Riders in the East Bay know the good roads, the I-580 run toward the Altamont, the weekend loops through Niles Canyon and the hills above the valley, and they also know the daily risk of drivers who do not look twice. When a car turns left across a rider’s path or drifts into a lane, the rider has no crumple zone. The injuries are often severe, and the rider often faces an unfair assumption that they must have been reckless.
Mirador Law pushes back on that bias with evidence. Led by former San Francisco public defenders Megan Burns and Emily Dahm, the firm brings more than 40 years of combined experience and close to a hundred jury trials, including two of California’s Top 50 plaintiff verdicts for 2024.
The bias riders face, and how we answer it
Insurers often start from the idea that the motorcyclist was at fault. We answer with the facts: scene measurements, vehicle damage patterns, witness accounts, and where helpful, accident reconstruction. California’s pure comparative negligence rule means that even if a rider is found partly at fault, the recovery is reduced by that share rather than barred, so keeping the fault percentage accurate is central to the case.
What a claim can cover
Motorcycle injuries tend to be serious: road rash requiring grafts, broken bones, spinal injuries, and traumatic brain injury even when a helmet was worn. A claim can pursue emergency and ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, lost income and reduced earning capacity, and the lasting effect on your life. Where a crash is fatal, the family may have a wrongful death claim.
Deadlines
The general deadline to file a motorcycle injury lawsuit is two years from the date of the crash under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If a dangerous road condition or a government vehicle contributed, the six-month government-claim deadline under Government Code section 911.2 can apply.
A look at how these cases unfold
The following hypothetical examples illustrate how these cases can unfold. They are not based on any specific client and are provided for educational purposes only. A rider traveling within the speed limit is cut off by a driver turning left across the lane. The driver’s insurer claims the rider was speeding. Scene evidence and the motorcycle’s damage pattern show otherwise, and the claim is valued on the real facts rather than the assumption.
Motorcycle accident lawyers by location: Pleasanton | Oakland | Fremont & Newark