If you were injured in San Francisco because of someone else’s negligence, you may have the right to pursue compensation for any out-of-pocket costs you have accrued as a result. However, insurance companies do not automatically pay injury victims what their claims are worth and may dispute liability, medical treatment, or the extent of the damages to minimize their costs. Should that happen, consulting with a local San Francisco personal injury lawyer can give you the assistance you need.
At West Coast Trial Lawyers, our firm has recovered more than $2 billion on behalf of our clients, and our personal injury lawyers are prepared to guide you through every stage of your claim. We combine the resources of a large personal injury firm with direct attorney access and an in-house trial team prepared to take cases further when an insurance company refuses to make a reasonable offer.
On top of it all, we operate on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you do not pay any legal fees unless we win. Call us today at (415) 326-8794 or fill out our online contact form for a free case consultation.
Why Hire a San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer?
While it is not mandatory to hire a personal injury lawyer, but in the event of an accident, insurance companies tend to begin investigating before you have even had time to understand the full extent of your injuries.
As you are trying to recover from your injuries, an adjuster may request a recorded statement, question why you need medical treatment, and even dispute how the accident occurred to affect how compensation an insurer is ultimately willing to pay. By hiring a personal injury attorney, they can protect the legal side of your recovery and present the evidence while you focus on recovering.
Why Choose West Coast Trial Lawyers for a San Francisco Personal Injury Case?
Choosing a personal injury law firm is about more than finding someone to submit an insurance claim. Depending on what caused your accident, your attorney may need to challenge a major insurance carrier, rideshare company, property owner, or even a government agency. When you choose West Coast Trial Lawyers, you are choosing a firm that has handled thousands of personal injury claims and has built a legal team capable of handling both insurance negotiations and complex litigation.
What You Get When You Hire West Coast Trial Lawyers
- An In-House Trial Team– Our attorneys investigate and develop cases with litigation in mind. If the responsible party refuses to provide reasonable compensation, our team is prepared to take the case further.
- Direct Access to Your Legal Team– Our team keeps clients informed throughout the claims process and provides access to the legal professionals responsible for handling their case.
- Experience Taking on Powerful Defendants– West Coast Trial Lawyers has experience pursuing claims against major insurance companies and corporations and has the resources necessary to develop complicated personal injury cases.
- A Local San Francisco Office– Our office at One Sansome Street, Suite 3500 gives injury victims access to our legal team in Downtown San Francisco.
Personal Injury Cases We Handle in San Francisco
Personal injury law encompasses many different accidents and forms of negligence. Each type of case can present different questions involving liability, insurance coverage, evidence, medical treatment, and damages.
- San Francisco Car Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Bicycle Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Bus Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Burn Injury Attorney
- San Francisco Dog Bite Attorney
- San Francisco Spinal Cord Injury Attorney
- San Francisco Motorcycle Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Pedestrian Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Premises Liability Attorney
- San Francisco Brain Injury Attorney
- San Francisco Truck Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Uber and Lyft Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Wrongful Death Attorney
- San Francisco Food Delivery Accident Attorney
- San Francisco Scooter Accident Attorney
What Should You Do After an Accident in San Francisco?
Whether you have been involved in a motorcycle accident or a slip and fall accident, your health should come first after an accident. As such, seek medical attention if you are injured and follow every recommendation provided by your healthcare professionals.
If you are physically able, begin documenting what happened by taking photos and videos of the accident scene. Any pictures or videos about who was involved, who was injured, and what was damaged can become useful evidence later on. Furthermore, San Francisco’s dense commercial and residential environment can create additional sources of evidence like surveillance systems and dashcam footage.
You should also be cautious when speaking with another party’s insurance carrier, because any statements made shortly after an accident can later be used in disputes involving liability or the severity of your injuries.
How Do You Prove a Personal Injury Claim in California?
In California, most personal injury claims require an injured person to prove that the person involved in the accident acted negligently. Generally, this involves showing that the defendant owed a duty to exercise reasonable care, failed to meet that duty, caused the accident or injury, and caused compensable damages as a result.
The evidence necessary to prove those elements depends on what happened, for example, obtaining collision reports and surveillance footage for a drunk driving accident. However, for more complex claims like a Muni accident, it may require entirely different evidence, including transit records, operator records, and government documents.
