Car Accident Lawyer Los Angeles

Those who are injured in serious auto accidents sometimes sustain severe injuries that have a negative impact on their life and overall well-being. During these difficult times, crash victims may wonder where they can turn for help. At the Leiva Law Firm, our car accident lawyers in Los Angeles are dedicated to helping those who have been victimized in car accidents by enabling them to seek compensation through filing personal injury or wrongful death claims.

Common Car Crash Injuries in Los Angeles

Some car accidents are so catastrophic that they leave those involved with physical injuries and emotional wounds that are totally life-altering. When you or someone you love suffer significant injuries in an automobile accident, you may require emergency medical attention, hospitalization, and even surgery just to survive. The hospital stay may extend for weeks or months while you recover and are unable to work or spend time with your friends and family.

Long after you are discharged from the hospital, you may be left with disabilities due to your injuries, disfigurement, and severe emotional trauma. Additionally, it may be challenging for you to ensure that sufficient financial resources will be available for your medical bills and other damages, as doing so requires you to negotiate with the insurance company, which can be a daunting task to face on your own.

On top of emotional turmoil, victims may suffer the following injuries:

• Traumatic brain injury
• Skull fracture
• Broken bones
• Lacerations, cuts, bruises
• Amputations
• Spinal cord injuries
• Hemorrhage
• Paraplegia and quadriplegia
• Damage to internal organs

Is there a Time Limit to File Claims for California Car Accidents?

There is a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury cases in California. If you fail to file a claim within this time limit, you will not be able to collect compensation. A Los Angeles car accident attorney can help you determine whether or not you qualify for financial compensation and ensure everything that needs to be filed is done on time.

Who Can Be Held Responsible for My Injuries & Losses?

When you’ve suffered serious injuries due to driver negligence, you may be able to pursue a civil lawsuit against the party at fault. You may be able to collect compensation with the help of a Los Angeles personal injury attorney for the damages related to your crash.

More than one party may be held responsible for your damages. From negligent vehicle manufacturers to intoxicated and distracted drivers, various entities may be held liable after a collision, which can create additional opportunities to collect compensation.

Some of the most common organizations/individuals involved in car accident claims:

• Car insurance companies
• Automobile marketers, sellers, and manufacturers
• Car renters or companies who lease vehicles
• Other drivers
• Commercial employers
• Car dealerships
• Truck drivers
• Auto shops
• Vehicle mechanics
• Construction site managers/planners

Proving Liability in an Auto Accident Case

To hold another motorist — or any other entity — legally liable for your injuries, you must be able to prove that their negligence directly contributed to your accident.

Negligence is careless or reckless conduct that fails to meet the standards that a reasonably sensible person would meet in a similar situation. Some common examples of negligence include:

• Speeding
• Tailgating
• Failure to yield
• Inattentive driving
• Unsafe merging
• Running a stop sign
• Drunk driving
• Distracted driving
• Drugged driving
• Failure to perform proper vehicle maintenance

To prove negligence, you will need convincing supporting evidence. On occasion, a motorist who is responsible for an accident may own up to their own culpability for the incident, but this does not always occur. Those who suffer injuries in accidents should be ready to contact a car accident lawyer in Los Angeles who can help them build a solid, persuasive car accident claim.

Notably, California is a comparative fault state. Multiple parties can be held responsible for the same collision. In these often complicated legal cases, each party’s liability will be directly commensurate to their level of fault.

If a driver was found to be 60 percent responsible for a collision, they should be held legally liable for 60 percent of the consequent damages. An injured victim can be held partly liable for their own accident.

Damages Eligible for Compensation in a Car Accident Case

In the state of California, motor vehicle accidents are common. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are injured in California wrecks. Over the course of 2022, the National Safety Council (NSC) recorded over 46,000 deaths related to auto accidents throughout the United States. Individuals who survive situations of this nature are harmed in various ways, either physically, emotionally, or financially.

Damages are defined as financial compensation you are legally eligible to collect in car accident claims after being injured or suffering a loss due to another party’s negligence. An experienced car accident attorney can help you collect compensation for a long list of damages that may have resulted from your recent accident.

In order to seek compensation for damages, you usually need to file an insurance claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Depending on the extent of your losses, you may also need to file a lawsuit to get fully compensated. Below are typical damages you can collect when you work with an experienced car accident attorney.

• Medical expenses
• Vehicle repairs
• Property damage
• Lost wages
• Emotional turmoil
• Pain
• Suffering

Car Accident Statistics in California

• In 2019, traffic accident deaths fell approximately 5% from 3,798 to 3,606.
• The number of fatalities related to drunk driving dropped from 1,116 in 2018 to 1,066 in 2018
• Vehicle occupants who were unrestrained at the time of their demise caused by auto accidents dropped from 635 to 620 in 2019
• In 2019, half of all motorists who lost their lives in traffic collisions tested positive for illicit substances, a rise of approximately 8% from 2018
• Teen crash fatalities (age 16-19) dropped approximately 25% from 219 to 164 in 2019

The Leiva Law Firm Can Help You

At the Leiva Law Firm, our experienced car accident attorneys in Southern California have the experience, dedication, and resources to handle your claim while you work on recovering. We can help you get the proper medical treatment, deal with the other driver’s insurance company, and prove that you suffered serious or even catastrophic injuries due to someone else’s negligence.

We fight on behalf of those who have been seriously injured, and we provide our services on a contingency fee basis, meaning you don’t owe us anything until we win your case. Our attorneys possess a working knowledge of California car accident laws and have worked on all different types of car accident cases.