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Porterville Scooter Accident Lawyer

Scooter accidents in Porterville aren’t as rare as you think. With so many scooter-friendly areas, like Main Street and Plano Street, it’s not surprising that scooter riders sometimes end up in accidents with other vehicles, pedestrians, scooters, and bicycles. When these accidents occur, they can often leave the scooter rider with serious injuries.

If this has happened to you, you may be entitled to financial compensation. However, this is usually only possible if another entity was responsible for causing your scooter accident. In some cases, fault might be difficult to determine. Then there are situations where liability is clear, but the responsible party is being difficult by delaying compensation, submitting lowball offers, or avoiding liability for administrative or technical reasons.

Thankfully, the personal injury attorneys at Maison Law have seen it all when it comes to at-fault parties dodging their legal obligations, including failing to compensate for injuries caused by their negligence or recklessness. To see what we can do for you, contact us today to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation.

Common Types of Scooter Injuries

In the vast majority of scooter accidents, the only form of protection for scooter riders is a helmet. And all too often, many scooter riders don’t even wear a helmet. In either situation, riders hurt in scooter accidents in Porterville face serious injuries, including one or more of the following:

Many of these injuries can lead to hospitalization, multiple surgeries, and years of physical therapy and ongoing medical treatments. This can become very expensive, very quickly, so it’s important to do everything you can following an accident to protect your health and legal rights.

Increasing the Chances of Recovering Damages Following Your Accident

Your primary focus should be treating your injuries. This means seeing a medical professional as soon as possible, especially if you’re seriously hurt. If you think you only have a small injury, you still need to see a doctor or healthcare professional. However, perhaps making an appointment with your primary care provider as opposed to going to the emergency room makes more sense. Either way, get checked out and complete any necessary tests and treatments.

Once you’ve taken care of your health, now’s the time to worry about your legal rights and eligibility for financial compensation for your injuries. To do this, you’ll want to:

  • Report the accident to the Porterville Police Department. If you’re hurt from the accident, this occurs automatically when you or someone else calls 9-1-1. You want to call the police so they can send an officer to the accident scene to conduct a brief investigation and prepare an accident report. You want the police to create this report even if you feel fine after the accident. This report will come in handy later on during insurance negotiations or litigation.
  • Gather evidence from the accident scene. If you’re not seriously hurt, you should do this immediately after the accident. You want to take pictures or video, as well as get the names and contact information of any witnesses to the accident.
  • Continue any necessary medical treatment. Your health isn’t the only thing that depends on following your doctor’s orders. Refusing to continue follow-up medical treatments can also hurt your ability to recover compensation because at-fault parties will point to your refusal as evidence that your injuries aren’t that bad or don’t cost as much as you claim.
  • Talk to a personal injury attorney. You may not have to hire a lawyer after your scooter accident, but you won’t know for sure until you talk to one. Only by speaking with an attorney will you know what your legal rights are and how to take advantage of them.

Deciding Whether To Hire a Lawyer After a Scooter Accident

The primary way to decide if you need a lawyer is to schedule an initial consultation with one. This meeting provides you with an opportunity to learn more about your case and the attorney who could potentially represent you. It also provides an opportunity for the lawyer to decide if you have a case and if the lawyer should take you on as a client.

So how do you know if it’s time to contact a lawyer to schedule a consultation? By seeing if one or more of the following applies to your situation.

  • You were seriously injured.
  • The accident resulted in a wrongful death.
  • There are questions as to who caused the accident, including the possibility that you were partially at fault.
  • There’s more than one party responsible for your injuries.

Recoverable Damages From a Scooter Accident in Porterville

The type and amount of damages recoverable depends are various factors, such as what caused your accident and the extent of your injuries. That being said, your recovery will typically consist of various types of damages, including:

  • General damages: Also known as non-economic damages, these are damages you face that are often difficult to calculate. General damages are often used to compensate you for mental harm, including emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium.
  • Special damages: Also known as economic damages, these are for financial costs you incurred from the accident, like medical bills, lost wages, and certain necessary expenses you now have to pay because you got hurt.
  • Punitive damages: Unlike general and special damages, punitive damages aren’t designed to compensate you for harm suffered. Instead, they’re intended to punish defendants for wrongful conduct. However, they’re typically only awarded by courts when the defendant’s conduct is particularly egregious or atrocious.
  • Wrongful death damages: These damages are available to close family members of the deceased and are designed to compensate them for certain losses, such as burial fees and funeral costs, among other things.

What Happens If You’re Partially At Fault for Your Accident?

One of the reasons to hire an attorney to help handle your scooter accident case is if you may be partially responsible for causing your scooter accident. Before you panic, understand that if a court concludes you’re partially responsible for your injuries, you’ll still likely be able to get at least some compensation. However, what you receive gets reduced by your level of fault. This is due to California being a pure comparative negligence state.

Pure Comparative Negligence and Recoverable Damages

Imagine you’re riding your Scooter down Mill Street when another vehicle pulling out of a parking spot at the U.S. Post Office runs into you, causing you to crash and get seriously injured. You take your case to court, and the jury finds you’re entitled to damages for your physical injuries, pain and suffering, and lost income in the amount of $50,000.

The jury also concludes that because you were looking at your phone at the time of the collision, you were 20% at fault for the accident. Instead of receiving $50,000, you’ll receive $40,000 ($50,000 x 20% = $10,000; $50,000 – $10,000 = $40,000).

Despite being partially responsible for causing your own accident, you’re still able to make a sizeable recovery. But imagine how much more your recovery would be if the jury found you to only be 10% at fault. Now think about how much less your recovery would be if the jury found you to be 30% at fault. These relatively small adjustments can make the difference in thousands of dollars of total recovery, and there’s no better way to push these adjustments in your favor than to hire a personal injury attorney.

Contact a Porterville Scooter Accident Attorney

If you’re hurt in a Porterville scooter accident, you’ve come to the right place. The scooter accident lawyers from Maison Law understand how traumatic an accident can be, as well as how difficult it can sometimes be to seek the compensation you deserve. This is why we offer free consultations where we learn about your case, and we can advise you on what to do next.

There’s also no obligation to hire us after the consultation, and we don’t charge you anything unless we can recover money on your behalf. You’ve got nothing to lose by contacting us. And the longer you wait, the harder it will be to recover full and fair compensation.

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