Our attorneys have been assisting the Orange County and Southern California communities for over 40 years.
The Orange County government liability attorneys at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo have over thirty years of experience helping clients file government liability claims for their injuries, accidents, and negligence.
We have prepared this page to be as educational and straightforward as possible. Our hope is that we can provide you many of the resources that are needed to alleviate the confusion of what to do when you are injured due to government negligence. You can trust our firm because we have consistently been given an A+ by the Better Business Bureau for our ethics and service. We truly do want to help, in any way we can, you, your family, and your friends with injuries where a local, municipal, state, or federal agency are partially or fully to blame.
If you have questions about which form to use or how to bring an injury legal cause of action and/or how to file a workers’ compensation claim, call us today at (714)-783-2205. Our dedicated Orange County workers’ comp attorneys will discuss all of your questions, discuss which government claim forms to use, and the following with you during your free consultation:
Our experienced Orange County government liability lawyers and trained staff are here to take the stress, load, and pressure of a municipal lawsuit off of your shoulders. We want to offer you the peace of mind that you are in good hands. If after meeting with us, and hearing about the numerous critical steps and costs that are needed to investigate, file, litigate, negotiate and potentially take your trucking injury case to trial, know that we are always here to step in and handle it for you. We wish you the speediest of recoveries and a positive legal outcome.
When you or a loved one becomes a victim of wrongdoing due to the negligence of a government employee or agency, or has become injured because of a dangerous condition of public property, our government agencies can and should be held liable for damages sustained. This includes all state, city, special districts, and federal levels of government. The government has a duty to proactively protect its citizens. If they fail to live up to that duty then you have a right to seek damages.
The injury is referred to as a tort if the government injures you. As stated above, you can file the claim on your own but we strongly suggest that for the best chance of winning and to get the maximum possible compensation, you should bring in experienced government liability lawyers like ourselves. We have seen it all during our extensive careers and we will take good care of you in and out of court.
Unlike many types of injuries and accident cases that are lenient, government liability cases are often complex, involve special immunities, and have a 6-month statute of limitations period starting from the actual day of the injury. By working with an Orange County personal injury lawyer at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo, your opportunity to recover damages can improve substantially. We know the law, we know how government agencies work, and we will fight for you.
The government is very strict about its six-month window for filing claims against the government. Government Code Section 911.4(b) (as seen below) does allow the government to, on a case by case basis, review late claims if they have an application for filing late attached to the claim. Preparing the application is very important in this instance so we do recommend that you use our help to prepare it.
CA Government Code Section: 911.4(b) The application shall be presented to the public entity as provided in Article 2 (commencing with Section 915) within a reasonable time not to exceed one year after the accrual of the cause of action and shall state the reason for the delay in presenting the claim. The proposed claim shall be attached to the application.
There are many situations and scenarios where the government is at fault for someone’s accident or injury. The following are some of the more common examples but we encourage you to call us and discuss your injury. We will discuss the merits of your case and talk to you about your legal options and potential outcomes.
The California Government Liability attorneys at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo have more than 30+ years of experience, extensive resources, and the intellectual skills necessary to be aggressive and strong when confronted with deep-seated bureaucracies, insurance companies, government procrastination, red tape, and diversionary tactics that often accompany cases such as these. The Orange County Government Liability attorneys are here to guide you through the often complex and confusing legal process, allowing you the time to heal and recuperate.
The California Government Code makes it very clear regarding what counts as government liability. All of our local Orange County personal injury lawyers know the code and know how to use it in court to your advantage. The first section of code section 830 sets up some important definitions:
Discussed within CA Government Code Sections 830 and 831 include parts on seismic standards, fire codes when public employees are liable, and much more. Our firm knows the evidence needed to win cases that are based on the California Government Code. There are circumstances where government entities can have civil liabilities. Next, section 835 goes further to discuss when and how the government is responsible for injuries that take place on public property.
