San Mateo Injury Lawyers Blog — Published by San Mateo, California Injury Attorneys — Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

How a Successful Outcome in Your California Arbitration Against an Insurance Company May Get You More Than Just an Award of Damages

August 6, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Getting hurt in an auto accident is a very stressful experience for a variety of different reasons. Unfortunately, for lots of folks, one of those reasons is dealing with insurance companies and struggling to get them to do what they should. Insurance companies, of course, often fight aggressively to avoid paying you, and are very experienced at doing so. That’s why, if you’ve been hurt in a vehicle accident, you shouldn’t go it alone. Give yourself the advantage of a diligent, professional advocate by retaining the services of an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney.

H.S. was a Southern California woman who faced this kind of challenge in her case. She was injured in an accident where the other driver hit her and was at fault. The other driver’s auto insurer made a payment equal to the policy limit.

Most all of us have seen those “state minimum coverage” auto insurance ads on the internet or TV, right? Those may be great for a driver who has no insurance, but they’re not so great if you’re hurt by someone with minimal or low-amount coverage. Fortunately, there is something called “uninsured or underinsured motorist” coverage you can add to your insurance. If the at-fault driver’s insurance pays the policy limit but that amount is less than your total damages, you can file a claim with your insurer and get a payment from them in addition to the payment from the other driver’s insurance company.

Left-Turn Accidents and Legal Liability in California

July 27, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

One of the very important things to know about auto accidents – and auto accident liability – is that there are actually relatively few absolutes. You may have heard that “in a rear-end accident, the rear driver is always at fault,” but that’s not true. The same goes for left-turn accidents in which one driver turns in front of an oncoming vehicle. While it’s true the turning driver is usually the at-fault driver, it is false that the turning driver is always the one to blame. If you’ve been hurt in a left-turn accident, don’t let others tell you there’s no way you can recover damages through a lawsuit. Instead, get the competent advice you need from a skilled San Mateo injury attorney.

A terrible accident that took place about 50 miles east of Stockton recently is a good example. According to the Union Democrat, D.T. turned his Ford Mustang left onto Highway 4 in front of an oncoming Chevrolet Camaro that was moving “at an unknown speed.” The Camaro slammed into the Mustang and D.T. died at the scene.

In many scenarios like this one, the turning driver would be the driver at fault. The law generally says that a driver traveling straight has the right of way against a driver turning into that lane, and that the turning driver has the legal obligation to yield the right of way.

Getting a Knowledgeable Assessment of the ‘Value’ of Your Car Accident Case in California: Why It Matter So Much

July 21, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Knowing what your case is “worth” is just as essential a piece of knowledge as knowing what legal claims are viable and what factual evidence you need. A knowledgeable assessment of the value of a case is one of the very important pieces of advice you can get by working with a skilled San Mateo car accident attorney. Having that accurate information can help you avoid pitfalls like accepting a “lowball” settlement offer.

There’s also another benefit of having an accurate assessment of your case: it may entitle you to recover an award of costs and fees. That is no small matter because, sometimes, the value of those costs and fees may be more than the value of the total damages you suffered!

A court case from Southern California is a good example. A Bakersfield man, who was driving drunk, improperly failed to yield and turned in front of a vehicle containing a Bakersfield woman and her sister. The woman couldn’t stop in time and crashed into the man’s vehicle.

Rear-End Crashes in California: Three Things Everyone Needs to Know

July 14, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

A rear-end crash can be a surprisingly serious event. Many people associate rear-end accidents with the phrase “minor fender-bender,” but just because a crash does not cause major vehicle damage doesn’t mean that the occupants of the vehicles involved can’t suffer serious harm. The harsh reality is that rear-end accidents can be (and often are) quite serious, and sometimes even fatal. If you’ve been hurt in a rear-end crash, don’t go it alone. Instead, get the legal representation you need from an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney.

An accident near Monterey late last month was, tragically, an example of a rear-end crash with massive harm to human life. The crash occurred along northbound Highway 1 after a Volkswagen SUV slowed “for unknown reasons,” according to The Mercury News. The vehicle trailing the SUV, a Ford pickup truck, failed to stop in time and slammed into the Volkswagen.

