California Auto Accident Attorneys
California Car Accident Lawyer
If another driver’s negligence caused your injuries, the claim ahead of you is rarely just one claim. It can involve disputed fault, more than one insurance policy, medical bills that keep arriving, time away from work, a damaged vehicle and losses that will not be clear for months. Burg & Brock investigates what happened, what coverage exists and who else may be responsible.
UberLawyer.com is operated by the Law Offices of Burg & Brock, a California personal injury practice based in Sherman Oaks.
Since 1996
Cameron Yadidi Brock has been licensed to practice law in California since June 1996, State Bar No. 183112.
Injury only
The firm’s work is personal injury: motor vehicle collisions, catastrophic injury and wrongful death.
Free review
Talk through the crash with the firm before deciding anything. There is no charge for that conversation.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts.
The attorney behind this practice
Cameron Yadidi Brock
Founding Attorney, Law Offices of Burg & Brock · California State Bar No. 183112 · Admitted June 11, 1996
Do I Have a Car Accident Injury Claim?
Potentially, if another person’s or entity’s negligence contributed to the collision and caused injuries or other compensable losses. That is the threshold question, and it is usually answerable well before anyone files anything.
What takes longer is working out the shape of the claim. Two crashes that look identical on the police report can end up very differently, because the answer depends on facts nobody has gathered yet: how the collision actually happened, whether one driver or several contributed, what insurance is available and on which policies, what the injuries turn out to require.
A serious injury claim also has a financial dimension that goes past the emergency room bill. Time away from work. Treatment that continues after the file would otherwise close. A vehicle that is worth less, or gone. Losses that will not be measurable for months. Those belong in the evaluation from the start, because a claim settled early is settled for good.
If you are not sure whether what happened to you is worth a lawyer’s time, that is a reasonable question to ask a lawyer rather than to answer alone.
Car Accident Cases We Handle
Different collisions raise different questions. These are the patterns that come up most often in California motor vehicle claims.
Rear-End Collisions
The following driver is often found responsible, because California requires drivers to leave enough distance to stop safely. Often is not always. Brake lights that were not working, a sudden unsignaled lane change, or a first impact that pushed one car into another can all move the analysis.
Intersection and T-Bone Crashes
These turn on who had the right of way and who actually entered on the light. Independent evidence matters more here than in almost any other crash type, because both drivers usually believe the light was theirs.
Left-Turn Crashes
A driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic that is close enough to be a hazard. That still leaves room for argument about speed, visibility and whether the oncoming driver entered on a stale yellow.
Unsafe Lane Changes and Sideswipes
A lane change must be made only when it is reasonably safe. Damage patterns along the sides of both vehicles frequently tell the story better than either driver’s account of it.
Distracted Driving
Phone records, vehicle data and witness accounts can show that a driver’s attention was elsewhere. This evidence is time-sensitive, and some of it is only obtainable through the formal legal process.
Speeding
Speed is often disputed and rarely admitted. Crash reconstruction, roadway evidence and event data recorders can establish it after the fact.
Impaired Driving
A criminal case against the impaired driver runs separately from your civil claim, on its own timetable. One does not replace the other, and the outcome of the criminal matter is not the measure of your losses.
Multi-Vehicle and Chain-Reaction Crashes
With three or more vehicles, responsibility is usually divided rather than assigned to one driver. Each insurer has an incentive to point at the others, which is why the sequence of impacts has to be established early.
Hit-and-Run Crashes
A driver who leaves may still be identified through camera footage, witnesses or debris evidence. Where the driver is never found, uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy may become the route to recovery.
Commercial Vehicle Collisions
When the other driver was working, the employer may share responsibility and a commercial policy may apply. Those policies are usually larger than a personal one, and they are usually defended harder.
Crashes involving large trucks and motorcycles raise their own issues. Those are handled on separate pages: truck accidents and motorcycle accidents.
