A serious injury can cause lasting physical, emotional, and financial consequences. Whether you were harmed in an accident or by negligent medical care, our San Diego medical malpractice attorneys and personal injury team can investigate what happened, identify the responsible parties, and help you pursue fair compensation.
The Mercaldo Law Firm has represented injured clients and their families for more than 40 years. Call (619) 377-4455 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with a San Diego personal injury lawyer.
Why Choose Us for Your San Diego Personal Injury Case?
For over 40 years, The Mercaldo Law Firm has been dedicated to compassionate, hands-on legal representation for injury victims. Our firm brings the following advantages to your San Diego personal injury claim:
- A history of success in over 25,000 cases resulting in a settlement or court award for clients
- A personalized legal strategy based on the unique circumstances of your case and tailored to recover the maximum compensation available to you
- Our decades of experience, knowledge, and skills are on your side throughout every step of your claim
After a free case consultation, we represent you at no upfront cost until after we’ve recovered your compensation for damages.
What Types of San Diego Personal Injury Cases Does The Mercaldo Law Firm Handle?
When someone acts carelessly, recklessly, or with intentional wrongdoing and their actions cause you physical harm, you don’t have to be left responsible for the financial consequences as well as the physical ones. Instead, you can recover compensation for your damages through a personal injury claim against the at-fault party. Common types of personal injury claims in San Diego include the following:
- Car accidents
- Commercial truck accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Slips, trips, and falls, and other premises liability claims, such as pool injuries and structure fire burns
- Dog bites
- Medical malpractice
- Catastrophic injury, such as brain injury or spinal cord damage
- Drunk driving accidents
- Wrongful death
Most personal injury compensation comes from the at-fault party’s insurance. For instance, auto insurance after a car accident injury, and medical malpractice insurance after a doctor’s error.
Common Injuries In San Diego Personal Injury Claims
A simple scrape or bruise may be irritating or painful, but if it doesn’t cause significant financial losses as well as pain and suffering, it’s unlikely to qualify for a personal injury claim. However, after a significant injury with medical expenses, income loss, and physical harm, you have the right to seek compensation for your losses from the at-fault party. Common injuries cited in San Diego personal injury claims include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), ranging from concussions to severe TBIs with impaired function
- Bone fractures
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Lacerations, contusions, and severe abrasions
- Soft-tissue injuries like sprains, torn ligaments, and tendon injuries, often to the knee, shoulder, ankle, or wrist
- Spinal cord injuries
- Burns
- Traumatic limb loss
- Internal organ injuries
- Vision or hearing loss
When the above injuries require costly medical care and interfere with the ability to work, you have the right to compensation if another party’s negligence caused your injury.
Understanding Legal Negligence and Liability
California is a fault-based injury state with a pure comparative negligence law under California Code, CIV 1431.2. The law states the following:
“In any action for personal injury, property damage, or wrongful death, based upon principles of comparative fault, the liability of each defendant for non-economic damages shall be several only and shall not be joint. Each defendant shall be liable only for the amount of non-economic damages allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to that defendant’s percentage of fault …”
In other words, the person, business, another party, or multiple parties can be held liable for their portion of fault for your damages. Proving liability requires evidence demonstrating the following:
- The at-fault party owed a duty of reasonable care to the injury victim, like a driver’s duty to follow traffic laws
- They breached this duty of care through careless, reckless, or wrongful actions (all examples of legal negligence)
- The breach of duty directly caused the injury
- The injury victim suffered damages from the injury
Damages in personal injury cases in San Diego range from a single emergency room bill and a few days of lost pay to extensive medical bills and lifelong disability.
Recovering Damages for Your San Diego Personal Injury
When you’ve suffered tangible economic damages and intangible painful personal losses, you have the right to seek compensation from the at-fault party through their insurance. While no two compensation claims have the same result, common personal injury damages recovered in San Diego include the following:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses
- Future medical expenses and additional costs for physical therapy or home health care
- Out-of-pocket injury expenses, such as travel costs to see specialists
- Lost income
- Future income loss
- Reduced future earning ability
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Catastrophic injury compensation for permanent harm, such as disfigurement, loss of limb, hearing loss, vision loss, disability, scarring, or diminished quality of life due to disability or impairment
Wrongful death claims are also a category of personal injury law. In California, under California Code, CCP 377.60, a spouse, parent, or child may file a wrongful death claim for the family’s losses.
Call The Mercaldo Law Firm About Your San Diego Personal Injury Case
After an injury, you may be struggling through a difficult and painful recovery period. Taking on an active role in a personal injury claim may feel overwhelming. However, leaving your claim in the hands of an insurance company is not the best way forward. Insurers commonly undermine claims by assigning an undue percentage of fault to injury victims and using other tactics to dispute, devalue, or delay claims. The insurance company’s goal to protect the company’s profits conflicts with your goal to recover the full compensation available to you.
Call or contact the Mercaldo Law Firm today so your San Diego personal injury lawyer can begin strategizing your financial recovery, allowing you to focus your energy on your physical recovery.