Orange County Premises Liability Attorney
When you are going about your day, the last thing you might expect is to be injured because of someone else’s negligence or criminal actions. However, this is unfortunately a common occurrence, and your life can change in a split second through no fault of your own. If you were injured on someone else’s premises in Orange County, CA you should get in contact with a dedicated Orange County premises liability lawyer so they can help you fight for compensation.
What Counts as a Premises Liability Case in California?
If someone else’s negligence or actions on their property result in you getting hurt, you have a personal liability case on your hands. There are all sorts of cases that fall into this legal category, like the following:
- Rideshare Assault: When you call a rideshare car to take you someplace, you almost always expect a smooth, uneventful ride. Unfortunately, there are some cases in which rideshare drivers take advantage of their passengers. If you have been assaulted in any way while riding in a rideshare vehicle, you should get in touch with a legal professional to understand your options for taking legal action. Rideshare accidents are particularly complicated because you might face tension with the driver and the company over who is liable. Your lawyer can work on navigating that battle while you focus on healing from the horrible experience.
- Construction Accidents: Construction sites have all sorts of hazards, and it is vital that they are maintained properly so that those around them do not get hurt. The people running the site have a responsibility to make sure everything is in order so there are no mishaps and that any hazards for people passing by are clearly labeled. If someone’s negligence at a construction site leaves you with an injury, then you deserve to secure compensation that pays for your recovery and emotional distress.
- Animal Attacks: While you often hear that dogs are a man’s best friend, it is sadly quite common for dogs to bite people and leave them with all kinds of serious injuries. If you have been bitten by someone else’s animal, dog, or otherwise, you might be entitled to financial compensation. Often, the dogs are able to get close enough to injure another person because of their owner or caretaker’s negligence and recklessness. A lawyer can review all of the facts of your case and advise you on whether you can pursue legal action after being attacked by an animal.
- Store Accidents: There are all kinds of employee negligence that can result in you getting hurt at a store. In particular, big box stores with massive facilities need constant maintenance to make sure that everything is stored safely and cleaned effectively, which is not always done as it should be. For example, if the goods at the store are not stabilized on the top shelf, something heavy could easily fall on you while you are shopping. Or if the floor is slippery and a store employee fails to put a sign up to notify customers, you could easily fall and hurt yourself.
- Swimming Pool Accidents: Swimming pools can be dangerous places because a small mistake in caring for one can cause a catastrophic event like drowning. If there are no signs in and around a pool about potential hazards, you could very easily get injured.
- Slip and Fall: Unfortunately, slip and fall accidents are some of the most common ways that people get injured on other people’s property. Even though property owners have a responsibility to clearly indicate when a floor is slippery, this is sometimes not done or not done before the surface is a hazard, and this can leave anyone walking on the premises in danger.
If you have been hurt in any of the above scenarios or any other situation in which someone’s negligence on their premises resulted in your injury, you should get in touch with an attorney to understand how to effectively secure adequate compensation.
There are specific factors that you must prove to be able to get your damages paid for, as the law does not favor those who did not have a right to be on a property or engaged in reckless behavior that might have contributed to the accident. However, if you were injured due to no fault of your own and a poorly maintained property, you are entitled to compensation under California’s premise liability law.
What Is CA Premises Liability Law?
Every state deals with personal injuries a bit differently. If you live in the state of California, you will find that there is a premises liability law. This law holds property owners accountable for keeping their properties safe. They have a legal responsibility to:
- Make sure there is no risk of harm to people who are rightfully on the property
- Take necessary precautions to address any conditions that put people in harm’s way
- Ensure that they warn people on the premises of any risks of injury
In an ideal world, every property owner would adhere to these guidelines. However, things often go wrong, and sometimes, the property owners, or people that the owners employ to maintain the property, make mistakes that can put people’s health and safety at risk. If a property owner violates these responsibilities, and you get hurt as a result, you can hold them responsible for breaking California premises liability laws to get compensation.
When you seek compensation for your injury, you should be prepared for the court to investigate if the property owner had a duty of care to you. There are all sorts of situations in which the property owner will not be responsible for your economic and non-economic damages, and you should be prepared to have to prove that the owner was negligent. For instance, the people investigating your claim will ask questions like:
- Did you have a right to be on the property? If you were trespassing, you might not be entitled to compensation.
