Personal Injury FAQ Orange County CA
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Personal Injury Cases and Personal Injury Law for Orange County, CA
Many victims of personal injury feel isolated. The emotional distress that follows after an accident happens can make one feel like they are alone. Accident victims face lost wages, medical bills, time off work, physical pain, and the mental anguish that comes when you’ve been injured in a Southern California personal injury accident. If you've been injured, know that you are not alone. You may have many questions about the process involved with a personal injury case. What can you do, and who can help you? At Beckerman Anderson, we value the attorney-client relationship as a transaction. We believe in helping you heal your recovery process by helping you obtain the compensation you deserve. We also believe in making the process simple and understandable. Each personal injury claim is different, but many injury victims come to us with similar questions.
Personal Injury FAQs
Personal injuries are wide-ranging in how and why they occurred, how damaging they are, and how their subsequent cases may result. Many personal injury cases, however, field similar questions. While working on your legal claim, learning more about personal injury law and the lawsuit process may help clear your mind and ease your anxiety
According to California law, personal injury is a kind of civil lawsuit filed when someone experiences harm due to physical or emotional injury. It imposes civil liability for injuries caused due to the negligent, reckless, or wanton behavior of another party. Personal injury lawsuits can also be filed against parties who failed to act if their failure to act was negligent, reckless, or wanton.
But what does this mean?
A personal injury claim seeks financial compensation for a victim when someone else directly caused their injuries. Personal injury lawsuits serve to help the victim with their medical expenses and quality of life. They also serve to deter reckless behavior from others and punish those who endangered people around them with their negligence.
To tell if you have a case, you can contact our law firm to set up a free consultation. In a free consultation, a Costa Mesa personal injury lawyer can look over the particulars of your case and discuss the potential of a lawsuit with you.
Some questions you can ask yourself before your free consultation are:
- Who was involved in the incident that caused my injuries? Who was responsible and who was a witness?
- Was the person or persons responsible for my injury acting in a reckless, negligent, or wanton way? Even if not criminal, were they acting in a way that many would deem grossly irresponsible?
- What harm did this incident cause? What are my physical injuries? Do I have medical records of these injuries?
- How have my injuries affected my life?
Whether you’ve suffered severe injuries or minor injuries, most personal injury claims hinge on the reckless, negligent, or wanton behavior of the other party. An experienced personal injury attorney at Beckerman Anderson will be able to look at your case and may be able to help you get the justice you deserve.
A personal injury claim can arise from a wide variety of situations. Any accident that occurs because of another person’s carelessness, recklessness, negligent, or deliberate actions is considered a personal injury accident. You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and losses, so talk with a lawyer to protect your rights as soon as you get medical treatment.
Here are some of the most common types of personal injury claims filed in Southern California:
- Auto Accidents
- Truck Accidents
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Bicycle Accidents
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Commercial Vehicle Accidents
- Wrongful death Accidents
- Defective products Accidents
- Medical malpracticeÂ
- Scooter Accidents
- Premise Liability Accidents
- Bus Accidents
- Aviation Accidents
- Boating Accidents
- Dog Bite Attacks
- Train Accidents
- Rideshare Accidents
- Drunk Driving Accidents
- Burn and Fire Accidents
Every year, many different incidents lead to claims in Costa Mesa, CA. Each kind may have particular considerations. These considerations may change personal injury lawyers’ approaches.
A fall injury due to the poor upkeep or improper warning signs inside of a business requires different considerations than a wrongful death claim. For example, a car accident or other form of motor vehicle accident case may consider the driver’s behavior or the city’s infrastructure when establishing liability. In cases of defective products, an injury may occur alongside property damage due to a product malfunction.
Every personal injury case is different. But all cases seek to achieve fair compensation for personal injury victims.
Usually, there are one or more responsible parties when an accident occurs. Sometimes even the injured victim may share partial responsibility. For example, in a car accident, two drivers can contribute to the cause or overall damage of the accident.
It’s extremely important that you do not admit any blame (however small) until you speak to a personal injury lawyer. Do not speak to an insurance company until you get a personal injury lawyer who can argue your case.
California follows the rule of pure comparative negligence. That means a victim’s total compensation is deemed by the percentage of responsibility they have for an accident.
For example, a victim may suffer 100,000 dollars worth of damages due to an auto accident. In the personal injury settlement, the victim is found to be five percent responsible for the accident taking place. Instead of being awarded 100,000 dollars, the victim will be awarded 95,000 dollars. It means that more people are able to seek financial justice for their serious injuries and other damages while remaining fair to all parties.
