Personal Injury Lawyer in Rancho Cucamonga, CA
A major injury can change your life in an instant. Accident survivors could have a long road to recovery. In some cases, a full recovery is not possible, requiring significant changes to your daily routines and how you earn a living.
Personal injury attorney Fernando D. Vargas is here to help. Our bilingual/Spanish-speaking legal team can make sure the person who caused your injuries is held liable for all of the losses you’ve experienced. We’ll negotiate with insurance companies for you, and we will not hesitate to go to court if it means we can maximize the value of your claim.
Clients pay us nothing unless we win for them. To request a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, contact the Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in California?
Per California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) § 335.1, you typically two years from the date of the accident or injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Once that two-year statute of limitations has passed, you will no longer be able to file a legal claim.
It’s important to note that some types of accidents have a much shorter and stricter deadline than the two-year statute of limitations. Under the California Tort Claims Act, for example, you have just six months to file a legal claim if the accident was caused by a public entity.
It’s always in your best interests to contact our Rancho Cucamonga personal injury law firm as soon as you can. We’ll make sure you’re heard and that you can initiate legal proceedings in a timely manner.
Damages in a Personal Injury Claim
Fernando D. Vargas and his team will help you recover damages for various losses caused by an accident or serious injury. This includes:
- Hospitalization and emergency medical expenses
- Ongoing medical needs after an injury
- Physical rehabilitation
- Occupational therapy
- Assistive devices for daily activities
- Lost wages due to injury
- Lost future earning potential due to disability
- Damage to personal property
- Pain and suffering
- Changes to quality of life
- Loss of consortium
As we work on your personal injury case, our law firm will help you understand how much your claim is worth.
Can I Still Collect Damages If I Was Partially at Fault for an Accident?
Yes. California is a pure comparative negligence state. This means that someone can still seek damages even if they were 99% at fault in an accident. When damages are awarded, the percentage of fault will be deducted from the total jury award.
While working on your personal injury case, attorney Fernando D. Vargas will let you know if it’s more beneficial to accept a pre-trial settlement rather than taking your case to court.
Why Choose the Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas for Your Personal Injury Claim
Founded in 1995, the Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas bring decades of legal experience to every case. In addition to high Avvo ratings, there are other important reasons why people in San Bernardino County come to our firm when they need a personal injury attorney.
Experience Working for Insurance Companies on Injury Cases
Attorney Fernando D. Vargas began his legal career in 1987 working as a defense lawyer for insurance companies. He knows how insurance companies operate, and the ways they try to reduce payouts and present cases in court. He uses this firsthand experience to negotiate better settlements and build tighter legal cases for his personal injury clients.
24/7 Personal Attention to the Needs of Our Clients
You and your family matter to us, which is why Fernando D. Vargas is hands-on with each personal injury claim. He will always be available to clients, 24/7, when questions arise or something happens in their case. We encourage you to read our past client testimonials to get a sense of what our personal injury law firm can offer those in need of legal help.
Se Habla Español: Legal Assistance in Spanish
To best serve the local Hispanic community, it’s important to have fluent Spanish speakers. Fernando D. Vargas is fluent in Spanish, and many of his staff members are fully bilingual as well. We can readily assist Spanish-speaking households in personal injury cases, whether you reside in San Bernardino County or another part of the Inland Empire.
Free Legal Consultations
After a serious accident or catastrophic injury, your first concern is paying your medical bills and making a full recovery. At our Rancho Cucamonga personal injury law firm, your first consultation is free of charge. This allows you to get honest advice from a qualified attorney without any additional financial losses.
Representation on a Contingency Fee Basis
Our team works on a contingency fee basis. That means if we work on your personal injury case, we will only get paid if we can secure a settlement or win damages in court. If we can’t win, you owe us nothing. Clients and their families have nothing to lose when they come to our law office for legal help.
Get a Free Case Review from Our Rancho Cucamonga Personal Injury Attorney
At the Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, you have local Spanish-speaking legal professionals who care about you and are on your side. To discuss what happened with a skilled personal injury lawyer near you, contact our Rancho Cucamonga law firm today.
Types of Personal Injury Cases
The Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas can assist with all kinds of personal injury claims in Rancho Cucamonga and nearby cities and communities. You can always rely on our law firm for guidance.
Car Accidents
Whether you were sideswiped by a reckless driver while commuting on I-10 or t-boned at an intersection while running an errand, our law firm can help. We will hold reckless motorists accountable for their actions and the injuries they cause. Our legal team is also ready to hold drunk drivers, Uber/Lyft drivers, delivery vehicle drivers, and others on the road accountable if their actions lead to serious harm.
Truck Accidents
Semi-truck collisions can cause serious injuries that involve vehicles across multiple lanes of traffic. Sometimes commuters get run off the road because of a reckless tractor-trailer driver. These kinds of 18-wheeler accidents are often due to truck driver fatigue or mechanical failure. Our law firm can hold negligent truckers and trucking companies accountable for causing harm to the people of Rancho Cucamonga.
