What is a personal injury claim?
A personal injury claim is a demand for compensation from the person or business whose carelessness caused your injury. In California, the legal basis is usually negligence. Someone owed you a duty of reasonable care, failed to take it, and you were hurt as a result. A personal injury lawyer then proves each of those points with evidence.
In practice, an insurance company pays most claims rather than the individual. The driver’s auto insurer, the store’s liability insurer or the contractor’s commercial carrier handles the claim. It investigates and then decides what to offer. That is why the early conversations with an adjuster matter as much as they do.
The firm handles three kinds of injury matter. Car accident claims include crashes with uninsured and hit-and-run drivers. Slip and fall injuries happen on someone else’s property. Finally, construction site injuries often run alongside a workers’ compensation claim.
Who can bring a personal injury claim?
Anyone hurt by someone else’s carelessness can bring a personal injury claim. That includes drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, shoppers, tenants and workers. You do not need to have been the one driving. Nor do you need to be a US citizen or resident to hire a personal injury lawyer and bring a claim.
- Passengers A passenger can usually claim against the driver of any vehicle at fault. That includes the driver of the car they were riding in. Insurers and juries rarely find passengers at fault themselves.
- Children A parent or guardian brings the claim on a child’s behalf. Any settlement then requires court approval under Code of Civil Procedure § 372 and Probate Code § 3500.
- Families after a death Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60, a spouse, domestic partner, children and certain other relatives can bring a wrongful death claim.
- Workers An injury at work is usually a workers’ compensation matter. Even so, a third-party claim against another company on the site can run alongside it.
What do you have to prove in an injury claim?
You have to show four things. The other party owed you a duty of care and breached it; the breach caused your injury; and the injury caused real losses. Each one needs evidence, and insurers test each one separately.
- Duty Drivers owe other road users reasonable care. Property owners owe visitors reasonable care under Civil Code § 1714. Contractors owe it to people working near them.
- Breach Running a red light, leaving a spill on the floor for hours, removing a guardrail. The question is what a reasonably careful person would have done in the same position.
- Causation The breach has to have caused the injury. Insurers often argue that a condition existed before the accident, which is why earlier medical records come up.
- Damages Medical bills, lost earnings, future care, and the pain and disruption the injury caused. Without documented losses, even a clear case of fault has little value.
How does comparative fault affect compensation?
Under California’s pure comparative fault rule, your own percentage of fault reduces your compensation but never eliminates it. The California Supreme Court adopted the rule in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. in 1975, and it still governs injury claims today.
If a jury finds you 20% at fault for a collision, for example, the court reduces your award by 20%. The same arithmetic applies in settlement negotiations. That is why adjusters so often suggest you were looking at your phone, driving too fast or not watching where you stepped.
A second rule, from Proposition 51 (Civil Code § 1431.2), applies when more than one defendant is at fault. Each defendant can bear responsibility for all of your economic losses, such as medical bills and lost wages. However, each pays only its own percentage of non-economic losses, such as pain and suffering.
How long do you have to bring a claim?
You must file most California injury claims in court within two years of the injury, under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. Claims against a public entity run on a much shorter clock. They need a written claim to the agency, usually within six months, under Government Code § 911.2.
The six-month rule catches people out because they do not realize the claim involves a public body. For example, a crash with a city bus or a fall on a county building’s stairs falls under it. So does an injury caused by a badly maintained public road. Missing it can end the claim before it starts.
Other deadlines apply to minors, medical negligence, uninsured motorist claims and workers’ compensation. The personal injury deadlines page sets them out side by side.
What happens in a personal injury case, step by step?
Most injury cases follow the same broad path, from the first call to either a settlement or a court decision. The length of each stage depends on how long treatment takes and how the insurer responds.
- Consultation You describe what happened. Before you sign anything, a personal injury lawyer tells you whether there is a claim, what the deadlines are and how the fee works.
- Investigation The firm gathers police or incident reports, photographs, witness details and insurance information. It also sends preservation letters where footage or equipment might otherwise disappear.
- Treatment You focus on recovery. The claim is usually not valued until your doctors can say what your long-term condition looks like.
- Demand and negotiation A written demand goes to the insurer with the records, bills and wage evidence. Many claims resolve at this stage.
- Lawsuit, if needed If the insurer will not offer a fair amount, the firm files the case in the Superior Court. The case then moves through discovery, mediation and, sometimes, trial.
The how the process works page explains what working with the firm looks like at each stage.
What is an injury claim worth?
An injury claim is worth the documented cost of the injury, reduced by any share of fault. In practice, the insurance available also limits it. No honest figure is possible before your treatment is well under way.
Compensation usually covers past and future medical care, lost earnings and earning capacity. It also covers non-economic losses such as pain, anxiety and the loss of things you used to do. The insurance policy limits often set a practical ceiling, and medical liens have to be repaid out of any recovery. The page on settlements and verdicts explains how these pieces fit together.
Should you talk to the insurance company?
You can report an accident to your own insurer. However, you have no legal obligation to give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer. An adjuster’s job is to limit what the company pays, however friendly the call feels.
Recorded statements, broad medical authorizations and early settlement offers are the three places claims most often lose value. The page on giving a statement to the insurer explains what adjusters ask and why.
Your immigration status is not admissible in a California personal injury case, under Evidence Code § 351.2. The other side cannot ask about it. It does not affect your right to compensation.
What does a personal injury lawyer cost here?
The firm handles personal injury matters on a 33% contingency fee. The fee is a share of the recovery, and the firm charges nothing up front or by the hour. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney’s fee, though you may remain responsible for case costs and expenses. Those include filing fees, medical record charges and deposition costs. Your written agreement explains how the firm handles costs before you sign. The fees and consultations page sets out every fee model the firm uses.
Your first consultation with a personal injury lawyer is free and takes about thirty minutes. It is available in English, Armenian, Russian or Spanish, and Maria takes injury calls on (220) 999-9009.