Questions people ask

Nothing. The consultation is free, there is no obligation, and nobody will press you to sign anything on the call. If we do not think you need a lawyer, we will tell you that and explain how to handle it yourself.

The honest answer needs five minutes of conversation. Broadly, you need someone who owed you a duty of care, who fell short of it, where that failure caused your injury, and where you have a loss that can be documented. Plenty of unfair situations do not meet all four, and we will say so if yours does not.

Usually two years from the injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If a government entity is involved — a city vehicle, a transit bus, a road defect, a school — it is six months to present an administrative claim under Government Code section 911.2. Use the deadline checker to see which applies.

Most injury claims never involve suing anyone. They are claims against an insurance policy that exists precisely for this, and the large majority resolve without a lawsuit being filed. Where the at-fault person is a neighbor, a friend or a relative, that distinction usually resolves the discomfort.

Yes. California law makes immigration status irrelevant to the enforcement of state labor and civil protections, and it is generally inadmissible in a personal injury case. It is a common reason people do not call and it is not a good one.

Nothing up front. The fee is a percentage of any recovery, costs are advanced by the firm, and if there is no recovery there is no fee. It is all set out in a written agreement you sign, as Business and Professions Code section 6147 requires. See fees and costs.

Nobody can tell you honestly at the start, and anyone who gives you a number on a first call is guessing. It depends on a diagnosis that may not be final, treatment that has not happened, the available insurance, your share of fault, and how a specific insurer values a specific file. What can be done now is to total what is documentable — the loss worksheet does exactly that and deliberately refuses to estimate anything else.

Some combination of your health insurance, your own medical payments coverage if you have it, and providers willing to treat on a lien and be paid from the recovery. The at-fault insurer does not pay bills as you go — it pays once, at the end.

Because the fee, the case costs and every valid medical lien come out of the gross figure first. Liens are frequently negotiable and reducing them is real money. You should see the full breakdown before accepting anything.

Claims settled without a lawsuit commonly take six months to about eighteen, driven mainly by how long your treatment lasts. A filed case typically adds another year or two depending on the county. See how long a case takes.

Most likely not. The large majority of claims settle, many without a lawsuit ever being filed, and most filed cases settle at mediation.

Not to the other side's insurer — you owe them nothing. You generally do owe reasonable cooperation to your own insurer under your policy. See dealing with adjusters.

Yes. You have the right to change representation at any time. The previous firm may assert a lien for work done, which is normally resolved between the firms out of the eventual recovery rather than costing you extra.

California uses pure comparative fault, so your recovery is reduced by your share rather than barred. Even someone mostly at fault recovers the remaining percentage. Insurers routinely overstate a claimant's share early, because it is an effective opening position.

Your own uninsured motorist coverage responds, and it is included in California policies unless you rejected it in writing. There may also be an employer, a vehicle owner or another at-fault party. Send us your declarations page and we will read it.

It does not end the claim. California holds a defendant responsible for aggravating a pre-existing condition. What matters is disclosing it early — found later in your records after you said there was nothing, it becomes a credibility problem far worse than the injury itself.

Probably too late, but not certainly — there are narrow exceptions including delayed discovery, tolling for minors, and defendants who left the state. It costs nothing to ask, and assuming it is over without checking is how people give up claims they still had.

Then the deadline is six months to present a written claim, not two years, and the procedure is specific. Treat it as urgent. See claims against a public entity.