Personal Injury

Succeeding in Your Injury Case Caused by a Multi-Vehicle Crash in Northern California

March 26, 2021 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

Very few injury cases are the legal equivalent of a “slam dunk.” There inevitably will be many obstacles of varying types that will be positioned along the way, and any of them can trip you up, which is why it is so important to have legal representation from an experienced Oakland injury attorney when it comes time to pursue your case. Some cases, though, can be particularly complicated and may reflect a particularly high need for a skilled legal advocate.

Accidents that involve multiple vehicles can often be that kind of complex case. When you are hurt because one other driver rear-ended you, getting everything you deserve will be challenging, but parts of the case, such as who is liable, may be relatively straightforward. In multi-vehicle crashes, just determining who was to blame may be problematic.

Take, for example, a fatal accident from the pre-dawn hours of March 17. After a driver lost control along northbound Highway 101 in northern Sonoma County, his sedan hit the concrete center median, flipped, and came to rest wheels-down in the middle of the northbound travel lanes but facing south, according to a Press Democrat report.

How to Go About Seeking Compensation in California After a Vehicle Accident Has Killed Your Loved One

February 14, 2021 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

When a vehicle accident takes the life of your loved one, it is devastating. You know that no amount of money can “fix” what has been done. Nevertheless, your loved one and your family have still suffered a great loss, including potentially massive economic damage. To be sure that your family has the opportunity to get everything that the law says you’re entitled to, you have to make sure you are going about it the right way procedurally, which is why it pays to rely on the skill and knowledge of an experienced Oakland wrongful death attorney.

A fatal incident that took place in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood on New Year’s Eve is a reminder of how devastating these accidents can be. Two vehicles, a Honda and a Ford, met at an intersection. The Ford had the green light, but the driver of the Honda didn’t stop. The impact sent the Honda into two female pedestrians who were crossing in the crosswalk. One woman died at the scene, while the second died later at a hospital, according to a KPIX report.

The driver of the Honda fled on foot, but the police captured him a short time later. The state charged the driver of the Honda with an array of charges, including: “two counts of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of hit and run, driving a stolen vehicle, driving under the influence of drugs, two counts of DUI causing injury, speeding, running a red light, burglary” and other weapons and drug crimes, according to KPIX.

A Tractor-Trailer’s Collision With a Disabled Car Leaves a Northern California Teen Dead

December 13, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

Whether you are an inexperienced teen or an adult with decades behind the wheel, having your vehicle break down in the middle of the road is always a stressful experience. Whether your vehicle threw a rod, broke a timing chain or suffered some other catastrophic mechanical failure, your situation is not just frustrating; it is potentially dangerous. If you’ve been hurt because someone else slammed into you and your disabled vehicle, that person may have been negligent and may owe you significant compensation. To find out more, take action promptly to contact a skilled Oakland car accident attorney about your case.

To highlight just how dangerous these situations can be, there’s this extremely sad news report from West Oakland. Sometime after midnight on Nov. 27, a 16-year-old San Pablo boy’s Toyota stalled on I-880, according to the Mercury News. The teen remained with his stranded vehicle, which was in the middle of the freeway.

Before police officers could arrive at the scene, a tractor-trailer slammed into the Toyota, killing the teen, according to the report. The police indicated that officers did not know if the boy, who was thrown from the impact, was sitting inside or standing nearby his car when the crash occurred.

A Tragic Chain Reaction Crash in Contra Costa County Kills 2 California Drivers

November 12, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

As a recent accident in Contra Costa County tragically demonstrated, chain reaction crashes are situations where minor problems can turn deadly in the blink of an eye. If you’ve been hurt – or have lost a loved one – due to one of these crashes, getting the compensation you need is of paramount importance, but proving your case can be particularly tricky. That’s why it is so important to be sure, when it comes time to litigate your chain reaction crash injury case, that you have the legal representation you need from a skilled Oakland car accident attorney.

California is home of three of the biggest chain reaction crashes ever. Two were in Southern California; one was near Fresno. In all three, weather conditions (foggy conditions and one dust storm) were key factors. However, in a lot of chain reaction crashes, including this recent one from Contra Costa County, the cause(s) for the accident relate to human judgments and errors rather than weather conditions.

