LOS ANGELES CAR ACCIDENT ATTORNEY
Car accidents are not uncommon in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, those who sustain injuries and property damage caused by the negligence of other drivers often struggle to recover compensation for their losses. At ABDI & Associates, we are here to help if you need a Los Angeles car accident attorney by your side. We will not hesitate to stand up to aggressive insurance carriers, and we know what it takes to help you get the compensation necessary to recover. Do not hesitate to reach out to our team today.
Let ABDI & Associates for Help With Your Car Accident Claim
Working with Attorney Shawn Abdi will help ensure that you are best prepared to go up against any at-fault party when a car accident occurs.
· At ABDI & Associates, we have the resources necessary to fully investigate every aspect of your car accident claim so we can prove liability.
· We take every claim personally, which means we treat you like family every step of the way, and you will always have communication with your attorney.
· We refuse to back down from at-fault parties and insurance carriers who disrespect you by denying a claim or refusing a fair settlement offer.
What Will an Attorney do for a Car Accident Case?
Even though some car accident claims are relatively straightforward, the reality is that there are times when individuals struggle to recover compensation. Most people do not have legal experience, and this can become a hindrance when it comes to standing up to the insurance carriers involved.
An attorney is going to cut right to the process needed to obtain maximum compensation. This will include:
· Investigating the car accident and obtaining all evidence needed to prove what happened.
· Initiating communication with the insurance carriers to begin working on a fair settlement.
· Ensuring that you are examined by trusted medical and financial experts to help calculate expected losses.
· Fully prepping your case for trial if that is what it takes to ensure that you receive a fair compensation amount.
Common Car Accident Injuries
Individuals can sustain a wide range of injuries as a result of a vehicle accident and Los Angeles. Most car accidents only result in relatively minor injuries, but we need to point out that even a minor injury can lead to significant medical bills. The cost of medical care has been rising for decades, so sustaining an injury like whiplash that results in a one-day hospital visit could lead to medical bills reaching upwards of $10,000. This is not pocket change.
However, some car accident injuries are severe. At ABDI & Associates, we regularly help crash victims who have sustained the following:
· Fractured or broken bones
· Dislocations
· Amputations or crush injuries
· Traumatic brain injuries
· Concussions
· Spinal cord trauma
· Lacerations or puncture wounds
· Deep internal bruising
· Internal organ damage
· Massive bleeding
· Scarring or disfigurement
Visible traumatic injuries are serious, but we also have to acknowledge that individuals can sustain unseen injuries that must be taken into account when it comes to settlement amounts. These unseen injuries can include physical and emotional pain and suffering. It is not uncommon for individuals to experience unfathomable pain as a result of their vehicle accident injuries. Additionally, crash victims can experience sleeplessness, fear, anxiety, and stress. It is not uncommon for individuals to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the crash and their injuries.
We mention this wide range of injuries because we want you to know that we will fight to recover compensation for any type of injury you sustain after an accident caused by the actions of another driver in Los Angeles. We will not try to do this “halfway” and try for a quick settlement. We want to make sure that you recover full compensation for all of your visible and unseen injuries.
California Car Accident Statistics You Should Know
Information available from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) shows us that there were more than 204,000 total traffic collision injuries across the state during the latest reporting year of data on file. Out of these injuries, more than 15,000 were considered serious. Additionally, 3,847 individuals lost their lives as a result of traffic collisions in California that same reporting year.
Los Angeles is a notoriously busy area when it comes to traffic and collisions. In the city and throughout Los Angeles County, vehicle accidents occur at higher rates due to the sheer number of individuals in this area.
Causes of Car Accidents in Los Angeles
Vehicle accidents occur in a wide variety of ways throughout Los Angeles. In the vast majority of vehicle accident claims, we find that the negligence of one or more driver(s) was responsible for a crash. Some of the most common causes of vehicle accidents in Los Angeles and LA County include:
· Impaired driving
· Speeding
· Failing to yield the right of way
· Distracted driving
· Following too closely
· Failing to stop at a stop light or signal
What Compensation is Available After a Los Angeles Car Accident?
