A car accident is a terrifying and traumatic experience. At Onyx Law Firm, we understand the toll an accident takes on your life when it causes more than property damage and results in serious injuries with temporary or permanent life-altering consequences. Although a legal claim against the responsible party doesn’t undo the injury or erase the pain, it compensates the victim for their losses and delivers a sense of financial accountability and justice. Call the La Cañada personal injury lawyers at Onyx Law Firm to learn how a car accident claim benefits you.
Why Choose Us as Your Car Accident Law Firm In La Cañada?
Car accident damages feel overwhelming when medical bills pile up, and at the same time, you may be unable to return to work either temporarily or permanently, depending on the severity of the injury. With Onyx Law Firm representing your best interests throughout every step of your claim, you can expect the following:
- Professional excellence combined with compassionate advocacy from a law firm that represents you the way they would a family member
- Over two decades of combined history and a record of success that lends your car accident claim a well-respected legal voice
- An individually tailored strategy seeking the maximum compensation available to you
There are no upfront costs for representation by Onyx Law Firm. Instead, your La Cañada car accident lawyer works for you with a results-oriented approach and only gets paid after first recovering compensation for you.
Common Types of Car Accident Cases In La Cañada
All drivers owe a duty of reasonable care to others on the road. When a driver takes risks, fails to adhere to traffic laws, or drives while impaired, it constitutes legal negligence, leaving them liable for damages. Unfortunately, car accidents are the most common cause of accidental injuries and fatalities, including in La Cañada. Common types of car accidents include the following:
- Rear-end collisions
- Sideswipes
- T-bone accidents (angle collisions or broadside accidents)
- Head-on collisions
- Roadway departures
- Collisions with obstacles
- Truck Accidents
- Rollovers
- Multi-car pileups
Insurance companies assign adjusters to investigate car accidents, but their objective is to protect their profits as much as possible at your expense. Because the insurance company’s goals directly conflict with yours, having skilled legal representation to protect your interests is the best way to assert your right to full and fair compensation.
What Causes Most Car Accidents In La Cañada?
Careful driving requires the driver’s full attention to the road and the task of operating their vehicle. Drivers must also remain aware of other traffic in their vicinity and carefully adhere to the speed limit and other traffic laws. Unfortunately, drivers become easily distracted and frustrated, with results that can adversely affect others sharing the road. The most common causes of California car accident claims include the following:
- Speeding
- Distracted driving
- Aggressive driving
- Tailgating (following too closely)
- Failure to yield the right of way
- Unsafe lane changes
- Improper or illegal passing
- Improper merging
- Intentionally running a stop sign or red light
- Tire blowouts
Less commonly, entities other than negligent drivers cause car accidents. For example, when a negligent road maintenance agency fails to repair a dangerous pothole or an auto part manufacturer produces a defective part, they may be held liable for the accident or for their percentage of fault in contributing to it.
California’s pure comparative negligence system under CIV 1714 holds all parties who contribute to an injury legally accountable for their portion of the injury victim’s damages, including in car accident cases.
What Is a Third-Party Car Accident Claim?
An experienced car accident attorney pursues compensation from all parties that contribute to the cause of the accident or the severity of the injuries. As in the above examples, common third parties in California car accident claims include car part manufacturers and road maintenance companies. Other third parties commonly include the following:
- A third-party driver
- A negligent road planning agency that designed a confusing intersection or one with obstructed views
- The manufacturer of a defective airbag or seatbelt
- A negligent car repair shop
- A bar or pub owner who overserved an underage patron who caused a car accident (under California’s limited dram shop law)
- A road management agency that failed to place adequate signage or clear foliage from blocking traffic signs
An injury victim may also have contributed to their accident. In California, they may still recover compensation, but the insurance company subtracts the victim’s percentage of fault from the amount they pay on the claim.
Understanding the Severity of Common Car Accident Injuries In La Cañada?
Crash force calculations show that a 100-pound person becomes a 3,000-pound force in an accident at only 30 miles per hour. The seat belt snaps them back against the seat during a collision, overextending muscles and compromising the spinal column. At the same time, the accident victim may suffer blunt force trauma from the car’s internal structures collapsing on them at impact points, resulting in multiple sources of injury.
Common injuries in La Cañada car accident claims include:
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Broken bones
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Soft-tissue injuries to the shoulders, knees, wrists, and ankles
- Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
- Burns
- Facial and dental trauma
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic limb loss
In the worst crashes, injuries have permanent catastrophic damage or cause wrongful death.
What Damages Are Recoverable In a California Car Accident Claim?
Injuries are typically expensive to treat. They also often cause missed workdays or prevent a return to work in the previous capacity—or at all. Common damages recovered in successful car accident claims in La Cañada and elsewhere include the following:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses
- Future injury-related medical costs
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Lost income
- Future income loss or diminished future earning capacity (due to disability)
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Catastrophic injury damages that apply in specific circumstances, such as loss of limb, loss of vision, hearing loss, organ loss, permanent scars or disfigurement, chronic pain, or diminished quality of life
- Wrongful death
When a car accident causes a fatality, the closest surviving family member, like a spouse, parent, or adult child, may recover compensation for their grief and losses through a car accident wrongful death claim.
Contact Our La Cañada Car Accident Attorney Today
You deserve time to focus on healing and spending time with your loved ones while you recover your physical and emotional well-being. After a car accident, call Onyx Law Firm so you can concentrate on your physical recovery while your car accident lawyer in La Cañada navigates your financial recovery. Contact us the attorneys at Onyx Law Firm to learn more about your rights and options after a car accident in La Cañada at (844) 669-9529.