Auto Accidents Category Archives — Page 2 of 5 — San Mateo Injury Lawyers Blog Published by San Mateo, California Injury Attorneys — Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

A Recent Bay Area Accident Kills One, And Reminds All of Us of the Dangers California Motorcyclists Face on the Road

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

California has more than 800,000 motorcycles registered in the state and has the largest volume of motorcycle traffic in the U.S. A lot of those motorcycles are here in the Bay Area. Motorcyclists are under several elevated risks on the road, as drivers may be more likely to overlook them, and accidents involving motorcycles may lead to more serious harm to motorcyclists and their passengers. Whether you’re driving a massive SUV or a basic motorcycle, other drivers still have a legal obligation to be attentive and avoid crashing into you. If you were hurt in a motorcycle accident, be sure you contact a knowledgeable San Mateo motorcycle accident attorney to get the advice you need about your legal rights and options.

A recent Bay Area accident is a tragic example of how serious motorcycle accidents often are. According to KPIX, M.D. was a motorcyclist traveling on a six-lane road in South San Jose. As he headed north, the driver of a southbound Jeep attempted a left-hand turn onto a two-lane road. The Jeep crossed directly into the motorcycle’s path and the vehicles slammed into one another. The impact threw M.D. from his bike and he died at the scene, according to the report. Police quickly ruled out intoxication as a possible cause of the accident.

How does a driver who was neither drunk nor high turn right into the path of an oncoming vehicle? There are several possible explanations. Many drivers are guilty of driving while distracted, with their cell phone or other electronic device serving as the distraction. Other drivers may drive with a certain degree of diminished attention that, while allowing them to see cars or trucks, allows them to miss vehicles like motorcycles.

How to Pursue and Win an Auto Accident Case Against a Texting Driver in California

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

When you’re injured in an auto accident, you may worry that this crash will cause you to miss a lot of time at work. You may worry that your injuries will impair your ability to care for your children or meet your financial obligations. Any accident caused by someone else is frustrating, but it may be especially irritating if the driver who hit you was texting while driving. While exceptionally frustrating, clear evidence that the driver who hit you was texting at the time of the crash may be a huge help to you when it comes time to go to court and seek much-needed compensation for the harm you’ve suffered. Be sure you have an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney on your side to help you discover all the facts and then use them to your maximum benefit in court.

In Los Angeles, despite efforts by the city government, “the number of people killed in car crashes stayed stubbornly high,” according to the Los Angeles Times. One of the key contributors to that is drivers texting while driving. Drivers traveling “30, 40, 50 mph … put their head down to pick up a text or handle a call, and they move 100 yards, and they drive over someone,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said in the Times report.

Regrettably, distracted driving isn’t just a problem in Los Angeles. In mid-March, a 20-year-old woman who was “driving northbound… and using her cellular phone” in Redding collided with another driver. According to actionnewsnow.com, the 20-year-old woman did not notice that her traffic light was red, she ran the red light and crashed into another car. The driver of that second vehicle was injured and was transported to a local hospital, according to the report.

What Do I Do When the Person Who Rear-Ended Me in California is an On-Duty Federal Agent?

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

Any injury-causing vehicle accident has the potential to present unique complications. Perhaps you were hurt in a complex multi-vehicle chain-reaction accident. Maybe you were hit by a hit-and-run driver. Or perhaps were hurt after a federal DEA agent slammed into you. Each of these scenarios has the potential to present complications, each in different ways. That’s why it pays to have an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney on your side from the start. Your skilled attorney has the knowledge to know how to address the unique complexities of your case and still guide you to a successful outcome.

The complexity of R.R.’s distracted-driving accident case was not a matter of how it happened, but who was behind the wheel. As R.R. was driving along Interstate 710 to work, he came to a stop. The driver behind him, who appeared to be distracted by something inside his vehicle, rear-ended R.R.’s vehicle.

At first, R.R.’s symptoms were minor. Imaging of his brain did not show anything irregular. As time passed, though, R.R. got worse. That’s not uncommon in a vehicle accident. A lot of times, it may take days or even weeks for symptoms of underlying accident-related problems to emerge. R.R. began experiencing dizziness, vision problems, headaches, vertigo and balance problems. R.R., it turns out, had a traumatic brain injury that had left him unable to drive and permanently disabled.

