California Brake Failure Attorneys
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PAY NOTHING UPFRONT
OVER $500 MILLION RECOVERED
ZERO-FEES UNTIL WE WIN
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Award-Winning California Brake Failure Attorneys
When it comes to motor vehicles, most people are making conscious efforts to minimize their accident risks and try to avoid possible collisions. Despite all of our best efforts to help reduce car crashes in California, accidents remain common for various forms of driver negligence and issues with automobiles. It is important to seek legal help from a Brake Failure Attorney or a Lawyer who specializes in Auto Accident cases. They can provide you with the guidance and representation you need to recover the compensation you deserve.
Brake failure can be the result of many different factors, including the failure of a person to maintain their vehicle, manufacturer defects, or leaking fluid. It is important for any person who suspects that brakes are an issue with an automobile to have their brakes inspected and repaired as soon as possible to help avoid possible accidents.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened several investigations into braking loss issues with many types of motor vehicles in recent years. In 2022 alone, NHTSA opened an investigation into complaints of braking loss by 2017-2018 Ram heavy-duty pickup trucks, Ferrari recalled 23,555 vehicles from the 2005 model year to 2022 for potential brake failure, and NHTSA was investigating reports of Teslas braking unexpectedly while using Autopilot.
The National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey from NHTSA found that the most frequently occurring vehicle-related critical reason for crashes was tire failure or degradation or wheel failure, which was assigned to about 43 percent of crashes, although brake failure or degradation was the second most common reason at 25 percent of vehicles. The study found that 39 unweighted vehicles and 11,144 weighted vehicles crashed because of brakes failing or degrading.
Common Causes of Brake Failures
Accidents Caused by Brake Failure
Rear-End Collisions
People who are involved in rear-end accidents will want to be sure to seek the help of a skilled break failure attorney because it can be complicated to try and recover financial compensation in these cases. Insurance companies often minimize the amount of damage that rear-end crashes cause, but a lawyer will know how to fight to help people recover full and fair compensation for their losses.
Pedestrian Accidents
It is entirely possible that a person crossing a street can be struck by a motor vehicle because of brake failure, and an injured person will be entitled to compensation for various damages, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. People will again want to seek legal representation from a break failure attorney because pedestrians can face an uphill fight trying to obtain compensation for their losses.
Rollover Accidents
A rollover crash often has the potential to cause much more serious injuries than other crashes, and investigating the cause of these kinds of wrecks can take significant time. People must retain legal counsel from a break failure attorney to ensure their accident is investigated properly.
Fault for Brake Failure
The two causes not involving vehicle owners can be much more difficult for people to prove, so it again becomes essential for people to make sure they are working with an experienced break failure attorneys. Legal counsel can make a significant difference in the outcomes of these types of cases.
Our client was driving with his wife and son on a two-lane highway when a drunk driver crossed the double yellow lines, causing a head-on collision that claimed the life of a loving wife and mother.– Arash Khorsandi
Brake Failure Injuries
Fractures or Broken Bones
Some fractures do not need much time to heal, but other types of fractures can require surgeries or lead to long-term disabilities. Many fractures will be traumatic fractures. Fractures can range from minor inconveniences requiring little to no medical intervention to severe and life-threatening injuries that may take months or years to heal completely. Simple fractures or closed fractures are broken bones remaining within the body and do not penetrate the skin. Compound fractures or open fractures, on the other hand, are broken bones that do penetrate through the skin and may expose the bone and deep tissues to the exterior environment.
Concussions
Concussions involve a person’s brain shaking against the inside of their skull. Concussions are essentially a kind of brain injury resulting from sudden and direct bumps, blows, or jolts to victims’ heads or bodies and cause their brains to bounce and twist inside their skulls. When concussions happen multiple times, they can lead to serious health problems, including post-concussion syndrome, when concussion symptoms last well beyond the expected recovery period for an initial injury.
Closed Head Injuries
A closed head injury is a trauma to a person’s head that does not cause a break in the skull. A brain and soft tissue can still suffer damage by violent movement and lead to bleeding and swelling inside the head. Mild closed head injuries can involve treatment that requires mental and physical rest to give the brain time to heal. A moderate or severe closed head injury can require emergency care, including supportive care, such as oxygen, IV fluids, and nutrition therapy.
Back Injuries
Common kinds of back injuries include sprains and strains, herniated or bulging discs, fractured vertebrae, lumbar spine or lower back injuries, thoracic spine injuries in the mid-back, chest, and rib area, herniated discs, cervical fractures, cervical dislocation, muscle tension, spondylolisthesis, cervical radiculopathy, and spinal stenosis.
