California Auto Accident Lawyers, Bicycle and Motorcycle Accident Attorneys, Commercial and Big Rig Truck Lawyer, Cell Phone Attorney, Serious Injury Lawsuits, Traumatic Brain Injury, Quadriplegia, Paraplegia, Other Spinal Cord Injury, Los Angeles the San Francisco Bay Area Orange County San Jose Sacramento San Diego
Below we have reprinted an article authored by our California auto accident lawyers which was published in numerous Internet periodicals discussing the unique aspects of single track bicycle and motorcycle accident cases, the complex web of federal and state laws governing commercial and big rig truck litigation, as well as strategies for the prosecution of serious injury lawsuits. You may read more fully about a specific topic by moving your cursor over "California accident lawyers" in the Practice Areas listing, above left, where you will see our specific pages for "California motorcycle accident lawyers," "California bicycle accident attorneys," "California commercial and big rig truck accident lawyer," "Cell phone accident attorney" and "Serious and catastrophic injury lawyers."
If you have been injured in an auto accident or motorcycle or bicycle accident or one involving a large commercial vehicle or big rig truck, you may contact our lawyers by submitting the "California Accident Attorneys Case Evaluation Request." Our consultations are entirely free of charge and without any obligation. We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.
Accident Lawyers Require Particular Experience for Auto, Motorcycle, Bicycle, Commercial and Big Rig Truck Lawsuits, Also Attorneys for Cell Phone Accident Liability, And Serious Injury Claims Such as Traumatic Brain Injury and Paralysis.
The job of the accident attorney is often thought to be no more complicated than demonstrating who ran the red light. In fact, accident litigation can be highly complex, indeed every serious injury lawsuit is complex, involving numerous experts solely to demonstrate general and economic damages. Furthermore, very different factors may determine liability in motorcycle and bicycle accident cases, cases in which a party was engaged in cell conversation at the time, cases involving violation of the federal and state regulations governing large commercial and big rig trucks. Solving the "collectability" problem to assure full compensation in serious injury litigation can involve a number of different strategies to establish vicarious liability upon others which the accident lawyer must adapt specifically for auto accident and big rig truck accident cases.
Accident lawyers require a breadth of knowledge to effectively represent those injured in bicycle and motorcycle accident lawsuits, the latter often requiring experience with single track physics and the unique dangers of auto driver inattention to the smaller vehicles, particularly when entering or turning left at intersections, accounting for fully 2/3 of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents without any negligence on the part of the motorcyclist. Bicycle accident attorneys must similarly be cognizant of the dangers posed to bicyclists as the result, for example, of not being able to "command a lane," and so their vulnerability to parked auto drivers who may open their doors into the path of a bicyclist or pull out into traffic without recognizing that a bicycle is approaching. Our accident lawyers have provided separate pages for "Motorcycle Accident Lawsuits" and "Bicycle Accident Lawsuits" where the reader can learn more about the unique challenges that accident lawyers face in single track vehicle accident litigation.
Commercial and big rig truck accident lawyers also must have a breadth of specific knowledge to competently evaluate, prepare and prosecute truck accident lawsuits. Big truck accident attorneys need to become fully knowledgeable about the federal and state laws governing a broad host of safety requirements from the permissible weight of loads and how freight must be secured to the hours that big rig truck drivers may operate their vehicles between rest periods, the logs that must be kept, and the responsibilities of shippers. Because the driver will often have inadequate insurance to compensate the more seriously injured, and because most freight companies hire commercial and big rig truck drivers as "independent contractors" in order to attempt to limit their liability for the negligence of the driver, large commercial truck and big rig truck lawyers must establish the shipper's liability on legal theories such as "negligent entrustment," and "negligent supervision," as examples. Our big rig truck accident lawyers explain more fully these concepts on our "Commercial and Big Rig Accident Lawsuits" page, but the shipping companies may be liable, for example, for negligent entrustment, for their negligence in failing to screen out drivers who lack drivers licenses or who were inadequately trained or who have a history of accidents or alcohol abuse. Negligent supervision would include failures to adequately inspect the trucks or freight, the manner by which freight is secured, as well as failing to maintain logs of driver hours, all of which may involve violations of federal or state law.
