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A car accident can be an overwhelming and traumatic experience that may leave you with mild or severe injuries. You may feel fine initially, but some injuries may not be apparent until hours or days following the accident. So, if you are wondering if you still have a car accident case even if you did not have to seek immediate medical attention, the answer is yes. Whether you seek medical attention immediately or not, you may still have a case if you have been injured or suffered damages due to the accident.

Importance of Seeking Immediate Medical Attention

Seeking immediate medical attention is crucial, regardless of whether you think you were severely injured or not. Prompt medical attention can be helpful in several ways. These include:

• Preventing worsening the condition of delayed injuries.
• Showing that your injuries resulted from the car accident.
• Providing evidence of the extent of injuries and treatment received can quantify the compensation you deserve.
• Preventing insurance companies from arguing that your injuries were not severe or were caused by something other than the accident.

It is vital to get checked out by a doctor promptly to ensure that any injuries are identified and treated promptly and to protect your rights if you file a claim later on.

Possible Reasons for Not Seeking Medical Attention Right Away

Several reasons may make someone involved in a car accident fail to seek medical attention immediately. Some may think they are fine and do not need to go to the hospital. Others may not have sufficient funds to pay for their medical expenses and may opt to treat their injuries at home. Sometimes, one may only realize they are injured days or weeks later when symptoms appear.

Injuries That May Not Be Apparent

Injuries that may not immediately show symptoms are referred to as delayed onset injuries. If untreated, these types of injuries may develop over time and become life-threatening. Common delayed onset injuries include:

• Whiplash – Whiplash is an injury that happens when the neck is suddenly pushed back and forth. Symptoms of whiplash can include neck pain, dizziness, and headache and may not appear until hours or even days after the accident.
• Soft tissue injuries – These may include muscle strains and sprains.
• Traumatic brain injuries – These injuries can also take time to develop, with symptoms appearing days or even weeks after the accident.

Statute of Limitations for Submitting a Personal Injury Claim

California’s time limit for filing personal injury claims from car accidents is two years from the accident date. While you have two years to file a claim, it is worth noting that failure to seek immediate medical attention could harm your case. Insurance companies could argue that your injuries are unrelated to the accident since you did not seek medical attention immediately. In such situations, you may need to consult an experienced personal injury attorney to gather other evidence to establish the link between your injuries and the accident.

Steps for Filing a Personal Injury Claim After Delaying to Seek Medical Attention

Here are a few steps to strengthen your claim and increase your chances of receiving compensation.

• Seek Medical Attention as Soon as Possible

Even if time has elapsed since the accident, getting checked out by a doctor as soon as possible is essential. Medical records can help establish the link between your injuries and the accident and provide compelling evidence for your case.

• Keep Detailed Records

Keep a detailed record of all expenses related to your injuries, such as medical bills, lost income, and other losses. This can help quantify the damages you deserve compensation for and be used as evidence in your claim.

• Consult With an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney

Filing a personal injury claim after delaying seeking medical attention can be challenging. Speaking with an attorney who can advise you on your legal rights and build a strong case is wise.

Contact the Experienced Car Accident Attorney in Fresno, California

If you have been involved in a car accident in California and did not seek immediate medical attention, you may still be entitled to reimbursement for your injuries and other damages. Call the experienced car accident attorney at the Law Office of Frank Nunes at (559) 436-0850 or contact us online today to schedule a free consultation.

At Nunes Law, our Fresno personal injury attorneys know for most California residents, putting on their seat belts is second nature. For others, whether they are in a hurry, distracted, or simply forget, many people do not wear their seat belts, and can end up paying for the oversight with their lives.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 5 – 34 in the United States. While no one anticipates being in a crash, seat belts are the best defense against impaired, aggressive, and distracted drivers.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends effective, well-enforced seat belt laws to ensure that every person in every seat buckles up on every trip. Like other states, California has a mandatory seat belt law that requires all vehicle occupants aged 16 and over to always wear their seat belts.

Buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash.