As a result, the strength of a personal injury case depends on more than how seriously someone was hurt. There must also be evidence connecting another party’s conduct to those injuries.
What if You Were Injured on a Muni Bus, Cable Car, or Other Public Transit in San Francisco?
San Francisco injury claims can become particularly complicated when public transportation is involved. Muni buses, light-rail vehicles, streetcars, and cable cars are operated through the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and unlike an ordinary accident, claims involving a public entity may be subject to California’s Government Claims Act.
Is the Deadline Shorter for an Injury Claim Against Muni?
California Government Code 911.2 requires any personal injury claims against a public entity to be formally presented to the appropriate entity within 6 months, which is a substantially shorter period than the ordinary personal injury statute of limitations. Because government claims involve additional procedural requirements, accident victims should not assume that the same deadline applies to a Muni accident as an ordinary car accident.
How Often Do Serious Accidents Happen in San Francisco?
According to the California Office of Traffic Safety’s 2023 rankings, 3,505 people were killed or injured in San Francisco traffic collisions during that year. While traffic injuries remain a significant problem in San Francisco, particularly for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists, the city also ranked first among the 15 similarly populated California cities for pedestrian, bicycle, and motorcycle victims killed or injured.
These statistics do not determine whether someone has a personal injury claim, but they demonstrate why vulnerable road users remain an important concern in San Francisco and how an accident can happen at a moment’s notice.
What if Your Injury Prevents You From Working?
If an injury is preventing you from working, you can potentially seek compensation for wages that were already lost because of an accident as well as reduced future earning capacity when an injury creates lasting employment limitations. However, you would need to provide evidence such as pay stubs, medical work restrictions, disability documentation, employment contracts, and prior earnings history.
Can You Recover Lost Income if You Are Self-Employed?
Self-employed people, independent contractors, and business owners can also potentially recover lost income, but they may need to showcase different types of evidence to prove it. For example, a claim may rely on invoices, client contracts, canceled appointments, and prior earnings can show that there was income that could not be earned because of the injury.
Where Are San Francisco Personal Injury Lawsuits Filed?
When San Francisco County is the appropriate venue for a personal injury lawsuit, any trials may proceed through the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Civic Center Courthouse handles non-criminal disputes between individuals and corporations, including civil trials and case filings and it is located at 400 McAllister Street, Room 103, San Francisco, CA 94102.
However, it is important to note that hiring a personal injury lawyer does not mean that your case will automatically go to trial. Many claims have a tendency to be resolved through insurance negotiations, settlement discussions, mediation, or litigation before a jury trial becomes necessary. The San Francisco Superior Court also maintains alternative dispute resolution procedures for qualifying civil cases.
What Compensation Can You Recover for a Personal Injury?
While every accident is different, a California personal injury claim may include a mix of calculable and incalculable costs that can be potentially recovered. For instance, economic damages are measurable financial losses and can potentially include lost income, property damage, medical bills, and rehabilitation costs.
Meanwhile, non-economic damages compensate for losses that do not come with a specific bill, including pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress, and other personal consequences of an injury.
How Much Is a San Francisco Personal Injury Case Worth?
There is no industry wide average for personal injury settlements that can determine the value of a specific personal injury claim, because two similar accidents can potentially have dramatically different settlements based on the evidence and the severity of the injury.
For example, someone who has suffered a permanent spinal cord injury from a car accident will very likely have a higher value claim as opposed to a fender bender with minor injuries. While there are personal injury settlement calculators that can give injury victims a rough estimate of what their claim is worth, consulting with an experienced personal injury lawyer is the best and most accurate way of finding out how much your claim is worth.
What if You Were Partially Responsible for the Accident?
Being partially responsible for an accident does not automatically prevent someone from recovering compensation in California. While it is understandable to feel worried about being blamed for everything, but in many cases, fault is never a black and white scenario. In claims where liability is split between multiple parties, California will utilize a pure comparative negligence system to solve this issue.
Established by the California Supreme Court in Li v. Yellow Cab Co, and under this rule, an injured person’s compensation can be reduced according to their percentage of responsibility. For example, if your damages were valued at $100,000 but you were determined to be 20% responsible for a car accident, your recovery could be reduced to $80,000.
This makes disputes over fault particularly fair for both parties and very important because an insurance company may have a financial incentive to assign an injured person a larger share of responsibility so they can minimize their overall costs.
