Have you been involved in a car accident in El Cajon and sustained significant injuries? Did you lose a loved one in the crash? If so, you will be looking for insurance providers to act according to your best interests. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Insurance companies are looking to make as much profit as they can. This is why they will do whatever they can to reduce your award. They will even try to stop you from getting anything at all. Get legal help right away from an experienced El Cajon car accident lawyer at Nakase Law Firm.
Having more than 15 years of experience, Brad Nakase is a car crash lawyer that will be your trusted ally. He has helped people who have been injured in motor vehicle accidents in the El Cajon area. If you have been in an accident and were injured, contact us right away.
Free consultation with a personal injury attorney, CALL NOW: 619-550-1321.
What Hospitals are car accident victims in El Cajon transported to?
When people are seriously injured in a auto accident in the city of El Cajon, they are ambulated to one of the following hospitals:
Brad Nakase Is An Award-Winning Personal Injury Lawyer
If you are looking for one of the highest-rated lawyers in El Cajon, look no further than Brad Nakase. He has achieved the rare recognition of being one of the “Lawyers of Distinction” when it comes to personal injury law. Brad has put together a legal team dedicated to safeguarding your rights. His team will make sure you get the compensation you deserve.
Hiring Brad Nakase gets you working directly with a lawyer. You won’t be taken away to work with an assistant. Your car accident case deserves close attention, which is what you will receive. Additionally, you will not owe anything until your case is won. Also, you receive a free consultation regarding your case. Get in contact with us today to start your journey.
Speak With Our El Cajon Car Accident Lawyers First
Before you speak with insurance adjusters, talk with our team first. You want to do this because adjusters will not care about you or what you went through. All they are doing is trying to keep as much of their money from going to you.
You do not have to go up against the big insurance companies on your own. In fact, you will find it’s a requirement to have a legal advocate. You could use someone who has the experience and knowledge necessary to obtain that most money.
After an auto accident, you should work with the best lawyers you can find. Brad Nakase is ranked as one of the top El Cajon car accident lawyers in the region.
Common Types of Car Accidents We Can Help You With
Our team of El Cajon car crash lawyers have handled many types of motor vehicle accidents. Some of the ones we handle regularly are:
- Hit and Run
- Read-Ended Collision
- Head-On Collision
- Ridesharing Accidents
- Self-Driving Car Accidents
- Rollover Accidents
- Single & Multiple Vehicle Accidents
Common Types of Car Accident Injuries
There are many different kinds of injuries you can sustain from car accidents. Some of these are mild, where others can be fatal.
Here are some of the most common types of car accident injuries people get.
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Concussion
- Back Injury
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Whiplash
- Broken Bones
- Joint Injuries
- Burns
- Lacerations
- Organ Damage
- Fatal
- Emotional Anguish
Steps to Take After a Car Accident in El Cajon
Here are some steps you should take after getting into a car accident.
Bodily injuries comes first
The first thing you should do is seek medical attention. If you postpone seeing medical help, your injury may be used against you. Insurance companies look for any reason they can to minimize your award. Make sure you protect your claim. Additionally, seeing a doctor protects your health.
Speak With A Qualified El Cajon Car Accident Lawyer
Never talk to an insurance provider first. Talk to an experienced attorney who specializes in car accidents. Insurance providers will try to contact you right after your accident. They do this to get a recorded statement that can be used against you. They may also offer you a fraction of what you are justly owed. We know these tactics are underhanded and will protect you from succumbing to them.
Recovering from a car accident injury can make it difficult to be alert and clear-headed. This is also why you should not speak with insurance adjusters. These are crafty individuals with skills that rival those of trial lawyers. They will frame questions and pull answers out of you expertly. They will do so in a way that will reduce how much money you will get from them. Avoid getting taken advantage of. Speak with a qualified car accident lawyer.
Act Fast to Protect your Rights Against the Statute of Limitations
There is a statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit. For car accidents, it’s two years. It may seem like plenty of time right now, but you may be surprised how fast time flies. If you wait too long, you may not get compensated. Act fast so that there is a good amount of time to investigate the accident. It’s also helpful to act quickly for the sake of getting fresh eyewitness testimony. Your case should be as rock-solid as possible.
