Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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.

Your knowledgeable California injury attorney can help in a great many ways after you’ve been hurt in an auto accident. One of the very vital ways in which an experienced injury attorney can assist you greatly is by employing his/her past experiences to help you determine just how much liability each of your opponents has, or how much you might reasonably expect to obtain in compensation from each defendant.

Your attorney can also help you get the information you need to determine whom you should pursue, and how aggressively, when you’re faced with a circumstance where more than one party may be liable for your harm. This information can be imperative, especially when it comes to weighing whether or not to accept a settlement offer you’ve received from an opposing party.

Consider the case of M.A. (Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC600875,) who was hurt in a three-vehicle intersection crash in Cerritos. M.A. was on the east-west road, traveling westbound. S.H. was on the same road but headed eastbound. J.E. was moving northbound on the intersecting street. S.H. and J.E., with each alleging that he/she had a green light, passed into the intersection and collided.

In many circumstances, including intersection accidents, if a driver who has the right of way is involved in an accident with a driver who was required to yield the right of way but did not, then the first driver would have a strong case for a civil liability and an award of damages. Typically, the driver who failed to yield would be considered negligent in her operation of her vehicle and would be liable for the injuries and other damages that she caused to the driver with whom she collided.

That, however, is not a certainty, and you should be prepared to litigate your case diligently, even if you were clearly hurt and clearly had the right of way. A driver who might appear to have had the right of way, and be entitled to an award of damages, might not succeed if she also violated the rules of the road, such as by speeding. In that regard, some defendants may try to defeat your case by alleging you committed some violation of the rules of the road and that violation was the real cause of the accident. To protect yourself and your case, be sure you have the skill and knowledge of an experienced California injury attorney on your side.

As an example of this type of case, there’s the injury accident of a woman named J.B. (Los Angeles Superior Court Case Number BC 610177) J.B. was driving across westbound Franklin Avenue in Hollywood near the Magic Castle. H.A. had been traveling eastbound but was stopped while waiting to make a left turn into the driveway of the Magic Castle. Seeing what she thought was an opportunity to get to the driveway, H.A. initiated her left turn. Unfortunately, that put her in the path of J.B. and the vehicles collided.

If your opponent in your auto accident case asked the court to take “judicial notice” of a document, would you know what that meant? Would you know how to respond? Even many very intelligent and educated people would probably answer “no” to those questions. However, these kinds of evidentiary decisions can make or break an injured person’s personal injury lawsuit. That’s why it is so important to have the representation of a skilled California car accident attorney in your case.A dispute over “judicial notice” was at the center of one woman’s recent auto accident case. The accident, in which Marie suffered injuries, happened on May 20, 2014. Whenever you are injured in an auto accident, there is the possibility that there may be multiple people and entities that are liable for the harm you suffered. The facts of your case likely will permit you to sue the driver. If the owner is someone other than the driver, this may represent a second possible defendant. If the driver was “on the job” when the crash occurred, you may also have a claim for liability against the employer.

Regardless of the number of people or entities you are suing, it is important to act with all due speed. If you file your lawsuit after the deadline (the “statute of limitations”) has expired, you are not entitled to any compensation, no matter how strong your proof is. So what do you do if you are reaching the end of the statute of limitations period, and you don’t know the identities of some people who could be liable?

In Marie’s case, she sued on May 12, 2016. She sued Evelyn, who was the driver who hit her. She also sued Eduardo and “Does 1 to 100,” who allegedly were the owners of the vehicle and who negligently entrusted the auto to Evelyn prior to the crash. (The law permits you to sue “John Doe,” ‘Jane Doe,” or “Does 1 to X” if you have identified a potentially liable party but do not know that party’s name.)