Automobile Accident Lawyer Serving Los Angeles and Orange County
Car culture has long reigned over Southern California, and even in dense urban areas like Los Angeles, people choose to drive even when they don’t have to or shouldn’t. A tragic side effect of all this driving is a large number of automobile accidents, including those resulting in serious injury, catastrophic injury, or death. California saw 3,606 traffic fatalities in 2019, with alcohol involved about one-third of the time. Los Angeles County ranked second in the state for having the most auto accidents, and the county ranked number one for the most nighttime crashes. In L.A., 88,814 people were killed or injured in car crashes in 2019. In Orange County, with a population one-third the size of Los Angeles, 17,772 people were hurt or killed in a car accident that year.
Speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, following too close, failure to yield the right-of-way, unsafe or improper lane changes…these leading causes of automobile accidents all have one thing in common – negligence. Car accidents might seem like a fact of life in Southern California, but they don’t have to be. Auto accidents happen because people fail to drive with the reasonable and necessary amount of skill or attention, and without following the appropriate duty of care they owe to other drivers on the road. This is negligence, plain and simple. Injured car accident victims can and should recover compensation for their injuries from the negligent driver who caused the accident. Machtinger Law can help.
California attorney John Machtinger has been litigating complex and challenging cases for over 30 years, including practicing exclusively as a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer for the past 12+ years. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or worse in a Southern California automobile accident, our goal is to make sure you get the full amount of compensation available to you. We’ll fight for you so the insurance company treats you fairly and is willing to settle for the amount your claim is worth. If they don’t, we’ll be prepared to prove your case in court to secure justice, accountability, and the compensation you need to deal with the pain, trauma, and challenges to your life inflicted on you by another driver’s negligence. Call Machtinger Law today for assistance after a car crash in Los Angeles or Orange County.
Automobile Accident Claims in Southern California
California law requires all drivers to carry liability insurance or proof of financial responsibility in case they cause an accident that involves property damage or injury to another person. The minimum amounts required by law are $15,000 for bodily injury to one person, $30,000 for bodily injury per accident if more than one person is hurt, and $5,000 for property damage. Given the expensive cars driven in Southern California and the high costs of a serious injury accident, many drivers purchase auto insurance in much higher amounts, such as $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, plus $25,000 in property damage. At the other end of the spectrum, over 16% of California drivers evade the law and don’t carry any insurance at all. In accidents with uninsured drivers, we help injury victims pursue claims via their Uninsured Motorist coverage.
Regardless of whether you are going after the negligent driver personally, filing a claim with their insurance company, or looking to your own insurance for relief, the burden falls on you as the accident victim to prove your case against the other driver. This means proving they were negligent, and that their negligence is responsible for causing the accident and your injuries. The leading causes of automobile accidents in Southern California are:
- Driving under the influence
- Driving at an unsafe speed, including driving above the speed limit (speeding) and driving too fast for the current conditions on the road (traffic, weather, construction zones, etc.)
- Improper turning
- Failing to yield the right-of-way
- Driving on the wrong side of the road
You’ll need various types of evidence to prove the other driver’s liability, along with medical records and documentation that prove your injury. As experienced auto accident attorneys who know the law and have handled many claims on behalf of accident victims, we know what it takes to build a strong, solid case that proves the other driver’s liability for the full extent of the damages you have incurred. Our firm limits the cases we take to serious injury, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death so that we can devote the time and energy necessary to maximize the compensation accident victims and their families need after a devastating crash.
Get the Help You Need After a Serious Automobile Accident in Los Angeles or Orange County
If you or a loved one was seriously hurt or worse in an automobile accident in Los Angeles or Orange County, call Machtinger Law for advice and representation from an experienced and successful Southern California auto accident attorney.
