Traumatic injuries are caused by a sudden and violent external force. They can occur at home, in public or at work. These injures are so severe that they can cause shock trauma that would require resuscitation in order to save a victim’s life. Blunt force is the most common cause of traumatic injuries, but they can also be caused by penetration or burns.
A traumatic injury can change the rest of a person’s life. These injuries can be permanently debilitating and require continuing therapy and lifelong care. As a result, traumatic injuries carry overwhelming physical, financial and emotional burdens with them. They don’t just affect the victim. They affect his or her family too.
When an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness results in a traumatic injury, it’s crucial to have an experienced and effective law firm on your side. Insurance companies will try to downplay your injuries in an attempt to reduce your settlement. Maison Law treats traumatic injuries seriously, fighting to ensure you and your family are protected and receive the maximum amount of compensation for your injuries. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation case analysis to explore your legal options.
California Traumatic Injury Claims Process
STEP 1
Call Us For A Free Consulation
Call us 24/7 with No Obligations
STEP 2
Describe Your Accident Details
We will then discuss your legal options and decide whether to move your case forward.
STEP 3
Retain Maison Law w/ No Upfront Fees
We work on contingency. No attorney fees unless you win your case.
STEP 4
Receive Your Compensation
We will fight for you to earn the highest possible payout for your damages.
Free Traumatic Injury Consultation
When an accident causes a severe or traumatic injury, California law has protections for accident victims. Many accidents that cause traumatic injuries stem from car accidents, bike accidents, and slip-and-falls at stores. In these cases, the person responsible for the accident or creating the hazard is responsible for paying for the injured victim’s recovery.
In the days and weeks after an accident, it can be challenging to research all of your protections. Insurance companies will try to take advantage of this fact and offer accident victims a lower settlement offer than they deserve. This is especially true in traumatic injury cases which can have substantially higher payouts than other accidents.
That is why Maison Law offers free consultations for accident victims. We will listen carefully to the details of your case and help you understand the full range of legal options in California.
Common Causes of Severe Traumatic Injuries
In the blink of an eye, an accident can cause a severe or traumatic injury. In California, these accidents are often the result of someone’s negligence or careless behavior. Whether a driver causes a head-on collision while texting and driving, or a customer trips and falls over a box at a retail store, traumatic injury accidents happen every day in California. When traumatic injury accidents are caused by negligence, victims are entitled to financial support as they recover from their injuries.
Some of the most common traumatic injury accidents in California are caused by:
- Car Accidents
- Motorcycle Accidents
- Trip and Falls
- Dog Bites
- Bicycle Accidents
- Pedestrian Accidents
- Truck Accidents
- Construction and industrial accidents
- Accidents at stores, apartments, or public properties
Common Traumatic Injuries in California
- Abdominal Hematoma
- Amputation
- Ankle Fracture
- Breast Seatbelt Injury
- Broken Arm
- Broken Hip
- Broken Leg
- Broken Ribs
- Broken Toe
- Broken Wrist
- Chest Injuries
- Collarbone Injuries
- Eye Injuries
- Facial Scarring
- Femur Injuries
- Foot Fracture
- Hearing Loss
- Impaction Fracture
- Jaw Fracture
- Knee Injury
- Lacerations
- Neck Hematoma
- Nerve Damage
- Orbital Fracture
- Paralysis
- Permanent Scarring
- PTSD
- Shoulder Injuries
- Skull Fracture
- Soft Tissue Injuries
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Sternum Injuries
- Tailbone Injury
- Throat Injury
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Vertebral Fracture
- Whiplash
What Our Clients Say
How a Traumatic Injury Case Is Different from Other California Injury Cases
Negotiations over compensation for a traumatic injury can be much more intense. Traumatic injuries can lead to settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars when they cause debilitating injuries and physical disabilities. The more a traumatic injury case is worth, the more insurance companies will fight to reduce or avoid all blame in an accident.
A traumatic injury case may factor in the cost of medical equipment and ongoing accommodation needs that can last a lifetime. Surgeries and constant physical therapy may be required for ten, twenty, or thirty years or more. The expense of home renovations to allow an injury victim greater freedom must also be included in any settlement.
One of the greatest costs in a traumatic injury settlement will be the loss of the ability for victims to support themselves in the short-term and long term. Their injuries may be serious enough to make it impossible to return to their previous careers. Job training and even college courses may be necessary to find a new career.
Due to the extensive damages that result from a traumatic injury case, it is even more important to have the best representation possible. Your representation matters – once you sign a settlement agreement, you cannot go back and ask for more financial support.
How Much Is a California Traumatic Injury Case Worth?
Every accident case in California is unique. From the circumstances of the accident to the resulting injuries, each case has its own complexities and value. As you might expect, the severity of the injuries and the impact on the victim’s life have the biggest impact on the financial support awarded from a traumatic injury case in California.
Maison Law fights to ensure that victims and their families receive the highest amount possible for their injuries. We meticulously comb through the possible damages for traumatic injury cases, accounting for current financial hardships as well as future expenses.
Some of the damages that you can receive compensation for might include:
- Past and future medical, rehab and home care expenses.
- Past and future lost earnings.
- Permanent disfigurement and disability.
- Pain and suffering.
- Diminished quality of life.
