Were you hurt in a motorcycle accident? Was someone you love injured in a crash that involved a motorcycle? These accidents can be devastating for many reasons. Motorcycles don’t offer much in the way of protection, and injuries from motorcycle accidents can lead to awful injuries or worse for you and those you care about. In the event of a motorcycle accident, Belal Hamideh, a Los Angeles motorcycle accident attorney, can help you to recover the maximum amount of compensation.
Motorcycles have always been synonymous with freedom. The freedom of the open road, to go where you please. However, they can be quite dangerous as well. According to recent statistics, 15% of all California vehicular accident fatalities occur in accidents that involve motorcycles.
The medical costs that result from a motorcycle accident can be enormous. Long-term care, rehabilitation treatment, therapy, and more, in addition to a reduction in the ability to work your job, while dealing with pain, suffering, and worse – the toll for a motorcycle accident can be high indeed, potentially costing millions. Belal Hamideh and his team have helped many who are in the exact position that you are in right now. Schedule a free case evaluation and we’ll sit down with you, going over the ways that we may be able to help. Se Habla Espanol.
Should You Hire a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer?
Hiring a professional motorcycle accident lawyer can help in a variety of ways, many of which extend beyond your case. For starters, an experienced attorney knows what your case is worth. So, they’ll work hard to ensure that you don’t settle for less than that. The right attorney will work towards helping you to receive all of the compensation you should, all while protecting your legal right.
Moreover, the right attorney will take care of all of the “little things” associated with a motorcycle accident case that really aren’t so “little.” That includes filing everything when it’s supposed to be filed, meeting deadlines, finding and submitting pertinent evidence, ordering traffic/police reports, and all of the other necessary tasks involved with a motorcycle accident. When you go with Belal, you can have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your interests are protected. Additionally, we can work to ensure that your medical bills are paid for the lowest amount possible, too.
In the course of protecting your legal rights, Belal also knows how to properly handle insurance companies. Instead of letting them give you less compensation than your claim is worth, Belal understands both your policies as well as how to apply them to your claim so that the insurance company does what’s right. He and the team here work tirelessly to make certain that you get what you should from the insurance company, whether it’s in a settlement or, if necessary, in court.
What Compensation Can You Receive for Your Motorcycle Accident?
In a motorcycle accident case, you can receive compensation for economic as well as non-economic damages. Economic damages are essentially expenses that resulted from your motorcycle accident injury. These include your medical bills, rehab bills, physical therapy, modifications to your home, medical treatment that you may need in the future, etc.
Additionally, this can cover expenses to repair or even replace your motorcycle, as well as income you may have lost because you were unable to work due to your injuries. In fact, economic damages can even cover income you would have made in the future, should you be unable to perform your job to the ability that you did before the accident (or if you cannot perform the job at all).
Non-economic damages, then, cover pain, suffering, emotional suffering, and everything that you’ve had to deal with because of the accident. “Loss of enjoyment of life” and “loss of consortium” are forms of non-economic damages as well.
When we evaluate your case, we’ll let you know exactly what damages we believe you can claim. Then, we’ll represent you as aggressively as possible to ensure that comes to pass.
What You Should Do Right After Your Motorcycle Accident
In the immediate aftermath of a motorcycle accident, you may be in shock. That’s entirely natural. When you can, perform these actions:
Get to safety. Do what you can, if possible, to get out of harm’s way. That means getting you, your motorcycle, other passengers, and so forth out of the road. If you cannot, due to your injuries, don’t push yourself.
Call the authorities. The police report will be invaluable for your motorcycle accident case.
Collect evidence to the extent that you are able. Do not put yourself in harm’s way, but, if you can, take pictures and video. Specifically, focus on injuries, damage to the vehicle, and damage to the environment (as that may be fixed in the near future).
Get the other person’s contact information but do not admit fault. Acquire their name, number, license number, insurance details, address, and description of their vehicle. You want to do this not just for the person that struck you, but anyone else involved in the accident as well. Along the way, do not say “you’re sorry” or anything like that. There is no reason to admit fault, none whatsoever.
Get medical attention. Even if you don’t feel like you were hurt, even if you don’t see any signs of injury, get checked out. You never know if there may have been internal damage that will manifest later on.
Contact an attorney who can help. Do this only after you’ve done everything above. Then, we’ll take the case and represent you right.
