Fresno Personal Injury Lawyer

Being injured in an accident is an awful experience, but it doesn’t have to mean major financial setbacks. With the help of a personal injury lawyer in Fresno, California, you can determine if any parties involved in your accident were negligent and, thereby, liable for your medical costs and other damages.

People injured in an accident often feel like they have nowhere to turn. This feeling is especially powerful when you are a member of an overlooked and disadvantaged community. Singh Ahluwalia Attorneys at Law will fight vigorously on behalf of all our clients. We represent individuals who speak Hindi, Punjabi, and Spanish, and our experience in immigration law has taught us the value of empathy and understanding. We promise to fight by your side to protect your rights to seek restitution from all at-fault parties.

Your case will cost you nothing up-front, and your first consultation is always 100% free and confidential. Schedule your free case review to discuss what happened and learn how cases like yours are typically resolved, step-by-step. There’s no obligation to continue working with us after your free consultation.

You deserve the absolute best attorney team to be at your side at the negotiation table and potentially in court. Call (559) 878-4958 or Contact us online to schedule your free case evaluation.

Representing You in Your Time of Greatest Need

No matter what circumstances led to your injury, the Fresno personal injury attorneys at Singh Ahluwalia pledge to do their utmost to identify who could be responsible for your damages. Our highly experienced attorneys have handled insurance claims and personal injury lawsuits for years. Let us put the full weight of our resources and our determination behind your case.

Singh Ahluwalia can represent you any time you have been hurt, and the negligence of another person, company or legal entity could be to blame. Some of our primary case scenarios include:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Bus and public transit accidents
• Slip and fall
• Medical malpractice
• Wrongful death
• Defective products
• Dangerous drugs
• Gross negligence
• Aggravated assault
• Negligent apartment or building security
• Traumatic brain injury
• Spinal cord injury
• Negligence by the BOP and other human rights violations

Common Damages Sought in a Personal Injury Claim

Personal injury claims can request all damages inflicted by the negligent party, including the following:

• Past medical costs: Includes emergency treatment, surgeries, hospital stays, medical equipment, medications, testing/diagnostics, and more
• Future medical costs: Projected based on the level of care needed for your injury and the frequency of future treatments.
• Lost wages: The money you are unable to earn while recovering can be claimed, as can any permanent reduction in your ability to earn money in your prior profession
• Property damage: The costs of repairing your vehicle or replacing any personal property can be accounted for and included in your claim.
• Pain and suffering: The physical pain and emotional suffering can be considered as a form of damages, as can other aspects like loss of ability to enjoy life or maintain the same relationship with close family members, either temporarily or permanently.
• Punitive damages: Awarded only in cases involving extreme negligence, reckless behavior, or a pattern of intentional and/or wrongful acts.

How Does a Personal Injury Claim Work?

Every personal injury case is unique, but the overwhelming majority share common factors.

A typical personal injury case can be broken down into the following timeline:

A Negligent Act Leads to an Injury

When someone fails to uphold their duty of care and causes a serious injury to another, they have committed an act of negligence. Negligence can involve a careless action, such as speeding at night on a busy freeway, but it can also involve inaction, such as a medical professional failing to monitor vital signs throughout a risky procedure. Negligence can also involve a pattern of wrongful behavior, such as a trucking company routinely pressuring its drivers to drive longer hours than federal regulations permit.

Data from the CDC shows that unintentional injuries (including those inflicted by negligence) lead to 24.2 million emergency department (ER) visits each year, and unintentional injuries are the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. overall.

The Injury Victim Files Notice of a Claim

Nearly every corporate entity in the U.S. carries a form of insurance called “liability” insurance, as do most drivers. While a medical insurance plan or homeowner’s insurance policy covers the policyholder for damage to their own property, a liability insurance policy provides coverage for costs the policyholder inflicts on others. If they cause a vehicular accident, for example, and badly hurt someone, then the injury victim can use their liability policy to repay the costs of their medical bills and other damages.

Anyone injured should take care to protect their rights in the immediate moments and days following their incident. Firstly, they should obtain contact information and a liability insurance policy number from anyone involved. This information is vital to collect even if the injury victim is unsure who is at fault. Without it, they may never be able to contact the potentially at-fault party ever again.

An injury victim can file notice of a claim after they have been hurt, which does not have to provide the full details of the injury or the circumstances of its cause. However, they should be cautious to protect their own rights and the viability of their case. Before speaking to insurers, they can reach out to a personal injury lawyer for guidance and to avoid common mistakes that lead to claims being improperly denied.

The Claim Is Investigated

The insurance company covering the allegedly at-fault person or company will immediately begin investigating the accident, and so should the injury victim. It is crucial to gather evidence as soon as possible after an accident has occurred, as some of it may disappear forever if not gathered quickly enough. Injury victims should also take care not to unintentionally provide evidence that gives an insurance company the wrong impression, such as by making a statement that they “feel ok” now and are no longer in serious pain.

A personal injury lawyer can help you gather all available evidence to support your claim and document the extent of your damages. Fully understanding your injury’s diagnosis and prognosis (likely future outlook) can be difficult, but we have years of experience working closely with medical professionals. We can ensure that you are not only receiving the full extent of reasonable and necessary treatments now, but we can also help you project the costs of treatments you will need in the future. In addition, we will help you determine fault and evaluate the total extent of damages you have experienced, including your own pain and suffering.