- Did you do anything that contributed to the accident? If you took action that put yourself in harm’s way and contributed to the accident, then you might be denied compensation.
- Was the property owner aware of the potential danger before and failed to report it? If they were not, they might not be held responsible.
- Did the property owner take any actions to try and warn people? If so, you might be held responsible because they might assume you ignored or did not see the signs.
It is important to remember that insurance companies do not want to compensate you, and they might try to put some of the fault on you in order to minimize your payout or deny your request for compensation. For example, they might claim that there was a sign and that they cannot pay you, but in reality, the sign was not legible.
If something like this happens to you, you will need to make sure you have a qualified legal professional working on your case to advocate for your rights. Your lawyer can gather evidence that helps prove that you were hurt because of someone else’s negligence.
What Can You Get Compensation for After a Personal Liability Case in Orange County?
Physical injuries can come with more costs than you might realize. In addition to the bills involved with getting initial medical attention, you might have to take time off of work, pay for long-term rehabilitative treatment, and get psychological support for processing everything that you went through. If you have children or any sort of caretaker responsibilities that you cannot perform as a result of the injuries, others might suffer as well.
When you file a personal injury claim in California, you can seek compensation for more than just your medical bills.
You can seek financial support for all of the following costly things and more:
- Medical Bills: Even a short trip to a doctor’s office or hospital can lead to a tall pile of bills you have to pay. If you find yourself staring at pricey medical bills as a result of an injury someone else caused, you do not have to panic. A premises liability attorney can help you seek financial payments that cover the costs of all of your medical treatment.
- Rehabilitative Care: Some injuries take a lot longer to heal from than others. If you end up having to receive long-term care or attend rehabilitative treatment sessions like physical therapy, you could find yourself drowning in pricey medical bills for years. This is not fair to you, and you have a right to pursue compensation to take care of the fees involved with this care.
- Permanent Medical Support: In some cases, your injury might leave you disabled in some way for a long time or for the rest of your life. If this is the case, then you will need a lot of funds to be able to access the support you need to enhance your quality of life. You can seek this by filing a personal injury claim after the incident.
- Disfigurement: If you were left permanently scarred or disfigured because of someone else’s negligence, then your life will never be the same. From the cost of treatment for such a serious injury to the emotional impact that it might cause, you have a right to substantial compensation if you have been permanently disfigured.
- Pain and Suffering: You should not have to deal with physical pain because somebody else was careless or did their job incorrectly. When you file your personal injury claim, you can fight to recover compensation for your pain after an injury.
- Emotional Distress: Frightening, life-changing accidents do not just take a toll on your body. They can also have a long-term, if not everlasting, impact on your mental health. You are allowed to pursue compensation for the emotional distress you had to deal with as a result of your experience.
- Lost Income: It can be difficult to go to work when you are recovering from a serious injury. While some employers might continue to pay you during this time, not all workplaces have this policy. If you lost income as a result of your injury on somebody else’s property, you can seek financial compensation to make up for those lost wages.
- Reduced Quality of Life: If you have to deal with physically and mentally recovering from an injury for a long time, your quality of life will inevitably decrease. You should not have to change your whole world because of another person’s mistake. They deserve to pay for what they did, and you deserve to have financial support for this difficult new phase of your life.
- Wrongful Death: In the horrible event that one of your loved ones was killed because of someone else’s negligence, you deserve to be compensated for your loss. Of course, no sum of money can compensate for their presence. However, making the person who is responsible pay can help address some emotional distress and help pay for the costs involved with the loss. A lawyer can help you understand how to fight for compensation and take care of all of the legal steps you do not have to concern yourself with in your time of grief.
Is There a Statute of Limitations on Premises Liability Claims in California?
Injuries can happen in a matter of moments, and it is understandable if you need some time to process everything. Especially if you need to receive medical treatment or psychological support, it is understandable if you do not want the mental strain of a legal process right away. However, it is important to know there is a limited amount of time that you can file a claim and try to seek financial support for your premises liability case.
In California, the statute of limitations on premises liability is two years. This means that you have two years from the day that you were injured to file a claim in an effort to seek compensation. It is, therefore, in your interest to file as soon as possible.
