Los Angeles Injury Lawyer Blog

This is part four in a series of posts regarding why someone hurt in a car accident should make a claim with the insurance company.

I recently told the story of a friend that called me because her sister was hit by a car while crossing the street. The sister did not want to file a claim. My friend’s sister felt bad and did not want to impose on the person that hit her or the insurance company. Here is how I explained it:

The minute you were hurt because the driver caused the pedestrian accident, you are entitled to money for what you have been through. It is like you are at a table with the insurance company on the other side, and we suddenly put $50,000 of your money in the middle of the table. It is your money. You are entitled to that money because it is fair compensation for the injuries you suffered. (Obviously, the amount of money will vary depending upon the extent of the injuries).

Now that your money is in the middle of the table, the insurance company says: “I think we are going to take your money. We know it is your money, but we are rich and powerful and if we take it, there is not much you can do. If you want to deal with it, you can hire an attorney, but we will make you and your attorney work hard to get your money back. If you hire the right personal injury attorney, you will get it back, but we have a large team of trial lawyers and we do not mind the fight.”

Somehow insurance companies have convinced our juries that people who seek compensation when they are injured are bad. The insurance companies have done such a good job of this, that people that are injured feel like they are doing something immoral by asking for the compensation they deserve. They have no problem paying huge premiums. They are frustrated when the insurance CEO’s take millions of dollars. But so often, people do not feel right about fighting to keep their own money.

If you are injured because someone else was negligent, please do not fall for the insurance companies line. People injured in Southern California automobile accidents are entitled to compensation, even if they have to hire an attorney to get it. It does not help you or anyone else to let the insurance company keep your money.

This is part 3 in a series of posts explaining benefits of lawsuits and insurance claims when people in Southern California are injured in an accident.

People buy insurance for several reasons. Some buy insurance because the law says they have to. Some people buy insurance to protect themselves. If they are negligent and hurt someone in an a car crash (it can happen to anyone), they want to make sure it does not cost them a lot of money which can take away from their retirement, or their kid’s college education fund. Still other people buy insurance because they want to make sure that if they cause an auto accident and hurt someone, the person they injure is taken care of. They want to make sure that they have the means to take care of any injury they cause.

The minute you are hurt in a pedestrian accident, or in any car accident in Southern California, or from any negligence of another, under California law, you are entitled to fair compensation for your injuries. The reality of modern insurance companies, is that you will have to fight to get the compensation that is rightfully yours.

This is part 2 in a series relating to San Fernando Valley Car Crash Claims as a benefit to everyone

I was recently contacted by a friend asking for help. Her sister was crossing the street in Woodland Hills, in a crosswalk and was hit by a car which was coming from Encino. She suffered a significant injury, yet, she did not want to talk to a lawyer and did not want to seek compensation for her injuries. She felt bad for the person that hit her.

I explained to my friend that her sister has been brainwashed by the insurance companies, and she has no reason to feel sorry for them. The person that hit her had insurance. California law requires that you have insurance if you drive. The person that hit her was negligent. Generally, when there is a car accident, where a car hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk, the driver is at fault. Therefore, the pedestrian is entitled to be compensated for her injuries. She is entitled to receive medical attention for her injuries. If it was my family member that was hurt, I would want them to get medical care. The driver (or her insurance company), is legally obligated to pay for that care.

The pedestrian is also entitled to be compensated for her pain and suffering. That phrase has almost become a bad word in our system of justice. It should not be. She was injured. It is painful. It is inconvenient. It forces huge negative changes on a person’s life. For example, I want to play with my son tomorrow morning. If I am injured in a collision such that either I cannot lift him in the air, or tickle him, or if I have to endure pain when I do it, that is not fair. If you came to me and said, “I will pay you $100 not to play with your son tomorrow, I would not take the money.” How much is fair compensation. At what point would I say, “Okay, I will take the money and not play for one day; or maybe two days, or maybe six months.”

It seems only fair that a person should be compensated when they are harmed because someone else is negligent.

The other part of this equation is that in California, you will not be compensated for the cost of hiring an attorney to help you. Unfortunately, insurance companies are less than willing to provide the fair compensation that they are supposed to provide. That means that people that are injured require legal assistance. If they only receive the cost of their medical care, they are not truly compensated. Pain and suffering compensation, or non-economic damages as it is called, defrays the cost of the legal assistance.

