Yes. Motorcycle accident victims can file injury claims and earn support from careless drivers. At-fault drivers can also be responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing a motorcycle. A rider may have been without a helmet, but that doesn’t excuse the driver from liability after causing a collision.
Is a Driver Responsible for My Recovery Costs If I Didn’t Have a Helmet on When I Was Hit?
Yes. California has a strict helmet law for motorcyclists, but that doesn’t mean drivers are left off the hook if they strike a rider without a helmet.
California Vehicle Code CVC 27803 confirms that all motorcyclists and passengers must wear approved helmets.
Motorcyclists caught not wearing a helmet may pay a fine of up to $250 in California, but that doesn’t mean they have to face medical bills. A rider may be cited in the accident and have to pay a fine for not having a helmet on, but that doesn’t change the driver’s responsibility for causing an impact.
A claim can still be filed, and motorcyclists can demand help with their medical bills and their lost income while they can’t work. Victims can ask for support for the physical pain they’ve been left with. Their emotional trauma and loss of enjoyment of life due to an injury must also be compensated. This loss of enjoyment might include the loss of the ability to take the rides a victim loves, either in the short term or long term.
Maison Law’s Protection After a Chico Motorcycle Accident
In some cases, a car insurance company might try to reduce the amount of compensation a motorcyclist receives. Insurance adjusters might imply that riders would have less severe injuries if they had been wearing a helmet. They may even try to avoid blame by saying an innocent rider caused the crash. These are tactics used to try to limit what the injured rider takes home.
A skilled Maison Law attorney would have fully investigated the accident and gathered the evidence necessary to push back on these weak arguments.
In some cases, California allows the legal concept of “comparative negligence.” It means that a driver and a motorcyclist can share the blame in a collision. A judge might assign the driver a percentage of blame and the rider a percentage of the blame. The rider could still seek compensation, but it would be reduced by whatever percentage of blame had been assigned to the victim.
A Chico motorcycle accident lawyer would fight back and make sure the motorcyclists received as little percentage of blame as possible. In cases where the rider wasn’t at fault in the slightest, that percentage should be zero.
Earning Support for Injured Chico Motorcycle Accident Victims
Keeping the rider’s fault in an accident to zero is just one goal. The next goal is to demand support for everything a motorcycle accident victim has been through during an accident and an injury recovery.
Everything the victim has endured must be included in an insurance claim. Anything left off becomes an expense the rider and the rider’s family must cover.
An experienced attorney would demand these things be part of any motorcycle accident settlement check, including some things most victims don’t know they can claim:
- Hospital and physical therapy expenses.
- Estimated costs associated with a long-term motorcycle accident injury or permanent physical disability.
- Emotional anguish, such as depression and anxiety. The trauma experienced in a motorcycle accident may make it hard for you to feel safe getting back on a bike. You could experience a loss of enjoyment of life if you can’t return to riding.
- The hardship of dealing with chronic, physical pain.
- Past and future lost income and benefits at work during recovery.
- Money for motorcycle repairs or replacement.
- Wrongful death benefits. A family that has lost a loved one to a tragic motorcycle accident may file a wrongful death claim against the at-fault driver’s insurer. This wrongful death claim is possible, even if the victim wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time of the collision. This claim seeks help with funeral costs and leftover medical expenses. It also helps to replace the income the deceased would have provided the family in the future.
Contact a Lawyer Serving Butte County Motorcycle Accident Victims
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury in a motorcycle collision caused by a careless driver, discuss your case with a skilled Chico Motorcycle Accident Attorney as soon as possible. Accident victims should never be left to face the costs of recovery alone, no matter whether they were wearing a helmet or not.
Reach out to Maison Law to make sure you are clear on the rights you have as a victim and the benefits that are available to you and your family. We offer a free case evaluation to all motorcycle accident victims and their families. There’s no obligation, and also no upfront fees if you decide we can help you earn more. We work on a contingency basis. It means we don’t get paid unless you get paid. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check that a car insurance company must pay you.
