Unfortunately, over 2 million people become injured or disabled and more than 37,000 people die as a result of car crashes each year. The Sacramento area law offices of Larry S. Buckley help victims of auto accidents and fatalities get just compensation for their suffering and hold reckless drivers liable for their harmful actions.Our team of experienced attorneys can help assess liability in auto accidents, file claims, and assist families of car accident fatality victims with wrongful death cases. Car crashes are often traumatic events that send ripples throughout victims’ lives, causing them emotional, physical, and financial distress. If you’ve been affected by an auto accident, our attorneys can help you apply your legal rights to get the compensation and peace of mind you deserve.
What Causes Auto Accidents?
There are many different factors that can contribute to car accidents, each of which changes the legal approach to your personal injury case. Most often, driver negligence is the primary cause. The most obviously negligent behavior is drunk driving, since being intoxicated behind the wheel is illegal and extremely dangerous. If the other party in your auto accident was drunk, he or she could be liable for the damages. Drunk driving cases are relatively clear-cut, especially since police can easily test for intoxication, but there are many other behaviors can be considered legally negligent on the road. These include:
- Becoming distracted by a map, newspaper, or book
- Texting, looking at a phone screen, or making a call
- Glancing into the back seat
- Applying makeup
- Eating
- Adjusting the car seat, radio, or air conditioning
- Watching an occurrence in the next line or on the roadside
You may be entitled to compensation for damages if the other driver involved in your accident was doing any of the above. In addition, the other driver may be held liable for driving a defective car if improper mechanical service or faulty parts played a role in your accident. If the road you were driving on was uneven, irregularly textured, too narrow, covered in debris, or under construction, you may be able to make a case against the organization tasked with upkeep for the road.
Determining Fault
If you were in any way at fault for your auto accident, your personal injury case may not be successful. During the chaos and aftermath of a car accident, it may be difficult to tell exactly what occurred and if you played any role in the events. Our attorneys collaborate with skilled partners in accident reconstruction, physics, accident investigation, engineering, forensics, and psychology to confirm who was responsible.
What Are Your Rights?
Going through an auto accident can be difficult in many ways, so you have the right to compensation for a variety of damages. These can include:
- Lost income, since you may miss work due to injury or the trauma of the event. This is even more significant if a car accident has left you disabled.
- Your medical expenses.
- Emotional suffering, which can be evidenced by psychological and psychiatric evaluations and records.
- Pain and suffering. If you’ve experienced a life-altering injury, you may be compensated for your ordeal.
Our attorneys can help you better understand your rights following an auto accident and help you pursue them to their fullest extent.
Fatality Cases
Losing a friend, family member, or significant other in a car accident can be devastating, even more so if it was through no fault of his or her own. In this instance, our compassionate and understanding attorneys can help you recover from the emotional and financial blows of this loss by helping you file a wrongful death suit. Compensation for damages from these cases be based on:
- The loss of expected earnings for the deceased
- A decrease in inheritance (or the lack of one if the deceased had not created a will)
- Emotional distress due to loss of consortium (romantic relationship for a spouse), companionship, support, friendship, and parental guidance (for a child)
- Funeral and burial costs
- The value of the household duties that would have been performed by the deceased
Our legal team can help you better cope with this difficult time and hold the responsible party accountable for your loved one’s death.
Let Us Help You Recover
Auto accidents and fatalities can be difficult to handle. Our attorneys can help you recover from these traumatic events by getting the emotional, medical, and financial compensation you’re owed.Please contact our law offices today to learn more about auto accident cases or schedule a free consultation.