News & Articles

California law bars most uninsured drivers from recovering non-economic damages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, physical impairment, and similar losses after a vehicle accident. That bar comes from Civil Code section 3333.4, enacted by voters in November 1996 as part of Proposition 213, the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996. The statute reaches three categories of […]

Most motorcycles carry no event data recorder. When a collision happens on a busy Orange County corridor such as the I-405 or SR-73, engineers cannot simply pull a digital file to learn how fast the rider was traveling or when braking began. Instead, crash reconstruction relies entirely on physical evidence: the distance and direction a […]

A mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can be proven in a California personal injury claim even when CT scans and standard MRI images return completely normal results. Standard imaging is designed to detect gross structural damage, not the microscopic axonal disruption that causes most mTBI symptoms. California courts apply a preponderance of the evidence standard, […]

Under California law, a person who witnesses a loved one being seriously injured may have a civil claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED), but only if three strict requirements are satisfied. The California Supreme Court set those requirements in Thing v. La Chusa (1989) 48 Cal.3d 644, converting what had been flexible guidelines […]

Yes, in most situations. California Civil Code section 3342 makes a dog owner strictly liable for damages any time the dog bites a person who is in a public place or who is lawfully on private property, including the owner’s own property, at the time of the bite.[1] The statute removes the old “one-bite rule” […]

Lost earning capacity and lost wages are two separate economic damages in a California personal injury claim, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes that costs injured people money. Lost wages are the paychecks you already missed while you were unable to work. Lost earning capacity is the reduction in your ability […]

When a child is injured in California, a parent or guardian cannot simply negotiate a settlement and pocket the money on the child’s behalf. California law requires court approval before any settlement of a minor’s claim becomes binding, and it imposes strict controls on how the funds are held, invested, and eventually released. The governing […]

Under California law, a person or company that hires an independent contractor generally is not liable to the contractor’s injured employees. The California Supreme Court established this presumption in Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689, reasoning that the contractor, not the hirer bears responsibility for workplace safety. The hirer is presumed to have delegated […]

When you file a personal injury claim in Texas, your medical records become one of the most important categories of evidence in the case. The defence has a legitimate interest in verifying your injuries, but that interest does not give opposing counsel unlimited access to every health record you have ever generated. Two overlapping legal […]

There is no fixed dollar amount for a whiplash injury claim after a Chicago car accident. In Illinois, these claims are evaluated based on the evidence supporting the injury, including medical expenses, treatment records, lost income where documented, pain and suffering, and whether the available evidence connects the condition to the collision. Illinois does not […]