Knee Injuries
Knee injuries can be traumatic or acute, or overuse or cumulative. Traumatic knee injuries usually involve single traumatic incidents that may damage bones, ligaments, or tendons. Overuse knee injuries stem from knees going through immense wear and tear while performing repetitive tasks.
Leg Injuries
Common kinds of leg injuries may include fractures or broken bones, with tibias being the most frequent, dislocations involving bones pulling out of their joints, sprains involving stretches and tears of ligaments, strains that are stretches and tears of muscles, muscle bruises from direct blows causing possible bleeding into the quad or thigh muscles, and bone bruises from direct blows. Upper leg injuries include contusions to the quadriceps muscle group with varying degrees of severity.
Neck Injuries
Common neck injuries include ruptured discs, broken or fractured necks, nerve compression, herniated discs, or radiculopathy. A neck injury not only results in severe discomfort and pain, but medication, physical therapy, and even surgery can be necessary to alleviate this discomfort.
Arm Injuries
Arm injuries can include tendinitis, dislocations, nerve problems, osteoarthritis, bicep tendon injuries or strains, elbow conditions and injuries such as bursitis and tennis elbow, hand and wrist conditions, and injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder conditions and injuries such as torn rotator cuffs, dislocated shoulders, and arthritis, tricep tendon injuries or strains, fractures or broken bones, dislocations involving pulling bones out of joints, sprains involving stretches and tears of ligaments, strains involving stretches and tears of muscles, muscle overuse, and muscle bruises or bone bruises from direct blows.
Internal Organ Injuries
An internal organ injury can include brain bleeds, broken ribs, pneumothorax involving a rib puncturing a lung, abdominal aorta aneurysms in which the stomach is compressed during an accident and causes a rupture of the abdominal aorta, internal organ injuries, ruptured spleens, and internal bleeding.
Skull Fractures
The four major types of skull fractures include linear skull fractures, the most common type of skull fracture involving a break in the bone that does not require an intervention, depressed skull fractures in which a part of the skull is actually sunken in from trauma and can require surgical intervention, diastatic skull fractures involving the widening of the normal suture lines, and basilar skull fractures that are the most serious types of skull fractures and involve breaks in the bones at the base of the skull.
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)
A TBI is an acquired brain injury occurring when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. A TBI may be the result of the head suddenly and violently hitting an object or an object piercing the skull and entering brain tissue. Symptoms of a TBI may be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of any damage to the brain. A person with a mild TBI can remain conscious or experience a loss of consciousness for only a few seconds or minutes, but other symptoms of mild TBI can include headaches, confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision or tired eyes, ringing in the ears, bad taste in the mouth, fatigue or lethargy, behavioral or mood changes, changes in sleep patterns, and trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking.
An individual with a moderate or severe TBI can show the same symptoms but can also have a headache that gets worse or does not go away, suffer from repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures, have the inability to awaken from sleep, suffer dilation of one or both pupils in the eyes, weakness or numbness in the extremities, slurred speech, loss of coordination, and increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation.
Spinal Cord Injuries
A spinal cord injury involves damage to the tight bundle of cells and nerves that send and receive signals from the brain to and from the rest of the body. A spinal cord injury may be the result of a direct injury to the spinal cord itself or from damage to the tissue and bones (vertebrae) surrounding the spinal cord. Damage may result in temporary or permanent changes in sensation, movement, strength, and body functions below the site of an injury.
An incomplete spinal cord injury refers to a spinal cord that can still transmit messages to and from the brain, but a complete spinal cord injury involves no nerve communication and motor function (voluntary movement) below the site where the trauma occurred. A spinal cord injury can cause such symptoms as numbness, tingling, or a loss of or changes in sensation in the hands and feet, paralysis, weakness or inability to move any part of the body, pain or pressure in the head, neck, or back, loss of movement, loss of bladder and bowel control, unnatural positions of the spine or head, difficulty breathing, problems walking, and changes in sexual function.
Permanent Nerve Injuries
Peripheral nerves send messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. Peripheral nerves consist of fibers called axons insulated by surrounding tissues, and they are fragile and capable of being easily damaged. A nerve injury can affect the brain’s ability to communicate with muscles and organs, and damage to the peripheral nerves is known as peripheral neuropathy.