When An Accident Is Not the Driver’s Fault
You are sometimes able to make a claim for personal injuries against someone other than a reckless driver. For example, their employer could be liable if they caused the accident while on the job. If the driver causing the accident was driving a car that someone else owns, that owner could be liable. Under this liability for negligent entrustment, the vehicle’s owner could be liable for the driver’s recklessness.
El Cajon Car Accident FAQ
Whether you or someone you know receives an injury in a car accident, you want to know what to do next. To help you make sense of what the process should look like, here are some common questions and answers. If you have more specific questions, feel free to contact us directly.
What action should I take following an automobile accident?
Avoid giving any statements to insurance companies without having a lawyer. Also, avoid accepting settlement offers before talking them over with your car accident attorney.
What does “pain and suffering” refer to?
The money you will get for “pain and suffering” will make up most of your award. This makes it essential to know what this phrase means. Generally, “pain and suffering” means non-economic damages that stem from severe personal injuries. This phrase can include both physical pain and emotional anguish.
The amount of just compensation you are owed for pain and suffering is highly-specific to your particular situation. There are no two individuals who experience an injury the same way.
Here is an example. If a new mother had sustained a knee injury, it could stop her from picking up her child. If an injured person is a runner, they may no longer be able to enjoy running. Pain and suffering is a very personal circumstance. That is why it’s essential to keep a log of how the injury is affecting your life. This log could become strong evidence to support high compensation for you.
There are a few factors that determine the amount of money you should get from pain and suffering. These are:
- How severe the injury is
- What the cost of medical treatment was that you had to endure
- How long your recovery time from the injury was
- What the long-term effects of the injury were on your life
The faster you contact our team, the quicker we can get to work on gathering evidence for your claim. We want to make sure you get the most money possible.
What happens if I was partially responsible for an accident?
California is a state where you can still get compensated if you were partially at fault in a car accident. Additionally, the amount of money you get will be based on the percentage of fault. For example, if an auto accident was 15% your fault, you could still get 85% compensation. Legally, we call this comparative negligence. If the cause of the accident is 50% or less, you are eligible for compensation.
Determining fault in a car accident is very important. Never talk about fault with another driver involved in an accident. Additionally, avoid talking about fault to any police officers or insurance providers. Speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer first. Whenever you admit to something, it can lower the amount you get compensated. This means less money for hospital bills, lost wages, and the mitigation of any pain and suffering.
Let’s look at an example to illustrate a situation where admitting fault can hurt you. Let’s say you were at an intersection and became broadsided. The other driver drove through a stop sign, which made it clear that it was their fault. However, you could find some fault put on you if any of the following occurred:
- Going faster than the speed limit.
- Not looking both ways before going into the intersection.
- Texting on your phone.
- Drinking alcohol.
Insurance adjusters are experts at getting you to admit you were somehow at fault in an accident. They will pull whatever tactics they can to reduce how much your claim is. When you hire a motor vehicle accident lawyer at Nakase Law Firm, you let us talk to the insurance providers on your behalf. This will ensure you do not admit to being even partially at fault. We will diligently review all the facts regarding your case. It is our mission to protect your interests.
What does insurance subrogation mean?
If you become injured in a car accident, the at-fault driver’s insurance provider will not be paying your damages. They will not compensate your hospital bills or lost wages. Instead, they will await the resolution of your case. This process can drag on for months, sometimes longer. You will have to send in your medical bills to private or group health insurance, short-term disability, or Medicaid. When there is resolution to your case, secondary payers can recoup payments from your settlement or award. This is thanks to subrogation.
Subrogation can become an issue of great importance in your case. You see, it determines the amount of money you still have once a case is resolved. This is why it is critical to have quality representation during the subrogation process.
Qualified car accident lawyers do more than just resolve your case. In addition to finding resolution by negotiating or obtaining a jury verdict, we do the following:
- Identify the most advantageous secondary payers possible.