Seat Belt Use Helps Keep You and Your Family Safer During a Crash

Many Americans understand the lifesaving value of the seat belt, as the national use rate last year was estimated at 90.4%. However, 51% of passenger vehicle occupants killed over the same period were unrestrained, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

According to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), over 3,600 people were killed in vehicle collisions throughout the state last year. Although California ranks among the highest states for seat belt use, with a rate of nearly 96%, the state reported 620 unrestrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities over the same period.

Even with safer vehicles, and five-star crash safety ratings, air bags are not enough to protect you or your family during a crash. The force of an air bag can cause serious injuries or death if occupants are not also restrained by seat belts.

When riding in the front seat of a vehicle, seat belt use can reduce your risk of moderate to critical injuries by 50%, and fatal injuries by 45%.

Being buckled up during a crash helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, as being completely ejected from a vehicle is almost always deadly.

Last year alone, seat belt use saved an estimated 14,955 lives throughout the country. You, too, can help decrease your potential for injuries or fatalities by wearing your seat belt each time you get into your or someone else’s car.

Have You Beed Injured in a Car Accident in California?

Although seat belts and airbags are designed to keep all motorists safer, injuries still occur during some vehicle collisions — especially those involving negligent drivers that catch other motorists by surprise.

If you have been injured by an impaired, speeding, distracted, or otherwise negligent driver, contact our experienced Fresno auto accident attorney at Law Offices of Frank M. Nunes Inc today by calling 559-436-0850 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation to discuss your legal rights and options to hold the liable party accountable for your complete financial recovery.

Perhaps you have been in a collision, and you are now receiving calls from your insurance company that covers you for that collision.  You may have heard it can hurt your case to talk to the other driver’s insurance company, and now you’re wondering whether you should accept your own insurance company’s calls.

The answer is that you should accept your own insurance company’s calls and speak with them so they can protect and insure you.  They must do an investigation, and that means collecting facts and determining fault based on the information they gather.  Your insurance company may contact you before you have a lawyer, or they may not be aware you have hired an attorney.  Your insurance company will give you a rendition on liability based upon their investigation.

Coordinate with your attorney to make sure they know whether you have been in contact with your own insurance company.  You need to be aware that if you do not cooperate with your own insurance company it can be used as a basis to deny you coverage, and that would greatly complicate your case.  Watch the video to learn more.

If you have additional questions about your auto accident case or speaking with insurance companies, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850.  I welcome your call.  Visit our educational website at www.NunesLaw.com for more videos and media content from our law firm.

At Nunes Law, our Fresno car accident attorney knows firsthand that when our California clients are injured in a collision, their lives change in an instant. Whether they have suffered broken bones that will heal with ongoing medical treatment or a traumatic brain injury that requires life-long care, their physical, emotional, and financial well-being is at stake at the moment of impact.

Our Fresno car accident lawyers have a few tips for all accident injury victims to take their roads to recovery seriously, so they can get their lives back on track.

Physically Healing After a California Auto Accident with Injuries

All accident and injury victims should seek medical care immediately after a crash to ensure all injuries are diagnosed right away. This will allow the physicians to document each injury and put a treatment plan in place.

While the severity of the injuries and your health before the crash will dictate the recovery timeline, there are simple things you can do to help minimize any setbacks while you heal.

They include:

• Follow your doctor’s recommendations and attend all follow-up appointments.
• Use ice or heat as directed to reduce inflammation, when required, and take any medication as prescribed.
• Rest as much as possible to avoid overexertion that will prolong your recovery or worse, injure you further. This could mean taking time away from work and limiting all physical activity you would normally participate in, like cutting the grass, taking out the trash, or lifting heavy objects.
• Drink plenty of water to promote healing, reduce inflammation, and replace damaged cells with healthy new ones.
• Eat recovery foods to provide the extra nutrition the body needs to repair itself. Fruits and vegetables are great for reducing inflammation, while proteins like chicken and fish will help to rebuild muscle mass.

Continue to communicate with your doctor or team of physicians as the healing process continues, and ask if there are any physical therapy, exercise, or massage techniques that will help promote healing. Do not begin exercising or stretching without a medical professional’s permission.

