Wear Trial Law represents motorcyclists injured throughout Northern California. These cases carry a problem other collision cases do not: insurers and juries frequently assume the rider was at fault before examining any evidence. Overcoming that assumption is the work, and it starts with how the case is investigated.
The bias problem, and how it is answered
The defense narrative in nearly every motorcycle case is the same — speed, recklessness, weaving. It is deployed regardless of the facts because it works on jurors who do not ride.
The answer is physical evidence rather than argument. Scene reconstruction, sight-line analysis, damage patterns, and the position of the vehicles at impact usually establish what actually happened. The most common real cause is a driver who turned left across a rider’s path or changed lanes into one, and the physical evidence generally shows it.
Lane splitting is legal in California
California expressly authorizes lane splitting, and the California Highway Patrol has published guidance on doing it safely. A rider who was lane splitting was not, by that fact alone, doing anything unlawful.
Insurers routinely treat lane splitting as automatic fault. It is not, and that argument should be met directly rather than conceded in negotiation.
Injuries and their long tail
Riders have no structural protection, so the same collision that produces whiplash in a car produces orthopedic trauma, road rash requiring grafting, traumatic brain injury, or spinal injury on a motorcycle.
These injuries frequently require multiple surgeries over years. Settling before the treating surgeon can state a long-term prognosis is the most common and most costly mistake in these cases.
Helmets and comparative fault
California requires helmet use. Where a rider was not wearing one, the defense will argue comparative fault — but that argument only reaches injuries a helmet would have prevented. It has no bearing on a leg fracture or a pelvic injury, and it does not bar recovery.
Free and confidential. Call 415-233-9688.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
No. Lane splitting is lawful in California.
It may reduce recovery for head injuries specifically. It does not bar your claim.
Failure to see a visible motorcycle is generally evidence of negligence, not a defense.
Quickly. Scene evidence and camera footage disappear fast.
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