- Negotiate with them to get the most money you can in your pocket.
- Negotiate with the insurance provider of the at-fault driver to maximize your compensation.
- Assist you in getting through any challenging and complicated situations.
What happens if another driver lacks insurance or is underinsured?
Sometimes, another driver in an accident has no insurance or doesn’t have enough. There are a few options at your disposal. First, there is what is called the Letter of Protection.
In California, there are laws regarding financial responsibility. These statutes require all drivers to match a minimum threshold for liability insurance. This is in place to assist in covering any losses resulting from fault or negligence.
The minimum amount of liability insurance to cover for bodily injuries is $30,000 for an individual. However, that is not enough to cover injuries sustained by you. This holds true if you were not at fault in an accident. While it’s great that these laws exist, there are still drivers in the state who do not even have insurance.
An experienced auto accident attorney will investigate the assets belonging to the at-fault driver. This is done to ascertain what can be recovered outside of liability insurance. However, people who do not have insurance usually do not have money to pay a judgment.
On the bright side, you have more options for getting compensated. One possibility is to send a demand letter.
In California, your car insurance provider has to offer you UM/UIM coverage. This is a particular type of coverage for uninsured and underinsured drivers. It exists to protect drivers in the event of an accident with an uninsured or underinsured driver.
By law, your insurance provider must offer you this coverage. However, you are only able to reject it in writing. If they do not receive a written statement from you rejecting it, you might have coverage equaling your liability limits.
Insurance companies have some demands before you relying on UM/UIM coverage. You should take a look at your insurance policy for the details. They may attempt to take offsets or claim credits against amounts of this special coverage is supposed to pay you. However, some of these will not be permissible in California.
Allow a qualified car accident attorney to look at all sources of recovery. They should also have access to information on liability and UM/UIM coverage.
Do I provide any information to the other driver’s insurance company when they call me?
Absolutely not! Insurance adjusters will try to get a statement from you. You are under no obligation to give a statement to a representative of another driver’s insurance company. Let’s say you find yourself having a severe injury. You can be sure an insurance adjuster will do whatever it takes to save money. They are not thinking about protecting your rights.
So, avoid negotiating with adjusters. Instead, speak with a qualified car accident lawyer.
How can I get an auto accident report?
You may not know where to go to get a car accident report after an accident. What you need to do first is find out what law enforcement agency investigated the accident. For auto wrecks in El Cajon, you may contact the El Cajon police department to obtain a collision report.
What typically happens is the officer who conducted the investigation will provide you with a piece of paper. This will include the name of their department, as well as the name of the officer. Unfortunately, you will sometimes not be provided with this information. In this case, you should find out where the accident took place.
Here are common scenarios and who you can contact to obtain helpful information about the car accident.
- The accident took place within the city limits of a city. In this case, you should speak with the city’s police department. Ask them if you can receive a copy of the accident report.
- The accident took place outside the city limits. In this case, the County Sheriff will likely have investigated the accident. Contact the accident division of that department to obtain the information you are looking for.
- The accident occurred somewhere that the sheriff failed in investigating the accident. In this case, you should contact the closest DPS office to where the crash took place.
Some modernized agencies now let you obtain an accident report online. Other agencies will ask you to give them a written request via mail. Whatever the delivery system may be, it will only cost a few dollars for the report.
Why is an auto collision report important?
An accident report can act as a powerful piece of evidence to support your claim. Investigating officers provide their opinions on the accident in the report. This is helpful when negotiating with insurance providers.
You should also be aware that police are not the ones with the final say in who is financially responsible. To determine that, a court has to provide the decision. This occurs when both parties are unable to settle on their own.
If you have difficulty obtaining the accident report on your own, we can do that for you. In fact, this is something we do for all our clients. Whenever you have any questions, you can contact us. We will offer you a consultation free of charge.
After an auto wreck, what are some of the best auto body Repair in El Cajon, CA?
After most car accidents, the vehicle’s body is damaged. Therefore, a reliable auto body repair shop is necessary. Always look for an auto body repair shop with full services: dent repair, paining, and auto glass repair. It is important to have written lifetime warranty for the service and workmanship.
