If you’ve been injured as a result of a car accident, you may have multiple opportunities to pursue legal and financial recourse available to you. Which compensation options are viable in your situation will depend upon the circumstances surrounding your crash. It’s important to explore your options fully – and ideally, to speak with an attorney – before making any assumptions about what you may and may not be entitled to at this time. Far too often, car accident victims either inflate or dismiss the idea that they’re entitled to compensation before they really understand what their case is worth.
Personal Injury Compensation
As an experienced accident lawyer San Fernando Valley, CA – including those who practice at Unidos Legales – can confirm, California car accident injury victims are often entitled to considerable compensation even if they are partially to blame for the accident that caused their harm. How can this be? California is known as a pure comparative negligence state. This means that, unlike many other states, the state of California honors the right of accident injury victims to seek compensation from others who contributed to the cause(s) of their harm, even if the accident victim was also partially to-blame.
Essentially, if it is determined that you were partially at fault for what happened to you, your compensation award will simply be reduced by the percentage of fault contributed to your conduct. Say that the value of your harm is $100,000. And say that you were 20 percent to blame for your harm. You’ll remain entitled to seek $80,000 in damages from other responsible parties even after the value of your claim is reduced by 20 percent.
You may be entitled to considerable personal injury damages at this time if your crash was – partially or totally – caused by a third party that acted negligently, recklessly, or with dangerous intent and directly contributed to the cause(s) of that harm as a result of their conduct.
Insurance Settlements
You don’t necessarily need to file a personal injury lawsuit against an at-fault party to receive an insurance settlement for your crash-related losses. Insurance is a complex reality and insurers operate on a for-profit basis. As a result, it can be helpful to have a lawyer represent your interests in insurance negotiations so that you aren’t stuck with a settlement amount that is valued far lower than the amount to which you’re entitled.
Workers’ Compensation Benefits
If your crash occurred while you were engaging in work-related activities, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits as a result of your injuries, even if the crash was totally your fault. Workers’ compensation benefits are made available to workers in California regardless of their immigration status. Meaning, it doesn’t matter if you’re a documented or undocumented worker. If you were hurt while you were on-the-job in some way, you’re almost certainly entitled to workers’ compensation benefits unless you operate as an independent contractor or are otherwise barred from coverage by a very limited set of exceptions.
