Serious Injury Attorney for Los Angeles County and Orange County

A serious injury claim in Los Angeles County or Orange County is a claim about the future. The emergency bills are real, but they are the smallest part of a case involving a brain injury, a spinal cord injury, a fracture repaired with hardware, a severe burn, an amputation, or a death. Fred Yadegar represents catastrophically injured people and bereaved families in both counties, and he builds each claim on a projection of what the injury will cost over a lifetime.

A bill is not a projection

The value of a routine injury claim is added up after treatment ends. A catastrophic claim cannot wait for that, because treatment does not end. Instead, the claim rests on two documents. The first is a life-care plan, a projection prepared with physicians and a planning professional of every surgery, medication, therapy, device, attendant hour, and home or vehicle modification the injury will require, priced year by year and including the schedule for replacing equipment as it wears out. The second is a lost earning capacity analysis: the difference between the career you had and the work you can do now, calculated over your working life. Our office does not put a number on a case until those documents exist, and we advise clients not to accept one from an insurer that has not done the same work.

The injuries these cases involve

Traumatic brain injury

The scan is often normal and the person is not. Cognitive testing, treating-physician records, and the accounts of family and coworkers establish what a CT image cannot.

Spinal cord injury

The costs are dominated by care and equipment across decades rather than by the initial hospitalization, and the plan has to reflect that.

Fractures requiring surgery

Hardware is not the end of treatment. Removal, arthritis, and revision procedures follow years later, and the projection must include them.

Burns

Grafts and contracture releases continue for years, and the scarring carries damages of its own.

Amputation

Prosthetic replacement, phantom pain, and the strain on the remaining limbs are lifetime costs, not one-time ones.

Damages without a cap

California does not limit the damages recoverable in an ordinary injury case. The MICRA caps apply to medical malpractice claims only. Economic damages cover every projected medical and support cost together with lost earnings and earning capacity; non-economic damages cover pain, disfigurement, and the loss of a normal life, and in a catastrophic case they are a large part of the claim rather than an afterthought. Punitive damages are a separate category, available only where the conduct involved malice, oppression, or fraud, such as a driver who chose to drive drunk, and they are pursued when the facts support them (Civ. Code §3294).

Assembling enough coverage

Proving fault is often the easier half of a catastrophic case. The harder half is locating insurance adequate to pay it, because the state minimum liability limit of $30,000 per person (Ins. Code §16056) can be exhausted before the patient leaves intensive care. Our office examines every possible layer: the at-fault driver’s policy, any commercial or umbrella policy that may apply, and your own underinsured motorist coverage (Ins. Code §11580.2). In a road-design or premises case, the public entity or property owner whose negligence contributed is a further source, subject to the six-month claim requirement (Gov. Code §911.2). Where your own carrier resists a UIM claim, the rules it must follow are set out on insurance company disputes.

When the injury is fatal

When a collision or fall causes a death, California’s wrongful death statute gives certain surviving family members, including a spouse, domestic partner, or children, a claim for their loss (Code Civ. Proc. §377.60). The claim is subject to the two-year limit (Code Civ. Proc. §335.1) and to the six-month written claim requirement when a public entity is involved (Gov. Code §911.2). Questions about who may bring the claim arise in blended families, and they should be resolved before an insurer uses them as a reason to wait.

Steps that protect a serious injury claim

• Treatment first: keep every appointment and follow every recommendation, because a gap in care is read as a gap in injury.
• Choose one person in the family to speak with insurers, and once Fred is retained, have that contact come through our office.
• Sign nothing from the other side’s insurer, including medical authorizations, which are written to reach your entire history.
• Keep a short daily note on pain, sleep, and the tasks you needed help with.
• Save every bill, explanation of benefits, prescription receipt, and mileage record.
• Photograph the injuries at intervals as they heal, including scars and visible hardware.
• Gather pay stubs, performance reviews, and a written description of your job before the injury.
• In a death case, ask that the vehicle and personal effects be kept, and do not speak to the insurer before speaking to a lawyer.

Why families bring these cases to Fred

Fred Yadegar has been a licensed California attorney since 2006 (State Bar #244184), and he represents catastrophically injured people and their families throughout Los Angeles County and Orange County. A serious injury case is assembled: the treating physicians, the life-care planner, the economist, and the coverage investigation all have to be in place before the claim is presented, and Fred does not resolve decades of care for an amount that covers the first year. These cases are handled on contingency, with no upfront cost. If you don’t get paid, we don’t get paid. For the underlying crash, see car accidents or pedestrian accidents, then call.