More people are riding bicycles, but they aren’t necessarily riding for leisure or health. Beginning with the economic recession that began in 2007-2008, more of us are using bicycles as our primary method of transportation. And with more bikes on city streets, more accidents now involve bikes. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 677 people in the U.S. lost their lives in bicycle-involved accidents in 2011, and another 38,000 were injured in those accidents.

Males are six times more likely to be in a bicycle crash than females, according to the NHTSA report. Bicycles are more risky in metropolitan settings, too; 78% of all crashes involving bikes occur in urban rather than suburban or rural locations. Bad weather and poor road conditions are rarely the causes; defectively designed bicycles and negligent drivers are overwhelmingly the primary causes of accidents involving bicyclists.

Whenever another vehicle crashes into a bicycle, whether it’s an automobile, motorcycle, bus, or truck, the bike rider is almost always the more seriously injured, for obvious reasons. Bicyclists – particularly urban male bicyclists – are at a substantially high risk for brain injuries, limb injuries, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis. Most automobile drivers have auto insurance, but almost all bicyclists ride uninsured.

If you are a bicyclist who has been involved in an accident, know your legal rights. Consult with an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Don’t admit to any fault, and don’t sign any insurance forms before talking to a good personal injury lawyer. If you can, take photos (or have someone take photos) of your personal injuries and bicycle damage. Make copies of all medical, legal, or other paperwork related to the crash. If you are injured in the crash, an experienced personal injury attorney will fight for your rights and your rightful damages. You may recover your medical expenses, lost wages, and more. Protecting your well-being and your legal rights must be your priority after any bicycle accident, and a personal injury attorney is the person who will help. In the San Diego area, if you or a family member has suffered a personal injury in a bicycle accident, please contact attorney Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and options under California Law.

Suppose you’ve suffered a personal injury in a car accident. The driver of the other vehicle was negligent, and that negligence directly caused your injury. What happens if the other driver gives you false insurance information? After all, plenty of people still drive without insurance, and it’s nothing these days to print an impressive, bogus insurance card. This is a real concern if you’ve suffered a personal injury in the accident and you’re going to need compensation from the other driver. What can you do if you’re given false information?

Think ahead. If you’re in a car accident, immediately call the local police to report it. Officers can take everyone’s statements and verify everyone’s identities, licenses, and registrations. A police report is a document you really should have if you suffer a personal injury; everyone will eventually require a copy. Additionally, having police officers on the scene of an accident is the best way to deter some drivers from providing false insurance information. Law enforcement officers can also serve as witnesses if you file a personal injury lawsuit, so don’t hesitate to call the police and obtain a police report.

Secondly, after contacting local police, contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. Don’t sign any insurance forms or make any statements about a car accident before consulting with a good personal injury lawyer. Thirdly, get what you need from the other driver. That includes insurance information, driver’s license information with the license number, name and address, license plate number, car type and color, the person’s phone number, and if possible, pictures of the accident scene including the other driver’s car showing its license plate number. You can’t take too many pictures. If the insurance information is falsified, at least you have other information about the vehicle. Even if you’re shaky or injured, try hard to focus and obtain all the information you can while still at the accident scene.

Finally, always carry uninsured motorist insurance coverage. As an accident victim, you shouldn’t have to play detective; you should be able to concentrate on your medical care and your auto repair or replacement. Uninsured motorist coverage is always your best protection against the driver who hands out false insurance information; face it, if a person’s not buying auto insurance, it’s likely he or she is not worth suing for damages anyway.

You have other options though, and if you’ve been injured in a car accident, you should discuss your case as quickly as possible with an experienced California personal injury attorney, someone who will defend your rights and work diligently to win for you the compensation you deserve. In the San Diego area, if you or a family member has suffered a personal injury in an auto accident, please contact attorney Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and options under California Law.

