Orange County Car Accident Lawyers

Our Car Accident Lawyers Go After Each and Every Responsible Party

Multiple parties may be liable for your injuries. This can come as a surprise to injured motorists, especially when only two cars were involved in the accident. Even then, however, you may be able to collect from the driver, the owner of the driver’s car, an employer of the driver, a government entity, a road construction or maintenance company, a vehicle manufacturer, a bar or restaurant owner, or your own insurance company, depending on the circumstances.

Types of Car Accidents Our Attorneys Handle

There are approximately 30,000 collisions in Orange County each year, and no two of them are the same. Part of our job as personal injury lawyers is to illustrate the unique aspects of every case to explain why the amount of compensation we are demanding for our client is reasonable. In broad terms, though, traffic accidents fall into one of several categories. The categories are based on the positions of the vehicles relative to each other at the time of impact:

Not every car accident will fit into one of the categories above. The Orange County car accident lawyers at Neale & Fhima are prepared to handle any type of vehicle accident involving serious physical injuries.

10 Common Causes of Traffic Collisions

Determining the cause of an accident is the first step toward collecting damages from the other party. When the cause is unclear, the team at Neale & Fhima will gather information from the parties, witnesses, law enforcement, and our own investigators in order to piece together what happened.

We also make a practice of analyzing data from government agencies to stay abreast of the latest trends in driver negligence. For 2015, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reports that 13,204 collisions involving injuries occurred in Orange County. Excluding pedestrian-related causes, here are the ten most frequent causes of those accidents, an area where pedestrian accident lawyer expertise is invaluable:

Cause of collision (primary factor)	% of all injury collisions in Orange Co.
1. Speeding or driving too fast for conditions	34%
2. Failing to yield to another vehicle	18%
3. Improper turns	10%
4. Failing to obey traffic control signs and signals	10%
5. Alcohol or drug impairment (DUI)	7%
6. Improper lane changes	4%
7. Driving on wrong side of the roadway	2%
8. Unsafe starting or backing	1%
9. Following too close	1%
10. Equipment failures (including defective auto parts)	<1%

Notably absent from this list are texting behind the wheel and other forms of distracted driving. Despite all the efforts to reduce distracted driving, it remains an ever-present danger on the streets of Southern California. Given how many of the causes listed above are attributable to driver error, however, it is safe to assume that distracted driving plays a role in many of them.

Getting Medical Treatment

If you feel like you’ve been seriously injured, stay where you are unless you fear the vehicle may catch fire. If you can’t call for one yourself, ask that an ambulance come to the scene. If you’re seriously injured and you start moving or walking around, you can make your injuries worse. If you’ve been injured but you’re not sure of the extent, ask for an ambulance. You may be in shock and numb to the injuries you’ve suffered. If your injuries are minor or you don’t feel any, you may want to go to the nearest emergency department for an examination or at least to your physician as soon as possible.

Seeing a physician early on may help you avoid medical and legal problems. The longer the time delay between the accident and your seeing a healthcare professional, the greater the likelihood an insurance company may claim your injuries were suffered away from the accident, potentially leading to suspicions of insurance fraud. In situations like this, it’s advisable to consult experienced accident claim lawyers to ensure that your rights are protected and you receive the compensation you deserve.

The Danger of Accepting an Early Settlement Offer

Immediately following a serious car accident, you may look at your smashed vehicle and assume that auto repair bills will be your biggest expense. This is rarely the case. Physical and emotional damages can exceed the amount of property loss many times over. Economic damages, such as lost wages, can also be substantial.

These losses begin to accumulate immediately (an ambulance ride in Orange County may cost $1,000 or more) and they continue to grow as time goes on. Insurance companies know this. Adjusters will contact injury victims soon after an accident and try to settle quickly, before the full extent of their losses is known.

It is important to understand that a car accident settlement is a two-way agreement. The insurance company agrees to pay a certain amount of compensation, and in return the accident victim must sign a release of liability.

