• Auto Accidents

• Motorcycle Accidents

• Bicycle Accidents

• Wrongful Death

• Construction Site Injuries

• Premises Accidents

• Product Liability Injuries

So What If You Are Personally Injured in an Accident

Now you are wondering what to do                      

• Who can you trust?
  

• What are your rights?

• Who can help you make the next move?

• How can you find the information you need to make some decisions?

You may be concerned about:

• Medical bills
  

• Lost wages

• Your car

• Your property

• Insurance matters

• What to do first

What We Do

• We listen to your story

• We assess the financial damage

• We discuss your rights

• We discuss your priorities

• We create a plan of action

Call me at 760-683-2048 to discuss the details or fill out the box below and I will get back to you in a day.

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San Diego CA Personal Injury Attorney

Product Liability, Industrial Accidents, Construction Site Accidents, Auto Accidents, Wrongful Death,  Bicycle Injuries, Motorcycle Accidents, Dog Bites, Carlsbad, Leucadia, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Oceanside

In all auto accident cases and many other cases involving personal injury, you will have to prove the following in order to be compensated for your injuries and damages:

First, you will have to prove that the adverse party (the person or company against whom you are making your claim) did something “wrong” or is somehow at fault for the accident or other injury event.  This can be easy or difficult, depending on the facts and circumstances.

Second you will have to prove that the auto accident caused you injury.  This is done through medical records, reports, and billls and may require testimony from your doctor.

Third, you have to prove that the care your received was reasonable in light of your injuries.  For example, if you broke your arm, care would be related to that injury, but would not include treatment for you uninjured knee.

Fourth, you have to prove the cost of your care was reasonable.  Thus, you can have x-rays if needed, but the cost has to be in the ballpark of what other faciilties in the area charge for the same service.

In an auto accident case, we are required to prove the above items by a preponderance of the evidence.  This means we have to persuade the judge or jury at trial that the above factors are more likely true than not true.  Thus, we have to prove that it is more likely true than not true, for example, that the other party was at fault.  The same is true for the other items we have to prove.

If you have been in an auto accident or other injury producing event in North County San Diego, please call our office for a free consultation.  We handle cases throughout San Diego COunty, but many of our cases come from La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff, Emcinitas, Leucadia, La Costa, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, and Escondido.

Our consultations are always free.  You can call the office or send an e-amail to schedule an appointment.  Feel free to call or email with any questions you may have regarding any aspect of auto accident or personal injury claims.  Also, feel free to suggest a topic you would like learn more about and we will respond with a post that addresses your concerns.

It rips our heart right out of our chest.  When we file a claim or lawsuit for our loss, we naturally think the law will compensate us for our pain, frustration, grief and anger.  However, we are wrong.  The law specifically states that we are not entitled to compensatin for grief, sorrow, mental anguish, or pain and suffering.

Our damages are limited to the following:

• Financial support that our loved one would have provided if he or she had not been killed;

• The loss of gifts or benefits the loved one would have provided;

• Funeral and burial expenses;

• The reasonable value of household services the loved one would have provided;

• The loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support;

• If appropriate (husband and wife), the loss of sexual relations; and

• If appropriate, the loss of training and guidance.

Each of the above elements must be proven to a preponderance of the evidence, which is roughly defined as more likely true than not.

In upcoming articles, I will address the various burdens of proof acknowledged under the law and I will discuss who has the right to make a claim for the loss of a loved one.

If you have any questions regarding this post or your personal injury situation, please feel free to contact my office by e-mail or telephone.  I will respond to your inquiry and answer all your questions.  Or, you can simply make an appointment to see me, which is always free.

Call me at 760-683-2048 or email in the box below

Economic damages include the following:  Medical Expenses, Lost Earnings, Lost Profits, Lost Earning Capacity, Loss of Ability to Provide Household Services, Damage/Destruction of Property, and Loss of Use of Property.

http://northcountypersonalinjury.com/you-have-suffererd-personal-injury/

Medical expenses are the medical bills incurred as the result of the injury event (traffic collision, slip and fall, construction site accident, etc.).  This includes past and future bills.

Lost earnings applies to workers who are unable to work for a some period of time due to an injury event.

Lost profits applies to a business owner who temporarily cannot run the business due to the injury event.

Loss of earning capacity refers to a complete inability to work again.

Loss of ability to provide household services addresses the situation where a member of the household can no longer provide services to the household.  For example, a husband cannot do yard work.  This category of damages allows the husband to prove the cost of a gardener over the period of the husband’s disability.

Damage or destruction to property refers to, for example, damage or destruction of your car in a collision.  Simply put, it is the notion that your car should be repaired or replaced.

Loss of use applies to the period of time when your car is being repaired or a few days while you are looking for a replacement car.  Usually, this is covered in a traffic collision case by the insurance company providing a rental car.

Non-economic damages include Physical Pain, Mental Suffering, Emotional Distress, and Loss of Consortium.  There is no fixed standard for determining the amount of these damages.  Jurors are told to “use your judgment to decide a reasonable amount based on the evidence and your common sense.”