Whether you drive primarily in a city or along the highways that connect the cities, when you drive, you’re share the road with tens of thousands of trucks. Annually, over 5,000 people in the U.S. are killed in truck-related accidents. Tragically, it can happen to anyone. The vast majority of the fatalities in car-vs.-truck accidents – 85 percent – were riding in the car, not the truck. The figures are even more dramatic when looking exclusively at automobile-vs.-tractor-trailer accidents. In those, 98 percent of the fatalities were people in the cars rather than the trucks.

Because of the size of their trucks, some truckers act as if they “own” the highway. They realize that if they pull out in front of other drivers, it’s likely they will not be the ones who are injured. The figures speak for themselves.

Through litigation, California personal injury attorneys work to hold negligent truck drivers and trucking companies accountable for their failures to follow safety regulations. Making the negligent pay for injurious, irresponsible behavior sends a message to the trucking industry that violating the safety regulations will not be tolerated. Of course, litigation can never replace one’s parents, spouse, or children. Litigation does, however, hold defendants to account, and it’s almost always deeply significant to victims and their families.

Experienced personal injury attorneys who defend the victims of truck accidents have seen too many families torn apart by sudden deaths and tragic permanent injuries. Truck companies and drivers can never be allowed the “option” to ignore safety regulations. Our loved ones’ lives are too important. At more than 50 feet long and weighing up to 40 tons, the immense size and weight of semi-tractor trailers pose real dangers to the innocent travelers on our highways, including you and your family.

If you are injured in a truck-related accident, a good personal injury lawyer will fight for your rights and for your rightful compensation. It’s possible that you may recover medical expenses, lost wages, and more. Protecting your well-being and your legal rights must be your priority after any accident, and an experienced personal injury attorney is the person who will help. In the San Diego area, if you or a family member has suffered a personal injury in a truck-related accident, please contact attorney Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and options under California Law.

Just wear a helmet. If you’re going to ride a motorcycle, don’t ride without basic protection. Helmet use significantly reduces the number of deaths and personal injuries suffered by motorcyclists.

Just wear a helmet. When an accident happens, unhelmeted motorcyclists are three times more likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury than helmet-wearers. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) reports that helmet use reduces the chances of dying in a crash by 37%. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concludes that helmet usage reduces the risk of severe head injury by 69%. It’s just common sense – helmet use by motorcyclists reduces deaths and injuries.

Several other statistics dramatically underline the imperative for helmets. For example, in 2000, Florida revised its helmet law by exempting riders over 21 with $10,000 or more of medical insurance coverage. In the first year after the revision to Florida’s helmet law, the fatality rate among that state’s motorcyclists jumped by 25%. So … just wear a helmet.

From 2008–2010, 14,283 motorcyclists were killed in crashes; of these, 6,057, or 42 percent, were unhelmeted. But in the 27 states with only partial helmet laws, 4,814 motorcyclists (64 percent) of the fatally-injured motorcyclists were unhelmeted, and in the three states with no helmet laws, 504, or 79% percent of the fatally-injured motorcyclists were unhelmeted.

If you ride a motorcycle, you’re already aware that you’re more likely than other motorists to be involved in an accident. Taking a safety course and riding defensively are always good ideas. And always, always wear a helmet.

If you are involved in a motorcycle crash, protect your rights. Don’t admit to any fault or sign any insurance papers before speaking to an experienced personal injury attorney. If possible, take photos of any personal injuries and any damage to your motorcycle. Make and keep several copies of any police reports, medical, and insurance paperwork generated by the crash. Most importantly – contact a good personal injury lawyer as quickly as possible. In any crash, protecting your health and your legal rights must be your top priorities. In the San Diego area, if you or a family member has suffered a personal injury in a motorcycle mishap, please contact attorney Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and options under California Law.

Brain injury symptoms can often seem insignificant at first, but those symptoms are likely to grow incrementally more severe over time. A brain injury is frequently tough to diagnose; some brain injuries actually seem to remain latent for weeks or even months after an accident. What’s most tragic is that a serious brain injury can befall anyone through a simple traffic mishap or a job-related accident. In today’s world, risk is everywhere.

