Car Accidents Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Experienced Attorneys Upland

Aug 29 2015

Hit By a Car Crossing the Street Who is at Fault

Who Is at Fault When a Pedestrian is Hit by a Car Crossing the Street?

When a pedestrian is hit by a car crossing the street it is not always the driver who is at fault. Laws of negligence will usually determine who is at when a pedestrian is hit by a car crossing the street. Negligence usually rests on the question of reasonableness. This is to say, was the person crossing the street acting as a reasonable person would when he was hit by a car crossing the street. For example, it could be said that a reasonable person would not in the exercise of normal prudence, cross a four lane, busy road in the middle of the street at night but, instead, a reasonable person would have used the lighted crosswalk at the corner. Conversely, a driver of a motor vehicle has a duty to use reasonable care when operating his vehicle and to operate it in a manner so as not to endanger pedestrians. For example, a reasonable driver would not send text messages on a busy four lane road while his vehicle was in motion. Instead, a reasonable driver would not use a cell phone while driving. In many cases, both the driver and pedestrian can be partially at fault. So, you must analyze both parties behavior immediately before the accident occurred to determine fault when a pedestrian is struck crossing the street. It is not usually cut and dried. You will likely need the assistance of an experienced personal injury attorney to help you determine fault if you are hit by a car crossing the street.
An experienced personal injury attorney will look at the same things that a judge will look at to determine who is at fault when a pedestrian is hit by a car crossing the street. The following are some of the things that may be examined to determine fault in a pedestrian vs. motor vehicle accident.

Police Reports and Insurance Company Findings

The police will take statements from the driver, pedestrian, and witnesses to determine who was at fault. They may make a conclusive finding on the spot or conduct a detailed investigation to make the finding later.
The police report will show which party the investigating officer determined to be at fault. However, the police findings are not conclusive and they are subject to being challenged by both the insurance companies and your attorney. Insurance adjusters conduct their own investigations and they may determine something far different than that of the police. This can place you in a odd position where your insurance company may conclude you are at fault and the police may determine that you were not or vise versa. Only an experienced personal injury lawyer can sort out these kinds of messes and insure that you both get compensated for damages and protect your rights against any charges or citations that the police may issue.

Insurance Coverage for Pedestrian Accidents

Injured pedestrians will typically be covered by their health and disability insurance policies, or worker’s compensation coverage, if the accident occurs on the job. They may also be covered under one or more auto insurance policies.

Payment Under Auto Liability Insurance

An injured pedestrian should typically file a claim against the driver’s or vehicle owner’s insurance policy. California requires all vehicle owners to carry liability insurance to cover personal injuries to third parties and damage to third parties’ property. However, if and how much you can recover depends on who’s at fault and the policy limits of the insured. It may be necessary for your personal injury attorney to file a lawsuit against the other party so that a judge can assist you to determine fault. If litigation becomes necessary, payment for your injuries will be delayed until after the litigation has been resolved.

Why You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer.

Insurance companies have teams of lawyers all dedicated to making sure you get the smallest possible award. If this isn’t enough to make you call a personal injury attorney consider this: if you do not agree to the settlement amount offered by the insurance company, you will need to file a lawsuit to get what you deserve. While the litigation is pending, you will still likely need medical treatment and transportation, your personal injury attorney can help to arrange this for you. Also consider that you will not only be taking on an insurance company but also the guy who hit you. Very few people have the knowledge and ability to successfully navigate a personal injury lawsuit without the assistance of a lawyer.

Aug 29 2015

Stages of a Personal Injury Case

What are the Stages of a Personal Injury Case?

Depending on the case, personal injury litigation can take many different forms. They are often to complicated to cover every possible situation in a single blog post but knowing these basic steps may help you better understand the process.

