Updated August 30, 2026
Your California deadlines
Deadlines are the one part of a case that is pure calendar. Enter the date of the crash and these are the dates that follow from California law.
Enter a date to see the deadlines that apply. Exceptions exist and they are unforgiving — treat the earliest date as the real one.
Why this is not a settlement estimate
Plenty of websites will hand you a settlement number in exchange for your phone number. Nobody can honestly produce one from a form, and this office will not pretend otherwise. What the worksheet gives you is real and useful: the documented total you can currently prove, which is the figure every conversation about a claim starts from.
What turns that total into a settlement
Three things do most of the work, and only one of them is arithmetic.
- Pain and suffering. California allows recovery for the human cost of an injury, not just the receipts. There is no formula for it. Anyone multiplying your medical bills by a fixed number is guessing, which is exactly why this page does not.
- Fault, divided up. California uses comparative fault: if you are found 20 percent responsible, a recovery drops by 20 percent. That is the slider above.
- Insurance policy limits. The factor nobody sees coming, and the one that quietly caps most cases. If the at-fault driver carries California's minimum policy, $30,000 per injured person since 2025, and has nothing worth pursuing, it is usually a $30,000 case no matter how badly you were hurt. Your own underinsured motorist coverage can fill that gap, which is why it is worth pulling your policy out early.
Results from this office
Civil settlements handled by the Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre, listed individually rather than as an average or a total, because each one turned on its own facts.
$2,850,000
Slip-and-fall matter
Premises liability
$520,000
Pedestrian v. auto, broken foot
Civil injury matter
$480,000
Slip-and-fall matter
Premises liability
$360,000
Motor-vehicle collision
Los Angeles Superior Court
$320,000
Civil injury matter
Maricopa County, Arizona
$150,000
Discrimination-related civil matter
Civil settlement
Each result depended on the specific facts and law of that case. Results will differ when based on different facts. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. See all case results.
What to do with your number
Bring it to a free consultation. Your documented total, the collision report, and the other driver's insurance information are enough for an attorney to tell you whether a claim is worth pursuing and what is realistically in reach. If an adjuster is already calling, read this first.
This page is general information for Long Beach residents, not legal advice about any specific situation. Agency fees and procedures change; confirm details with the agency before you rely on them.
