Residents of Murrieta, like the rest of Southern California, rely on their cars on a daily basis for everything from commuting to errands to weekend road trips. Most of these trips are uneventful, but on highways like the 15 and 215 it’s common to see pileups, SUV rollovers, jackknives, and multi-car crashes almost daily. These accidents cause fatalities and serious injuries that can follow victims the rest of their lives; tragically, it’s an unfortunate fact that most of these accidents would have been prevented if someone hadn’t acted negligently. If you or a loved one were hurt in a collision on a freeway, contact a Murrieta Highway Accident Lawyer to see if you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.
Murrieta Area Highway Collision Risks
Murrieta, a growing town of over 113,000, have a dependence on their vehicles. A large majority of the city’s residents commute for work and drive frequently in everyday life and for travel throughout Riverside County as well as the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego metro areas. The area, with the busting 15 and 215 freeways nearby, is also a popular travel route for large commercial vehicles like big rigs and semi-trucks. These factors all come together to make Murrieta a location where highway accidents, along with their harmful consequences, are dangerously common. Just recently, in late 2019, a multi-vehicle accident involving a transit bus and passenger vehicles on the 215 near Los Alamos Road resulted in one death, several hospitalizations for severe injuries, and several hours of freeway closure.
Highway Accident Injuries
It’s common for victims to suffer several different types of injuries in a Murrieta highway accident. Some injuries like cuts and bruises are minor, but others are catastrophic and can require lifelong medical care and extensive, expensive accommodations to live a normal life. When compared to city streets, the higher speed limits on highways and large population of massive commercial trucks like semi-trucks makes any highway accident cause for serious concern. Studies have shown a 5 mile an hour increase in the speed limit correlates to an 8 percent increase in fatalities when accidents do occur. For those lucky enough to survive, it’s common to see injuries including:
- Head and brain injuries;
- Neck injuries such as whiplash;
- Spinal cord injuries;
- Back injuries;
- Broken bones; and
- Internal injuries.
However, one of the most common and most serious injuries that results from Murrieta highway accidents is a traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBIs can be fatal if left untreated, but they are often not diagnosed because victims do not realize symptoms may not appear for weeks once injured or do not seek medical attention after the accident.
How Do I Win My Case?
Highway accident victims typically try to recover from their injuries by arguing someone was negligent and is liable. For negligence, you must prove the defendant owed you a legal duty of care, breached that duty through an act or omission, and their breach was the cause of injury to you. With car accidents, however, you may also argue that the defendant was negligent simply because they were breaking a law or committing a traffic violation when they caused the accident. Under the theory of negligence per se, someone violating a law or regulation is presumed to have been acting negligently – this includes offenses like speeding, driving while intoxicated, or texting and driving – and will be liable for your damages unless they have a valid legal defense.
If both you and the other parties involved shared some responsibility for the accident, the court will evaluate the facts and assign each side a percentage of fault for the collisions. Under comparative negligence in California, your recovery will be reduced by the amount of fault you bear in the accident.
What Is My Murrieta Highway Accident Case Worth?
Once you have established that another party’s negligence caused the accident and your harm, you may be entitled to recover for your injuries. Given the severe nature of many highway accidents, medical expenses can easily become astronomical. Though no amount of money will erase the fact you were in a traumatic accident, you may be awarded compensation for both concrete injuries as well as less quantifiable injuries resulting from accident-related mental, emotional, and psychological trauma. Common compensatory damages given often include:
- Medical bills and future medical expenses,
- Property damage,
- Lost wages and lost future earning capacity,
- Funeral and burial expenses,
- Pain and suffering,
- Mental anguish,
- Loss of consortium, and
- Permanent scarring, disability, or disfigurement.
Some situations, where a defendant has engaged in particularly vile or reprehensible conduct, may merit an award of additional damages for a victim. Though these awards can be quite large, there is a very high burden of proof to satisfy to qualify for them. Punitive damages are also entirely up to the judge or jury as to whether there should be an award as well as the amount given. The difficulty of proving necessary intent for punitive damages and satisfying the elevated burden of proof makes it wise to consult a Murrieta Highway Accident Lawyer to avoid potentially costly legal missteps in your case.
Don’t Wait – Speak to an Attorney
If you or a loved one were injured during an accident on one of the highways or busy roadways intersecting with a highway in Southern California, you should contact the skilled Murrieta Highway Attorneys at Walton Law, APC. Our attorneys have years of experience providing personalized, dedicated representation to victims just like you and we deliver results; we have recovered millions of dollars in damages on their behalf. Contact us today to schedule a risk-free, no obligation case evaluation. We are available 24/7 at (866) 338-7079 through our online Contact Page. The initial, confidential consultation is free, and you pay nothing until we win your case. Let our team of skilled attorneys use our knowledge and resources to fight for you and get the best possible outcome from a bad situation on your behalf starting today.