Chico Personal Injury | Personal Injury

Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of thirty-four. Annually, auto accidents are responsible for over 37,000 deaths in the United States and 1.25 million deaths globally. This includes over 1,600 children under 15 years old. Each year, nearly 2.35 million people are injured or disabled due to injuries sustained in auto accidents. As a citizen of the United States you are likely to be involved in at least one automobile accident in your lifetime.

Burns are extremely painful and take a very long time to heal. Most doctors consider severe burns to be the most painful category of injury. Victims with severe injuries from burns often require a series of surgeries and skin grafts to replace tissue damaged by burns. Burns severely affect the victims’ quality of life, and can require long-term, costly medical care. Some burns will need dozens of surgeries to conduct skin grafts, prevent joint contractures, and treat infections.

A trucking accident occurs when large trucks (10,000+ lbs.) collide with other vehicles or pedestrians. Around 500,000 trucking accidents occur every year in the United States. Of these, approximately 5,000 trucking accidents result in fatalities. In fact, one out of every eight traffic fatalities involves a trucking accident. Most of the deaths and injuries involve the passengers of vehicles; truck drivers usually escape trucking accidents with little or no personal injury.

Pedestrian and cycling accidents are very common, and often result in significant injury. Pedestrians and cyclists have very little protection, and are very vulnerable when a collision with a motor vehicle occurs. Many pedestrian/bicycle vs. motor vehicle accidents result in significant injury or death, and many times the fault is not with the injured party.

A death resulting from misconduct on the part of another person or a company is considered a “wrongful death”. The misconduct by the responsible party can range from negligence or carelessness to an intentional criminal act resulting in a wrongful death. There are a number of wrongful death situations, including work-related accidents, medical mistakes or malpractice, automobile and plane accidents, and sports related accidents. A wrongful death may also occur due to the unsafe nature of the premises on which the incident occurs.

When dog bites occur, they can potentially result in serious injuries, including disfigurement and death. Sadly, dog bites occur on a relatively frequent basis. Each year in the United States, approximately 4.7 million people suffer dog bites with approximately 800,000 of those requiring medical care. Even worse, most dog bites are sustained by children.

In general, inattentive or inexperienced operators, careless or reckless operation and excessive speed are the leading causes of all boating accidents. Additionally, approximately 80 percent of all boating accident fatalities occurred on vessels where the operator had not received boating safety instruction; alcohol was involved in 39 percent of all fatal boating accidents.

Motorcycle accidents comprise a significant number of accident-related fatalities each year, approximately eight percent, even though motorcyclists represent a minority of drivers (a mere two percent) on the road. Because motorcycles lack the weight and bulk of automobiles, as well as certain safety features like a roof, airbags, and seatbelts, motorcyclists suffer from a higher rate of injury and fatality in accidents.

Studies show that 60 percent of all falls are related to a slipping or tripping incident, with such likely causes as a foreign object on the walking surface, a design flaw in the walking surface, a slippery surface caused by weather or a spill, or a person’s impaired physical or mental condition. If the latter is the case, or if the injured party in the slip and fall incident should have been aware of the dangerous surface and avoided it, the fault lies solely on the victim.