Who Can Be Responsible for a California Car Accident?
More than one person or entity can share responsibility for the same collision. Identifying every one of them matters, because each may bring its own insurance policy with it.
The Other Driver
The starting point in most claims, and often not the end of it.
The Vehicle Owner
Where the driver and the registered owner are different people, the owner’s policy and, in some circumstances, the owner’s own conduct may come into the claim.
An Employer or Business
If the driver was working at the time, the employer may be responsible for the driver’s conduct.
A Commercial Vehicle Operator
Delivery, rideshare, trucking and service fleets carry their own coverage and their own record-keeping obligations.
A Vehicle or Component Manufacturer
Where a tire, restraint system or other component failed, the claim may extend past the drivers entirely.
A Government Entity
Roadway design, signal failures and maintenance can contribute to a crash. These claims carry much shorter deadlines, covered below.
Another Responsible Party
Property owners, contractors and others sometimes contribute to the conditions that caused a collision.
Where several parties are responsible, California divides the two kinds of damages differently. Economic losses such as medical bills and lost income can generally be pursued jointly, while non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are allocated to each defendant in proportion to that defendant’s own share of fault. That rule comes from Civil Code section 1431.2, adopted by Proposition 51.
What Must Be Proven in a Car Accident Claim?
Negligence sounds technical. In practice it comes down to four questions, asked in order.
01
Safe-driving responsibility
Every driver owes other people on the road a duty to drive with reasonable care.
02
Negligent conduct
Something the driver did, or failed to do, fell below that standard.
03
Causation
That conduct caused the collision, and the collision caused the harm.
04
Damages
The harm produced losses the law recognizes and can compensate.
The conduct at step two is usually ordinary rather than dramatic: an unsafe turn, a failure to yield, attention on a phone, too much speed for the conditions, a lane change into occupied space, following too closely to stop in time.
What If I Was Partly Responsible for the Crash?
Being partly responsible does not automatically end a claim in California. Damages may instead be reduced in proportion to the share of responsibility assigned to the injured person.
100%
Total damages
20%
Injured person’s share of fault
80%
Adjusted damages
Illustrative example only
California follows what courts call pure comparative negligence, adopted by the state Supreme Court in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. in 1975. There is no cut-off point at which a claim disappears. A person found mostly at fault can still recover the remaining share, reduced accordingly.
This matters at the very start of a case, because insurers assign fault percentages early and those early figures tend to stick. An adjuster’s first view of who was responsible is a position, not a finding.
One California rule catches people out. Under Civil Code section 3333.4, adopted by Proposition 213, a driver or vehicle owner who was uninsured at the time of the crash generally cannot recover non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, even where someone else caused it. Economic losses such as medical bills and lost earnings remain recoverable, and the statute contains an exception where the at-fault driver was convicted of driving under the influence.
California Auto Insurance and Why Limits Matter
California raised its minimum auto liability limits on January 1, 2025. The higher figures attach to policies issued or renewed on or after that date, so an older policy that has not yet renewed can still carry the previous, lower limits. Every driver must now carry at least:
$30,000
For injury to or death of one person in a single crash.
$60,000
For injury to or death of more than one person in a single crash.
$15,000
For damage to someone else’s property.
These figures come from Vehicle Code section 16056, as amended by Senate Bill 1107. Older articles still quote the previous 15/30/5 numbers, and some legal directories have not updated their copy of the statute.
$30k
Minimum insurance requirements do not determine the value of a serious injury claim.
A single night in a trauma unit can exceed the minimum policy for one injured person. When the loss is larger than the coverage, the question becomes what other coverage or which other responsible party can be reached.
Liability coverage and first-party coverage are not the same thing
Liability coverage
Carried by a driver to respond to claims by other people that driver injures. This is the coverage an injured person usually claims against.
Collision and first-party coverage
Bought on your own policy to address your own losses, subject to that policy’s terms. What it covers depends on what was purchased.
