Orange County Personal Injury
and Workers' Compensation Lawyer

Car accidents can result in serious injuries, including broken bones, amputations, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord damage. Most car accidents are caused by one or more negligent drivers. Drivers can breach the duty to use reasonable care by speeding, drunk driving, tailgating, failing to obey signs and signals, and making unsafe lane changes, among other behaviors. If a personal injury attorney in Orange County can establish a driver’s negligence, a victim should be able to recover compensatory damages. These are damages meant to put the victim back in the position in which they would have been had there been no accident. Damages usually include items such as medical bills, lost income, the costs of future treatment, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Truck accidents are often devastating, due to the weight and size of a commercial truck. A truck driver may cause an accident by making a wide turn, speeding, failing to adequately secure cargo, overloading cargo, driving while intoxicated or on drugs, driving while fatigued, or failing to follow industry regulations. Sometimes there are multiple accident victims, each of them claiming against the truck driver’s insurance policy, which has a limit. It is important to investigate the accident and determine what all the contributing causes were. Other parties that may bear responsibility include the trucking company, a truck manufacturer, a mechanic, and a third-party loader. A trucking company may be held vicariously liable for a truck driver’s negligence or directly liable for its own negligent hiring, training, or supervision.

Under the California Vehicle Code, bicyclists have mostly the same rights and responsibilities as people who drive cars and trucks. When a driver of a larger vehicle fails to act in a reasonably safe manner, an Orange County personal injury attorney can help a bicyclist hold them accountable for their negligence. A bicyclist has no protection against the force of a larger vehicle and may suffer serious injuries. Some ways in which a driver may cause a bike accident include driving while distracted, failing to obey traffic signs, opening a car door without looking and causing a dooring accident, or failing to give a bicyclist sufficient space.

If you are a pedestrian who was seriously injured by a driver of a motor vehicle, you may have a basis to sue for damages. Under California Vehicle Code 21950, drivers must yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing the road within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Violating this rule likely means that a driver was negligent and at fault for an accident. Unfortunately, some pedestrian accidents claim the life of a victim. Their family can bring a wrongful death claim in these tragic circumstances.

If you were injured due to a dangerous condition on someone else’s property, an Orange County personal injury lawyer may be able to recover compensation on your behalf from the property owner or occupier. A property owner owes a duty to use ordinary care in the management of property in order to avoid exposing visitors to an unreasonable risk of harm. A property owner or occupier may be liable if they had actual or constructive notice of a dangerous condition (or created a dangerous condition) but failed to repair it or provide adequate warnings. When an owner fails to make reasonably regular inspections, this leads to an inference that the dangerous condition existed long enough for the owner to discover and fix the dangerous condition.

The jobs of firefighters and police officers are considered inherently dangerous. People in these professions may sustain injuries in high-speed car accidents, falls, fires, and gunfights, among other incidents. Generally, under the California Fireman’s Rule, a public safety officer cannot sue someone for an injury that occurs in the line of duty. However, there are exceptions. Under Civil Code 1714.9, police officers and firefighters can bring civil lawsuits if an injury was caused by an intentional act, the actions that caused the injuries occurred after the defendant knew or should have known that a public safety officer was there, or the defendant knew or should have known of a public safety officer’s presence but violated laws or regulations designed to protect the officer.

If you were injured or made sick on the job, you likely are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. The California workers’ compensation system is a no-fault system. You can obtain benefits without showing your employer’s fault for your injuries. Likewise, your employer cannot reduce your benefits if you were partially or fully to blame for your work-related injuries. Benefits include medical care and temporary or permanent disability benefits. If your spouse died on the job, you may be eligible for death benefits.

Employees should not lose their jobs because of unlawful discrimination or harassment. The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) is the state anti-discrimination law. It prohibits discrimination based on many protected traits, such as color, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, disability, and age (40 or older). We handle wrongful termination claims under this law and under Government Code 12940. We also handle sexual harassment lawsuits under Civil Code 51.9, which confers generous protections.

If you were injured through the fault of someone else in Orange County, you should contact personal injury lawyer Adam Krolikowski to discuss your rights. He can help you devise a strategy to pursue all the compensation to which you may be entitled. At Krolikowski Law, we also represent workers’ compensation claimants and employees who are seeking to enforce their rights in the workplace. Contact us at (949) 269-1869 or via our online form.