This is part one in a series on why Los Angeles car accident victims should be compensated for their injuries.

There are a lot of lawsuits filed every year in Los Angeles County. Many of those cases stem from auto accidents. Yet when we talk to jurors, they all complain that there are too many frivolous lawsuits. If you ask for more detail, most cannot explain why they feel this way, they have simply been told by the media and the insurance companies that there are too many lawsuits.

Certainly not every automobile accident need result in a lawsuit, nor must every injury result in a lawsuit. Sometimes, people are injured simply because they are careless. Sometimes, people are injured because somebody else is careless. In Southern California and throughout the United States, our laws are designed to protect us from the negligence of others. Thus serves two purposes: (1) it compensates the injured; and (2) it encourages people to be safe and protect others.

As car accident lawyers located in Woodland Hills, we review our client’s auto insurance policies all the time. By the time we do so, it is because someone has been in a car accident and has been injured. As personal injury lawyers handling auto accidents in the San Fernando Valley, we are here to make sure our clients are properly compensated for the injuries that were caused by the accident.

Unfortunately, at that point, it is too late to talk about what insurance they should have had.

One of the first steps in helping our clients is looking at their auto insurance coverage. California law requires that all drivers have basic liability coverage of at least $15,000. It is a misdemeanor to drive without insurance. In addition, you are required to notify the DMV if you are in an accident and let them know who your insurance company is. We handle this process for our clients. Without question, this is the easy part, everyone should/must have at least the minimum required insurance coverage of $15,000.

That is not the end of the question. Liability coverage, that is coverage which will be paid out to someone you may injure if you cause an accident and serves two important functions.

Protect Yourself and Your Family: First, insurance protects you and your family. If you cause a collision, if you do not have adequate coverage, the person you hit may be able to take the money you have been saving for retirement, your child’s college education, a new home, or whatever is important to you.

Second: It protects the person you hit. That is a good thing. We should all take responsibility for our own actions. If we are careless and we hurt somebody, they should be compensated for what we have done. That is fair. That is also part of the purpose of insurance, to make sure someone we accidentally hurt is cared for, without destroying our own life. To hurt someone is to take something away from them. Not to compensate them for their injury; paying for the damage to their car, paying their medical bills, and paying for the imposition on their life (pain and suffering), is like stealing.

However, when you accidentally hurt someone, that does not mean your life should be destroyed either. That is part of the purpose of insurance. It enables us to properly compensate someone we hit, without taking away from our own life.

That brings us back to the question, “How much insurance should I have.” The answer to that question is going to depend on your income and your savings. If you have limited assets and limited income, you can likely only afford basic coverage. You can drive legally and provide some protection to someone you injure. If you have a lot of assets, you should probably have an umbrella insurance policy. To qualify for an umbrella policy, you will have to have a certain amount of auto insurance. Those people will probably need to have $250,000 in liability coverage.

Driving in Los Angeles while holding a cell phone is a bad idea. Holding a cell phone to your head not only affects your concentration, but also restricts your ability to check your blind spots and turn the wheel. It is no surprise that there is a correlation between holding a cell phone while driving and auto accidents.

Last July, a new law came into effect which prohibits talking on a cell phone while holding it. It is worth commenting on this new law because as I drive around the streets I still see people holding their cell phone and talking while driving. I suppose much like when the seatbelt law came into effect, it will take some time before people figure out that this law does have a purpose and it makes sense.

Oddly enough, this law does not prohibit reading and writing text messages while driving. Fortunately, that has been rectified and now it is unlawful to text message while driving.

These new laws have been a boon to the Bluetooth industry which has seen huge sales increases in the past year. There has also been a terrific improvement in the quality of these devices. There are many low-cost good-quality Bluetooth devices available which make it legal to use your cell phone while driving.

Although it’s too late for drivers who have already suffered personal injuries in auto accidents, a side benefit to this law is that it has increased awareness in the dangers of driving while holding a cell phone. This alone has helped reduce the number of car crashes in California. Until drivers adopt this new law, there will be still be a high need for Los Angeles Auto Accident Attorneys.

