Broken Bones from a Car Accident in Los Angeles
It’s not uncommon for those in serious car accidents to suffer a wide array of injuries. Those include broken bones. For pedestrians and cyclists, broken bones are far more common, but those in cars also stand a fairly good chance of sustaining bone injuries as well. These injuries can keep you in the hospital for a couple of days and may impair your ability to work while you heal.
You can collect damages for any loss you suffer due to another’s negligence. You will only get one chance to collect damages for your injuries. It’s important to have the right law firm represent your interests.
Call the Law Firm with One of the Best Lawyers in California
When you’ve sustained serious injuries due to the negligence of another party, you need the team led by the man who was voted California’s best personal injury attorney and the San Francisco trial lawyer of the year.
Chris Dolan has been recognized throughout his career as a relentless advocate for his clients’ interests. If another driver has caused you serious injuries and you’re searching for a lawyer to represent you in recovering damages, you have found the right firm. Give us a call at (415) 610-7446 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.
Types of Fractures and Bone Damage Caused in Car Accidents
Even in an accident where vehicles are traveling at very low speeds, as low as 10 mph, a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorcycle rider can sustain serious injuries. Those include, depending on the other driver’s vehicle, defensive wounds to the hands, wrists, and elbows.
Cyclists often sustain the worst injuries because they are practically defenseless and, at the same time, elevated from the ground. Neck and head injuries are not uncommon, even when cyclists are wearing helmets. That includes damage that results in paralysis and traumatic brain injury.
Those in car crashes may also suffer significant neck-related injuries relating to an airbag that deployed too forcefully.
The more extensive your injuries are, the more important it is that you have a skilled personal injury attorney who ensures that your claim is paid for all the damages that you’ve sustained.
Damages You Can Recover When Injured by Another’s Negligence
In any personal injury lawsuit, there are certain damages that you can recover. Some personal injury lawyers have settlement calculators on their websites that will attempt to calculate your total damages. The truth is those settlement calculators are largely misleading. Every case is different so even when the settlement calculators come up with an accurate number, it is largely by accident.
For every injured party, their injuries mean something unique. For example, let’s say that a cyclist is riding down the street when an oblivious driver opens their car door. The cyclist rides into the door and is sent sailing over it. They land on the ground but try to break their fall using their hands. Their right wrist is severely damaged in the attempt to break their fall.
That injury may not mean very much to someone who works in an office and passes their time playing cards. On the other hand, if someone requires two functioning hands to do their job or is an avid tennis player, that injury prevents them from working or enjoying something they love. Not only is the injured party entitled to collect for medical costs and pain and suffering related to the injury, they are entitled to collect on any loss the injury causes. If they can’t play tennis for a while, that is a serious loss. If they can’t work until their wrist has healed, they may not be able to support themselves for a period of time. They are entitled to collect damages while they cannot support themselves.
For that reason, damages are divided into two kinds of damages. Those include economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages relate to any out-of-pocket costs related to your injuries, including loss of earnings, while noneconomic damages are related to losses that are difficult to quantify. This includes pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment, loss of consortium, and emotional trauma.
How the Insurance Claims Adjustment Process Works
In a personal injury lawsuit, the injured party typically files a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance. When the injured party’s damages exceed the at-fault party’s insurance policy, the injured party can sue the at-fault party for the difference.
Generally speaking, insurance companies are not enthusiastic about paying out on their client’s policies. They tend to do whatever is in their legal power to devalue your claim. This includes the use of sophisticated software that gives the illusion of objectivity. In point of fact, this software can be manipulated quite easily to justify very low offers.
Regardless of how extensive your injuries are, insurance companies will pay you as little as they can get away with. This is why securing the best possible representation is absolutely necessary to walk away with a fair settlement.
In California, traffic accidents are tort (negligence) claims. These claims are adversarial by nature. You are on one side of a negotiation and the insurance company is on the other. The insurance company’s interests are not to further yours. It sometimes happens that claims adjusters attempt to get into contact with injured parties who are making claims on their client’s policies. You should never talk to them. Anything that you say can be used against when attempting to justify your demand to the insurance company.
In addition, insurance companies may scour your social media accounts looking for a reason to deny your claim. In cases that involve hundreds of thousands of dollars, they’ve been known to have private investigators follow injured parties.
We tell you this because we know the stakes involved when you’re seriously injured. You need a fair settlement that will help while you’re rehabbing injuries and missing time from work.
Contact a Top-Rated Los Angeles Car Accident Lawyer
Broken bones are a serious injury. It can take months for them to heal. If you need to be mobile for your job, you could be facing a period where you have no money coming in. Furthermore, you deserve to be compensated for those injuries. Give the top-rated Los Angeles injury lawyers at Dolan Law Firm a call at (415) 610-7446 or contact us online and we can begin discussing your case immediately.
