California is a motorcycle rider’s paradise. People from all over the country come to enjoy our breathtaking scenic routes, like the Pacific Coast Highway.
We are also the only state where lane splitting is legal, giving a sense of satisfaction to riders who have always wanted to be able to get around slower-moving traffic and avoid constant braking.
When things turn bad for motorcycle occupants in California, though, they can be really bad. Motorcycle accidents have some of the highest rates of fatalities and serious injury of all road accident types. All it takes is one other careless driver to quickly transform a motorcycle owner’s dream into an unfortunate nightmare of medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses.
Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys provides motorcycle riders in California with a highly motivated legal advocate. After you have been hurt, entrust our California motorcycle accident lawyers to represent your claim and pursue the highest amount of compensation possible.
We work closely with your care teams and diligently track your damages, reducing the risk that money is left on the table after a motorcycle accident settlement is signed.
Call us today at (855) 604-4641 or contact us online to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with an experienced motorcycle accident attorney in California. We’ll review your case, go over possible damages, and outline a strategy to help you recover as much as you can after your unfortunate crash.
Benefits of Working With a California Motorcycle Accident Attorney
The period immediately after your motorcycle accident is going to present major hardships for you and your family. Not only are you worried about recovering medically from your injuries, but you now also have to manage a claim with the at-fault driver (or other liable parties).
At Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys, we know from experience winning a motorcycle accident claim can be tough. Many times, you may not even be able to fully identify the driver who hit you.
They may not have exchanged information before they left the scene, violating California state law in the process (VC §20001).
Other times, you may be accused of contributing to the accident circumstances, even if you did absolutely nothing wrong.
By reaching out to our California motorcycle accident lawyers, you can obtain the legal representation and assistance you need to make your medical recovery not only easier but also make your claim more likely to result in success.
Our California motorcycle accident law firm has extensive experience with managing injury cases like yours. With our knowledge of insurance procedures and state law, we can help you fight for the full amount of compensation you need to cover all of the damages you have suffered.
When you work with a California motorcycle accident attorney at our firm, you can expect to receive the following services and benefits:
- Immediate assistance with finding qualified medical care and starting your injury claim
- A full investigation of your motorcycle accident, including its causes and whether any state or municipal laws were violated by the party who hit you
- Accurate valuation of all damages, in full, including the projected cost of any long-term care or care required for a permanent condition
- Intensive case research to uncover all relevant state, federal, municipal, or case laws
- Experienced guidance throughout every step of the claims process
- Timely updates on your case’s progress while giving you the opportunity to make key decisions when the need arises
- Fearless negotiation with all insurers and other parties involved, rigorously advocating for your legal right to recover damages in full
- Trial litigation experience, benefitting you in the event a motorcycle accident settlement cannot be reached out of court, as we employ the most effective case strategies possible in front of a jury of your peers
- Compassionate service, ensuring your concerns are addressed and your questions are answered any time they arise
Our California motorcycle accident law firm has the resources, knowledge, and staff needed to give injury cases like yours the full attention they deserve. We dedicate every asset we can to expediting your case, maximizing its chances of success, and ensuring that you feel cared for and listened to every step of the way.
What Damages Are Available in My California Motorcycle Accident Case?
After engaging with a California motorcycle accident lawyer, they will help you start to calculate your damages and determine an appropriate amount of compensation to request from all liable parties.
Some of the most common types of compensation to seek include:
- Medical treatment expenses, past and future — Your settlement should fully reimburse you for all care required because of the accident, including the projected cost of any required long-term care.
- Lost wages — Any work you miss can be claimed as lost wages on your settlement. If you acquired a long-term medical condition that requires you to work different job duties or change careers, your injury settlement should provide compensation to cover your difference in earnings while also covering any skills training or certification programs needed to effectively make the transition.
- Vehicle repair or replacement — You likely invested quite a bit in your motorcycle, which is another reason why getting a California motorcycle accident lawyer can be so important. Your attorney will help you prove the actual value of your vehicle, including all accessories and modifications, so you can ensure you have enough money to fully restore your bike or buy an equivalent replacement.
- Pain and suffering — You deserve to be compensated for the full range of unpleasant experiences you had to endure as a result of your motorcycle accident, including the disruption to your schedule and the anguish of missing out on activities that brought you joy, such as time spent with your family.
- Wrongful death damages — Sadly, many motorcycle accidents in California are fatal. If you lose a family member, you can pursue wrongful death damages for the loss of income to the household and your family’s pain and suffering. You can also recover losses incurred by the accident victim’s estate, such as for medical care rendered in the wake of the accident.
The biggest reason to work with a motorcycle accident lawyer in California is to ensure that no money is left on the table when you sign a settlement offer. Many times, insurers will attempt to undervalue claims in the hopes that the accident victim will not understand the full value of their damages.
Undervaluation is especially common when the victim is expected to have long-term costs associated with their medical care, coupled with reductions in lifetime wages. This situation is common when the motorcycle accident victim loses an appendage or the ability to use a bodily organ as they once did.
