San Bernardino Car Accidents

San Bernardino is the 17th-largest city in California. There were 34 fatal car crashes and road traffic accidents in the city in 2014, in which 72 people were involved. If you are seriously injured or a loved one is killed due to a careless driver, you should consult the knowledgeable San Bernardino car accident attorneys at Sharifi Firm.

Most car accidents are the result of negligence. If you want to recover compensation for your injuries after a crash, you likely will need to establish negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. This means that you will need to show the defendant's duty of care toward you and that his or her breach of the duty of care was the actual and legal cause of your injuries.

In some cases, there may be multiple parties at fault for a car accident, including the plaintiff. The jury can determine the total damages and also assign a percentage of fault to each party alleged to be at fault. California follows the rule of pure comparative negligence. This means that a plaintiff's total damages will be reduced by an amount equal to his or her percentage of fault. For example, if you did not come to a complete stop at a four-way intersection, and another driver was speeding and ran a stop sign altogether, the jury might assign you 30% of the responsibility for the accident and assign the other driver 70% of the responsibility. If the total damages were $100,000, you would be able to recover up to $70,000 from the other driver.

Many forms of damages may be available to victims in car accident cases. For example, they may be able to recover compensation for the medical bills that they incurred, as well as any costs of future treatment that they will need to undergo. Victims often can receive reimbursement for lost income from missed time at work while they are recovering, in addition to property damage to their vehicle. Noneconomic damages like pain and suffering also generally are available. A victim’s spouse may have a related claim for loss of consortium in some situations. If a victim tragically lost their life because of another driver’s carelessness, their family may be able to pursue other types of damages through a wrongful death claim. These may include compensation for the medical, burial, and funeral expenses that they incurred, in addition to their loss of the victim’s companionship, consortium, and support.

In California, a plaintiff can potentially recover their total economic damages from any party that bears a percentage of the responsibility. However, they may only recover noneconomic damages from each defendant according to that defendant's share of responsibility in causing the accident.

At Sharifi Firm, APC, our San Bernardino car accident lawyers may be able to help you pursue compensation for your injuries and losses. We work hard to explore all possible sources of compensation and aggressively pursue anyone who was responsible for causing the crash. Contact us at (866) 422-7222 or via our online form to set up a free consultation with a motor vehicle collision attorney.