San Mateo Car Accident ATTORNEYS

Car accidents are a common occurrence in San Mateo because of the traffic congestion throughout the entire San Francisco Bay Area. If you are an unfortunate victim of one of these accidents, then you know all too well the devastation that comes along if the accident injures you or a loved one.

The injuries and losses you suffered because of a San Mateo car crash come at a cost. If someone else caused the auto accident through their negligence or wrongful actions, you should have to bear the costs on your own, and you likely qualify to obtain compensation from those responsible.

Car accidents happen every day with increasing regularity because of the traffic congestion not only in San Mateo, but throughout the entire San Francisco Bay Area. When it happens to you, there is nothing ordinary about it. It is essential that you contact a San Mateo car accident attorney who will fight for your rights and get you the settlement you deserve. Call 650-345-8484 or contact us online.

WE CAN ASSIST With Your SAN MATEO Car Accident Case

If you suffered serious or lasting injury or a family member was killed in a car crash, the San Mateo law firm of Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos offers the strong advocacy you need. We act fast and work diligently to maximize the compensation you receive through an insurance claim or lawsuit.

Contact our car accident attorneys in San Mateo immediately for a free initial consultation. Our car crash lawyers have recovered millions of dollars for clients in a variety of car accident cases — intersection collisions, freeway pileups, rollovers, and accidents caused by intoxicated and distracted driving.

Our attorneys not only help car accident victims who have been in regular street and roadway accidents, but we also handle personal injury claims due to accidents on major highways, freeways, or bridges, such as:

• 101 – North & South (Bay Shore Freeway)
• 280 – North & South (Junipero Serra Freeway)
• 82 – El Camino Real North & South
• 80 – East & West
  • Including the Bay Bridge
• 92 – East & West
  • Including San Mateo Bridge Car Accidents
• 84 – East & West
  • Including Dumbarton Bridge Car Accidents
• 880 – North & South (Nimitz Freeway)
• 24 – East & West (Grove Shafter Freeway)
  • Including the Caldecott Tunnel
• The MacArthur Maze
• 580, 85, 237 and more

Regardless of where your car accident happened in San Mateo, the attorneys at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos can help.

Why You Need a San Mateo Car Accident Lawyer

According to research by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Authority (NHTSA), about 1.9 million were in injury-related car accidents in one recent year.

An accident can result in serious injuries that affect how you live for the rest of your life, and some crashes even result in life-threatening or fatal injuries. When any of this happens, you need an experienced car accident lawyer to analyze your circumstances and offer legal advice on how best to proceed to obtain the fullest compensation you can obtain from your injuries.

Our team is well-versed in California car accident laws and knows how they affect the legalities of your unique circumstances. An experienced personal injury lawyer can collect evidence, negotiate with insurance companies, and get you ready for trial if necessary. Even before all that, an experienced lawyer can help you determine whether you have a case for which you may recover damages.

To file a case to pursue compensation for injuries and losses in California, you must establish:

1. The accident happened because of someone else's negligence.
2. The accident resulted in you suffering physical injuries, as well as financial damages stemming from your injuries.

This is a factual and legal determination best made by a lawyer who can also help you present those findings to the insurance company to settle your case or at trial if you do not settle.

How Much Compensation Can I Get for My Car Accident Injury?

This is a common question and often the first one that many accident victims ask a lawyer. We, however, cannot easily answer without knowing more about the facts and circumstances of your case. However, regardless of how serious your injuries were from an accident, a good auto accident attorney will be able to obtain the compensation you deserve for both economic and non-economic damages.

To determine how much your case is worth, you must fully consider:

• The facts and circumstances surrounding the accident, including whether speeding was a factor, whether liable parties violated any laws, and what the police noted in their reports, if they created one at the accident scene.
• Whether liability is obvious or not. If the person you are suing was clearly at fault (for example, they sped through a red traffic signal), then establishing liability and determining your compensation is usually easy.
• The extent and severity of your injuries and any damage to your vehicle. Severe injuries are more costly and will likely result in a higher settlement. For this, you will need a diagnosis from a medical professional. We can use the records of your injury and treatment to show the seriousness of your injuries.
• How much you have spent on treatment, car repairs, and lost income.

All these are factors that will impact the value of your case. Once you have all this information and documents, a good lawyer can use it to negotiate a higher settlement than you could get on your own.

What You Should Expect in the Legal Process after a San Mateo Car Accident

How long a car accident case takes to settle directly with an insurer or resolve at trial in civil court depends on many factors, such as the circumstances surrounding the accident, the totality of evidence readily available, and whether the at-fault party is admitting liability. It is difficult to tell or even estimate how long a case will take unless we have those important facts.

