California Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
The Traffic Collision that Killed Fidel Salvador was at 170th Street East and Lake Los Angeles Avenue, Palmdale, California
Fidel Torres Salvador was killed in a Palmdale traffic collision that according to the California Highway Patrol (also known as the CHP) occurred at approximately at 10:50 AM one week ago on Monday, May 10, 2021.
Mr. Salvador, age 50 years young, reportedly was pronounced deceased at the scene of this horrific wrongful death accident that occurred at 170th Street East and Lake Los Angeles Avenue, in Palmdale California.
Because at the time of the initial report of this incident the CHP was still investigating this collision, no other facts were released.
Should you or anyone you know have witnessed this incident, please contact the CHP or this office at 1 866 INJURY 2 or 866.465.8792 (after hours please dial “1”) and or simply click here to use our simple contact link.
EXPECTED CHP WRONGFUL DEATH INVESTIGATION
In traffic collisions such as these resulting in death with a possible civil wrongful death claim, the police, or in this case the CHP, are expected to do all or some of the following:
- Photograph and video the scene, including all vehicles, skid marks, traffic control devices such as electronic signals, stop signs and other signs
- Interview all surviving parties and witnesses. Record all statements and collect contact information for everyone involved for later follow-up contact as needed
- Request and record all auto insurance information for everyone involved
- Inspect the vehicles, especially to determine if any vehicles had any malfunctioning parts, such as brakes, lights, tires, steering, etc.
- When a traffic collision occurs at night, there are tests that can be performed to verify whether any broken lights were on or off at the time of breakage caused by the collision
- Use of any mobile devices that cause distracted driving that is the cause of many traffic accidents
- Lab tests to determine if any involved party was drunk or under the influence of any intoxicating substances (often referred to DUI – “driving under the influence”) at the time of the traffic accident
When a serious, catastrophic injury or death results from a traffic accident, with a possible wrongful death claim, it is wise to contact an experienced wrongful death and personal injury lawyer as quickly as possible. Do not pick a lawyer simply because they spend millions of dollars on catchy television or billboard ads. Pick your attorney and law firm based on qualifications, credentials and experience.
CIVIL WRONGFUL DEATH ACCIDENT CLAIM BY HIS FAMILY
The family members of the deceased, Fidel Torres Salvador, may file a claim and if needed a suit for wrongful death against those responsible for this tragic incident. Such claims and suits are usually made against the driver of the other vehicle and also all registered owners of the other vehicle at the time of this horrific traffic accident. And, of course, sometimes others may be involved, including the government entities who designed, approved, built and maintained the subject roads and intersections.
While the CHP police report, usually called a Traffic Collision Report, may identify both the driver and owner of the other vehicle, from our experience in handling wrongful death and other serious personal injury traffic collisions for 45 years, we have found some of the information in the traffic collision reports may be wrong or incomplete.
For example, sometimes there is more than one registered owner of the responsible vehicle, including sometimes when a couple are married and jointly own the responsible vehicle, one owner spouse may be omitted from the traffic collision report. It is important to name all registered owners in the claim and any suit. Therefore, we obtain such information by conducting a formal request and search with the California DMV for ALL registered owners of the vehicle at the time of the collision.
And that brings up another issue. To be legally responsible as a registered owner, it is important to name the persons and or businesses that owned the vehicle at the time of the incident, not that may appear on an old ownership certificate or by some superficial search. That is why we request the DMV do a current, formal search and issue to us a written verification of all vehicle owners at the time of the collision.
Also, it is extremely important to know exactly what happened, who is at fault and why. We make claims against responsible parties; we try to exclude anyone else. In addition, in California, fortunately liability for such incidents is not all or nothing. Our system in California is based on comparative negligence or comparative fault which simply means each party should be held accountable according to that party’s degree or percentage of fault.
For example, we represented a bicyclist even though the traffic collision report placed the bicyclist completely at fault and another law firm rejected the case. However, because we saw issues of comparative negligence, we took the case. So instead of this injured victim being left without any remedy and no recovery, because we took the case and proved 50% liability, our client recovered thousands of dollars he otherwise would never have received.
In addition, unfortunately not every family member is permitted under California law to make a claim. For example, when a child is tragically killed, only his parents and not his brothers and sisters may join in the claim. Further, when an adult child who is married with children is killed, then the spouse and children are claimants but under these circumstances not the parents. Our wrongful death law firm can guide you in figuring this out.
The damages for a wrongful death claim can be substantial, often in the millions of dollars. For a clear summary of wrongful death damages, simply click here. https://www.walchlaw.com/damages-for-wrongful-death-claims.html
There are many issues to consider in making a wrongful death claim so please contact us for a FREE consultation and case review; and if we take your wrongful death or catastrophic personal injury case we do so on a contingency basis which means there is NO FEE until you WIN!
Our sincere condolences to the Salvador family.