Los Angeles: the sunny, beautiful, and star-studded city can also be home to unexpected tragedy for the millions of residents and visitors who travel its streets every day. Motor vehicle accidents are extremely common, but other risks like slip-and-falls or defective scooter mishaps can also put your life and well-being at risk.
At Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys, you can obtain an advocate who will fight tirelessly for your rights to receive fair compensation after you are injured.
We treat every client like they matter, which is why our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers have built a reputation for outstanding service and commitment to our cases. When you are hurt and don’t know where to turn, turn to us!
If you have been injured in Los Angeles, find out more about your legal rights and options when you speak to one of our experienced personal injury lawyers for free. Schedule a free case review, with no obligation to continue working with us afterward, when you reach out via phone at (855) 691-1691 or contact us online.
The Importance of Working With a Proven Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney
One of the first things people want to know when they get hurt is, “Do I have a case??”
The most common answer, which can be frustrating to hear, is that “it depends.”
What does it depend on? Well, among other things, the ability of your personal injury case to succeed depends greatly on the skills, experience, knowledge, and dedication of your legal team.
When you work with Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys, you can know with confidence that your case is in excellent hands. We have earned top ratings from hundreds of clients over our decades of collective legal experience. Our firm’s resume includes millions in compensation obtained on behalf of our injured clients and their families.
What can you expect when you work with our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers? All of the following:
- Honest and transparent legal counsel at every stage of litigation
- Deep knowledge of municipal, state, and federal laws to inform your case’s legal strategy
- Information needed to make a smart decision at key stages during your case’s progress
- The unwavering support of your case, tapping every legal option available to maximize your chances of a successful outcome
- Constant, timely updates on your case’s progress while giving you the chance to have input on the big decisions along the way
- Accurate calculations of the full amount of damages you have suffered and will suffer because of your injury, providing a documented valuation to pursue adequate injury compensation
- Full commitment of our resources towards investigating, researching, strategizing, and litigating your case
- Confidence knowing your legal team has a track record for exceptional service and consistent client satisfaction
All of these factors combined help you know from the onset what you can expect from your case and what we can do to give it the highest chances of success.Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers are committed to giving you the best service possible.
Common Cases Our Los Angeles Personal Injury Law Firm Handles
Los Angeles locals and visitors can come to us for nearly any case where they feel their injury (or a loved one’s death) was caused by the careless, unacceptable, or inappropriate behaviors of others. Our knowledge of legal theory can help us quickly determine the best course of action to take along with the appropriate amount of compensation to request from responsible parties.
Our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys can handle a broad range of cases, but some of the most common injury cases we represent include the following:
Car Accidents
Car accidents are a leading cause of death and non-fatal injury for people of all ages throughout Los Angeles County. In fact, motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death for children ages 0 – 14 years in the County. They’re the second-leading cause for every other age group, aside from individuals 30 – 34 years old, where they come in at #3.
The need to drive and the unavoidable congestion of our roadways means that car accidents can affect anyone in L.A., even if you’re doing everything you can to avoid a crash. Worse, the causes of a crash can be heavily disputed, requiring professional knowledge and representation in many cases to determine who was actually at fault for your injuries. Expect quick and personalized service when you come to our firm after your car accident.
Our Los Angeles car accident lawyers are prepared to help get your case started and on the path toward as speedy of a resolution as possible.
Slip, Trip & Fall
With millions of local businesses, service providers, and building owners inviting the public into their spaces every day, Los Angeles residents put their safety in the hands of strangers on a constant basis. Sometimes, that trust is betrayed, leading to a dangerous hazard that causes a resident or visitor to fall and get seriously injured.
Unintentional falls are another major source of injury and death in L.A. County, especially among the very young and very old. The consequences of a single slip or trip could alter someone’s life forever, sometimes even ending it prematurely.
Come to Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys when you have been hurt in a property accident and want to hold the owner or tenant responsible for their negligence. We will strive to accurately value your injury case, working with medical and billing experts to determine the full costs of treating your condition for the remainder of your lifetime.
Motorcycle Accidents
When it comes to motorcycle destinations, L.A. County offers a sprawling paradise to explore. From enjoying sun-kissed, shore-hugging highways to rolling through the height of glamor in our most prestigious neighborhoods, there’s never a bad time or place to ride.
Unfortunately, though, the carelessness and inexperience of others on the road can quickly cut your pleasure cruise short. L.A. traffic can easily overlook smaller vehicles, especially on the bigger freeways and interchanges. Worse, prejudice against motorcycle riders can cause negligent parties and their insurers to point the finger at the motorcycle operator, even if they were operating 100% within the law at the time of the accident.
Fight back against irresponsible drivers and obstinate insurers with an aggressive legal team at your back. Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys have deep experience handling motorcycle collision injury cases. We know the laws and case rulings that matter most, and we aren’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with the opposition in order to fight for the full amount of compensation needed to cover the losses you have experienced.
