Have you been injured in an accident while walking in Sacramento? Did this accident cause serious injury to you or someone you love? If so, you may be eligible for compensation for your injuries through a personal injury claim or lawsuit.
Contact the Sacramento personal injury attorneys at OnderLaw for a free consultation. We will review your case and determine whether you are entitled to compensation, and if so, assist you in getting the help you need. Don’t let an accident determine the course of your future. Call today for a free, confidential consultation.
If your accident involved serious injury and you’ve suffered financial losses as a result, you should consider hiring an attorney and demanding compensation from the responsible party. You’re certainly able to file a claim for compensation yourself, but having the assistance of a qualified attorney can help in ways you may not realize.
As your attorneys, we can do more than just write letters or prepare for trial. We are your advocates and your legal counsel, and that brings certain advantages. Our familiarity with the claims process will be invaluable when we build your claim. We will use our skills and experience to make sure it is complete, backed by evidence, and supported by facts. We will help you avoid novice mistakes that can get your claim delayed or denied.
When you hire us to represent you, any and all actions relating to your injury fall to us. We take on the hard work so you can recover from your injuries. We will take the calls from insurance companies, we will interview expert witnesses, and we will negotiate a fair settlement on your behalf. We know how difficult and frustrating a pedestrian accident can be, and we will work hard to take the burden off of you.
The vast majority of claims are settled out of court, but if need be, we are prepared to take your case to trial and fight for the compensation you deserve. You may not need a lawyer to pursue compensation, but having one by your side will make the process easier.
For nearly twenty years, OnderLaw has been helping residents of Northern California and elsewhere get the restitution they deserve after debilitating accidents. We have more than 15 attorneys on our staff who bring all their considerable legal experience and knowledge to each and every case we take on. When you choose OnderLaw to represent you, you can rest assured that you’ve got the best team available on your side.
We care about providing personal service to all of our clients, regardless of the size of their claim. When you hire us, you’ll receive top-tier service whether you’re seeking compensation for a sprained ankle or for a wrongful death claim. We believe getting to know your side of the story is essential to providing quality legal counsel, and we will take the time to make sure your legal needs are met every step of the way.
We also believe that helping our communities is as important as helping our clients, which is why we regularly donate our time and money to charitable organizations such as MADD, Lupus Foundation of America, and Toys for Tots.
But let’s be honest. It doesn’t matter how much recognition we’ve received or how experienced our team is if we don’t get the results our clients need. We are proud to say that we’ve obtained over $3.5 billion in settlements and awards. It’s important to note that we can’t guarantee positive results for every case we handle, but we can guarantee that we will use the same skills, knowledge, experience, and tenacity to help you pursue compensation that we’ve used to obtain these results.
California has some of the worst traffic in the country, so it’s easy to overlook the dangers pedestrians face when walking along busy roadways. Here are some laws relating to walking or running along roadways in California:
A pedestrian accident is any accident that involves someone not in a vehicle moving along an active roadway. Bicyclists are not considered pedestrians, and most laws that govern vehicular traffic also apply to bicyclists. A pedestrian accident can involve a car, truck, bicycle, motorcycle, pedicab, bus, or any other type of wheeled vehicle. According to the CDC, there were 5,977 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in the United States in 2017. In addition, there were 137,000 pedestrians treated in emergency rooms for non-fatal crash-related injuries. Most pedestrian deaths occur at night at non-intersection locations and in urban areas.
Some types of pedestrian accidents include the following:
The causes of these accidents can be as varied as the accidents themselves. Some common causes of pedestrian accidents include:
Most pedestrian accidents involve someone traveling on foot near a moving vehicle, so serious injury is never more than a heartbeat away. Here are some of the injuries we regularly see after pedestrian accidents in California:
In order to obtain compensation for your injuries, you must prove that the other party in your accident was at fault. You must show that the other party had a responsibility to behave in a certain way, that they didn’t behave as they should, and that their behavior resulted in your injury. If you can gather evidence and documentation to support this scenario, you should be eligible for compensation.
It’s rarely that simple, however. California is a pure comparative fault state, which means that if it’s discovered you are partially at fault for your accident in any way, your compensation amount will be reduced by your portion of fault. For example, if you were hit by a car outside Sacramento and sustained an injury, but it’s later discovered that you were jaywalking, a judge may find you partially at fault. If you were 15% responsible, any compensation the court finds you’re owed be reduced by 15%.
You can be compensated for a variety of losses you suffer as a result of an accident, both material and immaterial. As you would expect, you can be compensated for financial losses like medical bills or property damage, but you can also be compensated for certain intangible losses to your mental health and well-being. These losses are referred to as damages.
Economic damages are any losses with a dollar amount attached to them, such as:
Non-economic damages are a bit more fluid and harder to define, like the following:
Exactly which damages you’re entitled to depends on the accident and your injuries. In general, the more severe the injury or accident, the more you should demand in compensation from the negligent party.
Here are some facts and figures from the CDC, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center,
And California’s Office of Traffic Safety regarding pedestrian accidents in California and elsewhere:
If you’ve been involved in a pedestrian accident of any kind that resulted in serious injury to you or someone you love, you should contact OnderLaw right away. You have a limited time to file a lawsuit due to California’s statute of limitations on injury cases, so time is a factor. Call us today for a free, confidential consultation, and let us help you get on the road to recovery after a pedestrian accident.
