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Answers to the Twelve Most Frequently Asked Questions in Bicycle Accident Cases (1)
1. If I am injured while riding my bicycle, can I sue the
driver that hit me?
Yes, as long as you can establish that the driver was at
fault.
2. Can I still bring a lawsuit against the driver if I was
doing something I was not supposed to, such as riding on the
wrong side of the street, not wearing a helmet or not having
proper lights or reflectors at night?
Yes. You can bring a lawsuit as long as you can prove that
the driver or some other person or entity was at fault. The
bicyclist has the same duties and responsibilities on roadways as
a motor vehicle driver. Further, there are some additional
special requirements for bicyclists. Adult bicyclists are not
required by law to wear helmets, although a jury can still find
you negligent for not wearing a helmet even if you are an adult.
Further,not following the law by riding on the wrong side of the
road or not having proper gear to ride at night can, and often
will be found to be negligent behavior on your part. However, a
bicyclist's negligence does not eliminate their ability to sue
another party; it simply reduces the recovery by the percentage
of their fault. In other words, if the jury were to award you $1
million for your injuries but determined that you were 50% at
fault, your recovery would be limited to $500,000.
3. My child was injured or killed while riding his bicycle.
What are our rights?
Children, particularly young children, are not held to the
same standard of care for their own safety as adults. Thus,
drivers must be more cautious when they know that children riding
bicycles are in the area. Even if your child was negligent, you
would be able to recover against anybody responsible for causing
the accident, including the driver of the vehicle that hit your
child.
4. I was riding my bicycle when I rode over a pothole which
threw me off my bike and caused a serious head injury. Do I
have a case?
Yes. You have a potential case. If you can establish that
public or private property was maintained in a dangerous
condition and that it was foreseeable that someone would be
riding a bicycle over that property, you will usually be able to
bring a case. However, to win the case you must prove that the
possessor or owner created or should have known about the
dangerous condition and failed to repair or warn of the danger.
5. I brought my bicycle in for repairs shortly before my
accident. I believe that they improperly repaired the
brakes which caused me to lose control of my bicycle and run
into a tree, causing a severe injury. Can I sue the repair
shop?
Yes, as long as you can prove that the repair shop
negligently repaired your brakes, and the brake failure
contributed to your accident. You will have to retain an expert
to prove your case, plus you will somehow have to prove that you
or someone else did not cause the brake failure.
6. I bought a bicycle several years ago and always kept it in
good repair. However, while I was riding one day I went
over a bump and my front wheel collapsed, causing it to
crash into a parked car. Can I sue of the manufacturer of
the bicycle?
Yes. As long as you can establish that the bicycle was
defectively manufactured or designed, you can prevail in a case
against the bicycle manufacturer.
7. I recently brought a bicycle with reflectors. I rode the
bicycle at night. A car did not see me and took a turn in
front of me; I crashed into the car and received a severe
injury. Can I sue the seller of the bicycle?
Maybe. There are special requirements under the California
Vehicle Code for sellers of bicycles. It is illegal for a seller
of a bicycle to sell a bicycle that does not have the many types
of reflectors that are required by law, therefore not meeting the
requirements established by the Department of Motor Vehicles. If
you can establish that your bicycle did not come with all of the
reflectors required by the Vehicle Code, you can sue the bicycle
seller as long as you can establish that the lack of reflectors
contributed to your accident and injury.
8. Can I repair or sell my bicycle and get a new helmet after a
bicycle accident in which I have been injured?
Yes, but you may be doing irreparable harm to your case. If
your case involves a head injury or traumatic brain injury, an
examination of the helmet will be critical. Thus, you should
always maintain your helmet. Further, the bicycle itself should
be left in the exact condition it was in after the impact.
Bicycle cases almost always involve disputed liability and an
accident reconstruction expert or bicycle expert will be greatly
aided in his or her evaluation of the case by being able to
examine the bicycle. An expert will be able to determine speed
of impact and all of the forces involved in the accident by
inspecting the bicycle. If the bicycle is still not around,
hopefully you have a picture of the bicycle in its post-accident
condition. If you do not, you should not give up on the case but
still consult with an attorney who may be able to prove the case
in a different way.
9. Is there such a thing as a bicycle expert?
Yes, absolutely. There are physicists, engineers, and other
specialists who devote their life's work to reconstructing
bicycle accident cases, designing bicycles and determining
whether or not a bicycle was improperly manufactured, repaired or
maintained. In any bicycle accident involving a serious injury
or death, the plaintiff's attorney should retain such an expert.
10. What damages are recoverable in bicycle accident cases?
Plaintiff is entitled to recover damages for past and future
and medical expenses, past and future wage loss, past and future
pain and suffering, and if it is deemed that conduct is bad
enough, punitive damages (i.e., punishment damages against the
defendant). If the bicyclist dies, his or her survivors are
entitled to recover full compensation for their economic losses
that result from the bicyclist's death as well as emotional
distress damages which stem from the loss of society care and
comfort of the decedent. If the survivors can prove that the
bicyclist lived for a period of time between the negligent act
and death, they can also bring an action for punitive damages.
11. How soon do I need to bring a case after a bicyclist
accident?
If you are an adult, you have one year from the date of the
accident to bring a case except on rare occasions in which there
is delayed discovery. However, if a public entity is in any way
at fault for the accident, the claim against the public entity
must be brought within six months. The same rules would apply if
your child was killed in an accident. If your child was injured
in a bicyclist accident, he or she has until the child's 19th
birthday to bring an action. However, it is generally wise to
not wait very long to bring a case because evidence will be lost
and the cast may become more difficult to prove. Further even
children are required to bring claims against government entities
within 6 months (usually extended to one year).
12. Will my bicycle accident case settle and does it make a
difference if I hire an attorney?
It is almost always a good idea to retain an attorney in a
bicycle accident case because there usually will be some questions
of comparative fault, and expert witnesses may need to be retained
to reconstruct the accident factors and help determine
responsibility for the accident.
Your case probably will settle and will be more likely to
settle for an increased amount if you retain an attorney.
1. Most legal questions require complex answers. The answers
provided here may not be complete or fully accurate but attempt
to provide consumers with abbreviated answers. For more
detailed answers to these questions, a consumer should check out
other articles in this section of this web site, research other
legal articles and texts on the subject matter or consult with an
attorney.
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