What is a Personal Injury in Redondo Beach? The Importance of a Redondo Beach Personal Injury Attorney to You the Victim Consumer?

When to Retain a Redondo Beach Personal Injury Attorney.

Were you injured in Redondo Beach? If so, you need a Redondo Beach injury attorney. Learn what a personal injury is, and what to do if you, or a loved one is seriously injured in Redondo Beach, California generally, Southern California, or greater South Bay.

What is a Personal Injury and What Do I Do When I am Injured?

A personal injury is a sub-species of tort law. The word “tort”, is taken from ancient Latin, and means inter alia: “A negligent or intentional civil wrong not arising out of a contract or statute. Torts include: "intentional torts", like a assault, or battery (punching someone) or defamation (publishing untrue statements that can be hurtful about another to other people who hear the statement.), as well torts for negligence (See California Jury Instructions below.)

A tort is an action causing injury to somebody, in some way, and for which the injured person may sue the wrongdoer for damages. Legally, torts are called civil wrongs, as opposed to criminal wrongs. (Some acts like battery, however, may be both torts and crimes; the wrongdoer may face both civil and/or criminal penalties.)

Under traditional law, family members were prohibited from suing each other for torts. The justification was that allowing family members to sue each other would lead to a breakdown of the family. Today, however, many states recognize that if family members have committed torts against each other, there often already is a breakdown in family relationships. Thus, they no longer bar members from suing each other. In these states, spouses may sue each other either during the marriage or after they have separated.

Normally, tort lawsuits against a spouse are brought separate and apart from any divorce, annulment or other family law case. Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, New York and Tennessee, however, allow or encourage combining the tort case with the family law case; New Jersey requires it.

The jurisdictions that still prohibit one family member from suing another include Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. These places may make an exception when the tort is intentional. See, for example, Bounds v. Candle, 611 S.W.2d 685 (Texas 1980); Townsend v. Townsend, 708 S.W.2d 646 (Missouri 1986) and Green v. Green, 446 N.E.2d 837 (Ohio 1982).

An injury; a wrong; hence the expression "an executor de son tort", of his own wrong.

Torts may be committed with force, as trespasses, which may be an injury to the person, such as assault, battery, imprisonment; to the property in possession; or they may be committed without force. Torts of this nature are to the absolute or relative rights of persons, or to personal property in possession or reversion, or to real property, corporeal or encorporeal, in possession or reversion: these injuries may be either by nonfeasance, malfeasance, or misfeasance.”

What Types of Redondo Beach, California Personal Injuries are Included in Tort Law? There are many different types of tort injuries that arise in Redondo Beach, California. Most tort injuries are the result of someone’s negligence. However, there are also intentional torts such as battery, assault, or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Negligence is how the great majority of Redondo Beach Personal Injuries occur and is the term used in California Courts and includes but is not limited to:

Wrongful Death Accidents; Survival Actions; Premises Liability Injuries, which include slips and falls; Automobile Accident Injuries, which makes up a large majority of civil case filings in Redondo Beach Courts for negligence; Airplane Accidents; Products Liability Injuries, etc.

How Do I Know If I Have Been Injured as the Result of the Negligence of Another?

CACI, the California Jury Instructions, are used by Redondo Beach California Courts and Juries, to determine if a civil defendant has committed the tort of negligence. Ehline has provided the below 2006 CACI Jury instructions, as an educational tool to help you understand more about your potential case an tort law in general:

NEGLIGENCE: “401. Basic Standard Of Care

Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care to prevent harm to oneself or to others. A person can be negligent by acting or by failing to act. A person is negligent if he or she does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation. You must decide how a reasonably careful person would have acted in [name of plaintiff/defendant]'s situation.”

Is There Such a Thing as a “Junk Lawsuit”?

Insurance companies and the politicians they donate money too, have increased the battle cry that practically every civil lawsuit filed in California and across the United States is a “Junk-Lawsuit.” The insurance industry also asserts that lawsuit filings are out of control. However, these allegations are not based upon any findings by a court, or sound statistics. Rather, this was simply made up, ostensibly, to poison the civil jury pool. And it is working.

The Facts About Negligence Tort Case Filings In California, Federal, State and Redondo Beach Courts

Between 1993 and 2002, California tort filings fell by 18 percent. Source: Washington Monthly Web-site.

U.S. General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office criticize bogus studies about Costs of Lawsuits, finding: “no evidence that restrictions on tort liability reduce medical spending.” “In short, the evidence available to date does not make a strong case that restricting malpractice liability would have a significant effect, either positive or negative, on economic efficiency, the CBO said.” Source: Non Partisan Annenberg Fact Check Web-site.

Q: How do Insurance Companies Make Money if They Are Paying All this Money in Claims?

Insurance is paid for in premiums by the insured, you and I. When we are in a car wreck, or serious injury accident, we expect our insurance company to be there for us. However, more often than not, we are increasingly faced with hostile insurance adjustors, who try and devalue our claims, pay less than our vehicles are actually worth, or even treat us as if we are guilty of fraud.

In fact, much of this conduct is known as bad faith refusal to provide insurance coverage, and in certain circumstances, forms the basis for a “bad faith Lawsuit” against a first party insured’s insurance company. If you feel you have a bad faith claim against you insurance company, you could even be entitled to punitive damages, to punish the wrongdoer insurance company.

A: Insurance Companies Make Their Billions off the “Float”, Not the Premium!

So the question often arises, “how does that poor insurance company make any money?” “Most people don’t realize that insurance companies really don’t make money on the premiums they charge. . . . Insurance companies make money by investing the “float.” The “float” is the money that’s been collected in premiums, but not yet paid out in defense costs or payouts. . . . Long ago insurance companies figured out that they could turn temporary downturns to their advantage, especially in the medical malpractice insurance arena, by claiming that the premium increases were necessary because of increasing lawsuits. That lie can finally be put to rest, thanks to a nationwide study by Americans for Insurance Reform, a coalition of consumer and public interest groups.” Source: Americans for Insurance Reform.

Look around, insurance companies are awarded higher than normal interest rates for your premiums they deposit into banks. Insurance companies buy up office buildings and make millions off real estate. The interest on your premiums funds all of this.

So shouldn’t you be entitled to collect on your insurance when a disaster occurs? At the Law Offices of Michael P. Ehline, A Professional Corporation, we thinks so. Ehline will fight the insurance company and make them obey the law in Redondo Beach, California. Serious Injury Accidents, Serious Injury Collisions and accidents can ruin your life.

Going up against an insurance company and its highly paid team of lawyers and politicians, is a hard fought battle. It shouldn’t be as a matter of law, but it is. You need Ehline to fight that battle! Ehline wins. “Do or die!”

How Do I Get the Insurance Company To Pay Me for My Legitimate Redondo Beach Personal Injury Claims?

The answer is simple. If you feel your Redondo Beach, California personal injury claim is legitimate, contact the Law Offices of Michael, A Professional Corporation. We will fight for you.

Types of cases taken and valuable information by the Law Offices of Michael P. Ehline, A Professional Corporation, include but are not limited to: