If available, a police report is often the foundation of a successful negligence case. Police officers still command special respect among certain people. So, car crash eyewitnesses normally come forward to officers. Moreover, most officers are very experienced when it comes to working accident scenes. They know how to piece together the evidence into a complete picture. Finally, the reporting officer often…
If the other driver has insurance, many people assume they do not need a lawyer. They expect the other driver’s insurance company to pay their bills. They may even be vaguely aware of California bad-faith insurance laws. These provisions require Orange County insurance companies to quickly settle matters if liability is not an issue. But as Alexander Pope observed many years…
In a negligence case, damages are designed to put the victim/plaintiffs in the position they were in prior to the car crash. But the judge obviously does not have a time machine. Furthermore, it does the victim/plaintiff very little good to put the tortfeasors (negligent drivers) in jail or otherwise punish them. That leaves money damages. Money cannot possibly compensate for a…
Once upon a time, self-driving cars were a thing of the future, an idea and an ideal to live up to, and something most people thought they would only see on the big screen. Yet, manufacturers like Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and chipmaker Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) have developed technology that takes autonomous vehicles from idea to reality. Uber Technologies Inc. has…
Imagine this: you get into a car accident in which you sustain multiple injuries and excessive property damage. You file an insurance claim with the liable party’s insurance company as you were taught to do. You send along evidence in the forms of photographs and medical records. Then you wait…and wait…and wait. You do not hear back from them for weeks or…
California motorists are required to carry a minimum amount of auto insurance protection to cover both their own injuries and the injuries of injured third parties. The minimum amounts are: $15,000 for injury or death of a person who is not at fault; $30,000 for injury or death of two or more people who are not at fault; and $5,000 property damage…
In “no-fault” insurance states, individuals who are involved in car accidents are responsible for all of their own damages and injuries despite whose fault the accident was. This means that if a driver ran a red light and went careening into the side of another vehicle who was obeying the law, the other vehicle’s driver would not be able to pursue damages…
Insurance companies are required by law to properly investigate each claim and to arrive at a reasonable settlement based on the facts. Their failure to do so is referred to as “insurance bad faith,” and it is illegal. Unfortunately, what is often reasonable for the insurance companies is usually barely enough to cover the cost of auto repairs. If yours or the…
On a high level, fault is easy to determine. Human error causes about 95 percent of the car crashes in Orange County. But a negligence case goes deeper than just general fault. In order for victim/plaintiffs to obtain fair compensation for their damages, they must establish that a tortfeasor (negligent driver) was entirely responsible, or at least mostly responsible, for the crash….
Before examining the elements of these claims, it’s important to review the purpose of filing these cases. Many people are understandably reluctant to follow this route. After all, they reason, it was only an accident, my health insurance policy will probably pay my medical bills, and I was not hurt that badly. All three of these sentiments are understandable. But they are…