Don’t Be Surprised When Stories Change

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin

Recently, a client came to me who had been hit by an automobile while he was riding his bike. The other party turned right in front of him and caused an accident to occur. By all accounts, the accident wasn’t his fault. The impact was so strong, that he flew off his bike about 22 feet into the air, and landed on another vehicle. He had several severe orthopedic injuries (broken clavicle, cracked ribs, facial lacerations, etc.), and he was taken to the hospital. It turned out he needed further orthopedic care and possible surgery.

When I first met with client, he told me of a police officer who witnessed the accident. The officer apparently assured my client it was not his fault, and the other party was very apologetic scene. My client was sure the accident was not his fault, especially after what the officer told him and the apologies of the other party. All signs were in his favor.

I told my client that after so many years of practicing law, he should not be surprised if everyone’s story changes. My client was surprised I would say such a thing. Perhaps I was being too careful? Perhaps I didn’t want to have too much confidence so early in the case? Sure enough, we got a call the next day from the insurance company for the other party. The driver of the car had a change of heart. She now alleged my client caused the accident by riding his bicycle too fast.

When we obtained the police report about two weeks after the accident, we found the police officer had found against my client and cited him for riding his bicycle too fast for the circumstances – a violation of California Vehicle Code 22350.

The lesson here is that you should never assume what the police officer is going to say, what the police report is going to reveal, or whether were not the other party will accept fault. Even if the other party accepts fault, that doesn’t mean his/her insurance carrier will agree. Also, your insurance company and the other party’s insurance company might disagree. I had a case recently where my client’s insurance company found in her favor, while the other party’s insurance company found against her. Never be surprised, because people can change their tune. What you think will happen doesn’t necessarily unfold the way you might expect.

I remember one client didn’t hire me because she thought I was being pessimistic. I tried to persuade her I wasn’t being pessimistic, but I was trying to be realistic. I wanted her to be prepared for differing versions of the accident. I told her there are courthouses all over the United States full of people who disagree about this or that. It is my opinion that by advising my clients of these possibilities in advance, they are better prepared for such developments as they unfold during their claim. Of course, we hope everyone will stick to their story, but that isn’t always the case.

People change their minds. What you THINK you heard at the scene of an accident may not actually be the entire story. You may have heard bits and pieces, and your brain jumped to certain conclusions based on what you perceived to be the truth. Wait till all the facts are in before you make conclusions about your personal injury case.

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Santa Clarita, CA accident lawyer discusses police reports

Posted on January 5, 2012 by admin

One of the most important pieces of the puzzle when it comes to your personal injury auto accident case is the police report. However, sometimes police reports are NOT prepared if there is no report of injury. In fact, some insurance adjusters will point to the absence of a police report as evidence of absence of injury. In other words, if there was no police report, then you obviously weren’t injured. Therefore, if you are injured, you should tell the 911 operator or officers. Otherwise, the police will either not show and/or not write a report.

A police report can be very helpful when analyzing your accident case. First, I always look to see who the officer found at fault. The person at fault is usually listed as party #1. I also look to see what California Vehicle Code violation the office determined was involved. This information is usually found in the report. Sometimes the officers will also prepare a small diagram which can be helpful in determining what happened.

Unless the guily party was under the influence, most officers won’t issue a citation to the guilty party. The lack of citation carries little legal significance. I also look to see if there are an “associated” or “secondary” factors involved. Sometimes, my client is listed as an associated factor. That’s not a great thing, but it cannot be overlooked.

The report will also have the officer’s determination of road conditions, witness statements, reported injuries and if anyone was transported to a hospital, and the officer’s opinion regarding the severity of the property damage.

The officer’s opinion regarding fault carries a great deal of weight but is not legallly binding. In most cases, the officer didn’t see what happened and only “investigated” the scene after the fact. His/Her opinion is important but can be challenged. If you notice something wrong in a police report, you should take the time to file a “supplemental” report with the appropriate agency.

Therefore, police reports are helpful when it comes to accident cases. I will be honest…if the report is against you, you are going to have an uphill battle.

