Personal Injury Rights

California Personal Injury Lawyers

Representing Injured Victims in California & Nationwide

When you become seriously injured, you may not know where to begin when seeking appropriate compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages, disabilities, and other costs. If another person or organization’s negligence was the direct cause of your injuries, however, you may be entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit and hold them accountable for your losses.

At Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, our California personal injury attorneys understand how difficult it can be to navigate the legal system as you try to recover for your injuries. With over $4 billion won on behalf of our clients and well over 50 years in business, our team can be trusted to serve as your advocates throughout the process, and to give you accurate and transparent information about the nature of your case.

To contact our team for a free, no-obligation consultation, call us at (855) 948-5098 today or submit our online form.

What Counts as a Personal Injury?

If an injury was caused by negligence, carelessness, or wrongdoing, there is a chance that you could be eligible to file a lawsuit. In most cases, however, these lawsuits tend to be the best course of action for “catastrophic injuries,” or an injury that will permanently alter a person’s ability to live and function normally. These types of injuries are usually disabling or disfiguring in nature.

The most common catastrophic injuries include:

Such severe injuries can result in varying levels of paralysis, decreased cognitive functions, physical impairments, and chronic pain for victims. Catastrophic injuries can cause lifelong emotional, physical, and financial problems. Usually these types of injuries will make it impossible for a person to return to work for a long period of time or completely stop the victim from ever holding a job again and requiring specialized care for the rest of their lives. This can cause extreme financial distress, especially when coupled with the high medical costs associated with treating extreme and life-long injuries.

What Causes Catastrophic Injury?

Over the years, Baum Hedlund has handled hundreds of catastrophic injury cases stemming from a wide range of causes. Such injuries are not always the fault of others, but when someone else’s negligence causes a catastrophic injury, it can be especially egregious. Below is a sampling of incidents that can cause catastrophic injuries.

Truck Accidents

When a semi-truck collides with a passenger vehicle, the injuries can easily become catastrophic. Hundreds of people each year sustain life-changing injuries in truck accidents. These larger vehicles take longer to stop and outweigh personal vehicles several times over, making them extremely dangerous to those in the smaller vehicle during an accident.

Bus Accidents

Bus accidents have been known to cause catastrophic injuries and death to many passengers. Many school or tour busses still do not have seatbelts installed and the large space inside a bus gives ample room for people to be thrown about and severely injured in a bus crash. Busses are also known in some cases to catch fire after impact. For example, the Orlando bus crash, where a Fed-Ex truck crossed the median and collided with a charter bus filled with students visiting a college, burst into flames following the crash.

Train Accidents

Like buses, very few trains are equipped with seat belts and when an accident occurs there is a good chance of catastrophic injury or wrongful death. Because of the speed at which most trains travel, a train crash can be especially devastating to passengers and can cause a wide variety of devastating injuries. At Baum Hedlund, our personal injury lawyers have handled cases in some of the largest train disasters in the U.S. and we are very familiar with the complex nature of these injuries.

Airplane or Helicopter Accidents

When an airplane or helicopter crashes, the event almost always results in catastrophic injuries or wrongful death. Brain injuries, spinal injuries, dismemberment, burns, and nerve injuries are all common for those who survive a major aviation accident. In our experience, many survivors of aviation accidents need lifelong support and care, regardless of whether the injuries were received while flying with a major airline, a small private plane, or a helicopter.

Harmful Pharmaceuticals and Defective Medical Devices

Certain drugs can be prescribed in untested, improper, or off-label manners that can cause birth defects, painful side effects, withdrawal symptoms, and many other unwanted effects. Similarly, medical devices often used in surgeries can be used in incorrect or off-label ways. For example, a mixture of Stryker’s OP-1 Putty and Calstrux has been illegally implanted in many unsuspecting patients during spine fusion surgery. For clients like ours, this untested mixture caused unwanted bone growth in the nerve channels, resulting in debilitating pain and disfigurement.

Do you need to speak with a California personal injury lawyer today? Give us a call at (855) 948-5098 to get started with a free consultation.

What to Do After a Personal Injury

When you hire personal injury attorneys, you are hiring a law firm that will act as a team working closely with you and your family for some time. You should hire a firm with whom you feel comfortable, because they will be guiding you and your family through a difficult time.

The firm should also be one that “knows the ropes” – one that has successfully handled many similar cases. That firm must also be able to bear all of the considerable up-front costs necessary for the team of lawyers, paralegals, clerks and experts necessary to prepare and successfully litigate your case.

There are several actions a personal injury law firm must accomplish as soon as it begins working on the case:

  • Ensure that the injured person has received all necessary treatment and that all of the relevant records and bills are procured and organized
  • Determine which individual and/or entity is or may be at fault
  • The personal injury attorney may also have a choice as to whether to file in federal or state court, and thus is able to select the more advantageous forum.
  • Determine which “notice” provisions are required
  • Develop a discovery strategy
  • Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co. $2 Billion
  • Dewayne “Lee” Johnson v. Monsanto Co. $289.2 Million
  • Pharmaceutical Settlement $105 Million
  • Hardeman v. Monsanto Co. $80 Million
  • Paxil Pediatric Class Action $63 Million
  • Third-Party Payer Class Action $40 Million
  • Defective Drug Class Action $28 Million
  • Whistleblower Settlement $18 Million

    $18 million settlement for Boeing government overcharging on aircraft maintenance

  • A Major US Plane Crash $17.5 Million
  • Commercial Truck Accident $15 Million

    $15 million settlement for a person gravely injured by a major truck company

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Selecting the Jurisdiction for the Personal Injury Claim

An essential consideration in a case is to determine which courts are legally empowered to hear the case. These courts are said to have “jurisdiction” over the causes of action and the parties. The personal injury attorney looks at all the states that could hear the case and selects the state in which the resultant law will best encompass your interests.

The personal injury attorney must balance the applicable states’ laws, the profiles of the judges who might hear the case, and the jury makeup of the various courts in which the suit may be filed. Only after weighing and balancing these factors can an appropriate decision be made as to where the action should be filed. Then, of course, the attorney must scrupulously follow whatever detailed procedural rules apply to the chosen jurisdiction.

Based in Los Angeles, our attorneys at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman handle personal injury cases throughout California and across the U.S.

Preparation and Prosecution of Your Claim

Traditionally, defendants settle claims favorably to a claimant only when they must; they tend to hold onto a claim as long as possible in order to keep their money actively earning interest for them and in anticipation of possibly a less expensive settlement later. Optimum settlements usually occur because the defendants recognize that your law firm will be ready to conduct an aggressive, vigorous trial if they do not come to reasonable settlement terms.

To counter this tendency, the attorneys representing the claimant must maintain constant pressure on the defendants. This is done by successful preparation and prosecution of the claim.

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