Campbell Personal Injury Lawyer | Personal Injury Attorneys in Campbell

Personal injuries happen when least expected, placing a large burden on you and your family. When you’ve been injured in a serious, life-altering accident, you may need significant financial resources to cover your medical bills and find a new path forward. At Caputo and Van Der Walde – Injury & Accident Attorneys, our personal injury lawyers have over 65 years of combined experience helping Campbell injury victims recover fair compensation from negligent parties.

We are recognized in the Top 100 Attorneys in California by the American Society of Legal Advocates. AV® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® for having the highest ethical standards and impeccable legal ability, we truly care about always doing the right thing for victims of personal injuries.

By limiting our practice exclusively to personal injury, we’re able to dedicate all our time, attention, and resources for injury victims and their families—and over the years, this approach has earned us many awards and accolades from organizations like the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association, Martindale Hubbell®, Super Lawyers®, the US House of Representatives, the California State Assembly, the City of San Jose and more. Whether you need help filing a car accident claim or pursuing a defective product lawsuit, it’s our ultimate goal to help you heal.

We provide a voice to those who have been injured due to the negligence of others. We lend a helping hand to help you through the physical and emotional tolls these injuries have had on your life while seeking the most we can to help you recover financially.

• Claimant: The claimant is the person who has been injured or wronged and wants to use legal action to seek a remedy. In a personal injury claim, the remedy will specifically be monetary compensation.
• Defendant: The defendant in a personal injury claim is the party that has been accused of harming the claimant, and who will be expected to provide the remedy to the claimant depending on how the case resolves.
• Negligence: In legal terms, negligence occurs when someone acts in a way that another reasonable person would not have acted in the same situation. For example, a person who is speeding and fails to stop in time thereby crashing into another car is negligent because a reasonable person would not drive his or her car in that manner.
• Liability: Liability is the legal form of “fault” or “blame” for an accident or incident. The claimant will try to prove that the defendant is liable for the harm that has happened, and, therefore, should be accountable for their losses or damages.
• Damages: Damages in a personal injury claim is a type of harm or loss that the claimant has suffered. For example, a claimant can seek “economic” damages that pay for such things as past and future medical costs and lost wages. “Non-economic” damages relate to losses for “human loss” like pain, suffering, mental and emotional distress, and hardship.
• Statute of limitations: A statute of limitations is the amount of time that a claimant has to file a claim against a defendant for an accident or loss. In California, the standard statute of limitations for personal injury claims is two years beginning on the date of the accident. When a statute of limitations expires, the court will most likely reject any claim filed after.

The personal injury claims process in California can look a bit different from one case to the next because every case is unique. However, the overall process to start and pursue a compensation claim will look relatively similar in all cases.

The personal injury claims process will typically involve these steps in some form:

1. Review the basics of your case with a personal injury attorney who can determine if you have the right to pursue a claim or lawsuit.
2. Wait until your doctors have determined, based on a reasonable degree of medical probability (i.e., more likely than not), your diagnosis and prognosis.
3. Assimilate all of your medical records, reports, billings, and associated costs, such as wage loss information.
4. Calculate how much compensation the liable party or defendant owes you for the  accident or injury that they caused.
5. Send a demand letter to the insurance company to give them a chance to provide compensation without involving the legal system.
6. Prepare a complaint or claim to file in the right court if the defendant does not want to answer the demand letter in your favor, or conveys an unrealistic offer. 
7. File the complaint with the court to officially begin the legal process of demanding compensation from the defendant.
8. Attempt to negotiate a settlement out of court, which can be done confidentially; settlement negotiations can be attempted any number of times and at any point in this overall process.
9. Prepare for litigation by reviewing evidence, finding more evidence through discovery, and other typical trial preparation steps that an attorney can handle.
10. Litigate in court if all negotiation or mediation efforts fail to reach a fair conclusion.

At Caputo & Van Der Walde – Injury and Accident Attorneys, our Campbell personal injury lawyers are ready to serve those who have been the victims of the careless or negligent actions of others. As members of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, we are among the top 1% of lawyers in the U.S. This means you have a better chance of getting the fair and just outcome that you deserve. If you or a loved one have endured injuries from any kind of motor vehicle accident, construction accident, defective product, exposure to toxic chemicals, dog bites, catastrophic injuries, or even wrongful death, contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation with some of the top attorneys in America.