With more than 158,000 residents and a number of colleges and universities in the area, Palmdale roadways certainly see their share of traffic. Unfortunately, the careless or reckless actions of drivers on these roads result in hundreds of accidents in which people are injured or killed each year. If you’ve been injured in a car accident in Palmdale, you can seek compensation for the financial and psychological costs of your injury through California’s personal injury claims process.
The personal injury claims process does not require the claimant to be represented by an attorney when seeking compensation. However, the guidance and experience that a personal injury attorney brings to your case can be crucial to obtaining the amount of compensation you need to face the expenses and impacts of your injury. Here is a look at the personal injury claims process and the types of services a Palmdale car accident lawyer from Kash Legal can provide to assist you with the claim.
Along with the privilege of driving a motor vehicle on Palmdale’s roadways, drivers also have the responsibility to take reasonable actions to avoid causing physical injury or property damage to others. This is known as the duty of care. Unfortunately, many drivers do not take this duty seriously, exhibiting reckless or careless actions such as speeding, driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, driving while distracted, failing to yield the right-of-way, or even failing to properly maintain their vehicle in order to avoid breaking down on the roadway. Any of these issues can lead to a traffic accident and cause an injured party to seek compensation through a personal injury claim.
Often, people think of car accidents in terms of one negligent party and one injured party. In truth, accidents can be the result of a combination of negligent actions taken by two or more drivers, and injuries or deaths can occur in any vehicle involved. California allows even drivers whose negligence may have been a factor in the accident to seek compensation for the expenses and impacts of their injury from other liable parties. A Palmdale car accident lawyer can help with this process.
The most common first step in seeking compensation for your injuries after a car accident is the filing of a claim against the at-fault party’s insurance policy. While this seems like a simple enough process, the claim is assigned to a claims adjuster, whose job is to save the insurance company money by reducing or eliminating the value of these claims. Insurance claims adjusters often engage in misleading activities in order to accomplish this mission, such as understating the amount of compensation that is available for the claim or attempting to shift liability for the accident to the claimant.
All personal injury claims come with a deadline, known as the statute of limitations. This is the amount of time that the claimant has to file the claim in court. In California, a personal injury lawsuit must be filed within two years of the date of the injury. Because of this short statute of limitations, personal injury attorneys are often working on settlement negotiations while also preparing the case for court. It should be noted that a settlement offer can be made by the at-fault party’s insurer at any time during the process, even after the claim has been filed as a lawsuit.
If a settlement has not been agreed to before the trial date rolls around, the claimant’s attorney will present the case in court, presenting evidence and testimony for the purpose of proving to the court why the claimant is entitled to compensation.
An experienced personal injury attorney can provide services to assist you with all parts of the claims process, including determining all sources of liability and associated insurance policies that can provide compensation, valuing the claim properly in order to ensure there is enough compensation to adequately cover your expenses and impacts, negotiating with the at-fault party’s insurance provider, gathering evidence and testimony as needed to prove the claim, and presenting the case in court.
One thing the attorney cannot do is make the major decisions in the case, such as entering a settlement agreement or deciding to file the claim in court. Those are your decisions to make, and your attorney’s role in those decisions is to provide you with the guidance you need to make informed decisions that reflect your best interest.
One of the big worries that car accident claimants are often faced with is whether they are able to afford an attorney’s services. Luckily, many personal injury lawyers work on a contingent fee basis, meaning you are not responsible for paying for your legal team’s services until there has been a positive resolution to your claim through a negotiated settlement or a court decision.
Car accidents are among the most common causes of accidental injury in the U.S., often leaving victims to determine how to manage expenses and move forward with a life that has been dramatically changed as a result of the accident. A Palmdale car accident lawyer from Kash Legal can collaborate with you in order to approach your claim armed with the knowledge of what your needs are and the legal knowledge necessary to accomplish the goal of your claim, which is receiving the maximum amount of compensation available, whether through a settlement or the court process.
Let our Palmdale car accident attorneys help you make sense of the personal injury claims process during a free case evaluation. We will also answer any legal questions you have about your claim and inform you of the services we can provide to assist you in obtaining the compensation you need. Contact us online or by calling (888) 527-4128.
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