Personal Injury Claims Generally
If you are involved in any kind of an accident in which you are injured, and it appears to be the fault of another party, there are certain important things you should know about your legal rights.
First, California law imposes certain deadlines to bring your claim following an accident which are called “statutes of limitation.” Under these laws, you must have either settled your injury claim with the other responsible party or his insurance company, or have filed a lawsuit in court against the other party within these time periods. Your failure to strictly comply with these statutes of limitations will in most cases result in your claim being legally barred, and you will forever lose any rights you may have had to any monetary compensation.
Second, it is important that you contact an attorney who specializes in personal injury cases as soon as possible after your accident so that you can learn what your rights are, and thus be more fully informed as to how good your case may be given the facts of your particular accident, and what kinds of monetary damages you may be entitled to.
These damages would normally include compensation for your injuries, including pain and suffering, as well as compensation for past and future medical bills, loss of earnings from your job, and any property damage, provided that these damages were caused by the accident.
In many cases, the liability of the other party may be seriously disputed by him and his insurance company, and his insurance company may therefore just outright deny your claim altogether.
In cases where the other insurance company has either denied your claim completely, or is claiming that you were partially at fault for the accident, it is especially critical for you to contact an attorney specializing in personal injury cases as soon as possible after the accident. His investigators can then interview any independent witnesses, photograph the accident scene, and investigate and preserve any other important evidence that may support your claim that the other party is at fault for the accident.
Finally, almost all attorneys who specialize in personal injury handle these cases on a contingency fee basis. This simply means that you don’t pay any attorney fees at all unless and until your attorney obtains a monetary recovery for you either by way of settlement or trial. If he doesn’t, then you owe him absolutely nothing for all the time he spent on your case.
As you can see, it’s extremely important to have an experienced personal injury attorney properly evaluate the liability aspects of your case, including your potential damages as soon as possible after the accident in order to properly advise you of your rights under the law. Even if you only want an initial consultation for advice about your rights, and don’t want to hire a lawyer right now, there is absolutely no charge or obligation to you for that initial consultation – it’s free.
Ryneal & Ryneal handles virtually every type of serious personal injury and wrongful death case, including automobile and motorcycle accidents, defective product cases, construction accidents, landowner liability cases like slip and fall, dog bite incidents, and all other serious injury cases.
They have successfully handled literally thousands of personal injury and wrongful death cases over the last three decades, and have obtained tens of millions of dollars in compensation for their clients.
Ryneal & Ryneal has the background and legal expertise to successfully handle your case, and they have their own investigators, and a large network of experts to assist them in properly investigating, evaluating and developing your case so that you can be assured you’ll receive the maximum monetary recovery possible for your injuries and other damages.
What Is My Case Worth?
In determining how much a personal injury or wrongful death case is worth, there are numerous factors that have to be taken into consideration.
First and foremost among these is whether your accident was due to the negligence or fault of another party, and, if so, whether it was entirely the fault of the other party, or was partially your fault as well.
If the other party was completely at fault, then he and his insurance company would be responsible to compensate you for 100% of your damages. On the other hand, if you were partially at fault, too, then the other party would only have to pay for the percentage of your total damages that he specifically caused.
For example, if your total damages were $100,000, and the other party was found to be 75% at fault for causing the accident and you were found to be 25% at fault, then under California law he would have to pay 75% or $75,000 of your total damages. He would not be liable for the remaining 25% of your damages attributable to your percentage of fault.
This is called the law of “comparative fault” or “comparative negligence” in California where the other responsible party only pays your damages in proportion to his degree or percentage of fault.
Many other factors also affect how much your case is worth. Ordinarily, you can recover not only for your injuries, including physical and emotional pain and suffering, but also for your past and future medical bills and loss of earnings.
If you have suffered injuries that have left you with permanent residual problems or disability, then that can obviously increase significantly the ultimate value of your case, as opposed to the situation where someone is injured for several months, but then makes a full recovery.
If you had a preexisting condition or injury that was aggravated by your current accident, then that can also have a definite bearing on what your case could be worth.
An experienced personal injury attorney will carefully consider and evaluate these issues and all other aspects of your life that have been affected by your injuries, including the financial impact on your employment, your social and recreational activities, and the disruption to your family and lifestyle in general.
The law firm of Ryneal & Ryneal has specialized exclusively in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases in the Inland Empire and throughout California for the last 30 years. Their practice is solely limited to these kinds of cases so they are experts in this field.
Ryneal & Ryneal handles virtually every type of serious personal injury and wrongful death case, including automobile and motorcycle accidents, defective product cases, construction accidents, landowner liability cases like slip and fall, dog bite incidents, and all other serious injury cases.
They have successfully handled literally thousands of personal injury and wrongful death cases over the last 3 decades, and have obtained tens of millions of dollars in compensation for their clients.
Ryneal & Ryneal has the background and legal expertise to successfully handle your case, and they have their own investigators, and a large network of experts to assist them in properly investigating, evaluating and developing your case so that you can be assured you’ll receive the maximum monetary recovery possible for your injuries and other damages.
What Kind of Time Limitations Apply To My Case?
In any accident involving personal injury or wrongful death, California law places certain time deadlines to bring your claim called “statutes of limitation”. Under these laws, you must have either settled your injury claim with the other responsible party or his insurance company, or have filed a lawsuit in the appropriate court against the other party within these time periods.
In cases where an adult is injured, you normally have 2 years from the date of the accident to either settle your claim, or to file a lawsuit in court. In the case where a minor child under the age of 18 is injured, the law normally suspends this 2 year deadline until the child reaches his or her 18 th birthday, and then he or she has another 2 years thereafter until their 20 th birthday to settle their claim or file suit.
In the situation, however, where the injury or death was caused by the negligence or fault of a governmental entity, like a city, a county, or the state, or any of their employees, then the normal statutes of limitation described above do not apply.
In these types of cases, the law prescribes a different period of time, and also requires that you first file a written claim with the responsible governmental department or agency within 6 months after your accident in order to properly bring your claim, and before you can file any lawsuit for your injuries and other damages.
Your failure to strictly comply with these time deadlines will in most cases result in your cases being legally barred, and you’ll forever lose any rights you may have had to monetary compensation due to the accident.
As you can see, it’s extremely important to have an experienced personal injury attorney properly evaluate these kinds of questions, as well as the liability and damage aspects of your case, as soon as possible after the accident in order to properly advise you of your rights under the law.
How Do I Handle Insurance Payments of My Medical Bills or Liens?
Following an accident, it’s extremely important that you receive competent medical attention for your injuries as soon as possible. Depending on the severity of your injuries, however, that treatment can be expensive. So how are you going to pay for it?
If you are in a car accident and carried optional “medical payments” coverage, also known as “Med Pay”, under your automobile insurance policy, then normally your own insurance carrier will pay all of your reasonable and necessary medical bills up to the limits of your medical payments coverage. This same med pay coverage would also cover all of the medical bills of any passengers in your car who are injured in the same accident – again up to limits of your medical payments coverage for each person who was injured.
On the other hand, if you had no medical payments coverage under your automobile policy, but had HMO coverage, your HMO would normally pay your medical bills instead.
In both cases above, however, most automobile insurance carriers and HMOs will usually seek reimbursement for the total amount they paid against your bills out of any monetary compensation you may later receive from settling your case. This is called a “lien”.
What most people don’t realize is that an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in this field can usually negotiate these liens down by as much as 30 – 40 %, thereby saving the client a substantial amount of money when the main case against the negligent party settles, and the liens then have to be paid back.