Car Accident Attorney in San Francisco

To determine whether another party committed one or more acts of negligence, your car accident attorney must discover what caused the collision and hence, your injuries. The most common car accidents in the Bay Area resemble the most common car accidents throughout the United States. However, one common cause is unique to San Francisco.

Reckless Operation of a Motor Vehicle

Traffic laws are put in place to minimize the incidence of auto collisions, as well as minimize the extent of any damage. Reckless driving is one of the most frequently cited reasons for causing car accidents. Speeding, improper lane changes, and running red lights represent just three examples of reckless driving that a negligent operator of a motor vehicle commits.

A research study released in 2018 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that drivers that operate vehicles at excessive speeds cause more than 25 percent of all fatal auto collisions.

Driving Under the Influence

Driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol produces two adverse effects that can lead to a motor vehicle collision. First, drivers under the influence possess much slower reaction times. Applying the brakes in time to avoid a crash is less likely if a driver is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Second, the use of drugs and/or alcohol impairs the judgment of drivers, especially when it comes to judging distances and the speed required to pass another motor vehicle.

Distracted Driving

Before the introduction of cell phones, the most common types of distracted driving involved eating and applying makeup. Although both types of distracted driving remain a significant safety threat, the focus of distracted driving has turned to the use of electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle. Texting while driving continues to be the most frequent type of distracted driving in the Bay Area, as well as throughout the United States.

Poor Weather Conditions 

Mark Twain once remarked, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Although the noted satirist stretched the truth just a bit, San Francisco summers are notorious for low clouds and dense fog that makes it difficult to operate a motor vehicle, particularly on any of the bridges that span the San Francisco Bay.

Although you cannot sue Mother Nature for sending in low clouds and dense fog, you can hire a car accident lawyer in San Francisco to file a convincing insurance claim to recover financial losses.

How you react after a car accident goes a long way toward determining the likelihood of you receiving compensation to cover your financial losses. By following a few steps, you should be able to build a persuasive insurance claim and possibly a civil lawsuit as well.

Get Medical Care

This step can fall just about anywhere in the sequence of steps that follow a vehicle collision. If you sustained relatively minor injuries, you can put off getting medical care until the end of the sequence of steps. On the other hand, serious injuries require seeking immediate medical care at the nearest emergency room. Having your injuries cared for is important for protecting your health, but it also documents your medical care and the expenses associated with it.

Call a Law Enforcement Agency

Unless you got involved in a minor fender bender, you should contact the closest law enforcement agency right after a car accident. The responding officers complete a detailed report that includes photographs of the accident scene, as well as an assessment as to which party, if any, should assume legal liability for causing the collision. Your car accident lawyer in San Francisco from Morgan and Morgan reviews the police report as part of a thorough investigation.

Take Photos of the Accident Scene

Although law enforcement should take photographs of the accident scene, you should do the same in case law enforcement missed a critical piece of evidence. Photos of your vehicle are important for you to receive compensation for property damage. Your attorney from Morgan and Morgan looks for evidence such as tire tracks and the extent of the damage to your automobile. 

Witness Names and Contact Information

You do not have to interview witnesses in the aftermath of a vehicle collision. However, you should get the names and contact information of every witness. Your car accident lawyer in San Francisco makes interviewing each witness a priority after you meet for a free case evaluation. Witnesses do not represent evidence. But instead, they provide supporting accounts of what transpired before, during, and after an auto collision.

Hire a Morgan and Morgan Car Accident Attorney

Getting an experienced personal injury lawyer involved with your case as quickly as possible after a vehicle crash can help you receive the compensation you deserve to recover financial losses. An attorney determines the best course of legal action, which might include negotiating a favorable settlement to keep your case from moving to the costly and time-consuming phase called a civil trial. At Morgan and Morgan, our car accident attorneys charge on a contingency fee basis, which means you do not have to pay upfront legal fees.

The personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan try to reach a settlement before taking a case to trial. However, we never hesitate to litigate a car accident case if the other party refuses to be reasonable during negotiations.

Calculate a Fair Value

During the free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyer, you need to bring every document that is associated with your case. Your car accident lawyer in San Francisco calculates a fair value for both an insurance claim and a civil lawsuit based on the financial records that you supply. Copies of the expenses associated with diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions help your legal counsel calculate a fair value for a settlement with your insurance company and the defendant in a civil lawsuit.

Send a Demand Letter

A demand letter presents the reasonable value calculated by your attorney, as well as a detailed description of how your lawyer came up with the value. Demand letters usually contain information that describes what happened before, during, and after a car accident. The demand letter should include the date that you sent the legal correspondence by certified mail. The other party, whether it is an insurance company or the operator of a motor vehicle who committed one or more acts of negligence, has 45 days to respond to the demand letter.

Negotiate a Settlement

Your car accident lawyer in San Francisco submits an initial offer that the other party either accepts or rejects. The other party can outright reject the initial offer, which means your attorney will have to take some form of legal action. However, the other party might reject the initial offer by sending back a counteroffer. You and your lawyer will accept or reject the counteroffer. If you reject the counteroffer, you either send the other party another counteroffer or declare the negotiations over and continue with the litigation process.

Like other states, California has established a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. Most states have set a statute of limitations between two and four years, although a few states go as high as six years and as low as one year. With a few exceptions, California has established a deadline of two years to file a personal injury lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. The clock typically starts clicking for the filing of a civil lawsuit on the day when the car accident occurred. 

Nonetheless, one of the few exceptions to the statute of limitations in California concerns delayed symptoms. If you developed delayed symptoms, the clock does not start clicking on your case until the day you received a diagnosis for the development of the delayed symptoms. Examples of delayed symptoms are the ones associated with whiplash and a concussion.

Morgan and Morgan distinguishes its legal services from other law firms operating in the Bay Area. After reading the positive reviews left on sites such as Yelp and Google, you should discover several common themes, such as responsive communication and persuasive negotiation skills.

Schedule a free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney to decide how to proceed with your case.