Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC, protects injured car accident victims in Port Hueneme. Our Port Hueneme car accident lawyers offer a free case consultation to all victims in Ventura County. Contact our office to schedule a confidential case review as soon as possible. There’s also no obligation to you or your family for this meeting.
Car Accident Dangers in Port Hueneme
California is known for its reckless drivers and unfortunately, Port Hueneme doesn’t escape the hazards they pose. You can be heading out for a beach day on Surfside Drive when a texting driver rams you from behind. You might be on your way to work or school on Channel Islands Boulevard when a speeding driver veers across the yellow lines and rams your car head-on.
These dangerous mistakes leave at-fault drivers liable for every medical recovery bill you receive and every paycheck you lose while missing work. That means you’ll be filing an accident claim with their car insurance providers.
Insurance companies can write you a settlement check to help in your recovery, but they won’t make it easy to earn compensation. Your Port Hueneme car accident lawyer handles frustrating negotiations with insurers and fights to get the maximum in compensation for your family. We safeguard civilian clients and members of the U.S. Navy to give victims time to heal after a car accident instead of having to worry over hospital expenses.
Do I Need a Car Accident Lawyer After a Traffic Collision?
If your accident only results in some vehicle damage and only very minor injuries, like some bruising, you probably won’t need a personal injury lawyer to help you file your claim. You should be able to secure what you need by dealing with an insurance company yourself.
However, if you are seriously hurt in an accident or if you are being blamed for an accident you didn’t cause, you should meet with a skilled local attorney immediately.
When you suffer a serious injury, like a broken ankle or brain trauma, insurance companies will want to avoid having to pay out a large settlement check to cover your expensive medical bills. They may try to falsely blame you for an accident. They may also try to provide far less than what you need to make a physical and financial recovery.
Your car accident lawyer will be fighting back by providing evidence of who was really to blame for your accident. Then your lawyer demands every benefit available for what you’ve had to endure.
What Should I Do After a Port Hueneme Car Accident?
Your lawyer will fully investigate your case and collect evidence, but your lawyer can’t be on the scene of your accident right after it occurs. If you are left physically capable of moving around after a crash, you should try to secure as much fresh evidence from your collision as possible.
Call 911 after an accident and request an ambulance if you are hurt. If you must leave the crash site, ask someone with you to try to collect these details at the scene:
- Give Port Hueneme Police or the Highway Patrol a detailed statement
- Take pictures of everything at the scene
- Get witness contact information
- Get the other driver’s license and insurance information
- Alert your car insurance provider
- Schedule an appointment with your own doctor
This last note is important. See your physician, even if you’ve already been to the emergency room. The shock of what’s happened can mask pain and hide a potential broken bone. You need to get checked out a day or two after a crash to make sure you don’t have injuries you don’t know about. Get all new pain examined. You should also follow the doctor’s advice, like seeing specialists and attending physical therapy.
What Kind of Things Can I Earn Car Accident Compensation For?
After an accident, your Port Hueneme car accident lawyer will be filing a claim on your behalf. In that claim should be a full list of the damages you and your family have endured since the collision.
Everything included in the claim is eligible to earn compensation. But anything left off could end up as a bill your family would have to cover.
Your lawyer will be listing every hardship you’ve suffered and backing up every claim with receipts and evidence. These and other factors will determine the size of your car accident settlement check:
- Support for current medical bills and future healthcare costs
- Lifetime support for any permanent disability
- Support for the pain victims endure in crashes and through recovery
- Support for the emotional trauma caused by a major accident
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium (loss of intimacy with a partner)
- Reimbursement for lost paychecks and benefits at work
Can My Family Receive Benefits After Losing a Loved One in a Car Accident?
California law protects families who have lost a loved one to an accident by allowing them to file a wrongful death claim. This claim seeks help for close relatives who may be facing funeral costs and leftover medical and emergency response bills. They will also need to request help in replacing the income the victim may have provided the family each week.
A wrongful death claim is filed with the at-fault driver’s car insurance provider. It can be filed by a spouse or children of the victim. A Port Hueneme wrongful death lawyer with Quirk Law may also represent the entire family and file this claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can I wait to file a car accident claim?
Two years. You must file your claim within two years of the collision. However, you should act as soon as possible so that evidence doesn’t disappear and witnesses don’t become hard to locate.
Should I talk to the insurance provider of the at-fault driver?
Only provide basic information. Insurance adjusters will ask for a recorded statement from you. Refuse. They are hoping you say something they can twist around later to hurt your case. Refer them to your lawyer.
Will I need to go to court to get compensation after a car accident?
Usually not. Car accidents are settled out of court most of the time. When there’s the threat of a lawsuit, car insurance companies try harder to please victims with settlement offers so they don’t have to deal with the expense of a trial.
Contact a Port Hueneme Car Accident Lawyer
Schedule a free case review with our Port Hueneme Car Accident Lawyers here at Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC. We can talk about what happened, how it happened, and how it has affected you or your loved one. After that, we will go over all of the legal options available to you and your family.
There’s no obligation and if you do hire us to represent your car crash injury claim, you won’t need to worry about how you’ll pay us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you and then our fee comes out of the settlement you receive from an auto insurance company.