Santa Clarita Personal Injury Attorneys

Personal injury lawyers in Santa Clarita represent victims who are injured or killed by the negligence or wrongs of another person or entity. Their objective is to obtain compensation for these victims or their families. Victims might suffer physical and/or psychological injuries.

Because the law can’t give injured people a new spine, arm or leg, the only way to compensate them is with money. That’s based on the legal rule that an innocent victim shouldn’t be required to carry the burden of the negligence or misconduct of somebody else. Negligence can occur in any number of ways.

Car crashes

Most injury claims arise from a negligent driver who crashes into another vehicle or pedestrian. Every driver on the road has a legal duty to operate their vehicle in a safe and careful manner so as not to injure or damage the person of others. If that duty is breached, and the driver causes an accident that injures somebody else and/or damages their property, the negligent driver can be held liable. To help build a case against the other party, be sure to contact our law group and speak to our Santa Clarita personal injury lawyers.

Negligent Driving Causes Most Car Accidents

The sad truth of the matter is that 80% of all Santa Clarita accidents will be caused by someone’s negligence. If you know that you were driving to the best of your abilities with all of your attention on the road, it is likely that the negligence was on the other driver’s part.

What types of negligence are we talking about here? For most people, cell phone use comes to mind. This makes sense because cell phone use while driving is definitely one of the top types of negligence that is seen in California courts. Some people seem to think that:

• driving while talking on their cell phones,
• texting or,
• surfing the web is perfectly acceptable

Of course, this is not okay, and cell phone use while driving causes hundreds of California auto collisions each year. Many of them are in Santa Clarita, necessitating the hire of one of our Santa Clarita car accident injury lawyers.

Bicycle & Motorcycle Accidents

There are some common threads running through any motorcycle or bicycle accident. Both riders are on two wheels rather than four. There aren’t any specially engineered crumple zones to protect them from an impact, and neither has a steel body and frame around them.

There aren’t any restraint systems to keep them from being thrown, and there aren’t any airbags to cushion and protect against a sudden deceleration injury. Riders of motorcycles and bicycles are very vulnerable and completely exposed to serious injuries or death.

• Most drivers of motor vehicles that have been involved in crashes with motorcyclists or bicyclists relate that they either didn’t see the motorcyclist or bicyclist at all or didn’t see them until it was too late. That’s primarily because motorcycles and bicycles present small profiles in traffic.

Common Injuries in Motorcycle & Bicycle Accidents

Given their exposure, motorcyclists and bicyclists also share common injuries when they’re involved in a collision with a motor vehicle. Severe fractures of the lower extremities are the most common. Those are followed by:

• Traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries
• Neck and back fractures and disc herniations
• Hand, arm, and shoulder fractures
• Damage to internal organs
• Severe road rash with a serious infection

Common causes of Santa Clarita motorcycle and bicycle accidents

The most common cause of motorcycle accidents is a head-on collision. These carry a very high chance of serious injuries or death. After that, motorcycles share the most common cause of bicycle accidents.

That’s when a passenger vehicle turns left in front of the motorcyclist or bicyclist. Since bicyclists are often at the edge of the right traffic lane, they also risk being hit at intersections when drivers are making right turns. When in the main traffic lane, they risk being “doored” by motorists who are exiting their vehicles. Both motorcyclists and bicyclists risk severe injury from potholes and uneven road surfaces.

Negligence

The law of negligence governs nearly all accidents between motorists and motorcyclists or bicyclists. To show negligence, the claimant must prove four elements. Those are that:

• The motorist owed the motorcyclist or bicyclist a duty of care
• There was a breach of that duty
• The breach of duty caused the accident and injuries
• The motorcyclist or bicyclist suffered legally recognized damages

If the claimant fails to prove any single one of those elements, his or her case falls in its entirety.

Comparative negligence

As an affirmative defense, the motorist might allege that the motorcyclist or bicyclist was partially at fault for the accident. That involves the law of comparative negligence. If a percentage of fault is attributed to him or her, that percentage will be deducted from any award that a jury might render.