How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in San Francisco?
Whether it is a slip and fall accident or a rideshare accident, all personal injury claims must be filed within two years from the date of the incident as per California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. Any failure to do so will result in the automatic forfeit of the injury victim’s right to pursue a claim and recover compensation for their injuries.
However, that does not mean every San Francisco injury claim has a two-year deadline. As previously mentioned, any claims involving the City and County of San Francisco, SFMTA, or another public entity can involve much shorter administrative claim requirements before a lawsuit can be filed.
As different statutes and rules may apply depending on factors such as the age of the injured person, identity of the defendant, type of claim, or other circumstances, it is recommended to speak with an attorney as soon as possible to understand your timeline and what needs to be done.
Speak With a San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer Today
An accident can create problems that extend far beyond a person’s expectations. As sudden accidents can create significant financial stress for you and your family, it is important to seek legal help to bring some certainty in a stressful accident.
At West Coast Trial Lawyers, our attorneys understand how sudden accidents can impact people’s lives for the worse and they are committed to providing the legal representation that you need. With more than $2 billion in financial compensation recovered on behalf of our clients, our team will work tirelessly to ensure justice is served and those responsible are held accountable for their actions.
Call our San Francisco office today at (415) 326-8794 or fill out our online contact form for a free case consultation.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions About San Francisco Personal Injury Claims
Can I File a Personal Injury Claim After a Muni Bus or Cable Car Accident?
Anyone who is injured in incidents involving Muni vehicles may have legal options depending on how the accident occurred. However, these cases can involve government-claim procedures and shorter deadlines that do not apply to ordinary private defendants.
What if a Waymo or Other Autonomous Vehicle Was Involved in My Accident?
An accident involving an autonomous vehicle can create different questions about liability and evidence than a traditional two-driver collision. Depending on the circumstances, responsibility may depend on what caused the collision rather than simply whether the vehicle was operating autonomously.
Can I Recover Lost Income if I Work in Tech and Part of My Compensation Is Variable?
Lost-income claims are not necessarily limited to a basic salary, because depending on the facts and supporting evidence, compensation history involving bonuses, commissions, contractual compensation, or other employment-related earnings may become relevant when determining the financial impact of an injury. The more variable the compensation structure, the more important detailed employment and earnings records may become.
What if I Was Injured While Riding an E-Bike or Electric Scooter?
You may have a personal injury claim if another person’s negligence caused the accident. However, these claims can also involve disputes over roadway position, traffic laws, right-of-way, helmet use, or whether a dangerous street condition contributed to the accident.
What if a Pothole, Road Design, or Dangerous Intersection Contributed to My Accident?
A dangerous condition of public property can potentially create liability under California law when the legal requirements for a government claim are satisfied. However, proving government liability generally requires more than showing that a road could have been safer such as questioning who controlled the property, whether a dangerous condition existed, whether the condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk, and whether the responsible entity created the condition or had sufficient notice of it.
What if I Was Injured as a Passenger in an Uber or Lyft?
An injured rideshare passenger may potentially have claims involving one or more drivers and applicable insurance policies. Which coverage applies can depend on what the rideshare driver was doing within the app when the collision occurred.
Because passengers usually are not responsible for operating either vehicle, the primary dispute may instead involve determining which driver or drivers caused the accident and which insurance coverage applies.
What if I Was Hit by a Car While Walking but the Driver Says I Was Outside the Crosswalk?
Being outside a marked crosswalk does not automatically determine the outcome of a pedestrian injury claim. Liability in these scenarios will depend on the circumstances, including the conduct of both the pedestrian and driver.
Can Surveillance Footage From a San Francisco Business Help Prove My Accident?
Video from stores, office buildings, apartment complexes, parking garages, residences, dashcams, or other sources can become valuable evidence in a personal injury case. However, private surveillance systems may automatically overwrite recordings after a certain period, so it is vital to act quickly.
What if I Was Injured While Working When Someone Else Caused the Accident?
You may potentially have both a workers’ compensation claim and a separate personal injury claim against the third party who caused the injury. However, the two claims can affect one another, particularly when workers’ compensation benefits have paid medical expenses or wage-loss benefits, so it is important to stay on top of them and discuss them with an attorney for better clarity.