After a serious car crash, you may not have enough money to pay your medical bills. You may not know of a doctor who can treat you. You also may feel uncertain about taking time off from work. If you were injured in a car accident caused by another person, you may be able to recover compensation for your losses by filing a personal injury lawsuit. At Knoll Law Group, our California car accident lawyers have represented thousands of clients over the last three decades and secured tens of millions of dollars to assist clients after car accidents throughout California.
Our California Car Accident Attorney Helps You Prove Negligence
In order to hold another driver responsible for a car accident, you will need to establish their negligence with the help of a California car accident lawyer. You will need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant did not use reasonable care in the situation, and that this caused your injuries. Drivers can breach the duty to use reasonable care by actions such as speeding, tailgating, weaving, drunk driving, distracted driving, and failing to obey traffic signs and signals. For example, if another driver ran a stop sign and T-boned your car as you were traveling across an intersection with the right of way, you likely would be able to hold them responsible under a theory of negligence.
California Car Accident Compensation Laws
Often, an at-fault driver tries to pin some of the blame on the plaintiff. California follows the doctrine of comparative negligence. When comparative negligence is raised, the jury will determine the total damages and also assign percentages of fault to the involved parties. Your damages will be reduced by an amount equal to your percentage of fault, if any. For example, if the damages are $200,000, and you are determined to be 25% at fault, while the other driver is 75% at fault, you can recover up to $150,000 from the at-fault driver.
Determining Fault And Liability In A Car Accident
Sometimes more than one party is to blame for an accident. A car accident attorney in California can investigate whether multiple defendants should be sued. The road may be defectively designed, or there may be a defect in a vehicle involved in the accident. Sometimes there are errors made by a mechanic that contribute to an accident. In case a combination of contributing factors caused a collision, it may be necessary to hire an accident reconstruction expert to look at the debris, vehicle damage, and other evidence and determine what happened and who should be held responsible.
California follows the rule of joint and several liabilities regarding economic damages. When joint and several liabilities apply, two or more parties can be held independently accountable for the total damages sustained by the plaintiff, regardless of how much at fault each party was. However, California follows the rule that each party is only severely liable regarding non-economic damages. For damages such as pain and suffering, each party is responsible only for the amount of damages that corresponds to their percentage of fault.
Recovering Damages In A Car Accident Lawsuit
Car crashes can result in serious injuries, such as broken bones, concussions, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, severe burns, amputations, and crushing injuries. If liability can be established, our auto accident attorney in California may be able to obtain compensatory damages on your behalf. Compensatory damages include both economic and non-economic losses sustained because of an injury. These damages are meant to put you back into the position in which you would have been had you not been injured. Economic damages may include lost wages, rehabilitation, medical expenses, and out-of-pocket expenses. Non-economic damages may include loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium. The amount of damages depends on the nature and severity of your injuries.
If a loved one was killed in a car accident caused by someone else, it may be possible to recover damages through a wrongful death lawsuit filed by our California car accident injury lawyers.
Why Hire A California Car Accident Attorney?
Car accidents can cause catastrophic or even fatal injuries. You may be able to obtain damages from the party or parties responsible by bringing a personal injury lawsuit. If you were injured in a car accident caused by another person or entity, you should consult the best car accident injury lawyers in California at Knoll Law Group. Call us at (818) 610-0955 or complete our online form to discuss your case with a California auto accident lawyer.
