Agoura Hills Injury Attorney

Elements of a Personal Injury Claim

In a personal injury claim, you must establish that the other person’s negligence harmed you.

For any personal injury claim to be successful, your claim must include the following elements:

• The defendant had a legal duty to use reasonable care to prevent harm to you.
• The defendant violated that legal duty.
• The defendant’s violation of the legal duty caused you harm.

Understanding Legal Duty

The legal duty in motor vehicle claims is to use reasonable care in driving a vehicle. Drivers must keep a lookout for pedestrians, obstacles, and other vehicles. They must also control the speed and movement of their vehicles. The failure to use reasonable care in driving a vehicle is a violation of that legal duty.

The legal duty in medical malpractice claims is to use the level of skill, knowledge, and care in diagnosis and treatment that other reasonably careful medical practitioners would use in the same or similar circumstances. The level of skill, knowledge, and care is “the standard of care.” The standard of care is determined based on the testimony of experts. Violation of that legal duty is a “breach” of the standard of care.

Challenges in Proving Negligence

To establish liability, you must prove that the defendant violated their legal duty to use reasonable care to prevent injury to you. However, it is challenging to prove that the defendant engaged in the kind of actions or omissions that constitute a violation of that duty or a breach of the standard of care. Defendants and their insurance companies do not usually admit negligence willingly.

You must also prove that the violation of the legal duty caused your injuries. For instance, if you were involved in a bicycle accident but were not wearing a helmet at the time, the defendant and their insurance company will claim that you caused your injuries because you were not wearing a helmet. You have the burden to prove that the injuries would have occurred even if you were wearing a helmet, and that your injuries were therefore a direct result of the defendant’s negligence.

Call Effres & Effres at (818) 222-9720, or contact us online, to get started with your claim.

Serving the Greater Los Angeles Area & San Fernando Valley

When you become the victim of an accident, everything immediately grows more complicated and confusing. It is all too easy to get overwhelmed by all the complexities of contending with the legal side of things while you are simultaneously trying to recover from your injury.

Insurance companies have been known to take advantage of this situation by attempting to offer a paltry settlement to the victims in hopes that they will accept it without thinking. However, once you are dealing with an injury, you will be surprised by how hard of a financial hit you may take-medical bills, lost wages at work, and other costs can quickly pile up.

Guiding You Through Your Personal Injury Claim

In every personal injury claim in California, the claimant or plaintiff has the burden to prove every element of negligence in order to establish the other party’s liability and recover compensation.

Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers have served residents of the Los Angeles region and across California for more than 35 years. We bring to your case the legal expertise and resources necessary to recover damages for you. If you feel you’ve been injured due to the negligence of another, contact a Los Angeles personal injury claim lawyer at our firm to discuss how you can prove negligence in your accident claim.

Don't Settle For Less Than You Deserve

At Effres & Effres, we are here to ensure that you are protected during this process and that you get the amount of compensation that you need. Before you talk settlement, reach out to our team of personal injury lawyers and share the details of what happened. Our team can help you hold the responsible party accountable for their actions.

Put 35+ Years Of Experience In Your Corner

At Effres & Effres, our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys know you are going through enough as it is. Legal fees would just be one more stressful thing to handle. However, we believe you deserve access to skilled representation, no matter what your financial situation is like. That is why we not only offer free initial consultations, but we work on a contingency fee basis. This means that you will not be required to pay any legal fees unless we successfully recover compensation on your behalf.

We want to help you in any way that we can. Contact us if you have any questions about how to get started. We offer our services for residents throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, and all surrounding counties.

Call (818) 222-9720 now to speak to a member of our team at Effres & Effres.