At Laskin Balma Attorneys at Law in Sacramento CA, we see all types of car accident cases. There are the normal, everyday rear end collisions. There are the rarer, but not unheard of t-bones. And we even see instances of bicyclist being hit by cars. There are some times when it is easy to tell who is at fault for a collision. A completely stationary car sitting at a red light is not going to be blamed for getting hit from behind. But sometimes circumstances are more complicated and the answer becomes “It depends.” Here’s a fact pattern: A Chevy is navigating a right turn controlled by a yield sign in Sacramento CA. They slow and stop for oncoming traffic. […]

The case spotlight this month focuses on a client with C.R.P.S. This is a serious and debilitating pain disease. It stands for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. When the incident occurred, our client Laskin Balma Attorneys at Law in Sacramento California had a history of low back pain due to degenerative disc disease, but he was able to play basketball almost everyday, walk his dog, and mow the lawn. After the incident, he was barely able to walk. Our client’s mother rented a home from the defendant. She repeatedly requested that the owner of the property trim a large tree which constituted a dangerous condition. She was afraid a limb would fall off and strike one or both of her small grandchildren […]

THE TRUTH. Please never give a recorded statement to the adverse driver’s insurance company. The number one mistake you can make when speaking with an insurance adjuster is not telling the truth. It is better to say that you can’t remember something than to make up what happened. Collisions are traumatic and you can’t be expected to remember every detail clearly. For instance, most people don’t check their speed every five seconds, so if you don’t know exactly how fast you were going, then you don’t know how fast you were going. That is a legitimate answer. If they really need to know, then the adjuster should walk you through questions to get to an estimate. But most of the […]

Yes. The State of California has minimum insurance requirements of 15/30/5 (meaning $15,000 per person, $30,000 per incident, and $5,000 per incident). If someone qualifies for the state’s special low income policies, their limits are only 10/20/3. Liability insurance is the only required coverage. The first two numbers represent bodily injury. That is the maximum amount of money the people you hurt can collect for their medical care, wage loss, and pain. The third number is the property damage limit, which is what can be spent to repair or replace a vehicle or any other damaged property (including cell phones, lap tops, etc.). What is not required by California is uninsured motorist coverage, but you better believe there are uninsured […]