As personal injury attorneys in Woodland Hills, we get too many phone calls from people injured in automobile collisions in the rain. Certainly there is nothing good about being in a crash. When it rains here in Southern California, you should take simple precautions to do what you can to make sure you are not injured in a car accident.

The most obvious tip is to slow down. Unfortunately, while everyone knows this is the safest suggestions, in our busy lives, it is also the tip we are mostly likely to forget. Leave a little earlier (after all, there is going to be more traffic) and drive a little slower.

This is especially true in the first rain following a dry spell. When it is dry, there is a build up of oil and grease from cars on the road. When the rain hits this, it makes the road very slippery. The first few hours are exceptionally dangerous.

Another good suggestion is to brake earlier than you normally would and use less force. Not only does this give you more time and distance to stop between you and the car in front of you, it lets the person behind you know what you are doing earlier and allows them to make sure they can stop without hitting you.

Some other valuable suggestions to help you from being involved in an auto accident on a rainy day are stay towards the middle of the road, do not use cruise control, avoid driving through large puddles, tap your brakes gently after crossing a puddle to help dry your brakes, turn on your headlights, and never brake suddenly.

One final suggestion that is often overlooked is to make sure your windshield wipers are in good condition. Wiping the windows with a wiper that leaves them smeared and worse than when you started only makes driving more dangerous and accidents more likely.

Be safe out there.

There are many auto accidents in the San Fernando Valley, and throughout Los Angeles. Every day, unsuspecting people are injured in a car crash. These are people that never thought about hiring a personal injury lawyer and now must quickly find an attorney to assist them.

Finding the right lawyer for you when your injured in an automobile collision can be a challenge. Typically, the auto accident victim is injured and in pain, and may no longer have transportation.

Usually finding the right attorney for you can just add to the challenges you are facing.

This is the first in a series of posts intended to help you in finding the right attorney for you:

Experience: Make sure that the attorney has handled your type of case in the past. Not only should your attorney be experienced with representing people who have been injured in a car crash, but the attorney should be a trial attorney. That is, the attorney should be experienced in trying cases.

While most automobile collision cases settle without litigation, some do not. If your attorney is not experienced with trial work, he may not be ready to try your case. If your attorney cannot try your case, he is going to have to eventually recommend a settlement offer to you, even if that offer is not fair compensation. He will have no choice because he will not be able to take that matter to trial.

Worse, once the insurance companies identify that lawyer as someone who will always accept a settlement, they will offer less and less to his clients. Not every case needs to go to trial, but your attorney needs to be experienced with going to trial.

I will be posting more articles in the coming weeks discussing other things to look for when evaluating an attorney.

It has been a couple of weeks of heavy rain in Los Angeles. Here in the San Fernando Valley, we had days of wet weather. Although the sun is finally shining, there was a significant increase in the number of car accidents as a result of the weather.

If you are involved in a collision, you should remember a few simple things to do:

First, after the collision, move you car off the road to safety. You should not be walking around on the road in traffic.

If someone is injured, call the police or the highway patrol.

Exchange information with the other people involved. Try to get the following information: License plate numbers; make and model of each car; driver’ s license numbers; insurance identification, including name of insurance company, broker or agent, and policy number; names, addresses and phone numbers of witnesses and names and badge numbers of police officers or other emergency personnel.

Take some notes at the scene of how the collision happened. If you have a camera take some pictures of the area where the collision occurred, the damage to the cars, and the people who were involved.

In Los Angeles, there are many things that can cause a car accident. It is particularly distressing when you are injured because of a drunk driver. At Rice & Bloomfield, it is our job to ensure that you are properly compensated if you are injured by another driver. A problem which can often arise is when the person that hit you does not have enough insurance, or sufficient assets to pay a settlement.

A case just settled where a restaurant agreed to pay for injuries caused from a drunk driver, who was served too much alcohol. The attorneys argued that the restaurant sold alcohol to the patron when they should have known she was already drunk. After getting drunk in the restaurant, the patron got in her car and ran head-on into on-coming traffic killing an innocent person driving the other direction.

Although the drunk driver was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, the settlement helps to provide compensation to the family that was otherwise not available.

It was because of a careful and tenacious lawyer that the family got some justice, and restaurants were sent a clear signal about their responsibilities.