What If the Driver Who Hit Me Has No Insurance?
There may still be a route to recovery. Which route depends on the policies involved and on the facts, so the honest answer at this stage is what may apply rather than what will pay.
Uninsured motorist coverage
Insurers in California must offer it, and it is included unless the policyholder rejected it in writing. Where the at-fault driver had no coverage, this is often the first place to look. It can also apply to some hit-and-run situations.
Underinsured motorist coverage
Applies where the at-fault driver had coverage, but not enough. California treats this as an offset rather than an addition, which surprises people. See the note below.
Other responsible parties
An employer, a vehicle owner or another driver who contributed may carry coverage the at-fault driver does not.
Other applicable policies
Household policies, umbrella policies and commercial policies sometimes reach a collision that the primary policy cannot cover on its own.
How the offset works in practice: if you hold $100,000 in underinsured motorist coverage and the at-fault driver’s insurer pays $30,000, the underinsured coverage responds up to $70,000, not $100,000 on top. Where the at-fault driver’s limits match or exceed your own underinsured limits, that coverage may produce nothing at all. This follows from Insurance Code section 11580.2, and it is a strong argument for reviewing your own declarations page long before you ever need it.
Who Pays for Damage to My Car?
Vehicle damage travels on a separate track from an injury claim. It is often resolved much sooner, and it has its own deadline.
The at-fault driver’s property damage coverage
The usual first source, subject to that policy’s limit.
Collision coverage on your own policy
Where you carry it, it can respond regardless of who was at fault, subject to your deductible.
Repair or total loss
Whether a vehicle is repaired or written off depends on the cost of repair against its value, which is frequently disputed.
Towing and storage
Storage charges accrue daily and can become significant while liability is still being sorted out.
Rental and loss of use
Available in some circumstances, depending on coverage and on what the law allows in the particular case.
Other property in the vehicle
Child seats, equipment and personal property damaged in the crash are part of the loss and are regularly overlooked.
Settling the vehicle claim does not settle the injury claim, and the two should not be signed away together. Read what you are signing before you sign it, particularly where the document releases more than the property loss.
What Compensation May Be Available After a Car Accident?
What can be claimed depends on what was actually lost and what the evidence supports. These are the categories that come up in California motor vehicle claims.
Medical expenses
Emergency care, imaging, surgery, therapy and the treatment in between.
Future medical care
Treatment that will still be needed after the claim resolves.
Lost income
Wages, shifts and self-employed earnings lost while recovering.
Reduced earning capacity
Where an injury changes what a person is able to do for a living.
Pain and suffering
The non-economic harm the injury caused, which is real but not invoiced.
Physical impairment
Lasting limits on movement, function or independence.
Property damage
The vehicle and the property in it.
Other supported losses
Out-of-pocket costs the crash created, where they can be documented.
A note on caps, because the question comes up: the damage limits people have read about in medical malpractice cases come from a different statute and do not apply to an ordinary car accident claim.
Serious Injuries in California Car Accidents
Traumatic brain injury
Spinal cord injury
Neck and back injury
Fractures
Orthopedic injury
Internal injury
Burns
Amputation
Paralysis
Wrongful death
Some injuries announce themselves at the scene. Others, including brain and soft-tissue injuries, are recognized days later, which is one reason an early medical assessment is worth having even when you feel able to walk away.
Evidence That Can Strengthen a Car Accident Claim
At the scene
- Photographs of every vehicle involved
- Points of impact and damage patterns
- The roadway, skid marks and debris
- Traffic signs and signal positions
- Witness names and contact details
- Driver, license and insurance details
- The responding agency and report number
Digital and third-party
- Dashcam footage from any vehicle
- Nearby business surveillance video
- Traffic camera footage where available
- Vehicle event data
- Phone-related evidence where lawfully obtainable
After the accident
- Medical records and imaging
- Medical bills and treatment plans
- Photographs of visible injuries as they change
- Repair estimates and valuation documents
- Wage and employment records
- Receipts for out-of-pocket costs
- Every letter and email from any insurer
Evidence can disappear long before the legal filing deadline. Surveillance systems overwrite in days. Vehicles get repaired or sold for salvage. Witnesses move and stop answering. The two-year window to file suit says nothing about how long the proof will last.
