Searching for Legal Resources in Tustin
Personal injury attorneys such as Kyle Scott in Tustin, CA are a unique type of lawyer. Unlike other lawyers you may see in television shows or movies (think defense lawyers like Perry Mason) injury attorneys don’t get as much of the fame or glory as their counterparts in the criminal law areas but when the need arises—when you experience and accident or injury as the result of someone else’s negligence or fault, having a competent injury lawyer on your side can make a world of difference.
Not every incident, accident of potential case of medical malpractice will require the services of a local personal injury lawyer, so how do you know when to call a personal injury attorney near you?
Attorneys for Car Accident Cases
Car accidents are perhaps the most common reason Orange County residents decide to call an attorney to represent their interests. It’s almost a matter of percentages since we have some many cars on our Orange County freeways and surface streets. As you know Interstate 5 slices through our county, dividing it just about in half and it’s not the only freeway here. We’re fortunate to have several such as the 405 freeway, the 91 as well as 55, 22, 133, 73 and 39 all within our O.C. borders. These all add up to hundreds of miles of roadway. And that does not count the thousands of miles of surface streets from Anaheim through Laguna Beach. Irvine and our own Tustin, CA. Thousands of miles of roads plus millions of automobiles almost guarantees auto accidents will occur at some point.
Despite constantly improving safety measures and devices in our cars, no vehicle is 100% accident-proof and when traveling at high speeds, when an accident happens the violent force of a collision is sufficient to cause serious injuries. In those cases—and where it’s apparent that another person caused the accident, calling your Tustin injury attorney quickly is recommended.
Minor accidents (so-called fender benders) will not usually require retaining an accident lawyer, however, when the damage to vehicles and bodies is great, that’s the time to “lawyer up” as they say.
Car accident attorneys help make sense of O.C.’s legal system
Hiring an Accident Lawyer Quickly
We say it’s a good idea to find and hire an experienced car crash lawyer quickly because insurance companies (especially those of the other driver) will try to offer remuneration for your injuries and damage. In the majority of cases their offer may be less than you’re entitled to or which will adequately cover medical costs, lost wages, car repair or vehicle replacement. By hiring that lawyer, he or she can then act as intermediary for you with the insurance company. Car wreck lawyers know the ins and outs of not only the law in this area but insurance company tactics and will not be hoodwinked by such tactics. If insurance companies prove to be intransigent and a case needs to go to court, such attorneys are specifically suited to defending your rights at trial in pursuit of the maximum amount of compensation. The earlier you hire an attorney in these cases, the quicker they can begin negotiating on your behalf.
How Soon After a Slip and Fall Should You Call an Attorney in Tustin?
Slip and fall accidents fall under the heading of premises liability law and need not refer to simply slipping or falling on someone else’s property. Dangerous conditions may exist creating any number of hazards on a property including but not limited to falling items (including trees) or elements of construction that potentially cause a danger to visitors of that property. In these cases the property owners should reasonably have known a dangerous condition existed and taken steps to correct it. Failure to do so may be seen as negligence by the courts.
In California (and indeed now throughout the United States) case law and precedent have given more latitude toward victims in premises liability cases beginning with the watershed case of Rowland v. Christian which came before the Supreme Court of the State of California in 1968.
Slip and fall hazards in Orange County must be identified. Failure to do so is negligence.
In brief, slip and fall cases fall under California Civil Code 1714. In such cases the following components must be in existence.
• The property has to owned or possessed by the defendant
• The defendant was negligent in providing “a duty of care” to prevent injury
• The plaintiff suffered injury due to the negligent care of the property
• The owner’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing injury
Legal specifics aside, if you experience such slip and fall injuries or other injuries resulting from hazards on another’s property the same advice applies as regards vehicle accidents. In both cases, of course, seeking medical treatment is the first priority, especially when injuries are severe or debilitating. As with the above recommendations, refusing to entertain insurance company offers until you speak to your personal injury lawyer makes sense. In addition, even though emergency medical treatment may have been necessary immediately following trip and fall injuries, the true extent of your injuries may not be known until you’re examined by a specialist. This is especially true with soft-tissue injuries which may not be readily apparent without special diagnostic equipment.
Again, your slip and fall attorney will intercede for you with insurance companies and make sure the full extent of your injuries is known so that a just amount of compensation can be sought.
