Negligence, i.e., careless or reckless conduct, is the primary cause of motorcycle accidents in California. No matter what type of vehicle, it’s clear that many drivers do not conduct themselves in a safe and responsible manner. Speeding, tailgating, driving while intoxicated, running stop signs, trying to beat the light, and ignoring the right of way are just some of the violations that can result in an accident.

It’s also worth noting that motorcycles may not be spotted by drivers as easily as cars, trucks, vans, etc. Motorcycles take up less space and give off less light than a standard automobile, and this makes it harder to spot them, even when you check your blind spots. This is why a lot of these accidents involve a car hitting a motorcyclist during a lane change.

The practice of lane splitting also contributes to the high rate of accidents on motorcycles. Lane splitting refers to people on motorcycles riding between two traffic lanes, which is legal in California. As they zip down the middle of two lanes or from one lane to another, they can be easily missed by people driving cars, especially at high speeds. Because of this and other circumstances, it can be hard to determine who is at fault for a motorcycle accident. More riders have chosen to wear helmet cameras, similar to dashboard cameras, so they have clear evidence of who is to blame.

Conditions on the road are another source of motorcycle accidents, particularly if it’s raining or snowing. But even in good weather, potholes, cracks, and other defects on the road can be very dangerous to someone that’s on a motorcycle. After all, motorbikes are not as grounded as wider vehicles with wheels on both sides, and this in turn, makes it harder to control the bike when you encounter a hole or some other hazard. You can also be injured if there is a defect with the motorcycle, like brake failure, engine malfunction, and poorly attached sidecars.

Identifying the right cause of an accident is the key to a successful recovery if you are seeking compensation from the negligent party. That way, you can cover all your medical bills and other expenses resulting from your physical and emotional injuries.

– TOP 10 CAUSES OF MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS

Though you should always wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle, it’s clear that you have very little protection in the event of crash or other accident. The person in a car, on the other hand, is protected by safety features like air bags and seatbelts. Since there is no way to reduce the impact on your body during a motorcycle accident, you can be severely injured from being thrown off the bike, hitting the car and other obstructions, or being pinned, dragged, or run over by another vehicle.

Possible injuries you can sustain from a motorcycle accident include:

• Traumatic brain injury
• Deep cuts and abrasions
• Broken bones
• Spinal cord damage
• Shoulder fracture or dislocation
• Damage to the nerves and underlying tissue
• Patellar fracture, ACL/MCL tear and other knee injuries
• Burns, resulting in scarring and other kinds of disfigurement
• Damage to ligaments and tendons
• Severing of fingers and limbs
• Herniated disc
• Ruptured spleen
• Vision loss from eye injuries
• Hearing loss from a ruptured ear drum
• Paralysis
• Complex regional pain syndrome
• Coma

Please note that even low-speed or low impact accidents can cause disabling injuries. Even a light tap from a vehicle can cause the rider to lose control of the motorcycle and fall off, swerve, or lose control of the bike in some other way.

– TOP 10 CAUSES OF MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS

All motorists must follow traffic rules and pay attention to the road to avoid harming other drivers and pedestrians. It’s essential that people on motorcycles exercise caution and avoid driving recklessly. At the same time, people in cars must be vigilant and look out for motorcyclists, people riding bikes and scooter, and pedestrians, who are in a more vulnerable position. In short, everyone must do their part to keep themselves and others safe when they choose to operate a motor vehicle.

To go ahead with a personal injury claim, you must prove that the accident you suffered was caused by negligence. More specifically, here are the four elements that form the basis of any lawsuit for bodily harm and property damage:

• You were owed a duty of care by the person / entity you are suing.
• The duty of care was breached by carelessness or malicious conduct.
• The defendant’s breach in duty led to an accident, which is why you are injured.
• Because of the injuries you sustained, you have the right to seek damages from the defendant.

You must show clear evidence of all these factors if you wish to file an injury claim. You can also file a claim for any damage to your bike, with or without injuries. Furthermore, you can seek compensation even if you are partially at fault for the event, as California is a comparative negligence state. To maximize the amount you can receive from a motorcycle accident claim, make sure to collect as much evidence as possible. Here are some recommendations on what can be helpful to you in an accident claim:

• Photos of your injuries and damage to your motorcycle / personal belongings
• Pictures of the accident scene
• Contact information of any witnesses
• Copy of the police report
• Medical records, like hospital bills, prescriptions, and notes from your doctor
• Footage from security cameras
• Written statements from eye witnesses
• Helmet or dashboard cam footage

Please be sure to go to the hospital and get treated for your injuries. Without proof of physical injuries, you have no basis for a personal injury claim. Thus, you must have medical records that detail your injuries right after the event. If you wait too long to seek medical care, it’s more than likely that the insurance company will dispute the validity of your claim. For example, they may argue that your injuries could have happened in some other way, since there is a gap of several weeks between when the accident happened and when you went to the doctor’s.

