Los Angeles California Personal Injury Law Blog

When you moved to California, you may have envisioned long rides along highways that provide scenic views of the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps, you live near the beach. While such amenities may indeed be part of what you love about living in this state, like all states, it also has its downsides. For instance, traffic can quite stressful.

You may be a cautious and skilled driver. However, if the person in the vehicle next to you has a sudden bout of road rage, you and everyone else nearby are in great danger. It's helpful to be able to recognize signs of road rage although there might be little to nothing you can do to avoid a collision if an enraged driver is in your midst.

Most people in California have been in vehicles that feature built-in systems designed to provide navigational assistance, connect to a mobile phone or provide entertainment while they drive. These are frequently referred to as infotainment systems and many new vehicles today are being driven off car lots with these embedded as standard features. They are often touted as one potential solution to the problems associated with distracted driving.

A new report based issued by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety suggests that these infotainment systems may actually be contributing to risks associated with distracted driving rather than solving or reducing them. When a person takes their eyes off the road for two seconds, their chance of getting in an accident increases by 100%.

The chance of you encountering a drunk driver on Los Angeles’ roads is ever-present. This knowledge, however, likely will not lessen your frustrations when you are involved in an accident caused by one. The first question to enter your mind after such an incident may not be how could someone be so irresponsible as to get behind the wheel after drinking, but rather why would a person or establishment allow someone to reach such a state in the first place. Many with that same question have come to us here at Pheffer Law wondering if liability can be extended to those third parties in such cases. 

The answer to that question depends on the unique circumstances of your case. Many states have what are known as “dram shop laws,” which allow liability to be assigned to establishments that serve alcohol to patrons who then go out and cause accidents. An extension of dram shop liability are “social host laws,” which would allow you to hold an individual responsible if a person causes an accident after getting drunk on alcohol provided to them by said individual in their home or at an event. 

If you have been involved in a serious car accident involving a teen driver in Los Angeles, your hopes of receiving all of the compensation that you need may be slim. The amount you may be entitled to through an insurance payment may not be enough to cover all of your accident expenses (which can include medical bills, compensation for time away from work, and repair costs). You may try to collect those from the responsible party, yet what can you realistically expect to get from a teen? Many in your same situation come to us here at Pheffer Law asking what recourse is available to them, and like them, you may be happy to hear that you may indeed be able to hold a teen's parents liable for an accident. 

The legal principle of negligent entrustment allows parents to be held responsible when their teens cause accidents in their vehicles. Yet a critical element to assigning liability under negligent entrustment is proving that the vehicle owner knew (or should have known) of the negligent or reckless tendencies of the person that they loaned their vehicle to. How, then, might you prove that a parent (who may typically always offer their teen the benefit of the doubt) should have known that the teen might be likely to drive recklessly?