For example, a 20 percent determination of fault would turn a $100,000 verdict into an $80,000 verdict. California is what’s known as a pure comparative fault state. In theory, a person who was 90 percent at fault for an accident can still recover a 10 percent award.

Premises liability

This is probably the second leading cause of personal injury claims that clients come to us for. The owner or occupier of land can be held liable when an injury is caused by an unsafe condition on their property that they knew or should have known about. These cases are often seen in the context of slip or trip and fall accidents, merchandise spills in large stores, or negligent security.

Slip & Fall Accients

Occasionally accidents happen. This is an unfortunate reality of life, and you may find yourself injured in Santa Clarita by no fault of your own. The world is a dangerous place in some cases because people fail to take reasonable care to protect others from harm.

The law puts a duty onto individuals to act in a way that is safe and reasonable. For instance, if they own a store and invite customers inside to do business, then they must keep their floors:

• safe
• dry
• free of encumbrances

The same is true of sidewalks in some instances. If you happen to slip and fall, then a good lawyer might be able to help protect your rights.

Who is to blame for a slip and fall accident?

If you fall and hurt yourself, you might think that you are entirely to blame. After all, if you stay on your feet, then you’d be alright. While it may be true that you could have done more, it is usually true in these situations that someone else did something wrong to contribute to your fall.

The first thing that a good lawyer will help with is determining who is at fault in your slip and fall accident. It might be the city or county where you live, as they failed to take care of their sidewalks. It might be a business that failed to put up proper signage when they had a wet floor. Whatever the case, it is important to figure out who is to blame so that you can pursue your legal rights.

Construction accidents

Construction work is the most dangerous form of employment in the United States. More injuries and deaths occur in the construction industry than in any other line of work. Most construction workers believe that when they’re hurt at work, workers’ compensation is their sole and exclusive remedy.

Most of the time it is, but there are a significant number of cases where construction workers are injured by other workers from other companies. When this happens, another cause of action arises outside of the scope of worker’s compensation. These cases are usually more valuable because the law allows for other damages beyond those in a workers’ compensation case.

• For more information, it will be important to consult with our Santa Clarita car accident attorneys.

Wrongful death

When a person dies as a result of the negligence or wrongful acts of somebody else, a claim for wrongful death can arise. This is a civil case for damages and not a criminal prosecution. The California wrongful death statute governs who may file the wrongful death suit along with what damages they might seek. These cases are usually brought by the decedent’s:

• spouse
• domestic partner
• children

The wrongful death claim is ordinarily filed as a separate count in a personal injury action.

Defective products

Product liability involves injuries that are caused by defective products that injure people. Defects can be in design or manufacturing. Lawsuits can also be filed for a failure to warn. Everybody in the chain of commerce from the manufacturer to the retailer can be held liable under product liability law. What makes product liability law different from other injury cases is that the injured party need not prove the elements of negligence. Strict liability can attach.

Our law firm handles personal injury cases in Santa Clarita and all of Southern California. We’re aggressive Santa Clarita trial and personal injury lawyers, but we’re professional in court and sympathetic and understanding with our clients. We maintain the highest standards of professional responsibility and excellence.

Many accident victims don’t receive the compensation they deserve because they either don’t know their legal rights, or an insurance company got to them before they got to our office. You’ll only prejudice your case if you don’t call us right away. Call us sooner rather than later for a free consultation and case evaluation. Serious injuries deserve serious compensation.

You Deserve Legal Advice

Many personal injury cases that could have won the injured parties thousands of dollars to pay off medical bills and lost wages never get brought to fruition. This is because these parties don’t believe that they were involved in an accident caused by someone else.

As the victim of a Santa Clarita car accident, you have the right to bring your case to our car accident lawyers in Santa Clarita to see if you deserve compensation for your injuries or damages to your car. These costs can add up, and you certainly don’t want to be left with all the bills when you could have been legally compensated.
The experts at El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers have been able to win millions of dollars for people just like you. You can talk to them today about whether or not you have a case with your car accident. If you are not a legal professional, there are simply a lot of things you don’t know about the legal process when it comes to auto accidents and compensation.

• Small things like where you were and what the other driver was doing will inevitably come into play in major ways.