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

Important Lessons that a Tragic Chain-Reaction Crash in Contra Costa County Can Impart

October 15, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Any vehicle accident that causes you serious injuries is a stressful thing and any legal case arising from that accident can be complex. You have amassed, and likely will incur, huge medical bills. You probably will miss a considerable period of time at work, leading to a lot of lost earnings. Getting the compensation you need depends on pursuing the right defendants, but identifying those “right” defendants demands in-depth investigation to get the complete picture. That is where having the right San Mateo vehicle accident attorney helps immeasurably. Your skilled legal counsel can get started right away doing the investigation and initiating the discovery processes required to get the answers that will be key to your success in litigation. You know you need the information; your skilled attorney knows how to go about getting that information for you.

Take, for example, this tragic chain-reaction accident that occurred last month in Contra Costa County. Here’s what we know based upon a preliminary California Highway Patrol investigation, as reported by KPIX. The accident began when a Toyota SUV overturned and ended up on its side in the far-left travel lane of Interstate 80 in Richmond. After that, a Honda crashed into the SUV, followed by a Toyota sedan crashing into the SUV.

Three of the occupants of the SUV suffered major injuries, and a fourth died at the scene. KPIX also reported that “drugs and alcohol” did “not appear to be a factor” in the accident.

Two Recent Impaired Driving Accidents in the Bay Area Leave 2 Dead, 1 Seriously Hurt, and Multiple Lives Changed Forever

October 7, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

We all know how the criminal justice system deals with people who drive while impaired, including intoxicated drivers who cause death or injuries to others. However, what about those victims or the loved ones the victims left behind? What recourse do they have other than waiting to see justice done in criminal court? For those harmed individuals, there is the potential of civil legal action to provide the help they urgently need. That process starts with retaining a knowledgeable San Mateo drunk driver accident lawyer to help your family start getting back on their feet.

Two recent fatal accidents highlight just how harmful impaired driving can be. Late last month, emergency workers responded to a three-vehicle collision at Santa Inez Avenue and Humboldt Drive here in San Mateo. According to police, blood alcohol testing revealed that the 24-year-old woman behind the wheel of one of the vehicles had a blood alcohol content of roughly .20, or 2½ times the legal limit.

One day after the crash, the 40-year-old woman riding with the allegedly drunk driver died in the hospital, according to the Mercury News.

A Northern California Educator Recovers $1M+ for the Massive Harm She Suffered in Her ‘Head Over Handlebars’ Bicycle Accident

June 16, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Everyone knows that an accident where a car, truck, or SUV hits a bicycle poses a massive threat to the cyclist and their passengers. What people may be less likely to consider, but is still often true, is the high degree of harm a cyclist can suffer in an accident that involves only their bike. Even without an impact with a larger vehicle, a bicycle accident can lead to a cyclist suffering severe, catastrophic, or fatal harm. If that has happened to you or a loved one, you may be entitled to recover substantial compensation through a legal action, so make sure you have the legal representation you need from an experienced San Mateo bicycle accident lawyer.

Bicycle crashes that don’t involve other vehicles may, on the surface, sound like just cuts-and-bruises affairs, but these accidents are more violent and more serious than you might think. Even just going from 15 mph to 0 represents an impact that feels like getting hit with an object weighing more than four tons!

A bicycle accident from nearby Sonoma County makes for a good illustration. C.W., a college dean and professor from Santa Rosa, was biking near Sebastopol when she hit a pothole measuring four feet by three feet. She was moving at around 25 mph when the impact with the large hole threw her from her bike and she “went head over handlebars,” according to the Argus-Courier.

A Chaotic Accident Scene, A Catastrophic Injury, and a $9M Damages Award from a Northern California Jury

June 9, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Whenever a person suffers a catastrophic injury in a truck accident, determining who was liable is a crucial part of the legal case that follows. Getting this answer correct is vital to a fully successful outcome in catastrophic injury cases because they can often involve very high amounts of damages, and that makes it essential to identify and hold liable everyone responsible. This way, you have the best chance of getting everything you’re owed. If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, you should make the effort to retain an experienced San Mateo truck accident lawyer who can help you achieve the best possible outcome.

The Fresno County truck accident that catastrophically injured one Philadelphia trucker was an example of this kind of liability scenario where multiple people and entities were potentially responsible. The accident, which was covered in the Fresno Bee, took place after D.J. and his co-driver, J.C., who had traveled from New Jersey to the small town of Firebaugh, California to pick up a load of refrigerated tomatoes, tried to head back to the east coast.

As they left the tomato processing plant, they missed a right turn and continued northbound on what they thought was a city street. In actuality, the city had abandoned the stretch decades earlier and it was a private dead-end drive with concrete barricades on the sides that funneled traffic onto an aircraft company’s property.

Your Legal Options in California if You, as a Pedestrian, Have Been Hurt by a Hit-and-Run Driver

May 27, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Anytime you are a pedestrian who was injured in a vehicle accident (or you have a loved one who was killed in a pedestrian collision,) it is definitely a painful, stressful, and difficult time. That stress inevitably goes even higher if the driver who hit you or your loved one fled the scene of the accident without stopping. While being hurt by a hit-and-run driver may make your injury lawsuit case more challenging, your case is far from impossible. A skilled San Mateo pedestrian accident attorney can help you get the most out of your case, even if it involved a hit-and-run driver.

In Redwood City, a recent one of these hit-and-run accidents proved to be fatal. According to the Palo Alto Daily Post, a male pedestrian was struck by a white cargo van in the 1600 block of El Camino Real. The driver of the van fled the scene. The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fortunately, in this case, law enforcement officers were able to track down the hit-and-run driver. Police used surveillance video footage from a nearby business, along with eyewitness descriptions of the van, to track down the vehicle and the driver in San Bruno. Police booked the 69-year-old driver on charges of felony hit-and-run and vehicular homicide, according to FOX 2.

