If you are a resident or a tourist, there are many things you should know about the risks of serious injury. If harmed, people also want to know about the best means of obtaining assistance. Santa Monica is a coastal community with a population of 89,736 as of the 2010 U.S. Census.

More about Santa Monica

Although the population is small compared to L.A, City, and County, density is the issue in Santa Monica. It is simply not a large city. The Pier and Muscle Beach up the boardwalk in Venice attract rollerbladers and runners.

• One common thing is that everyone seems distracted.
• People get packed into a small area in droves.
• Also, tourists come here in droves, making it dense, and packed. Santa Monica is a significant vacation getaway.

Hence, there is a statistical chance of getting run over by a car just due to numbers alone. Furthermore, bicyclists and motorcycle riders are at particular risk. They have no metal cage to protect them. Couple that with the chance of getting injured due to the negligence of someone else. Then you can see the risk of injury is quite high.

Ehline Law Firm, Santa Monica injury attorney, helps consumers hurt here. First and foremost, we help them understand their rights. Then we work to help resolve their liability insurance claims and medical issues. We know many people are from out of town. But we have offices convenient to every City in California.

And we can even go to you to help out. Below we will learn some more about Santa Monica’s injury claims and the attorneys who prosecute them.

More About Santa Monica.

This metropolitan City is an affluent area. Hollywood stars and executives live in the surrounding towns. So tourists take open-top buses to Brentwood, Mar Vista, and Venice in the southeast to spy a look at them. Rent control types live here.

Of interest, wage earners who pay real money for gorgeous homes all live next to these renters. There are community colleges and lots of young people. Further south of the strip, is Main Street, with its many bars and restaurants.

So it remains a mixture of affluent, single-family neighborhoods, renters, surfers, young professionals, and students. It also appears to be a great place to disappear for criminals and people laying low. For example, gangster Whitey Bulger resided here for years before he was finally apprehended.

But Santa Monica, California, is a beautiful and famous place. The City is known for its Westland “pier cam.” (See Santa Monica Pier Cam.) Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade has world-famous restaurants, stores, several movie theaters, and abundant parking structures everywhere. Montana Street, off Wilshire Blvd, has been pictured in numerous Hollywood films. Santa Monica gets its name from Saint Monica of Hippo.

Santa Monica Public Transportation.

The Big Blue and Little Blue Bus offer cheap transportation. There are also taxis everywhere. You can probably see being hurt is a possibility while visiting here. Sometimes it isn’t always just an accident. The bottom line is, you will need legal counsel if you suffer damages.

What Are Some Prevalent Personal Injuries in Santa Monica, CA?

What Are Some Dangers of Santa Monica Bike Paths?

The “Santa Monica Beach Bike Path” is usually crowded. But it has open stretches of the bike path as well—these head north towards Malibu Beach. You will find skateboarders, rollerbladers, runners, and joggers, etc.

So you will also probably see street actors, performers, musicians and merchants haggling with tourists. There is also sporting activity going on, like volleyball.

• Suffering an injury from a flying skateboard, or bicycle on the boardwalk happens.
• Seeing a rollerblader scraped up, or laying on the ground, is not unusual either.

These are all severe events requiring a real expert at bicycle and tort law. On the South Side of the Pier, you will pass “muscle beach.” The Pacific Ocean has activities like surfing, bodyboarding, kneeboarding, swimming, and skimboarding.

Lifeguards are usually on duty at the Pier. But that does not mean they are doing their job reasonably, or even locating all the dangers.

What Are Some Dangers of Santa Monica Mountain Hikes?

There are many places to suffer an injury in the West Side. For example, you could suffer damage on a hike in the mountains. These hills and valleys are just a short drive north from the Pier.

The Santa Monica Mountain Recreation Area is 150,000 acres. Popular activities there include mountain climbing, hiking, and butterfly watching. Also, some favorite tourist activities include bird watching tiptoeing through the tulips, and nearby gay bars. Sometimes no go zones are not adequately noticed. Sadly, improperly maintained roads and paths are not marked as such by the City.

• This can result in liability for the County or the state.

Bad things happen to visitors when the government is not caring for its facilities. Santa Monica Parks are open seven days per week. If you suffered an injury while hiking, it might not be your fault, and you may be able to sue the government.

The Park hotline is as follows: (818) 597-9192 extension 201.

What About the Dangerous Santa Monica Freeways?

