Tourist Accident Lawyer - How Do I Find One?

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What to Do If You’re a Tourist Who’s Been in a Personal Injury Accident Away from Home

Although traveling is one of life's great adventures, unfamiliar roadways can be treacherous for those traveling them. If you’re a tourist or an out-of-state driver who is unfamiliar with the highways and city streets, your chances of getting into an accident are that much greater than when you are home in your comfortable surroundings. What do you do if you’re a visitor who has been in a tourist accident while traveling away from home? Can you hire an attorney from your area or do you need to find a tourist accident lawyer in the city or state where you were hurt?

What You Need to Know about Getting into an Accident in California

Tort vs. No-Fault States

Every state has different laws concerning how traffic accidents are handled. Some states are considered no-fault states. California, on the other hand, is a considered a tort state. That means that one or the other driver is considered at fault. Alternatively, both drivers can be considered partially at fault.

In terms of insurance, every insurance company in the US will provide coverage anywhere in the US, and usually Canada as well. So, if you have good auto insurance coverage that should apply to your accident as a tourist in California. If you are a foreign visitor, you won’t be as lucky. However, many visitors from Europe, Australia and other countries with great health insurance, tend to have their medical expenses covered. Even tourist insurance can kick in for this.

Needless to say, in cases where you’ve sustained serious personal injuries, you’ll need to retain solid legal representation. Why? Because insurance companies that insure at-fault drivers will offer you the bare minimum as a settlement in your case. For those who have been seriously injured, this may not even cover their entire medical expenses let alone pain and suffering or lost time from work. For that, you’ll need to know how and where to find and hire the best personal injury lawyer who can help people who live far away.

While California requires all drivers to carry liability insurance for both property damage and bodily injuries, those policies may not cover the entirety of your medical bills. Many drivers only carry minimum policies because they figure they’ll drive carefully enough to not need them. Then when they’re in an accident, their policy only covers a small portion of the damage they’ve caused to another person. Yet another reason you’ll need a California tourist accident attorney to help you out.

Dealing with Insurance Companies in Tort States Like California

Insurance companies in tort states like California are not your pal. They’re not out there to ensure that you get the damages that you’re entitled to. They are for-profit companies that seek to pay you the bare minimum for your claim and will exclude non-economic damages like pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment. Further, they will likely try to get out of paying for your missed time from work.

If there are ambiguities in the police report, or there is some question as to who is at fault, the insurance company will try to claim that you were partly to blame for the accident. If it’s found that you are 20% at fault, then the insurance company will only have to pay you 80% of your damages.

A top California personal injury lawyer can help you negotiate with insurance companies and they will take the pressure off of you as you focus on your recovery. The best personal injury firms will also ensure that your case is handled quickly, devote their full attention to securing you the best possible settlement, and keep you informed and updated as the case progresses.

Being in a traffic accident is hard enough. It’s harder still when you’re a visitor or tourist in California -- unfamiliar territory to you. Finding a tourist injury attorney in that will fight for you can alleviate much of the stress.

How to Hire the Best Tourist Accident Attorney for Out of State Representation for Your Traffic Injury

There are a number of things you’ll need to bear in mind as an out-of-state motorist, passenger, pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist who has been in a traffic accident away from your home town or home state. Firstly, you’ll need to find representation. For that, you’ll need a local tourist injury law firm that can manage an out-of-state case like yours. A lot of lawyers in the area prefer paper documentation and face-to-face meetings. While that works fine for clients who live in their city, it’s not going to work for a someone who lives on the opposite side of the country or even outside the States.

So one of the qualities you’ll want to look for in a really good personal injury attorney is whether or not they have the technological capacity to deal with a client who comes from a different state. One of the things you’ll need to ask your attorney before they take your long-distance case is whether or not they operate as a paperless office.

Trying to Find the Best Tourist Accident Lawyer? Look for these Qualities.

In addition to the most important qualities you want to look for in a personal injury attorney, your tourist accident legal team should provide efficient, effective and personalized representation. They should do so flawlessly for long-distance clients who have suffered serious injuries while on business or visiting their local area, but live elsewhere in the United States and even out of the Country.

Your local tourist accident lawyer should have a high-tech, paperless office with all the tools needed to communicate with and handle cases for clients who live far away. Their staff and attorney should be well-versed at handling matters with clients they may never even meet in person.

Make sure to ask any potential tourist accident lawyer you hire the top questions required to find out if a personal injury attorney is a good fit. One of the main questions specific to tourist accidents is whether they have represented clients from out of state or even out of the country. This will help you determine if they are equipped to efficiently and effectively represent you from afar. You want a tourist injury law firm that will be convenient for YOU!

Remember that you and your injury lawyer will likely operate in different time-zones. So, being in live in-person meetings may not be something you can easily schedule. Make sure any tourist accident lawyer you consider has convenient channels of communication, including contacting them via an online case evaluation form, by email, video calls or phone.

When interviewing tourist injury lawyers, make sure you will get you the best representation possible, and that you won’t have to set foot in a law office. You don't want to have to worry about costly and time-consuming travel, logistics (which can be difficult when you are physically injured) and the pain and inconvenience of having to see an attorney in-person. Your tourist injury law firm should offer clients paperless interaction and access to online tools and other electronic communication to update you on your case, and allow you to ask any questions you have about your case.

