Automobile Accidents

The personal injury trial attorneys at the San Francisco law firm of Albert G. Stoll, A Law Corporation, represent people in the Bay Area who have been injured in automobile accidents and suffered serious or catastrophic injuries.

California law requires every driver to carry proof of financial responsibility in the event of an accident for which they are at fault. Most often, this proof is carried in the form of liability insurance. The minimum liability limits in California are 15/30/5, which means that the driver is liable in an accident up to $15,000 for personal injury to one person, $30,000 for injuries to two or more persons, and $5,000 for property damage. These limits are easily exceeded in any type of serious injury, and drivers are cautioned to carry more insurance than the statutory minimums.

Even with the low liability amounts required by law, as many as 20% of drivers on California roads at any given time are not carrying any insurance at all. One source of protection against the uninsured driver is uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. With this coverage, the injured party’s insurance company will pay damages when the negligent driver was either uninsured or the policy limits did not fully compensate for the injuries. All insurance companies are required to offer UM/UIM coverage to their customers, although the law does not require drivers to carry it.

In most automobile accident cases, you will likely be dealing with an insurance company in your attempts to recover compensation for your injuries and damage, whether it is your insurance company or the other driver’s. In either situation, being represented by an experienced personal injury litigator is key to obtaining the full value of your claim. It is in the insurance company’s financial interest to pay as little as possible, and to even deny the claim if it can. When insurance companies are dealing with an attorney who has taken cases to trial successfully, they are much less likely to try to take advantage or offer an unfair settlement. While most cases do not actually go to trial, having an attorney who is capable of vigorously representing a case at trial is key to obtaining a fair settlement out of court.

The lawyers at Albert G. Stoll, A Law Corporation, have been practicing personal injury law in the courts of California for over 15 years, including over fifty civil jury trials. If you have been injured in an automobile accident in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Albert G. Stoll, A Law Corporation, for effective legal representation.