To learn more about what I look for when examining police reports, click on this link.

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Pedestrian cases can be tricky

Posted on December 16, 2011 by admin

A lot of people assume the pedestrian is always innocent in car accident cases. However, pedestrians can contribute to or cause a car accident to occur. One of the biggest reasons pedestrian accidents occur is when a pedestrian is jay walking. If there are marked crosswalks, you are not supposed to walk in the middle of the street.

However, although some pedestrians are indeed at fault for an accident, that doesn’t give permission to the driver of a motor vehicle to plow into them with a car. One time, an insurance adjuster told me, “Your client was walking when the light was flashing ‘Don’t Walk’ and therefore caused the accident.” I told him that might be true, but that did not give his client permission to hit my client with a car. Maybe my client also has no taste in clothing and doesn’t go to church on Sunday…that doesn’t mean drivers can simply hit him in the middle of the street!

In many cases involving pedestrians who are at fault, comparative negligence comes into play. That means the driver of the car is to share in the blame. How much blame is part of the lawyer’s overall analysis, but sometimes it is not crystal clear. The California Vehicle Code states that even if a pedestrian is to blame, it does not absolve a driver from due care. Also, the California Jury Instructions place a greater burden on the driver of a car than on a pedestrian. After all, the driver of a car is the more dangerous of the two.

Of course, some folks think the pedestrian is always right. Well, sometimes the pedestrian is fault free. However, even if the pedestrian is at fault, it’s not such a clear cut case, and it may warrant further examination.

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A car accident can cause a herniated disc

Posted on November 1, 2011 by admin

A severe car accident can cause a herniated disc in your spine. Spinal discs are like cushions in between the vertebrae. These discs provide cushion to the vertebrae. Of course, over time, these discs start to degenerate. The discs are filled with fluid. But when a disc is damaged, it can bulge or break. This is a herniated disc. Sometimes a herniated disc is called a ruptured disc or slipped disc. When a disc is damaged in an auto accident, the fluid inside the disc can leak which affects the cushion between the vertebrae. If the herniation is significant, it can put pressure on the nerves running along the spinal column. This can cause significant pain running up and down the body since everything is connected to the spine. This pain can “radiate” throughout the body – through the extremeties. The pressure on the nerve causes “radicular” pain which is pain that shoots through the body. Different nerves in the spine are generally associated with different parts of the body. Sometimes doctors can figure out which nerve is affected due to the area of the body having the most pain. For example, leg pain is associated with lumbar (back), or arm pain comes from a cervical (neck) herniated disc.

A disc injury is usually easy to diagnose. However, a herniated disc is tougher to diagnose. This is because the disc doesn’t show up on a basic x-ray. Therefore, herniated discs aren’t usually diagnosed in the hospital after a car accident. Sometimes a subsequent CT scan, MRI, discography, myelography, or an electromyography help diagnose herniated discs. Even then, it is tough for a personal injury case because you have to show an “acute” injury which means the injury can be related to the auto accident. If the herniation pre-dates the accident, there is the argument it was asymptomatic until the accident. The car accident may have aggravated the condition in some way. Sometimes this is a tough sell, especially if a client has disc bulges at several disc levels as is often the case as we age.

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Meniscus Tear from a Car Accident?

Posted on October 17, 2011 by admin

Yes, you can indeed suffer a meniscus tear from a severe car accident. A meniscus tear occurs when the knee cartilage is torn. A meniscus tear is very painful because the tear leaves the knee with reduced cartilage, causing friction in the knee joint. The cartilage which usually protects can no longer offer the same degree of protection due to the meniscus tear.

Torn meniscus symptoms include swelling, knee pain, tenderness, popping, clicking from the knee, and of course, limited motion of the knee joint.

If you’ve had a car accident where meniscus injury may be present, it’s important to have the meniscus of the knee examined by either a hospital or your doctor. The examination will generally include a visual evaluation of the knee and oftentimes the doctor will order for an x-ray or perhaps an MRI to confirm the tear.

