Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer

Sacramento, the sixth-largest city in California, was once a major center of agriculture, commerce and transportation during the California Gold Rush. Today it is a diversely populated city, full of natural beauty and cultural attractions and is America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital. Unfortunately, busy cities that are hubs of transportation include a high density of traffic, and along with it an increase in car accidents and other types of personal injury. If you’ve been injured in an accident, our Sacramento personal injury lawyers are here to serve you.

Experienced Sacramento Personal Injury Attorneys

J&Y Law services the greater Sacramento area and has offices throughout California, with one conveniently located at 500 Capitol Mall in Sacramento. If you have sustained serious injuries due to a car accident, negligence, or on someone else’s property, our skilled attorneys are available to fight for your rights. We can help you get proper compensation, not only for your medical costs and lost wages (current and future), but also for your pain and suffering. Contact us for a free consultation with absolutely no obligations.

Why hire a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer?

When you’re injured in Sacramento, there are many laws and conditions in the city and state that get you compensation for your injury. Handling an injury case yourself, such as getting medical treatment, auto repair, and time off from work, is often not a good idea. Insurance companies want to give you the least amount of room negotiating compensation. An attorney can help you recover the maximum amount attainable from insurance and the parties responsible for your injuries.

An injury lawyer in Sacramento can also assess your pain and suffering and possible future losses, whether economic or otherwise. Some injuries take time to progress or worsen, affecting your ability to live a normal life or even go to work. If you try to negotiate with insurance or the other party yourself, you might face agents who are going to lowball you and who aren’t willing to negotiate at all.

In an accident where your injuries seem minor or non-existent, it’s still a good idea to get evaluated by a medical team and to contact an attorney. In many cases, people involved in something as small as a fender bender exchange information with the other party thinking it’s no big deal, only to be contacted by the other party’s lawyer or insurance company.

Any time you’re injured in Sacramento as a result of a traffic accident, slip and fall, or the general negligence of others, contacting a lawyer is almost always free and can at least give you peace of mind. And if you need medical evaluation or treatment, hiring a lawyer before the insurance companies can start intimidating you is a great start.

How much do personal injury lawyers charge in California?

Most personal injury lawyers in California work on a contingency fee basis, meaning they only get paid when they win a settlement or judgment for their client. This means you pay nothing from the moment you call us until we get you a settlement (or a judgment in the event your case goes to trial). 

The last thing you need to worry about when recovering from an injury is how you’re going to pay for treatment and care. We have a network of doctors, therapists, auto mechanics, and counselors who will also take care of you at no cost until we get you paid. 

Instead of worrying about how much personal injury attorneys charge, you can focus on recovery and taking care of your mental well-being. You can let us handle the rest while we stay in touch with you over the course of your care.

What is negligence?

Negligence is when a person or business fails to meet expected or reasonable standards of conduct. For example, anyone failing to take precautions to prevent injury to another person or party is considered negligence. Negligence resulting in injury or death requires the guilty party to compensate the victims.

What are the four elements for proving negligence?

In order to prove negligence, an incident must meet four specific elements or criteria:

Duty of Care

The first element in proving negligence is to show whether a defendant was responsible to the plaintiff in providing duty of care. This means taking reasonable measures in the prevention of injury or death to others. An example would be someone obeying traffic laws, making sure their vehicle is in safe, maintained condition, and that they are assessing road conditions before maneuvering across lanes or navigating turns. Another example could be a fitness gym ensuring all equipment is in safe working order before allowing members to use the equipment. Lastly, and one we see often, is making sure wet floors or other hazards inside grocery stores and malls are properly cleaned or clearly sectioned off with signs, tape, or stanchions to customers don’t slip and fall.

Breach of Duty

Anyone who fails to provide or meet reasonable standards for duty of care is in breach of duty. From the examples above, a breach of duty is going for a drive knowing your tires are in poor condition, or that you have gym equipment that has loose parts or rusted metal. Business owners who have unsafe floors or hazards in walkways that aren’t sectioned off or blocked by signage are in breach of their duty.

Causation

Causation means a defendant’s failure to meet duty of care, or being in breach of duty, caused a plaintiff’s injury or death. An example would be if you are riding your bicycle in the designated bike lane and a driver looks at his or her phone and swerves into you, causing you to crash and fracture your collar bone. If the driver had been paying attention to the road, they never would’ve struck you and you wouldn’t be injured.

Another example would be a common slip and fall at a store or local business. If employees of the store know of a spill or other hazard and fail to section off the area or clean it in a timely manner, and someone slips and breaks an elbow or shoulder, breaching duty of care (i.e. keeping safe, clean floors) caused the injury.

Damages as a result of negligence

The fourth element in proving negligence is damages. Damages are the injuries or losses suffered by a plaintiff as a result of a defendant’s breach of duty of care being the cause of said injuries or losses. This means someone was injured, killed, or unable to work as the result of someone else’s neglect.

Damages are calculated by several factors including, but not limited to, medical bills, loss of wages, pain and suffering, and so on.

Do Sacramento injury lawyers handle wrongful deaths?

Yes. If a fatality occurs in Sacramento due to the negligent or reckless behavior of another, a wrongful death claim may be filed by the survivors of the deceased person, or by the representative(s) of the deceased person’s estate. If the lawsuit is successful, the claimants receive compensation for the medical bills of the deceased, funeral costs, loss of future income, and pain and suffering. And if the deceased leaves a partner behind, loss of household services, causes loss of consortium for the partner or children or dependent heirs, they are entitled to additional compensation.

Who is permitted to file a wrongful death claim in California?

Some laws pertaining to wrongful death vary from state to state. In California, in order to file a wrongful death claim, you must be the deceased’s:

• Surviving spouse
• Domestic partner
• Surviving child
• Heir, such as parent or sibling
• Dependent, such as stepchild

How quickly does a wrongful death lawsuit have to be filed?

The statute of limitations for filing a wrongful death claim in California is within 2 years of the date of death.

Contact a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer Today

Our personal injury lawyers are well-respected in the field. We have a track record of success with all types of cases throughout California. We handle several types of injury cases along with wrongful death, including:

• Car accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Dog bites
• Motorcycle accidents
• Catastrophic injury
• Brain injury

When you or a family member has been seriously injured, or a loved one has died, as a result of the negligence of another, you are legally entitled to monetary compensation. When you contact J&Y Law by filling out one of our convenient contact forms or calling us in Sacramento at 916.850.2697, you are putting yourself in extremely capable and caring hands.