Frequently Asked Questions

After an accident, the first thing to do is contact emergency services. Not only is this essential for your health and safety, but it can play a significant role should you choose to file for compensation. If you are obstructing traffic and are able to do so safely, it’s beneficial to move to the side to avoid any further damage.

Once you have ensured your safety and the safety of others, you can begin documenting the accident scene by taking notes, pictures, and videos. It’s vital to obtain the contact and insurance information of everyone involved in the accident. Additionally, it can be a great help to jot down their license plate number and a description of their car. Having as much detailed information about the accident scene, location, date, time, the damage to the cars, and your injuries can be a significant help when pursuing a personal injury claim.

According to the California Code of Civil Procedure, if you’ve been in an accident caused by another party’s negligence, you have two years from the date of the accident to file an insurance claim or civil lawsuit. Two years may seem like plenty of time to file a claim, but it’s important to be aware of the purpose of a statute of limitations. Statutes of limitations are there to help preserve evidence, and in cases like accidents, much of the evidence relies on memory which can be forgotten or become clouded over time. 

It’s also important to note that if you miss the two-year deadline, you risk losing your right to compensation. Exceptions to a statute of limitations are rare, usually only under special circumstances. The best thing to do is to file a claim as soon as possible and contact an attorney to ensure your memory of the accident is fresh and your right to compensation is preserved. 

Most personal injury cases settle out of court. Usually when an insurance company is involved, the case will almost always reach a settlement, since it’s expensive for the company to go to trial. Trials can also extend for months, and lead to appeals. Settlements are also private, while going to trial will not be. So all sides may have a strong motive to settle. Why would a case not settle? Sometimes a defendant won’t make a settlement offer because they’re convinced they weren’t responsible, or because neither side can agree to the final amount.

If you were involved in a car accident, it can be more challenging to receive full compensation for your injuries and damages if you were partially at fault. But it’s not impossible, either. California is a comparative negligence state, meaning that drivers who are even partially at fault for an accident can still collect compensation, although it is likely to be limited. That’s because under comparative negligence, your settlement can be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you. That’s why an experienced car accident attorney can gather evidence to prove the other party was partially or mostly at fault.

Following a car accident, the injured person’s pain and suffering is considered when valuing a claim for settlement purposes. The main categories of car accident damages are economic damages — such as medical bills, lost income, and repairs to your vehicle — and non-economic ones, which are harder to put a dollar figure on, including pain and suffering. That includes the physical pain from the injury and the emotional trauma suffered during and after the accident. How much you can receive in compensation for pain and suffering will depend on numerous factors, including the severity of your injuries and the impact on your quality of life.

You maintain the right to file a claim against the at-fault driver. However, if they don’t have insurance, that’s often an indication that they do not have the financial means to pay the amount you are entitled to in your claim. Your next best option is to file an underinsured or uninsured claim. These are separate policies that you can obtain in your own insurance plan and help cover you in the event that the at-fault party doesn’t have insurance or whose insurance coverage is not enough to compensate for the full value of your claim.

If you don’t have uninsured or underinsured coverage, then the next step is to take legal action. You have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit. If they don’t have the means to cover the damages, however, it may be difficult to secure financial compensation through a lawsuit.

The clock usually starts ticking on the day of the accident, although each state has its own statute of limitations. Your personal injury claim may also have a different date than your property damage claim. That’s a key reason why it’s important to hire a personal injury lawyer who understands all the deadlines and can develop a sound legal strategy for your claim. And keep in mind that while most states give you 2-3 years to settle your insurance claim, the courts will reject claims filed even a few days past the deadline.

Under most insurance policies, Collision Coverage will cover the cost of damage to your vehicle, while Medical Payment coverage will address your medical bills up to the limit of your policy. California is an At Fault system for insurance claims, so a driver must show fault on the part of the other driver for a claim to be successful. If your case goes beyond the insurance claim to legal proceedings and a trial, California as a comparative negligence state will calculate percentages of fault for each driver. So if the other driver was 100% at fault, you can collect the full amount of your claim. If a jury determines you were 10% at fault, you can collect 90%.

If you sustained injuries in a car accident, your health insurance provider should cover your medical bills, at least in part. If you don’t have health insurance, you still have options. Your attorney can provide your physician or health care provider with a ‘Letter Of Protection’ (LOP), stating that the cost of treatment will be covered by personal injury proceeds from your claim. Most medical providers will only accept an LOP sent by an attorney.