Wells, Call, Clark
Bennett & Clawson
Wrongfully Injured? We Can Help

(866) 716-0972

Category: Personal Injury

Were you or a loved one harmed by the negligence of another person? Contact our Bay Area personal injury lawyers for a consultation.

How Can I Avoid Serious Injuries While Riding a Motorized Scooter?entry-title

A mother and her 11-year old daughter visiting from Arizona were seriously injured while riding a motorized scooter in Santa Barbara. The accident happened shortly after the San Diego City Council voted against an emergency law that would have prohibited these scooters on California boardwalks. This accident is one out of many recent motorized scooter accidents that have happened throughout the state. Many people are still unaware of the laws that are in place in order to legally ride these scooters.

How Can I Be Safe While Riding a Motorized Scooter?

If you do decide to ride a motorized scooter, you should be aware of the safety concerns involving them and what you can do to prevent a serious injury. You should:

• Wear a helmet. Head injuries are the main injuries people sustain from motorized scooter accidents. Always wear a helmet in order to avoid a serious head injury if you were to fall or run into another vehicle or pedestrian.
• Try to avoid riding a dockless scooter. Many of these scooter companies don’t have a central docking location where you can safely return your scooter after riding it during the day. This can prevent scooter riders from riding on the scooter too long and at late hours, which can result in more injuries.
• Not ride the scooter on busy sidewalks/boardwalks. Many accidents involve the scooters hitting other pedestrians on busy sidewalks and boardwalks. In order to avoid this, don’t ride your scooter during busy hours, or ride the scooter in a designated bike lane where pedestrians are not walking.
• Follow local road rules and hand signals. If you are turning onto a busy street or intersection while riding your motorized scooter, you should follow the same traffic rules that other cyclists have to follow. This means using the proper hand signals while turning and giving yourself enough room between vehicles.

If you have been injured from a motorized scooter accident, you could potentially seek compensation for your injuries. Contact our personal injury attorneys at Wells, Call, Clark Bennett & Clawson today for a free consultation.

What Is California’s Dog Bite Statute?entry-title

Millions of California families own a dog or multiple dogs, which means that the possibility of a dog attack is also quite common. Different states have different laws when it comes to dog bites and how liability for these attacks is determined. In California, there are very unique laws that every dog owner should know about if they are ever involved in a dog bite attack.

What Rules Does California Follow For Dog Bites?

Many states follow the one-bite rule when it comes to dog bites. The one bite rule provides that the dog owner must have known of a dog’s aggressive behavior in order to be liable for a victim’s injury. However, California is one of the states that does not have a one-bite rule. California’s statute for dig bites is based instead on strict liability.

Strict liability means that a dog owner is legally liable for an injury even if he or she was not negligent. In other words, the owner cannot avoid liability for a dog bite because he or she did not know of the dog’s aggressive or violent behavior. For example, if a victim is bit by a dog in California, the victim only has to prove that:

  • He or she was injured by the dog, and
  • He or she was on public property and not trespassing

How Is Liability Determined?

If these two things can be proven, the dog owner is completely financially responsible for any damages resulting from the dog bite, even if there were no previous signs of aggression from the dog. California law also dictates an extra duty of care on the dog’s owner if the dog has a previous history of bites or aggressive behavior. If the owner fails to take reasonable action to protect others, anyone else can petition to euthanize the dog.

If you or a loved one are a victim of a dog bite, or you should contact a personal injury attorney to receive information on possible options for recovering compensation. Contact Wells, Call, Clark, Bennett & Clawson today for a free consultation.

How Do I Prove Fault in a Slip and Fall Accident?entry-title

Slip and fall accidents can occur on someone else’s property, and these accidents can result in unfortunate injuries. When an injury is sustained on another person’s property, it can be confusing trying to determine if the property owner was liable or if it was your own fault. However, there are some key ways that you and your personal injury attorney can determine fault for your slip and fall accident.

How Can I Find Who Is Responsible for My Slip and Fall Injury?

Many people are injured every year from slipping and falling on wet floors, defective staircases or rough areas of ground. Property owners have a duty to maintain their property. To determine fault in a difficult slip and fall case, questions will be aimed at whether the property owner acted carefully so that slipping or tripping was less likely to occur, and whether the victim was careless or not in avoiding the hazard. One of the following must be true for a property owner to be liable for your injury:

  • The property owner caused the spill, worn pavement/surface or other dangerous surface or item to be underfoot
  • The owner or an employee of the property must have known about the hazard and did nothing about it
  • The owner or property employee should have known of the hazard because a “reasonable” person in charge of the property would have discovered and repaired or removed it

Phrases such as “should have known” and “reasonable” are hard to legally define and can make personal injury cases like these hard to solve. Determining the defendant’s “reasonableness” will depend on the specific circumstances of the hazard that caused the injury, and it will depend on the details of the property and the property owner’s employment duties.

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, you should contact a Fairfield personal injury attorney today to fight for your right to compensation.

Is it Worth Filing a Lawsuit for My Injury?entry-title

If you have unfortunately suffered injuries from a car accident, slip and fall incident, or any other type of accident, you’re probably facing a lot of questions about your near future. If your injuries were serious, you are probably considering filing a lawsuit. It’s expected to have the concern: “what is my case actually worth?” People want to know how much time and effort they will have to put into a case, and if it will all be worth it in order to gain full compensation.

How Can I Know My Case is Worth a Lawsuit?

In order to determine how much your case is worth, there’s one thing you’ll have to calculate: damages. Damages will include what your injuries cost you financially, mentally, and physically. In personal injury cases, monetary damages are paid to the injured person by the person or company who is found to be responsible, which is the defendant or their insurer.

Monetary damages are also “compensatory” damages, which means that their intention is to compensate the injured person for what was lost due to the injury or accident. Sometimes compensatory damages are easy to quantify and put a dollar amount to, especially if it’s a reimbursement for medical bills or any property damages. Pain and suffering, however, is much more difficult to place a monetary value on. When it comes to pain and suffering, you and your personal injury attorney will work together to collect proof of things such as emotional distress, loss of enjoyment, and loss of consortium (negative impact on plaintiff’s relationships).

Punitive damages are another type of damages that will help you calculate if your case is worth a lawsuit. These damages are different than compensatory damages because their goal is to punish the defendant for their careless or negligent behavior that could have caused your injury.

In conclusion, knowing if your injury case is worth a lawsuit depends on many different circumstances. Once you determine the different damages that are related to your case, and which ones can be quantified and which ones will need alternate proof, you’ll have a good estimate. Contact our California personal injury law firm to get more information for your case today.

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Napa, CA 94559

Phone: 707-282-5521

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Fairfield, CA 94533

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Vallejo, CA 94590

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Vacaville, CA 95688

Phone: 707-430-5651

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Woodland, CA 95695

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Richmond, CA 94806

Phone: 501-808-6118

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