Personal Injury Lawyers in San Diego
Hoey Firm - San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyers, Personal Injury Attorneys
Car Accident Attorney San Diego

Oceanside Accident Attorney

An accident in Oceanside can occur at any time, anyplace, causing severe and sometimes fatal injuries. If an accident has occurred to you or maybe a loved one, an accident attorney can describe ones legal rights and any potential liability for individuals involved. Numerous questions may be running through your mind, such as: Who is at fault? What if it was a family member in the car accident? What about incident insurance?

If you have been injured in an Oceanside Accident, please call us now at (858) 550-1002 for a complimentary, confidential consultation with a knowledgeable Oceanside Accident lawyer.

Should I contact an Oceanside accident lawyer?

If you or a loved one was in a crash, one of the major things one will need to set up is who was to blame for the incident. The level of fault regarding every individual or group involved in the accident is THE most vital component in any incident lawsuit. This determination will vary based on the state you are in and that state’s legal guidelines on disregard. The amount of carelessness of each part in a crash will decide who was responsible and who will be responsible for any accident injuries or wrongful death claims. Normally, a state will keep an eye on one of the following negligence theories, which an accident attorney can explain further: comparative carelessness, genuine comparative wrong doing, or proportional comparative wrong doing.

Why Should I retain the services of an Oceanside Accident Attorney?

An accident lawyer can help you during your difficult time, offering support by dealing with insurance companies and other incident individuals or groups or companies, so you can take the time to completely focus on healing. After an incident you will most likely have several questions and issues. Occasionally the incident laws of your state can be confusing. An accident attorney will help clarify the incident laws and accident reports to you so you know and understand your legal rights. An accident attorney will be an aspect of an incident law firm that can provide you beneficial points of views about your situation and details on how to deal with your injuries. The accident law firm will obtain facts regarding your accident necessary to develop a productive case and acquire compensation for your injuries. In addition, a significant part of incident instances will require communication with insurance companies, other attorneys, as well as additional parties. Often, when an accident lawyer is the one speaking with the company or other lawyer, they will receive more serious and thorough answers than if you were communicating with them. Working with an Oceanside Accident lawyer can help solve your incident situation more quickly, with much less pressure and panic.

If you have been injured in an Oceanside Accident, please give us a call today at (858) 550-1002 for a free, confidential assessment with a skilled Oceanside Accident Injury lawyer.

Car Accidents Overview – Attorneys and Law

Nearly every person will be part of an automotive incident at some point in their lives. While hopefully your vehicle accident won’t cause serious crash injuries, auto accidents can certainly have potentially significant and even lethal outcomes. An automobile accident can also bring about liability – you may be able to prosecute the driver who brought on the accident. As such, it is beneficial to learn more about motor vehicle incidents, motor vehicle accident lawsuits and how an accident lawyer can help.

If you have been injured in an Oceanside Accident, please call us today at (858) 550-1002 for a complimentary, private consultation with a knowledgeable Oceanside Accident Injury lawyer.

How Widespread Are Car Mishaps?

The statistics overseeing car or truck incidents are fairly alarming:

  • More than 6 million car accidents occur in the U.S. every year.
  • Motor vehicle collisions kill one person every 12 minutes, and hurt someone every 14 seconds in the U.S. – many of these cases produce car crash claims either for wrongful death or crash injuries
  • Car or truck accidents kill over 40,000 people every year in U.S., and they are the primary cause of death for persons from ages 2 to 34
  • About 2,000 children pass away as a result of motor vehicle collisions each and every year, and over 250,000 are damaged in accidents

Types of Crash Injuries

There are many various causes for automobile accidents, each of which are likely to lead to a variety of injuries. Some of the most common automobile accidents that happen include:

  • Rear Impact: If you hit a person from behind, or are hit from behind, you have been involved in a rear impact accident. Most frequently this occurs because somebody has failed to brake in time, ending in either a tap or a far more substantial rear impact accident. Nearly 30 % of all automobile accidents in the U.S. are rear-impact crashes. When a rear impact crash occurs, the car owner in the back is generally responsible simply because laws require that a person drive a safe distance from the automobile in front of you.
  • Side Impact: If you are strike on the side of your automobile, you have encountered a side impact crash. Side impact accidents can occur when you “T-bone” a different car, which means the front of your automobile crashes into the side of another. You can also sideswipe another truck by bumping into its side while changing lanes. Nearly 29 percent of all U.S. accidents are side-impact accidents. Proving fault usually will become a challenge here- it can be challenging to know which motorist was in the wrong. A great car accident lawyer can help you gather photographic proof of the scene or will hire a professional in automobile accident reconstruction to act as your witness and to help you establish the wrong doing of the other individual.
  • Head-on Impact: If you strike another motor vehicle front first, or if you hit a non-moving object with the front of your truck, you have been involved in a head-on impact. Head-on collisions occur often when a driver falls asleep and drifts into oncoming traffic. Some other ways head-on crashes arise are where the individual is under the affect of drugs or alcohol, gets on to an interstate or a one-way street in the wrong direction, or loses control of their vehicle and skids into an oncoming lane. These accidents account for 2 percent of all U.S. collisions. The vehicle driver who was going the incorrect way or who had been drunk or asleep is generally at fault.
  • Rollover: If your automobile flips over in any way, or lands on its side, you have been involved in a rollover. Taller autos, like SUV’s and trucks, are more likely to encounter rollovers than smaller cars. Nearly 2 percent of all accidents in the U.S. are rollovers. In some rollover accidents, you could possibly hold the company of the car accountable for an unsatisfactory design or flaws.
  • Runoff: These incidents normally involve just one vehicle running off the road. This can happen any time a person is not paying attention, or swerves to stay away from another vehicle or creature in the road. Runoffs account for 16 percent of all U.S. accidents. If you run off the road, you generally have nobody to guilt but yourself – unless another motor vehicle unlawfully got in your way or there was a problem with the road itself.

How an Oceanside Accident Attorney Helps

If you have been injured in an Oceanside Accident, please give us a call now at (858) 550-1002 for your complimentary, private consultation with a knowledgeable Oceanside Accident lawyer.

No matter the particular cause of your vehicle accident injuries, an automotive accident lawyer can make it easier to show wrong doing and collect the damages you deserve.

Attorneys can be especially valuable when injuries like whiplash or injuries concerning hospitalization are included. Automobile insurance companies will try to fork out as little as possible, and an attorney can allow you to collect proof and protect your legal rights by interacting directly with your insurer or by aiding you to file a car accident lawsuit.

Car Accidents – Who is at Fault?

Fault is one of the biggest, if not THE most essential component, in any auto accident claim. The person at fault is the person whose negligence caused the car accident, and that is the person who generally must pay for the injury caused by his or her negligence. If the circumstances surrounding your accident make it obvious that one individual was clearly at fault, then read no more! One of the related articles detailed below should be your subsequent stop. If, however, liability is not completely obvious or if there is shared fault, then fault is apportioned between the persons decided by the details of the law in your state (see below) on comparative or contributory negligence. When liability is communal in an automobile accident, it is the insurer’s turn to establish the relative percentages of fault of the individuals included.

What is Comparative or Contributory Negligence?

Historically, if two individuals were involved in a crash and the harmed party was even the tiniest bit at fault, he or she would not be eligible to get back anything for his/her injuries or deficits. This approach of determining damages is known in legal sectors as pure contributory negligence. For example, say Luke and Martin had been involved in a car crash. Luke hit Martin’s car while making a left turn onto a 2-lane street at night. Luke didn’t see Martin’s automobile because it was night time (and a dark one at that); Martin was not driving with his front lights on. Under a pure contributory negligence theory, Martin could not recover damages for his injuries because he was partly at fault for the accident. Sound pretty harsh? Actually, a few states still adhere to this particular law (Alabama, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia).

But most states now use some proportional type of comparative negligence that will allow a hurt party to recover some damages for his or her injuries, even if he or she was partly at fault. There are currently three versions: Pure comparative fault; proportional comparative fault at 51%; proportional comparative fault at 50%.

Pure Comparative Fault

In states that have adopted pure comparative fault as a measure of loss, if a wounded human being is somewhat at fault for causing his individual injuries, his damages are lowered by the percentage of his fault. For example, say Michelle was injured in a crash for which she was 80% at fault. Damages for her injury amount to $10,000. Michelle will be eligible to recover $2,000 for her injuries, that is, $10,000 less 80% or $8,000 for her percentage of fault. States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Washington.

