The blaming starts before the ambulance leaves. Riders get told they were going too fast, that they came out of nowhere, that they should not have been between the lanes. Some of that ends up in the insurer’s file as fact, and it is the reason a motorcycle claim is fought differently from a car claim from day one.
Start with the one that comes up most. Lane splitting is not against the law in California. Vehicle Code 21658.1 defines it as riding between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane, and it directs the California Highway Patrol to publish guidelines on doing it safely. A legislature does not write safety guidance for something it has banned. California is the only state that has handled it this way, and an adjuster treating it as automatic fault is stating a preference, not the law.
Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting for injured people in California, including a $2,250,000 motorcycle accident result. Contingency, costs advanced, no fee unless we win. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
Where Do Most Los Angeles Motorcycle Crashes Happen?
The crash that puts riders in the hospital here is rarely a solo one. It is a left turn across the rider’s path at a signalized intersection, where a driver looks for a car-sized gap and finds one because a motorcycle is not a car. Wilshire, Vermont, Figueroa, Sepulveda and Sunset produce these all day.
The second pattern is stop-and-go freeway traffic on the 405, the 10 and the 101, where a lane change into an occupied gap has nowhere for the rider to go. This is where lane splitting arguments surface, and where the difference between a rider filtering at walking pace and a driver changing lanes without looking is the whole case.
What Injuries Do Motorcycle Crashes Cause?
Head injuries, including in helmeted riders. A helmet prevents skull fractures far better than it prevents the brain moving inside it, so a normal CT scan does not settle the question. That is a brain injury question and it should be raised early rather than after the file has closed around a clear scan.
Road rash, which is a burn injury by another name. Deep abrasion needs debridement and grafting, scars permanently, and is routinely undervalued because the word sounds minor.
Fractures of the leg, ankle and wrist, frequently open, and frequently requiring hardware that brings its own later surgeries.
Shoulder and collarbone injuries from being thrown, which are common and which end some kinds of work permanently.
Fatal injuries. Where a crash kills a rider, the claim becomes a wrongful death claim and California is specific about who may bring one.
What hit you decides the shape of the case. Most of these are ordinary car accident claims with a rider on one side. A commercial vehicle brings driver logs and maintenance records that expire on a federal schedule, which is what a commercial vehicle claim turns on. A public bus or a city vehicle cuts the deadline to six months, the same rule that governs a claim against a transit operator. A rider working at the time also has a work injury claim, and workers compensation does not pay for pain and suffering.
Is Lane Splitting Legal, and Does a Helmet Affect My Claim?
Lane splitting. Covered above. Not prohibited, defined by statute, and the CHP is directed to publish guidance for it.
Helmets are mandatory. Under Vehicle Code 27803 a driver and any passenger must wear a safety helmet meeting the state standard. A violation does not end a claim. California reduces recovery in proportion to fault rather than barring it, so a helmet argument is something an insurer uses to discount an offer, and it has to be connected to the injury actually suffered rather than waved at the case as a whole.
Fault is shared, not assigned. Under Civil Code 1714 everyone is responsible for injury caused by their want of ordinary care, and a percentage offered by an adjuster is an opening position.
The policy behind the driver is usually thin. California’s minimum liability cover is $30,000 per injured person. A motorcycle crash routinely produces injuries that pass that in the first week, so finding additional cover, including your own uninsured and underinsured motorist policy, is most of the work. It is the same problem a car accident claim has, with worse injuries on top.
Told the crash was your fault because you were splitting lanes?
Lane splitting is not prohibited in California and there is a statute that says so. Do not accept an adjuster’s version of the law.
What Is My Los Angeles Motorcycle Accident Claim Worth?
- Medical costs already incurred, from the scene through surgery, debridement and rehabilitation
- Future care, including hardware removal and scar revision that has not happened yet
- Lost income, and separately lost earning capacity where a shoulder or a leg ends a trade
- Permanent scarring and disfigurement, which road rash produces and which is valued separately
- Pain and suffering, valued against the medical record
- Property damage, including gear. A helmet, jacket and boots destroyed in a crash are property
- $2,250,000Motorcycle Accident
- $4,000,000Auto Accident
- $3,550,000Personal Injury
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts.
Which Court Will Hear My Los Angeles Case?
The court covering the place where you went down, not the one nearest your home.
Los Angeles County handles this differently from most of California, and it is set out in a standing order of the court. General Order 2024-GEN-003-00, filed 17 May 2024, records that since 10 October 2022 every newly filed personal injury case is filed in the judicial district where the incident arose.
The court is also retiring its Personal Injury Hub in favor of Independent Calendar courtrooms, where one judge manages the case throughout. Since 8 January 2024 personal injury cases in the Central District have been assigned to IC departments at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Hub departments have been closing into new IC courtrooms as that proceeds, Department 30 into Department T at the Alhambra Courthouse and Department 31 into Department B at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
That does not change whether you have a claim. It changes where it is filed and who manages it, and filing in the wrong district spends time a two-year deadline does not give back.
Where You Are Taken Matters, and in Los Angeles It Varies
Los Angeles County has fifteen designated trauma centers, and which one receives you depends on where the collision happened rather than on where you live.
Verified against the California EMS Authority’s designated and ACS-verified trauma center list, the Level I centers in and around the city are Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles General Medical Center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for children. Level II centers including California Hospital Medical Center, Northridge, Providence Holy Cross, St. Francis and Huntington Memorial cover the rest of the county.
Why that belongs in a legal claim rather than a medical one. The records that prove your injury sit with whichever facility received you, and across a county this size that is frequently not the hospital nearest your home. A serious injury also generates records at more than one facility as somebody is transferred. Gathering all of them, rather than the first set to arrive, is a large part of what an early demand gets wrong.
How Long Do I Have to File a Motorcycle Claim in Los Angeles?
Two years from the crash under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Six months where a public entity is involved, under Government Code 911.2. On a motorcycle this catches a hazard that would barely trouble a car: an unrepaired pothole, a raised manhole, gravel left on a resurfaced road, or a metal plate.
Injured children. Code of Civil Procedure 352 pauses the ordinary period while an injured person is under 18, though the government claim rule is not paused the same way.
Was it a pothole, gravel, or a metal plate?
Road defect claims run against a public entity on a six-month clock. That is a quarter of the ordinary deadline.
What Should I Do After a Motorcycle Accident in Los Angeles?
Say it if you are hurting. LAPD’s own training material states no report is required where a collision produced vehicle damage only with no injury and no complained-of pain. Any complained-of pain or visible injury requires one.
Do not let anyone move the bike before it is photographed, including where it came to rest. Position tells a reconstruction more than damage does.
Keep the gear. The helmet, the jacket, the gloves and the boots are evidence of the forces involved, and a scuffed helmet has answered more disputes than most witnesses.
Get examined even if you walked away. Adrenaline is at its most convincing in riders, who routinely decline transport and then cannot lift an arm the next morning.
Do not give the other insurer a recorded statement, and do not accept a fault percentage over the phone.
What does it cost, and what comes out of a settlement? Nothing up front. The fee is a percentage of the recovery under a written fee agreement, and there is no fee if there is no recovery. Out of a settlement come the fee, the case costs advanced, and any medical liens, which is why the headline figure and the amount you receive are different numbers. The full breakdown is in how a California motorcycle claim works.
Why Do Los Angeles Riders Choose Culver Legal?
We come to you. In the hospital, at home, or anywhere you cannot easily get to us. After a motorcycle crash that is not a nicety.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
Nothing up front. Contingency, costs advanced by the firm, no fee unless we win. Culver Legal was founded in 2020, has recovered $200 Million and counting, and answers the phone 24 hours a day.
Los Angeles Motorcycle Accident FAQs
I was splitting lanes when it happened. Have I lost before I start?
No. Vehicle Code 21658.1 defines lane splitting and does not prohibit it, and it directs the CHP to publish guidance on doing it safely. What matters is whether you were riding reasonably in the circumstances and whether the driver changed lanes without looking. An adjuster who tells you lane splitting is illegal in California is wrong, and it is worth knowing that before you respond to them.
I was not wearing a helmet. Does that end my claim?
No. Helmets are required under Vehicle Code 27803 and not wearing one is a violation, but California reduces recovery in proportion to fault rather than barring it. An insurer will raise it, and it has to be tied to the injury you actually suffered rather than used to write off the whole claim.
The driver says I came out of nowhere. How do I fight that?
With what the scene holds rather than with argument. The resting position of both vehicles, the damage pattern, your gear, any camera on a nearby business or a following car, and where the debris landed. This is why the first few days matter more than the last few months.
My bike is written off and I need it for work. Do I have to wait for the whole case?
Usually not. Property damage is generally handled separately and faster than the injury claim, so the bike can often be resolved while the medical side is still running. Ask before you accept anything, because a release drafted broadly can end more than the property claim.
I am undocumented. Can I still bring a claim without putting myself at risk?
Yes, and the protection is stronger than most people expect. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of a person’s immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either. So it cannot be raised at trial and it cannot be asked about beforehand. It is not a question we ask you, and it is not a question the other side gets to ask.
Contact a Culver Legal Los Angeles Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
If you came off a bike anywhere in Los Angeles, call (310) 600-7881 at any hour. The review costs nothing.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