Damages Are Declared, and a Formal Demand Is FiledOnce the full scope of damages is understood, the injury victim can work with their attorney to send off a demand letter. This document is the formal declaration of all the damages the injury victim has suffered and will suffer, along with a request for all benefits available to cover these damages.

Insurer Response, and Possible Escalation

The insurer has a limited window to provide a “prompt and timely” response to the demand letter — 15 days in the state of California. The insurer can accept the damages in full, or they can deny certain parts of the claim based on the nature of the damages or the supposed limits of the policy. In some cases, the insurer may attempt to deny the claim in full.

If the insurer responds with a less-than-acceptable settlement offer, the claimant has the opportunity to negotiate a larger settlement. In some cases, the claimant may be unable to obtain a substantial portion of the damages they have sought because the insurer denies liability and/or alleges that the damages do not qualify for coverage under their policy. 

In cases where a settlement cannot be reached through negotiation, it may be necessary for the injury victim to file a lawsuit against the at-fault parties, possibly naming the insurer in the complaint. The defendants then have several days to respond to the suit.

Negotiation and Possible Jury Trial

Once a lawsuit is filed, both sides will have the opportunity to file their own motions, and they can also request evidence from one another through the process known as discovery. New settlements may be proposed and debated, and if an agreeable number can be reached, both parties will sign the settlement offer, and the lawsuit will be dropped.

In cases where no reasonable settlement offer can be reached, the case may proceed to arbitration or a jury trial. During both, the injury victim and the defendant will each present their case, and a neutral third party will decide on: A) Whether the defendant holds liability B) What damages should be awarded to the injury victim

Filing a Pre-emptive Lawsuit

Some cases involve serious damages or require the benefits afforded by the civil complaint (lawsuit) process. The injury victim may want to quickly request discovery to preserve crucial pieces of evidence, or they may wish to pressure the other side into admitting liability that they are likely to deny.

When consulting with an attorney after their initial injury event, the injury victim can determine if it is most prudent to file a claim or lawsuit.

How Does a Personal Injury Attorney Help Me?

There are multiple benefits to hiring your own personal injury attorney.

Legal Representation and Resources at Your Disposal

A typical personal injury case requires hundreds of hours of work, which includes researching evidence, compiling paperwork, and responding to proceedings from the courts and/or insurers. In the meantime, the injury claimant is being pressured by the opposing party to drop their claim or settle for a paltry amount. The stress of it all can be a lot to bear!

Hiring a personal injury lawyer in Fresno means putting the resources of an entire legal team at your disposal. The attentive attorneys at Singh Ahluwalia can immediately begin taking steps on your behalf to secure evidence and handle your claims process. You have enough to worry about when it comes to recovering physically and mentally after your traumatic incident. Let us take care of the rest!

Legal Guidance and Strategization

When you engage with a personal injury lawyer, their first order of business is to help you understand the legal outlook of your case: the most important factors, how cases like yours have concluded in the past, and what legal options you have available to seek your desired outcome.

Ideally, your personal injury case will see you made 100% whole, with all damages recovered. However, you may have a higher or lower chance of achieving that outcome based on key decision points available. You may also have to make compromises to get as close to that number as possible. 

In every case, you will be kept informed from start to finish and allowed to choose your preferred strategy based upon the legal counsel we provide. You remain in power, and you have the full resources of our firm at our disposal to help you seek the goals most important to you.

Evidence and Legal Substantiation

To win your claim, you need to prove:

• That you have been hurt
• That the costs of treatment you claim are reasonable and necessary
• That you do not hold partial fault for your injuries, such as by having a pre-existing condition or failing to seek timely treatment
• That the named party directly caused your injuries because of an act (or acts) of negligence

Proving all of these factors can be difficult on their own, but insurance companies make certain that it is never easy! They will pry into any opening they can, seeking to diminish the value of your claim or cast doubt on the facts you present.

Singh Ahluwalia knows the tactics insurers will try, and we are prepared to counter with the strongest evidence available. We will work tirelessly to obtain evidence surrounding the circumstances of your injury, including any available telemetric data, security camera footage, eyewitness statements, and more. We will examine whether the negligent party has engaged in a pattern of negligent behavior, including possible past transgressions or attempts to circumvent standard safety procedures.

All of this evidence will be tied to the strongest and most sound legal reasoning based on California laws, federal statutes, regulatory requirements, and case precedent. Our legal knowledge and the focused efforts of our team ensure that your case has the highest possible chances of success.

Care and Counsel

You deserve to have someone who will fight for your legal rights and provide you with the attention and compassion you deserve. Singh Ahluwalia feels for each and every injured client, and we do everything we can to make your experience as positive as possible from start to finish.

When you feel like no one is there to help, don’t give up! Lawyer up! Reach out to our experienced attorneys, and know that someone is there to care about what happens to you.

Protect Your Rights With a Highly Motivated Attorney Team

Any time you or a loved one has been hurt, we want to help you protect your rights and seek the compensation you need. We have years of experience helping disadvantaged individuals work their way through the often-frustrating immigration system. Our firm has lent invaluable legal services and support to the Sikh community in our area as well as the Spanish-speaking community. We want to help YOU, no matter where you come from. We speak Hindi, Punjabi, and Spanish. 

Regardless of your immigration status or personal history, you have the right to hold those who hurt you accountable. Let us help you seek appropriate justice and hold all at-fault parties accountable.

Schedule a free, no-obligation case review when you Call (559) 878-4958 or Contact us online