Santa Clarita Car Accident Lawyer

Four Decades of Results

Since PARRIS first opened its doors to clients in 1985, our attorneys have served thousands of clients from all over California, winning over $1.9 billion on their behalf.

Our firm has been recognized throughout our 37+ years in practice for our landmark cases and 99% success rate. Some of our most recent victories include:

• A $120 million verdict for a man involved in a horrific T-bone accident in Lancaster
• A $46.6 million verdict for a CHP officer rear-ended and thrown off his motorcycle on the 5 freeway near Castaic
• A $9.6 million verdict for for a man severely injured in a car accident in a Santa Clarita intersection
• The landmark $1.8 billion settlement for victims of the 2015-16 Porter Ranch gas leak

Attorney recognition programs such as Best Lawyers® and Super Lawyers have PARRIS attorneys annually for over a decade. Founding attorney R. Rex Parris has been recognized by the Litigation Counsel of America, the American Board of Trial Advocates, and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum for his herculean legal victories on behalf of California residents.

When you’re injured in an accident, you deserve a law firm you can trust to deliver results. Look no further than PARRIS Law Firm.

Yes. California operates under a pure comparative negligence system, which allows drivers to collect compensation after a car accident in accordance with their degree of fault.

Say you were speeding on the freeway when another car rear-ends you. The other driver may be 75% at fault for hitting you, but you may be considered 25% at fault for speeding. In this case, if you were awarded $100,000 in damages, you would only collect $75,000. Your damages would be reduced in proportion with your percentage of liability.

Read more about how fault is determined in California car accidents.

Insurance companies use photos, witness accounts, dash cam footage, police reports, and more to make a fault determination. Notably, this determination isn’t legally binding – only an arbitrator, judge, or jury can make a final determination of fault.

Fault in a car accident in Santa Clarita often depends on the type of accident, and the circumstances that led to the crash. For example, the rear driver in a rear-end accident is almost always considered at fault.

If you believe you are not at fault for your car accident, contact a Santa Clarita car accident lawyer right away to safeguard your rights.

After an accident that causes injury or damage over $1,000, you must report the incident to three entities:

• Your insurance company
• The police
• The DMV

You must report your car accident to police within 24 hours. The DMV, on the other hand, gives you 10 days.

There is no legal limit to when you should report your car accident to insurance companies, but you should do so as soon as possible. Late or delayed reporting could result in your claim being denied.

California law prevents insurers from raising your rates for accidents that were not your fault.

Learn more about reporting a car accident.

At PARRIS Law Firm, our car accident lawyers work on a contingency fee system. We don’t charge any out-of-pocket fees to represent you. Our fee is a proportion of your verdict or settlement. If we are unsuccessful in securing a favorable result for you, you will owe us nothing.

After a car accident in Santa Clarita, you’ll want to follow these steps:

1. STOP and pull over to the nearest shoulder, away from traffic. Never drive away from the scene of the accident.
2. If anyone is injured (even a simple scrape or bruise), call 911. Calling law enforcement is still useful even if no one is injured, as law enforcement will collect information for a police report.
3. Exchange contact information and insurance information with the other driver. Sometimes, law enforcement will help facilitate this. Make sure you get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all drivers involved, as well as their insurance policy number, their license plate and/or VIN, and a photo of their driver’s license.
4. Take photographs of the accident scene and any damage.
5. Call your insurance company to report the accident as soon as possible.
6. If police did not arrive at the scene, report your accident to local law enforcement within 24 hours.
7. If damage exceeded $1,000, report your accident to the DMV within 10 days,
8. If you are injured. call a Santa Clarita car accident attorney as soon as possible to protect your rights.

When car accidents happen in Santa Clarita, hiring a car accident lawyer is the best way to protect the rights of you and your loved ones. PARRIS Law Firm has experience protecting victims’ rights of many types of vehicular crash cases, including:

• Car accidents of all kinds, including those caused by:
  • Impaired driving
  • Road defects
  • Faulty vehicle manufacturing
• Big rig truck accidents
• Motorcycle crashes
• Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
• Car accidents involving people on the job
• Accidents resulting in wrongful death

The most common types of vehicle collisions, as categorized by law enforcement, include:

• Rear-end crashes, where the front end of one car strikes the back end of another
• Broadside or T-bone crashes, where the front of one vehicle strikes the side of another, forming a “T” shape
• Sideswipe crashes, where two cars traveling in the same direction hit each other on the sides
• Head-on crashes, when two vehicles traveling in opposite directions hit one another head-on
• Rollover crashes, where a car (usually a truck or an SUV) rolls onto its top or side during an accident
• Single-vehicle crashes, where a car strikes an object or runs off the road due to impaired driving, an object in the road, or another driver’s poor decisions
• Vehicle/pedestrian crashes, when a car strikes a pedestrian

In Santa Clarita, the types of car accidents that occurred in 2018 were broken down as follows:

• Rear-end crashes: 36%
• Broadside crashes: 29%
• Striking an object: 13%
• Sideswipes: 11%
• Head-on crashes: 5%
• Vehicle/pedestrian accidents: 3%
• Rollover accidents: 2%
• Other: <1%

Rear-end accidents—caused by following too closely and distracted driving—have become more common as cell phone usage while driving has increased in recent years.

Broadside crashes, which make up nearly a third of all Santa Clarita’s car accidents, occur most frequently in intersections and parking lots.

Santa Clarita experiences a high volume of car accidents for several reasons:

• Two busy freeways run through Santa Clarita: the 5 freeway, which forms the city’s western boundary, and the 14 freeway, which runs through the city’s eastern end. These freeways experience frequent traffic jams during rush hour, leading to an uptick in car accidents.
• During the summer, traffic to the nearby Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park increases the likelihood of rear-end accidents, T-bone collisions, and pedestrian crashes.
• Though Santa Clarita has a low population density overall, the city’s 230,000 inhabitants take the same major thoroughfares to get from one side of the valley to the other. This causes further traffic congestion. These thoroughfares include:
  • Soledad Canyon Rd/Valencia Blvd
  • McBean Pkwy
  • Sierra Hwy
  • Bouquet Canyon Rd/ Railroad Ave
  • Newhall Ranch Rd
  • Golden Valley Rd

The vast majority of Santa Clarita’s car accidents occurred during the weekday morning rush hour between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The most common causes of these accidents included:

• Unsafe speed: 27%
• Vehicle right-of-way: 15%
• Improper turning: 11%
• Driver or bicycle DUI: 9%
• Traffic signals and signs: 9%
• Following too closely: 7%
• Unsafe lane change: 6%
• Wrong side of road: 2%
• Pedestrian right-of-way: 1%
• Pedestrian violation: 1%
• Other than driver or pedestrian: 2%