Uber & Lyft Accidents
California may have been the birthplace of ridesharing companies, but the state and its residents have also waged a nearly endless legal battle against these companies’ refusal to accept full responsibility for the accidents they contribute to.
Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys have knowledge and experience when it comes to litigating rideshare accident injury cases. Whether you were a paying passenger or an occupant in another vehicle that was hit by a rideshare driver, we will work with you to investigate the true causes of your accident and pursue all appropriate compensation.
Truck Accidents
The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest in the country by a huge margin, which leads to countless trucks coming to our city to haul important goods and materials. Semi-trucks and other heavy commercial vehicles travel millions of miles on public roads throughout the county and the state. Sharing the road with smaller vehicles often in tense and congested conditions can easily lead to a catastrophic road accident.
Even more concerning, trucking companies have well-resourced legal teams capable of bringing nearly any major injury claim to a standstill. They’ll do everything they can to avoid taking on liability for the full costs of injury victims’ losses, which can often lead to the victims giving up and accepting an insultingly low sum.
Don’t back down from a fight with carriers! Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys can represent you and ensure that your full legal rights and financial interests are represented at the negotiation table. Reach out to our team when you have been hit by a truck in Los Angeles and need help paying for medical bills and other costs associated with your accident.
Brain Injury
A traumatic brain injury can happen at any time, for any reason. Some of the most common reasons for a TBI include slips and falls, negligent nursing home care, auto accidents, criminal assaults (often because of negligent security), and defective products such as unsafe scooters.
Estimating the full, lifetime costs of a brain injury can be challenging. Proving this value can be even more difficult.
Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers work with local experts on TBI care, medical billing, and long-term care for complex medical cases to fully assess the lifetime costs of a brain injury suffered by you or a close family member. We strive to accurately estimate all of your past, present, and future costs, helping your family avoid the financially devastating outcomes these medical cases can often bring.
Wrongful Death
Have you recently lost a loved one because of a car accident, truck accident, slip-and-fall, industrial accident, or other hazardous event? These tragic incidents can upend lives, especially when it comes to the high costs of trauma care and the total lifetime value of income that would have otherwise gone to the household.
During these difficult times, you can turn to Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys to honor the memory of your loved one, fight to hold negligent parties responsible, and avoid the severe financial losses that can come from the sudden and unexpected death of your loved one.
Bicycle & Electric Scooter Accidents
Using bicycles and electric scooters (or e-scooters) can be a great solution for short-distance trips in Los Angeles, especially in the denser communities worth exploring. At the same time, heavy motor vehicle traffic can pose extreme risks to cyclists and scooter riders. These injuries also have a higher chance of being severe, life-threatening, or fatal.
E-scooters, in particular, pose risks to riders in nearly every situation. A study from UCLA even found that the rate of injuries for e-scooter users in L.A. exceeds that of motorcycle operators all across the nation. Accidents on electric scooters can also be caused by defective vehicle designs, increasing the risk of a major or fatal accident significantly when a design or manufacturing defect exists. Our experienced Los Angeles personal injury lawyers know who to hold accountable in these cases.
Pedestrian Accidents
Being a pedestrian in Los Angeles is extremely tough, even within the city limits. Residents either face complicated and busy intersections or freeway crossings that inevitably put their life at stake, no matter how much effort was put into crossing infrastructure.
A pedestrian accident also has a high chance of being severe or fatal, with the added challenge of identifying the driver who caused the accident in the first place. Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers will work tirelessly to get to the bottom of your accident, including its true causes and what factors contributed to the severity of your injuries.
Dog Bites
Dog bites aren’t overly common in Los Angeles, but when they happen, they can be devastating. More concerning, the most severe dog bite injuries tend to happen to very young and vulnerable parties.
Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers understand the nuanced legal theories that can dictate the success of these often-complicated injury claims. We’ll work with medical experts to understand the full extent of the injury condition, including the estimated recovery timeline and whether there might be permanent damage to nerves or muscular tissues.
Common Types of Compensation Available in a Los Angeles Personal Injury Claim
While every personal injury case in L.A. is different, a typical one will seek one or more of the following types of compensation, called “damages”:
- Repayment of medical bills Medical treatment costs make up the bulk of damages in nearly every personal injury case. An accurately valued claim will not only calculate the costs of medical care that has already been provided, but it will also project the future costs of treating the injury until it is fully healed or, in some cases, for the remainder of the injury victim’s lifetime.
- Lost wages When someone is seriously injured in an accident, they will likely have to miss a significant amount of work while they recover. This recovery time can cause them to miss shifts or use up much (or all) of their available sick leave. A lost wages claim seeks to recover these losses while also requesting compensation for all estimated future reductions in income resulting from the injury.