Amputations
An amputation involves the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. The surgical measure is usually employed to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb. Upper extremity amputations may include partial hand amputations involving the removal of part of the hand, wrist disarticulations involving removal of the hand after separating it from the lower arm at the wrist, below-the-elbow amputations involving removal of part of the lower arm by cutting across the bones of the lower arm, elbow disarticulations involving removal of the lower arm after separating it from the upper arm at the elbow, above-the-elbow amputations involving removal of the lower arm, elbow, and part of the upper arm by cutting across the upper arm bone, shoulder disarticulations involving removal of an entire arm after separating it from a shoulder, and forequarter amputations involving removal of the arm and part of the shoulder.
Paralysis
Paralysis is the loss of the ability to move a portion or all of your body. Paralysis may affect any part of the body, including your face, your hands, one arm or leg (also known as monoplegia), one side of the body (also known as hemiplegia), both legs (also known as paraplegia), or both arms and legs (also known as tetraplegia or quadriplegia).
Severe Burn Injuries
Minor burns can usually be treated at home and will heal within a matter of weeks. More serious burns require appropriate first aid and wound assessment, and treatment can involve medications, wound dressings, therapy, and surgery. Some people with severe burns can also require treatment at specialized burn centers for skin grafts to cover large wounds.
Wrongful Death
Families who lose loved ones in car accidents caused by brake failure need to be aware that they often have legal rights in these cases, and negligent parties can be liable for various wrongful death damages in such cases.
The types of injuries people suffer are based on many different factors, including the speeds vehicles are traveling and where people are seated.
Liability for Brake Failure Accidents
Many brake failure accident cases get resolved through settlements because insurance companies do not want to pay to take cases to trial. You will want to be working with a break failure attorney who can guide you through the entire process, including filing a lawsuit when settlement negotiations are unproductive.
When Drivers Will Not Be Liable For Brake Failure
There can be situations in which a driver successfully argues they should not be liable for brake failure that caused a car accident. To succeed, a driver will have to prove:
- What caused the brake failure
- That nothing occurred prior to putting them on notice of the defect or brake failure or to put them on notice of another defect or failure that ultimately contributed to the brake failure
- That the vehicle was inspected within a reasonable period of time before the accident and proper maintenance conducted accordingly
- That the cause either arose after the inspection or was of such a nature as to not be discoverable by a reasonable inspection within a reasonable period of time prior to the accident
A driver making this argument will be conceding that they violated their duty to keep their brakes in good working order but will be seeking to rebut a presumption of negligence. Failure to prove their case can often result in them being found negligent. In such situations, it’s crucial to seek the guidance of a skilled Brake Failure Attorney who can help you build a strong case and defend your rights in court. With the right legal representation, you can challenge the presumption of negligence and prove that your accident was caused by a mechanical malfunction rather than driver error. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a knowledgeable Brake Failure Lawyer if you’ve been involved in an accident caused by brake failure.
Pursuing Compensation After a Car Accident
Compensation in these cases often comes from insurance companies, and many insurers are ready to fight to minimize their losses. Drivers are expected to maintain automobile insurance policies in compliance with state minimums, and some people may need help exploring additional options for compensation when their losses will exceed the limits of a negligent driver’s policy. A Brake Failure Attorney or an Auto Accident Lawyer can provide legal assistance in navigating the complicated process of dealing with insurance companies and help you receive the compensation you are entitled to. If you or a loved one has been involved in a brake failure accident, don’t hesitate to contact a skilled Brake Failure Attorney to discuss your legal options.
Kinds of Damages in Brake Failure Accidents
Economic Damages
Under California Civil Code §1431.2(b)(1), economic damages are defined as objectively verifiable monetary losses that include medical expenses, loss of earnings, burial costs, loss of use of property, costs of repair or replacement, costs of obtaining substitute domestic services, loss of employment and loss of business or employment opportunities. The specific types of economic damages often include:
- Medical bills – Many people involved in automobile accidents require medical care that costs money, and some victims who need additional care will continue to rack up medical costs. Medical expenses are one of the most common kinds of compensation in car accident cases because virtually all claimants have these kinds of bills.
- Property damage – Many people will be dealing with considerable damage to their motor vehicle, and a negligent driver may be obligated to pay for the costs of repairing other motor vehicles. There can also be cases in which cars are totaled because of collisions, and negligent parties are again obligated to pay for the full costs of these vehicles.
- Lost wages – There is little doubt that people who suffer injuries in brake failure accidents will have to take time away from work to recover from their injuries. The significant time that a person is out of work can create numerous financial issues, and a negligent driver can again be liable for these costs.