Douglas Park (24th Street & Wilshire Boulevard) features green, bowling. Apart from the bowling, the park also features outdoor tennis courts. (Read more on World 66.) The City is accessible by the world-famous Santa Monica Freeway. (Read more.)

Freeways are a potential source of personal injury. The 10 West is rife with wrecks. Mainly we see this near the Bundy offramps. When individuals suffer physical or emotional wounds, and the property gets ruined, we can help.

And legal counsel is a significant step in determining your insurance damages claim. Bad people caused these “damages,” not you. So you should not be forced to pay for their negligence. After all, it was from the defendant’s failure to exercise due care or their carelessness.

The damages are sometimes the result of a Defendant’s intentional conduct, malice, negligence, recklessness. Taking your dispute to the local courthouse avoids the wild west scenario of “self-help.”

What are the Injury and Accident Statistics In Santa Monica?

Information from the Santa Monica PD Annual Report reveals that you could be injured while visiting here. Suffering harm requires setting up a claim, follow-through, and aggressiveness. Ehline Law Firm’s offices are all above.

What About the Santa Monica Recent Market Mayhem?

Recently, 35 pedestrian victims suffered personal injury by an out of control car driver in an automobile accident. Due to its large concentration of pedestrians, motorcycles, bicycles, and cars, it is a recipe for severe pedestrian accidents and injuries.

Therefore, suffering a personal injury in Santa Monica is always a distinct possibility.

The Federal Highway Administration Statistics:

• Killed are 6,000 pedestrians every year.

• Ninety thousand pedestrians suffer personal injuries every year.

• Dying is a pedestrian or bicyclist every 3 1/2 minutes in an accident.

• Pedestrian injuries and fatalities from accidents result in $20 billion in societal costs.

Crimes Can Also be a Cause of Personal Injuries and Accidents?

You better believe it. A tort can be a crime, and crime can be a tort. For example, if someone punches you in the face without your consent. Then, this could be a criminal battery, as well as a civil battery and also personal injury.

The criminal battery gets the wrongdoer a criminal record with a conviction or a People v. West type plea bargain. The civil battery gets the injury victim a public civil money judgment. So that is what happens if the criminal becomes found liable.

As high as it is, Santa Monica is no stranger to crime and personal injury. (Read More.) Recently, five people shot at the Santa Monica Pier due to street gangs.

Santa Monica Pier Problems.

Recently, five people had gotten shot at the Santa Monica Pier due to street gangs. (click here.)Having a family member slain in the City would be both a crime and a personal injury tort. The crime would be murder. On the opposite side, the personal injury tort, a wrongful death personal injury.

You or your family may recover money damages for a slaying. For example, O.J. Simpson remained liable by a civil jury of killing his ex-wife in Brentwood. This falls under the personal injury tort of wrongful death.

But O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the murder of his wife and that of another man. A California criminal jury acquitted him. Much evidence excluded by Judge Ito at the California criminal trial. So this came into evidence in the civil case against O.J. Simpson.

But a civil jury, with all the evidence before them, felt O.J. was liable. Therefore, you or your family could win a civil judgment if the wrongdoer is not guilty. After all, being “innocent” and “not guilty” are as different as apples from oranges.

Santa Monica Courts Recognized as Fair and Balanced by Ehline?

Santa Monica Superior Court is famous for its terrific judges and fair play to all parties to any civil or criminal litigation. The Court has first juries who are well instructed by the Superior Court judges to follow the law. The local jury pool comes from a vast cross-section of the Los Angeles County population.

Sometimes the parties to civil litigation will request a trial by judge. The client will usually waive this right to a jury if the case involves complex issues that a Santa Monica judge will more likely understand. Trial by the judge also saves an enormous amount of administrative time and resources, such as using up valuable jurors.

Superior Court judges will most probably appreciate it when a party to civil litigation waives its right to a jury and go with the judge trial.

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Trial by the judge will also cut down on attorney time, which means fewer attorney costs, and attorney’s fees passed on to the injured victim. The Constitution provides that in “a civil cause,” any waiver inviolate of the right to a jury determination must occur by the consent of the parties as provided by statute.

Trial by the judge also saves an enormous amount of judicial time and resources, such as using up valuable jurors. Superior Court judges will most probably appreciate it when a party to civil litigation waives its right to a jury and go with the judge trial.

Of course, in most injury cases, the defendant has insurance—for example, the automobile case. Let’s say the victim is in a rear-end car accident. That case will more than likely filed in the City if not settled first.

