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Glendale Personal Injury Lawyer

Accidents and other unexpected incidents that result in personal injuries in Glendale can be devastating. Not only can serious accidents and injuries require extensive and costly medical care, but those injuries can be debilitating and can prevent the injured person from returning to work or leading a normal life. Many personal injuries result from another party’s negligence, whether it involves carelessness behind the wheel of an automobile, failure to remedy a hazard on the property, or negligence on construction sites. If you believe another party may be liable for your injuries, it is important to seek advice from an experienced Glendale personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. An advocate at our firm can provide you with more information about filing a claim for financial compensation.

Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle

At Fisher & Talwar, we handle a wide variety of personal injury cases involving negligence and other theories of liability, including but not limited to the following:

  • Car accidents;
  • Motorcycle accidents;
  • Truck accidents;
  • Bicycle accidents;
  • Bus accidents;
  • Train accidents;
  • Watercraft accidents;
  • Dog bites;
  • Pedestrian accidents;
  • Slip, trip, and fall injuries;
  • Construction accidents;
  • Elevator and escalator accidents;
  • Swimming pool injuries;
  • Dangerous drugs;
  • Defective medical devices;
  • Electric shock injuries;
  • Spinal cord injuries;
  • Burn injuries;
  • Bone fractures; 
  • Traumatic brain injuries; and
  • Wrongful death. 

If you got hurt in one of the circumstances described above, or you sustained other types of injuries, or were involved in another kind of accident, our lawyers can provide you with additional information about the personal injury claims process.

How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Glendale?

Depending upon the nature of your personal injury, the claims process may begin with an insurance claim. For example, if you were injured in an automobile collision, you will likely seek compensation initially by filing either a first-party or third-party auto insurance claim in order to seek coverage for your losses. Then, if the insurance claim is insufficient to cover losses, a personal injury lawsuit may be the next logical step. In other circumstances, an injured person might start with a civil lawsuit against the party who is responsible for his or her injuries.

Most personal injury lawsuits in California have a two-year statute of limitations under California law. What this means is that the lawsuit must be filed within two years from the date that the injury occurred. However, in some cases, the statute of limitations is much shorter. For example, if you need to file a claim against a government agency, the statute of limitations may be as short as 6 months from the date of the injury. Government claims often arise in circumstances where a person got hurt on government or public property, or as a result of a government employee’s negligence.

Common Damages in a Glendale Personal Injury Lawsuit

If you file a personal injury claim in Glendale, what type of compensation can you expect to receive? In general, most plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits will seek two types of compensatory damages, both of which are designed to compensate the plaintiff for losses experienced. Those compensatory damages include the following:

  • Economic or pecuniary damages, which are awarded to compensate a plaintiff for directive and objective financial losses that have a specific dollar amount, like medical bills, lost wages, or property damages; and
  • Non-economic damages, which are more subjective in nature and are awarded to compensate a plaintiff for more subjective losses like pain and suffering, disfigurement, or loss of enjoyment of life.

While some states have caps on non-economic damages in certain types of personal injury cases, there is no cap on most personal injury recoveries in California. Medical malpractice is the only notable exception, where there is a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages. Otherwise, a plaintiff in any type of personal injury lawsuit will be able to recover the full amount of damages she or he is awarded by the jury or through a settlement. 

In some circumstances, it may be possible for the plaintiff to seek punitive damages, as well. Under California’s punitive damages law, this type of damages award is only appropriate when the defendant engaged in malice, oppression, or fraud. When it comes to personal injury lawsuits, punitive damages are relatively uncommon, but they can be awarded in cases where the defendant’s behavior was grossly negligent and reckless and indicated a conscious disregard for others’ safety. Unlike compensatory damages, punitive damages are awarded to punish the defendant for dangerous and harmful behavior.

Damages and the Effects of Glendale Comparative Fault

In some personal injury lawsuits, the defendant will raise the issue of comparative fault as a defense strategy. With comparative fault, the defendant is arguing that the plaintiff is also partially at fault for the injuries and that the defendant should not be responsible for paying a full damages award. Under California’s comparative fault law, a plaintiff’s damages award can be reduced by his or her portion of fault if the court does find the plaintiff to be partially negligent, but the plaintiff will not be barred from recovery.

Just because the defendant has raised the issue of comparative fault does not mean that the plaintiff’s damages award will be reduced, however. The plaintiff will have the opportunity to prove that the defendant was wholly responsible for the accident and resulting injuries and that the defendant should thus be liable for the full damages award. If you are worried that you were partially to blame for an accident, or if you need assistance proving your case for compensation, one of our experienced Glendale personal injury lawyers can help.

Seek Advice from a Glendale Personal Injury Attorney Today

Were you recently injured in an accident in Southern California? You could be eligible to seek financial compensation for your losses by filing a personal injury claim. One of our experienced personal injury attorneys in Glendale can speak with you today about your case and can provide you with more options for obtaining the compensation you deserve and need. Contact Fisher & Talwar for more information.