What Should I Do After a California Car Accident?
01
Get appropriate medical care
For anyone hurt, including yourself. Adrenaline masks a great deal at the scene.
02
Move to safety if it is appropriate
Out of live traffic where the vehicles and the injuries allow it.
03
Contact law enforcement when needed
Where there is injury or death, Vehicle Code section 20008 requires a report to police or the CHP within 24 hours.
04
Document the vehicles and the scene
Wide shots for position, close shots for damage, and the signals and signs around you.
05
Exchange information
Names, license numbers, plates, insurers and policy numbers.
06
Identify witnesses
A name and a phone number, taken at the scene, is worth more than a memory of a face.
07
Preserve video and records
Ask nearby businesses early. Footage is often gone within a week.
08
Notify the appropriate insurers
Your own policy usually requires prompt notice, separately from any claim against another driver.
09
File the DMV report if it applies
An SR-1 goes to the DMV within 10 days if anyone was injured or killed, or property damage exceeds $1,000. Vehicle Code section 16000.
10
Be careful with an early final settlement
A release signed before the medical picture is clear is difficult to undo.
Not every collision calls for a lawyer. A serious injury, a disputed account of what happened, several vehicles, a commercial driver or a coverage problem are the situations where legal advice matters most. The two reporting duties above are separate from each other, and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.
Should I Give the Other Driver’s Insurer a Recorded Statement?
You are entitled to understand what you are agreeing to before you agree to it. Before giving a recorded statement, signing a broad medical authorization or accepting a final settlement in a serious case, it is reasonable to know four things.
Who is asking
The person on the phone and the company behind them.
Whom they represent
An adjuster for another driver’s insurer represents that insurer.
What is being requested
A broad authorization can reach years of records unrelated to this crash.
What rights may be affected
A release ends a claim, including the parts of it not yet known.
Your own policy may separately require you to cooperate with your own insurer. That obligation and a request from the other side’s adjuster are different things.
Was an Uber or Lyft Vehicle Involved?
Rideshare crashes raise an additional question that ordinary collisions do not: what the driver’s app and trip status was at the moment of impact. That single fact can change which insurance applies and how much coverage is available.
Because the analysis is different, it has its own place on this site rather than a paragraph here.
How Burg & Brock Investigates a Car Accident Claim
01
Understand what happened
Your account first, then the report, the scene and the vehicles.
02
Preserve evidence
Written preservation demands for footage and data before they are overwritten.
03
Determine liability
Witnesses, physical evidence and, where the case warrants it, reconstruction.
04
Identify every applicable policy
Including coverage on your own policy and on policies you may not know exist.
05
Document the injuries
Records, imaging and treating physician input on what comes next.
06
Document the financial losses
Wages, earning capacity, out-of-pocket costs and future care.
07
Present the claim
A documented demand to every insurer that has been identified.
08
Litigate when necessary
Filing suit where a claim cannot be resolved on acceptable terms.
Handling the Claim Yourself and Handling It With a Lawyer Are Two Different Processes
Most people open a car accident claim the same way: they call the insurer, give a statement and wait to hear back. For some claims that is the whole process. It is worth knowing what changes on the other route before deciding which one you are on.
Who Puts a Number on the Claim
On the first route, the person valuing it works for the company that would pay it. On the second, the value is assembled from treatment records, outstanding bills, the care still ahead and the earnings actually lost, and then argued.
The Recorded Statement
It is a routine request early in the first route, and whatever is said becomes a permanent part of the file, before the full extent of an injury is usually known.
