Yes. In many cases when the fault in an accident is unclear, the blame can quickly be turned on you by unfair insurance companies. A lawyer protects you and makes sure liability is assigned to the right party.
In a slip-and-fall accident at a grocery store or an accident on a California freeway, who is to blame can be argued over. When you don’t have a personal injury lawyer defending your side of things, you can end up taking more blame than you should for an accident. An attorney makes sure you don’t get blamed for an accident you didn’t cause.
Seek Out a Free Consultation with a California Personal Injury Lawyer
If you are confused over how the fault in your accident is being assigned, you are probably at risk of having that blame land on you.
Contact a real California personal injury lawyer for a free case consultation to find out how to hold an at-fault party fully accountable. There’s no obligation to talk to the personal injury lawyers at Maison Law.
Do I Need a Personal Injury Attorney After an Accident?
When fault is in question or if you suffer a serious injury like a fractured bone, insurance companies fight even harder to reject any accident claim. Your lawyer is your safeguard against an insurer unfairly rejecting your case.
The California Highway Patrol may decide not to ticket anyone in your car collision, leaving insurance companies to decide who should pay for the injuries and damages. A landlord who left a stairwell in disrepair causing you to fall, may claim that your carelessness was really to blame. A commercial liability insurer could try to say your clumsiness was the reason you fell and not the property owner’s negligence.
In both cases, people without strong legal representation often get stuck with the blame or an unfair percentage of the fault. Insurance companies use many common tactics to try to shift the blame from their policyholder to someone else. Corporations, like the grocery chain where you slipped on a puddle left in an aisle, will also have corporate lawyers trying to get you to accept more blame than is fair.
All of these tactics rob you of the compensation you’ll need to pay your medical bills and rebuild your life. In some cases, a false accusation means you or your insurance company will have to provide support to others over an accident you didn’t cause.
A California personal injury lawyer fights back on your behalf and makes sure accident liability is always decided fairly and those innocent victims get help with recovery costs.
What Happens If I Was Partially to Blame for an Accident?
In California, more than one driver can be found at fault in a crash. One driver may have made an ill-advised left turn in front of traffic and pulled into the path of an SUV. The SUV driver may have been speeding at the time. Under the legal concept of comparative negligence, both motorists can share the liability in the accident, divided into percentages.
The driver that made the dangerous turn may be assigned 70% of the fault, while the speeding driver could face 30% of the blame. An injured victim could be awarded compensation for medical recovery, but it would be reduced by the percentage of blame the driver had to accept.
The same division of blame can occur with a slip-and-fall at a supermarket, the person injured and the company that owns the store could share liability for what happened. The store operators perhaps should have spotted a drink spill and mopped it up. But the person who fell may have been looking at a cell phone and wasn’t watching out for hazards.
In these cases, your California Personal Injury Lawyer would make sure your percentage of blame was fair for what happened. However, if you were innocent of blame, your Maison Law representative would be arguing to remove all blame for you.
Can I Receive Injury Compensation If the Fault Is Unclear in My Accident?
Yes. Even if you are eventually assigned some blame in an accident, you can still secure substantial compensation to help you cover your hospital expenses.
Your personal injury lawyer would be negotiating to get the maximum in compensation possible for what you and your family have endured.
These and other factors would all determine the size of your personal injury settlement check:
- Totals on current medical expenses and estimates on the cost of future care.
- Wrongful death benefits. Families who have lost a loved one in an accident can file a wrongful death claim to receive support with burial expenses. Support is available to help in replacing any income the deceased used to provide for the family. This support can be secured even when victims are found partially to blame for their own deaths.
- Support for the physical pain and emotional trauma victims suffer.
- Compensation for a loss of enjoyment of life.
- Compensation for a loss of consortium (the loss of intimacy with a spouse).
- Travel costs getting to and from doctor visits and surgery consultations.
- Totals on property damage and car repairs in car accident cases.
- The replacement of all lost earnings and benefits at work while the victim is in recovery.
Contact a California Car Accident Lawyer
If you or a loved one are hurt in a car accident or another personal injury accident where fault is in question, protect yourself by talking to a skilled California car accident lawyer. You should know your rights when liability is in dispute and have access to powerful protections.
Maison Law offers a free, no-obligation case consultation for all California victims. We will investigate what happened to you and collect all evidence available to show who was really to blame for your accident.