Here in Los Angeles, Tort reform is the term that has been adopted by groups that reject the notion of personal responsibility. They feel that people should not be held accountable for their actions. If they hurt someone else, they do not think they should have to pay for their negligence. I find this notion offensive. We make it our job to fight these people. In Los Angeles courtrooms, we have to deal with the impact these groups have on our jurors.

The McDonald's Coffee Case was the landmark action that fired up these groups. However, that case is mostly an urban legend. It was not a runaway jury, it was a case of a greedy company putting its customers at unreasonable risk. In that case, the injured person was not driving a car, but was a passanger, the coffee did not spill because the car was moving but spilled because the victim was taking the lid off the cup, and a vascular surgeon determined that she suffered full thickness third degree burns over 6 percent of her body requiring 8 days of hospitalization with skin grafting surgery.

She sought to settle her case for $20,000 and McDonald's refused. During the case, her attorneys obtained McDonald's documents showing that more than 700 people had previously suffered similar significant injuries but McDonald's continued to serve its coffee unreasonably hot because they were able to make more money but getting more coffee out of each bean. The jury awarded her $200,000 in compensatory damages which was reduced to $160,000 because they found the victim 20% at fault. She was also awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages which is the profit of 2 days of McDonald's coffee sales. That was reduced to $480,000. Clink on this link for more details about the truth of this case.

The American Tort Reform Foundation is a leading tort reform group. In a recent report, widely criticized for its lack of appropriate methodology listed Nevada and New Jersey and plaintiff friendly jurisdictions. That is to say, in those places, an injured person has a fighting chance of obtaining justice for their injuries.

At Rice & Bloomfield, our research in the area of tort reform sets us apart from many others who practice in our field. We are constantly studying the impact of tort reform on the jury panel to find ways to present cases in Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Courtrooms in a way to minimize the impact of this effect and ensure that our clients are protected.

A California judge announced that Ford was nearing settlement of more than 400,000 rollover lawsuits involving its popular Explorer SUV. The suits allege that Ford knew about the safety hazard and withheld that information from the public, while marketing the cars as family-friendly and safe.

Passengers are more likely to be killed or suffer permanent and serious injuries, like being paralyzed, in rollover accidents than in almost any other type of car accident. Only head-on collisions kill more people.

In 2004, a jury awarded more than $80 million to a woman permanently paralyzed when the Ford Explorer she was driving rolled over after she swerved to avoid debris in the highway. The jury also awarded more than $200 million in punitive damages because it found that Ford knew about the problem but did not warn consumers. The trial judge later reduced the jury's verdict to $150 million.

Although publicly Ford defends the safety of its SUVs, it has been negotiating quietly behind the scenes to put an end to the lawsuits. An announcement is expected later this month.

A man driving a motorcycle on the freeway was critically injured when he was hit by a truck. A jury recently awarded $6 million to compensate him for the injuries he sustained in the accident.

Although this collision did not occur in Los Angeles, jury awards for this type of injury are similar in Kentucky where it did occur. The collision was in March 2006 on Interstate 35. The Defendant claimed that the motorcycle entered the freeway and cut in front of the truck. After trial testimony from accident reconstructionists, a jury found that the truck changed lanes and caused the collision.

The motorcyclist, Walter Browning was a 13-year Army veteran and former security guard, lost four fingers on his left hand and can no longer walk without assistance because of massive injuries to his left leg.

When my 16-year old daughter got her driver's license, the first thing I did was explain to her what she would need to do if she got into an automobile accident. I made a list of questions for her to get answers to: Where did the car accident occur? What was the name of the other driver? Were there any passengers and, if so, what were their names and addresses? Were there any witnesses? What was the year make, model and license plate number of the other car or cars involved? Simple questions that often go unanswered in the chaos that may ensue after a car crash occurs.

I also bought a disposable camera and put it into the glove box. Take pictures, I told her, of your car, the other cars and intersection or location of the accident. Today, I suppose, she would be able to use her cell phone for this purpose.

Within a week after she began driving, she was involved in her first accident. She was shaken and upset - the accident had been her fault - but she had all of the information necessary to assist our insurance company to process the claim.

Giving some thought to what information you are likely to need in the event of an automobile accident is a good way to prepare for something you hope never will happen. In the long run, doing so will make the whole experience less traumatic for you and for those you love. In the event you are injured in an accident that is not your fault, the information you collect at the scene will be invaluable to your lawyer.

