If you were injured while under the scope and course of your employment, you can collect benefits for being off the job and paying for medical expenses from your employer if they have a worker’s compensation insurance policy. California requires any entity which...
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Accident Law
Steps to take immediately following an accident
The most important steps to take immediately following an accident What you do directly after sustaining a personal injury can have a major impact on any claim you make. Obviously, the most important first step is to obtain the medical treatment you need, but if you...
Public Entity Claims
Ordinarily, plaintiffs have some protection against statutes of limitation involving unknown defendants. The use of “doe” defendants can allow plaintiffs to preserve a statute of limitation and then amend later to turn a “doe” into a named defendant: so long as the...
Does a felony conviction impact your civil case?
What impact, if any, does a past felony conviction have on a civil case? Someone with a past felony conviction(s), which has not been expunged, sealed or otherwise made inaccessible to the public will have to admit to them when/if asked by the other side. Failing to...
The driver who hit me fled the scene or was not insured and has no assets, what do I do now?
You may still be able to recover your damages if your own policy has an uninsured/under-insured motorist (“UM” and “UIM,” respectively) policy. You must first exhaust any worker’s compensation policies that may be in effect if you were on the job at the time of the...
Personal Injury Statutes of Repose
Victims of an accident are often shocked to find that, having waited too long to take action against the party responsible for their injuries, they are statutorily barred from doing so. These so-called “statutes of limitation” assign strict times in which to file a...
The majority of motorcycle crashes with other vehicles are not the motorcyclist’s fault
A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) found that, “While occupant (and nonoccupant) fatalities [in cars] have decreased, motorcyclist fatalities have steadily increased” (Motorcycle Crash Causes 1). Even as innovative technology is...
What is my personal injury case worth?
There are myriad factors to consider in determining the potential value of a personal injury claim. Obviously, the extent and nature of the injuries, along with liability, will be the two primary factors guiding the negotiations of a settlement or the finding of a...
Late Notices to Public Entities
in a previous article, some of the immunities that public entities enjoy against civil litigation were considered. A related topic involves the pre-litigation notice that such entities are statutorily entitled to: with almost no exceptions, lawsuits involving the...
The person who injured me filed bankruptcy. How does this affect my case?
A bankruptcy proceeding filed by the party or parties that injured you can result in a stay of your claim. The defendant may be able to stop your lawsuit against them while their bankruptcy is sorted out and you may have to take your claims to the bankruptcy court. If...