Car accidents are always a frightening, overwhelming experience. It is difficult to know what to do – especially if you have never been involved in an accident before. Many injury victims are simply trying to get the medical attention they need. Insurance companies know this, and they sometimes try to take advantage of your confusion to pressure you into a quick settlement.
At Arash Law, we work hard to help injury victims protect their legal rights. Read on to learn more about the common causes of California car accidents, who may have to pay for your injuries, the most common types of car accident injuries, and the tactics that insurance companies use to try to reduce your compensation.
Car accidents are always a frightening, overwhelming experience. It is difficult to know what to do – especially if you have never been involved in an accident before. Many injury victims are simply trying to get the medical attention they need. Insurance companies know this, and they sometimes try to take advantage of your confusion to pressure you into a quick settlement.
At Arash Law, we work hard to help injury victims protect their legal rights. Read on to learn more about the common causes of California car accidents, who may have to pay for your injuries, the most common types of car accident injuries, and the tactics that insurance companies use to try to reduce your compensation.
The person or company who caused your auto accident also has a legal obligation to compensate you for the injuries and losses you suffer. This fact is why it is helpful to understand the causes of California car accidents. Here are some of the most common cases our car accident lawyers encounter:
The most common cause of car accidents is a driver's negligence. Many things a driver can do that are considered negligent, and traffic laws address these mistakes with simple road rules. For example, a driver must signal turns, yield to pedestrians, and not pass school buses that are letting off students. Traffic infractions are often evidence that a driver was negligent and responsible for any injuries that occurred in a resulting accident. Here are some of the most common errors drivers make that lead to a finding of negligence:
Every state has laws that prohibit a motor vehicle's operation with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher. While a criminal DUI case is different from a civil claim for personal injuries, evidence that a driver was drunk is strong evidence that he or she was negligent. It is also important to understand that drivers can use intoxicating substances other than alcohol. For example, some drivers may use recreational drugs and get behind the wheel.
Prescription medications can also be used to become impaired. This is a difficult area of the law - if a driver took his or her medication as prescribed, it could be difficult to prove that he or she was legally impaired. But if that driver caused an accident while impaired by prescription medication, a jury could find that the driver did not act with reasonable caution and was therefore negligent. This has become an important question in many auto accident cases in recent years.
Most drivers know better than to drink and drive. But it is much easier to make the mistake of getting distracted while driving. Smartphones, navigation programs, and in-vehicle entertainment systems are designed to take a driver's attention off the road. And these are only the new distractions in the digital era: drivers still have to contend with pets, children, food and drink, cargo, and other distractions.
Speeding is another temptation that many drivers are guilty of succumbing to. Speed has been found to be a factor in many fatal car accidents. It increases the force of a collision, and victims are therefore more likely to suffer serious injuries - or death - when a crash occurs at high rates of speed. This is why drivers who were speeding at the time of an accident are almost always found to be at fault for causing it.
Not every auto accident is a driver’s fault. There are third parties who might be at fault (“liable”) for causing a car crash - even if they were nowhere near the scene of the accident when it happened.
Not every auto accident is a driver’s fault. There are third parties who might be at fault (“liable”) for causing a car crash - even if they were nowhere near the scene of the accident when it happened.
Companies that sell consumer products in the United States (including vehicles) are held to laws of strict liability. This means that an injury victim does not have to prove that the company was negligent. So long as the product was being used as intended, the manufacturer is liable for any injuries that it causes. This is why so many auto manufacturers will issue recalls on the vehicles voluntarily.
But autonomous vehicles are not yet entirely "self-driving." Many of these tests are being conducted with human drivers behind the wheel, ready to take over in the event that the vehicle malfunctions. When drivers fail to take over for the autonomous driving functions when it becomes necessary, they may be held liable. This is what happened in an especially tragic that occurred in Tempe, Arizona. There, a bicyclist was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber vehicle.
Companies that sell consumer products in the United States (including vehicles) are held to laws of strict liability. This means that an injury victim does not have to prove that the company was negligent. So long as the product was being used as intended, the manufacturer is liable for any injuries that it causes. This is why so many auto manufacturers will issue recalls on the vehicles voluntarily.
In some cases, an accident is caused by conditions in the actual roadway. Perhaps the city has left dangerous potholes uncovered. Or maybe a construction crew left open pits and other hazards that were not properly marked, thus leaving drivers unable to avoid them. These cases can lead to the city or construction company being liable for an auto accident.
Our award-winning California accident lawyers have recovered million dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of our esteemed clients.
After getting the run-around from insurance companies and other law offices I used Arash Law. Not only did they have premiere customer service, but they treated me like family.
I can’t even express in words how grateful I am and how incredible Arash and his team are. They were incredibly compassionate with me and eased all my fears and stress over the case and let me focus on my recovery.
Truly the best law practice around! They are a fully staffed office and the guy handling my case was a former insurance adjustor who left his company to work for Arash. They did better than I could have asked for!!!
The first question most accident victims have for our lawyers is how much their claims are worth. The value of a claim is strongly affected by how serious your injuries were. A longer, more painful recovery will require more compensation for pain and suffering. Serious injuries that threatened your life (or that of an unborn child) will also increase your pain and suffering. It is important to work with an accident lawyer who understands the particular types of injuries that you have suffered. This experience allows an injury attorney to prove the full value of pain and suffering in your specific case.