You should also obtain legal advice from a California motorcycle accident attorney. We suggest that you reach out a personal injury law firm as soon as possible, as it can be difficult to obtain certain kinds of evidence on your own. A skilled attorney can also protect you from tactics that are used by insurance companies to trick you into a low settlement.

In spite of all the ads and commercials, insurance companies are not on your side when you are entitled to payments like medical expenses and pain and suffering. Their goal is to settle the claim for the lowest possible amount. Our goal, on the other hand, is to fight for your interests and secure the highest payment you deserve by law, whether you were injured or lost a family member to a motorcycle accident.

A motorcycle accident where the victim has minor injuries may result in a settlement of $5,000 to $25,000. The value of a motorcycle accident claim may be anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 if the victim has moderate injuries. If the injuries are serious enough to require extensive, long-term medical treatments, the amount of compensation can range from $100,000 to $500,000. For catastrophic injuries or death, the total compensation can be over $1,000,000.

What are the factors that affect your settlement value? The answer is somewhat different from one case to another, but overall, here are the variables that we examine:

• Injuries and long-term complications: the number of injuries, their location and severity, and how they impact your daily life.
• Medical expenses: this is directly tied to your injuries, and the more serious your injuries, the higher your current and future medical costs.
• Lost wages: this includes your wages from time lost at work, but you can also claim any business income or income opportunities that you lost out on as a result of being injured in a motorcycle accident. You can also ask for the value of job-related benefits you were forced to use, like sick / vacation time.
• Property damage: the estimated cost to replace or repair your motorcycle and any other possessions.
• Pain and suffering: payments to make up for your physical pain, mental anguish, and emotional trauma that you would not have to deal with were it not for the accident.
• Degree of fault (liability): as previously mentioned, California operates under the system of comparative negligence. While it’s possible that the other party is 100% at fault, many accident claims involve shared liability, meaning that the victim is somewhat to blame for the accident.
• Insurance coverage: the defendant’s insurance policy has specific limits for bodily injury and property damage. These limits will impact how much you can recover as a motorcycle accident injury victim.

It’s possible that the company will engage in stall tactics and avoid making offers in a timely manner. But many insurers try to get in touch with the victim right away and offer an amount that’s far below what they actually deserve. These are acts of bad faith, but sadly, many people are desperate to receive anything at all and put the incident behind them as soon as possible. Ensuring that you have adequate funds is essential to healing from your injuries and moving on with life in a positive direction. This is why it’s important to have an attorney by our side, who can help you negotiate for the best possible offer.

Each accident case is unique, and so is the legal process that the victim will have to go through before they receive justice. Of course, there are cases where the claimant fails to make a convincing case, or resulting damages from a jury verdict is less than what they anticipated. To get a sense of how a motorcycle accident lawsuit can play out, let’s take a look at some real-life cases.

– Rear End Motorcycle Accidents

The motorcyclist, Corry Lazarowitz, was in the left-most lane in the freeway, which is the carpool lane. A bus operated by the defendant, Tadashi Watanabe, struck Lazarowitz during a lane change. Watanabe failed to use his turn signal, but claimed that the plaintiff was driving in between lanes (lane splitting), which put him in the bus’s blind spot at the time of the accident.

The plaintiff, on the other hand, said that Watanabe was over the yellow lines that prohibited lane changing, so the accident was due to his violation of traffic rules. The crash initially pinned Lazarowitz’s leg bus’s between the bumper and his motorcycle. The plaintiff fell down to the ground and slid across the asphalt, which led to numerous injuries, like fractures to his legs and lower back, degloving, muscle tears in his knee, and pelvic trauma.

The extent of his injuries required Lazarowitz to stay at the hospital for over a month. Eventually, he had three surgeries to repair the damage in his knee, along with months of physical therapy. The bus driver and his employer insisted that lane splitting by Lazarowitz was the reason for the accident. In the end, a settlement was reached between the plaintiff and Watanabe’s employer, Nada Bus Inc., for approximately $3,000,000.

