San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney Sebastian Gibson provides these 2010 tips to you to assist you, and to show you why it will be to your advantage to retain a San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyer in the event you have lost a loved one in a Wrongful Death accident in the San Diego area or anywhere in Southern California.
While some of these tips may be too late for you if your family’s Wrongful Death accident in San Diego was some hours or days ago, as a Wrongful Death Attorney in San Diego, we provide these tips in the hope they may yet be useful for you in connection with your family’s San Diego Wrongful Death and for any future accidents you or your family may have.
First, take a look around and determine if you or anyone else is hurt. If so, taking steps to prevent further injury or loss of blood are the most important thing you can do until help arrives. The worst thing you can do is get angry or start a fight. As your San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney, it is much easier to obtain the compensation you deserve if we don’t also have to deal with claims that your accident turned into a brawl or was the result of road rage.
Second, make sure any other drivers and passengers in your San Diego Wrongful Death accident are safe from being injured further. If you are in the middle of traffic and can safely get out of the way, walk to where it is safe. If you aren’t dizzy and can help others without risk to yourselves or risking injury to them, help them. If your vehicle is a hazard to others and you have warning devices such as triangles or flares you can safely place in the road, put them out on the road to warn other drivers and get away from any danger. Let the San Diego police or other emergency personnel investigate the scene with all the vehicles in place and let them move the vehicles at a later point.
Third, if no one else already has, call the local police or the California Highway Patrol or 911. Accident reports are extremely helpful if they will prepare one. Let the San Diego police know you are injured immediately. Answer all the questions honestly but if you are dazed or confused, let them know you need medical attention and answer only what you are certain about. Statements you make will later appear in the police report and if you make a mistake, it is unlikely a later statement will be believed over your initial statements as your best recollection is usually immediately after an accident.
Fourth, obtain the other driver’s information including their name, address, driver’s license, make and model of their vehicle, license plate number, insurance company and policy number. If there are witnesses, obtain their information as well. If the other driver makes any admissions of fault, write them down as well. The police will likely separate you once they arrive so try to obtain this information while you can. Although we can obtain a copy of the police report as your San Diego Wrongful Death Attorneys, it often takes a week to 10 days or longer for the report to be completed.
Fifth, if you have a camera or a cell phone with a camera built in, take some photos of the vehicles, the scene of the accident and the others involved. If you failed to do so immediately after the accident, take some now of the scene of the accident in San Diego or wherever it occurred and of your vehicle, if one was involved. As your San Diego Wrongful Death Attorneys, we can obtain additional photographs or police photographs, if any, later.
Sixth, if you are hurt, obtain medical treatment. Don’t decline the ambulance or hospital examination to save your insurance company money or to be stoic if you have coverage. Take your valuables out of your vehicle and get checked out at the hospital. If you are not hurt, don’t get treatment you don’t need. However, remember, after an accident, you may feel a rush of adrenaline that causes your symptoms to go unnoticed by you until a few hours later. If you have a health plan that requires you to obtain permission before going anywhere for medical treatment, call them first to find out where you can go for treatment that is covered by them. As a Wrongful Death Attorney in San Diego and other areas of California, nothing is more important to you and your case than obtaining proper medical treatment promptly.
Seventh, call a good San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney as soon as you have had your initial medical treatment so your San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyer can gather important evidence and prevent the other party’s insurance company from taking advantage of you by obtaining things such as a recorded statement from you. A good San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney can save you from making mistakes and can shoulder much of the hassle that results from an accident. Your San Diego Lawyer can also advise you in connection with how to obtain vehicle repairs, a car rental, medical treatment on a lien, etc. An experienced San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney can almost always obtain higher settlements, obtain reductions of medical bills and insurance liens that have to be repaid. Most Attorneys will also advance the costs of obtaining police reports, and medical records that are crucial to a good settlement.
Eighth, report the San Diego accident to your insurance company. However, before you do so, it is good advice to retain a San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney first as even your own insurance company will want to take a recorded statement. If the other driver did not have insurance, remember, your own insurance company will be your adversary. You will also need to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles and your San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyer can provide you with the form.
Ninth, do not agree to settle your claim privately with the person at fault for the accident in San Diego or with their insurance company when they want to offer you a paltry amount before your injuries have been checked out or treated. Neither of these scenarios work to your advantage. Private individuals rarely want to pay you for anything more than your car repairs. And if you agree to not involve the police, the other driver may change his or her story and blame you later when the police are no longer willing to investigate the accident. Insurance companies offering a quick settlement are usually taking advantage of you at a time when you can least afford it.
Tenth, don’t pay a traffic ticket without attempting to fight it if you weren’t at fault and don’t accept a small payment from the other driver for your vehicle repairs without knowing that the amount will in fact cover the entire cost of repairs. As your San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney, we can usually persuade the insurance company to pay for additional repairs beyond the initial estimate if the body shop finds additional damage from your accident once the repairs have begun.
If you’ve lost a loved one a San Diego Wrongful Death accident, auto, bicycle, car, big rig truck, motorcycle, or pedestrian accident or a dog bite in San Diego, or anywhere in Southern California, we have the resources and knowledge to be your San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney and your San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyer and will see that you are properly represented to obtain the compensation you deserve for your accident and the loss of your loved one.
San Diego Wrongful Death and Orange County California 2009 Wrongful Death News - California Auto Accident Fatalities declined 21% in 2008 through October.
California Wrongful Death Auto Accident News - According to the CHP and as reported by the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, traffic fatalities in California through the first ten months of the year dropped over 21 percent in 2008. Final statistics will be available in the summer of 2009.
First there was the cost of gas when a gallon cost as much as $4.60 in San Diego and Orange County, causing drivers to drive less in California. Now, even though the cost has come down to prices more than $3 less per gallon in San Diego, the state of the economy is again causing drivers on California roads and highways, to drive even less.
The CHP believes that fatalities have also decreased due to their maximum enforcement periods and the increase of cars with safety equipment such as side air bags. However, a study by the Auto Club showed that the number of young adult women in alcohol-related crashes is on the rise, due to a greater number of women with driving licenses, women driving more miles and women catching up with men in risk-taking behaviors such as driving while intoxicated and aggressive driving.
The San Diego Wrongful Death Law Firm of R. Sebastian Gibson, with offices in Palm Desert, Orange County and in San Diego, believes that a factor in the decrease in accident fatalities on the roads in California may be the $13,500 to $15,000 in fines, fees and penalties associated with a drunk driving conviction, not to mention the additional risk of personal injury lawsuits and punitive damage awards in excess of auto insurance coverage that can be obtained against a drunk driver who causes injury or death to other motorists.
Whether you are looking for a wrongful death attorney in San Diego, an Orange County Wrongful Death lawyer, a wrongful death attorney in Oceanside or a law firm that handles wrongful deaths in Newport Beach, no attorney or lawyer will work harder on your behalf if you have lost a loved one due to the negligence or wrongful act of another, than Attorney Sebastian Gibson.
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