Reach out to Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys to find a team that is willing to go the extra mile to fully calculate all losses resulting from the motorcycle accident and pursue these damages from all liable parties.
Who Is Responsible for Paying My Damages After a Motorcycle Accident in California?
Before filing any sort of claim or lawsuit, your attorney will investigate your accident in detail. By reviewing the available evidence and, potentially, hiring an accident reconstruction, they can precisely determine who was at fault for causing your accident and the resulting injuries.
When looking for a party to hold accountable, your California motorcycle accident lawyer will consider all of the following possibilities.
The Other Driver (Or Drivers) Involved in the Accident
Tragically, most motorcycle accidents in California are caused by the carelessness of another driver. A single mistake or bad decision can lead to a crash with serious injuries.
The driver should then provide you with their liability insurance policy number so you can file a claim. When two or more drivers were involved in your motorcycle accident, an attorney in California can help you accurately determine who was primarily at fault or whether both parties should share liability for your damages.
The Manufacturer of Your Motorcycle or Its Parts
Sometimes, a faulty part or motorcycle design flaw could have been the primary cause of your accident. Just recently, a major motorcycle manufacturer issued a massive recall for vehicles that have the potential to short-circuit and crash.
If issues like these contributed to — or were the sole cause of — your accident, your motorcycle accident lawyer will file a liability claim against the manufacturer.
The Manufacturer of the Vehicle That Hit You
It is also possible for a design or manufacturing defect to affect the performance of the other vehicles involved in your accident. If your accident occurred — or if your injuries were made worse than they otherwise would have been — because of such a defect, your California motorcycle accident lawyer can help you file a defective product liability claim.
A Negligent Property Owner or Road Maintenance Agency
Often, a motorcycle accident is caused by a dangerous road condition. Private property owners are responsible for inspecting their property for hazards and ensuring that it is safe for travel by all parties.
Agencies like the California Department of Transportation (CDOT) are similarly responsible for ensuring that public roadways are designed safely and maintained in such a way as to reduce hazards to all vehicle traffic.
In any case, the party responsible for a hazardous road condition that led to your motorcycle accident can be named in a personal injury claim for damages.
A Negligent Repair Shop
If your motorcycle crashed because of a faulty repair, then the shop that performed the repairs may be liable for your injury damages under California law. For example, the shop may have failed to properly secure a tire onto your rim, leading to an unexpected seal failure and then a motorcycle accident.
Because of the risk that a negligent repair job contributed to your accident, your California motorcycle accident lawyer will have your vehicle inspected thoroughly after the crash.
California Motorcycle Accident Statistics
The features that make motorcycles fun and exhilarating to ride can also, unfortunately, make them more likely to be involved in a fatal accident.
2021 statistics show that 14% of motor vehicle crash fatalities were motorcycle occupants, nationwide. That does not sound like much, until you consider the fact that just 3.5% of all registered vehicles in the U.S. were motorcycles in 2021, and their usage accounted for just 0.6% of all vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
In California, motorcycle occupants made up 13% of all fatal crash victims in 2021. Fortunately, fatal accidents in the state stayed mostly level from 2017 – 2021, with an average of 541 fatalities each year.
By comparison, the United States saw a 17.6% increase in motorcycle accident fatalities from 2019 – 2021, an average increase of 8.8% each year.
Top California Counties for Motorcycle Accident Fatalities
In 2021, the California counties that had the most motorcycle accident fatalities were as follows:
- Los Angeles County — 120 motorcycle occupant fatalities
- San Bernardino County — 47
- San Diego — 41
- Sacramento — 36
- Riverside — 30
The following counties in California saw an outsized rate of accident fatalities in 2021, as determined by looking at the rate of fatalities in comparison to 100k population:
- Calaveras County — 13.3 motorcycle occupant fatalities per 100k population
- Trinity County — 12.4
- Yuba County — 6.1
- Nevada County — 4.9
- Butte County — 4.7
Most Dangerous Reasons That Motorcycle Accidents Occur in California
A motorcycle accident can happen for any reason, but below, we have listed some of the most common reasons they occur:
- Vehicles turning left in front of the motorcycle’s path — Vehicles turning left across a busy roadway can misjudge the speed at which two-wheeled vehicles approach, and in some cases, they may be so distracted that they don’t see the motorcycle at all
- Dangerous lane changes — California law (VC §22107) requires that all vehicles making a lane change or a turn wait “until such movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after the giving of an appropriate signal.” Instead, many vehicles will switch lanes carelessly, failing to take the time to notice a motorcycle riding alongside them.
- Mistakes during lane splitting — California law allows motorcycles to pass within the same lane as other traffic under specific circumstances. Other drivers can sometimes respond poorly to this maneuver, panicking and causing an accident, or sometimes even deliberately obstructing the path of the motorcycle operator so as to prevent the lane split.
- Rear-end accidents — Rear-end collisions are likely to happen in a motorcycle accident for the same reason they are the most common type of accident in general: speeding, distracted driving, driving under the influence, and a lack of vigilance. The major difference is that when a motorcycle is involved, the collision can knock the motorcycle occupants off their vehicle, sending them into traffic or under the tires of the vehicle that hit them.