There are also investigative techniques that accident lawyers should follow including, for example, subpoenaing the cell phone records of the other drivers because all too often the other driver may not be seen to be using his cell phone while driving, and may not volunteer the information to the investigating police. Appropriately educated accident lawyers will be aware of the epidemiological and controlled experimental studies which have demonstrated that a driver while engaged in cell conversation is four times more likely to get into an accident. In a "he said, she said" accident, with no independent witness or where the independent witnesses are split, demonstrating that one party was under the influence of cell conversation may become persuasive evidence of liability. Often of crucial importance where the driver of the other car has insufficient liability coverage to compensate the victim, cell phone records identifying the other party to the call can provide the answer to the "collectability" problem. For example, if the driver was found to have been in conversation with his employer or secretary or a potential client or otherwise engaged in a business call at the time of the accident, the accident lawyer can assert "respondeat superior" liability to name the employer as a defendant in the lawsuit, permitting his client to recover against the employer's insurance and assets.
Finally every serious injury case is complex litigation, involving the investigation and development of the evidence of the client's general damages, which some lawyers refer to as "pain and suffering," but which in most serious injury cases, in their largest part may be more accurately characterized as "loss of enjoyment of life" damages. Some injuries may be catastrophic, and our accident lawyers have provided specific information with regard to the presentation of "Traumatic Brain Injury Lawsuits" and "Quadriplegia, Paraplegia and Spinal Cord Injury Cases." The qualified accident lawyer will commonly present damages in a serious injury case first through the testimony of his client, family members and friends with regard to the types of activities that the client enjoyed doing before his accident, juxtaposed against a professionally produced "Day in the Life" film, in which the client is accurately shown courageously meeting the huge challenges presented even to do the simplest things in his post-accident everyday life. In serious injury litigation, the accident lawyer must also have extensive experience presenting past and future economic damages, including medical and loss of earnings claims. Our accident lawyers provide a "Serious Injury Damages" page in which we discuss more fully the preparation and presentation of catastrophic injury cases. In almost every serious injury case the accident lawyer will be required to engage a host of experts, from physicians to "life care managers" to "rehabilitation experts" to forensic economists to establish the present value of the future medical expenses and projected loss of earnings.
*Most recent Jury Verdict or Settlement:
$2,500,000.00 Settlement in Contested Liability Motorcycle Accident. Below knee amputation. The settlement was obtained after California auto accident lawyer, Henke, demonstrated by his interrogation of the investigating police officer that his motorcyclist client was not contributorily negligent for having pulled out into an intersection, "splitting lanes," between cars in two adjoining left turn lanes, and after investigating to discover that the defendant driver was operating his vehicle "in the course and scope of his employment," naming the employer as a defendant in the litigation, and in this way putting at risk the employer's liability and excess insurance coverage.
*The results obtained in the cases listed were dependent upon the facts of the cases, and the results will differ in other cases based on different facts
$2,500,000.00 Settlement in Contested Liability Motorcycle Accident. Below knee amputation. The settlement was obtained after California auto accident lawyer, Henke, demonstrated by his interrogation of the investigating police officer that his motorcyclist client was not contributorily negligent for having pulled out into an intersection, "splitting lanes," between cars in two adjoining left turn lanes, and after investigating to discover that the defendant driver was operating his vehicle "in the course and scope of his employment," naming the employer as a defendant in the litigation, and in this way putting at risk the employer's liability and excess insurance coverage.
*The results obtained in the cases listed were dependent upon the facts of the cases, and the results will differ in other cases based on different facts
Driving Under the Influence of Cell Conversation Results in DUI Level Driving Impairment And a 4 fold Increased Likelihood that the Driver will Cause an Accident.
Read Henke Law Group Scientific Review Article. As Knowledgeable Cell Phone Accident Lawyers We Can Investigate to Establish That The Other Driver Was On His Cell Phone. The Evidence Can Make the Difference in a Contested Liability Case.
Where we Can Establish That the Other Driver Was Engaged in a Business Call We Can Bring his Employer in as a Defendant and Recover Against the Employer's Assets and Insurance Coverage.