Which Policies Get Looked For
The first route generally deals with the one insurer that made contact. The second looks for the others: your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, an employer’s policy behind a driver who was working, a vehicle owner, a rideshare layer, or a public entity responsible for the road.
The Medical Bills Arriving in the Meantime
Health insurers, hospitals and treating providers can each assert a right to be reimbursed out of a settlement. Those claims are negotiated and resolved as part of closing the case rather than after it.
The Deadlines Are Not One Deadline
Vehicle damage and injury run on separate clocks, and a claim against a public entity runs on a far shorter one than either.
What It Costs to Ask
The review is free and the firm’s fee is contingent, so there is no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery. Case costs and expenses are explained in your written fee agreement.
Where it matters least is a minor collision with no injury and an insurer that has already accepted fault. Where it matters most is when treatment is ongoing, fault is disputed, or the limits on the table look too small for the bills already arriving.
How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Lawsuit in California?
2 years*
California Courts states that personal injury actions generally have a two-year limitation period running from the date of injury. Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
*This is not a universal deadline. Claims involving a government entity, and some other circumstances, carry shorter or different requirements.
Government entities: 6 months
A claim for injury against a public entity must generally be presented within six months of when it arose, under Government Code section 911.2, and presenting that claim is a prerequisite to filing suit at all.
Property damage: 3 years
California Courts lists a general three-year limitation period for property damage actions, which is a different deadline from the injury one and should not be confused with it.
Other variations
A claimant’s age or incapacity can affect timing, though those allowances do not apply the same way to claims against public entities.
Deadlines are the part of a claim that cannot be repaired later. If a public agency, a city vehicle or a road condition may be involved, the six-month clock is the one to check first.
How Much Is My Car Accident Case Worth?
There is no reliable online calculator that can determine the value of an individual car accident claim. What there is, instead, is a set of factors that a claim gets evaluated against.
Injury severity
Future treatment
Permanent effects
Lost earnings
Reduced earning capacity
Fault
Comparative fault
Available insurance
Strength of the evidence
Number of responsible parties
Property damage
Whether litigation is needed
Anyone who quotes a figure before the medical treatment is understood and the coverage is confirmed is guessing. So is any average, because averages are built from cases that have nothing to do with yours.
The Attorney Behind This Practice
Cameron Yadidi Brock
Founding Attorney, Law Offices of Burg & Brock
California State Bar No. 183112
Admitted to the State Bar of California, June 11, 1996
Cameron Yadidi Brock founded the practice that operates UberLawyer.com and has spent his career on the injured person’s side of motor vehicle claims. The firm’s work covers personal injury, motor vehicle collisions, catastrophic injury and wrongful death, along with cases where a vehicle or component defect contributed to what happened.
Car accident claims reward preparation more than volume. The details that decide them, the sequence of impacts, the coverage nobody looked for, the treating physician’s view of what comes next, are the ones that take work to establish.
Why Burg & Brock
Personal injury focus
The firm represents injured people. It is not a general practice that takes injury cases when they arrive.
In California since 1996
Cameron Yadidi Brock has been licensed in California since June 1996, and the practice has worked California motor vehicle claims throughout.
Motor vehicle experience
Ordinary collisions, multi-vehicle crashes, commercial vehicles and rideshare claims, each with its own coverage questions.
Litigation capability
Claims that cannot be resolved on acceptable terms can be filed and tried rather than accepted.
Investigation before valuation
Coverage and fault get established before anyone discusses what a claim is worth.
Direct attorney contact
The person handling your case is reachable about your case.
Frequently Asked Questions About California Car Accidents
Do I need a lawyer after every car accident?
No. A minor collision with no injuries and undisputed fault is often handled directly with the insurers. Legal advice tends to matter where someone was seriously hurt, where fault is disputed, where several vehicles or a commercial driver were involved, or where the available insurance may not cover the loss.