Emotionally Healing After a California Auto Accident with Injuries

The emotional trauma car accident and injury victims sustain during the crash and while undergoing medical treatment is all too real.

Anxiety, stress, and depression can all result from the overwhelming circumstances that led to your injuries, the mounting medical bills, the inability to work, and the lack of income you are contributing to your home. In fact, emotional injuries are incredibly common after a car accident.

To promote a complete emotional recovery after your car accident, you can:

• Talk with friends, relatives, or a support group about your challenges.
• Get help from a professional counselor.
• Follow your doctor’s advice on using substances like drugs and alcohol.
• Maintain a healthy diet.
• Speak with your doctor about possible medications.
• Slowly return to your daily activities and routines when approved by your physician.

Be patient and give yourself time. Your emotional well-being is just as important as your physical health, as the two are inextricably linked. Follow all your physician’s directions — whether it is a surgeon or psychologist — so you can get your mind and body back on track.

Financial Recovery After a California Auto Accident with Injuries

If you have been injured in a California car accident, there is no doubt you may be having trouble making ends meet. Your injuries may impact your ability to perform regular tasks, disrupt your ability to work, and jeopardize your overall quality of life.

Our skilled car accident lawyer at Nunes Law will fight to help you pursue the necessary compensation for your injuries, including medical bills, lost time at work, and additional expenses that have taken a toll on your financial well-being.

Contact our experienced personal injury attorneys in Fresno at Nunes Law today by calling 559-436-0850 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation to discuss your legal rights and options to hold the liable party accountable for your complete financial recovery.

If you have been involved in a car crash in California, then there are some very important first steps you need to take.

If you have been injured as a result of the collision, then you obviously first need to seek medical attention appropriate for your injuries. There will likely be additional follow-up care. Most people call their established primary care physician if they have one, but such doctors will often not be able to see them if an accident or litigation is involved. While the doctor doesn’t mind treating you, getting involved in litigation leads to depositions and time spent away from their medical practice.

Your way forward in pursuing medical treatment is to contact an attorney and ask for reputable healthcare providers who will treat people who have accident cases. The attorney should be able to connect you with a reputable healthcare provider that is not susceptible to strategic questions asked by the other side’s insurance company.

In addition to seeking appropriate medical attention, you need to document all of your harms and losses resulting from the accident. It is very easy to forget these harms and losses if you are not recording them at the time. Additionally, you may not be able to recognize all of the harms and losses that have resulted or will result from the accident. There are many things you may not be able to do as a result of your injuries, and these often have implications for your case.

Again, an experienced attorney will be able to help you to identify and document your harms and losses, which can strengthen your case and lead to a higher settlement. Contacting an attorney immediately following a car crash can get you on the right path for both identifying appropriate medical providers and documenting your harms and losses. Watch the video to learn more.

If you have additional questions about the steps you need to take following a car accident in California, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850. I welcome your call. Visit our educational website at www.NunesLaw.com for more videos and media content from our law firm.

Perhaps you have been in a collision at an intersection when the green traffic signal indicated you had the right to proceed.  If you have been told by an insurance adjuster that you are at fault, you may be the target of deceptive practices or misinformation.

Under the law in California, you are obligated to follow the laws of the road in the intersection.  California also grants you the expectation that others will follow the law.  While you should generally drive defensively and remain on the lookout for reckless drivers on the road, you are not responsible for the unexpected law-breaking behavior of another driver that caused you injury.

If you have received misinformation indicating you are responsible for your injuries in a situation where you were following the laws of the road and another driver unexpectedly acted contrary to the law in a way that led to collision or injury, then you should contact a lawyer.  Watch the video to learn more.

If you have additional questions about fault in your accident case, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850.  I welcome your call.  Visit our educational website at www.NunesLaw.com for more videos and media content from our law firm.

You may know the first things to do after an accident, but you also need to be prepared to address the “second” things you must do after returning from the hospital, when you’re receiving phone calls and letters in the mail concerning the accident.

The next thing you should do – if you haven’t already – is report the collision to your insurance company.  The sooner you report the collision, the sooner the insurance company can begin investigating the facts of the claim.  Some insurance companies require accidents to be reported within a given time period to make a claim, so you should use the earliest practical opportunity to complete this task.