Frequently Asked Questions About Traumatic Injury Cases
Traumatic injury lawyers usually receive about 1/3 of a personal injury settlement.
Maison Law helps California traumatic injury victims by working on a contingency basis. This means you won’t have to pay a dime for legal representation unless you win your case. Your lawyer will cover all court costs and investigative fees while building a strong case for you.
Once your case is won or settled, your personal injury lawyer will usually receive about 33% of your settlement or judgement. Typically, we will not agree to represent your case unless we believe that our representation is in your financial best interest.
2 Years.
California traumatic injury victims usually have two years from the date of the injury to file a claim.
In cases against public entities, certain prerequisites must be satisfied within six months of the date of the accident.
If the statute of limitations has expired, the victim usually forfeits their ability to seek compensation for damages.
Since traumatic injuries can be complex, the time to settle can either take a few weeks or several months.
While it can be tempting to rush the process, you want to make sure that you account for all damages – present and future. Sometimes these damages can only be assessed after the recovery process is started and you can accurately predict the cost of your full recovery.
Insurance companies will often try to speed up the process in order to diminish the value of your claim, all while appearing to have your financial interest at heart with their quick turnaround. Other times, insurance companies will drag their feet in hopes that you will accept a lower offer to end the process sooner. Either way, having an experienced California traumatic injury lawyer on your side will hold them accountable to pay you the maximum amount in a timely fashion.
Medical treatment for a traumatic injury can extend into weeks or months of care. Each day, thousands of dollars in hospital, doctor, and rehabilitation bills can be added to the sum total of expenses from the day before. Victims can quickly become stressed over how to pay their medical bills while still trying to heal.
Money to pay for a full recovery can be secured through a claim for damages filed against an at-fault driver’s auto insurance provider. If the driver has no insurance at all, support can be gained by filing a claim against the victim’s own car insurance policy’s uninsured motorist coverage.
Waiting on an insurance claim to reach a fair settlement or a personal injury lawsuit to be resolved in court can take up to a year or more. In that time, the victims of traumatic injury will likely have a pile of medical bills that are overdue.
In these cases, it’s sometimes necessary to ask healthcare providers to accept a medical lien for their services. This is a promise that the victim will pay doctors and health insurance companies as soon as a personal injury settlement is awarded. A skilled personal injury lawyer may also be able to negotiate to get the victim’s medical charges reduced and make it possible to pay a smaller percentage of the total bill in the end.
A personal injury lawyer will build a powerful case against the insurance company and their policyholder to make it as difficult as possible for them to deny you compensation. If they refuse to make you a settlement offer or offer too little to cover all of your medical expenses and other hardships, taking your case to the next step may be necessary.
The next step would be filing a civil lawsuit and taking the insurance company before a judge and jury. Insurance companies try to avoid going to court at all costs. They must spend a lot of money to defend themselves, they can lose big, and they can also look bad when it’s on display how they’ve treated a traumatic injury victim.
Your attorney will already have been preparing strong evidence and testimony to present your case before a jury. It’s also important to know that an insurance company can still extend you a new settlement offer at any time, even after the trial has started.
After suffering a traumatic injury in a traffic accident, you may make a trip to the emergency room. You may wind up in a hospital bed before you find out about the at-fault driver’s insurance situation. That situation may include the fact that the other driver carries no insurance.
This will be discouraging news, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get insurance help after suffering a major injury. Car insurance policies in California generally come with uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage unless you reject the coverage in writing.
Uninsured motorist coverage is called upon by filing a claim against your own insurance company. You would request financial support for things like hospital bills, rehabilitation costs, and to get help replacing your lost wages from time missed at work.
You would think that your own insurance provider could be trusted to treat you fairly. Sadly, that’s often not the case. Insurance adjusters can still work to reduce the amount you receive for your claim and it could leave you paying for some of your care out-of-pocket.
This is why it’s important to speak with a skilled traumatic injury attorney. An attorney can monitor your claim and make sure you receive every bit of money you need to make a full recovery.
A courtroom trial is not something personal injury victims usually have to be concerned with. A large majority of cases are settled out of court with the insurance company before a trial becomes necessary.
In a case involving a traumatic injury, it can take longer to agree on a fair settlement sum due to the often enormous costs for healthcare and the long-term financial security that may be required. Ongoing negotiations over proper compensation can prolong the claims process, but insurance companies will still do everything they can to satisfy you to avoid going to court.
Trials wind up being very expensive for insurance providers and they can also serve to damage the company’s reputation. Insurance adjusters are motivated to provide you with a fair settlement when the threat of a trial is hanging over their heads.
Contact a California Traumatic Injury Accident Lawyer Today
When you or a loved one experiences a traumatic injury resulting from someone else’s careless mistake, you have the right to pursue compensation for your damages. You deserve to have an experienced traumatic injury lawyer protecting your best interests as you focus on recovering.
Unfortunately, insurance companies will make the journey to return to your normal life harder than it has to be. They will have experienced adjusters and agents attempting to weaken your case every step of the way. Make sure you have an attorney from Maison Law watching over every document exchange and communication you have with them.
After an accident involving a serious injury or the tragic loss of life in California, contact attorney Martin Gasparian for a free, no-obligation case consultation for your family. Mr. Gasparian takes a hands-on approach to every case and only gives victims advice that’s in their best interest.