Finding Experienced Brain Injury Attorneys
Brain injuries, while a portion of personal injury law unto themselves, are closely tied to car accidents and slips and falls and it’s not hard to understand why. The impact cause by a motor vehicle crash—car, truck or motorcycle—can be extremely violent. Likewise even a fall from a height of five or six feet can severely jar the head and the brain inside it. Both types of movement can lead to brain injuries.
Is it usual to hire a Tustin brain injury lawyer early on in the process? The short answer is yes. With brain injuries, when the trauma to the brain is acute, timely treatment may be the key to recovery and the longer one waits following this type of injury, the harder it may be to overcome the damage to a person’s brain. Making a call to your Tustin personal injury attorney’s office immediately following the injury is probably not warranted—medical treatment and diagnosis should be your overriding concern. However, once the initial round of treatment is done and if the injury to the brain was the cause of someone else’s negligence, calling a traumatic brain injury attorney is advisable. Attorney’s who represent clients in these cases not only look after those client’s compensation, but because of years (sometime decades) of experience dealing with this area of medicine and the intricacies of such injuries they’ll be in a good position to communicate with both medical professionals as well as insurance company representative or their legal teams.
Brain injury apparent in X-ray. Attorneys can help secure compensation for these injuries.
Injuries of this nature can sometimes cause impairment in the victim that, one, needs sufficient time and observation to diagnose, and two, which will require months, years or even a lifetime of specialized care. Laypeople simply aren’t conversant with the law or medicine to be able to handle complex negotiations or legal matters—nor should they need to. Enlisting a lawyer for brain injuries in the Orange County area takes the burden off victim and family members, allowing them to concentrate solely on medical treatment, healing and quality of life.
Should I Consult with a Lawyer for Dog Bites?
Dog bite attorneys play a similar role in cases of dog or other animal bites as they do for slips, falls or car accidents. In many dog bite lawsuits the plaintiff is bringing a case against the owner for not restraining their pet or in some other way being negligent in allowing the bite and injury to occur. When should you consult a dog bite lawyer? Well, certainly not until you’ve had your bite examined and treated by a medical professional. Even bites from smaller dogs, left untreated, can quickly turn into infections resulting at times in disfigurement or even amputation. It’s always better to make sure you’re safe first. And you can sue to have you arm or leg replaced once it’s gone.
With that said, it pays to talk to a Tustin area dog bite lawyer as soon as possible following initial or emergency bite treatment. An attorney experience in dog bite lawsuits (especially one in your town) knows the area where the bite occurred as well as the laws in the city, county and state regarding animal bites. As we’ve mentioned in other areas of our site, for whatever reason, Orange County has the dubious distinction of having more dog bite injuries than that national average. Up to four times that average. Based on your conversation with your attorney, he or she will be able to size up the case, taking into account specific aspects of the law (such as Orange County’s leash laws, which of course will apply to cities like Tustin).
For most people whether or not they’re injured by a dog or other animal or experience a fall or other accident as a result of negligence, the last thing on their minds is navigating the legal system on their own in pursuit of justice and full and fair compensation. With dog bite cases as in any other personal injury case, your attorney will do the heavy legal lifting on your behalf in search of the maximum amount of compensation for you so that you can proceed with you life. Therefore, the sooner you contact a dog bite lawyer in your community, the quicker you’ll be able to resume your “normal” life and take care of the more important things like work, family and friends.
Attorneys for Sexual Harassment or Molestation
Sexual harassment or sexual molestation are two other aspects of personal injury law that differ in many ways from cases of vehicle accidents or other injuries. One key factor in such cases is that they are not “accidents.” In both cases a person is purposely victimized by another either specifically or indirectly in the case of sexual harassment and overtly, through physical molestation (touching or sexual acts) in the case of sexual molestation. In some cases others may be held negligent if they were in a position superior to the person accused of harassment or molestation and did nothing to prevent or ameliorate the situation.
In both instances it’s advised to call in an attorney versed in sexual harassment or molestation as early as possible. One salient reason is that perpetrators of these type of misconduct or crimes probably have a history of doing these same things to others. The sooner legal action is taken, the sooner the hurtful and illegal actions of the perpetrators can be put to a stop.
A sexual molestation lawyer will have the experience to identify those parties in addition to the perpetrator who hold some responsibility for the molestation and will seek to include them in legal actions. For example, those superiors of someone who engages in molestation in a workplace, have a duty to ensure that their employees maintain a standard of conduct such that anyone who enters onto that business’s property or who does business with that company or who is in a position subservient to employees of such a company has a reasonable expectation of safety.