How a Violation of a ‘Non-Disparagement’ Clause in a California Settlement Agreement May Allow You To Recover Additional Compensation

March 10, 2020 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Many people injured in auto accidents, dog attacks, trip-and-fall accidents and slip-and-fall accidents resolve their cases by settling instead of proceeding to a verdict. Settlement may offer you the opportunity to acquire much-needed financial compensation without the stress and time that must be invested in pursuing a case all the way to a verdict. Your settlement will almost certainly come with a settlement agreement, which will probably contain some limitations about what you and your opponent can and cannot say about your case. It is very important to have a skilled San Mateo injury attorney by your side and that you understand and follow those contractual requirements. And, if your opponent does not follow them, then you may be entitled to recover additional compensation for your opponent’s breach of the contract.

Here’s an example from Southern California. E.L. and M.J. were neighbors in Los Angeles County. The neighbors’ legal battle began after E.L.’s dog killed M.J.’s cat. Each neighbor hired an attorney and, ultimately, the two neighbors agreed to a settlement where the dog owner paid the cat owner $2,000. The settlement agreement also contained a clause that said that neither neighbor was allowed to disparage the other.

Sometime after the two neighbors signed the agreement, E.L. posted a “hostile message” about M.J. on the website Nextdoor.com. M.J. then responded by suing E.L. (again.) This time, he sued for defamation, as well as breach of contract.

A Woman in San Mateo Dies After Being Struck by a Driver Whom Police Suspect Was Under the Influence

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

Sometimes, you are completely devoid of any fault in your auto accident. You are sitting at a traffic signal, properly stopped, when someone slams into you from behind. The reality is, though, that many accidents are not that black-and-white. We’ve all made mistakes and misjudgments behind the wheel and sometimes some of those errors played a role in our auto accidents. Fortunately, you do not have to be 100% blameless in order to recover much-needed compensation for the injuries you suffered in your auto accident. If you’re hurt in a crash, be sure to reach out to an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney to learn more about the legal options available for you.

Sometimes, errors are simple misjudgments, like braking too late on a wet road. Other times, there fall more on the side of lapses of good judgment. An apparent momentary lapse in judgment turned tragic in San Mateo earlier in January. According to KPIX, the starting point of the fatal accident was a non-injury crash along Highway 101 where a Dodge Charger struck a Toyota Yaris. (The driver of the Dodge was later arrested for suspicion of DUI.) With both cars still in the travel lanes, a woman riding in the Yaris, I.T., got out of that car to confront the Dodge’s driver, and an argument ensued. While I.T. argued with the Charger’s driver, an oncoming Toyota Camry hit and killed her. The driver of the Camry, like the driver of the Charger, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

While it might seem easy to criticize the deceased woman for stepping onto a travel lane of a highway in order to maintain an argument with a driver in a fender-bender, we should all be slow to pass judgment. Nearly all of us have been in extremely highly stressful situations on the road – including accidents. And most all of us have had moments where anger, frustration or stress led us to do things we regretted later.

When You’re Hurt in an Accident, You Don’t Just Need Any California Attorney…You Need the Right One

December 23, 2019 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Recently, Governor Newsom signed into law a bill that is designed to limit Californians’ exposure to certain marketing calls, KUSI News reported. As many telemarketers know, even if the service or product that you offer over the phone is perfectly legal (and even quite beneficial,) many people assume that all telemarketers are scammers. Professionals in several other fields face similar negative stereotypes. “Politicians are all liars seeking only become famous and/or line their bank accounts… used car salespeople are con artists seeking to get wealthy by foisting lemons onto unsuspecting consumers… auto injury attorneys are just a bunch of ambulance chasers…, etc. etc,” are some common stereotypes.

The truth is that most injury attorneys are actually highly ethical professionals, passionately dedicated to helping injured people and their families fight for what’s fair and get back on their feet. Regrettably, though, some attorneys actually are less than completely ethical. So, how do you differentiate your conscientious and professional San Mateo injury attorney from an unethical ambulance chaser?

One of the ways you potentially can differentiate the two groups is by the manner in which you become connected. The phrase “ambulance chasing” has a very specific common meaning in the legal community. It refers to unscrupulous attorneys, or third parties acting on their behalf, who reach out to injured people (or their families) without having been first contacted by that person or family. They may make contact at the scene of an auto accident, at a funeral or at the injured person’s hospital room.

A California Family Uses a ‘Negligent Entrustment’ Claim to Hold a Father Liable for His Adult Son’s Auto Accident

November 7, 2019 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Sometimes, being injured by a driver who experienced a medical emergency can be an extremely harmful thing to your injury case. Sudden and unforeseeable medical traumas that impair a driver’s ability to operate his vehicle safely are often chalked up alongside “acts of God” as things where no one is negligent, and no one is liable.

