Last week, Attorneys Ryan Harris and Philip Alexander had another successful victory! Our client’s insurance company was only willing to pay out $60,000 through their uninsured motorist coverage. Harris and Alexander arbitrated the case in front of a retired judge and the client was awarded $120,000 for his uninsured motorist case, twice as much as the insurance company’s best offer.

We have successfully arbitrated numerous personal injury cases to awards both small and large. If you or a loved one have been involved in a personal injury case, please do not hesitate to contact Harris Personal Injury Lawyers at 760 231-9970.

Tags: Arbitration Awards, Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, Personal Injury Attorney, Philip Alexander, Ryan Harris, san diego personal injury firm

Ryan Harris has been nominated by the Readers of The San Diego Daily Transcript as a 2012 Top Influential. A top influential is a person whose actions and opinions strongly influence their industry and the local business community.

The San Diego Daily Transcript conducted a reader nominated process to determine the top influential individuals in San Diego County.

Harris Personal Injury Lawyers is proud to have Ryan Harris in the running for this honorable distinction. We would like to thank the readers for nominating Mr. Harris! The full list of nominees is available online at The Daily Transcript.

Tags: Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, Ryan Harris, Ryan Harris Personal Injury

By: California Highway Patrol (CHP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Getting in your car and putting on your seat belt should be second
nature, whether you are a driver or a passenger. Take a second of your time and always buckle
up before heading out on the highway.

As a reminder of this life-saving advice, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is participating in
the Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign Nov. 18 – 27, 2011. During this time, law
enforcement throughout the state actively look for drivers and passengers who are unbuckled.

Click It or Ticket has a successful track record since its inception in 2005; California’s seat belt
usage rate has increased from a 90.4 percent in 2001 to a record-high, 96.02 percent in 2010.
This increase represents more than 1.25 million more vehicle occupants who buckle up.

“It’s encouraging to see seat belt usage is up and fatalities are at a record-low in California,” said
CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Through this heightened statewide enforcement effort our
goal is to further increase seat belt and child passenger safety seat use, and continue to save
lives.”

According to the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, in 2009 there were 544 vehicle
passengers killed who were not wearing a seat belt or using a child safety seat; more than 9,400
others were injured under similar circumstances. Last year, CHP officers issued more than
155,000 citations to drivers and or passengers who failed to buckle up.

The minimum cost of an adult seat belt violation in California is $142, and up to $445 for not
properly restraining a child under 16 years of age. If the parent is not in the car, the driver is issued
the ticket.

“We would prefer not to write the ticket,” added Commissioner Farrow. “I’d like to see
everyone make safe choices and eliminate preventable tragedies on our roadways.”

Click It or Ticket is a cooperative effort among the five traffic safety-related departments under
the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency: CHP, Office of Traffic Safety, Department of
Transportation, Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Department of Motor
Vehicles.

Tags: Auto Accident, car accident, Harris Personal Injury Lawyers

Ryan Harris and Phil Alexander have been nominated by the San Diego Daily Transcript for Best Young Attorney in San Diego County 2011.

The San Diego Daily Transcript conducts a peer nominated process to determine the best young attorneys in San Diego County who are: Hard-Working & Detail-Oriented, Knowledgeable & Enthusiastic, Ethical & Professional, and Committed to Furthering the Interests of Justice in Society.

The nomination process for this award is unique – only attorneys can nominate other attorneys for this honor. The Transcript conducts a peer voting process to determine the best young attorneys.

Harris Personal Injury Lawyers is proud to be in the running for this honorable distinction. We would like to thank our colleagues for nominating us! The full list of nominees is available online at The Daily Transcript

Tags: Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, Philip Alexander, Ryan Harris

This week Ryan Harris and Phil Alexander had another successful trial victory! Our client was side-swiped by another vehicle in the summer of 2007. Following the accident, the defendant’s insurance company told our client they were not going to pay for any of her medical treatment and offered no monetary compensation to resolve the case.

The insurance company took this position because our client had waited to seek medical treatment for 6 months following the incident. The client retained our law firm a year after the incident.

Prior to trial, the insurance company only offered $2,500 to settle the case. Following a 3-day, expedited trial, the jury returned a $27,000 verdict, with $19,000 awarded for past medical expenses, $8,000 awarded for past pain and suffering. In addition to the jury’s $27,000 verdict, the insurance company will also pay prevailing party costs, along with CCP Section 998 interest and costs of about $12,000, requiring a total payment of approximately $40,000 to satisfy the judgment.

We have successfully tried numerous personal injury cases to verdict, both small and large. If you or a loved one have been involved in a serious personal injury case, please do not hesitate to contact Harris Personal Injury at 760 231-9970.

Tags: Auto Accident, auto accident case victory, Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, Personal Injury, Personal Injury Attorney, personal injury settlements

By: California Highway Patrol (CHP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – More than 96 percent of Californians buckle up before they hit the
road. Although the golden state has among the highest seat belt compliance rate in the nation,
the California Highway Patrol (CHP) would like to see 100 percent of the motoring public safely
secured in their vehicle.

“It’s encouraging to see that the majority of the public are using seat belts or child passenger
safety seats,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Ultimately, our goal is to encourage the use
of passenger restraints by everyone in the vehicle and to let the motoring public know that by
using a seat belt, they’re less likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries if they’re involved in a
collision.”