Treatment for a meniscus tear usually requires a surgical intervention. As with most knee injuries, the insurance company will always want to be convinced there was a mechanism of injury. The accident usually has to be pretty severe to prove the connection between the car accident and the meniscus tear. Absent excruciating pain reported at the scene of an accident or later at the hospital, they usually doubt meniscus tears from accidents.

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Torn ACL from car accident

Posted on October 14, 2011 by admin

Serious car accidents can cause knee injuries, especially if the knee is jammed into the dashboard of the car. This usually happens during frontal collisions and usually involving a twisting motion of the knee. A serious car accident can result in a tear of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) of the knee joint.

The ACL offers stability to your knee. When the ACL is injuried, many report the knee simply “gave way,” or they heard a loud pop, at the time of injury. ACL injury can lead to severe swelling, pain and tenderness of the knee.

Sometimes it is difficult to diagnose an ACL injury early in a personal injury case until the initial knee pain calms down. When the pain and swelling have diminished, the doctor can examine the knee to see if there is evidence of any ligament tear. An MRI will show the tear in the ligament, and may be helpful when proving your case to an insurance adjuster.

If the ACL tear from the accident is severe, a physician may recommend surgical intervention. Sometimes, the decision to have surgery involves not only the severity of the tear, but also the age of the patient and their normal level of activity.

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Rotator cuff injury from a car accident

Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin

It is possible to have a rotator cuff injury from an automobile accident. The rotator cuff is the name of the four muscles and tendons that form the shoulder joint. Basically, the rotator cuff aids the shoulder’s ability to have a wide range of motion. Interestingly, the shoulder has a very wide range of motion when compared to other joints in the body. A healthy rotator cuff is very important for allowing you to do daily routine tasks such as getting dressed.

Sometimes there is a tear in the rotator cuff when one of the four muscles and tendons are injured. Most often, rotator cuff injuries occur from repetitive use, but sometimes they can be caused by traumatic injury. Repetitive use is often associated with such activities such as overhead lifting or sports, but sometimes a forceful collision like an automobile accident can cause a rotator cuff tear.

The accident most associated with a rotator cuff tear is a the classic rear end accident. Sometimes, when anticipating a rear end collision, a person looks in their rearview mirror just before impact. At that moment, they brace their hands against the steering wheel in anticipation of the impact. Unfortunately, doing so can sometimes lead to injury of the rotator cuff. This is because the shoulder is in an “unrelaxed” state when the body braces for impact, and therefore, the shoulder absorbs a large amount of force from the accident. An acute tear can occur from this type of accident.

If you feel pain in the shoulder after a car accident and have trouble sleeping, putting pressure on your shoulder, rotating your arms, or you experience a popping or clicking sound in your arm, you may have a rotator cuff tear. Your physician can diagnose one, but early diagnosis is important.

Many of my clients often overlook the possibility of rotator cuff tear because they simply don’t consider it. Make sure you mention your injury to a doctor so they can diagnose it properly. Rotator cuff tears may require surgical intervention if physical therapy and other approaches are unsuccessful.

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AC Joint injury from a car accident

Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin

The AC joint can be injured in a car accident. Generally speaking, the ligaments that support the AC joint can be injured in an auto accident. Sometimes, AC joint separation is also known as “shoulder separation.” The AC joint is formed where the clavicle and the scapular area meet. It’s generally in the highest part of the shoulder. The two bones that form the shoulder attach by a ligament that can be damaged. Sometimes there is damage to the muscle as well.

The AC joint is most often injured when there is direct contact the shoulder. Some insurance companies will doubt the AC joint injury if there is no evidence of direct impact to the shoulder. However, with the proper medical diagnosis, medical documentation, and the absence of joint separation in previous medical records, some insurance companies can be convinced that the AC joint injury was from the accident. They will doubt it at first in my experience, questioning the “mechanism of injury.”

