Posts Tagged ‘ Auto Accident’

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When Will My Auto Accident Injury Claim Settle?

Monday, July 4th, 2011

One of the most common questions an Orange County auto accident attorney hears from people who have been injured in car accidents is, “How long will it take for my case to settle?”

Unfortunately, it is impossible in the early stages of an auto accident claim to predict when a case will settle, if at all. Some claims settle months after your injury, but others take years.

If your injury required expensive medical treatment and caused you to miss work for any length of time, you are probably feeling increased financial pressure. Because of this, your inclination may be to settle the case as soon as possible. However, it is difficult to know how much your case is worth until you have had a complete medical recovery, so settling too soon may cause you to recover far less money than your injury will actually end up costing you in the long run.

Before your Orange County auto accident attorney settles a case, he will want to know:

- What is the total of your medical bills?

- Do you have any permanent injuries that affect your earning potential?

- Do you need further medical treatment, and if so, how much will it cost?

- How much did you lose in income and other employee benefits as a result of your injury?

As your case progresses and the answers to these questions become more clear, your Orange County auto accident attorney will be better able to put a value on your case and predict when it is likely to settle.

If you have been injured in an auto accident and you are not already represented by a lawyer, please call Orange County auto accident attorney Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.

How an Orange County Auto Accident Lawyer Will Initially Evaluate Your Case

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

The Orange County auto accident lawyer’s initial evaluation of your case involves an evaluation by you in addition to an evaluation by the lawyer. The lawyer will decide if he wants to take your case, and you will decide if you want this particular lawyer to be representing you.

Usually, personal injury lawyers will look at whether you’ll be a good client and whether your case is winnable (and thus profitable). In the initial interview, the lawyer will examine whether: (a) your story is believable or sounds exaggerated; (b) your story evokes sympathy; and (c) you are able to effectively explain the accident and your injuries.

1. Is your lawsuit profitable?

Generally, lawyers look at the following guideline: they get 80% of their income from 20% of the cases they take on. Because of this, lawyers will always try to put a value on potential claims and take the ones that will yield greater profits.

2. Your insurance coverage & your injury

The lawyer will estimate the amount of insurance coverage that you have; then, he will evaluate your injury. Injuries that require more treatment down the line will be worth more as a lawsuit. The lawyer will also take into account whether this injury will affect your ability to work.

3. Your liability

This requires more of a legal, rather than mathematical, analysis. First, the lawyer will look at the difficulty of the case. A car accident involving a hit-in-the-rear is pretty clear-cut and easy to win, but an intersections case is much harder. The most difficult kind of accident case is probably a products liability case that involves, for example, a tire defect.

Second, the lawyer will examine the amount of contributory negligence, or how much you were at fault in the accident. For example, if you were a passenger in a car, as opposed to being a driver, it would be much more difficult for the other side to claim that you were partly negligent.

Finally, the lawyer will determine whether there is a direct causal link between the accident and your injury. Obvious injuries, like a broken leg, can be more easily linked to the crash than, say, a subsequent heart attack that occurs several months later.

4. Evaluating you

A huge factor in whether a case is winnable or not is you: will the jury respond to you with sympathy or with disbelief? Here, the lawyer will subjectively decide what kind of an impression you’ll make at the witness stand.

The lawyer will also look to see if you have a history of prior lawsuits. It will be very damaging to your case if the defense attorney can describe you a serial litigator.

If you’ve been in a car accident and are contemplating a personal injury lawsuit, contact Orange County accident lawyer Samer Habbas today for a free initial consultation.

Should You Contact Insurance Companies After Your Auto Injury?

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

After being injured in an Orange County auto accident, you might be wondering whether you should contact the insurance company of the person who injured you in the accident. The answer is “no.” An Orange County auto accident attorney has experience dealing with insurance companies and will know what to say to them about your case that will increase your chances of a favorable settlement.

 

It’s best to defer to your Orange County auto accident attorney‘s judgment because if you sidestep your attorney and contact the other person’s insurance company for any reason, you might accidentally ruin your case with one misplaced question or comment. As a matter of fact, in order to protect you from this happening, most states have laws that prohibit the insurance company from communicating with you for any reason after you are represented by a personal injury attorney.

 

A similar question that is asked is whether you should contact your own insurance company following an Orange County auto accident. This is appropriate in some cases—for example, if you have health insurance or uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. In any case, though, you should contact your Orange County auto accident attorney first to ask whether such contact is appropriate.

 

If you have been injured in an Orange County auto accident and have not yet retained an Orange County auto accident attorney, it is important to contact one before talking with the other party’s insurance company. For a free consultation in your case, please call (888) 848-5084.

Common Defenses in Orange County Auto Accident Cases

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

The three most common defenses an Orange County auto accident lawyer sees presented in a case are:

* The auto accident was partially or completely your fault.

* The auto accident was the fault of some third party.

* The auto accident did not injure you or did not injure you as much as you claim.

The most common of these three defenses in Orange County auto accident lawsuits is the first one—claiming that the car accident was your fault rather than the defendant’s. The defendant might say that you were at fault because you were violating a traffic law by speeding or making an illegal lane change. They may admit partial liability but say that the accident would have been avoidable if you had taken some action like swerving, or that you could have minimized your injuries by (for example) wearing a seatbelt. In legal terms, the defendant is claiming contributory or comparative negligence.

A similar defense is that someone other than you or the defendant caused or contributed to the accident. For example, the defendant in an Orange County auto accident lawsuit might say that the condition of the road made it unsafe and that the city or state is responsible for your injury. The defendant may also blame the manufacturer of his or her vehicle for a defect that caused the accident, or a third driver for doing something to cause the accident.

If you have been injured in an Orange County auto accident and you want your case to be evaluated by an Orange County auto accident attorney, call (888) 848-5084 to schedule a free consultation.

New Cell Phone Technology Limits Use on the Road

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

With the high rates of injury and even death resulting from cell phone calling and texting, many of today’s large telecommunication companies are getting serious about addressing the risks of these mobile devices. A January 20 New York Times story shows that national giant T-Mobile has a new technology that will temporarily interrupt service for customers whose phones are in a moving vehicle. Many other companies are currently working currently to replicate this kind of service for their customers.

Although safety advocates generally contend that this new technology will help lower accident rates related to distracted driving due to calls or texts, concerns remain. Some consumer groups might feel that the extra charges related to the service are somewhat unnecessary. There are also reports coming from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a top safety agency, that some of the current applications for controlling cell phones at high speed are difficult to use and easy to override. However, the phone companies are continuing to work on solutions to help lower the statistics on all of the serious injuries and deaths that occur because drivers simply weren’t paying attention to the road.

All of this comes at the same time that many U.S. states are setting up more sophisticated fault systems for auto insurance. A system called comparative negligence can factor in cell phone use as a specific liability for any driver who is involved in a roadside collision, regardless of whether his or her vehicle technically caused the crash.

If you or someone in your family has suffered injury in an auto accident and you want more details on how any of the above can affect your claim, call our California personal injury attorney, Samer Habbas. Mr. Habbas can assist you with your personal injury claim, guiding you through every step of the process and helping you get what you deserve under the law. Call The Law Offices of Samer Habbas at 888-848-5084 today for a free consultation.

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