Traffic collisions rank as one of the top causes of accidental injuries every single year across the entire country. As common as incidents like this are, though, they can still be deceptively difficult to take effective legal action over. Many people who try to seek compensation for crash-related losses on their own end up getting little or none of the money they need.
Fortunately, you do not have to fight for your rights alone after being hurt in a wreck that was not your fault. You have help available from dedicated personal injury attorneys who have years of experience handling claims like yours. From the beginning to the end of your lawsuit or settlement demand, a Stockton car accident lawyer from the Law Office of Brian H. Turner can provide tireless and tenacious support. Our team can help you navigate legal and procedural challenges during your pursuit of fair financial restitution.
To sum up a lot of complicated civil law in a couple of sentences, every licensed driver in California assumes a duty of care whenever they operate a motor vehicle on public roads. That duty requires them to obey traffic laws, pay attention to everything and everyone around them, and generally act like a rational person while driving. Someone who violates this duty in a way that directly leads to an otherwise preventable crash is legally negligent. Someone who has been proven negligent is civilly liable for all losses suffered by other people as a direct result of the wreck.
However, being injured in an auto accident does not make you immune from being found at fault. According to California Civil Code § 1714, courts can assign percentages of comparative fault to injured people to account for their own negligent contributions to their injuries. The total amount of money available to them can then be reduced by that same percentage. A skilled Stockton attorney can provide vital help with contesting accusations along these lines made by defendants named in car accident claims.
The financial value of a car accident lawsuit or settlement demand depends entirely on what compensable losses an injured person can prove they suffered directly due to another person’s negligent behavior. Both economic and non-economic forms of harm can be factored into this sort of claim. These damages can include costs such as:
However, California has a “no pay, no play law” (Proposition 213) that prohibits drivers without the required minimum amount of car insurance coverage from seeking civil compensation for non-economic damages, such as physical pain and psychological trauma, even if someone else was 100 percent at fault for the incident. There are also strict filing deadlines prescribed by state law for car accident claims in California, so contacting a dependable lawyer as soon as possible after a wreck in Stockton can be key to getting a positive outcome from civil proceedings.
Being caught up in a car crash can be a traumatic experience under any circumstances, whether the end result is just a couple of bent fenders or multiple totaled vehicles with injured people inside them. If you have recently experienced a situation like this, you have limited time to enforce your right to civil recovery, and the process can be hard to manage without guidance from knowledgeable legal counsel.
Contacting a Stockton car accident lawyer could be a vital first step toward getting the compensation you need for the harm someone else’s negligence has caused you. Call the Law Office of Brian H. Turner today to discuss your legal options.