Symptoms can include pain in the collarbone area that spreads through the shoulder. Sometimes there is swelling where the joint has been disrupted. Often there is pain when moving the shoulders, especially when trying to raise the arms high above the shoulders. Therefore, it is possible to have AC shoulder joint separation from an accident. Just make sure you tell all your doctors so that your injury can be well-documented. This isn’t the time to take a “wait and see” approach.

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What to do if you’ve been injured in a car accident

Posted on October 8, 2011 by admin

Hi.  My name is Robert Mansour and I’m a personal injury lawyer.  I used to work for the insurance companies as a defense attorney so I know how to present your case to them.  Let’s talk a little bit about what to do if you’re involved in an accident:

Take pictures of all of the damage to your car.  Not just of your car, but all the other vehicles involved as well;

If you have any injuries at all, make sure to take pictures of them; any bruises, cuts or scrapes.  Document those things because they will have an impact when you show them to the insurance adjuster for the other side.

Also, make sure that your actions are consistent with your injury.  So if you’re
claiming injury, don’t go skiing the next day or running a marathon the next day.  Make sure to understand that whatever you say and do may come back to haunt you after an accident. 

Also, the insurance company for the other party is going to call you on the  phone and they’re going to ask you for a statement.  You have no legal obligation to give them one.  As a matter of fact in all my years as a lawyer I have never seen anybody gain anything from giving a statement to the other party.

Finally, if you have any medical injuries or personal injury, make sure you seek medical attention as soon as you can.  The longer you wait the more the insurance company for the other side is going to say that you didn’t have any injuries at all.  So don’t delay.  It can come back to hurt you. 

So remember, I worked for the other side.  I can help you navigate through these waters.  Give me a call for a free consultation.  My name is Robert Mansur and thank you very much for watching.

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Personal Injury Cases and Soft Tissue Injuries

Posted on October 1, 2011 by admin

Soft tissue injuries are injuries to the muscles, ligaments and tendons, and are often sustained during car accidents. While most soft tissue injuries are generally not as serious as, say, bone or organ injuries, they can be very painful and may take a long time to heal. Soft tissue injuries include sprains, strains, tendonitis or bursitis, bruises, dislocation and nerve damage. Whiplash, which occurs commonly during car accidents, is a soft tissue injury of the cervical spine. Treatment for a soft tissue injury may consist of physical therapy, medication and/or rest, and in very severe cases, surgery.

Pursuing a legal case in order to obtain compensation for treatment of soft tissue injuries will likely require that you prove the responsible party’s negligence – that they were not driving safely and that you were injured as a result of their negligence.  This is known as “causation.”  If you choose to hire an attorney to represent you in your soft tissue injury case (or any personal injury case), the statute of limitations in California is currently two years, but you will have a better chance at success if you act immediately. Because soft tissue injuries are oftentimes not regarded as serious by insurance companies, as they usually can’t be seen by the naked eye or on an x-ray, waiting to pursue your case can only make it more difficult to get the compensation you need.  Delaying may not be in your favor.

Seeking medical attention for your soft tissue injuries can be tough. A doctor may prescribe you pain medication automatically, numbing symptoms and lessening your motivation to seek further treatment or contact an attorney. If nothing shows up on your x-ray, it might be a good idea to see a chiropractor or physical therapist, even if you don’t feel any pain; they can help detect a soft tissue injury that could cause you trouble later on. Additionally, chiropractors and physical therapists generally offer a gentler therapy that can help tackle the root cause of your pain and helps you regain your previous range of motion so scar tissue doesn’t build up. Painkillers often mask your symptoms, potentially exacerbating your condition – if a soft tissue injury isn’t treated properly, surgery may be in your future or you may not heal to pre-accident condition.

If you are involved in a car accident, seek medical help immediately, and keep a detailed record of how you feel and how you progress or regress. Remember, car insurance companies are notorious for scoffing at soft tissue injuries, regardless of how real your pain is to you.   Don’t be surprised if they don’t treat your injuries seriously.  Soft tissue cases can pose an “uphill battle” to any claimant, with or without a lawyer.

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