Another reason to report your collision promptly is that if your car has been impounded it is likely going to be in short-term storage, and that can be very expensive.  Insurance companies usually do not want to pay for those expensive fees, and when you report the collision your insurance company will likely move your vehicle to their own storage with more reasonable fees.

California requires by law that any collision with bodily injury or $1,000+ of property damage be reported to the DMV.  The purpose of this law is to be sure that everyone involved had active automobile insurance at the time of the collision.  There is a Form SR1 available on the internet that is easy to fill out – simply complete the information that you know.  Watch the video to learn more.

If you have additional questions about what you should do following your involvement in a car accident, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850.  I welcome your call.  Visit our educational website at www.NunesLaw.com for more videos and media content from our law firm.

If you have a rental car from the insurance company after your own vehicle was damaged in an accident, you may be wondering when you need to return it to avoid being billed.

You should return the rental car as soon as you don’t need it to avoid the insurance company billing you for it.  From the perspective of the insurance company, once they make you an offer for the total loss of your car they can begin billing you for the rental car’s use.

If the car is not “totaled” but is instead in the repair shop, you need to return the rental car when your car in the shop is ready for you to pick up.  Drop the rental car off simultaneously when you retrieve your repaired vehicle.

People who have been in accidents often make the mistake of keeping rental cars too long for the purpose of shopping for new vehicles, and they get billed for these uses.  This can be very frustrating for people who have suffered from an accident that was not their fault, as being billed for this is one more in a series of unexpected inconveniences.

Return your rental car when you receive a “total loss” check for your vehicle or when you receive a call that your own vehicle is ready for pick up from the repair shop.  Watch the video to learn more.

If you have additional questions about rental cars and personal injury cases in relation to an accident, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850.  I welcome your call.  Visit our educational website at www.NunesLaw.com for more videos and media content from our law firm.

If you have just been in a car accident, here are some important first steps you should take.  Do not make the mistake of neglecting them now.

First, seek appropriate medical care if you have been injured.  This may involve being taken in an ambulance.  These professionals know what they are doing, and you need to be diligent about immediately pursuing any needed medical care that may prevent a worsening of your condition.

Second, you need to get the other driver’s information and their proof of insurance.  Also look for other people near the scene that may have witnessed the accident.  While police officers may be taking witness statements, they may not be complete in identifying all witnesses.  Try to find any witnesses the police may have missed.

Third, take photographs of the other driver’s vehicle in addition to your own.  This can greatly help your case.  This is your chance to get these pictures of the other car before it is moved to an unknown location or is repaired.  These photographs are evidence that can tell more of the story of what happened between the two vehicles.

Again, if medical personnel are treating you, let them do it.  The police will seek necessary information.  You can then seek the other driver’s information, identify witnesses, and get photographs of both cars.  Watch the video to learn more.

If you have additional questions about what to do following a car accident, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850.  I welcome your call.  Visit our educational website at www.NunesLaw.com for more videos and media content from our law firm.

I am asked this all the time, “what am I supposed to bring with me to the meeting?”

Here are three things that every client should bring to their first meeting with me.

First and most important, bring any writings you have that details the facts or the witnesses or pictures of the collision. In addition, it is always best to do so as soon after the incident in question when the evidence is still there, memories are still clear, and witnesses are still at the scene.

The second thing is to bring pictures of the cars. Particularly bring pictures of the other driver’s car. Why is this so key? Typically you always have access to the car you were in, or that you were driving at the time of the collision, but it’s usually harder for you to get a picture of the other driver’s vehicle before you consult with a lawyer.

Finally bring in all your insurance policies. Your health insurance, your car insurance, your disability insurance, and any insurance policy you may have. I will sort through those policies for you. Together we will find out what types of coverage’s you have and the terms of your coverage. This helps figure out what you can expect in your personal injury case.

If you have additional questions regarding any injury case or our first meeting, I want you to call me at (559) 436-0850.  I welcome your call.  Visit videos for more videos and media content from my law firm.