Practice Areas
Latest Blog 
- Automatic Safety Recall Notifications From NHTSA
- Is it OK to fine a whistleblower?
- New Law Requires Insurance Companies in Maryland to Act in Good Faith
- Allstate Insurance Practices
- Attention Taxi Drivers Who Live in Maryland
- Serious car accident on I-270
- Not even the lizard can help this kid.
- Two Washington D.C. Area Students Shot In Delaware State School Shooting
- Taxi Meters Still on Mayor Fenty's Agenda
- Insurance Company Tactics That Cost Us All
Library
Car Accidents
Have you been served a subpoena? Information on being a witness.
Article by a Local Doctor Discussing Neck Injuries and "Whiplash."
Serving the Mayor of Washington D.C.
Cell Phones and Car Accidents in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia
There Are Safe Cars, and There Are American Cars
Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents
Motorcycle Accidents
Be Safe and Share the Road With Motorcyclists
Insurance Practices, Claims and Coverage Issues
Maryland Legislature Passes Much Needed Litigation Reform for Uninsured Motorist Claims
GEICO's Advertising Blitz: What the Lizard Won't Tell You
Colossus Software: High-Tech Solutions for Lowball Settlements
The Harsh Education of Trent Lott
Hurricane Katrina: Seventeen Months and Counting
Defective Products & Consumer Protection
OxyContin: Pharmaceutical Company Addicts Thousands for Profit
The FDA: Is There a Doctor In The House?
Cheap Foreign Goods May Have Hidden Costs
Big Pharma Gets New Federal Testing Guidelines
Medical Malpractice
Your Rights are Threatened by Limits on Medical Malpractice Recoveries
The Medical Malpractice "Crisis" Revisited
Professor Phillip Peters, Article on Medical Malpractice Suits
New Report Shows Medical Malpractice Insurers Price Gouging and Driving up Costs
Doctors Shouldn't Sleep On The Job
Wrongful Death
Secondary Impacts in Sports Can Kill
Plane Crashes, Injuries and Deaths
TWA Flight 800: Ten Years and Nothing has Changed
Personal Injury Documents
Why You Should Choose Lewis & Tompkins to Represent You
Attorney Resources
Civil Rules of Civil Procedure - D.C. Superior Court
Litigation Forms
D.C. Superior Court Multidoor Dispute Resolution Forms and Instructions
D.C. Casefilexpress Filing Instructions
Pattern Discovery
Judge Wetzel's Discovery Checklist for Virginia Trial Attorneys
General
Insurance Company Phone Numbers!
The Use of Presentation Technology in the Courtroom
Veterans Administration Identity Theft: Inexcusable Negligence
Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
Accidents happen every day, and not just to other people. Accidents probably happen to you every day. That isn’t an outlandish statement if you really think about it. You bump an elbow on the stairwell. You stub your toe in the middle of the night. You get distracted and burn your dinner.
These are the sort of accidents that happen regularly, to all of us, and there are no real lasting repercussions. You say “ouch” or some variation thereof, or you phone out for pizza or Chinese, and life goes on.
More serious accidents happen with less frequency, but the consequences aren’t really all that different. Safety advances in seat restraints, airbags, global positioning satellites with instant emergency contact and improvements in body design have drastically improved the odds of walking away from an accident unscathed. Trips to the hospital, if needed at all, are usually for treatment of minor injuries. And the insurance will usually recoup the property damage, so, minor inconvenience aside, life goes on.
But what happens if an accident is more serious? What happens if it’s the sort of accident where, despite the seat restraints, despite the airbags, despite everything, your life is irrevocably changed? What happens if you lose the ability to walk, or move at all, or breathe without a respirator? What happens if you sustain severe brain damage? What happens to your family if you are unable to work?
The rules change when the injury gets severe. The insurers, faced with the prospect of living up to real financial obligations, start dragging their feet or looking for loopholes. If the accident wasn’t your fault, and the other driver’s insurance company faces the liability, you can expect them to do everything possible to get out of paying you what you deserve. This includes outright denial of a claim, lowball settlement offers, and delays in payment.
In order for this to make sense, you should consider that the insurance company of the person that caused your accident doesn’t represent you. There is no sense of “doing the right thing” among insurance companies. Millions of people on the Gulf Coast are being told by their own insurers that there is nothing that they can do. If that’s how they treat their own clients, what sort of treatment do you think you’ll receive? Getting what is necessary out of an insurance company in serious situations takes absolute command of the facts and a thorough understanding of insurance company tactics and liability law.
This is what Lewis and Tompkins bring to the table.
We provide first rate legal counsel for injured Washingtonians, and we have twenty years of experience in dealing with insurance company tactics. We know the difference between a fair settlement offer and a denial of responsibility. We also go beyond the balance sheet of the medical bills, and also take a real look at what your life was like before the accident, and what it’s like now. We’ll look at the job you can’t do anymore, or the hobbies that you can’t enjoy anymore, and we will do everything we can to obtain a settlement that reflects the entire scope of your injury.
If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain or spinal injury, and you feel that the insurers are not living up to their obligations, contact the Law Offices of Lewis and Tompkins for a free legal consultation.
Web Resources for Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries:
- SCI Info Pages - Spinal Cord Injury Information
Description: A free and informative resource for those with a spinal cord injury or other disabling injury or disease of the spine. Provides health information and resources for spinal cord injuries and a list of related links with site descriptions.
Ask an Attorney
Lewis & Tompkins
927 15th Street N.W., 9th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-296-0666
Resources
Car Accidents
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- DC Department of Motor Vehicles
- Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
- Maryland Department of Vehicles
- Maryland Insurance Commission
Motorcycle Accidents
Truck Accidents
Insurance Practices, Claims and Coverage Issues
- Center for Justice & Democracy
- Economic Policy Institute
- People Over Profits
- Medicare Supplement Insurance
- Van Insurance
Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
Defective Products & Consumer Protection
- Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Food & Drug Administration
- National Consumer Law Center
- Contact Solution Recall
- Product Recall
Medical Malpractice
Wrongful Death
Plane Crashes, Injuries and Deaths
Attorney Resources
- Virginia Bar Association
- Link to find Corporate Registered Agents
- Accurint
- Maryland State Bar Association.
- Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
Maryland Courts
- Montgomery County Courts
- Maryland District Court Locations and Links
- Maryland District Court Fees and Forms
- Montgomery County Circuit Court Docket
- Prince George's County Courts
Washington D.C. Courts
- D.C. Superior Court Official Site
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court - DC - Electronic Filing
- D.C. Court of Appeals
- CaseFileXpress
Virginia Courts
- Alexandria General District Court
- Alexandria Circuit Court
- Arlington County General District Court
- Arlington County Circuit Court
- Virginia Courts Case Information website
Research and Issues
Attorneys in Other States
- Sacramento Accident Lawyer John V. Airola
- North and South Carolina Injury Lawyers
- Donald Shapiro is a Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer and has been successfully representing seriously injured people in Chicago since 1978.
- Norris Injury Lawyers - Alabama Personal Injury Lawyers
- St Louis Personal Injury Lawyers