Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

Many forms of futuristic technology are becoming reality today. KCRA in Sacramento reported that new California regulations could allow companies to deploy self-driving delivery vehicles by the end of 2019. Another source reported on a pizza company, once famous (or infamous) for its fleet of youthful drivers racing down streets to delivery customers’ pizzas in “30 minutes or less,” that hopes to have robots and self-driving vehicles handling those home deliveries in some locations before the end of this year.

Modern technology is, of course, a wonderful thing… when it works. Unfortunately, Californians have already seen the consequences when self-driving vehicle technology fails. A 38-year-old Bay Area engineer died when his autonomous Tesla vehicle misinterpreted the lines on Highway 101 and steered the vehicle into a concrete barrier, killing the man. A pedestrian in neighboring Arizona died after an autonomous Uber vehicle failed to stop as she walked her bicycle across a road.

So, would you know what to do if you were injured in an accident caused by a self-driving vehicle? You might know generally that the law gives you an opportunity to sue, but it would also be entirely reasonable to think that you wouldn’t know exactly how to do that, including what to assert and who to sue. Your experienced California injury lawyer is there to help.

Your California auto accident may have inflicted massive harm upon you. You may have racked up huge medical bills, may have lost a lot of wages due to missed time at work and you probably experienced a great deal of pain and suffering. Getting true justice, then, means finding ways to ensure that you can actually recover the total amount of damages that the court awards you, and aren’t just stuck with a largely (or perhaps even completely) uncollectible judgment. This is just one of many essential considerations when it comes to getting an appropriate result in your injury case. To make sure you are positioned to get all of what you deserve, be sure you have a skilled San Mateo injury attorney fighting for you.

Getting that best possible result may, in many situations, require detailed legal knowledge. Again, a skilled legal advocate can help immensely. Here’s a real-life example from Placer County. A.M. was seriously hurt in an intersection accident where A.H. reportedly ran a red light.

In a case like that, you may, in addition to the at-fault driver, be able to pursue compensation from an auto insurer and, if the at-fault driver was engaged in activity furthering the interests of his employer when the crash happened, you may also be able to name the employer and obtain a judgment against that entity as well.

In an intersection crash where one vehicle clearly improperly fails to yield the right of way, it may be understandable, and perhaps easy, to assume that the fault for the accident lies solely with that driver, where liability in this case may come down to issues like speeding and negligent failure to yield. Sometimes, though, the facts tell a different story. By doing truly thorough pre-trial discovery, you may unearth those unexpected facts and be better equipped to achieve success in your lawsuit. To make sure you have what you need, both before trial, during trial and after trial, be sure you have an experienced San Mateo injury attorney on your side.

A recent tragedy from Hollywood is an example. Patch.com reported on a mother was who driving three of her children in her minivan when a 74-year-old driver of an Infiniti SUV slammed into her. The impact pushed the van into a pole and killed the mother and the two younger children.

The older girl (who was injured but not killed in the crash,) along with the father of the children, sued in federal court in Los Angeles. One of the parties in the case alleged that the SUV driver caused the accident by confusing the accelerator and the brake pedal in his vehicle, meaning that he sped up when he meant to stop.

Road rage is a problem everywhere, but it is particularly bad here in the Golden State. According to the website GasBuddy, three of 10 cities with the most aggressive drivers are California cities. (Sacramento was third, San Francisco fifth and San Diego sixth.) Stories in the news only reinforce the extent of the problem. In January, a Los Angeles area motorcyclist was killed by an enraged driver who followed him and ran over the motorcycle, NBC Los Angeles reported. In February, NBC Los Angeles reported on another Southern California crash that left one dead due to road rage. A suspected road rage driver took off from police and eventually slammed into a previously uninvolved vehicle, causing that vehicle to catch fire and kill the innocent driver inside.

Unlike many other auto accidents, aggressive driving accidents are some of the most preventable. We can’t always avoid making misjudgments behind the wheel, but we can avoid letting our base emotions take over and engaging in conduct that places everyone on the road at risk. If you’re injured by someone who has engaged in road rage-fueled unsafe driving, you may be entitled to substantial compensation, which is one reason why you should contact an experienced San Mateo injury attorney right away.

You have questions. We’re here to give you helpful answers

If you’ve suffered harm from this type of accident, there may three questions that leap to mind, which are: (1) Can I sue? (2) Who should I sue? and (3) What kind of compensation can I collect?

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Your injury accident may present many challenges for you. The accident may have inflicted a variety of types of harm upon you and your family. When that happens, you need a skilled San Mateo injury attorney working for you to get you an award that covers all of the different types of damages that you have suffered. Whether through judgment or settlement, your knowledgeable attorney can help you get a result that you need.

A case recently reported by the Fresno Bee was an example of that kind of accident. J.S.G. was roughly 15 minutes away from work on May 1, 2017 when his commute ended prematurely. At an intersection in Tulare County, J.S.G.’s passenger sedan and a van collided. By coincidence, the driver of the van was employed by the same company that employed J.S.G. The van was hauling a trailer that was loaded down with ladders and portable toilets, according to the report.

Allegedly, the crash occurred because the van’s driver failed to come to a complete stop at the intersection. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, along with significant injuries to his neck and back. According to the injured driver, he had undergone neck and back surgeries to address those injuries and continued to need therapy, the Bee reported.

When it comes to legal questions, a very common (and often very wise) answer you’ll get from a prudent lawyer is, “It depends.” That’s because many legal outcomes really do depend on the unique facts of a particular case. For example, in many instances, you cannot recover from a driver’s employer if the driver was using the employer’s vehicle but was dealing with personal matters at the time of the crash. But that’s not always true; sometimes you can recover. In short, don’t assume – seek out knowledgeable advice from a skilled San Mateo injury attorney about the options your case presents.

As an illustration of the “It depends” concept, take the case of R.M., who was hurt while riding as a passenger in a pickup truck that his father was driving. The father was driving down a rural, county-maintained road when the truck left the roadway and crashed down an embankment, rolling over. R.M. was not wearing a seatbelt and suffered serious injuries in the accident.

At the time of the accident, the road was undergoing a resurfacing project but, unbeknownst to the driver, the project had not been completed. The father’s employer owned the pickup truck, but the father was engaged in personal affairs, not company business, when the accident happened.

We all know that law enforcement officers have many responsibilities to juggle, even while behind the wheels of their police vehicles. They are tasked with doing things that private drivers are not expected to handle. However, we also know that all drivers on the road owe everyone else on the road a duty to maintain a proper lookout while driving. So, what happens if you are injured in an accident involving a distracted driver and that distracted driver turns out to be a law enforcement officer? Regardless of the officer’s position, you may still be able to recover compensation for this accident. Whether the driver who hit and injured you was a police officer or a private citizen, be sure you have a skilled California injury attorney on your side to give you the legal help you need.

Having a knowledgeable legal advocate can help greatly when it comes to getting all of the compensation you deserve. Take, for example, the case of a pair of Southern California plumbers. As reported by noozhawk.com, B.S. and J.H. were traveling through the city of Santa Maria when they experienced a jarring and painful event. Their pickup truck was rear-ended while they were stopped in traffic. The driver behind them did not notice the stopped traffic quickly enough. Although he tried to stop, he could not brake in time. That driver, an officer of the Santa Maria police, was distracted, according to information provided at trial.

According to the report, the driver was not tweeting or surfing Instagram or texting. He was responding to a call and was checking his in-dash computer for suspect information displayed there when the crash occurred. Nevertheless, the officer was distracted and that state of driving while distracted led to his rear-ending B.S. and J.H., the injured men argued in their lawsuit. The city admitted liability.