Each day, hundreds of people are involved in car accidents. Statistics show that there is a car accident approximately every 10 seconds in the United States. Some of these collisions involve serious injuries, or in the most tragic accidents, death.
How an auto accident occurs is legally significant, and it is directly related to the possible claims the other parties involved may bring against one another. If you were injured in a car accident in San Francisco, you may have the right to recover financial compensation. An experienced car accident attorney from Golden State Accident Lawyers can help you investigate your case, determine its value, and get you the compensation you deserve.
Golden State Accident Lawyers
Golden State Accident Lawyers represent wrongfully injured car accident victims who suffered serious or fatal injuries. This can include head-on, rear-end, and T-bone collisions, drunk drivers, tire blowouts, vehicle fires, and rollover accidents.
On behalf of our clients, our skilled San Francisco car accident lawyers take on the responsibility of pursuing justice for the full extent of the injuries and damages sustained. We seek the maximum compensation for all our client’s damages, even if it requires filing a lawsuit and trying the case in court.
Our attorneys are determined to obtain the best recovery possible for our clients. This allows our clients to focus on more important matters during this difficult time—their family, physical rehabilitation, emotional recovery, and medical needs.
If you have sustained a serious injury in a car accident in San Francisco, San Jose, or Oakland due to someone else’s negligence or recklessness, we can help. Schedule a no-risk, free consultation today.
Why Hire a San Francisco Car Accident Lawyer?
It is almost always in your best interest to hire a qualified attorney after a car accident, especially one that results in serious injuries. You may be owed compensation for the injuries and financial losses you suffered as a result of the accident.
The assistance of a car accident attorney with experience handling cases like yours is important if you wish to recover the maximum compensation possible.
Hiring an experienced San Francisco car accident attorney can benefit you in the following ways:
- The liable party’s insurance company will want to settle a car accident injury claim for as little as possible. Your attorney can make sure your settlement is fair and accounts for various factors that are often overlooked, like lost wages and diminished quality of life after a serious car accident.
- The injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents can have a long-term effect on your life and health. Your attorney can help recover maximum compensation to account for the entirety of your losses, both past and future.
- If there are multiple parties involved who may be liable for your damages, your case can be exponentially more complicated. An experienced car accident attorney can sort through the details, identify every liable party, and work to hold them accountable.
- Your attorney will protect your rights, deal with any bad faith on the part of the liable party’s insurance company.
Our team of knowledgeable San Francisco car accident attorneys is ready to help with your case. We will review your car accident case for free, and if we agree to work together, we will help guide you through the entire claims process.
How Much Is My San Francisco Car Accident Claim Worth?
There is no easy or quick way to determine what a car accident claim is worth. This is because there are literally dozens of factors that must be considered. And since each case is different, those factors can vary dramatically from case to case.
Often, the monetary value of your car accident claim cannot even be considered until you have fully recovered from your injuries, since current and future medical expenses both play a large role in the amount of compensation you may be entitled to. There are also a number of other factors that weigh heavily in determining how much a car accident claim is worth, but that may be unknown at the beginning of your claim.
With that in mind, here are just some of the many factors that our law firm will use to help determine the value of your specific case:
Whose fault is it?
If you are not responsible for the accident, your compensation will typically be higher than if you’re partially at fault. However, the more fault you share for the accident, the less compensation you will be entitled to recover for your claim.
How serious are your injuries?
Injuries suffered from auto accidents can sometimes be immediately sustained or they may appear hours or days after the accident. Bruised ribs and soft tissue damage are not as severe as traumatic brain injuries, or ones that require multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation. The degree of injury and pain you have suffered and the length of your recovery are huge factors when it comes to the value of your case.
How much were your medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses?
The amount of your medical bills is another major factor in determining how much your claim is worth. In general, the more expensive your bills, the more your claim may be worth, though this is not always the case.
Will you need future medical treatment or long-term care?
If your doctor believes you will need additional treatment in the future and can put a price on that treatment, you may be eligible for additional compensation to cover these expenses.
Did you seek prompt medical attention?
Any delays in going to the doctor may prompt the insurance company to argue that no injury occurred, or that the injury is not as serious as you claim. For this reason, it is vital that you receive treatment for any injuries closely following a car accident. It’s also crucial to not miss or delay an appointment to see a doctor. Lastly, treatment will need to be completed in accordance with the physician’s orders.
How much work have you missed?
A loss of income directly related to your accident and injuries can affect the value of your claim. But, your employer must be able to verify your losses. If you are self-employed, this can be a bit more complicated, but your most recent tax returns will help determine the value of any loss of earnings claim you might have.
Will there be a loss of future income due to permanent disabilities?
If your future earning capacity has been diminished due to your injuries, then your compensation might be higher. For instance, if you are now partially or completely disabled, or have to change to a less lucrative career, this will likely have a great effect on the value of your claim.
Do you have an aggressive car accident attorney fighting for you?
This is perhaps the most important factor of all. If you are not being represented by an aggressive car accident attorney, you will most likely be pressured by the insurance company into settling for significantly less than what you could have received if you had hired a good attorney to handle your claim.
In fact, without a lawyer, insurance companies know you will most likely be lost in the complicated claims process, and that you are much less likely to file a lawsuit against them if they don’t offer you a reasonable settlement. For these reasons, hiring an aggressive San Francisco car accident attorney to handle your California car accident claim can have a major positive impact on what your claim is worth.
Determining Liability in a Car Accident Case
California is an at-fault insurance state, and this dictates the way car accident liability is determined. Essentially, anyone who causes a car accident can be held responsible to pay for any property damage and personal injuries that they have caused. However, assessing fault in the realm of personal injury can be much more complicated than that.
Most importantly, the negligent party must be identified and fault must be proven, but doing so is not always easy. Sometimes, an at-fault driver is also injured due to the negligence of another driver. Other times, the weather contributes to an accident. Regardless of the factors, all parties and entities will be considered when identifying who or what is liable.
Also, California follows the rule of pure comparative negligence for the purposes of determining if a personal injury claimant is entitled to damages, and to what extent. Essentially, even if a claimant is determined to be 50% at fault for an accident, they are still entitled to recover damages, but in an amount reduced by their own percentage of fault.
For instance, if you suffered $100,000 in medical bills and other losses, but because you made an illegal left turn, you were determined to be 40% at fault for the accident in which you were injured. Then, by law, you would only be entitled to recover $60,000 or 60% of your $100,000 in damages.
If both you and the other driver involved were cited for some kind of traffic violation, determining liability and the amount of damages you are entitled to recover would be even more complicated. An experienced California car accident attorney can help clearly establish who was to blame for your San Francisco car accident and fight to maximize your compensation.