Barry P. Goldberg Featured Extensively in Auto Insurance Center Article

Woodland Hills-based personal injury attorney Barry P. Goldberg has been successfully representing his clients (auto accident victims, dog bite victims, slip and fall victims) for over 35 years. His name recognition, skill, and expertise often result in requests by the media for Barry to provide legal commentary and to share his knowledge with the community.

Recently, Mr. Goldberg was cited extensively in an Auto Insurance Center, a consumer drive center for education on car insurance. The article ‘Driving Dangerously: The 4 Riskiest Impairments on the Road’ discusses four of the most dangerous examples of impaired driving. Mr. Goldberg discusses the big one, drunk / drugged driving, in detail sharing that he “sees little difference between drug and alcohol impairment behind the wheel. Cars moving at higher speeds, going the wrong way or turning into oncoming traffic are often the cause of these accidents.”

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Accidents Caused By Crossing a Double Yellow

Have you hit by  car that was illegally crossing a double yellow line? In California, absent a few exceptions, it is against the law to cross a double yellow line. In fact, California Vehicle Code (VC) § 21460 clearly states that it is illegal to drive to the left of a double solid yellow line. Double yellow lines are usually painted on the road, but the law permits raised pavement markers to be used to indicate double lines.

Common examples of when drivers illegally cross a double yellow line in the Woodland Hills area include:

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A Landowner has a Duty to Warn of Certain Dangerous Conditions

Woodland Hills personal injury attorney Barry P. Goldberg must look for viable liability theories against all possible defendants, particularly in catastrophic injury cases.  One theory of liability that can create liability is when a dangerous condition of property exists and the landowner fails to warn of the known dangers.  The lure of this theory is…

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Does an Adult Dog Bite Victim Need to Hire a Lawyer?

When we think of serious dog bites, we often think of children who are innocently mauled by a vicious dog. Children, however, are not the only victims of dog bite attacks. Regardless of age, if you or a loved one has been injured by an aggressive dog, you need to hire an experienced dog bite attorney to assist you in your claim and ensure that you receive the financial compensation you are rightfully entitled to.

There are many reasons to hire a lawyer to handle a dog bite claim. The big one being that without appropriate representation, you may not be compensated for your injuries. Indeed, less than 1% of dog bite victims receive the financial recovery they deserve. Dogs bite over 4 million Americans per year, but, not surprisingly, insurance companies pay only 15,000 to 16,000 victims.

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Wrong Way Accidents

We’ve all been driving down the freeway when we see the shocking site of a totaled automobile facing the wrong way. Often, the driver has somehow managed to drive the wrong way down the highway, ending his drive by crashing into another vehicle, a pole, or other large object. Wrong way auto accidents occur when a vehicle enters the travel lane of oncoming traffic, typically resulting in a head-on or offset front end collision. With the two automobiles heading toward each another, and the combined approach speed of the vehicles, there is usually little or no time for the drivers to react in time to brake or avoid the collision.

While not as common as fender benders and drunk driving accidents, wrong way accidents are far and away the type of highway crash most likely to cause serious injury and death. In fact, the California Department of Transportation has found that wrong-way accidents caused 12 times the number of deaths compared with all other accidents on highways with controlled access, perhaps because they often involve more than one vehicle.

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Why Can’t I Get My Traffic Collision Report?

Woodland Hills personal injury lawyer Barry P. Goldberg gets this question all the time.  In fact, sometimes the failure to obtain a police traffic collision report is the motivating reason why accident victims decide to contact a personal injury lawyer in the first place.  Because the traffic collision reports are more than just information, this…

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Commercial Bus Rollover Accidents

As we have discussed, rollover accidents happen with some regularity throughout Southern California. Many of these tragic accidents involve SUVs, trucks, buses, and other large vehicles and occur because of driver error, such as tiredness. What happens if you are a passenger on a bus or other form of public transportation and you are injured…

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Troubling Numbers Show Auto Accidents on the Rise

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), auto accidents are on the rise and these rising accident numbers are “a troubling departure from a general downward trend.”  For the first half of 2015, traffic-related fatalities nationally spiked upward when compared against the same period from 2014. In fact, they jumped by more than 8% over the previous year. And unfortunately, the statistics relating to roadway deaths in 2014 were anything but positive. Statistics from NHTSA reports indicate that, on average, nearly 90 people died in the United States in motor vehicle crashes every day last year.

Is there a specific reason that so many innocent victims are being killed in car accidents in California and throughout the country?

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El Nino Is Here! How You Can Avoid a Car Accident

As Southern California drivers know, weather is not generally our biggest concern when it comes to tackling the roads. Now traffic on the other hand… We can count on gridlock on the 101, 405, 10, and just about every side street throughout the San Fernando Valley! However, things are changing this winter — El Nino has arrived.

According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, there is an 80% chance that El Niño will continue to rain over California until early spring. This mean that throughout January, February, March, and even into April, California drivers can expect to see colder weather, torrential rainfall at times, and wet roads. For many young drivers, this will be their first time dealing with these less than desirable road conditions. It is important to make sure that whether you are a passenger or another driver on the road, you stay safe and avoid being injured in a serious auto accident.

A few safe-driving best practices for wet roads caused by El Nino include…

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Getting Coverage for your Property Loss — Consider the “Efficient Proximate Cause.”

Woodland Hills personal injury attorney has significant experience in insurance and insurance coverage.  Often, the ability to understand and access insurance coverage is a key component in a successful recovery in a large personal injury action.  Many of the insurance coverage principles overlap when analyzing your own first party property damage claims—particularly water damage claims.  Most homeowners are baffled when their water damage or other claim is denied.  I always recommend that the insured actually read the policy and consider the “efficient proximate cause” of the loss, especially when there are multiple causes for the loss.

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