If you’re still concerned over whether you can file a personal injury claim, contact our Beckerman Anderson today to discuss your particular accident to help you determine if you have the right to pursue financial compensation for your injuries and losses.Â
When you file a personal injury claim, you seek compensation. The insurance company is rarely adequate with what they give following an accident. With a personal injury lawsuit, you may be able to receive justified and adequate compensation.
Compensation is awarded for both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages include:
- Cost of the immediate medical treatment following an accident, like an ER visit or emergency surgery
- Other medical costs, like necessary at-home equipment and medication
- On-going medical treatment like physical therapy
- Lost wages, real or potential
Non-economic damages include:
- Permanent physical disfigurement
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resultant from the accident
- Depression and anxiety
- Loss of consortium
Contacting a Costa Mesa personal injury lawyer will help you recover from medical expenses and other damages you may be suffering with. If you’ve been harmed, contact Beckerman Anderson today to seek the compensation you deserve.
Every state follows different rules for statutes of limitations. For those living in Costa Mesa, you generally have two years from the day of the accident occurred to file a claim. A Costa Mesa personal injury lawyer could technically file a suit after the statute of limitations has passed, but this case would be likely destined to fail. The defense would use the statutes of limitations to dismiss the case. Because of this, it’s vital that you contact a Costa Mesa personal injury lawyer as soon as you can.
The state of California recognizes a few circumstances when filing after the first two years may be unavoidable. Delayed discovery is the most common kind of this circumstance.
Delayed discovery refers to when a victim does not realize that they have been injured or that another party was responsible. For example, in a case of medical malpractice, a patient may not realize that they had been injured until years later when speaking to a new doctor. When delayed discovery applies, the statute of limitations begins the day that the victim discovers his or her injuries or the other party’s negligence.
This delay in discovery must be believable and understandable. For example, your case would be much weaker if following a dramatic car accident, you did not seek medical attention. The defense could argue that the delayed discovery was due to your own negligence, and therefore, the original statute of limitations should hold. Because of this, it is vital that you do your due diligence following an accident by seeking medical help and contacting a personal injury attorney.
Once you contact our law firm and begin working with one of our attorneys, you begin the process of building your personal injury lawsuit.
Personal injury lawsuits are built upon four essential questions. Your personal injury attorney will work with you to answer them and gather evidence to support your answers.
- Was there “duty of care” between the victim and the defendant(s)?
“Duty of care” refers to the legal responsibility someone has to another’s safety and well-being. We all have a responsibility to one another to avoid car accidents and other incidents that could harm someone else. Some relationships have a higher degree of duty of care, like a doctor-patient relationship. Importantly, companies have a far higher degree of duty of care than average people.
- Was there a breach in “duty of care?”
Once a lawyer has shown that duty of care existed between a victim and defendant, he or she must then prove that the care was breached. The breach is the reckless, negligent, or wanton behavior that resulted in the victim’s injuries.
For example, if you were to slip and fall in a neighbor’s kitchen because of a small puddle, you would most likely not have a case. This would probably just be a simple accident, as we all sometimes have puddles in our kitchens.
However, if you were to slip and fall in a grocery store aisle because of an unmarked puddle, the grocery store would be breaching its duty of care. That is because as a company, the grocery store has a far higher degree of duty of care toward you than another person would.
- What are the damages?
Damages refer to a victim’s injuries. A lawyer must prove that his or her client was injured or harmed.
- Did the breach in duty of care cause these damages?
Your lawyer must prove that your damages were directly caused by the negligence of the defendant. If after falling in the supermarket you were diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, your lawyer must illustrate that your injury wouldn’t have occurred had the supermarket posted a wet floor sign.
These four questions are essential to any personal injury case. They essentially boil down to proving negligence caused an injury. Keeping records and evidence of your accident and subsequent injuries will help your lawyer build a strong case.
Getting help from a lawyer will immensely increase your chances of a successful case. A successful case means more money to aid you in your recovery process. Insurance companies do not have your interests at heart and will often not provide enough money for you to properly recover from your accident.
From the day of the accident onward, a personal injury lawyer can guide you through the process of seeking justice for your injury.
The personal injury attorneys at Beckerman Anderson serve the greater Costa Mesa and Orange County area. We believe in seeking justice for every client we can. Pain and suffering do not need to last forever. Justice and proper compensation can help you recover.
Have you been injured because of someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or otherwise wanton behavior? If so, call us to find out if you have a claim. We provide aggressive yet compassionate legal representation to all of our clients. Call to schedule your free consultation with Beckerman Anderson at (949) 474-2254 or visit our contact page. We will put your needs first and get you the compensation and justice you deserve.