Palm Desert Motorcycle Accident Attorney
As a motorcycle rider, you know that your risk of injury is higher than those driving passenger vehicles, but until it happens to you, it’s easy not to think about needing a Palm Desert motorcycle accident lawyer. You’re reading this page because you have been in an accident, and you now need help navigating your Palm Desert motorcycle accident lawyer.
The skilled team of Palm Desert motorcycle accident lawyer at Motorcycle Advocates understands the needs of motorcycle riders because we’re motorcycle riders ourselves. We have helped countless clients get a positive outcome from their motorcycle accident lawyer. The combined cost of hospital and medical bills, not to mention the toll on mental and emotional health, is what we work hard to improve for our clients because nobody else will. You are entitled to certain benefits in California, but you need competent assistance to receive said benefits for your Palm Desert personal injury lawyer.
We understand that no matter how substantial your outcome is, your life is changed, either for the foreseeable future or forever. Bone fractures and road rash are the smaller ends of the spectrum for motorcycle injuries, while the more severe scope involves brain injuries and coma in Palm.
Why Choose Motorcycle Advocates?
Small mistakes in handling your legal case can either lose your case or not receive the maximum benefit level you deserve. Don’t settle because you may likely need every penny to support yourself and your family while out of work due to recovery. Many of our clients are so injured that they can not live the same lifestyle, and this is a tragedy that can only be partially remedied by financial means. We have an incredible passion for being able to help our clients to any degree possible, and we always fight hard for the most optimal outcome.
Two other principles drive our passion:
- Improving the laws for motorcyclists (motorcycle accident attorney in Palm)
- Helping innocent victims overcome their personal struggles. (Palm)
Don’t let an accident lead to a worse problem: having to defend yourself within the legal industry. Because if you don’t do it properly, you’ll have the same injuries, the identical bills, and the same loss of work without any financial resources to offset damage to your quality of life. Whether you are at fault or someone else is at fault, you need an optimal outcome. When you need a Palm Desert motorcycle accident attorney, we have the experience you need for the best chance at a positive effect. Our group of seasoned legal professionals will escort you every step of the way so that you don’t make a misstep.
Our contingency fee basis means you only pay us when we win. That’s why you have nothing to lose.
How Can a Palm Desert Motorcycle Accident Attorney Help?
You have to understand the mentality of all insurance companies — pay out as little as possible in every case likely. It’s simply a business decision for these companies, and you don’t need to take it personally. Instead, merely fight back by doing the same thing and going for the maximum benefit for yourself. Because you know the insurance company you’re up against will seek their full advantage. If you don’t fight, you will have to accept whatever the insurance company gives you.
Do not agree to any settlement with your insurance representative under any circumstances. These agents try to get you to sign away your rights early on so you can’t pursue a case. Do not let your insurance company pressure you into any action, and ideally, do not talk to them at all without representation on your side.
Get in touch with us at Motorcycle Advocates first before you open lines of communication with your insurance company. We will review your case and give you explicit instructions on what to do and what to expect potentially from your case. In the legal industry, there are no guarantees, but we can guarantee that we’ll fight for your best interests when you’ve been wronged or have made a mistake on the road.
The good news? Insurance companies will often give in to a proper settlement to avoid legal proceedings. These proceedings are almost always more expensive for them than simply reaching an agreement with you. However, this is an agreement with the law on your side due to our Palm Desert motorcycle accident lawyer helping you demystify the law. And when the insurance companies don’t budge, we take them to court in Palm Desert.
Injury Lawyers
Causes of Motorcycle Accident
Before anything else, we must determine why your motorcycle accident occurred in Palm Desert motorcycle accident lawyer. In California, whoever causes the accident is the one who will pay for it because they are considered at fault. This includes repair bills, medical bills, and any other associated costs with the damage to your motorcycle and the other person’s vehicle.
Often this includes ballooning costs, such as non-economic damages, lost income, and damages to involved parties beyond the physical, such as damage to emotional health. If you aren’t the one who caused the accident, you won’t be the one required to pay in California, but you are still the recipient of all the negative impacts of the accident in Palm.
We help discover the reasoning behind what caused your accident. When it comes to motorcycle accidents, passenger vehicles cause extreme damage. Often it’s difficult to be seen by the driver, the driver is distracted by texting, their reaction time is distorted by speeding, or the driver could misunderstand that you, as the motorcyclist had the right of way.
Motorcycle Failures of Local Municipalities
The causes of accidents are many. What if your accident doesn’t involve another driver but a road hazard? In these cases, the city can be sued for negligence. It doesn’t take much to cause a motorcycle accident when the road is improperly maintained, such as debris from storms, loose gravel, rubble, or inadequately repaired potholes. Even potholes recently repaired can result in flexible asphalt that causes you to fishtail and crash. Road hazards that are acceptable risk factors for passenger vehicles are often not suitable for motorcycles. We can help you determine whether or not you have a case against the city of Palm Desert.