Physical pain, mental suffering, and emotional distress almost defy definition.  The California Supreme Court says these damages  include fright, nervousness, anxiety, grief, worry, mortification, shock, humility, indignity, embarrassment, apprehension, terror or ordeal.  Translating these damages and detriments into dollars is hard for jurors.  Attorneys are able, through experience with similar situations, and better suited to evaluate non-economic damages.

Loss of consortium damages refer to the harm sustained by one spouse when the other has been injured in an injury event.  These damages are twofold.  The first category includes the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support.  The second is the loss of the enjoyment of sexual relations.

In closing, please know that each and every item of damages must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence.  This is the burden of proof in most civil cases, including injury cases.  The damages you seek can be for past and future (providing this is supported by the evidence).

In my next entry I will discuss damages available in wrongful death cases.  Shortly after that, I will discuss the various burdens of proof recognized by the law.

As always, if you have any questions or comments or wish to discuss your personal injury situation, please call my office at 760-683-2048 or send me an e-mail in the box below.  All consultations are free of charge.

http://northcountypersonalinjury.com/you-have-suffererd-personal-injury/

Duty:

Duty simply means we have the burden of showing the adverse party had an obligation under the law to act in a certain way or to refrain from acting.  For example, when we drive a car, we have a duty to do so in a reasonable and safe manner.  We are obligated to obey trafic laws and signals, to be attentive, and to not drive faster than conditions allow.  A store owner has a duty to exercise reasonable care to keep his or her premises in a safe condition.  The same is true for construction sites, the various contractors and subcontractors have a duty to act in a reasonable manner.

Breach:

Breach refers to a violation of duty.  A driver running a red light or driving to fast for traffic conditions; a retail outlet not cleaning up a spill; a contractor who creates a dangerous hazard at a construction site.   Proving a breach of duty is essential to a successful outcome.

Causation:

Causation means that the breach of duty on the part of the adverse party resulted in injury to my client.  Causation is an area of negligence law that is hotly contested in many cases.  In most of my cases there is an insurance company in the background and they will generally “dispute causation”  –  sometimes even in the face of incontrovertable evidnece.  Our job, for each injury we claim, is to prove that the injury was caused by the injury event.  Sounds easy, but it is almost always a fight.  For example, if I allege my client suffered a disk herniation and needs surgery as the result of a traffic collision, the insurance company will argue that decaying disks are inevitable and that, therefore, some of the cause for the need of surgry is unrelated to the collision.  The goal of the carrier is always to devalue your claim.

Damages:

Finally, we have to prove our damages.  This includes all negative effects resulting from the injury event.  Depending on the case, this will include lost wages, property damage, medical bills, loss of quality of life and potentially many other items.

Conclusion:

This is a basic primer of the burden we have when we make a claim for negligence.  To each of the four elements of proof mentioned above, there are subissues to be addressed on a case by case basis.

As always, if you have any questions regarding my post or personal injury in general, please call my office for a complimentary appointment or send me an e-mail.

My next post will address personal injury damages in greater detail.

**

Call if you have questions regarding your case.   760-683-2048

or Fill in your question below and it will email me

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There are also issues ot towing, storage and rental cars. These must be addressed quickly as costs accrue  from delay.  One thing you should know is that I will resolve your property damage claim for you if you wish. Most lawyers do not offer this service because the lawyer does not get paid for working on property damage claims.

If your car is towed  from the collision scene, it will be placed in a tow yard and storage fees begin immediately.  This could be $100.00 per day or more. If it turns out the collision is partially your fault, then you will be responsible for a portion of the storage fees.

To avoid this possibility, it is imperative that you contact both your insurance company and the company insuring the at fault driver. If fault is admitted by the other driver, then his/her insurance carrier will ask you to sign a release giving the company the right to tow your vehicle. Even insurance companies are concerned about towing and storage fees. The carrier will take the car to it’s own storage facility or to a repair facility.

When it comes to repair facilities, you can either choose your own or choose one approved by the carrier repairing the car. If you choose one of the approved facilities, then the repair usually comes with a warranty.

If the other driver does not admit fault, then we have to turn to your own insurance company to remove your car from storage and have it repaired.

The Rental car process can be complicated.  If your policy has towing and rental car coverage, all is well. Even if the other driver denies fault, if you have rental coverage, you can rent a car for up to 30 days (under most policies). Again, if the other driver admits fault, then his or her carrier will put you in a rental while your car is being repaired.

If the cost of the repair exceeds the cost of the replacement value of the car, the carriers will call it a “total loss” and write you a check for the market value of the car. You can expect some negotiations in reaching the final figure for your car’s value.

This is just a very brief overview of how property damage claims work and the items you have to be aware of to effectively resolve your claim. If you have any questions regarding this topic or your situation following a collision, please contact my office for a free consultation.