The driver of the truck escaped without injury, but the driver of the SUV died at a nearby medical center. CHP told reporters that alcohol and drugs “do not appear to be factors in the crash,” The Mercury News reported.

A California Tow Truck Driver Dies Along a Freeway After a Collision with a Lumber Truck

July 7, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

There are many different ways that a tow truck can become involved in an accident while assisting a motorist. Sometimes, the errors causing the crash are those of the tow truck driver, while other times it is another driver who is negligent. Either way, if you have been injured in a tow truck accident that was the result of someone else’s negligence, then you may be able to receive compensation through the courts. Be sure to contact an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney without delay to discuss your circumstances.

Back in late June, a tow truck driver affiliated with the Freeway Service Patrol was involved in such an accident. The tow truck was responding to a vehicle in need of assistance on I-280 in Redwood City, according to a KPIX report.

As the truck driver assisted the motorist, a lumber truck slammed into the tow truck and the driver, killing him. The police indicated to KPIX that they did not believe that the 25-year-old driver of the lumber truck was drunk or on drugs at the time of the crash.

If I Contract COVID-19 at a Business Establishment, Do I Have a Premises Liability Case under California Law?

June 26, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

News reports have revealed a new surge of COVID-19 cases. CNN reported that, on June 23, California logged more than 7,000 new cases. That was a new record. The old record? Just over 5,000… on June 22. It’s clear the dangers of COVID-19 aren’t going away anytime soon, and that may lead you to a question: what happens if I become infected as a result of visiting a store, restaurant or other establishment? Do I have any legal recourse for that business’s failure to protect me? Depending on the facts of your case, you may have a basis for a civil lawsuit, so it is worth your while to consult a knowledgeable San Mateo personal injury attorney if that happens to you.

In California, as in every other state, there’s something called premises liability law. This is the area of law that applies to things like “slip-and-fall” cases, “trip-and-fall” cases, swimming pool accidents or a bedbug lawsuit against a hotel. It can apply in most situations where someone responsible for a property failed to act in a reasonable manner to keep the property reasonably safe. If there was a hazard that posed a foreseeable risk of harm and the person or entity who owned, leased, managed or controlled that property knew or should have known about the danger, but failed to take proper steps to address the hazard or else to post proper warnings about the dangerous condition, then that’s potentially a case of premises liability.

In the circumstance of a COVID-19 infection, the hazard (the coronavirus) is obviously well-known in the general public, as is the potential risk of harm (infection.) Nevertheless, a successful case will still require the harmed individual to prove that this general knowledge met the law’s standard for actual notice or constructive notice on the part of the property manager.

Malicious Conduct and Punitive Damages Awards in Your California Injury Case

June 19, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Most of the time, your personal injury lawsuit will assert that the defendant was “negligent” As the term implies, the defendant’s liability comes from having neglectfully done something they shouldn’t have, or neglectfully failing to do something they should have. Sometimes, though, a defendant’s misconduct is more nefarious. They may do something so bad that the law considers it to be “despicable.” When that happens, the proof you give the court may entitle you to an even greater sum of damages. To make sure you’re getting everything you deserve from your injury case, be sure you’ve obtained representation from an experienced San Mateo injury attorney.

A terrible pedestrian accident case from Southern California, reported by KTLA, is an example. Y.C., a graduate student at Pepperdine University, intended to shop with her mother at a supermarket, but they never made it to the store. As they crossed in a Calabasas crosswalk, a truck crashed into them. The vehicle ran over Y.C.’s leg and the mother’s body. While Y.C. suffered serious harm, the mother’s injuries were fatal.

What happened next was where the case became unusual. The driver of the pickup stopped, exited the vehicle, drug the mother’s body toward the curb, got back into her truck, drove a short distance, parked along an adjacent road, then returned on foot. When the California Highway Patrol arrived, the driver told the officers that she simply encountered the fallen women as she drove to the supermarket, and was not involved in the accident, according to the report.