The recent accident, which occurred near Hercules, was precipitated by a flat tire, CBS San Francisco reported. The driver of a Honda Accord stopped the vehicle in the furthest left travel lane of the freeway. The next driver in the left lane brought their Volkswagen to a stop behind the Accord. A second Honda Accord didn’t stop in time, though, and rear-ended the Volkswagen. The driver of a Honda Civic then rear-ended that second Honda Accord, the report indicated.

A Motor Vehicle Crash Claims the Life of Yet Another California Bicyclist

October 15, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

Bicycle accidents in California are very dangerous and, many times, deadly. On average, roughly three bicyclists died each week in traffic crashes in 2018. If you’ve been hit by a car, truck or van while riding your bicycle, it is essential that you obtain legal representation from a skilled Oakland bicycle accident attorney as soon as possible. The sooner you obtain legal counsel, the sooner your attorney can begin amassing the evidence that may be critical to proving that the person who hit you was also legally liable and that you are entitled to receive compensation.

Crashes where a vehicle – especially a large one like a commercial truck or van – strikes a bicycle can often inflict massive, or even fatal, injuries on the person aboard the bicycle. A 67-year-old Oakland woman’s recent death is yet another tragic example.

The woman was riding her bicycle on Second Avenue near her home in the Eastlake district. As she proceeded southbound, a delivery driver behind the wheel of U-Haul van turned left from East 12th onto Second and into the bicyclist’s path. The van struck the bicyclist, and the local woman was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, the Mercury News reported.

A Tragic Truck Accident in California Takes the Life of a 12-Year-Old Child

September 30, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

A truck accident that occurred right here in the East Bay recently makes for a grim reminder of just how catastrophically harmful accidents involving semi-trucks can be. It also makes for a potent reminder of how important it is to get the right legal representation if you’ve been hurt in a big rig accident. The right Oakland injury attorney can help you make sure you’re getting everything you should from your injury lawsuit.

In that nearby accident, a Chevrolet Tahoe was traveling westbound on Interstate 580 near Airway Boulevard in Livermore when it and a “truck-tractor combination” collided, according to a Mercury News report. The collision caused the SUV to careen out of control and overturn, which ejected two children, a 12-year-old and an 8-year-old. The 12-year-old boy died, and the 8-year-old child suffered major injuries, the report stated.

Unfortunately, these kinds of accidents are not uncommon here in California. This state logged nearly 28,000 truck accidents that triggered almost 9,700 injuries and more than 350 deaths. This number represents a distinct upward trend, as there were only 296 deaths in 2015 and 259 in 2013.

Collateral Effects of the Pandemic in California: Fewer Vehicle on the Road Has Meant More Speeding and More Fatalities

June 18, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

The lockdowns that all states, including California, instituted during the coronavirus pandemic affected all aspects of life. As workplaces and other businesses shut down, the volume of traffic on roads and freeways declined dramatically, which was predictable. What was perhaps less expected was the uptick in extreme speeding and in fatal crashes during the lockdown. Those two facts are not unconnected. Driving at very high rates of speed greatly increases the risk that a crash will occur and, when it does, the odds also go up that someone will die. Whether you were injured, or a loved one was killed, because someone was driving dangerously fast, that driver’s speeding may be a key in helping to get the substantial sum of damages that you deserve. An experienced Oakland car accident attorney can help you get that done.

According to ABC 10 in Sacramento, the California Highway Patrol witnessed the effects of the pandemic in the tickets they wrote. In the first month of the lockdown (March 19 – April 19,) they wrote more than 2,493 tickets to drivers traveling at speeds of 100+ mph. That was 87% increase over that same March 19 – April 19 period in 2019, when 1,335 drivers were ticketed for going 100+.

Law enforcement officers urged drivers to slow down, but to no avail. From April 19 – May 19, the problem actually got worse, with officers writing an additional 3,550 tickets for drivers going 100+. Across the two-month span of March 19- May 19, officers wrote 6,043 tickets for speeding at 100 mph or greater, ABC 10 reported. That represented a 124% uptick over those same two months in 2019, when officers wrote roughly 2,700 such tickets.