Los Angeles trial lawyers join parents nationwide in a call for stricter safety standards for child safety seats.

The revelation recently, that child safety seats may not afford the protection we as parents expect them to when a crash occurs, was met with understandable concern by the public. Consumer Reports found that 10 of 12 popular child safety seats failed in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph, putting the infant or child at risk of serious injury or death. Only two models, the Graco SnugRide and Baby Trend Flex-Loc, passed their testing.

Although it rates the safety of cars in various types of crashes and at speeds greater than 30 mph, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) only tests the safety of child safety car seats in 30 mph front end collisions. The results of the Consumer Reports study exposed serious problems with this limited government testing.

We should note, however, that child safety seats have been responsible for saving the lives of many children involved in automobile accidents. For information on how to select and properly use a child safety seat, check out http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/child-car-booster-seats/reports/how-to-choose/index.htm

For more information on the safety of the car you drive, go to http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/

People consult trial lawyers like us because they or someone they love have been injured, often because of the carelessness of another person. When pedestrians are hit by automobiles, the injuries are often catastrophic. So, it is worth reminding the public of some basic safety rules, designed to protect pedestrians from injury.

(1) If you have the option, use the sidewalk. If there is no sidewalk and you must walk in the roadway, do so facing traffic so that you can monitor the approach of oncoming cars.

(2) Dress to be seen. During the day, light and/or bright colors make it easier for drivers to see you. If you walk at night, you should use reflective material to reflect the headlights of oncoming cars.

(3) Cross only at traffic signals or marked crosswalks and never begin to cross until you are sure that there is no traffic or that cars coming in both directions see you and are going to stop. This requires that you look both ways before stepping into the street.

We are happy to represent you in the event of an injury. But, we would prefer that you be safe and avoid the need for a lawsuit. For more information on pedestrian safety, go to http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/walk/Safety_Tips.htm

You are driving on the freeway, minding your own business and paying attention to traffic conditions. When the cars in front of you begin to slow, so do you. Unfortunately, the man in the car behind you, who has been following too closely and is talking on a cell phone, isn't paying attention and hits you from behind.

The law says that the guy who hit you is responsible for injuries he causes - to you and to your car. And, while you may not have any trouble getting the insurance company to pay to repair the damage to your car, it has become increasingly difficult for those injured in such accidents to get fair and reasonable compensation for their personal injuries.

Insurance companies make money by not paying claims. Over the past decade, those companies have made alot of money by not paying legitimate personal injury claims. As a result, some lawyers are reluctant to take these cases, knowing that if they have to take an auto accident case to trial, juries are no longer as sympathetic as they may have been in the past to claims of "pain and suffering." Or, the lawyer takes the case and settles it for whatever the insurance company is willing to pay - without regard to the impact the injury may have had.

When we take a car crash case, we know that it may be necessary to take the case to trial - not just to get reasonable compensation for our client, but to discourage the bad faith practices in which insurance companies are engaged to reduce the number and value of claims. If the cost of defending these cases increases dramatically because experienced trial lawyers like us are prepared to take them to trial, insurance companies may reconsider how they handle such claims.

When you select a lawyer to represent you in any personal injury case, make sure he or she has the experience, the will and the resources to take your case to trial if a fair and reasonable settlement is not offered to you.

The family of a woman, who was hit by a car in a crosswalk and who died after her condition was misdiagnosed, will have the opportunity to ask a jury to award compensation for their loss, thanks to a successful appeal by personal injury lawyer, Todd J. Bloomfield.

The accident and subsequent malpractice occurred in 2001. The case against the driver was settled and in 2003 a jury found that the medical clinic was negligent. However, the jury made an error when it ruled that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the woman's death. The experts on both sides agreed that the woman would have lived if the medical clinic had accurately diagnosed and treated her symptoms. The trial court ordered a new trial and the attorneys for the clinic appealed.

The Court of Appeal unanimously agreed that the family was entitled to a partial new trial in light of the jury's error. Another jury will be asked to value the loss to the woman's husband and daughters. The family and Mr. Bloomfield are awaiting a new trial date. The medical clinic refuses to take responsibility for the death and has offered nothing to try to settle the case, despite the jury's finding of negligence.