Sherman Oaks Personal Injury Lawyer

We are based at 15250 Ventura Blvd. Ste 610. We can offer face to face consultations. Please call us to make an appointment. We are open from 9am to 6pm Monday-Friday. Please bring any documents you may have with you such as photos, collision report number, letters from your insurance, discharge papers from hospital and details of any witnesses. If driving is not possible at the moment we can still help. We can offer telephone/video consultations. We can send the documentation to you so you can electronically sign or we can visit you at home/hospital. The consultation is completely free of charge. We will not charge you for our services unless we successfully recover funds for you. There is no obligation after your initial call.

Injury claims are allocated based on where your incident took place in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The Filing Court Locator tool shows that ZIP Code 91423 is split between Fulton Avenue & Dixie Canyon Avenue. Anything East of this will be filed at the Burbank Courthouse (300 E. Olive Ave). Anything West of this and ZIP Codes 91403 & 91413 will be filed at the Van Nuys Courthouse East (Sylmar Avenue). This has nothing to do with where you live or where your lawyer lives. It is purely based on where your collision took place. If we file in the wrong court the claim can be transferred which causes delays. We will always check the Filing Court Locator tool to ensure we are filing in the right court based on the exact intersection.

The LAPD recommend you wait at least 45 days for your report to be reviewed and approved. Most reports can be ordered online. If there was an arrest, fatality or juvenile involved or the collision happened prior to 1st February 2016 it must be ordered by post. A $19 check or money order should be sent to the LAPD Records and Identification Division. If you have the report number please include this. Include the date, location and your involvement. Victims and their representatives can obtain a copy. If your collision was on the freeway and handled by the CHP please request from them.

Seek medical attention and report the collision to the police so it can be logged as a hit and run. Make a note of as much information as you can about the car while it is fresh in your mind. What color was it? How big was it? What direction was it travelling in? Was any part of the plate visible? Check for any cameras in shop fronts or entrances to the apartments. Many will have footage of the collision within days. The City of Los Angeles have a hit and run reward scheme. The LAPD advertise up to $50,000 reward for any information that helps to identify the driver. If you cannot identify the driver you may be able to make a claim under your own uninsured motorist cover. Find out more about suing after a hit and run.

This will depend on who manages the section of pavement and what they knew. If it is the responsibility of the City they will only be liable if they had actual knowledge of the risk or it was obvious and had been there long enough to be discovered during reasonable checks (Government Code 835.2). If there has been a previous report to MyLA311 for this section of pavement this can show the City knew. Take a photo of the bump in the pavement using something to show scale such as a shoe or coin. Make a note of the closest address. Claims to the City must be made within 6 months to the City Clerk. The online portal will give you an instant claim number. The City Clerk will not accept claims via email or fax.

Possibly. Landlords/Property Managers have a duty of care to ensure common areas such as the garage, stairs and laundry room are reasonably safe. Was there a risk? Did the management know or should they have known? Did they have time to fix the issue? Common issues include burnt out lights (reported weeks ago), gates constantly breaking or a puddle under a known leak. Send a report to the management in writing. Keep a copy. Keep any previous emails/texts from Tenants complaining. These often determine if they knew. As a tenant you can make an injury claim against your own landlord.

Possibly. We do not handle workers compensation claims. Your benefits from your employer will remain in this system. Under California Labor Code 3852 if an employee (Peace Officers & Firefighters specifically) suffers an injury caused by someone other than their employer their claim for compensation will not affect their right to claim. This could be a driver who rear ended your patrol car or hit you during a traffic stop. Your employer may attempt to reclaim some of what you recover. Public safety claims can also involve the firefighter's rule. This is a doctrine which can limit some claims. There are statutory exceptions. Have a lawyer look at the facts.

Under Civil Code 3333.4 if an uninsured owner/driver suffers injuries in a car collision they generally cannot claim for non-economic damages. This includes pain/suffering or inconvenience. However they can claim for economic losses from the at fault driver. There is 1 exception to this. If the driver who hit you was convicted of driving under the influence relating to the collision they will not be barred from claiming pain/suffering. This applies to vehicle owners/drivers. If you were a passenger in someone else's car, pedestrian or cyclist you will not be affected.

You can claim however the threshold is high. Under Civil Code 3294 punitive damages can be claimed if the plaintiff can prove malice, oppression or fraud by clear and convincing evidence. This is a high standard. Malice includes despicable conduct with a willful and conscious disregard for the safety of others. Californian Courts have allowed punitive claims to be made against drunk drivers. Being arrested or convicted of a DUI will help however it is not guaranteed. Punitive damages are not compensation for your injuries and are unlikely to be paid by an insurance policy. It will depend on the assets of the driver.