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Single Vehicle Roll-Over in Palmer Injures Two Wasilla Men

By James Cool

Palmer, Alaska—The Fairbanks News Miner reports that two Wasilla men were hurt after their vehicle overturned on the Old Glenn Highway in Palmer, Alaska. The driver was 23 year old Edward Domrude II and his passenger was 29 year old Joshua Brown. After the roll-over, the vehicle slid into a ditch and came to rest on its roof, trapping both men inside. After some struggle, Domrude was able to free himself from the vehicle but Brown remained trapped inside until emergency assistance arrived. Both driver and passenger were taken to the hospital to treat injuries they suffered in the crash.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those injured. We wish you a speedy recovery and hope that you have not suffered any lasting injuries. If once you are finished recovering you find that you have lasting injuries which deserve compensation - or struggle to deal with medical bills - here are a few things that you should keep in mind:

(1) Get the incident report from the Alaska State Troopers ASAP. (Visit http://www.dps.state.ak.us/PIO/ for information on obtaining reports.) It never hurts to have more information and the sooner you get a copy of the report, the sooner you have the information that an attorney will need to help you.

(2) Hire an investigator to examine the scene. It may already be too late to determine the exact conditions of the road or other helpful information, but the sooner you collect evidence from the scene, the more valuable it will be. An accident investigator may discover a defect in the road design or other maintenance problem which explains the cause of the accident. If you are not sure whether this is a good idea or not, you should contact an attorney who handles cases like this and seek his/her advice. Most attorneys will talk to you for free.

Once you have this information you should read it carefully, think it through and:

(3) Contact an attorney if you have questions. Depending on circumstances, you may or may not have a viable claim against the city/state. While you are certainly free to contact Mr. Merdes at 877-245-6841 Ext. 455, this is not a solicitation nor legal advice. If you would like a referral, feel free to contact Ward Merdes or call the Alaska Bar Assn. for a free lawyer referral: 800-770-9999. You can also try the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) at www.nbtanet.org. Just be sure to call an attorney who has handled cases like this before.

(4) Remember that the Statute of Limitations for personal injury and death claims in Alaska is normally two years (AS 09.10.070). This means that you have two years to file your claim, settle it with the responsible party or your claim goes away and you may lose the ability to pursue it.

Now Some Information for Mr. Brown:

(5) Please be aware that you may have claims against the driver, Mr. Domrude II. If he is insured, these claims ought to be covered by his insurance company. If he is not insured or not insured enough, then you should file a claim under your own insurance policy under the un/underinsured motorist provisions.

(6) You may have claims under the 'Med Pay' provisions of your or Mr. Domrude's insurance. Med Pay is a separate part of an insurance policy. It pays above and beyond traditional limits of liability which makes money available quickly to help you pay the medical bills you will face following the accident. Med Pay is also available to cover ongoing treatment such as physical therapy, chiropractic and massage.

(7) Even if you don't have auto insurance yourself, if anyone in your household, related by blood or marriage, has auto insurance, you may be able to file a claim for coverage under your resident relative's auto policy. This is HUGE.

Always remember it's critical that everyone drive safely and carefully as Alaska roads can be very dangerous. For more information about staying safe on Alaska's icy roads, please visit www.slowdownalaska.org.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by James Cool

Full post as published by Fairbanks Alaska Statewide Personal Injury Lawyers on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).