Here are some of the most common injuries that victims suffer in a car accident:
The CDC reports that there were nearly three million cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) across the United States in 2014. This included nearly one million children. Even if your symptoms seem mild, they can quickly develop into a life-threatening condition. (This is what happened to the actress Natasha Richardson.
After a skiing accident, she thought she just had a mild concussion, but this quickly developed into serious bleeding inside her skull that left her brain dead.) This is why it is so important to get checked out by a qualified medical professional as soon as possible after an accident. Even if you are experiencing only mild symptoms, there could be a more serious condition that needs immediate medical attention.
Even if your brain is not injured, trauma to the head and neck can cause other serious – and painful – injuries. The neck protects the spinal cord. Broken vertebrae, sprains, and strains can injure the spinal cord, which could, in turn, lead to paralysis. The complicated system of muscles and bones in the head and neck holds a disproportionate amount of weight in your head. Injuries – even mild ones – can cause a lot of pain. Whiplash is a common condition after car accidents.
Some internal organs are more susceptible to injuries than others. Your heart and lungs, for example, are protected by your ribcage. But your kidneys, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, spleen, and other organs are made up of soft tissues that can be easily damaged in a car accident. Damage to these organs can quickly become a life-threatening condition.
You also might not know that you are injured right away. The organs perform long-term functions, and it could take hours for your body to signal that they are not working properly. It is absolutely critical that you be examined by a medical provider after an auto accident. Medical professionals can monitor your vital signs, test your blood, take x-rays, and perform other necessary tests to determine whether your internal organs have been damaged.
Broken bones can take weeks to heal. Broken bones are incredibly painful, and being immobilized for weeks in a cast causes the patient much inconvenience and suffering. This is just for simple breaks without complications. Complicated breaks can be far more painful and require a longer recovery with additional suffering.
For example: imagine that a broken bone actually cut blood vessels inside your body. The bleeding would have to be stabilized, which could make it more difficult to set the broken bone.
For many accident victims, the most serious injuries they suffer are psychological. You might experience post-traumatic stress from the shock of the accident. You could experience mood swings, insomnia, or other symptoms that are the natural result of being in such a terrifying accident. Psychological injuries are just as real as physical injuries, and you have the right to be compensated for them.
Insurance companies know how to pay as little as possible on injury claims. They spend lots of money to train their claims adjusters on how to deny as many claims as possible – and get away with lowball settlement offers on the claims they can’t deny. These large companies also hire an entire fleet of defense lawyers to defend their unfair decisions.
An injury victim cannot be expected to challenge all of these strategies and tactics without having their own lawyer. You need a lawyer who is fighting on your side, who knows the games that the insurance company will play and can fight against them. Here are some of the most common insurance company tactics that our personal injury lawyers come across in handling auto accident claims:
When you first call the other driver’s insurance company to open a claim, the agent will often ask to take a recorded statement about the accident. They will ask you to tell your version of events in order to help them process the claim. This may seem like a reasonable request that will help speed things along. But the truth is that this statement can be used against you later.
You have the right to decline to make a recorded statement. You also do not have to talk to the insurance company at all: once they are advised that you have an attorney, they are no longer allowed to contact you about the accident at all.
Any communications must go through your attorney’s office. This protects you from accidentally saying something that could hurt your claim. This also protects you from the insurance company putting pressure on you to settle the case without consulting your lawyer.
Putting pressure on you to agree to a settlement as soon as possible is another common insurance company tactic. If you have not already hired a lawyer, the insurance company will want you to settle before you can ask a lawyer how much your claim is really worth. If you have hired a lawyer, the insurance company will still want you to settle quickly, before you learn of any latent injuries or additional pain and suffering.
A quick settlement lets the insurance company get away with paying as little as possible. They will try to tell you that a quick settlement is better for you because you will get paid more quickly. But remember, the insurance company is not on your side. They literally represent the other side in the case. You should never take advice from someone who is on the other side – only from your own attorney who is obligated to fight for your rights
If the insurance company is not able to settle your case quickly, they will begin working to reduce the value of your claim any way they can. A common way of doing this is with the assistance of an investigator. Investigators can follow you to your residence and work. (This means that a stranger could be near your children at your own home.) The goal is to get photos or video footage that contradicts your injury claim.
Now, however, investigators often do not have to leave their desks. The wide variety of new social media platforms means that there is plenty of information about injury victims available online. Investigators will check your posts, photos, videos, and statements for anything that could possibly discredit you in court. You might not realize just how much information can be used against you.
It can be difficult to know what to do after an accident. At Arash Law, our accident lawyers have helped many injury victims protect their legal rights and get the compensation they deserve. Our experienced injury attorneys serve clients in San Francisco, Riverside, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento, Sherman Oaks, and throughout California. We have collected over 200 million dollars for clients across the state.
Our California auto accident lawyers have decades of experience, and they know how to stop insurance company tactics that reduce compensation to injury victims. Call (888) 488-1391 to schedule your free consultation. We fight hard to protect the legal rights of all California accident victims.
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