These examples of negligent and dangerous driving illustrate how a motorcycle accident can happen in the blink of an eye. Your California motorcycle accident attorney will closely investigate the crash, looking for signs of negligence in order to demonstrate how other parties’ negligence caused your injuries.
Common Challenges to Look Out For in a California Motorcycle Accident Case
Once a motorcycle accident occurs, the next most painful thing aside from your injuries can be the frustrating responses you get from the insurance companies. They may use the following tactics in an effort to minimize the amount of damages they cover:
No Response After Submitting Your Claim
Once your claim has been submitted, insurers are required to respond in a few days to confirm receipt. However, they may delay their next updates for weeks, possibly even months, at a time while they investigate the accident further.
This period of no communication can understandably make the motorcycle accident victim feel uneasy and desperate for the money they need to repay the bills.
Giving You a Lowball Offer
Whether or not it arrives quickly, the first offer you receive from an insurer is likely to be much lower than the full extent of your damages. Be sure to consult with a motorcycle accident attorney in California to accurately estimate your damages and determine if a settlement offer is reasonable before you sign.
Asking You to Make a Recorded Statement
Be extremely careful about anything you disclose to an insurance company, including your own. Any information you provide can be used to pin liability on you or allege that your motorcycle accident injuries are not as severe as you claimed.
In fact, consider deferring all communications to an attorney, which greatly reduces the risk of you disclosing something that compromises your chances of succeeding in your case.
Asking for Access to Your Full Medical History
The insurance company handling your personal injury claim only needs recent medical documents that pertain specifically to your motorcycle accident injuries. When they ask for your full medical history, they are usually digging for evidence of pre-existing conditions that can allow them to allege that your motorcycle accident injuries weren’t fully caused by the recent wreck.
Blaming You for the Accident
Insurers can use the stereotypical depiction of a motorcycle owner to paint accident victims in a negative light, pointing to irrelevant details that supposedly reveal that the motorcycle operator caused their own accident, in part or in full. Hiring a California motorcycle accident lawyer is the best way to ensure that only relevant details are considered and that the actions of the party that actually caused your accident are the primary focus of a claim’s discussion.
Should I Wait Until I’ve Fully Recovered to Start My Claim?
You do not need to wait until you’ve made a full medical recovery (officially called “maximum medical improvement”) before you start your claim. In fact, you can file a notice of a claim immediately after your motorcycle accident has occurred.
This notice does not need to (nor should it) provide the full extent of your medical details and the damages you are requesting.
It is a good idea, however, to wait until your condition has improved significantly so that the remaining time and expense required to recover fully can be understood. Your motorcycle accident lawyer in California will work closely with your medical teams to grasp when you have reached this point.
Then, they may consult with specialists to ensure that you can know with a high degree of certainty what future treatments will be required.
After this point, the total medical treatment cost of your injury can be estimated, including all future care needs, allowing you to request an appropriate amount of compensation from the liable party.
How Can I Make Sure My Settlement Will Pay to Fully Repair My Motorcycle, Including Accessories?
Another major risk of a motorcycle accident is that the full value of your motorcycle will be glossed over. Your settlement should include appropriate compensation to repair your motorcycle to full working order, identical to how it was before the accident occurred.
Likewise, if your vehicle was totaled, then you should receive enough to purchase an equivalent motorcycle, including all the aftermarket parts, accessories, and customizations you had at the time of the accident.
Many times, insurers will point to a recent model of the same vehicle that was crashed to estimate the repair or replacement cost. This calculation may ignore any unique parts, accessories, customizations, or other features that made the motorcycle special to you.
Furthermore, if the model came from a year that is rarer or more in demand because of changes that followed, it may actually be more valuable than the most recent version of that same model.
If you had any personal items damaged in the accident, you are eligible to receive compensation for these, as well. Motorcycle jackets, boots, and other rider accessories can be expensive.
You may have also had personal devices damaged in the motorcycle accident, such as a cell phone, a dash camera, or a trip computer.
Your California motorcycle accident lawyer will take all of these details into consideration and request an appropriate amount of compensation to make you “whole” again. Without an experienced professional’s representation, damages like these can easily be overlooked.
Reach Out to a Proven and Motivated California Motorcycle Accident Law Firm
You were likely to have been seriously hurt in your motorcycle accident — or you may have lost a loved one to such an event. Any time you find yourself hurting and in need of an advocate to stand up for your legal right to seek compensation, give us a call.
Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys is one of the most consistently high-rated firms in California, according to reviews and testimonials from our own clients.
Our representation comes at no up-front cost to you, and you pay nothing for our services if we are not able to recover any compensation at all. Find out why we are a highly-rated firm with a history of winning millions of dollars on behalf of our clients during your free, no-obligation case review.
Call (855) 604-4641 or contact us online to schedule a free case evaluation with an experienced California motorcycle accident lawyer today.