It’s proper to report sexual harassment or sexual molestation to the authorities, but criminal charges (even convictions) do little to address the humiliation, pain and suffering (physical as well as emotional) that molestation inflicts on its victims. Taking the time to bring a molestation lawyer on board will help address some of those things and while nothing can erase completely the damage done in these cases, those who failed to properly protect the victims can be made to pay.
There is one additional reason to hire an Orange County sexual molestation lawyer which is setting an example. In addition to punitive damages, the negative press and coverage which may result from a civil proceeding, in addition to monetary compensation, reinforces the need for companies, Churches or any other entity where crimes of this type can take place, to redouble effort to keep those places free of dangers and safe places for visitors to frequent.
Do Medical Malpractice Attorneys Need to Be Hired Immediately?
Medical malpractice lawyers perform the same valuable function that their car accident counterparts or premises liability brethren do. In malpractice cases (or where malpractice is suspected) lawyers with extensive experience dealing with arcane medical issues and terminology are in a position to speak for victims with an educated voice. Whether a medical malpractice attorney should be called as soon as you suspect a problem following a medical procedure is arguable. However, it’s always a good idea to err on the side of caution and a consultation with such an attorney can at least be informative regardless of whether legal action is warranted or necessary. There are also time constraints that must be taken into consideration (more about this below).
Talk to a medical malpractice attorney in Tustin to discuss options.
Honestly, in some cases it may not make financial sense to follow up on a claim of medical malpractice in some instances. Why? There are certain restrictions regarding medical malpractice that must be in place in order to take action. One is the seriousness of the injury. Even if you have been the victim of some kind of malpractice, if the injury is slight, it may take more resources to try a case of this nature than you could reasonably expect to receive as compensation. Doctors, hospitals and other medical facilities will have their own team of experts and insurance company representatives who may contradict your claim. Your medical malpractice lawyer will need to counter their professionals with her or her own team which adds additional cost to the claim and potentially negating any remuneration you may receive.
Like premises liability, medical malpractice occurs when the “standard of care” patients are entitled to is not met for whatever reason. Before pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit your attorney will be able to identify if that standard of care was breached and if a case potentially exists.
However, California specifically, limits the amount of money that a patient can receive in medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000—for so-called non-economic damages. This is due to the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), which was passed in 1975, and is codified at California Civil Code section 3333.2. These include things like a person pain and suffering, psychological issues or lasting physical disfiguration. MICRA in some cases ties the hands of even the most experience medical malpractice attorneys in California. We should mention that a ballot initiative on the 2022 ballot would allow voters to determine if the cap should be raised to 1.2 million dollars. It would also allow judges and juries to go beyond that limit when dealing with catastrophic injury cases.
That is not to say that a person should not contact a lawyer to discuss these kinds of cases. If the injury is serious and the medical professional or entity negligent you would be well-advised to sit down with an attorney to discuss the specifics of your case. If your injury occurred in the Orange County area, then a visit to your Tustin medical malpractice lawyer is in order. You should also keep in mind that such cases do have a statute of limitations. If you suspect you are the victim of medical malpractice the amount of time you have to open a claim is limited so calling an attorney to discuss your case should be done within at least three years from the time of the injury.
Finding the Correct Personal Injury Lawyer in Your City
As we’ve stated, the time that you should contact an injury lawyer near you (or whether you should contact such an attorney at all) varies depending on the type and severity of your injuries. Without exception, seeking medical care for injuries (especially life threatening ones) is of paramount importance. After intial treatment, however, and with details fresh in mind, it is wise to seek out experienced personal injury counsel in Tustin for cases occurring in any of our Orange County cities like Anaheim, Santa Ana, Orange, Irvine or Laguna Beach. Orange County, for all it’s expansiveness, is still somewhat of a tight-knit community. We pride ourselves on our uniqueness and differentiate ourselves from what we see as the sprawl of Los Angeles County. When accidents happen in our county we want to “keep things in the family” and look for a local personal injury attorney to look out for our best interests. Whether its Huntington Beach, Garden Grove or Lake Forest, we seem to be loyal to those who also call O.C. home.
If you’re the victim of an injury in Orange County and need legal representation, Kyle Scott in Tustin with 3 decades of experience is your first choice in personal injury law. Whether hurt in a car crash, slip and fall, brain injury or are the victim of sexual molestation, these Tustin law offices are at your service. Kyle and his team have been fighting—and winning—for 30+ years for those injured in Orange County. Do not hesitate. Take advantage of a free consultation to discuss your case and how we can proceed. If you are hurt, we can help! 714-6544-1460.