Except as provided by statute, a public entity is liable for injury caused by a dangerous condition of its property if the plaintiff establishes that the property was in a dangerous condition at the time of the injury, that the injury was proximately caused by the dangerous condition, that the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury which was incurred, and that either:
One government agency that can be held responsible is CalTrans. Caltrans is the state department that manages California’s more than 50,000 miles of freeway and highway driving lanes and works with local agencies to connect local streets and roads to the highway’s offramps, onramps, overpasses, and interchanges. CalTrans has been involved in the high-speed flow of people and commerce in this state for over a century. Some causes of accidents that where CALTRANS could be at fault are dangerous road conditions, ineffective road designs, a lack of a center divider or guard rails, defective downhill designs, and unmaintained roads and highways.
In addition, poor water flow and drainage can cause puddles, slippery conditions, loose gravel, obstructive water spray onto windshields, and other accident-causing conditions. Caltrans can also be liable if their traffic control devices are negligent or not properly installed such as stop signs, road paint, reflectors, bollards, traffic lights, warning signage, unsafe merging lanes, and detours.
In addition to planning, governments have oversight over the construction projects including road, street, housing, commercial, shopping, parking lot, buildings, intersections, and freeway projects. This oversight can create a duty and responsibility of the building, safety, permit, and/or planning division of any municipalities, state, and federal governments. Most cities, county, or statewide agencies have a building and planning division that oversees commercial and residential construction projects. This responsibility may put the government at fault for your injury.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is the state agency that creates, controls and issues licenses to all drivers in California. They also track the car registrations and help ensure that drivers carry insurance for each of their vehicles. The DMV has a duty to keep dangerous drivers off of the road, test new drivers to ensure all new drivers are aptly ready to behind the wheel and do regularly retesting of adults as they age. This is especially true as adults become older adults and seniors. The goal of the DMV is to avoid as many car accidents and road hazards as possible by educating the driving population in California and keeping oversight as to who is allowed to drive.
The goal of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is to keep work environments as safe and healthful as possible. They state that “Every day in this country, more than 14 workers lose their lives in preventable workplace tragedies.” Due to that grim statistic, OSHA is always trying to improve safety so that less people get hurt on the job, cause accidents or get injured while working.
OSHA will investigate injuries and safety code violations by conducting site inspections, interviewing witnesses and employees, checking driving logs, reviewing maintenance records, and other investigative tactics. They will also keep the names of all truckers or employees who call them regarding unsafe working conditions, OSHA violations, unsafe work hours and potential truck accident risks anonymous if the employee requests it.
California has many transportation districts. Each one is in charge of safely serving the transportation needs of the population it serves. These districts can be found at fault if there is a bus accident, bus collision, if a bus hits a pedestrian, and many other accident scenarios. The public transportation in Orange County is provided by the Orange County Transportation Authority.
There are too many transportation districts to list here as even some cities have their own bus and transportation services. We have, though, listed the larger transportation districts along with their website.
San Diego Metropolitan Transit System: www.511sd.com
Riverside Transit Agency: www.riversidetransit.com
Omnitrans serves San Bernardino County: www.omnitrans.org
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro): www.metro.net
Long Beach Transit: www.lbtransit.com
Fresno Area Express (FAX)
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority: www.vta.org
Bay Area Rapid Transit: www.bart.gov
Oakland and Alameda Busses: AC Transit: www.actransit.org
Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit: www.sonomamarintrain.org
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA or MUNI): www.sfmta.com
Sacramento Regional Transit District: www.sacrt.com
You have found the right firm if you need to speak to a Spanish-speaking lawyer in Orange County regarding your claim against the police, sheriff, DMV, CalTrans, your county, your city, California, the courts, and all other government agencies. We have helped Spanish-speaking clients since 1979. Click on “En Español” to translate this page to Spanish or call us any time of the day or night.
All initial case evaluations and consultations are complimentary. You will speak with and meet an attorney. You will not incur any legal fees or costs for our time and assistance unless we win your case. Personal Injury and work injury attorneys at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo are available to meet at our Orange County office, your home, or hospital room Monday – Friday 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Our attorneys and staff are also available all other times, including evenings, Saturday and Sunday, by appointment. If you cannot come to our office we will come to you. Our top-notch reputation is well known throughout Orange County, California. You can call our firm any time of the day or night at (714) 783-2205 or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.