Rancho Cucamonga Car Accidents

If you have been hurt in a car accident in Rancho Cucamonga, it is likely that an insurance adjuster for the other driver will contact you to ask you about the crash. In most cases, the insurance adjuster is trying to gather information to reduce liability for its insured driver. The adjuster does not owe you any duty of care and may twist the facts to try to get you to make an admission. It is crucial to retain your own Rancho Cucamonga car accident attorney and seek medical care before you speak to any representative of the other driver. You may eventually decide to file a lawsuit for compensation, and the attorneys at Sharifi Firm can help you protect your rights.

Most car accidents are a result of negligence on the part of one or more drivers. To establish negligence, you will need to prove the defendant's duty of care toward you, the defendant's breach of the duty of care, causation, and actual damages. Causation is divided into two parts: actual and proximate causation. Actual causation means that the accident would not have happened if not for the defendant’s carelessness. Proximate causation simply means that the accident was foreseeable rather than being remotely related to the breach.

Compensatory damages that may be awarded in a car accident case may consist of economic damages, such as medical bills and lost income, as well as noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering. It is rare for punitive damages to be awarded in car accident cases, but sometimes they may be awarded against a drunk driver.

Often, a defendant raises comparative negligence as an affirmative defense. Comparative negligence asserts that parties other than the defendant, such as the plaintiff, were partially or fully to blame for an accident. The jury will determine the total amount of damages and also assign a percentage of fault to each person or entity alleged to be at fault. Your recovery may be reduced to the extent you were at fault for the crash. For example, if the total damages are $80,000, but you were 25% at fault for the accident, you may be able to recover up to $60,000 from the defendant.

California allows a plaintiff to hold defendants jointly and severally liable for economic damages, but each defendant is only liable for noneconomic damages up to his or her degree of fault. Suppose, for example, that a jury deciding a car accident case finds that the plaintiff's economic damages are $100,000 and that their noneconomic damages are $100,000. It also finds that one defendant was 60% responsible and that another defendant was 40% responsible. If the first defendant does not have insurance or assets, the plaintiff may be able to recover the full $100,000 in economic damages from the second defendant, but that defendant will need to pay only $40,000 of the noneconomic damages.

At Sharifi Firm, APC, our Rancho Cucamonga car accident lawyers may be able to help you recover the compensation that you need for the harm that you have sustained. Contact us online or call us at (866) 422-7222 to set up a free consultation with a knowledgeable motor vehicle collision lawyer.