Los Angeles car accident picked up as may be able to recover a wide range of compensation if their insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit is successful. At ABDI & Associates, we vigorously pursue both economic and non-economic compensation on behalf of every client that we help. These two types of compensation should be explained so you understand what you may be entitled to:
· Economic damages. These are sometimes referred to as “special damages” that a crash victim incurs, and these types of losses are relatively calculable. A crash victim and their attorney can gather invoices, bills, receipts, pay stubs, tax returns, and other verifiable means to adequately calculate the following:
o Emergency medical and hospital bills
o Follow-up doctor visit expenses
o Physical therapy or rehabilitation costs
o Prescription medication or medical device expenses
o Lost income if a person cannot work while recovering
o Various out-of-pocket expenses
o Property damage expenses
· Non-economic damages. These are often referred to as “general damages,” although they are not going to be as easy to calculate as the economic losses mentioned above. These types of losses are more immeasurable, and they revolve around those unseen injuries and expenses that we briefly mentioned above. Non-economic compensation is typically awarded to a crash victim to compensate them for their:
o Physical pain and suffering losses
o Emotional and psychological trauma caused by the crash
o Loss of quality of life
o Loss of consortium for a spouse
How Much is Your Car Accident Claim Worth?
There is no set amount of compensation paid to Los Angeles crash victims. However, there are various factors that will be examined by legal teams, insurance carriers, or a personal injury jury to come up with an adequate compensation amount if a claim is successful.
Some of these factors include the severity of the injuries, the level of property damage, how long it takes a person to recover, the total amount of pain and suffering a person endures, and whether or not there was any shared fault.
Calculating the economic losses involves taking all of the bills and receipts and adding up the total. That is relatively straightforward. However, properly calculating non-economic losses is more challenging and will typically involve a “multiplier method.” This means that an attorney will take that economic damage total and then multiply it by a set number, typically a number ranging from two to five.
For example, let us suppose an individual incurs $100,000 worth of medical bills, lost wages, and property damage expenses as a result of a vehicle accident caused by another driver. An attorney could use a multiplier of “three” to reach a non-economic damage total of $300,000. Overall, we would ask for $400,000 from the other party on behalf of this client.
In lieu of a multiplier method, a “per diem” method may also be used. This will occur when an attorney decides to assign a daily value to the pain and suffering their client experiences and then multiply that daily value by the total number of days their client is expected to experience the pain and suffering.
For example, let us suppose that $300 is assigned to each day a person experiences pain and suffering, and they are expected to experience this pain and suffering for one year. The calculation here would be $300 multiplied by 365 days to reach a total of $109,500.
Time Limit for Filing a Car Accident Claim in Los Angeles
It is absolutely critical for Los Angeles car accident victims to file their claims as quickly as possible. First, insurance carriers are typically going to be the main method of resolution for these claims. Every auto insurance carrier in California has its own reporting deadlines for these incidents, typically within a day or two after the crash occurs. If you fail to report a crash to the insurance carrier within this fairly strict deadline, the insurance carrier could delay or even deny your claim.
In addition to these insurance carrier deadlines, you must keep the California personal injury statute of limitations in mind. All personal injury claims must be filed in the court system within two years from the date the injury occurs. Failing to file a claim within this two-year time frame will result in the case being dismissed, which means the crash victim becomes unable to recover the compensation they are entitled to.
How Will Partial Liability Affect a Car Accident Claim?
One of the most common tactics used by at-fault parties and insurance carriers after a Los Angeles car accident is trying to shift the blame to the other party involved. Why would they do this?
The reality is that if blame can be shifted onto a crash victim, the at-fault party will pay less in compensation, which is the ultimate goal of any insurance carrier. California operates under a “pure comparative negligence” system. This means that a person can still recover compensation if they are partially responsible for their injuries, even if they are up to 99% responsible for the incident.
However, individuals who share fault for a collision in Los Angeles will not receive complete compensation. The total amount of compensation a person receives after an injury in California will be reduced depending on their percentage of fault for the incident.
For example, let us suppose that a person sustains a severe spinal cord injury that results in $1 million worth of medical bills and lost wages. Let us also imagine that a jury finds the spinal cord injury victim to be 30% responsible for the incident because of their actions on the roadway. Due to this percentage of fault, this person would receive $700,000 instead of the full $1 million. The $300,000 less is due to them being 30% responsible for the crash.
If you are facing allegations of shared fault after a collision in Los Angeles, you need to reach out to an attorney immediately. A lawyer can push back against any allegations of partial liability to help ensure that you recover more compensation.
Steps to Take After a Car Accident in Los Angeles
We know that the aftermath of a vehicle accident can be a scary and confusing experience. This is particularly true in the moments right after a collision. Here, we want to review some steps that you can take right after a collision occurs (we know that you may not be reading this right away, and that is fine) as well as in the days and weeks that follow the incident so you can recover as much compensation as possible.