Anthony Domenick Rossi was a highway patrol officer who was struck by Travis James Knuppe. Rossi was traveling on the highway at 50 to 55 mph in the number two lane. As traffic began to slow down in the number one lane, Knuppe hit Rossi’s motorcycle as he went to switch lanes.

The defense argued that the officer was lane splitting and put himself in a position to where he could be hit by someone that was trying to turn. Rossi denied Knuppe’s accusations of lane splitting, and stated that the defendant of speeding and not keeping a proper lookout.

Because of the crash, Rossi had herniated discs in two vertebrae, extensive road rash, back pain, and a concussion that was accompanied by symptoms like chronic headaches, dizziness, and impaired cognitive abilities. He was forced to give up his career and take a lower paying job because of these health issues. The defense argued that the injury to his back was due to age and other factors, and the other symptoms were caused by injuries that happened outside of the accident. They also claimed that the amount he was asking for was unreasonable, as he was able to work a different kind of job.

The jury ruled in favor or Rossi, agreeing that the defendant’s negligence was the main cause of Rossi’s injuries. They awarded the plaintiff almost $900,000 to cover his financial losses and long-term suffering.

Plaintiff Jason Lo was the victim in a hit and run accident that occurred at a red light. Lo was hit by Dominick Consolazio, who was driving a Southern California Gas Company truck. The accident resulted in Lo and his bike being pinned under the truck. Instead of calling the police or trying to help the plaintiff, Consolazio drove the truck towards the freeway. As a result, Lo was dragged by the truck for almost 500 feet before Consolazio was forced to stop because of other cars in the way.

The defendant, who was charged with a hit and run, said that he had a seizure, which compromised his ability to control the vehicle. Lo, who suffered heavy blood loss because of a severed artery, was left with a fracture and a degloving injury. He also needed to have a portion of his leg amputated. To save at least some of his leg, he underwent multiple surgeries and skin grafts. Even then, he was left with heavy scarring and disfigurement, and is likely to need more surgery in the future.

His lawyer said Consolazio was fully responsible for the accident, and even before the incident with Lo, he had had multiple seizures. In spite of this knowledge, he continued to drive as part of his job duties. This made Southern California Gas Company complicit in the accident, as they knew of Consolazio’s medical history and had a duty to take away his driving privileges within the course of working for them.

The defense did not dispute that Consolazio was at fault, but they disagreed with the plaintiff over the severity of Lo’s injuries. They countered that Lo was likely to improve over time, and the lost wages he was claiming were excessive. The jury sided with Lo and also approved a request for loss of consortium by his wife, thereby awarding a total of $64,000,000 to the plaintiff.

Esiquio Hernandez was going through an intersection on his motorcycle when he was hit by Lisa Marie Reynolds, a bus driver for the Silver Valley Unified School District. The incident was witnessed by the various members of Hernandez’s family, who rushed over to his side. The plaintiff was pinned underneath the bus and needed to be extricated by paramedics and the fire department.

Hernandez said the bus driver cut him off and caused him to crash into the back of the vehicle. But Reynold’s attorney argued that Hernandez was not where he said he was prior to the collision with the bus. The defense said that Hernandez appeared out of nowhere and could not be seen in the rear view or sides of the bus.

Hernandez was left with numerous injuries, including foot and ankle degloving, anoxic brain injuries, and multiple fractures in his spine. He was in a coma for 10 day and sought compensation for his inability to work because of chronic pain and brain damage. The defense argued that his brain injury was not as serious as he claimed and also pointed out that he was unemployed at the time, so lost income was not an issue. Furthermore, Hernandez was uninsured and riding a motorcycle without headlights, brake lights, and other safety features.

Because he did not have a driver’s license and insurance coverage for the motorcycle, the defense argued that he was unable to claim certain damages under California law. The plaintiff sought $3,000,000 in economic and non-economic damaged from the driver and school district. Hernandez’s mother also filed a claim for emotional trauma to herself and her children for witnessing the event. However, the jury found that Hernandez’s actions essentially placed himself in harm’s way, thus, Reynolds was not responsible for the accident.

The accident involved Zachary Peacock crashing into a truck as he was traveling in the left lane of a two lane street. Peacock was driving at 35 mph, which was 10 miles below the speed limit. The truck driver, Ernesto Al Quellar Monterrosa, was in the center turn lane.

