Los Angeles
Personal Injury Attorney in Los Angeles
If you have been injured because of another individual or group’s actions, you may be entitled to seek financial compensation for the injuries you have sustained. You may have been offered compensation from the other party’s insurance company that will seek to address any property damage, and obvious issues such as medical bills, but it is important that you explore all of your options before accepting any offer from an insurance company.
Before you move forward with anything, contact the team at Bauman Law to discuss your situation, your rights, and how we would move forward if you were to work with us in pursuit of all of the damages you are rightfully owed.
Read more below about important information regarding personal injury cases, and contact us immediately to get started on your own journey towards the payment you deserve.
Filing an Insurance Claim
Insurance companies will work to settle your case as quickly as possible, for as little money as possible, by making it seem that this is the best option you will get. Remember that an insurance company is not in the business of paying victims everything they deserve — they are in the business of saving as much money as possible while covering the bare minimum.
When you accept an offer from an insurance company, they will require that you sign an agreement that legally bars you from seeking any future damages from either them or their client. This means that if you accept a settlement that covers your medical bills, but then your symptoms worsen or the situation changes, you are on your own.
Negotiating With an Insurance Company
The first offer the insurance company will make you is not representative of the amount you can seek. After the initial offer, there will be a period of negotiation that brings other issues into the conversation. Throughout this process, you will be dealing directly with the insurance company’s legal team, and if you are unfamiliar with insurance policies, personal injury law, or legal negotiations, this process can be intimidating and unproductive.
Instead of dealing directly with the insurance company, you can rest easy knowing that the team at Bauman Law is handling your negotiations, and is seeking the maximum amount that you are rightfully owed. If negotiations fail, we will then move to file a personal injury lawsuit with the California court system.
What Is a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
A personal injury, and the ensuing tort, is a civil legal action that seeks damages for an injury caused by negligence, medical malpractice, or malice, but does not involve any criminal proceedings. What this means is that if, for instance, there is a car accident that is clearly the fault of one of the drivers, the injured driver, pedestrian (or anyone else injured in the accident) can seek financial compensation from the at-fault driver or their insurance company to cover a variety of factors.
If you believe that your situation may require a personal injury lawsuit, act as soon as possible. California gives the injured party 2 years before the statute of limitations blocks them from filing any legal motions, meaning the sooner you act, the safer your case will be.
Grounds for a Personal Injury Lawsuit
In order to move forward with a personal injury lawsuit, you must be able to prove the following three factors:
Some party (an individual, corporation, etc) is responsible for your injuries due to negligence or malice.
You suffered injuries in the accident
You have recoverable damages to seek
If your situation meets these three points, then you will likely be able to move forward with a civil case. If you are unsure, contact us today for an expert opinion.
In some cases you may be unable to seek the full extent of personal injury damages, such as if your injury took place at work and you are covered by workers’ compensation, but we address that below, and will still work with you to maximize your payout.
Examples of Personal Injuries
There are many different circumstances that could lead to a personal injury lawsuit in California. Even if you do not see your own situation listed below, this does not mean that you are not able to file a lawsuit. No matter the circumstances of your own injury, contact us immediately to explore your options.
Vehicle Accidents
Vehicle accidents are extremely common in California, which naturally means that personal injury lawsuits regarding car accidents are also common. There are many types of vehicle accidents that can lead to a personal case, and all are different.
Car Accidents
Car accidents can occur for many reasons, but if you have been in one that is the fault of another driver’s negligence, you can likely seek financial damages. This would include things like texting while driving, DUI, failure to signal while turning, speeding, or any number of other situations. We will be sure to collect any and all relevant documentation to your crash, including police and accident reports, medical records, and anything else that will support our case.
Truck Accidents
Truck accidents are often more complicated than an accident between two passenger vehicles, simply because of the additional regulations that truck drivers must follow, as well as the amount of damage that can be caused. As such, truck insurance policies commonly exceed $1 million, and there is a lot of procedural work that must be done to file a claim or seek damages. Even during a simple insurance claim process with a commercial truck, it is significantly easier to hire an attorney to handle all of the legal steps required.
Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycle accidents are handled in a different way than car or truck accidents, oftentimes because of the additional injuries that commonly occur from lack of protection, as well as the increased risk that motorcycles have of being struck simply because of being lost in blind spots. Insurance companies often try to place some of the responsibility of a motorcycle accident on the motorcycle driver, and we will work to counter that approach to get you the full amount you are owed.