When you call us for a free consultation, we will review the circumstances of your accident and tell you whether your case has merit. We can discuss whether your claim might settle very quickly or if it will take much longer because of the complexity of the legal and factual issues in the case.

In general, the biggest factors that will influence how long a case takes to reach a settlement or go to trial are:

• Factual or legal issues directly related to the case.
• If your attorney believes that your claim is worth a large amount of money and the insurance companies hesitate to settle and keep delaying to see if you accept a low offer, which may take a long time.
• If you are still undergoing treatment or you have not fully recovered or will never fully recover. You must know what treatments you might need as well as the long-term effects of the injuries.

Our experienced lawyers can work closely with you to thoroughly assess these factors, ensure that we fully prepare to address all issues that may arise during the negotiations or trial, and obtain the most compensation for you.

Car Accident Settlements in San Mateo

The insurance companies do not have your best interests in mind. The adjusters will seek statements that pin the blame on you or press for a quick settlement that may not cover your needs. In fact, the higher your damages, the more an insurer will resist a fair settlement.

You need an attorney who will fight for full compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages, future loss of income, and personal losses. The San Mateo personal injury attorneys at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos have over 75 years of combined experience in settlement negotiations and personal injury trials. Our car crash lawyers have handled cases of major injuries requiring lifelong care and we deal with complex insurance issues such as an uninsured or underinsured driver who hit you. We have the knowledge and experience to navigate the complicated legal process that ensues if you are involved in a rideshare accident.

Our San Mateo car crash lawyers get our investigators quickly to the crash site, including car accident reconstruction specialists in severe collisions. Prompt action to preserve evidence is a major factor in our record of success. It also helps our auto accident attorneys determine if there are other liable parties — manufacturers of defective auto parts or those responsible for dangerous road conditions.

HOW MUCH CAN I GET FOR MY CAR ACCIDENT SETTLEMENT?

The amount you can recover for your car accident settlement will vary widely and depend on the unique facts and circumstances of your accident. First, there must be a party responsible for the accident that led to your injury, from which you can collect damages. This means that were it not for the actions or conditions created by another party, the accident would not have happened, and you would not have suffered injuries.

Once you can prove liability for the accident, your attorney can begin filing the insurance claims against each liable party. These can include other drivers, the employers of negligent drivers, and more. This also requires that your attorney proves the damages that you are seeking, which first involves complex calculations.

There are damages for a wide range of losses, and some or all might apply in your case.

Common losses include:

• Your medical bills – These include emergency transportation, hospitalization, emergency room care, surgery, physical therapy, specialist appointments, medical equipment, medication, rehabilitative care, and more. If your medical treatment will continue, your lawyer will need to determine how much to request for future medical bills.
• Lost earnings – When you have to miss work because of your injuries, you can lose a significant amount of income in a relatively short time. You deserve to recover all the wages you lost from being out of work. If you cannot return to your previous job because of the lasting effects of your injuries, or perhaps you can no longer work at all, you can seek damages for future lost income. This often requires help from experts, and your lawyer will know who to contact for assistance.
• Intangible losses – These subjective losses are particularly difficult to calculate. These can include permanent disabilities or disfigurement, physical pain and suffering, and more.
• Wrongful death damages - If the car accident killed a close family member, you may recover compensation to pay for final medical expenses, funeral and burial costs, and even the loss of income the deceased provided to your household.

Working with an experienced personal injury attorney from Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos can help you determine the full amount of damages you suffered, and we will fight hard to help you get the fair compensation you deserve.

San Mateo Car Accident FAQs

If you were in a car accident in San Mateo, you might have the right to seek compensation from the responsible drivers. The damages that you can collect will depend on the cause of the accident and the impact the injuries have upon your ability to work and return to your regular life. A car accident attorney can explain your options and answer your questions. The following are some frequently asked questions our attorneys hear from crash victims.

Contact a San Mateo Car Accident Attorney Today

The attorneys at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos have handled all types of car accident claims in San Mateo and throughout Northern California, including intersection collisions, freeway pileups, rollovers, and negligent driving incidents. Proper financial recovery begins with accurate calculations by your lawyer. Then, your San Mateo personal injury attorney will need to ensure the insurance company covers all the losses you demand. 

Contact us for a free consultation today to learn how we can help you obtain maximum compensation for the injuries and losses you suffered because of someone else's negligence or wrongdoing.