What’s unique about brain injury cases is that brain injuries are mostly invisible to juries and sometimes hard for them to understand. Complex issues, legal as well as medical, can come into play in brain injury cases. If you’ve recently been in a traffic crash or workplace accident, blurred vision, serious headaches, and hearing or memory loss could indicate an undiagnosed brain injury. Sometimes a minor brain injury is simply forgotten completely until the victim experiences symptoms at a later time. That’s obviously not good.

However, increasing education about brain injuries is slowly improving the public’s understanding. More victims are coming forward and seeking treatment.If you’ve suffered any brain injury due to another person’s negligence, an experienced personal injury attorney is the person who can put together the medical evidence and expert testimony you’ll need to win the compensation you deserve, especially your lost wages and medical costs. In some situations, victims may also be awarded punitive damages. An experienced personal injury attorney will evaluate your case and steer you through paperwork, hearings, and the other legal processes. If you have suffered – or suspect that you’ve suffered – even a minor brain injury in a car crash or workplace mishap, find a good personal injury lawyer to represent you, and do it right away. In the San Diego area, if you or a family member has suffered a brain injury in a car accident or a workplace mishap, please contact attorney Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and options under California Law.

Nobody really ever plans to be involved in an auto accident. An accident can typically occur suddenly without any warning. It can be extremely unnerving.

Depending upon the severity of the crash and your ability to function, immediately following it, these are some helpful steps that can help you protect your rights in the event that the accident was due to the negligence of at least one or more drivers.

1. Try to stay calm. Many times your adrenaline or shock occurs when forces are exerted upon you from the effects of an auto collision which can certainly disrupt your ability to think clearly and act rationally.

2. If you have a Smart Phone, iPad or any other device, use them to photograph the accident scene before any of the vehicles are moved.

3. Also try to video the responsible driver or other individuals who you feel are responsible, in order to obtain their auto insurance information and to confirm what they did to actually cause the collision. Most people who inadvertently cause an auto accident, typically acknowledge their fault and responsibility right after it occurs. It’s only after they get home, and either have to explain what occurred to their spouse or parents, that their recollections begin to falter.

4. If the Police arrive at the scene, make sure to inform them of any pain and discomfort that you have, no matter or trivial you believe these complaints to be. Often, these physical complaints are warning signs and indicators of a serious or significant injury which gradually becomes more apparent within the first 24-48 hours following the collision. If you do experience immediate physical pain or discomfort, and paramedics or EMT personnel are called to the scene, then have them conduct their own examination to confirm the areas of your body that are hurting while you are still at the scene of the accident.

5. It is not always necessary for you to agree to have an ambulance transport you to the emergency room if the severity of your injuries don’t warrant immediate care. However, if you are experiencing severe pain or discomfort, numbness or tingling or other complaints which might be life threatening, then it is advisable to receive emergency care immediately.

6. If your physical complaints are not significant to warrant emergency room treatment, then it is advisable for you to schedule an examination with your primary or general physician in order to receive a proper medical examination and to receive the appropriate medication for the complaints that you are experiencing.

7. It is important for you to understand that any delay that you experience in receiving medical care, following an auto accident, only makes it much easier for the defendant’s insurance carrier to argue that the symptoms which you are experiencing are unrelated to the collision.

These are a few of the recommended steps that should be taken immediately following an auto accident. If you would like to learn additional information regarding how to protect your interest and to obtain full compensation for the injuries, economic damages and hardships that you experience as a result of another’s negligence, please contact Gary Sernaker at either of his two offices. He will provide you with a free consultation to discuss how to protect your rights and those of your family.

The State of California requires every licensed driver to be covered by auto insurance.  However, the law only requires them to be covered by a minimum level of insurance of $15,000 per person and up $30,000 per accident.

Therefore, there is a significant risk of being involved in an auto accident caused by a driver who is either uninsured entirely, without any recoverable assets or way to satisfy a judgment against them, or a driver who is legally complying with the minimum coverage requirements.

Those requirements typically do not even cover a single night in the hospital if trauma care is required.

The most effective way to protect yourself and your family members, who reside with you, is to obtain the highest levels you can afford of uninsured and underinsured auto coverage.

