Car Accident Lawyers In Riverside County
At Martinez & Schill LLP, our skilled car accident attorneys in Riverside know how difficult it is for our California residents to recover from a crash without a legal advocate seeking the best results on their behalf.
Our Riverside County car accident lawyers believe the sudden and overwhelming need for medical care can be compounded by our clients’ inabilities to work, leaving them without any income and afraid of the mounting medical bills that will begin arriving almost immediately after their crashes.
If you have been hurt in an auto accident and are receiving resistance from the insurance company, we can help jump-start your recovery by aggressively pursuing maximum compensation using our over 35 combined years of experience representing car accident clients throughout the state.
What Are The Most Common Causes Of Car Accidents In Riverside, California?
California cities, including Riverside, are notorious for challenging traffic patterns that can lead to frustrated drivers taking shortcuts to obtain better positions on our roads.
Unfortunately, safety takes a back seat in all forms when drivers are negligently operating their vehicles, and the results are often traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities.
Some of the most common forms of driver negligence that lead to car accidents in Riverside include:
Speeding
Failing to follow traffic signs and signals
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Distracted driving
Improper turns
Aggressive driving
Drowsy driving
Unsafe lane changes
Tailgating
Inexperienced driving
If you have suffered an injury because of another driver’s negligence, contact our skilled Riverside car accident attorneys today to discuss your collision and financial recovery needs during a free consultation.
What Are The Most Common Riverside Car Accident Injuries That Require A Personal Injury Claim?
No two people are impacted by a Riverside car accident in the same way.
Even similar injuries, like broken ribs or a concussion, will affect each person’s day-to-day activities and their overall quality of life differently.
For instance, a broken leg will affect a server’s inability to work for a much longer period than someone who works in an office and may have access to workplace modifications that allow them to continue working without extended interruption.
Those details are important to your case and will help dictate the financial recovery that we pursue on your behalf.
Some of the most common injuries that our Riverside personal injury lawyers pursue personal injury claims for include but are not limited to:
Joint dislocation
Torn muscles or ligaments
Fractured and broken bones
Organ damage
Internal bleeding
Nerve damage
Whiplash
Spinal injuries
Dental and facial injuries
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
Head and neck injuries
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
Permanent scarring and/or disfigurement
Paralysis
If you have been hurt in a Riverside car accident, contact our skilled personal injury lawyers at Martinez & Schill LLP to discuss your case during a free consultation so you that can pursue the financial recovery that you may be entitled to for your complete damages.
What Type Of Financial Compensation Can You Pursue After A Riverside Auto Accident With Injuries?
At Martinez & Schill LLP, our auto accident lawyers in Riverside will outline your complete injury needs so that we can pursue the best outcome for your unique personal injury case.
That may include financial recovery for your:
Complete medical expenses, including future care needs
Lost wages
Loss of future earning capacity
Property damage
Mental anguish
Pain and suffering
Permanent impairment
Our dedicated auto accident lawyers in Riverside will account for each of your financial recovery needs during our negotiations with the insurance company so that no detail is left to chance during your claim.
WHEN TO CONTACT A LOCAL RIVERSIDE CAR ACCIDENT ATTORNEY
If you were injured in a car crash by someone who was operating any kind of motor vehicle (including a car, truck, tractor, motorcycle, ATV, boat, etc.) while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or if a loved one is killed in such an accident, you need to contact a local Riverside car accident attorney that specializes in auto accident cases as soon as you possibly can.
Do not dismiss the need for you or a passenger to receive medical attention when needed. Tend to all injuries first even if it means a visit to the hospital before assessing and gathering details and evidence of the accident and other insurance information. However, to best maximize and increase your chances of getting the most out of your insurance claim, it is advisable to seek consultation from an experienced Riverside car accident lawyer to help you with your claim. Call (951) 324-5174 for a free consultation.
Our law firm operates on a contingency fee basis, which means you won’t pay until we win your case.
ARE MY CAR ACCIDENT INJURIES SOMEONE ELSE’S FAULT?
Personal injury law is a branch of civil law known as “tort law.” In tort law, if someone causes your injury, then they are legally liable.