Motorcycle Accidents
According to the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), there were 230 serious motorcycle-related injuries in San Bernardino County in 2023. Our county ranked third in the state of California that year for motorcycle injuries. These accidents can cause catastrophic harm even if a motorcyclist is wearing a helmet and protective gear. Our law firm can help injured motorcyclists hold dangerous drivers accountable for causing crashes.
Bicycle Accidents
Rancho Cucamonga’s current biking infrastructure needs major improvements, which means that bicyclists of all ages are vulnerable to serious injuries. Whether you were doored while in a bike lane, sideswiped by a distracted driver, or suffered a serious injury while on a regional biking trail, our law firm can help you seek damages so you can focus on healing.
Pedestrian Accidents
Like bicyclists, pedestrians in Rancho Cucamonga are susceptible to severe injuries if they get hit by a vehicle. These dangers are compounded for pedestrians who are out for a walk at night or in low light areas. Fernando D. Vargas can hold reckless motorists accountable for hitting pedestrians, and he can also hold local authorities accountable if poor road conditions contributed to the accident.
Premises Liability
Premises liability covers various injuries that may occur at a business or on someone’s personal property. Property owners can be held liable for injuries to guests and patrons. These kinds of claims can be complicated since they cover slip and fall accidents as well as harm that occurred due to lax security. Our law firm can assess what happened during a free case review.
Drowning Accidents
Drownings can happen anywhere there’s a pool. This should be of particular concern to parents of young children with access to a public swimming pool or a pool at a neighbor’s home. Our law firm can hold public pools liable for a lack of lifeguards on duty, and we can even hold homeowners with a residential pool liable for failing to abide by drowning prevention safety measures in California’s Swimming Pool Safety Act.
Dog Bites and Animal Attacks
According to San Bernardino County leash laws, owners must keep their dogs on a leash or in an enclosure whenever the dog is off of the owner’s property. This is a common sense means of keeping others safe in public, yet dog attacks still happen. If you were mauled by an aggressive dog in public or on someone’s property, our law firm can let you know if you can file a personal injury lawsuit against the dog’s owner.
Catastrophic Personal Injury Claims
Catastrophic injuries are severe forms of trauma that cause physical disfigurement, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, and long-term or permanent disability.
If you or a loved one suffered a catastrophic personal injury, our Rancho Cucamonga law firm can help you seek damages that are commensurate with the lasting effects on your ability to earn a livelihood and your overall quality of life.
Dismemberment
Dismemberment refers to the loss of a limb during a catastrophic accident. Accident survivors who’ve lost a limb will often require a prosthesis and may even suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) given the extreme nature of what happened.
Amputation
Amputation refers to the surgical removal of a limb that is severely injured and cannot be saved. Accident survivors who lose a limb will often require a prosthesis or the use of assistive devices for daily tasks. Injury victims may also have PTSD following their accident.
Fractured Bones
Compound fractures and other serious broken bone injuries will often require invasive surgery and physical rehabilitation. Even after someone has fully healed from a fractured bone, they may still experience some pain or changes in their strength, mobility, or range of motion.
Burn Injuries
Second-degree and third-degree burns can cause severe damage to skin, muscle, and other soft tissues. In addition to thermal burns, people may experience other debilitating injuries if they are burned by steam, hot liquids, or caustic chemicals and other harmful substances.
Electrocution and Electrical Injuries
Electrical injuries can cause severe burns in addition to other types of soft tissue injuries as the electricity courses through the body. Electrocution victims may also suffer from nerve damage, injuries to their internal organs, and lasting effects on cognitive abilities.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Concussions and other kinds of traumatic brain injuries can have long-term effects on a person’s daily life. The brain damage sustained in an accident could lead to problems with memory, cognition, motor skills, balance, speech, and mental health.
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)
All injuries to the spinal cord must be taken seriously. Incomplete injuries could cause partial paralysis below the level of injury. A complete spinal cord injury such as paraplegia or quadriplegia (tetraplegia) will render the survivor paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair.
Wrongful Death: Legal Options After a Fatal Accident
Some injuries are so severe that they prove fatal. In these kinds of fatal injury cases, our team can help the surviving family members file a wrongful death lawsuit. These legal claims allow the loved ones of the deceased to seek damages for funeral expenses, emotional pain and suffering, and other damages related to the tragic and preventable loss of life.
As with personal injury claims, you will typically have two years from the date of your loved one’s passing to file a wrongful death claim.
There are exceptions to this two-year statute of limitations, so be sure to contact our law firm as soon as you are ready to do so. We will offer our condolences, allow you to share what happened, and help you understand your legal options and next steps.
Request a Free Consultation at Our Rancho Cucamonga Personal Injury Law Firm
The Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas is here to help whether you were seriously hurt, a family member suffered a debilitating injury, or you lost a loved one in an accident. You can count on our bilingual legal team for strong legal guidance and personal attention. To request a free case evaluation with an experienced personal injury lawyer near you, contact our Rancho Cucamonga law office today.