If You Are Injured in a Car Accident in Southern California, What Are Your Rights?
If you’re injured in a traffic crash, you may be entitled to compensation for your damages, but that compensation isn’t automatic. To prove you were injured because the other driver was negligent, you’ll need to be represented and advised by an Orange County car accident lawyer.
A car accident lawyer will determine how the accident happened, identify the liable party, and fight effectively for the compensation you need. But to maximize your compensation, you must take some immediate steps at the accident scene – and no lawyer will be there to advise you.
What steps should you take immediately after a traffic collision? How can you put yourself in the best position to prevail with a personal injury claim and maximize your compensation? And when will you need to contact an Orange County personal injury attorney?
What Steps Should You Take at the Scene of an Accident?
California is an “at fault” state for automobile insurance, so the driver who is at fault for an accident in this state will be held liable for any damages. When you’re injured in an accident, you must try to gather the evidence that will indicate which driver was negligent and at fault.
While you may not be able to take all of the following steps after a traffic accident, it’s essential to try. If you’re injured and incapacitated, there may be someone else at the scene who can help. These are the steps you’ll need to take at the accident scene:
- Summon medical attention immediately if anyone has been injured or appears to be injured. That is the paramount priority after any traffic accident.
- Summon the police. Make sure they conduct an accident investigation. Find out from the officers when and how you will be able to obtain a copy of their written accident report.
- Trade personal contact information and insurance details with the other driver or drivers. Obtain as much information as you can.
- Do not admit any fault for the accident. In fact, at the accident scene, you should say as little as possible.
- If there were eyewitnesses to the crash, ask for their names and a way to contact them. If you bring a personal injury claim, your attorney may need their testimony or statements.
- Take photographs of the accident site, the damage to the vehicles, and the license plates. Take photos of skid marks or property damage and your own visible injuries.
Eyewitness statements from complete strangers and photographs that support your injury claim can be persuasive evidence in a personal injury case and may even lead to a quick settlement of your claim.
Why is Having an Immediate Medical Exam So Important?
If you are not taken to an emergency room or treated for your injuries at the accident scene, and even if you feel perfectly healthy, have a medical examination as quickly as you can after the accident – within twenty-four hours if possible.
The onset of some injuries – and the accompanying pain – is often delayed by the adrenaline that floods the body when an accident happens. Moreover, without a medical exam, injuries that are latent or difficult to detect may emerge days or even weeks later as serious medical conditions.
An immediate medical exam not only protects your health but also creates the medical documents you’ll need if you bring a personal injury claim. If you’re injured and you do not have an immediate exam, you may not be able to prove your injury happened in the traffic accident.
What Other Steps Should You Take in the Days Following an Accident?
Along with submitting to an immediate medical examination, you will need to take these additional steps in the first several days after you’ve been injured by a negligent driver in a Southern California traffic accident:
- After a healthcare provider treats you for your injury, contact an Orange County car accident lawyer to discuss your right to compensation. Your attorney needs to see the evidence while it’s still fresh and speak to any witnesses before their memories fade.
- Don’t speak to the other driver’s insurance company. Let your attorney do the negotiating and talking. Do not accept that insurance company’s first settlement offer, either. Your lawyer can almost always negotiate for and obtain a more generous settlement.
- Do not speak about your case with anyone but your Orange County personal injury attorney. Avoid social media. Post nothing online about the accident, your injuries, or the other driver. Presume you’re being investigated by the other driver’s insurance company.
How Will You Be Compensated?
If you are injured by a negligent driver and your personal injury claim prevails, you may be compensated for your pending and projected future medical expenses, your lost wages and projected future lost wages, personal pain and suffering, and your related damages and losses.
Most personal injury claims based on car accidents in California are resolved out of court when attorneys for both sides privately negotiate a settlement. However, if liability for the accident is contested, or if no reasonable settlement amount is offered, your case may go to trial.
If a personal injury trial takes place, your lawyer will tell the jurors how (and how seriously) you were injured and why the other driver should be held liable. Finally, your lawyer will ask the jury to find in your favor and order the other driver’s insurance company to compensate you.
Take Your Injury Claim to Gibson & Hughes
The award-winning attorneys at Gibson & Hughes have decades of experience successfully representing the injured victims of negligent drivers in Southern California. If we represent you, you’ll owe no lawyer’s fee to Gibson & Hughes until we recover your compensation.
If you’re injured because another motorist was negligent, now or in the future, you can learn more about your rights – or begin the personal injury process at once – by calling Gibson & Hughes at 714-406-0998 and scheduling a no-obligation, no-cost initial legal consultation.