Right After a Collision
The moments after a collision occurs are the most confusing, and there are steps that you can take to help ensure that your well-being is the number one priority.
1. Get to safety. When a collision occurs, you need to make sure that you are safe. This could include pulling your vehicle off to the side of the road or, if that is not possible, putting on your hazard lights and staying inside the vehicle. If any vehicles show signs of catching fire, you need to get out and get to the side of the road.
2. Call 911. You need to dial 911 and let the dispatcher know where the collision occurred so they can send firefighters, the EMS officials, and law enforcement to the scene.
3. Check for injuries. Check yourself, your passengers, and any other individuals in the area for injuries. Your priority is yourself and your passengers. It may not be possible to check others for injuries, particularly if other individuals at the scene are hostile.
4. Seek medical treatment. You need to seek medical treatment after any vehicle accident injury, no matter how minor. The reality is that you may not feel any pain right away because adrenaline can mask these symptoms. Let a doctor check you out so they can treat any injuries you may have sustained. Additionally, seeking immediate medical care helps link the collision to any injuries you do sustain.
5. Gather evidence. If it is possible to do so, you should begin gathering as much evidence as you can. Get out a cell phone with a camera on it and take pictures of everything you see, including vehicle damage, injuries, traffic conditions, current weather, possible causes of the crash, other vehicles, and more. If you see any eyewitnesses mulling about, get their names and contact information written down quickly.
6. Contact your insurance company. You should reach out to your insurance carrier to report the incident the same day it occurs. You can do this through their app, online portal, or over the phone. You do not have to go into much detail when you speak to the insurance carrier, but they do need to know that it occurred and the names and insurance information of the other driver(s).
The Days and Weeks After a Collision
The days and weeks following a collision in Los Angeles will also be important, and the following steps will help ensure your claim moves smoothly.
7. Contact an attorney. A lawyer will step in and take over every aspect of the claim, including continuing the investigation. They can go through various routes to obtain video surveillance footage, information about citations issued at the scene, other drivers’ driving histories, and more. Your lawyer will be responsible for communicating with insurance carriers and any negotiations that occur.
8. Keep all evidence and documentation. We encourage you to keep any documentation that comes in related to the accident. This can include medical bills, property damage estimates, proof that you are not able to work, communication with insurance carriers, and more. All this documentation should be turned over to your lawyer as soon as you receive it so they can proceed forward with your claim. If you are unsure about whether or not something is important, just keep it and let your attorney make the decision.
9. Stay away from social media. We strongly encourage you to refrain from posting about your Los Angeles car accident on any type of social media. This includes Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or any type of personal website or blog you may have. We understand that it can be second nature to post about major life events, but please understand that the at-fault party and their legal team will use anything you say against you if they can. Something as innocuous as posting about going to your child’s T-ball game could jeopardize your claim if you have previously stated that your injuries are keeping you from going to work. If they see that you can go to a T-ball game, they will likely try to argue that you can go to work.
10. Continue medical treatment. It is critical that you continue any medical treatment necessary for you to recover from your car accident injuries. Often, individuals choose to discontinue care before their doctor tells them they should, and this could seriously hinder your claim. You should never accept a settlement from an insurance carrier until after you have reached what is considered maximum medical improvement, which means that any further medical treatment is unlikely to change your condition. It can take some time to get to this point.
How Much Does a Car Accident Lawyer in LA Cost?
Many individuals do not turn to lawyers after a car accident occurs, even if they think they can recover more compensation by working with one. That is because working with an attorney can seem daunting, and most people think it is expensive.
However, we handle Los Angeles car accident claims on a contingency fee basis. This means that you never have to worry about paying up front or out-of-pocket costs related to your vehicle accident claim. We will handle everything for you. You will not even have to worry about paying any legal fees until after we successfully recover the compensation you need. If we do not win your case, you do not pay a dime in legal fees. This type of fee arrangement helps ensure that individuals are able to hold negligent drivers responsible, regardless of their current level of income.
Call a Los Angeles Car Accident Attorney Today
If you or somebody you care about has been injured in a car accident caused by the negligence of another driver in the Los Angeles area, reach out to the team at ABDI & Associates for assistance immediately. We never hesitate to stand up to insurance carriers, and our team has no problem taking a case to trial if that is what it takes to ensure our clients are cared for. When you need a Los Angeles car accident attorney, you can contact us for a free consultation by filling out the contact form at the bottom of this page, or you can call us at (888) 772-2529.