California auto accident attorney Henke has reviewed all the scientific literature on the effect of cell phone use to impair driver attention. Driving under the influence of cell conversation renders the driver DUI level driving impaired and results in a four fold increased likelihood that the driver will cause an accident. Contrary to popular belief, it is not "holding" the cell phone which resulting the impairment. It is the diversion of conscious attention to the internal-cognitive tasks associated with the give and take of the cell conversation away from the external-visual tasks essential for safe driving. Indeed, it matters not whether the motorist is driving under the influence of handheld or hands-free cell conversation, the impairment and the 4 fold increased likelihood that the driver will cause an accident are precisely the same. Yes, California and a number of other states have enacted handheld laws; unfortunately that is just a function of politics. The scientists are not in dispute. All agree that driving under the influence of any cell phone results in the identical DUI level driving impairment.
It is important that the auto accident lawyer obtain the cell phone records of the other driver in every contested liability case, and especially in any serious injury case in which it appears that the other driver lacks sufficient insurance coverage to fully compensate the plaintiff for his injuries and full measure of his damages. In the contested liability case,the evidence of the other party's cell phone use in the moments prior to the accident may snatch victory from the mouth of defeat. In the most common serious injury auto accident case in which the other driver lacks sufficient insurance to fully compensate the plaintiff for his injuries and damages, it is essential that the cell phone records be obtained and appropriate depositions taken of the defendant and the other party to the call to determine whether the other driver was engaged in a business call in the moments leading up to the accident. If he was, then the knowledgeable cell phone auto accident lawyer can bring the employer into the litigation as a defendant "vicariously liable" for the injuries caused by its employee in the "course and scope of his employment." In this way the auto accident lawyer may assure that the plaintiff will be fully compensated up to the limits of the employers insurance policy, and indeed, the employer's assets would be available to execute against.
Read Henke Law Group Scientific Review Article. As Knowledgeable Cell Phone Accident Lawyers We Can Investigate to Establish That The Other Driver Was On His Cell Phone. The Evidence Can Make the Difference in a Contested Liability Case.
Where we Can Establish That the Other Driver Was Engaged in a Business Call We Can Bring his Employer in as a Defendant and Recover Against the Employer's Assets and Insurance Coverage.
California auto accident attorney Henke has reviewed all the scientific literature on the effect of cell phone use to impair driver attention. Driving under the influence of cell conversation renders the driver DUI level driving impaired and results in a four fold increased likelihood that the driver will cause an accident. Contrary to popular belief, it is not "holding" the cell phone which resulting the impairment. It is the diversion of conscious attention to the internal-cognitive tasks associated with the give and take of the cell conversation away from the external-visual tasks essential for safe driving. Indeed, it matters not whether the motorist is driving under the influence of handheld or hands-free cell conversation, the impairment and the 4 fold increased likelihood that the driver will cause an accident are precisely the same. Yes, California and a number of other states have enacted handheld laws; unfortunately that is just a function of politics. The scientists are not in dispute. All agree that driving under the influence of any cell phone results in the identical DUI level driving impairment.
It is important that the auto accident lawyer obtain the cell phone records of the other driver in every contested liability case, and especially in any serious injury case in which it appears that the other driver lacks sufficient insurance coverage to fully compensate the plaintiff for his injuries and full measure of his damages. In the contested liability case,the evidence of the other party's cell phone use in the moments prior to the accident may snatch victory from the mouth of defeat. In the most common serious injury auto accident case in which the other driver lacks sufficient insurance to fully compensate the plaintiff for his injuries and damages, it is essential that the cell phone records be obtained and appropriate depositions taken of the defendant and the other party to the call to determine whether the other driver was engaged in a business call in the moments leading up to the accident. If he was, then the knowledgeable cell phone auto accident lawyer can bring the employer into the litigation as a defendant "vicariously liable" for the injuries caused by its employee in the "course and scope of his employment." In this way the auto accident lawyer may assure that the plaintiff will be fully compensated up to the limits of the employers insurance policy, and indeed, the employer's assets would be available to execute against.
©2012 The Ray Henke Law Group