• Minimum California Liability Insurance Requirements and the Under-Insured Motorist California requires each driver has insurance no less than $15,000.00 per person per occurrence. It provides a maximum of $30,000.00. This is for all individuals, per incident.

What is a California Uninsured Motorist?

The California uninsured motorist is a person who is driving around in violation of California law. The police will not be happy with someone driving around their City with no insurance.

Presumably, this because uninsured motorists are a leading cause of serious injury accidents. (See educational Berkeley Report.) What if an injured victim is in a car wreck by a wrongdoer with no insurance? In that case, the injured victim will have to sue the uninsured wrongdoer.

But this can be futile with no insurance money to pay for any potential judgment. Also, this can preempt the wrongdoer to file for bankruptcy protection.

• Judgment creditors stand at the back of the line behind secured debts. So the chances are slim that the injured victim will recover anything.

Q: How Do I Protect Myself Against Uninsured and Under-Insured Motorists?

In truth, there are many people illegally in the country and driving without any insurance, or who can only afford minimum insurance protections. With the enormous tax burden the average citizen faces, this is no real wonder.

• Q: But What if I Need More Insurance Protection in Santa Monica? What if an insured consumer is riding around and gets in a rear-ender, and has the following injuries: broken back, broken hip requiring a hip replacement, neck injury requiring disc fusion surgery? That would be upwards of $1,000,000.00 in medical bills alone. How could a person be protected?

A: Purchase More Coverage Amounts.

A smart consumer will purchase additional insurance protection. Believe it or not, buying more protection does not cost that much more, and it is well worth it.

• Other Pitfalls of Not Having California Car Liability Insurance – The Prop. 213 Case

Under Proposition 213, an uninsured injured victim may not recover pain and suffering damages if a wrongdoer injures him in a crash. Pain and suffering damages are usually a significant part of the damages recoverable to an injured victim.

• Q: But How Are People Registering their Cars? Required insurance for Vehicle Registration? The State of California Department of Motor Vehicles requires a vehicle owner or titleholder to purchase liability insurance before registration. (Read More DMV Public Brochures.)
• A: The Uninsured Motorists Purchase Insurance Coverage, and Stop Paying

In addition to document fraud, many people purchase insurance from a place like Survival Insurance, for example. Great, now they take that proof to the DMV, for instance, and register the car. Then, the wrongdoer will immediately go back to the insurance broker, cancel and get a refund. Or, they won’t stay current on insurance payments, and the insurance coverage will lapse. Voila, no insurance, and a certified car.

• Other Insurance Issues. There are other instances where an injury victim bit by a dog. People injured outside the home, or by slips and falls, etc. Sometimes they are not in a car. In these cases, there may be a homeowner’s insurance protection or med-pay coverage. But getting a reasonable Santa Monica personal injury attorney is key to finding out how to proceed.

Dedicated to investigating your bodily injury claim is what we are. We seek to find the insurance coverage available to protect others from harm. The injured victim should strike while the iron is hot.

While memories are fresh, the investigation should begin. Defendants need to get tracked down and even skip traced. Ehline makes it happen. Do or die.

What About Santa Monica Rent Control?

Much to the chagrin of property owners, this City has rent control laws. What this means is, a property owner must subsidize a renter. Therefore, rent may not increase. Hence, this is the law. This is true even though the costs of maintenance and mortgage are extravagant. The upside is that the tenant can live in some of the most excellent real estate on the planet, for cheap.

Cheap here can mean less than its fair market value. Due to the adversarial rent control laws, there often arise many landlord-tenant disputes. Many of the landlord-tenant cases have to do with retaliatory eviction. Civil Code Section 1942.5 covers this. Usually, a tenant will complain to the City, the owner, or someone else like the press.

It is often about habitability problems. The landlord, already overextended, cannot pay. Sometimes the landlord will get desperate and simply evict the tenant. In some cases, there is a rebuttable presumption the landlord evicted as retaliation. After all, he must have been complaining about the premises.

He got the landlord in trouble. Ehline represents tenants and landlords in landlord-tenant disputes. Sometimes a landlord-tenant feud will get out of hand. The parties may get into a fistfight or worst. Yes, there are cases of knife attacks and shootouts in landlord-tenant disputes.

Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse in Santa Monica?

Ehline learned Elder Abuse Law from Mark B. Hankin, drafter of EADACPA. We will fight for you against increasingly hostile insurance companies and attorneys. We will go the extra mile and help you recover damages for your injuries.