According to the plaintiff, Monterrosa tried to turn in front of him without signaling and attempted to swerve out of the way when he saw an oncoming vehicle. The plaintiff was unable to avoid a collision and ultimately crashed into Monterrosa’s truck.

Peacock was left with multiple fractures in his arm and legs, along with many cuts all over his body. His injuries required multiple surgeries, and even then, he had to use a wheelchair, followed by a walker. He also had significant scarring, and was no longer able to work as an artist and skateboarder. An expert testified that Peacock would need more surgeries, will probably end up with arthritis, and experience chronic pain for the rest of his life.

The plaintiff and defendant disputed many details about the accident, including how and when Peacock lost control of his motorcycle. For example, Monterossa said there was enough distance between them for Peacock to avoid a crash if he had turned without warning. Additionally, he claimed that Peacock was not paying attention to his surroundings and didn’t notice the truck until it was too late to avoid an accident. The defense did not dispute the injuries incurred by Peacock as a result of the accident. However, they disagreed with the plaintiff’s medical expert over long-term complications for the patient, like the development of arthritis.

The jury decided that Monterrosa was not at fault for the accident, and Peacock eventually settled the case with the trucking company for $100,000.

We like to fixate on numbers when thinking about the compensation from a lawsuit. But a further breakdown is needed to understand the damages you are entitled to, which depends on various details that are specific your accident and the harm you suffered. That way, you can fight for the maximum in each of the following categories, whether you negotiate for a settlement or take your chances in court:

• Medical expenses for treatments and services, like surgery, medications, hospitalization, ongoing doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, and more
• Value of damaged or destroyed property, primarily your motorcycle, but also other possessions you had with you at the time of the accident.
• Missed income from the hours / days you were unable to work. This category can include job benefits like PTO that you had to use, and lost earning potential if your ability to work is significantly impaired.
• Lifetime wages if you are unable to work in any capacity due to the severity of your injuries.
• Pain and suffering as compensation for the intangible harm caused by a motorcycle accident, like mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive damages, which can be awarded as part of a jury verdict when the defendant’s actions were especially negligent or reckless.

You can also file a claim for wrongful death benefits if your family member or spouse died in a motorcycle accident. Damages from a lawsuit for wrongful death include funeral costs, loss of expected savings and benefits, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and medical expenses up until the date of death.

The length of time to settle a motorcycle accident claim can vary from several weeks to over 2 years. Most claims are resolved within 6 to 12 months, but cases with minor injuries may settle in 3 months or less. On the other hand, if you have severe injuries that are likely to cause disability, the process of negotiating a settlement will probably take over 1 year. If you cannot work out a compensation amount with the insurance company and you need to try the case in court, the process of settling a motorcycle accident case may take 3 or more years.

Settlement timelines are based on many variables, such as:

• The extent of your injuries and whether you will need long-term / lifetime medical expenses and replacement wages
• The complexity of the accident investigation and determining who is at fault, whether it’s one or multiple parties.
• If you are able to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company, or if litigation is needed to obtain a fair amount of compensation.
• Whether you can work out a settlement after the filing or a lawsuit or need to ask for a trial date.

– California Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit Guide [PDF]

Under the laws in California, you have a time limit of 2 years from the accident date to file a motorcycle accident lawsuit. If you fail to meet the deadline of 2 years, you can no longer proceed with a claim against the party that harmed you. That means you will have to bear the expenses from a motorcycle accident on your own, even if someone else is clearly to blame. The statutory deadline ensures that lawsuits are filed in a timely manner, and both sides have a chance to conduct a fair and thorough investigation. With the passage of time, evidence can be lost or corrupted, and memories from witnesses become less reliable. With that in mind, make sure to initiate an accident injury claim with help from a lawyer specializing in motorcycle accidents.  

The statute of limitations is generally 2 years from when you are injured, but there are situations that can change how long you have for a lawsuit. For example: 

• At the time of the accident, you were a minor, so the statute of limitations can start once you turn 18 years old.  
• The accident caused injuries that left you physically or mentally incapacitated. The court may allow you to delay any legal proceedings until you are further along in your recovery.  
• The defendant has left the state or country, so if you cannot locate them to serve a copy of the lawsuit, the statute of limitations can be delayed until the other party returns to California.  

Contact us for more information on the amount of time you have for a motorcycle accident lawsuit, along with other deadlines that have to do with your case.