Maison Law stands by victims who are passengers on motorcycles when a careless driver strikes them. We hold bad drivers fully responsible for the damage they cause and the injuries that result from a collision.
If you have been injured, please contact a Hanford Motorcycle Accident Lawyer for a free case review. It’s an informative, no-strings-attached way to find out what your injury may be worth and how to hold a car insurance company fully responsible.
When Motorcycle Passengers Should Contact a Lawyer
If you are a motorcycle passenger in an accident and you come away with a serious injury, it’s a good idea to go over your options with a lawyer. When your medical bills run high, insurers work harder to avoid accepting financial responsibility. They can try to downplay your injuries and try to declare you healed when you actually have weeks of expensive physical therapy ahead.
A skilled attorney fully investigates your accident and the person at fault. Maison Law also works with your doctors to make sure the severity of your injuries can’t be questioned. This largely determines how much in compensation you receive.
You always have the right to file your own claim, but a skilled lawyer often gives you a much better chance to win the kind of settlement you’ll need to rebuild your life and get back on a motorcycle. When you come away from a crash with something like a broken arm, a neck or back injury, or a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), an experienced lawyer can often win you much more for recovery.
Free Consultation with a Motorcycle Accident Attorney
Being stuck in a hospital bed will be the worst time for motorcycle accident victims to figure out their options. And motorcycle passengers are often left with even more questions after being involved in a crash. Who is to blame? How much will cover all of their present needs and future costs?
To get the jump on unhelpful insurance adjusters, it’s a good idea to speak to Maison Law first. We provide a free, confidential case review to all injured motorcycle passengers in Kings County so they can get answers. If we can’t help you earn more for your case, we’ll be upfront about that and point you in the right direction to file a successful claim yourself.
Support for Motorcycle Passengers in Accidents
Motorcyclists and their passengers can suffer life-threatening injuries from dozens of different threats on each ride. They may have a truck drift over into their lane on Highway 198, sending both riders to the road surface. They may have a distracted driver ram them from behind at a stoplight in downtown Hanford, sending vulnerable riders flying in the air.
Victims can end up at Adventist Health Hanford with traumatic injuries and little idea how they got there. It’s a bad time for victims and their families to have to battle an unhelpful insurance company to avoid falling into medical debt and facing late-payment fees.
A lawyer would demand support for all of the hardships victims face. Those damages must include:
- All medical bills, covered! (for as long as necessary)
- A lifetime of support for permanent physical disabilities, covered!
- The pain associated with a collision and difficult recovery, covered!
- The emotional trauma caused by a scary accident and debilitating injury, covered!
- All lost wages and benefits at work, covered!
- Bills to fix or replace damaged property, covered!
Maison Law also protects families who have lost a loved one to a tragic motorcycle accident. A Hanford Wrongful Death Lawyer demands support for those left behind.
This claim would seek help for the family in paying for a funeral and getting rid of any medical bills that might be left over from a terrible accident. The income the victim may have provided to support the family each month should be replaced. The emotional trauma dealt to grieving families must earn support.
Common Injuries for Motorcycle Passengers
A motorcycle accident can expose motorcyclists to a devastating strike from a vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds. Victims will also usually be sent to the pavement to suffer even more harm. The same injuries are common for any passengers on motorcycles involved in collisions.
They can hang on tight and use their footrests to try to avoid falling, but in most impacts, everyone will wind up on the road surface, leading to major injuries.
These are just a few of the serious injuries paramedics see on the scene of motorcycle crashes:
- Road rash and degloving skin injuries
- Tendon, ligament, and muscle tears
- Fractured bones (including bones in the chest, arms, and legs)
- Knee and hip injuries
- Damage to internal organs
- Traumatic brain injuries and moderate to severe concussions
- Face and teeth injuries
- Neck and back injuries (including serious whiplash cases, spinal column fractures, and herniated discs)
Riders can suffer back pain for months. This is pain that might keep them off a motorcycle for a year or longer.
Duke Health reports that victims with spinal disc damage may be candidates for disc replacement. Patients can go home within a few days of surgery, but will have to limit activities for several months.
Those at fault for devastating accidents should be responsible for every medical bill and the time patients have lost from their normal lives. A skilled Hanford motorcycle accident attorney can collect the evidence needed to show how long a victim will need care and experience pain, and demand support that covers them until they are fully healed.
Figuring Out Who Is Responsible for a Motorcycle Passenger Injury
If a careless driver is responsible for a motorcycle crash, that driver can be proven at fault and held financially liable. The driver’s insurers will do their best to shift blame in the accident, but an aggressive lawyer can head them off and point to the evidence in hand.
In other cases, a motorcycle accident can be blamed on a careless motorcyclist. This might be a rider who went a little too fast or ran a stop sign. Motorcyclists can also get a bit reckless and wipe out in a single-vehicle crash.
In these cases, passengers also hurt in the accident can seek help with their recovery costs. They can file a claim against the motorcyclist’s motorcycle insurance coverage.
Unfortunately, not all motorcycle insurance coverage includes protection for passengers. The basic coverage only covers third parties outside the motorcycle, such as a victim in a car or a pedestrian who was struck.
Motorcyclists would usually need to have added guest passenger liability coverage onto the policy in order to provide coverage to injured passengers. If the policy provided no coverage, victims may have to ask the motorcyclist to help with medical bills out of their own pockets.
Filing a Claim Against a Friend After a Motorcycle Accident
Injured passengers can feel funny about filing a claim or asking for help from someone they were riding a motorcycle with.
The rider might be a friend or family member, but the injured patient shouldn’t agonize too much. The passenger’s claim isn’t aimed directly against a loved one. The rider’s insurer would be financially responsible for your damages.
The money comes from the insurer, and it’s why motorcyclists pay insurance premiums. Plus, it’s likely that the motorcycle owner would want you to get everything you require to make a full recovery.
Motorcyclists also bear a duty to keep their passengers safe. The California Motorcycle Handbook from the DMV goes over the responsibilities riders have when they take on a passenger. They must provide certain safety gear, such as a helmet. Riders must go over certain safety precautions with passengers. Riders must also practice riding with someone hanging on. A trip with a passenger can make a motorcycle handle very differently.
Contact a Hanford Motorcycle Accident Attorney
Maison Law offers free consultations to all Kings County motorcycle accident victims, including passengers.
Tell us what happened and how your injury has affected your life. We help you determine who should be responsible for your recovery costs. Then we demand the most possible from insurers on your behalf.
There’s no obligation for this meeting. However, if you feel we could help you win more, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay a lawyer. Maison Law doesn’t ask for any payment unless we win your case for you. Then our attorney’s fee comes out of the settlement check that a car insurance company must write for you.