After signing a release, the victim can never seek additional compensation from that party, even if there are future expenses resulting from the accident.

Physical Injuries from Automobile Collisions

Safety features on modern automobiles go far beyond seatbelts and airbags. But even with the newest protective technologies, the human body is vulnerable to all types of acute injuries during a car crash. Understanding these intricacies often requires the expertise of car crash attorneys. These include:

• Brain injuries – The impact of a crash can jolt a vehicle occupant’s head and cause blunt trauma against an object. Serious head injuries impact a person’s memory, language processing skills, emotions and other vital cognitive abilities.
• Broken bones – Fractures are a common injury in car accidents, and they come in many forms. Some of the most serious fractures are those involving complex bone structures like hips, knees, shoulders, wrists and ankles.
• Facial injuries – The force of a collision combined with flying glass and other vehicle parts can cause serious facial injuries, including fractures to facial bones and deep scarring. These injuries can result in damage to the eyes, nose and mouth, in addition to disfigurement.
• Burns – Burns are notoriously painful, costly injuries. Exposure to overheated vehicle parts and flames of an automobile fire can have a devastating impact on a vehicle occupant, leading to disfigurement, physical disability, and incredibly expensive medical treatment. It’s situations like these where the expertise of automobile accident attorneys can be invaluable.
• Loss of limbs – Injuries that require amputation significantly affect crash victims. These injuries impact a person’s ability to perform routines tasks and do their jobs. They sometimes require prosthetics and a lifetime of ongoing medical care.
• Severe cuts or bruises – Far from being simple bumps and bruises, these injuries can be signs of much more serious internal damage, such as internal bleeding or organ damage. Cuts and bruises are common in car accidents, and they require immediate medical attention and, in some cases, extensive treatment.
• Sprains, strains, or tears – Injuries to muscles, tendons and ligaments are common in car wrecks. Hallmarks of sprains, strains and tears include restricted movement and intense pain. These injuries can linger for years after a crash and have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life.
• Spinal cord injuries – Damage to the spine is considered a catastrophic injury because it is often permanent and debilitating. The spine is central to many essential and basic bodily functions. When it is damaged in a car accident, it can lead to paralysis, restricted movement and incredible pain.
• Soft-tissue injuries (damage to muscles and connective tissues)- among the most common injuries suffered by car accident victims. Unfortunately, insurance companies will try to avoid paying fair compensation for such injuries, apparently believing they should pay only for injuries that show up on an X-ray. We do not accept such nonsense.

Our firm negotiates full compensation for all of our client’s injuries. And if the other side refuses, we take them to court. Our reputation is built on the fact that we mean business. By working with our firm, you’re letting the insurance company know that you won’t be satisfied with anything less than you deserve.

Laws Related to Car Accidents

There are California statutory laws passed by the legislature and common law developed over the years by judges deciding vehicle accident and insurance law cases. There are state laws requiring us to drive while we’re not intoxicated (whether by alcohol or drugs), safely (at or below the speed limit, depending on the conditions), and in a way that’s safe for ourselves and others (obeying stop signs and red lights, not weaving in and out of traffic, in vehicles in good enough shape that they can pass inspection).

The legal theory of negligence states that if a driver owes you a legal duty (to operate a reasonably safe vehicle in a reasonably safe way), that legal duty is breached when the driver makes a mistake that shouldn’t have been made, resulting in an accident and your injuries, the driver may be legally obligated to compensate you for the harm sustained.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES…

• Orange County Sheriff’s Office
• Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office
• San Diego County Sheriff’s Office
• California Department of Transportation
• Caltrans Traffic Information
• National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
• Information on distracted driving
• Sobering Facts: Drunk Driving in California

Client Testimonial

”My dad used them for an accident he got into while driving. Company was great and easy to work with. Aaron was his lawyer, great guy.” – Adam Robles (Google Review)