A Motorcyclist’s Death Along California’s Central Coast Highlights the Dangers Bikers and Their Passengers Face

June 8, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

Because of the very nature of physical science and medical science, motorcyclists and motorcycle passengers necessarily are some of the most vulnerable people on the road. While many drivers are vigilant to keep an eye out for all others on the road, too many are prone to overlooking smaller vehicles like motorcycles. When they do, the results can be fatal and tragic. If you or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle crash in California, you need the right Oakland motorcycle accident attorney on your side to help you as you go through all of the necessary legal steps and processes to get compensation.

A crash from the central coast is yet another example of how deadly these motorcycle accidents can be. 76-year-old K.K. was driving a yellow motorcycle along Highway 1 in Cambria, according to a calcoastnews.com report. At the same time, the driver of a Jeep Cherokee was also traveling along Highway 1. The Jeep’s driver pulled onto the shoulder of the highway in order to execute a U-turn. In making the U-turn, the driver of Jeep pulled into the motorcycle’s path. The vehicles collided and K.K. died as a result of his injuries, according to the report.

Fatal motorcycle crashes are sadly common in California. According to statistics published by the state’s Office of Traffic Safety, more than 1,060 motorcyclists died on California roads and highways in 2017-2018. Many of those tragedies were regrettably avoidable, as they result from a car, truck or SUV driver’s failure to maintain a proper lookout, failure to see a motorcycle and their resulting failure to yield the right of way to the motorcyclist. That error can occur when making a turn, making a lane change or, as was the case in Cambria, making a U-turn.

A Delay in the Onset of Your Symptoms Doesn’t Have to Doom Your California Injury Lawsuit

April 28, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

If you’ve been involved in an auto accident, you know that the pain resulting from the injuries you suffered in that crash may “hit” you right away, or its onset may be delayed. You may first feel the pain the next day, a week later, or maybe not for months. Just because the symptoms of your injuries were delayed in emerging, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t caused by the accident and it doesn’t mean that you can’t still get compensation from those who were to blame for the accident. If that happens to you, don’t be discouraged, but do reach out to an experienced Oakland injury attorney right away to learn more about your options.

A recent case (Ventura County Superior Court Case No. 56-2016-00483594-CU-PA-VTA) from Southern California is an example of that kind of scenario, and is an example of how it doesn’t have to be devastating to your injury lawsuit. K.F. was making a left turn inside a Thousand Oaks mall parking lot when B.R. hit her. K.F. experienced some symptoms shortly after the crash and underwent treatment from a chiropractor for two months, but received no more treatment after that until she underwent steroid injections and spinal fusion surgery… four years later.

This woman’s case is not completely out of the ordinary. A few years ago, KTAR in Arizona reported on seven accident symptoms that may not onset until a substantial period of time has passed following your accident. These include headaches (which can be symptoms of blood clots on the brain or a brain bleed,) neck or shoulder pain, back pain (which, as was the case in K.F.’s lawsuit, can be the result of vertebrae damages,) changes in personality (which may be caused by an undiagnosed brain injury) or abdominal pain.

How You Can Hold a Vehicle Owner Liable for Your Auto Accident Injuries in California, Even if the Owner Wasn’t Driving

April 14, 2020 | by Stephen M. Fuerch

Generally, any time you are suing to recover compensation for your injuries, you are asserting that the defendants either engaged in some sort of intentional misconduct or, more commonly, were negligent. Typically, in an auto accident, your lawsuit pursues the other driver for operating his vehicle in a negligent way and causing the crash. In California, though, there may be other people and/or entities who were negligent in causing your accident, meaning that those additional individuals and/or entities may be liable and owe you payment for your damages. To find out how best to go about pursuing them to get the full recovery you deserve, be sure to retain an experienced Oakland car accident attorney to handle your case.

A tragic East Bay crash spawned a case that is an example of this kind of lawsuit. J.H. suffered a seizure while driving a Toyota pickup truck in Danville. Under the effects of the seizure, J.H. ran a red light while going 62 mph in a 45-mph zone. The pickup slammed into a Dodge SUV. The crash killed both the 51-year-old driver of the SUV, E.P. and her 72-year-old mother, M.D.

In a lot of incidents like that, the family of the deceased would be able to pursue J.H. and his insurer… and only J.H. and his insurer. This case, however, was not like most cases. The Toyota pickup truck that J.H. was driving at the time of the fatal crash was not 100% his own; it belonged jointly to him and his father, D.H.