Bicycle Accidents
California boasts many great bike routes for cycling enthusiasts, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean cyclists are safe in Los Angeles. Many times, accidents between bikes and cars happen in LA because of confusion about right-of-way, failure to signal a turn, opening doors into bike lanes, or simply losing the cyclist in a blind spot. We will work to compile the details of your bicycle accident in order to present a clear argument for your settlement amount.
Worksite Injuries
Generally, workers are covered by worker’s compensation in the event of an injury on the worksite. This means that the employer is protected from any civil suits, and protects the employee against financial issues from medical costs or lost wages. However, they are unable to seek non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. We will explore the nature of your accident to determine if there are any other companies or parties that we can seek damages against, such as a tool company for a product defect.
In addition to seeking additional damages, we are available to work with your workers’ compensation provider to be sure that you are given the maximum compensation for your damages as allowed through your policy.
Slip and Fall
A slip and fall injury is a “premise liability,” which charges that the party in charge of the property failed their duty to keep it safe for others. In order to pursue a slip and fall case, we will work to prove that the responsible party had a reasonable expectation to be aware of the hazardous situation and failed to remedy it appropriately. This can include things like unshoveled steps, wet floors, faulty stairs, and other things of the sorts.
Wrongful Death
Wrongful death lawsuits are filed by next-of-kin in the tragic event of a death that resulted from negligence. In this case, we will seek any economic damages that were incurred before death, and include non-economic factors such as the suffering your loved one dealt with following the accident that caused their death. Wrongful death cases come at a very sad time in the plaintiff’s life, and we will work to reduce legal and financial stress as much as possible through the process of this case.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) are devastating, and there is no cure for them. If you or a loved on have suffered a TBI because of an accident, you may be able to seek financial compensation for your injuries, as well as additional damages for the long-term effects of such a permanent and disabling injury.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is a blanket legal term for a variety of injuries that you may sustain as a result of your medical provider’s “failure of duty” towards you. This could include a surgical error, like performing the wrong procedure or leaving a surgical tool inside you, or a situation where you were prescribed the wrong medication, or anything else that you trust your medical practitioner to handle for you.
How Much Is a Personal Injury Worth?
As you can see by the variety of factors and types of damages that go into a persoanl injury case, you can understand that there is no set formula for determining the final amount we will seek.p
When you are working with our team, one of our first orders of business will be to document and compile every factor to consider when building the final amount we will seek, in order to create a full understanding of your injury and the upcoming case. Once we have established an idea of the amount we will seek, we can move forward with negotiations or a full court case depending on the outcome of each step.
Contact Us Today
If you have been injured in any situation that may or may not resemble the accidents listed above, contact us today to discuss your options for a case. If your injuries were the result of another individual or company’s negligent or malicious actions, you may be entitled to financial compensation for your expenses, as well as your pain and suffering.
When you are represented by Bauman Law, you can be confident that your case is in good hands. Our history of successful personal injury lawsuits in Los Angeles is a great indication of how we will work with you, and how seriously we take each case that we are on.
Types of Damages In a Personal Injury Lawsuit
At first, you may think of a personal injury case as just seeking repayments for your medical bills, but there are a lot more factors in the lawsuit that determine the final amount we will seek for your accident and the injuries that followed. Below are some of the general factors, which you can consider when determining what you may be able to be compensated for after your own accident.
Economic Damages
Economic damages cover all damages that you are seeking repayment for, and have real dollar values attached to. This includes things such as your medical bills, recovery costs, lost wages, and any future possibilities of medical bills or time away from work. In addition, if you are unable to resume your previous work to the full capacity, we will include things like your diminished ability to earn your former wages, or long-term disability.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are trickier to arrive at a final amount for, but are extremely important for your personal injury lawsuit. These damages are based on determining a “multiplier” that quantifies the extent of your injuries, since it is impossible to assign a dollar value to your suffering itself. This multiplier is then applied to your economic damages, which dictates the final number we will seek in your case.
Punitive Damages
In rare cases, punitive damages are included in a personal injury case in addition to the economic and non-economic damages. Punitive damages are assigned by the judge presiding over the case if they determine that the initial damages do not properly settle the case. This is most common when the defendant is a major corporation, or another party with significant financial holdings. It must be determined that the actions that caused the injuries were extremely egregious.