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Oakland California Personal Injury Lawyers
Auto Accident - What You Need to Know
The law requires that the person or company responsible pay for your California auto accident injuries and repairs. Many victims of car accidents try to handle their own personal injury cases, hoping that the insurance companies involved will settle as promptly and fairly as advertised. Unfortunately, not all insurance companies respond in that manner. That's why you need a California auto accident attorney on your side.
Insurance companies' obligations are to their stockholders and policyholders, not to people injured in car accidents. Insurance companies have enormous advantages: vast wealth, armies of experienced adjusters and attorneys, and dozens of legal reasons to reduce or deny compensation.
Negotiating alone or waiting until the insurance company makes an offer can be frustrating and costly. One wrong move or one mistake can cost you money. Delaying or guessing about the value of your personal injury case can result in the loss of valuable rights and thousands of dollars.
Compensation can be sought for medical bills, lost wages, car rentals and repairs, and any pain and suffering you’ve endured. A California Auto Accident Lawyer from Morton & Lulofs is highly experienced in the field of auto accident law. Our expert case managers and investigators will take care of getting the proof needed to recover your damages when you’ve been injured. We will use every available resource to help you.
Boat Accidents
This year hundreds of people will die in a boat accident. In 2004, there were 10,984 vessels involved in 4,904 recreational boat accidents resulting in 676 fatalities and 3,363 injuries.* There were 12,781,476 boats registered in the United States that year. These accidents amounted to more than $35 million in property damage. It is estimated that only 5-10% of non-fatal boat accident instances are reported. A California boat accident attorney can help you through the legal process and help obtain money for your injuries.
In 2004 there were approximately 895,000 boats registered in California, all with free access to the area’s waterways for fishing and other recreational activities. This state is home to more than 7,730 square miles of inland water and more than 3,427 miles of coastal shoreline. With the ready availability of such natural resources, the number of boats has been steadily increasing.
According to the Department of Boating and Waterways (www.dbw.ca.gov) California ranks second nationally for the number of boating accidents and fatalities.
Boat Accident Causes
Most boating accident injuries are preventable as a majority are caused by operator inexperience or inattention. Statistically, 80% of all boating fatalities occur on water vessels where the operator has not completed a boating safety education course. The primary causes of accidents include:
- Operator inattention
- Careless/reckless operation
- Operator inexperience
- Operating at an unsafe speed
- No proper lookout
Boating Accidents & Alcohol
Alcohol consumption accounts for nearly one-third of all recreational boating fatalities, a figure that is increasing. Alcohol use is the number one cause for boat accident deaths. Most boaters do not realize that the effects of alcohol are magnified while on the water. It is estimated that intoxicated boaters are more than 10 times as likely to be killed in a boating accident because of:
- Diminished coordination
- Susceptibility to hypothermia
- Dehydration
- Impaired judgment
It is illegal to operate a water vessel, or allow others to do so, while under the influence of alcohol, narcotics, or barbiturates. In California, a person is considered legally intoxicated if blood alcohol concentration is 0.08 or greater; for youths under 21 the BAC cannot exceed 0.01. Penalties may include fines, prison time, community service, mandatory substance abuse counseling, and more.
Type of Boat Accident
In the U.S., vessel collisions are the most common type of accident and resulted in over one-fourth of the reported injuries and $13.4 million in property damage in 2003. Eight percent of all boating accidents result in fatalities. More than half of boating accident fatalities occur because of capsizing and falling overboard, with 70% of those victims drowning; of those drowning, 86% did not wear a life jacket. Types of recreational boat accidents include:
- Capsizing
- Falling overboard
- Collisions with another vessel or structure
- Fire
- Sinking, flooding
- Explosions
- Disappearance of vessel or passenger
Premises Liability
Premises liability cases involve injuries received while on someone else’s property. Property owners and businesses have a duty to maintain a safe property for customers, pedestrians, and other visitors and effectively warn them of possible dangers. These types of cases most often involve slip and fall accidents. When a defective condition, foreign substance, or object causes a fall, you need a California slip and fall lawyer.
When a visitor to a property suffers a preventable injury, the law of premises liability determines the responsibility of the property owner or manager; the law applies both to residences and places of business. The key to California slip and fall accident cases is to prove that the property owner or manager was negligent and your injury resulted from that negligence.
The following injurious situations are examples of premises liability:
- slip and falls caused by slippery floors or standing water, ice, or snow
- Trip-and-falls caused by damaged or uneven walkways, slippery stairs, or poor upkeep
- Inadequate security (lights, surveillance) resulting in a preventable assault by a third party
- Construction site injuries, particularly those involving persons other than workers
- Pool drownings
- Falling trees
- Products falling off of shelves at a store
How do you prove negligence?
Proving negligence is the key in your California premises liability case, but it can be difficult. One reason is that a property owner might make quick repairs before you even file a claim. If possible, take photographs of the accident scene and your injuries, and write down the names and addresses of any eyewitnesses.
A property owner is not responsible simply because someone was injured on his or her property. The property owner has to be proven negligent. The owner of the property must pay for losses caused by the dangerous condition of the property if the injured person can prove:
- The condition of the property was dangerous.
- The owner knew, or should have known, about the dangerous condition.
- The owner had a reasonable opportunity to correct or warn of the condition, which was not reasonably open and obvious to the injured party at the time of the accident.
Truck Accidents
Has a California truck accident adversely affected your life and the lives of those you love? Sharing the road with trucks is a situation that is often fraught with danger. As a driver of a passenger vehicle, your experience on the road requires you to be constantly alert and forces you to be prepared for unexpected obstacles such as construction work, debris on the road, and the changing speeds of other drivers around you. Add to your commute an increasing number of large commercial vehicles such as semis, postal and package delivery trucks, and an assortment of heavy cargo vans, and commercial drivers seem to be conspiring to put you and your loved ones at risk.
What are you, as a responsible and law-abiding driver, supposed to do to keep yourself and your family safe from these behemoths? What should you do if the unthinkable happens and you are involved in a serious truck accident, especially a collision that involves a catastrophic injury?
Trucks often weigh 20 to 30 times more than passenger cars. In 2003, 4,855 people died in large truck crashes. A mere 14% of the fatalities were the truck occupants, 73% were people in cars and other passenger vehicles, and 10% were pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists.
Every 16 minutes, another person in the United States. will die or be injured in a truck accident. In 2002, 434,000 large trucks were involved in traffic accidents in the United States; around 130,000 people were injured in those accidents. In addition, 4,542 of those trucks were involved in fatal traffic accidents that killed a total of 4,897 people. As trucks compete for space on our already overcrowded highways, the results can be disastrous, with occupants of smaller vehicles often becoming the unfortunate statistics in California truck accidents.
If you are in a California truck accident, it is important that you do everything you can to document the events surrounding the accident. Your observations, photos, relevant eyewitness accounts, doctor diagnosis, and more are essential elements of your truck accident claim.
If you have been involved in a serious accident, the most important thing you can do is consult with an experienced California truck accident attorney at Morton & Lulofs, LLP.. |