Motorcycle Accidents in Los Angeles
More often than not, if a motorcycle is in an accident, the motorcycle is the smaller vehicle. Los Angeles highways are some of the absolute busiest in the world. Often, people think that, if a motorcycle is involved in an accident, then the motorcyclist is to blame. But, a majority of the time, that is not the case. We always work to discover the truth, to put together the best, most compelling case for our clients.
Unfortunately, the most common cause of motorcycle accidents in Los Angeles or anywhere else is driving under the influence. Essentially 25% of motorcycle accidents involving DUI result in a fatality. That said, other common causes include distracted driving, reckless driving, a motorcyclist who lacks experience driving, lane splitting, and more.
That said, there are many causes of a motorcycle accident that are not the fault of the motorcyclist or even any party at the crash scene. These accidents can be caused by unsafe road conditions, motorcycle defects, motorcycle malfunctions, and more. Our team of investigators can find the truth so that we can bring a suit against all parties responsible. That way, we can get you everything that you deserve.
Injuries suffered in these accidents often include broken bones, road rash (which tends to be more severe than that name may make it sound), whiplash, traumatic brain injuries, back injuries, spinal cord injuries, and worse. We also work with medical providers who, like us, are paid on contingency. Thus, we can help you to get medical care where you won’t have to pay until after your case is won.
Who Should You Sue for Your Motorcycle Accident?
Simply put, we sue whoever is responsible for your accident. Filing a suit, of course, is one of the first steps. Whether it was another driver, someone whose recklessness and/or negligence led to unsafe road conditions, motorcycle defects, and more, we can find who’s responsible and bring suit against them. We have a track record of proving that the other party’s recklessness and negligence caused your accident.
When building your case, we work to prove four essential elements of negligence. We can show that the defendant owed you what’s called “duty of care.” They were to drive (or do their job) in a safe, reasonable manner. That they did not is why the accident (and your injuries) occurred. Additionally, we can show that the other party breached their duty by either taking action or failing to take action.
Lastly, we can work to show that the accident was caused by this breach of duty and that, as a result, you have suffered damages. We have a proven track record of doing all of the above for our clients.
I Don’t Have Insurance. Can I Still Receive Compensation for My Motorcycle Accident?
Even if you don’t have insurance, you can still receive compensation for your injuries if you’re hurt in a motorcycle accident, provided that the other party was at fault. Unfortunately, as you don’t have liability coverage, your compensation will be much less than it would be if you did have that insurance.
All California drivers are required, by law, to carry liability insurance. You will still be penalized for your lack of insurance if you are injured in a motorcycle accident that was not, in any way, your fault. That penalty will take the form of not being allowed to seek non-economic damages. You cannot receive compensation for pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and more. You will only be allowed to receive economic damages.
Even in this scenario, we will do everything in our power to help you to receive maximum compensation.
How Long Does It Take to Settle a Motorcycle Accident Claim?
No two cases are exactly alike. Many of our clients have received a settlement in a few weeks’ time. Optimistically, that could be how your case goes. That said, many of our clients have had claims drag out for years, where, eventually, we had to go to trial to represent them and get the compensation they deserve. We do whatever it takes for our clients.
That said, this is one more reason that we encourage those who have been hurt in motorcycle accidents to reach out to us as soon as possible. The sooner you do so, the sooner we can get to work on your case, helping you to receive your compensation that much sooner as well.
Can I Still Receive Compensation if I Wasn’t Wearing a Helmet During My Accident?
Under California law, all motorcycle drivers as well as their passengers must wear a helmet while on a motorcycle. In the event that you are in a motorcycle accident and not wearing your helmet at the time of the accident, it’s entirely possible that you will be found to be partially responsible for the injuries that you suffered, regardless of whether the other person caused the accident.
That said, in California, we have “comparative negligence.” Through this, even if you weren’t wearing a helmet during the accident, you can still recover compensation for your pain, suffering, and all of those non-economic damages. As ever, we represent our clients as aggressively as possible, helping them to receive their maximum compensation no matter what.
Belal Hamideh: Winning Motorcycle Accident Attorney in Los Angeles
A motorcycle accident can be one of the scariest experiences of a person’s life. If you were hurt in such an accident, we can take your case and help you to receive all of the compensation that you deserve.
Moreover, we do so on contingency. That means that you don’t have to pay, not until after the case. In fact, we don’t take any fees unless we win.
It’s natural to not want to have to deal with reaching out to an attorney soon after a motorcycle accident, but it really is in your best interest. From the time of your accident, you have two years to file a lawsuit for your injuries. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we can help. Schedule a free case evaluation with us today. You can do so through our site or by giving us a call.