How a California Accident Attorney Can Help if Your Crash Injuries Cause an Extended Absence from Work

June 12, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Anytime you’re hurt in an auto accident, it is a scary time, marked by physical pain along with emotional stress. That emotional toll can become exponentially larger if the injuries you suffered are the type that could negatively impact your ability to continue performing your job. When that happens, you are probably filled with fear and uncertainty. If your vehicle accident injuries will prevent, or significantly delay, your returning to work, you need the right San Mateo accident injury attorney on your side so that you can get the compensation you need.

M.B. was one of those people whose accident dramatically altered her personal life and her work life. A tow truck driver who failed to stop for a red light slammed into her in an intersection, allegedly breaking her wrist, causing two fractures in her back and damaging her neck. The back injury did not require treatment, but the wrist injury required one surgery already and a fusion surgery was expected to be necessary in the future. The woman’s neck injury also required surgery, according to her complaint. (Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2018-01020990.)

Intersection accidents like M.B.’s are often serious. Federal statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that more than one-third (36%) of crashes nationwide were intersection-related. NHTSA’s statistics for California were similar, with more than one-quarter (26%) of all fatal crashes in this state in 2018 being intersection-related.

How to Overcome Defense Claims that You’re ‘Faking It’ and Achieve Success in Your Low-Impact California Auto Accident Case

June 5, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Chances are, you’ve seen a TV or movie scene like this: A vehicle is lightly tapped from behind by another vehicle. An occupant of the lead vehicle emerges screaming, “Oh! My neck!” in a very exaggerated way… or maybe that occupant reappears the next day or next week wearing a conspicuously massive and bulky neck brace or a halo device. While this may all be sight gags and laughs on TV and the movies, the cold reality is that low-impact crashes can, and do, cause people to suffer serious injuries every day. If you’ve been injured in a low-impact crash, don’t let the lack of massive skid marks or extensive vehicle damage trick you into thinking you can’t recover the compensation you need. By reaching out to the right San Mateo car accident attorney, you can obtain the evidence you need to get a full recovery for the harm you’ve suffered.

When you’re injured in a low-speed accident, you can reasonably expect that the defense may argue to the jury that you are “faking it” or are exaggerating your injuries for a larger “payday.” The defense may argue that the accident occurred at such an extremely low speed that the injuries you’ve asserted couldn’t possibly be the result of that crash. The defense team knows that, just like many of the rest of us, at least some of the jurors have seen the movie/TV scenes with the gigantic neck braces and halos, and have heard the (usually false or distorted) “horror” stories of people collecting multi-million-dollar awards for trifling injuries.

The reality is, though, that the science disputes this idea that low-impact collisions can’t ever cause serious injuries. Research from a branch of the National Institutes of Health shows that there “does not seem to be an absolute speed or amount of damage a vehicle sustains for a person to experience injury.” The research’s crash tests revealed that “a change of vehicle velocity of 4 km/hr (2.5 mph) may produce occupant symptoms.”

Safety Research — and Recent California Accidents — Clearly Show: Speed Kills

May 28, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Federal statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show just how dangerous – and deadly – speeding is. NHTSA’s information showed that speeding killed more than 9,300 people in 2018 and was a factor in more than one-quarter of all traffic deaths in 2017. If you’ve been hurt by a driver who was speeding, whether you were in another vehicle or you were that driver’s passenger, you may be entitled to significant compensation. You should promptly act to retain a skilled San Mateo car accident attorney, as you only have a limited time to file a lawsuit and pursue the recovery you need.

Two recent accidents in Northern California highlight just how deadly speeding can be. Earlier in May, a terrible accident in San Jose left four young people in their 20s dead, according to CBS SF Bay Area. The report indicated that the driver of a 2005 Dodge SUV was traveling southbound on Highway 85 when he lost control, causing the SUV to overturn several times. The crash threw two people from the vehicle. Three died at the scene and a fourth died at a nearby hospital. All were either age 25 or 26.

Another driver on Highway 85, whom the Dodge passed shortly before the crash, told CBS that the driver was driving erratically and the CHP told CBS that “we believe this vehicle was at excessive speeds and was weaving,” The police also believed that the driver of the SUV was under the influence, which is why he is facing multiple criminal charges for murder.