- Vehicle repairs and personal expenses When someone’s vehicle is smashed up in an accident or other damage occurs to their valuable personal property, the negligent party should be held responsible for the costs of repair or replacement. Similarly, if the injury victim must pay for things like parking and transportation as a direct result of their accident injury, they can request reimbursement from the liable party.
- Pain and suffering Non-monetary losses can be sought by injury victims in proportion to the severity of their injury and its impact on their daily lives. Medical conditions that inflict severe pain or cause the injury victim to miss out on important activities with loved ones will lead to higher losses in the emotional and psychological sense.
- Replacement of domestic services In cases where the injury victim is unable to provide household services they once did for their family, a personal injury claim can help them obtain temporary assistance for tasks like cooking, cleaning, laundry, and so forth.
- Wrongful death damages A wrongful death claim can help surviving family members (or estate representatives) recover all of the above types of losses experienced by the injury victim because of their accident immediately prior to their death. In addition, the claimants can request additional compensation for their own suffering as well as for the loss of the income their loved one once brought to the household.
What Are the Typical Steps of a Personal Injury Case?
Filing a personal injury claim usually involves a lengthy process. Often, the personal injury attorneys representing the injured party will delay sending the actual demand for compensation until the injury victim has a clear path to medical recovery. They will also take the time to investigate the circumstances of the accident. Then, once the claim is filed, the insurer or other party liable for damages will have time to respond to or even deny the claim.
When claims head to a dispute, it can take months or even years to resolve. We mention all of this not to discourage you but to prepare you for the fact that your personal injury case will sometimes involve a long legal battle. When the need for compensation to repay losses is great, the results can be well worth the wait.
To prepare you further for what timeline your case could follow, we’ve outlined below each of the main steps of a typical personal injury case in Los Angeles.
- The injury event is investigated. The first step in any claim is to assess the true cause of the injury, including what parties’ actions contributed to the circumstances. Once this is understood, liability can be assigned, and a claim can start.
- Damages are estimated. It’s critical for attorneys to be thorough in estimating damages, especially future projected losses, because once a claim is filed it often cannot be altered significantly without strong legal justification. Your Los Angeles personal injury attorney will work closely with your medical teams as well as financial experts to determine accurate amounts of damages for each category listed in the section above. Note that while the victim recovers and damages are calculated, their personal injury lawyer can go ahead and send timely notice of a future claim to the appropriate parties.
- A demand letter is sent. Once damages are thoroughly understood, the injury victim can send a demand letter requesting repayment in full from the liable party or their insurer. This letter begins the formal claim process.
- The insurance company (or other financially responsible party) has time to respond. Once the demand letter is sent, the party receiving it typically has a limited window of time in which to respond. They can accept the demanded amount of damages in full, send their own counter-offer for what they feel is appropriate, or deny liability/coverage for the incident while providing reasons for doing so.
- Negotiation begins. After the liable party responds, the injury victim and their attorney can join them at the negotiation table in order to broker a settlement amount that both parties will agree to. Negotiations can continue for quite some time, even after other legal actions (like filing a lawsuit) have taken place.
- A complaint (lawsuit) is filed. If the party responsible for your injury refuses to accept a reasonable amount of liability for the damages they have caused, formal litigation can begin. Your Los Angeles personal injury lawyer will file a complaint with the appropriate civil court venue, stating that the opposing party is responsible for your losses and should be held accountable for all resulting damages.
- Negotiation continues. Once a personal injury lawsuit is filed, out-of-court negotiations will typically continue. Both parties assess their risks of their preferred outcome playing out should they continue the case in court, and they will make offers in response to this perception of risk. The stronger your case and the bigger the liable party’s risk of losing in court the more likely they are to settle and accept liability for most or all of the damages they have inflicted.
- A trial may take place. Personal injury cases can be tried by a jury in full court. They may also be settled through arbitration, forced mediation, or a “bench trial” conducted solely by a judge. Once a ruling has been issued, it can only be overturned on appeal, so both parties will continue to try and settle out-of-court in order to retain control over the ultimate outcome of their case.
Prepare a Strong Claim Asking for ALL of Your Losses When You Work With Our Los Angeles Personal Injury Law Firm
Many law firms tend to underestimate the value of their client’s injury losses, often leaving money on the table especially when it comes to the future costs of their medical care, lost wages, and continued suffering.
Hillstone Law Accident & Injury Attorneys commits itself to being thorough and precise, combing through your medical files and other documentation in order to calculate every penny of appropriate damages worth claiming. Not only that, but we also use our knowledge and experience to build the strongest case possible, using every legal advantage we can to pressure the person who caused your accident into settling.
You gain the benefit of a legal team that’s willing to fight for your financial future, helping both you and your family move past your tragic event to live a normal life once more.
When you’re ready to find out how much your case could be worth, our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers are ready to listen.
Call us today at (855) 691-1691or contact us online to schedule a free, no-risk case evaluation and get started on pursuing the damages you need to get on with a normal life again.