Some of the widely use auto accident body repair locations in El Cajon, CA are:
- World Auto Body – El Cajon, CA. 187 N Marshall Ave, El Cajon, CA 92020.
- Jack Williams Auto Body – 1336 N Magnolia Ave, El Cajon, CA 92020.
- Fix Auto El Cajon – 1129 Broadway, El Cajon, CA 92021.
California Auto Accident Stats
There are many every year who get injured in California in car accidents. The California Department of Transportation put out figures that show just how many serious accidents and injuries occur.
- 14,202 car accidents involve severe injuries.
- 17,582 individuals sustained severe injuries in these accidents.
- 265,076 individuals suffered injuries of some kind.
- 3,773 individuals died in car accidents.
These are sobering statistics that show just how many accidents lead to injuries. Over 260 billion miles driven in California in a single year. Many of the accidents caused on the road could also be easily prevented.
Common Reasons Auto Accidents in California Occur
There are several common reasons why car accidents occur in California. Here are the ones we see the most.
Drunk Driving
Many fatal auto accidents stem from drivers driving drunk or under the influence. Harris County had recently led every county in the number of fatal car accidents. There were 149, with 158 individuals dying at the hands of drunk drivers. The punitive damages stemming from drunk driving are endless.
In the state of California, a driver is deemed “intoxicated” based on the following. First, they are unable to use their mental and physical faculties as they usually would, because of a substance. Second, they could be deemed intoxicated if their blood alcohol level is 0.08 or higher.
In May 2019, a drunk driver in El Cajon collided with a truck, then rammed into a minivan with six children inside. The drunk driver caused several children and adults to the Sharp Hospital. The California Highway Patrol reported that the drunk driver was traveling eastbound on westbound lanes on Pepper Drive. The children’s family sough an El Cajon car accident lawyer to recover money for medical bills.
The law comes down hard on those who drive while intoxicated and then injure or kill someone. In fact, you would receive more in damages if the at-fault driver was intoxicated than if they were sober. An experienced El Cajon lawyer will aggressively fight for you to get as much money as possible.
Distracted Driving
This is when someone causes an accident while talking or texting on the phone. This is one of the major reasons car accidents in California occur today. When a driver is distracted, it becomes easy to veer away from the road. They can then easily hit another vehicle. They can even cause a multi-vehicle collision.
Monica Zech is a San Diego public figure who had been struck three times by distracted drivers. speaking out after being hit three times by distracted drivers over 8 years. Ms. Zech is the City of El Cajon’s Public Information Officer who openly advocate for public safety. Distracted driving auto collision is a certainly preventable. Ms Zech sought out an El Cajon car accident lawyer for her injuries.
Aggressive Reckless Driving
This is when a person violates driving laws in a way where people or property are endangered. Aggressive, reckless driving may be considered to be something like speeding. It can also be when someone runs a red light, tailgates, or disregards the rules of the road somehow.
Drowsy/Fatigued Driving
Drivers who have become tired while driving may start falling into micro-sleep. This kind of brief dozing off can be as dangerous as driving under the influence. When someone decides to drive even when they are exhausted, they are reckless. There is no need to endanger the lives of others in this way.
Tire Blowouts
When a tire blows out, it can be because of several factors. First, it may be the result of a defective tire. Second, a tire may have been improperly installed. A tire may have also been over-inflated, under-inflated, or worn down.
Other Reasons
There are also other reasons why car accidents occur. Reckless driving is a common one. Failure to yield when someone else has the right of way is another. Also, albeit more rarely, is driving on the wrong side of the road.
Regardless of the cause of a motor vehicle accident, there are similar elements involved in negligence claims. You can use the help of a qualified and experienced car accident lawyer to build a solid case for you. When done correctly, it will provide ample evidence. This evidence shows the other driver was negligent in how they operated their vehicle. The proof will show that they caused the accident, which will result in you getting significant compensation.
Let us protect your rights, CALL AN ATTORNEY: 619-550-1321.