Livestreaming and How it Can Play a Role in a Car Accident Case in California

May 21, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Modern technology gives us options that would have seemed unthinkable fifty, forty, or even thirty years ago. That device in the palm of your hand can give you the opportunity to have a full-on, face-to-face audio and video interaction in real time. While this can bring loved ones closer together, it also has the potential to open a live window to others’ tragedy or terror when things go wrong. As with any evolution in society and technology, there are ripple effects within the law, and that may include using a loved one’s livestream as part of your vehicle accident case. Rely on an experienced San Mateo car accident lawyer to help you best utilize all the evidence available to strengthen your case.

Not every case important to auto accident plaintiffs is itself a vehicle injury case. A sad case from Southern California is an example. One spring day, D.K., the mother of a toddler son for whom she had hired a healthcare services company to provide in-home care, opened a phone app and pulled up a livestream of the “nanny cam” installed in her son’s room.

The mother “watched and heard in shock and horror, while the incident was happening in real time,” as the nurse employed by the healthcare company allegedly hit, slapped, pinched, violently shook, and generally abused the two-year-old. The abuse allegedly caused doctors to have to remove one of the boy’s eyes, and also inflicted other serious injuries.

The Dangers Bicyclists Face Every Day Traveling Along San Mateo County’s Streets and Roadways

May 14, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Statistics show that, on average, more than 3,000 crashes occur every year in the Bay Area that involved a car and a bicycle. Too many times, those accidents were the result of a vehicle driver who was going too fast, not sufficiently attentive, or otherwise negligent in the driving of their vehicle. When that happens, you may be entitled to recover significant compensation, so you should waste no time in reaching out to an experienced San Mateo bicycle accident lawyer to find out more about the case you have.

Even more locally, a recent study looked at just San Mateo County alone. That study reviewed five years of vehicle crash data. During that five-year time span, nearly 1,200 bicyclists were hurt (nine fatally) in more than 1,250 San Mateo County crashes, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal.

In most of these bicycle accidents, a vehicle driver committed a traffic violation. The most common of those violations involved a vehicle driver who either improperly failed to yield the right of way, made an improper turn, or else was going too fast.

What to Do If You’ve Been Hurt in a Head-On Crash in California

May 8, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

One of the most dangerous vehicle accident scenarios you can face is a head-on collision. Statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that head-on accidents had a 58% fatality rate in 2017. The causes for head-on accidents are many but almost all of them involve someone engaging in negligent or reckless conduct. If you have been hurt or have lost a loved one to one of these extremely damaging accidents, be sure to get the legal help you need by retaining a knowledgeable San Mateo car accident lawyer right away.

The Bay Area witnessed another one of these tragic events recently. According to the San Mateo County Coroner, a 25-year-old San Francisco man died as a result of a head-on collision in South San Francisco. The accident, which occurred shortly after noon, also seriously injured two other people, the San Mateo Daily Journal reported. The police did not immediately release any additional details about the crash, according to the report.

A few days later, another head-on accident yielded more tragedy. A Chevrolet SUV and a Dodge pickup truck collided head-on in Modesto. The southbound SUV, for unknown reasons, crossed into the northbound lane and the vehicles slammed head-on into one another. The two occupants of the SUV died, and the driver of the truck suffered “moderate” injuries, according to an ABC 10 report.

The Multiple Legal Actions Your Family May Need After Losing a Loved One to a Fatal Single-Vehicle Accident in California

April 28, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Recently, this blog touched upon fatal single-vehicle accidents and some of the legal issues that they can present, including ways of holding the defendant liable. Of course, getting a judgment of liability is not the end of the process. A proper outcome means also getting a full and fair sum of damages. As you are dealing with the tragic loss of a loved one, look to an experienced San Mateo auto accident lawyer to handle the legal processes and get your family the full compensation you deserve.

Santa Clara was the site of one of the latest of these fatal single-vehicle crashes. According to Patch.com, a motorcyclist traveling northbound along the San Tomas Expressway hit the center median and crashed. The motorcyclist was transported to a nearby hospital but died as a result of his injuries.

Statistics show that there generally are more than 3,000 fatal vehicle accidents every year in California and most are single-vehicle crashes.

Taking on – and Winning – an Injury Lawsuit in California Based on a Fatal Single-Vehicle Crash

April 20, 2021 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

If you scan the news stories about fatal vehicle accidents, you’ll inevitably notice that a lot of the stories have something in common: the vehicle in which the deceased was traveling was the only car, truck, van, or SUV involved in the incident. In fact, statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that, here in California, the majority of fatal vehicle accidents are single-vehicle crashes (56%). If you were hurt (or a loved one was killed) in a single-vehicle accident, there may be multiple options for getting the compensation you need, so waste no time in reaching out to a skilled San Mateo car accident lawyer.

Many times, it’s not immediately clear what caused the wreck. For example, losaltosonline.com described a recent crash in Santa Clara County thusly: “for reasons currently unknown, the 2006 Toyota Sienna minivan containing the young men left the roadway and entered the center median, where it overturned and struck several trees.” The San Diego Union-Tribune described a recent Southern California single-vehicle fatal accident this way: “Details of what caused the Cadillac sedan to hit the pole were not immediately available.”

Several factors can be triggers for fatal single-vehicle accidents. They can include a driver driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a driver driving while distracted by a cell phone, a driver who was driving while fatigued or drowsy, a driver who was speeding, an inexperienced driver, or a driver who was navigating a road that had poor drainage or poor sightlines, among other things.