Remember, even though you may have already consulted with an attorney in your home state, you need a personal injury lawyer who is licensed in the state where you were injured to assist you with your traffic accident case.

Tech-Savvy Lawyers

Choose a tourist injury law firm that is ahead of the legal industry with regard to technology. The firm should be a paperless, cloud-based law firm. Many law firms are just now making this transition. But, you should select a firm with systems that have been in effect for many years

The firm should have a track record of producing solid results for their clients, even if they never meet them in person.

Do Tourists Need a Personal Injury Attorney?

The answer is yes and perhaps more so than most. Having a local law firm on your side to help you deal with local idiosyncrasies that you may not be familiar with is the key to recovering in peace. In tort states, the process of settling your claim is adversarial. If you were hurt in California, you’ll want a California tourist accident lawyer who will fight for your right to be compensated for the injuries that you’ve sustained. Reach out to some California tourist accident lawyers now and start asking questions.

Do I Need a California Lawyer to Manage My Case?

If you were injured in California, but live out of state, it’s definitely a better choice to hire a California injury lawyer over a local one in your state. Those who suffer injuries in a state where they don’t live will find the process easier to manage by hiring an attorney that practices in the state where they are injured.

If you or someone you know has had a serious accident in California, but does not live here, it is in your (or their) best interest to hire a local California tourist personal injury attorney because they have:

1
Local Access. The local attorney knows the area and can go to the accident scene to investigate, or at least have a familiarity with the area/intersection where the accident happened.
2
Local Knowledge. The local attorney knows the rules of the local courts in the state/county that the accident occurred.
3
Local License. The local attorney is Bar-certified in the state in which the accident occurred.
4
Local Advantage. The local attorney may have handled cases involving similar facts, areas, parties, etc. that will provide a “leg up” in your case.

How Do Lawyers Handle Out of State Cases?

This is actually a more frequent occurrence than you might imagine. At Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers, we’ve represented clients that we’ve never met in person. Many law firms will not handle these cases due in large part to the cost and inconvenience of litigating them. Our practice streamlines this process. You’ll be able to send us medical records and other information digitally. In addition, we’ll make ourselves available to speak to you over the phone or through email when necessary. We’ll present the information that you provide us to the insurance company and ensure that they produce a settlement that is in keeping with all of your damages. You will not be required to fly out to California unless your case made it to litigation. Over 93% of our cases do not.

Find a San Francisco Tourist Accident Attorney

San Francisco is a notoriously difficult city to drive in. Huge population spikes and a city that was not designed to handle the amount of traffic it gets on a daily basis have resulted in a problematic amount of congestion. Most cities have developed some form of freeway system that takes pressure off of the main highways and boulevards. Unfortunately, San Francisco is not among them.

There are 4,000 traffic related accidents per year in San Francisco. On top of that, due to the high rate of congestion on Bay Area streets, the city ranks at the top of the list as one of the most dangerous cities in the country for pedestrians and cyclists. On average, two pedestrians are hit by cars per day on SF streets.

Many of the tourists who are injured on San Francisco streets aren’t sure how to proceed. Documenting the scene of the accident as well as you can and contacting the police immediately are the first two steps. Later, hiring a top quality San Francisco personal injury attorney who specializes in traffic accidents in the city can make you thousands of dollars more than an insurance company is likely to offer you.

Hiring a Los Angeles Tourist Accident Lawyer

Los Angeles is a notoriously difficult city to drive in and has a reputation as a driver’s city. That is to say, folks will get into their car to drive to the convenience store up the street. While there may be a bit of hyperbole in that statement, there isn’t as much as you might think. Los Angeles and California at large were rated one of the worst places in the country for pedestrian and cyclist accidents. Drivers themselves fared little better, and this has much to do with the sheer volume of motor vehicles that populate LA roadways. For those who aren’t familiar with the city, it can be quite overwhelming.

Furthermore, according to reports, both rates of accidents and fatalities have sharply risen in the city since 2016. So if you’re a tourist who has been injured in LA, finding a top-quality personal injury attorney to ensure you get a fair settlement is going to be a key part of the process.

Look for an Oakland Tourist Accident Law Firm

Oakland is among the most dangerous cities in the country to drive in. In 2014, there were over 3,000 fatal traffic accidents making Oakland, in a state that is known for dangerous roadways, among the most dangerous in the state. Scarier still is the fact that Oakland’s civil engineering is not to blame for these accidents, but it’s mostly due to intoxicated and reckless driving.

For tourists, driving in Oakland is a scary proposition. Having a tourist injury lawyer in Oakland to ask questions and negotiate with insurance companies can help take much of the stress off the situation.

Hire a Tourist Injury Attorney in San Jose

Unlike the aforementioned California cities, San Jose has actually spent a good deal of money on protecting pedestrians and cyclists. But the reason for that has a lot to do with the fact that the city’s non-drivers were statistically more likely to be injured in a traffic accident than other major cities in the country.

For those who are injured in a traffic accident in San Jose, finding the best tourist accident injury law firm in San Jose to represent them will ensure that they receive a fair settlement from the at-fault party’s insurance company.

Considering a California Tourist Accident Lawyer?

Curious about whether the 5-star rated California tourist accident lawyers at Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers are right for you? Check out how the process works. Or, find out if our law firm is a good fit for you.

We focus our time, energy and resources on the following traffic accident types.