Negligence: Negligence is a word that has a common, everyday meaning as well as a special legal definition. Normally, negligence just means carelessness. The legal definition is different. Negligence means a violation of a duty to take reasonable care. In the United States, everyone has a duty of reasonable care towards other people. That duty varies based on the situation and the parties. For example, a doctor owes a higher duty to a patient on his operating table than to another doctor’s patient in the waiting room. However, the doctor does owe that waiting patient a duty of reasonable care. If the doctor negligently set the hospital on fire, that would be considered a violation of the doctor’s duty of reasonable care to everyone in that hospital. But he must take special precautions to keep his patient safe.
Intentional torts: It makes sense that if someone can be liable for accidentally injuring you, then they can be liable if they injure you on purpose. If someone assaults you, purposefully damages your property, or kills a loved one on purpose, then you have a claim against them for compensation. Contact a Riverside personal injury lawyer if this happens to you or a loved one.
Strict liability: In California, a car accident can be someone else’s fault, no matter how careful they were in trying to prevent that accident. And if injuries happen, someone is strictly liable. For example, if a dog bites someone, then the owner is strictly liable, even if the dog was properly restrained.
IN ORDER TO PROVE THAT YOU ARE OWED COMPENSATION, YOU HAVE TO PROVE THE FOLLOWING FOUR ELEMENTS:
The defendant had a duty of reasonable care.
The defendant breached that duty of reasonable care.
That breach caused you an injury; and,
Your injury caused you some kind of loss, otherwise known as “damages.”
In California, you can receive compensation even if you are partially at fault. If someone else is partially at fault, then you can get partial compensation. There are a lot of nuances to accident cases, which is why it is vital to have an experienced and skilled car accident lawyer in Riverside on your side if you were involved in an accident and suffered a serious injury.
CAR ACCIDENTS IN RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA
Southern California cities with heavy commuter and truck traffic including Corona and Riverside are unfortunately also known for congested roads and freeways. Packed roads including the 91, 15, 215, and 10 freeways don’t just mean more wasted time, they also mean more car accidents.
The last few years have seen hundreds of fatalities on roadways with typically higher traffic congestion around the nearby airport and downtown areas of Riverside such as streets near Arlington and Jurupa Avenue. For reference, below are some California statewide car accident statistics from 2017, the latest this data was published.
CALIFORNIA MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT STATISTICS
Total Auto Accident Fatalities: 3,582
Total Auto Accident Injuries: 193,564
Alcohol or Drug-Related Accident Fatalities: 1,167
Alcohol or Drug-Related Accident Injuries: 18,56
Speeding-Related Collision Fatalities: 559
Speeding-Related Collision Injuries: 61,93
Improper Turning-Related Collision Fatalities: 664
Improper Turning-Related Collision Injuries: 28,221
The number of people who were hurt in auto accidents in 2017 was nearly half of the population in Riverside, CA. As you can see from these statistics, driver negligence due to distracted driving caused a significant number of car accidents that resulted in severe injuries and fatalities. Some of those killed or injured were the ones being careless and/or distracted.
However, many, if not most, were innocent victims of someone else’s careless or reckless behavior, such as from motor vehicle accidents caused by speeding or not observing the right of way at an intersection. In those cases, the victims need a local car accident law firm to fight for their right to compensation from these traffic accidents.
In some cases, the victims were children. In Riverside County alone, 3 children under 5 years old were killed and 224 children under 5 years old were injured in a car accident in 2017.
HERE ARE SOME RIVERSIDE COUNTY CAR ACCIDENT STATISTICS:
Total Auto Collision Fatalities: 283
Total Auto Collision Injuries: 10,511
Alcohol or Drug-Related Collision Fatalities: 108
Alcohol or Drug-Related Collision Injuries: 1,139
Pedestrian-Related Fatalities: 73
Pedestrian-Related Injuries: 471
Total Collision Fatalities in the city of Riverside: 27
Total Collision Injuries in the city of Riverside: 2,205
Common outcomes of car collisions we see here in Southern California and Riverside include back and spinal cord injury (including whiplash when a larger car or truck impacts a smaller vehicle), traumatic brain injury, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian incidents, wrongful death, and property damage.
The Riverside car accident attorneys of The Reeves Law Group have successfully represented many accident victims as well as with wrongful death cases arising from car accidents and motor vehicle collisions, as well as slip and fall, premises and product liability accidents included work accidents (if you were hurt on the job, did you know that you can also file an injury claim which may provide you better compensation than workers’ comp?)