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You can call me   John F. Sahhar at 760-683-2048 or email a question in the box below

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In the past, this was not the case. There was a day when most of us had health insurance and access to medical treatment following an in jury event. Nowadays, more often than not, people do not have health insurance or access to health care. Yet, even in the cases where my clients have health care, we find a deductible that is so large as to render using the health insurance too expensive.

If you are one of the few to have good health insurance without an insurmountable deductible, then you can use this insurance to cover your treatment cost. However, this may have some drawbacks.

Time and time again I see clients in need of care and their health insurance denies it. Or I see a doctor ask for a certain course of treatment and the insurance company authorizes only a small portion of what the doctor requests. This leaves my client not returning to his or her pre-injury status as quickly and efficienly as possible.

In addition to health insurance, medical bills can be paid through the medical payments coverage on your auto insurance policy (assuming injury occurred due to a traffic collision). You can review your declaration page of your policy to see if and how much medpay coverage you have.

It is important to get this coverage as it may be one of the only ways to get the care you need in the event of a collision. One nice thing about medpay is you do not have to get an insurance company’s approval before getting treatment. All you have to do is make sure the treatment received is reasonably related to injuries sustained is the collision and that the cost is reasonable.

Another way to get treatment is to see a doctor who will treat you on a lien. This means the doctor will treat you now and accept payment after the claim resolves. There are some very good doctors who will treat on a lien, provided they meet with your attorney and understand the case.

You may, depending on your circumstances, receive care through Medicare, Medi-Cal, County Medical Services, etc.

This is only a brief overview of how to get your medical bills paid in the event of a traffic collision. There is much more to this landscape than can be put into a general post.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact my office and arrange for a free consultation to discuss your situation in more detail.

Also, free of charge, you can set up an appointment to meet with me and I will review your auto insurance policy and make suggestions as to what coverages you need to protect yourself and your family, loved ones and friends in the event of a collision.

Call me with questions   John at 760-683-2048  or email me a question in box below.

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You have an obligation to speak to your own carrier about what happened. However, you do not have an obligation to speak to any of the other carriers involved. Your obligation to speak with your own carrier arises from your automobile policy.  They have the right to investigate your claim.

In my practice, I will always let a client speak to their own carrier, but I prefer this to occur in my presence. This can be done either in a telephone conversation from my office with you  present and the adjuster on the phone,  or all three of us in the same room. The conversation is usually recorded.

The adjuster who contacts you on behalf of a carrier insuring one of the other drivers involved in the collision will likely, at the start , be one of the nicest people you have ever run into. His primary goal is to get you to give a recorded statement which he hopes he can use against you in the event the claim does not settle.  Secondly, he or she will try to offer you a small dollar amount up front to settle your claim.

Rarely, and I mean rarely in my 22 years of practice, have I allowed a client to give a recorded statement to an adverse carrier. The reasons are simple: The adjuster is trained to get you to say something harmful to your case. At this time, your life has  been turned upside down and you may not be thinking straight. In addition, in an attempt to cooperate, you may give up some ground in hopes the adjuster will then be nicer to you and give you a better settlement. In truth, they never do.

If you have recently been in an auto accident, please contact my office for a free consultation. I will explain the entire claims process to you and answer any questions you have.

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You can call me at 760-683-2048. After hours it forwards to my cell phone.  Or fill out your questions in box below.

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Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Leucadia, Del Mar, La Jolla, Solana Beach, San Diego, North County San Diego,

This entry will discuss some of the basic things to consider in the event you are a party to a car accident.

First things first:

After your vehicle comes to a stop and the collision event is complete, take a moment to assess the situation. Consider the following:

Is your vehicle in harm’s way?

If so, consider moving it to a safe location.

Are you or anyone in your vehicle injured?

Once your vehicle is safe, determine if you or anyone in your vehicle is obviously injured. Keep in mind that not all injuries are of the blood and guts variety. Some injuries are not readily ascertainable. If anyone is in pain or appears injured, call an ambulance.

When should you call law enforcement?

Anytime there is an injury, law enforcement should be called. Most law enforcement agencies will respond to accident calls, but will only issue a report if there is an injury.

You will need to get the following information from each driver involved in the collision:

Name

Address

Telephone Number

Name of Insurance Company

Policy Number

Agent Number

Year, Make and Model of the car

License Plate Number

If there are witnesses at the scene, please get their name, address, and phone number and find out what they saw.

All of this information will be necessary for your attorney in order to open up claim files and pursue compensation for your loss and injury.

If you have any questions, please contact my office and I will answer any questions you might have. We have been operating in San Diego North County for 22 years.

Call  760-683-2048 or email questions in box below

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Dog bites are most common when dogs are not leashed. They may occur in some one’s home while you are visiting, but they often occur because someone is walking their dog and it attacks you or your dog. It is especially dangerous for children who often wander up to strange dogs or put their faces too close to the dog. Some breeds are also known to attack unprovoked when they have never been a problem in the past.

There is strict liability for dog bites, so don’t let injuries go unheeded.
Call with questions   John F. Sahhar    760-683-2048 or email a question:

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