Manufacturer Defects
If any part of your motorcycle fails, such as in a blowout, you could crash due to the failure of the manufacturer to maintain a level of quality throughout production. You and others could be seriously hurt or killed due to this lack of quality control. Motorcycles are complex pieces of machinery that experience multiple failure points, such as faulty brakes, electrical system elements, and other components. Liability laws require you to be paid when you suffer through no fault of your own motorcycle accident.
What Are Tort Claims?
California legislature enacted the California Tort Claims Act (CTCA) to protect public entities, like state government branches, from personal injury cases. The term is sovereign immunity, and it absolves these entities from fault if, for example, you are injured as a result of negligence by a public entity or any employee employed by that entity. However, this law has weaknesses that can be used to mount a case if you understand how to navigate there motorcycle accident.
- Premises Liability: In California, when you are operating your motorcycle on approved premises, the owner of that premises has responsibilities to you, including warning guests of any dangers and the maintenance of the property according to reasonably safe conditions. If, for example, something left in your path causes your bike to crash, you could sue the owner of the premises. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
- Vicarious Liability: Even if parties are not directly liable, they can be considered indirectly responsible. In these cases, you can seek compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, and other losses. This is a handy way to pursue government entities because these entities usually have more resources than the actual persons responsible, such as the entity’s employees. This applies in situations of criminal liability and parental liability and the case of the employee-employer relationship. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
Motorcycle Accident Attorneys
Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
The list of injuries that can befall a motorcyclist is very long because the risk is high, so we’ll focus only on the most common injuries in the list below.
- Biker’s Arm: When motorcyclists crash, their arms often take the brunt out of a reflex of reaching out to support their bodies in a fall. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
- According to the NHTSA, head: Helmets save more than 1600 lives a year. Eye protection is also required, and the ears must be protected because crashes also cause hearing loss. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
- Facial: Riders who opt to forgo a helmet are open to extreme injuries, but those who wear a helmet also don’t have complete protection because helmets can become compromised. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
- Spinal: Spinal injuries require surgery and, in many cases, lifelong recorrection through chiropractic help, whether a disc is slipped or the spine itself is broken or bruised. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
- Foot & Leg: Being the closest to the ground while riding, the feet and legs are exposed to breaks, muscle injuries, cuts, and sprains. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
- Emotional: After all the physical injuries, the emotional and psychological tolls can’t be ignored. Take PTSD; no amount of financial payout can touch the years that an accident can haunt the mind through post-accident trauma requiring extensive therapy. ((motorcycle accident in Palm)
Local Palm Desert Helmet Laws Regarding Motorcycles
As we mentioned, wearing helmets is essential when you ride a motorcycle, but did you know that it’s a universal law in California? California is one of only 20 states requiring such safety standards. You must wear a helmet, but it must also be a federally approved safety helmet that fits properly. If you fail to wear a helmet, you can even receive a citation for this lack of adherence to the law.
Worse still, if you are in an accident and aren’t adequately protected, you open yourself up to a weakened defense because your injuries are more severe than they might have been if adequately protected. 3% of registered vehicles in the United States are motorcycles, yet their operators account for 14% of traffic-related casualties.
- Comparative Fault & Helmets: In California, cases are subject to comparative fault. That means your potential financial rewards can be limited by a percentage of responsibility you assumed by not wearing a helmet. For example, if you don’t wear a helmet, the courts can reduce your judgment by 20% because you were 20% responsible for the level of severity of your accident. (motorcycle accident in Palm)
California Law & Lane Splitting
Lane splitting became legal in California in 2016 when Jerry Brown signed it into law. Between rows of stopped or slow-moving cars, you are allowed to operate a moving vehicle with two wheels in contact with the ground. The speed at which you are allowed to move is not dictated formally, but the CHP and officers generally cite speeds of 10 to 20 mph over the speed of the passenger vehicle traffic.
- Limits to Law: Many acts on the road are legal, but not if they are pushed to a limit deemed unsafe. The same applies to lane splitting; you can be cited or even arrested for endangering public safety if you perform this maneuver recklessly. The law states explicitly, “extreme caution should be exercised.” (motorcycle accident in Palm)
Why Choose Us For Your Motorcycle Accident Attorneys Case
Motorcycle Advocates injury lawyers understand you have a choice of many Palm Desert motorcycle accident attorneys. You want to go with the most skilled lawyers because their experience is what will maximize your compensation. Most lawyers of this type do not charge unless they win, so it’s not about what is affordable financially; it is about who will fight the hardest and who will pursue every avenue through ingenuity to unlock the potential of your Palm Desert personal injury attorneys.
