The Traffic Accident Recovery Process

It's Easy and it's Quick to Start Your Case

CONTACT US. The process starts when you contact us either by phone or by the "Do You Have A Case?" form in the upper right hand corner of this page. A Potential Client Assistance Paralegal who specializes in traffic and car accident cases will be assigned to you and will immediately begin assisting you.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED. Your paralegal will start by answering your initial questions and concerns. Specific legal questions will be answered by one of our traffic and car accident attorneys, usually Mr. Bisnar.

EVALUATION PERFORMED. One of our top car accident attorneys will perform an initial evaluation of your case for you. The evaluation will include: (1) the chances of winning your case; (2) the compensation you are entitled to; (3) how long car accident cases like yours take to complete; and (4) much more.

OPTIONS EXPLAINED. Armed with an understanding of your goals and an evaluation of your traffic or auto accident case, we will explain and discuss your options with you.

ADVICE. We will advise you as to what we believe is your best course of action. You will then have the option of hiring us. If your case does not meet our case criteria, we will refer you to attorneys who handle your specific type of case.

HIRE US. Once you hire us we will go over with you the entire process that your accident case will go through. We will provide you very specific flow charts that show the course that your traffic accident case will take. The flow charts are designed for you to have a visual reference when we discuss your case, as to where we are with your case, what has been accomplished and what is ahead of us.

PRE-LITIGATION DEPARTMENT. Assuming your case is one we believe can be settled without litigation, your case will be assigned to the pre-litigation department. Most traffic accident cases (auto, pedestrian, bicycle, truck, bus and motorcycle accidents) fall into this category. The department is headed by Mr. Bisnar (Senior Partner), Mrs. Shannon Barker (Office Administrator) and Mrs. De La Torre (Pre-litigation Team Leader). Your assigned paralegal who will contact you immediately to introduce themselves to you and start getting to know you. Your paralegal and Mrs. Barker will handle the administrative functions of your case for Mr. Bisnar. You will have received a detailed flow chart that visually shows you the steps that your claim will take from beginning to end. The flow chart is designed to help you understand the settlement process, let you know where your claim is in that process and to show you what is left to be done.

LITIGATION DEPARTMENT. Assuming your case is one we believe is not likely to settle favorably to you without litigation (auto defects, contested liability, dangerous roadway design or maintenance) your case will be assigned directly to one our four litigation teams in the litigation department. Each team is made up of a senior attorney and a paralegal. The paralegal will contact you immediately to get to know you and introduce the team to you. Brian Chase (Litigation Partner), Mrs. Shannon Barker (Office Administrator) and Nicole Michau (Litigation Team Leader) head the litigation department. You will have received a detailed flow chart that visually shows you the steps that your case will take from beginning to end. This flow chart is much different than the pre-litigation flow chart. The litigation flow chart will show you the various steps your case will take through the litigation process.

WHILE YOUR CASE IS ON GOING. While your case is on going your paralegal will be your point of contact and will be available to you at almost all times during business hours. Usually your paralegal will be available to you within minutes of your call. If your paralegal isn't available within minutes, you will always get a return call with in one business day at the latest and usually within the same day if not within the hour (vacations excepted). Your paralegal will call you to provide you updates at least every 30 days.

AT THE CONCLUSION OF YOUR CASE. At the conclusion of your case, your file will be taken over by the Administrative Department, headed by Mr. Bisnar and Mrs. Barker. The Administrative Department will collect the money recovery from your case, deposit it into a State Bar of California overseen trust account, negotiate any liens (with your permission/instruction) and prepare a "Disbursement Authorization" for your approval. The Disbursement Authorization accounts for all the fees, costs and bills of your case and lays out exactly how much money you will be receiving. Once your funds are collected and you approve the Disbursement of the funds, you receive your check.

HOW LONG WILL MY TRAFFIC COLLISION CASE TAKE? We have finished claims in under 60 days and we have had cases go nearly ten years (through appeals). Both are extremes. The single most influential factor in how long a car accident case takes is how long it takes our client to complete medical treatment. Generally we do not want to settle a case without our client being fully recovered from their injuries. Only after a full recovery can we accurately evaluate the full extent of our client's injuries and the full value of the compensation they are entitled to. Our average car accident claim takes less than 12 months to conclude. Cases against auto makers for an auto defect issues or against a governmental agency, such as CalTrans, for a dangerous roadway condition, take much longer. Auto defect, dangerous roadway design and contested liability cases take two to four years to conclude, if there is no appeal. An appeal itself can easily take three years.

HOLDING WRONGDOERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE DAMAGES THEY CAUSE SINCE 1978