What if the other driver’s insurer says I caused the crash?
An adjuster’s assessment is that insurer’s position, not a legal finding. Fault in California is determined by evidence, and it can be divided between drivers. If you disagree with how fault has been assigned, the response is documentation: the report, the scene, the vehicles, any footage and any witnesses.
Can I recover compensation if I was partly at fault?
Potentially yes. California follows pure comparative negligence, so a claim is not barred because the injured person shares responsibility. Damages are instead reduced in proportion to that share. Someone found 20 percent responsible would see an award reduced by 20 percent rather than eliminated.
What are California’s minimum auto insurance limits?
Since January 1, 2025 the minimums are $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 for more than one person in the same crash, and $15,000 for property damage. They are set by Vehicle Code section 16056. Older sources still quote the previous 15/30/5 figures.
What if the driver who hit me has no insurance?
Uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy may apply. California insurers must offer it, and it is included unless it was rejected in writing. Another responsible party, such as an employer or vehicle owner, may also carry coverage. What applies depends on the policies and the facts.
Can I recover lost wages after a car accident?
Lost income is a recognized category of loss where it is documented and connected to the injury. That includes wages, shifts and self-employed earnings. Where an injury changes what someone is able to earn going forward, reduced earning capacity is evaluated separately from wages already lost.
Who pays for my vehicle damage?
Usually the at-fault driver’s property damage coverage, subject to its limit, or collision coverage on your own policy if you carry it. Vehicle damage is a separate claim from an injury claim, with its own three-year deadline, and settling one should not quietly settle the other.
What if my injuries appeared days after the crash?
Delayed symptoms are common, particularly with head, neck and back injuries. A gap between the crash and the first medical visit is something insurers raise, so getting assessed and describing every symptom, including the ones that seem minor, gives the record a chance to reflect what actually happened.
Should I accept the insurer’s first settlement offer?
Not before the medical picture is clear. A settlement is final: it closes the claim, including treatment that turns out to be needed later. An early offer arrives before anyone knows what recovery will involve, which is precisely why it arrives early.
How long do I have to file a car accident claim in California?
Personal injury actions generally have a two-year limitation period from the date of injury, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. That is not universal. Claims against a government entity generally require a claim to be presented within six months, and property damage carries a three-year period.
How much is my car accident case worth?
There is no reliable online calculator that can answer this. Value depends on injury severity, future treatment, permanent effects, lost earnings and earning capacity, fault, available insurance and the strength of the evidence. Any figure offered before those are known is a guess.
What if an Uber or Lyft driver was involved?
Rideshare collisions raise an extra question: what the driver’s app and trip status was at the moment of the crash, which affects what insurance applies. Those claims are covered in detail on the Uber and Lyft accident page.
How much does a car accident lawyer cost?
The initial case review is free and carries no obligation. Ask any firm you speak with to explain in writing how its fee is calculated and how case costs are handled if there is no recovery, since fees and costs are two separate things.
Related Practice Areas
Also on this site: Cameron Yadidi Brock · The team · Contact
Talk to a California Car Accident Lawyer
If another driver or responsible party caused your injuries, Burg & Brock can investigate fault, insurance, medical losses, lost income and the other damages that resulted from the collision.
Free consultation. Ask us how fees and case costs are handled before you decide anything.
Attorney Advertising. This page is provided by the Law Offices of Burg & Brock, which operates UberLawyer.com, with an office of record in Sherman Oaks, California. Cameron Yadidi Brock, California State Bar No. 183112, is responsible for its content.
The information here is general in nature, describes California law as of September 2026, and is not legal advice for any particular situation. Reading this page or contacting the firm through it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Statutory references: Vehicle Code sections 16000, 16056 and 20008; Code of Civil Procedure sections 335.1 and 338; Government Code section 911.2; Civil Code sections 1431.2 and 3333.4; Insurance Code section 11580.2.
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