Other times, though, this medical evidence may be something that actually strengthens your case or gives you more opportunities for seeking the compensation you need. To make sure you are getting all the relevant information for your case, and putting it your maximum advantage, be sure you have an experienced San Mateo wrongful death attorney on your side. When a driver experiences a medical emergency or trauma that was unexpected and that the impaired driver couldn’t have anticipated, that is one thing, and it may hurt your case. When, however, the driver has a history of experiencing impairment-causing symptoms due to an existing (and known) medical disorder, then that is a very different circumstance entirely.

The case arising from a fatal East Bay crash that claimed the lives of 51-year-old E.P. and her 72-year-old mother was an example of the latter. The women were killed in Contra Costa County when another driver broadsided the women’s SUV at an intersection. The other driver, J.H., ran a red light and was going 62 mph in a 45-mph zone at the time of the crash. J.H. wasn’t drunk, wasn’t street racing and wasn’t texting. What he was, according to his lawyers in his criminal case, was experiencing a seizure that caused him to lose control and speed through the red light.

Deciding Whether to Settle or to Go to Trial: Why That Decision Matters So Much in Your California Injury Case

October 16, 2019 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Sometimes, in your auto accident injury case, the question isn’t if you have a case for holding the defendant liable, because the defense has already admitted liability. The question isn’t even whether or not you’ve incurred a substantial amount of damages, because the defense has admitted that, too. The question, then, for some injured people, is “exactly how extensive are my damages and how much compensation should I reasonably expect for them?” Being able to assess these things accurately matters a great deal if you’re in an injury lawsuit in California.

In California, there’s a law that says that, if you reject a statutory settlement offer and the jury awards you less 75% of what was offered, then you lose the ability to recover certain costs and fees and may be on the hook for paying some of the defense’s costs and fees. In other words, it is very, very important, when you receive a statutory settlement offer from the defense, that you have the ability to differentiate a fair offer from a low one. This is a key area where the right San Mateo car accident attorney can help. Your knowledgeable attorney can use his/her wealth of experiences in past cases to help you spot a fair offer… or an unfair one.

T.B. was a woman facing those kinds of questions in her case (Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2016-00861733-CU-PA-CJC.) She was a passenger in vehicle that was involved in a major accident. T.B.’s driver reportedly improperly turned left against a red arrow. The accident totaled both vehicles.

An Injured California Driver, Despite Relatively Less Severe Injuries, Still Secures a $110K Jury Verdict

October 12, 2019 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

Did you know that, based on one study, auto accident injury plaintiffs have some of the highest rates of success with juries, winning roughly 2/3 of the time? Of course, simply obtaining a “judgment for plaintiff” may not be enough if the jury awards you only a tiny amount of damages. Sometimes, you’re injured in an auto accident but (thankfully) escape without any catastrophic injuries. You may have had no broken bones and no torn ligaments, and may have needed only a few months of medical treatment. You might, therefore, have assumed that, even if you won, your case was not “worth” all that much in terms of compensation.

Occasionally, a jury verdict comes along that serves as a good reminder about the peril of assuming. Recently, there was a San Diego woman who, despite injuries like those listed above, recovered a six-figure award of damages. The lesson of this outcome? Don’t assume. Instead, be sure you talk to an experienced San Mateo injury attorney and get a seasoned pro’s analysis of what your case is really worth.

In that recent Southern California case (San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2017-00001440-CU-PA-CTL), 27-year-old P.N. was stopped at an intersection in La Jolla waiting for her light to turn green. As she remained stopped, another driver who was turning left at the same intersection lost control and crashed into P.N.’s vehicle.

A California Man Rejects a $435K Settlement Offer and Instead Wins a $1.9M Judgment in His Distracted Driver Case

September 27, 2019 | Law Offices of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos

According to NHTSA statistics, distracted driving remains a major problem on U.S. roads, resulting in 3,166 deaths in 2017 alone. Distracted driving may lead to driving behaviors that can be particularly injurious, such as slamming into a stopped vehicle at full speed, veering into an oncoming lane of travel or barreling through a clearly red traffic light.

When you’re seriously hurt as a result of a distracted driver, you need to know where to turn find out how to go about getting back on your feet and getting fully compensated for the losses you’ve suffered (and will suffer.) Start by reaching out to an experienced San Mateo car accident attorney.

Anyone can file a personal injury lawsuit and potentially work out a settlement. One of the keys to a genuine success in a personal injury accident is not just “getting paid,” but knowing what your case is really worth and being sure that the payment you get is a fair one. That’s especially true in California, where there is an “offer of settlement” statute (Section 998). Make the mistake of rejecting a fair 998 settlement offer and you may find yourself paying some of the fees and costs of the defense. Make the mistake of accepting a lowball 998 offer and you may find yourself receiving too little money for your needs.