When Accidents Cause Injury
Accidents are rarely entirely accidental. There is nearly always an explanation — often predictable, and often involving negligence by some person or entity such as a company or a government body. When accidents cause injuries or fatalities, human suffering takes on practical, medical and legal dimensions.
In practical terms, after a serious accident your whole life may change dramatically. Over time, you will recover and/or adapt to the “new normal” state if you have disabilities that remain after you have recovered as much as you will be able to recover.
Medically speaking, you and your family or other caregivers should do everything possible to get you topnotch medical evaluation, treatment and care. A typical course of events includes trauma care or emergency care followed by rehabilitation, including appropriate therapies.
Why You Need A Lawyer After An Accidental Injury
Legally, you may turn to a personal injury attorney to help:
- Determine the cause of the accident
- Determine who was at fault
- Determine the dollar value of your losses
- Consider intangible losses (pain and suffering, for example) and how they may be included in an injury claim or lawsuit
- Pursue maximum available compensation for you
Nguyen Theam Lawyers, LLP in Long Beach represents people injured in many kinds of accidents. To schedule a consultation, call 562-283-5415 or complete the intake form on the Contact page of this website.
Because of the high-dollar costs of medical treatment that surpass most people’s available emergency funds, a personal injury lawyer will work hard to discover all sources of compensation such as:
- The liable party (whoever caused the accident)
- The liable party’s insurance policies
- The victim’s own insurance policies
- Other sources such as victim compensation funds and workers’ compensation
- Any defective road conditions that caused or contributed to the incident or injury
- Any defective products that caused or contributed to the incident or injury
Types Of Accidents That Injure Our Clients
Nguyen Theam Lawyers, LLP, in Long Beach, California, has earned a reputation for effective advocacy of people injured through:
- Motor vehicle accidents, including car, van, SUV, motorcycle and off-road bikes and motorboat accidents
- Crashes involving large vehicles such as trucks and buses
- Drunk driver accidents
- Public transportation accidents, such as Amtrak and city bus accidents
- Swimming pool accidents
- Fires and explosions (auto fires, house fires and warehouse fires, for example)
- Electrical, chemical and gas-related accidents
- Workplace accidents
Sometimes the injured person is not a driver, passenger or pedestrian but rather, a first responder. If you were injured while responding to an accident as a police officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician (EMT), you will likely have compensation through your employer. In addition, you may bring an injury claim or lawsuit against a negligent party, such as the driver of the car that hit you or the driver who caused the accident you were stopping for.
Through an injury claim or lawsuit, you may be able to recover compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering after an accident of one of these types. An example of a serious accident and its causes is a crash involving a large vehicle such as a big rig or trucking accident.
Why Do Large Vehicle Accidents Occur?
The big rig accident or truck accident is usually due to operator error or equipment failure. The operator may be inattentive, fatigued, distracted or intoxicated. He may be speeding to make a deadline and hence unable to stop in a timely manner. Equipment failure, particularly faulty brakes, can play a role. The accident can also stem from the actions of another driver who fails to recognize the inability of a big rig to stop or maneuver quickly.
In cases of train or bus accidents, the situation can be even more dangerous, as not only is the vehicle deadly when out of control, but it is full of innocent passengers whom can be severely injured when an accident occurs.
Other common accidents and some of their causes include:
Pedestrian Accidents
The Center for Disease Control (CDC), a U.S. government agency, spells out the hazards that thousands of Americans face every year. “In 2015, 5,376 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes [in the U.S., and] 129,000 pedestrians were treated in emergency departments for non-fatal crash-related injuries.” (Source: CDC website.)
The CDC also reported that pedestrians are more likely to die in car-pedestrian crashes than occupants of cars and other vehicles. This seems natural, since a human body is no match for a steel car body when speed is added to the mix. Pedestrians are often thrown in the air or crushed by cars’ wheels, causing serious, catastrophic and fatal injuries.
In many cases, the injured person can recover compensation through the motorist’s insurance. Sometimes accidents are hit-and-run accidents. In these cases, the injured person may need to recover compensation through his or her own uninsured motorist coverage. An experienced personal injury attorney can discover all sources of compensation and pursue the financial support the injured person needs.
Bicycle Accidents
Bike Long Beach, a program of the Public Works Department of Long Beach, reports that, “The number of bike-related accidents has increased over past 5 years. This…increase is coincident with the growth rate of cycling in Long Beach…which…doubled between 2008 and 2010.” With the rise in bicycling and bicycle accidents, legal representation for injured bicyclists will continue to be a critical area of the law in this area. The lawyers at Nguyen Theam Lawyers, LLP are avid cyclists and understand the dangers posed by drivers
Skateboard, Scooter, Motorbike And Personal Watercraft Accidents
Recreational devices such as skateboards, scooters and mopeds are often at the center of accidental injury cases. With resulting serious injuries and future expenses to deal with, it is important to have legal representation by an attorney who is familiar with these recreational accidents.
Your personal injury lawyer should be determined to fight for the maximum compensation attainable in your case. If you or a family member has been injured in a recreational accident or any accidental injury, contact a personal injury attorney with experience handling similar accidents. Call or email us to reach our Long Beach law offices. We will gladly explain how we can help.