You are injured in an accident: Collect as much information about the accident as possible. Get the names, addresses and telephone numbers of everyone involved. Take photographs of the scene if before it changes. Most importantly, get medical attention as soon as possible.
Find a Personal Injury Lawyer: You will meet with them and provide as much information as you can. Your attorney will request medical records, police reports and other information need to move your case forward.
Collect and Demand: After your attorney has all of the information they need they will prepare a demand letter to submit to the insurance company and the other party. The demand letter will state all of your damages to date and the anticipated future damages that you may suffer. Your attorney will set a reasonable deadline for the insurance company t respond. If a response is not received by the deadline or if the demand is rejected, your attorney will begin preparing for the litigation process.
Filing a Complaint: The complaint starts the lawsuit and puts the other side on notice as to what they are being sued for and the general basis on which you seek to recover damages. After it is filed, the complaint must be served on the other side and they have 30 days to file a response.
Discovery: Discovery is a sort of fact-finding process in which they parties request and provide each other with information about your case. This may include written discovery, depositions and medical examinations amount other things.
Motions: Before you go to trial there is a potential for several rounds of motions and oppositions between the parties. These motions are necessary to sort out any number of issues before trial. Not every case requires pre-trial motions but it is not uncommon. Your attorney will advise you if pre-trial motions are necessary.
Settlement Negotiations: Typically, before you actually go to trial, your attorney will attempt to settle the matter with the insurance company and other parties. In fact, in California most courts require personal injury cases to go through some formal form of alternative dispute resolution. It could be private mediation or a mandatory settlement conference sponsored by the court. Settlement tends to be better for all concerned because it does not tie up courts and it doesn’t add the expense of a court trial. Another benefit to settling your personal injury case before trial is that the parties have more control over the outcome. If you go to trial a judge and jury will decide the outcome.
Trial: Formal trial involves the presentation of physical evidence as well as oral testimonies that serve to support or discredit the parties’ cases. The parties’ lawyers use the evidence to support their own arguments and legal theories. This stage also includes opening and closing arguments
Judgment Collections: If you were only up against an insurance company and that insurance company covered all of your claim there is usually no problem collecting your award. However, personal injury damages often go beyond the coverage of limits of the insurance policy. If that occurs, you will have to go after the assets of the person who caused your injuries to collect the rest.
Distribution: After the settlement or trial, the insurance company will usually write a check made payable to both you and your attorney. Your attorney will deposit the check into his or her trust account. Now, your attorney must settle all of your medical bills and pay off any other liens or obligations created on your behalf and deduct the cost of your legal representation and attorneys fees. After everything has been settled, the attorney will distribute the remaining money to you. People are sometimes surprised by the final amount of the distribution but, the reality is if you win $100,000 but, you have $99,999.99 in medical bills, there just isn’t that much left over to distribute. Thankfully, that is not usually the case and most clients will walk away tidy sum of money.

The above timeline can be broken in the three stages referred to in the related video and it should give you a general understanding of the personal injury case process.

Aug 27 2015

How to Damage Your Personal Injury Case with Social Media

Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and dozens of other social media sharing sites offer us countless ways to share every moment of lives with the world. We have become so comfortable with Instagram, Snapchat and the others that we don’t think twice before posting a photo of ourselves rock climbing in Southern Utah while our attorney is in court arguing that your back injury has caused you to be permanently disabled. It may sound ridiculous but search for personal injury and social media and you will find dozens of cases where the plaintiff had their case dismissed because they posted a picture of themselves in a karate tournament, playing tennis, lifting heavy furniture or similar acts of physical prowess when they have alleged debilitating injuries in their lawsuit. Even a photo of yourself holding your child and laughing can be twisted into something that works against you especially if you are claiming that you have so much back pain that you cannot work.

Here are 10 specific ways that you can damage your personal injury case with social media.

1) Posting details about your accident.

This includes tweets but especially Instagram and Facebook. If you post pictures and details of your accident online you are inviting the insurance company to examine those posts to find defects in your case. Also, avoid chats and other forms of online communications with your friends. Not only does this open the door to other side to discredit you as a witness but also by sharing important details with people who are unrelated to your case you are turning your friends into potential witnesses. Imagine you were kidding around and said, “I am going to make millions off these losers for a couple of bumps and bruises.” Even if you were joking, written text does not translate in the same way as spoken word. That statement could damage your case and sour a jury against you.

2) Posting photos of yourself.

OK, we already mentioned this above but clearly people are not getting the message. If you have a personal injury case do not post pictures of yourself online. Let’s look at one case specific case where the plaintiff was run over on the freeway by a semi-truck while riding his motorcycle. He was seriously injured and confined to wheelchair while his broken pelvis healed. He went from very active to sitting in front of a computer posting pictures on Facebook all day. Unfortunately for him, he posted photo’s of himself doing “stunts” on his motorcycle just a couple of days before the accident. Even though when he was struck he was riding his motorcycle in a safe manner, at trial, the defense presented the photos of him performing stunts. You could see on the faces of the jury that they had turned against him. Ultimately, his award was far less than what it could have been.

3) Playing Online Video Games All Day.

If you think that online gaming is not a form of social media, you are wrong. Part of the online gaming experience is the various ways that you can interact with other people online. Chats, instant messages, profile messages and other exchanges in gaming systems on Steam and other like are just as much social media as Facebook. Your comments, posts and chats on gaming platforms is actually easier to get than comments, posts and chats on Facebook. A jury may not like the fact that you were playing video games 12 hours a day but trying to claim that you are too injured to return to your job as a bookkeeper where you only sit a computer for 8 hours per day.

4) Complaining about everything.

Perception is everything. Many counties in California are chocked full of lower income people, retirees and unemployed people right now and they frequently end up on juries. These are all fine, hard working people with good intentions. But imagine them reading post after post of you complaining about your job and how much you don’t want to go back to work, how small your house is and how you can’t wait until you get your millions in your settlement, how do you think you might be perceived by the jury? Not very well is the answer.

The Bottom line.

Take a break from social media. Pick up the phone or write a letter. There is still a possibility that those could be used against you but they tend to be a much more private form of communication that is not readily available to a defense attorney for the insurance company.