As part of National Child Passenger Safety Week (September 18-24, 2011), the CHP has
designated Sept. 21 as vehicle occupant restraint enforcement and education day. This
campaign wraps up the CHP’s yearlong, grant-funded California Occupant Restraint Campaign
(CORC) II.

Throughout the campaign, a combination of seat belt and child safety seat usage surveys were
conducted throughout the state, in addition to child passenger safety presentations. The grant
also funded training to certify CHP personnel and employees from allied agencies to become
child passenger safety seat technicians.

In addition to conducting community outreach and enforcement activities to increase seat belt
and child restraint usage, the grant’s goals were to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries in
collisions. Final collision figures from the CORC II grant period will not be available until next
year.

“Seat belts and child safety seats save lives,” added Commissioner Farrow. “This is an important
message that we want all drivers in California to know.”
The CORC II was funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Tags: Preventative Driving, Safe Driving

Several thousand bus accidents occur yearly nationwide. No type of bus is immune to these accidents – city, charter and even school buses are involved in collisions regularly.

If you are involved in a bus accident, you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. They will be able to help answer your questions and guide you through the process of getting compensation for lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering.

You may recall a few bus accidents that made headlines this year – in Pittsburgh, there was an accident involving a motorist and a school bus. The motorist suffered from a heart attack and crashed head on into the bus. You may wonder, is the motorist to blame since they had no control over their heart attack?
There are several questions that come to mind regarding bus accidents:

1) Why do bus accidents happen?
2) Is there a way to avoid or prevent a bus accident?
3) Who is at fault in a bus accident?

Many answers can be found on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) website. According to the FMCSA, intercity buses account for 12 percent of buses involved in fatal crashes, school buses account for 39 percent and transit buses account for 36 percent. The bus drivers were at fault (due to negligence) an astonishing 85 percent of the time. Other causes were a result of mechanical failure that the drivers did not have control over.

Investigations into bus companies showed that many should not have allowed certain drivers to operate, but they did anyways and a crash ensued. This happened in 2008 when a Texas bus driver did not have legal insurance.

The FMCSA has implemented several safety programs to help avoid bus crashes. The Share the Road Safely website is dedicated to teaching everyone from motorists to pedestrians, bicyclists and bus drivers to share the road.

Sadly, there are still many bus crashes every year that result in severe injuries and fatalities. If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of a bus accident, do not hesitate to contact Harris Personal Injury Lawyers for a free case consultation .

Tags: Bus Accidents, Center for National Truck and Bus Safety Statistics, Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulation

On July 27, 2011, Ryan Harris received the 2011 Top Attorney Award from George Chamberlin, Executive Editor of The Daily Transcript. The Award was determined as The Daily Transcript conducted a peer voting process to determine the best lawyers in Personal Injury in San Diego County.

Read more at: http://www.sddt.com/microsite/topattorney11/

Top Attorney San Diego

Tags: Personal Injury, Personal Injury Attorney, Ryan Harris Personal Injury, Top Attorney Personal Injury

Attorneys and Medical Providers share a common sigh of relief when our clients/patients have Med Pay coverage. It simply makes receiving payment easier and quicker, two adjectives not often used when dealing with insurance companies. In this blog post were going to try to dispel some of the common myths you have heard about Med Pay.

Myth #1: Med Pay never requires reimbursement.

Clients are often surprised when their insurance carrier requests payment reimbursement after their personal injury case is settled. The fine print on many policies does allow insurers to seek reimbursement, but clients must know their rights. If a client is not “made whole” by the Med Pay funds, the client is not legally required to reimburse Med Pay. A good attorney will make this argument on behalf of the client, or at the very least they will negotiate down the Med Pay reimbursement amount.

Myth #2: Med Pay is only needed if I don’t have health insurance.

Health insurance may cover certain injuries, but finding an approved provider, proving there are no pre-existing conditions, paying deductibles and a host of other hurdles can delay care when time is of the essence. For approximately $20 per year, you can receive $1,000.00 worth of med pay coverage. Why risk health insurance when a cheaper and better option exists?

Myth #3: Med Pay should be paid to attorneys, not directly to medical providers.

Unfortunately we’ve heard stories of attorneys withholding Med Pay disbursements until settlement, or even worse, taking a fee on Med Pay. If you have had such an attorney it is time for you to find new legal representation.

Myth # 4: Med Pay only covers insured drivers, not passengers.

Med Pay is actually purchased on a “per vehicle” basis. According to most Med Pay policy language, anyone injured in the insured’s vehicle is eligible for Med Pay. However, some policies make exclusions so you need to read the fine print. Moreover, if you or your family member are injured in someone else’s car, your Med Pay remains valid as a supplement or replacement coverage to the car owner’s insurance.

Myth #5: Using Med Pay weakens my personal injury lawsuit.

A negligent at-fault driver is liable for all of your medical bills regardless of Med Pay availability. If anything, Med Pay helps your personal injury lawsuit by facilitating consistent medical treatment.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a auto accident, you need to know your rights. Contact Harris Personal Injury Lawyers today for a free case consultation.

Personal Injury Lawyers, Los Angeles, CA

Personal Injury Lawyers – Los Angeles, CA

Tags: Med Pay, Personal Injury, personal injury and insurance

Check out Ashley Rogers experience with the Harris Personal Injury team

Tags: Auto Accident, auto accident case victory, car accident, car accident settlement, Harris Personal Injury Lawyers, law offices of ryan harris, motor vehicle collision, Oceanside Personal Injury firm, san diego personal injury firm