When you have been injured riding your bicycle on the roads you will need to know what insurance coverage is in place to help you cover your medical expenses and lost wages as soon as possible so that you can focus on your recovery.
Since opening my own personal injury law practice in late 2002, I started getting calls from cyclists who knew me and pretty quickly my practice evolved into a bicycle practice. I still do a number of motor vehicle cases as well as motorcycle accident cases, but the bulk of my law practice is cycling cases.
In the fall of 2022, I was hit by a car while bike commuting and had multiple injuries. I was initially reluctant to work with a personal injury lawyer but thankfully I reached out to Michael Colbach.
Slater Tai
Your Oregon auto insurance personal injury protection coverage is no-fault medical coverage which means that even if the accident was your fault, the auto insurance personal injury protection will still have to pay. If you don't have auto insurance, than the at fault driver's insurance should cover your medical bills up to whatever coverage limit the driver has in place.
When my clients are hit by someone who does not have insurance, I can usually get them more money that if they were hit by someone with insurance.
When your medical expenses exceed your personal injury protection coverage, if you have healthcare insurance, your healthcare insurance will usually pay any additional amounts. If you do not have healthcare insurance, you will be billed personally for any amounts in excess of your PIP coverage. Oftentimes I can work with health providers to get them to wait for payment until the case is resolved.
Whether or not you have to pay your insurance company back for your personal injury protection benefits out of any settlement or award depends largely on what your attorney does early on in your case.
I was involved in a bike accident in which I was hit head on in a protected bike lane. I sustained serious injuries that required extensive medical care for the next year. Initially I was nervous about hiring a lawyer and wasn't sure if it was necessary. [...] He got me the MAXIMUM amount in my settlement which was triple what we had originally discussed. He is a wonderful lawyer and a great human being. This particular accident had me questioning if I would ever ride my bike safely in Portland again. Knowing that folks like Michael exist and will pursue justice gave me the confidence to continue riding in this city. That alone I can't put a price on. I would gladly hire him again for any future needs and anyone would be lucky to have him on their team.
Nicholas Herrick
Mike worked with me settle to a claim after I was doored and hospitalized while riding my bike. Mike and his team helped me navigate the complex insurance and claim process and ensured that I received a fair settlement.
Unfortunately, Portland's Vision Zero map details the high crash areas in Portland, and we know that we've had more cyclist fatalities and serious injuries in Portland in the last few years. Even though the complete data for the most recent years is not yet available, we know cyclists continue getting seriously injured and killed on our local roads.
2 years ago I was involved in an accident while commuting home from work on my bicycle. [...] I was left unconscious in the road for over 3 hours until my wife came looking for me. She found me unconscious, laying in a pool of blood and vomit with my helmet cracked from impact. I was left with a TBI, fractured hand and multiple contusions and lacerations that required immediate care. I suffered memory, speech, vision and auditory impairment that continues today. -->More
Steph Johnson "I think a lot of states have guys who specialize in that," said Mike Colbach, an attorney based in Portland, Ore., who last year won a $550,000 settlement for an injured cyclist.
"It's almost never the cyclist's fault, and they tend to get pretty significantly injured," he said. "Wrist, arm, and unfortunately sometimes brain injuries from hitting their head."
In Oregon in 2006, 14 cyclists were killed in collisions with vehicles, the most in the last five years. Overall last year, the state had the second most cycle-vehicle collisions in the last five years.
[The article is no longer available free online via AP (it is in their archives for a fee). The article is reprinted on some websites and blogs around the web like the above linked New York bicycle lawyers blog post of this article]