Proportional Comparative Fault at 51%

The states that have adopted proportional comparative fault bar recovery if you are more than 51% at fault for the accident. Basically, you can not file a liability claim and lawsuit in opposition to the other driver’s carelessness if you were more than 51% at fault. For example, Dennis hit Teri’s car while traveling in excess of 25 miles per hour over the speed limit while Teri was attempting to cross the road. Even though Teri was somewhat at fault for not looking until the road was entirely clear before crossing, the insurance company allocated fault to Dennis at 60% due to his increased speed. Even though Dennis endured a broken arm from the accident, he is not entitled to recover for his injury due to the fact that he was more than 51% at fault for the accident. States: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Proportional Comparative Fault at 50%

In states that have adopted the 50% bar standard in attending to auto accident claims, a hurt person that is less than 50% at fault for the incident is eligible for compensation. If the injured party is 50% or more at fault, he or she is not entitled to recovery for the injury. For example, Richard and Susan accidentally hit each others’ cars while backing out of their parking spaces at exactly the same time. Both were not looking very carefully enough when they backed up, and so both were deemed just as at fault for the accident. Neither one will be eligible to damages since both were 50% at fault for the accident. States: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

How is Percentage of Fault Determined?

Right after an accident, it is the job of the insurance company claims adjuster to assign the relative degrees of fault primarily based on the conditions encompassing the accident. There is no top secret mathematical method for figuring out percentages of fault in accident injuries. You and the claims adjuster will negotiate and arrive at some understanding as to what, if any, your allocated fault is. Here is where an experienced personal injury lawyer can be convenient. He or she will know how to evaluate the accident and recommend for the lowest percentage of fault on your part. If you and the insurance adjuster reach an impasse, a court of law is eventually your next step to take care of the issue of fault.

Fault and Car Insurance

Insurance firms often present extra coverage/protection (for extra money) to help pay for property damage and/or personal injury and medical bills in spite of fault. So if you are seriously injured in an accident that was mostly your fault and you are not eligible by law to compensation from the other person’s insurance, but you have additional coverage under your own plan, your insurance company will pay for your injuries. This extra coverage is called PIP (personal injury protection) or No Fault coverage. Under this scenario, you would file a liability claim with your own insurance company for medical expenses and lost revenue, up to a specified maximum, without any debate or disagreement about the conditions of the accident and who was at fault. Whether you can file for additional expenses against the other individual who was at fault in the accident will depend on your state’s laws. In many states, Uninsured/Underinsured insurance coverage is required. This supplies insurance policy coverage for damages resulting from an accident with someone who either has no insurance or does not possess enough insurance to cover your costs. It also protects you if the other person flees the scene immediately after the accident or is a driver of a stolen car.

Beyond the injuries suffered, the degree of fault is probably the most imperative aspect in determining exactly how much you may ultimately get back for your accident injury. In most instances, both you and the insurance company will know (by the circumstances surrounding the accident) the level of fault for both persons. Was the other party entirely at fault? Largely at fault? Or only a little bit at fault? If you are in a comparative fault state, an adjuster will reduce your recuperation amount by your percentage of comparative fault. If you were only 10% at fault, your damages total will be lowered by 10%. Your recovery will not be reduced by any amount if the accident was clearly someone else’s fault.

If you have been injured in an Oceanside Accident, please give us a call today at (858) 550-1002 for a complimentary, private assessment with an experienced Oceanside Accident lawyer.

Verdicts & Settlements

Mr. Hoey was co-counsel in this personal injury case which went to trial in September 2007. The resulting $5.64 million verdict


Mr. Hoey obtained a judgment of $2.5 million in this wrongful death case in San Diego


Construction business to a liability verdict, obtained a confidential settlement totaling over $2 million


Mr. Hoey obtained a settlement of $1.75 million in this injury case, the largest ever settlement against the Metropolitan Transit District


Police misconduct wrongful death case in June 2009. Defendants’ settlement offer was zero. The resulting verdict was $1,200,000


Mr. Hoey settled this San Diego vehicle accident wrongful death case for $870,000


San Diego Back Injury case of $775,000 for his San Diego client’s resulting from a vehicle accident


Truck accident case in June 2007. Defendants pre-trial offer was $25,000. The resulting verdict was $743,000.00


Personal injury vehicle collision case in July 2008. Defendants’ pre-trial offer was $75,000.00. The resulting verdict was $412,000.00


Mr. Hoey settled this auto v. pedestrian case, involving a shoulder injury, for $390,000


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