid you, and RCW 51.24.060 sets the order in which the money is divided:
You can bring a premises liability case against the owner of a store or restaurant when exposed wiring, a faulty outlet, or another electrical hazard the owner knew about or should have found caused the shock. An electrician who worked on the building or the manufacturer of defective equipment can owe you compensation too.
You can bring a case against a city-owned utility like Tacoma Power, but you first have to present a claim for damages to the city and wait 60 days before filing a lawsuit (RCW 4.96.020). Freeman Law Firm prepares the claim, presents it to the city, and pursues the lawsuit if the city does not resolve your claim.
A utility can still owe you compensation for a shock from a downed power line after a storm, depending on how its crews maintained the line and how they responded after the line came down. Our attorneys look at the utility's maintenance records, the trees and vegetation near the line, and how long the line stayed energized after the utility learned it was down.