RIVERSIDE ACCOUNTED FOR 7% OF DEATHS IN CALIFORNIA FROM CAR ACCIDENTS IN 2011
Riverside accounted for 7% of all California car accident deaths in 2011. It also accounted for 4.6% of all car accident injuries including traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. Sadly, nearly 14% of the state’s fatal alcohol- and drug-related car accidents and about 7% of all drunk- or impaired-driving-related injuries happened here in Riverside. Driving a car while drunk or high is the epitome of reckless behavior and causes untold amounts of incidents including property damage and wrongful death.
COMMON CAUSES OF CAR ACCIDENTS IN RIVERSIDE
Apart from driver negligence due to distracted driving being the most common cause of a car collision on the road, weather and road conditions, and defective vehicles can also impact driving which contributes to other motor accidents.
All types of car accidents can occur at any time whether it was caused by another driver, severe road conditions, or an auto manufacturing defect. From collisions to tire blowouts and other potential car accidents, it is imperative that attorneys are provided with as much detail and evidence from their potential clients involved in a serious vehicle accident in order to successfully build their car accident case.
Something as important as observing the right of way at an intersection or a driver failing to use their turn signal when changing lanes can be vital information attorneys need to know to determine the best course of action for your case.
COMPENSATION IN CAR ACCIDENT CASES IN RIVERSIDE, CA
If you were in a car, truck, or motorcycle accident that was entirely or partially someone else’s fault, then you may have a personal injury lawsuit that a lawyer can help you with. In order to be compensated, you have to show that the defendant caused your injuries by breaching his or her duty of “reasonable care.”
In some cases, this is quite easy (especially with pedestrian and motorcycle incidents where the injured party is clearly more vulnerable), however, in some car and truck accidents, it’s not always straightforward especially if there were no witnesses. An experienced injury law firm will be able to provide you significant insight on this during your consultation.
Seeking out your local Riverside car accident attorney is your best option to come out on top of these auto accidents and get the compensation you are due. A professional car accident lawyer will help you with filing an insurance claim appropriately that entitles you to recover damages such as pain and suffering caused by the accident, medical expenses accrued, and lost wages.
ACCIDENT AND INJURY CAUSED BY A BREACH OF REASONABLE CARE
In the parlance of personal injury law, someone breaches their “duty of reasonable care” when they do something, or fail to act, resulting in an injury to someone (the victim), and the harm done they caused was foreseeable. If you look at the above statistics, you can see that “improper turning” for example, caused quite a few deaths and injuries. Failing to properly turn seems simple, but it is a breach of a driver’s duty of reasonable care to other people on or near the road.
A brief refresher: a defendant is someone who is defending against a claim in court (the liable party including the driver of the car who caused the accident). Other key participants in civil cases include the plaintiff (the victim) and of course the judge, among other people. The law offices of the lawyer representing you are your “counsel.”
SPEAK TO A CAR ACCIDENT LAWYER BEFORE ACCEPTING ANY OFFERS
Most drivers are insured because the law demands that drivers have insurance. When you are due compensation, it is usually the insurance company that will end up paying you. The insurers usually want to settle their claim with you as quickly as possible. They will certainly want to pay you as little money as possible. Do not accept any offers from an insurance company without having a lawyer on your side as well (remember that you’re dealing with an in-house lawyer on their end).
WHY DO MOST CASES NEVER GO TO TRIAL?
Many car accident cases never go to trial. The reason is that most cases settle privately between the parties. Insurance companies are specially trained in these types of negotiations, and they have attorneys representing them. Property damage (repairing or replacing your car for example) is usually handled fairly, but don’t be mistaken- if you’re hurt, they will absolutely try to downplay the problems you may have including serious injuries such as spinal cord or brain traumas, as those could potentially cost the insurer significant amounts of money (much more than simply replacing your car that was declared a total loss).
The bottom line is that you deserve the same level of skill and representation on your side during these negotiations as well! Personal injury attorneys specialize in these cases, and you should seek out a larger firm that specializes in car accident losses and has a proven track record in recovering for their clients to review your case.
Start by giving us a call and tell us all about your accident. The Reeves Law Group offers free consultations to help you determine if you have a case.
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