Obtaining compensation for lost wages can involve a person needing to prove they missed work by producing such documents as:
- A lost wages letter – People with regular employment can prove lost wages by providing a letter from their employer that contains the details of their workplace, the nature of their employment, and the amount they make.
- Tax returns documents – People who do not have regular employment may be unable to use a lost wages letter, so pay stubs and tax returns may be used instead.
- Providing documents to support self-employment – People who are self-employed can prove lost wages by producing documents indicating the amount they will have made during the time they were unable to work.
- Loss in future earnings – While lost wages compensate people for the money they missed out on in the past, loss of future earnings will compensate them for their future losses. Lost earning capacity may be calculated in the form of salary, overtime, income from self-employment, vacation and sick days pay, and commission and bonuses. Factors a court will consider when determining the amount of compensation a person receives for lost earning capacity include the severity of injuries and the duration of incapacitation, a person’s age and life expectancy, when a person can return to their regular job, their past earnings, and a person’s state of health before an accident.
- Therapy costs – Accident victims can be required to pay for many different kinds of therapy, physical and emotional. All of these kinds of costs can also be compensable.
Non-Economic Damages
California Civil Code §1431.2(b)(2) establishes that non-economic damages are subjective, non-monetary losses that include, but are not limited to, pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental suffering, emotional distress, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, injury to reputation and humiliation. Examples include:
- Pain and suffering – An extremely common claim in virtually all car accident cases, pain and suffering is also something of a presumed damage. Most victims will be dealing with pain and suffering, so little is asked in terms of proof for these claims.
- Emotional distress – Emotional distress relates to mental suffering as a sort of emotional response to an experience arising from the effect or memory of a car accident.
- Lost companionship or consortium – People who lose their loved ones in car accidents can make claims relating to how they have lost the ability to be close to their loved ones.
- Inconvenience – An award for inconvenience can relate to various claims of injury victims about how an injury has caused some inconvenience in their life, such as people who require full-time assistance with their daily living.
- Mental Trauma – Much like emotional suffering, people who are suffering mentally from their accidents can also be eligible for awards.
- Loss of body parts – People who have to undergo amputations because of their injuries can have to make some major adjustments to their lives and may be unable to do everything they used to do, so they can be compensated for how their lives have been affected.
- Wrongful death – The death of a loved one in a brake failure accident can always trigger a wrongful death by a family member. In California, the only parties who can file wrongful death actions are the children of the deceased, a deceased person’s spouse or domestic partner, the grandchildren of the deceased when the deceased person’s children are also deceased, and any other individuals legally entitled to the property of the deceased.
Certain types of drivers may not be allowed to recover compensation for non-economic damages in California. Under California Civil Code § 333.4, drivers who do not have car insurance or do not meet the state’s financial responsibility requirements will be prohibited from recovering non-economic damages, and drivers who were convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) offenses are also not eligible for non-economic damages.
Who People Can Sue After Brake Failure Crashes
Insurance companies are not concerned about taking care of people as much as they are in minimizing their losses in a car accident case, so an insurer is going to try to aggressively pressure a person to accept a lackluster settlement. You can best protect yourself by hiring a brake failure attorney to handle all of your settlement negotiations.
There can be cases in which negligent drivers may not have enough in insurance limits or personal wealth to cover a victim’s losses, so victims can then file lawsuits against brake manufacturers, mechanics, or repair shops that did not adequately service brakes.
However, pursuing these claims can be complex and challenging, as all of these parties will have insurance companies that will try to fight allegations of liability and minimize losses. To navigate these legal challenges and maximize your chances of recovery, it’s crucial to consult with a skilled Brake Failure Attorney. A qualified attorney can help you build a strong case, gather evidence to support your claims, and negotiate with insurance companies on your behalf. With the right legal representation, you can hold all responsible parties accountable and recover the compensation you deserve for your losses.
Brake Safety Tips
Find an Injury Lawyer Near Me
Did you recently suffer severe injuries, or was your loved one killed in a car accident that involved brake failure? You are going to want to be sure that you have an experienced brake failure attorney on your side. Arash Law, founded by famous attorney Arash Khorsandi, Esq., is ready to step in and take the lead in your case, so you do not have to worry about anything.
Our firm has now represented more than 3,000 different clients and helped people recover over $500 million. You can call (888) 488-1391 or contact our California brake failure attorney online to schedule a free consultation.