Under California Law most automobile insurance carriers offer uninsured and underinsured coverage at the same levels as the liability coverage of their policy.  The liability portion is the coverage that protects the insured in the event that they in fact the ones responsible for causing the auto accident.  If that coverage level is purchased at $500,000 per person/$1,000,000 per accident then the insurance carrier is also obligated to sell the insured uninsured and underinsured coverage for the same coverage limits.

In the event that an accident occurs which is due to the fault of an uninsured driver, the insurer would be able to obtain compensation up to $500,000 per person for the injuries sustained.  Their insurance company would also be unable to penalize them in any way by raising their premiums or affecting their right to obtain insurance from any other carrier or, in fact, to be used against them in any way for actually using the coverage that was sold to them precisely to protect them in this type of situation.

Underinsured coverage would provide an additional $485,000 if the driver causing injury to one occupant was covered by a minimum policy that complied with California Law.

An additional benefit of pursuing a UM/UIM insurance claim is that your own carrier has an obligation to deal fairly with you.  Their failure to promptly and reasonably resolve your claim, when the appropriate evidence is presented to them, subjects them to the risk of you pursuing a subsequent bad faith insurance claim based upon their unreasonable delay in the settlement or resolution of your claim.

Many individuals believe that their interests are protected by having an Umbrella or Excess Insurance Policy.  However, these policies typically do not include, unless requested, additional coverage for UM/UIM supplemental coverage in the event that they are injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver.

The costs of obtaining this type of additional protection is typically very low.  I would suggest that you contact your insurance agent as soon as possible to discuss the availability and additional costs for obtaining the appropriate amount of UM/UIM coverage that would protect you and your family.

If you or your family members are involved in an auto accident involving a potential uninsured or underinsured motorist claim, please feel free to contact the Offices of Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and legal options available to you in order to obtain a fair  and reasonable settlement.

The Right to Appeal When Treatment is Denied Under the Affordable Health Care Law

 
One of the most difficult aspects of the current healthcare system is when a specific course of medical care or treatment is recommended by a patient’s physician but not authorized by the patient’s healthcare provider.
 
At the present time, many healthcare insurance companies typically get away with egregious denials of these types of requests when healthcare coverage is provided by the patient’s group employment plan offered by their employer. These types of benefit plans have been protected by Federal Law named ERISA which was interpreted by the Federal Supreme Court to limit the liability of medical insurance carriers. Under this interpretation, care providers are only liable for the costs of the medical care wrongly denied regardless of the impact that the denial would have on the patient’s health and even life expectancy.
 
Under the existing law, if a request for an MRI Scan is denied, preventing the physician from diagnosing a brain tumor which eventually results in the untimely demise of the patient, the only damages which the family can recover is the costs of the MRI Scan itself.
 
At the present, it is unclear what if any legal recourse the patient or their family would have when medical treatment is wrongly denied under the new Affordable Care Act. However, there are certain provisions of the Act, which provide some protection, to protect against treatment wrongfully denied.
 
Section 2719 of the Affordable Care Act provides an appeals process for an enrollee to have their file reviewed and to present evidence and testimony as part of the appeals process and to receive continued coverage pending the outcome of the appeals process.
 
Additionally, there is a provision for an external review process that at a minimum includes the consumer protection set forth in the Uniform External Review Model Act promulgated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that is binding upon each of the plans participating in the exchanges.
 
Furthermore, health insurance Ombudsman Programs are required pursuant to Section 2793 requiring each State to establish the office of health insurance consumer assistance or healthcare insurance ombudsman to assist in the filing of complaints and appeals when medical benefits are improperly rejected or denied.
 
At the present time, it appears unclear regarding what other rights a patient would have who receives coverage under an individual policy purchased through a joint insurance exchange. The answer to that question should be forthcoming over the next few months.
 
If you or a family member has been wrongfully denied medical care or treatment, please contact attorney Gary Sernaker to discuss your rights and options under California Law.
 
Photo Credits: Joe Crimmings Photography, Flickr.