California law says that you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit from the date of a car accident. However, it is best to start the process as quickly as possible by ensuring that you are receiving medical treatment and working with a lawyer. The medical treatment is required both for your own personal health but also to support the case, as insurance companies, judges, and juries will demand confirmation that an injury is real and will also need proof of the extent of the harm and costs. Working with a lawyer will ensure that everything needed to ensure the best possible outcome is being handled.
If you’re concerned that your treatment is still ongoing and the full extent of the injuries are not yet fully known, rest assured that car accident lawyers can incorporate new information into their strategy. It always makes sense to start working with a lawyer as quickly as possible following a traffic incident.
There are number of different documents that are required to prove that an injury was actually sustained and to verify the cost of treatment and the amount of harm (physical, financial, and psychological) suffered by the victim, as well as determining that the other party was at fault.
These may include:
Note: In many cases, copies of these documents will be sufficient for presentation to insurance companies. For legal purposes, the originals of many of these documents may be required. Contact our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys to get your Free Consultation!
Every case is different. Some cases are quickly settled over the course of a few months, while others can take over a year, especially if litigation is involved. Cases tend to settle quicker if there is strong evidence pointing to one party being at fault. If there is a disagreement either about which party was at fault, or to what amount the victim is entitled, then the length of a case will increase.
A large part of our Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorneys job representing our clients is making sure that the insurance companies do not pay out less than the specific accident calls for. We fight for our clients to get them a higher settlement, and are not afraid to litigate a case, so in certain situations a case can go on longer than initially anticipated.
The value of the case is primarily determined by the severity of the injuries and damages, as well as the insurance coverage held by the negligent party.
Two people may suffer very different injuries even if they were in the same type of accident, so the case must consider the end result of the accident in addition to the circumstances that caused it.
In terms of insurance coverage, even if a person’s injuries might merit a larger amount, it is true that the insurance and resources of the negligent party can be a limiting factor in how much the victim can reasonably receive. If the negligent party has more insurance coverage, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the victim will receive more compensation, but it makes it possible to award a larger amount if the case merits it.
If you have been in any of the following accidents or similar situations please call our best Personal Injury Attorneys in Los Angeles:
From the point of view of both a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer and a prospective client, there are several factors that go into choosing a new case; chief among them is the viability of the case in terms of the potential for a legal victory. If the chances of winning the case are slim, it is obviously not worth pursuing. In the case of a personal injury, that means that it’s necessary to have enough evidence to clearly demonstrate that another party was legally at fault for the injury.
There are two types of evidence that are used in court cases, civil or criminal: circumstantial evidence and direct evidence. As you likely know, direct evidence is something that arises from something in the moment, such as an eyewitness account. Circumstantial evidence, where the evidence is inferred, may seem less dramatic at times, but a sufficient amount of this kind of evidence can be just as compelling.
Another factor that goes into our choosing a case is a simple risk-reward dynamic. On occasion, there are cases that have more than enough evidence to be winnable, but the amount of available assets is simply not enough to make the case worth the time of either clients or their legal representatives. Alternatively, it is entirely possible that a court might not consider the damage done in the accident or severe enough to warrant enough compensation to pursue the case in the first place. It’s in everyone’s interest to be very clear about this.
Laypeople can very often be wrong about the strength of their case. If you think yours is strong, you need to speak to a lawyer here at Legal Defenders to have any sense of certainty about that. On the other hand, if you are afraid your case might not warrant a lawsuit, don’t assume that you are correct until you speak to a qualified attorney. Legal Defenders at the Law Offices of Burg and Brock offers free consultations to prospective clients, so there’s nothing to lose in speaking to a member of our highly respected legal team.
To get started, contact us at the phone number above or reach out through our contact page.
A settlement occurs when both parties can agree that a certain party was at fault, and on the amount the victim should receive for their injuries, suffering, and damages.
However, it is very common that parties will disagree on one or both of these points. In most cases, fault will already be evident if a case is at the point of moving forward. The settlement amount however, is very commonly disagreed upon. If no agreement can be reached, then the case will go to trial and that is where the litigation will begin.
Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers, are not afraid to litigate cases, and the insurance companies know this. Knowing that a law firm is ready and willing to take a case to trial can put important leverage on the companies to settle a case for a reasonable amount, so they do not have to go through a legal battle that they know they ultimately may lose.
Punitive damages comes up in cases where individuals are granted funds that go beyond compensation for lost income, pain and suffering, medical costs and so on. As the name implies, the awards are less about compensating the victim and more about exacting justice when a person or entity is guilty of truly gross negligence or even criminal activity. In some cases, these awards can make headlines and the damages we might see on the news can be extremely large – though they are often appealed. However, punitive damages are relatively rare and the vast majority are not dramatically larger than other types of awards
In general, punitive damages are reserved for the very worst cases, usually where the defendant has been shown to have committed an illegal act and/or behaved with malicious intent or extreme irresponsibility. For example, if a pedestrian is injured by driver who was distracted, there would likely be no punitive damages unless, perhaps, if the victim was killed or very badly hurt and the defendant was also texting, intoxicated, etc. However, if it could be shown that the driver deliberately hit a person because of a prejudice or a personal grudge, the situation would be extremely serious. Likely criminal prosecution aside, a judge in a civil case would be likelier to include punitive damages in this kind of egregious circumstance.
If you believe there may be special circumstances in your case that might call for punitive damages, it never hurts to mention it to your attorney.
California law says that you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit from the date of a car accident. However, it is best to start the process as quickly as possible by ensuring that you are receiving medical treatment and working with a lawyer. The medical treatment is required both for your own personal health but also to support the case, as insurance companies, judges, and juries will demand confirmation that an injury is real and will also need proof of the extent of the harm and costs. Working with a lawyer will ensure that everything needed to ensure the best possible outcome is being handled.
If you’re concerned that your treatment is still ongoing and the full extent of the injuries are not yet fully known, rest assured that car accident lawyers can incorporate new information into their strategy. It always makes sense to start working with a lawyer as quickly as possible following a traffic incident.
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