News & Articles

Proving who had the right of way at a Dallas intersection often determines which driver bears liability for an injury crash. Texas law assigns the right of way to the vehicle that lawfully enters the intersection first or that responds correctly to traffic control signals, but when both drivers claim a green light or allege […]

No. A traffic citation issued at the scene and the fault opinion written into a CHP 555 collision report are generally not admissible in a California civil trial to prove negligence. The officer did not witness most crashes, and California law treats the officer’s lay conclusions about who caused the collision as inadmissible opinion evidence. […]

Under California law, a pavement crack, raised slab, or pothole is not automatically dangerous just because someone tripped on it. California Government Code section 830.2 allows a court to decide, as a matter of law, that a defect is so minor, trivial, or insignificant that no reasonable person would consider it a substantial risk of […]

In California, fault in a chain-reaction collision is not assigned automatically to the driver who struck first. Instead, every driver whose negligence contributed to the crash may bear a percentage of responsibility for the harm caused. California follows a system of pure comparative fault, which means a jury or insurer must examine the conduct of each […]

Proving that the other driver was distracted at the moment of a crash in California is not a simple matter of pointing to a phone. The law sets specific prohibitions, but a citation alone rarely settles a civil case. What actually decides liability is the evidence a party is able to preserve, subpoena, and present. […]

Yes. Under California law, diminished value is a recognized element of property damage and is pursued as a claim separate from any bodily injury claim arising from the same collision. The two claims involve different evidence, different valuation methods, and different releases. Settling one does not automatically settle the other, but signing the wrong release […]

Signing a California personal injury settlement release before you have finished treatment is almost always permanent. Under California Civil Code section 1542, a general release can extinguish not only the claims you know about at signing but also claims you do not yet know or suspect exist, provided the release includes an express waiver of […]

California government agencies are liable for injuries caused by dangerous conditions on public property, but only when a plaintiff satisfies four distinct elements set out in Government Code section 835. Two defenses – design immunity and the trivial defect rule – eliminate the majority of these claims before trial. Getting a dangerous-condition case right requires […]

When you file a personal injury claim in California, you do not hand over your entire medical history. California law protects communications between patients and physicians through the physician-patient privilege established in the California Evidence Code. However, the moment you place your physical condition at the center of a lawsuit, that privilege gives way under […]

If you were injured in Irvine or anywhere in Orange County and a government agency may be responsible, the standard two-year personal injury deadline does not apply. Under the California Government Claims Act, you generally have only six months from the date of your injury to file a written claim with the responsible public entity before […]