After being seriously injured in a car accident in or around Los Angeles that was caused by the carelessness, negligence or recklessness of somebody else, the cost to treat and care for your injuries could be extremely expensive, especially if you required surgery and hospitalization. You deserve to be compensated well for the damages that you suffered. You have the right to pursue that compensation too. Being represented by the right Los Angeles car accident lawyer gives you and your case credibility and a strong negotiating advantage. Those factors can directly affect a settlement or verdict. Here at Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC, we fully understand California car accident law, the Los Angeles County court system and the tactics used by insurance companies in their attempts to pay victims as little as possible or even nothing at all.
Car Accidents and Types of Victims
The fact that you were in a car accident doesn’t necessarily mean that two cars were involved in a crash. Maybe you were one of the following types of victims:
- A pedestrian.
- A bicyclist.
- The passenger in a private car.
- The passenger in a taxi, Uber or Lyft vehicle.
- The victim of an uninsured motorist.
- A bus or train accident victim.
- The victim of a drunk or otherwise impaired driver.
- A motorcyclist.
- The victim of a truck crash.
Common Causes of Car Accidents in and Around Los Angeles
Los Angeles is one of the most dangerous places in the country to drive a car in. When there’s a car accident in or around Los Angeles, it’s highly likely that it was caused by the carelessness, negligence or recklessness of one of the drivers who was involved in it. Our Los Angeles car accident lawyers have seen the devastation caused by car accidents firsthand. Here are some of the common causes of those accidents:
- Rear-end collisions.
- Head-on collisions.
- Broadside or T-bone crashes.
- Rollover crashes.
- Crashes caused by hitting stationary objects.
- Crashes caused by high speeds.
- Lane change crashed.
- Distracted driving crashes.
- Crashes caused by people driving under the influence of drugs, alcohol or a combination of the two.
Common Car Accident Injuries
A car accident can cause multiple serious injuries to a victim. Here are some of the most common car accident injuries that are suffered by victims:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: It doesn’t even take blunt force trauma to suffer a traumatic brain injury. Sudden acceleration and deceleration can cause the brain to slam back and forth or from side to side against the skull. This is the most common cause of brain injuries in car accidents.
- Spinal Cord Injuries: A car crash can cause an occupant’s spinal cord to be partially or completely torn. These injuries are debilitating and permanent. A partial spinal cord tear can cause paraplegia, and a complete tear can cause quadriplegia.
- Neck and Back Injuries: These are the most common types of injuries suffered in car accidents. The spine of an ordinary human being isn’t capable of withstanding a heavy impact. Neck and back injuries might not even show up right away after an accident. Pain and disability from a serious back injury can be serious and permanent.
- Fractures: Broken arms, legs, ribs, hands and feet are common in car accidents. Victims can suffer multiple fractures.
- Facial Injuries: These might be caused by broken glass or impacting with a hard surface like a steering wheel or side window. Facial disfigurement from a car accident can leave a victim with a permanent scar, even after corrective surgery.
- Wrongful Death: As per the Los Angeles Police Department, 289 people were killed in auto accidents in 2021, and 1,465 were severely injured. Fatalities and severe injuries in surrounding counties were equally as frightening.
What to Do After a Car Accident
What you do immediately after becoming the victim of a car accident can have a significant effect on your insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit along with any monetary recovery that you might derive from it. The most important thing that you can do is to call 911. Advise the 911 operator of the accident and your injuries. He or she will dispatch police and paramedics to the scene. Don’t get talked out of calling 911 under any circumstances. Without a police report and investigation, the chances of you obtaining a settlement or verdict decrease drastically.
Hit-and Run Crashes
If your accident was a hit-and-run, don’t give chase. That’s what uninsured motorist insurance is for. It’s likely to cover you even if you’re a bicyclist or even a pedestrian.
Get to an Emergency Room
Your next step is to get to an emergency room. That’s what the paramedics are for. They can monitor your condition and transport you there. They’ll make their own record of your condition as emergency room personnel will do too. These records will be critical in tying in your accident with your injuries. Then, at your earliest opportunity, notify your insurance company of the accident. After that, call us for a free confidential consultation and case review.
Follow Up with Your Medical Treatment
After emergency room care and treatment, you’ll likely be referred over to your personal physician. He or she might refer you to physical therapy or a specialist like an orthopedist or a neurologist. The importance of attending each and every therapy or medical appointment can’t be stressed enough. A pattern of missed appointments will cause the opposing insurer to attack your credibility and argue that you’re not injured to the extent that you allege in efforts to devalue your claim or lawsuit. Jurors will consider that argument too.
Never Give a Statement to the Opposing Insurer
Don’t be surprised if an adjuster from the opposing insurer contacts you “just to see how you’re doing.” After some needless chit chat, he or she will ask to take your recorded statement “just for purposes of nailing down liability.” Under no circumstances should you consent to giving the opposing insurer a statement of any kind. Whatever you say can be used against you, especially in front of a jury in another attempt to attack your credibility and devalue your case. There’s no law in California that requires you to give any kind of a statement to the opposing insurer in an accident case, so don’t give one. If the insurer’s representative says that your claim will be closed without a statement, let him or her close it. Then, call us for that free consultation and case review. If we’re retained to represent you, we’ll have your claim opened again in short order.
After being seriously injured or losing a loved one in an accident, you’ll probably be overwhelmed with medical bills and a sudden loss of income. An insurance company’s representative can become aggressive with you, especially if you declined a lowball offer of settlement. A knowledgeable, experienced and aggressive Los Angles car accident lawyer from our law firm who is working on your behalf can keep the opposition in control. We’ll handle all communication with the opposing insurer or its attorneys, and you’ll learn important information that the other side didn’t want you to know. That includes the range of value of your claim or lawsuit after a thorough investigation of all of the evidence in the case. Contact us for that free and confidential case consultation and evaluation as soon as you can after being injured. When you retain us to represent you after an accident, you gain the decisive advantage of our experience, credibility and strong negotiating advantage.
Contact a Thousand Oaks Car Accident Lawyer Today.
After being injured in a car accident that was caused by the carelessness and negligence of somebody else anywhere in California, don’t talk with that opposing insurance company. You’re likely to harm your case.
Contact the Los Angeles accident lawyers at Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC for a confidential free consultation and case analysis. We want to learn more about your accident and how it has impacted your life. We also will provide you with an opportunity to address your initial questions. After that, we’ll advise you on all of your legal options. If you retain us to represent you in your car accident case, our goal will be to obtain the maximum available compensation that you’re entitled to.