If you are still focused on recovering from your injuries and trying to attend to other matters in your life, you can get in touch with a personal injury attorney who can help relieve some of your stress and handle all of the technical matters involved in your case.
Why You Need a Premises Liability Lawyer in Orange County, CA
While you have the legal right to pursue financial compensation after an injury, you will find that it is not always the most straightforward process. In order to prove that you deserve compensation for all of the things on the above list, you will need to prove that someone’s negligence caused you to get hurt.
In other words, you will have to prove that the property owner knew of a hazard and failed to do anything about it or did something that they should have known created a hazard. This will require filling out detailed paperwork and having thorough evidence to support your claims.
If you are already dealing with a painful injury and trying to adjust to life after an emotionally intense incident, you should not have to deal with gathering evidence for a strong personal injury claim alone. When you hire an experienced attorney, you can rest assured that there is a person out there advocating for your needs while you work on resting and recovering. Your lawyer can handle all of the following things:
- Gathering Strong Evidence: When you are injured, your first thoughts are probably not about taking photos or collecting evidence from the scene. If you are able to, that is great for your case, but if not, you do not need to worry, if you have the right lawyer. Your attorney can track down relevant evidence that helps support your case. This evidence can include photos that other people took at the scene, police reports, if they exist, and any testimony from witnesses who saw what happened.
- Breaking Down the Legal Process: The California legal system is complicated, and the world of premises liability law is no simple part of it. Your lawyer can listen with a compassionate, patient ear to any questions you might have as to how to proceed with your case and what to expect from the process of seeking compensation. Our liability lawyers at the Corrales Law Group are also bilingual in English and Spanish and can help clarify anything you need to be explained or translated.
- Obtaining and Using Your Medical Records: When you have been injured and are trying to make someone else pay for the treatment of that injury, it is vital that you have official medical records. While you might be tempted to try and treat the injury on your own or cut costs by having a loved one take care of you, you should instead go to a medical professional who can record the facts of your case. Your lawyer can then use these records to help you prove that you deserve compensation for the physical pain and suffering that you have endured due to another’s actions.
- Negotiating: Lawyers are trained negotiators, and it is important to have someone who knows their way around the legal system and the insurance world when you are trying to seek financial support for an injury. These lawyers can strategically argue in your favor and know what to say to secure the compensation you need.
- Filing Your Claim: It is understandable to be confused and overwhelmed about the amount of paperwork you have to file when seeking compensation for an injury. However, making sure your paperwork is in order is one of the most important steps to ensure you are successful at receiving money for your pain. Even small mistakes or delays in submitting paperwork can leave you facing a significant setback in your quest for justice.
- Addressing a Denied Claim: In the case that you are denied compensation, your lawyer can try to fight back using evidence they have gathered about your case. You have six months to file a lawsuit that refutes the denial of your claim. Your lawyer can attend to all steps of this process, whether it be through negotiation or through going to court. While you can wait until this stage to hire a lawyer, it is in your interest to hire a lawyer right after your injury because then your attorney will have already had an in-depth understanding of your case and have been ready for the possibility of going to court since day one.
- Going to Court: Although most premises liability cases can be resolved without having to go to a formal trial, if you face a lot of pushback from responsible parties in getting what you are owed, you just might find yourself in a courtroom. If your case gets to this stage, you will want to have a lawyer on your side who knows all about your needs and is determined to do everything in their power to fight for you. Your lawyer will present a strategically planned defense to the court, presenting a polished argument and detailed evidence that aims to prove that you had no fault in this situation and that the property owner owes you for what happened.
Orange County Premises Liability Lawyers Who Put Your Needs First
If your world was turned upside down by an injury on another person’s property, you could benefit from legal advice. You do not have to navigate California’s complicated legal system alone. With the help of a seasoned attorney, you might be able to get a lot more financial support than you could have on your own.
Our team of experienced attorneys at the Corrales Law Group is ready to listen to your experience and give you guidance on how to secure compensation. From taking care of filing your personal injury claim to negotiating with a frustrating insurance company, we can cover all of your needs so that you can focus on healing.
Every person in our office is fluent in Spanish and English and can translate any documents or information you need. If you are ready to pursue justice in a premises liability case, do not hesitate to reach out to our office today.