If you’ve suffered an injury here in San Diego and believe that someone else should be held responsible, you may be considering pursuing a personal injury claim. However, you should consider several factors before you decide to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Is the claim timely? Generally, you have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury case.2 This is called a statute of limitations. However, there are other deadlines, and some deadlines are shorter than two years. So you should always consult with a San Diego personal injury attorney to review your case and help you determine if your claim is still timely. For example, you must file a claim against a government entity within six months. Calculating these deadlines is sometimes difficult for experienced personal injury attorneys.

Was someone else at fault? There must be a responsible party before you can recover any money in a claim or lawsuit. Someone else is liable if they are negligent.3 Everyone is held to a standard of care to prevent harm to those around them. Someone is a negligent party when they fail to use reasonable care, which causes you harm. Examples include a driver who isn’t paying attention and rear-ends another car. Or a store where the employees notice water on the floor but ignore it, and someone slips and gets injured. There, the employees, business owners, and the property owner might be considered the responsible parties.

Were you at fault at all? In California, you can still recover money even if you are partially at fault. However, any recovery is reduced by the percentage you are found at fault. This is called comparative negligence. For example, if a jury awards you $20,000.00, but you are 10% at fault, your award is reduced by 10%. So you would receive $18,000.00.

Did you suffer damages? If someone causes an accident, but you are not injured, there isn’t anything for the jury to award you. If you suffer any amount of injury and monetary damages, you are owed money to compensate you. Monetary or financial damages include medical expenses and bills, damage to your property, prescriptions, loss of income, and any other expenses. Pain and suffering, reduced quality of life, inconvenience are all examples of non-economic damages that you can also pursue.

Can you collect even if you win? Even if you satisfy all the previous factors, it might not be worth pursuing the case if you cannot collect from the person at fault. If a driver is uninsured and doesn’t have many assets, you might not collect if you win at trial. In that case, it may be best to pursue an uninsured/underinsured motorist claim against your insurance policy if you carry that coverage. An experienced San Diego personal injury law firm will be in the best position to pinpoint whether a responsible party can pay.

A skilled personal injury attorney will fight to ensure that you receive the total compensation you deserve. In many cases, your injury attorney will go after the insurance carrier on your behalf, resulting in a significantly bigger payment than would be possible otherwise.

When an insurance company (for the defendant) investigates a case, the first goal is to try and settle the case for the least amount possible. They will often use any means at their disposal to convince the injured party to accept a settlement that is significantly less than they deserve.

An adjuster will often contact you, claiming to have concern for your injuries and saying that they want to “take care of you.” They want to talk with you to learn anything that they can use against you in the future. Another tactic is to offer you a settlement figure and tell you that they will not be giving you that amount very long. Their goal is to pressure you into accepting their offer before you have time to consult with an attorney.

Accepting a “quick settlement” usually always benefits the insurance company to your detriment. Even if the adjuster claims that the offer is the “best and highest” they can make, it isn’t always the case. Since their end goal is to pay you as little as possible, their first offer is usually the smallest amount they believe you will take.

Our firm understands how insurance companies operate. We do everything possible to get you maximum recovery. Insurance companies don’t care about your injuries or damages. Their main concern is their bottom line, and they will settle for whatever amount of money will give them the most financial benefit.