Los Angeles Car Roof Collapse Injury Lawyer
While you're never really expecting to suffer a catastrophic injury in the safety of your vehicle, accidents happen. Of course, the most common car accidents in California are vehicle or obstacle collisions.
A less common but dangerous accident is a roof collapse. When a victim is trapped inside a car during a roof cave-in or collapse, they will very likely sustain severe injuries.
A vehicle roof crush accident occurs when the roof collapses during a rollover accident, resulting in serious injuries or fatalities. These accidents are often caused by defects in the vehicle's design or manufacturing, such as weak roof pillars or inadequate reinforcement.
The car roof is one of the crucial safety elements of a vehicle. It's all that stands between vehicle occupants and external forces in a rollover crash. Vehicle manufacturers must design and create roofs that can withstand the reasonable forces of a rollover crash.
If the roof contains a defect, it may collapse during a crash – resulting in catastrophic or fatal injuries to passengers. Car roof crush accidents can have devastating consequences, causing severe injuries or even death.
If you suffered an injury or a loved one died in a car roof collapse incident, you might have grounds for a claim against the vehicle manufacturer. Contact our Los Angeles product liability lawyers for a free case review.
Choosing an attorney with experience handling these cases is essential and can help you maximize your settlement. We understand the impact that a car roof crush accident can have on your life and the lives of your family members. If you or a loved one has experienced a car roof collapse accident, here's what you need to know.
How Does a Car Roof Collapse Accident Happen?
A rollover car accident is the most common trigger for a car roof collapse. This happens more frequently in large vehicles with a higher center of gravity.
Since these accidents can be so deadly, car manufacturers have a specific duty to make sure that they make solid vehicle roofs. A car's roof should be strong enough to stay durable and steady, even if the vehicle has rolled over. When a car roof collapses, the root cause can sometimes be linked to a manufacturing or design defect within the car.
Roof crush accidents occur when a vehicle's roof collapses or caves wholly or partially because of a collision or rollover. These car accidents are hazardous, as the compromised roof structure often leads to severe injuries or even fatalities for the vehicle occupants.
Some common causes of vehicle roof crush accidents include manufacturing defects, inadequate roof support, high-speed collisions, and rollover incidents.
What Defects and Other Causes Lead to a Car Roof Collapse Accident?
Some examples of severe manufacturing defects that could lead to a car roof collapse include:
- Overly weak roof pillars,
- Insufficient roof strength,
- Poor or incorrect placement of roof pillars,
- Use of substandard materials,
- Weak roof materials,
- Defective roof materials,
- A vehicular center of gravity that is too high.
Victims who can trace a roof collapse accident back to a manufacturing defect may be able to file a product liability claim against the vehicle manufacturer (or other related parties).
When a vehicle's roof is inadequately reinforced, it might not be able to withstand the forces exerted upon it during an accident, leading to a collapse.
What Are the External Factors?
Other factors that could contribute to a car roof collapse accident in Los Angeles or throughout California include:
- Equipment failures (e.g., brake failures or tire blowouts),
- Lack of safety features,
- Improper modifications or repairs,
- Corrosion or wear,
- Debris on the road,
- Road defects,
- Other drivers exhibiting dangerous or surprising driving patterns,
- High-speed collisions,
- Car rollover accidents,
- Falling debris, such as tree limbs.
What Are Common Car Roof Collapse Injuries?
There are many different types of injuries a victim could sustain in a car roof collapse accident. If a roof collapses or crushes on a person sitting inside a car, the resulting injuries can be pervasive. Some possible injuries include:
- Amputations,
- Crushed and broken bones,
- Internal organ damage,
- Internal bleeding,
- Severe lacerations and contusions,
- Skull fractures,
- Neck and back injuries,
- Blood loss,
- Vision loss,
- Spinal injuries,
- Nerve damage,
- Traumatic brain injuries,
- Death.
Car roof collapses could cause permanently disabling injuries, such as to the brain and spine, often resulting in permanent brain damage or paralysis. Many victims die from roof crush injuries.
Regardless of your injury in a Los Angeles car roof collapse incident, our lawyer can help you build a claim against the appropriate party. We can also help you with a wrongful death claim.
What Damages and Compensation Can You Recover?
Depending on the injuries the victim sustains and the associated medical bills, including the costs for any rehabilitation or physical therapy required, a settlement from a car roof collapse accident can be pretty significant.
Your Los Angeles injury attorney may also be able to consider other factors when determining the appropriate settlement in your case.
For example, factors like the victim's pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of wages during recovery, loss of future wages, and any resources required to fix or replace the victim's car could all serve to increase the amount of compensation you seek.
If the overall settlement is significant, that may make your path to receiving compensation more difficult — especially if your attorney recommends filing a suit against a large auto manufacturer.
How Can You Demonstrate Liability?
A Los Angeles personal injury lawyer might demonstrate liability in several ways. For example, if another driver was involved in the incident — e.g., if another person's poor driving caused the victim to drive off the road, roll over, and experience a car roof collapse — an attorney may work to prove that the other driver was responsible for the accident.
However, a personal injury attorney may wish to show that the auto manufacturer was liable for the accident (wholly or in part). To do this, an injury lawyer may do the following:
- Examine all associated medical and police records.
- Examine the damages sustained by the vehicle (or ask car mechanics to do so)
- Review any available photographs and video footage.
- Review your case with experts to determine what happened.
- Discuss the case with any available witnesses.
If possible, your attorney may attempt to demonstrate negligence on the automaker's part. Showing this may require:
- Proving that the manufacturer did not follow relevant regulations when making your vehicle.
- Showing that the manufacturer ignored a defect.
- Showing that the manufacturer knowingly used poor-quality materials or designed a faulty or weak roof.
Why Do You Need an Experienced Lawyer?
When you need legal representation for a car roof crush accident case, choosing an experienced attorney at the Injury Justice Law Firm is crucial. With our expertise and proven track record, we can navigate the complex legal process and help you obtain the compensation you deserve.
Our skilled vehicle roof crush attorneys can thoroughly investigate the accident's circumstances, identify liable parties, and build a solid case to prove negligence by the vehicle manufacturer or other responsible entities. We offer a free case evaluation. Our offices are in Los Angeles. CA.
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