Westwood Personal Injury Attorneys
f a driver hit you in Westwood, the claim that follows depends a great deal on who you are. Aghnami Law Group handles Westwood injury claims, and a Westwood personal injury lawyer on our team sees how differently these claims get evaluated.
Westwood is really two neighborhoods sharing one set of crosswalks. UCLA sends tens of thousands of students and staff through the Village on foot every day, while the Wilshire Corridor’s high-rise condos hold one of the older, more established populations in Los Angeles.
Call Aghnami Law Group at (213) 212-4334 for a free consultation, and we will look at what happened.
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Two Neighborhoods, One Set of Streets
Around UCLA, the risk looks like distracted students crossing between cars, delivery traffic stacking up along Le Conte Avenue and Westwood Boulevard, and campus shuttle buses navigating streets never designed for this much foot traffic. Along the Wilshire Corridor a few blocks south, the risk looks completely different: older residents crossing wide, fast-moving Wilshire Boulevard on a timed signal that assumes a walking pace many of them cannot match. A single mile of Westwood, walked from one end to the other, produces two genuinely different sets of hazards depending on which stretch you are standing on.
- Pedestrian crashes near campus, particularly around Bruin Walk and the dense cluster of restaurants along Broxton Avenue during peak lunch and evening hours
- Pedestrian crashes along Wilshire Boulevard, where crosswalk timing and heavy traffic volume create real danger for slower-moving residents
- Motorcycle crashes on Wilshire and Westwood Boulevard, where a rider has no protection when a driver misjudges a gap in traffic
- Parking structure and campus lot incidents, both on UCLA property and around the dense commercial parking near the Village itself
- Left-turn collisions at busy intersections like Wilshire and Veteran, where high traffic volume makes gaps in oncoming traffic harder to judge safely, especially for slower-moving pedestrians already partway through the crosswalk
- Drunk driving collisions in Westwood Village on weekend nights, when bar and restaurant traffic peaks on narrow surrounding streets
Each of these scenarios calls for a different kind of evidence, from campus security footage to building maintenance logs, and treating every single Westwood case the same way misses what actually makes each one strong. A pedestrian crash near Bruin Walk gets built differently than a crash on Wilshire Boulevard, since the responsible parties, the applicable insurance coverage, and the available witnesses are almost never the same from one scenario to the next.
Does Age or Health Reduce What a Claim Is Worth?
No, and California law is settled on the point, which makes it the single most useful thing an older Westwood resident can know before a negotiation starts. When an older pedestrian suffers a serious injury from what looks like a moderate impact, a pre-existing condition rather than the crash is often put forward as the explanation for most of the harm.
California law rejects that argument directly. Under what is known as the eggshell plaintiff rule, reflected in California’s standard jury instruction CACI 3928, titled “Unusually Susceptible Plaintiff,” a defendant is responsible for the full extent of an injury they cause, even if a plaintiff’s pre-existing frailty or condition made that injury worse than it would have been for someone else. The principle behind it is that a defendant takes the person they injure as they find them.
The practical effect is straightforward: the same impact can produce a far worse outcome for one person than another, and California places that difference on the party who caused it rather than on the person who was hurt. Our personal injury representation makes sure that the rule gets applied, and that a client’s medical history gets presented in its proper legal context rather than used as a reason to discount a valid claim.
How a Westwood Claim Gets Tested
Knowing which jury instruction answers an argument changes how a file gets built from the first conversation. CACI 3928 is the clearest example: once it is read aloud in plain language, the pre-existing condition argument stops working, and a file built with that in view is a different file.
That cuts both ways in Westwood, since a young UCLA student’s claim gets tested differently than an older Wilshire resident’s, and knowing which question gets asked first changes how we prepare a case from day one.
We are proud of serving the greater Los Angeles area, but Westwood cases get specific attention given how differently this neighborhood’s two populations experience risk on the same streets. Contact us, and we will tell you what your claim actually involves.
How Long Do You Have to File a Claim?
California’s statute of limitations, the deadline for filing a lawsuit, gives most injury victims two years from the date of the incident, under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1. That deadline arrives faster than it sounds once treatment and negotiations stretch out.
Claims against a government entity carry a shorter window. A crash involving a UCLA-owned vehicle, a campus shuttle, or a defect on university property generally requires a formal claim within six months under California Government Code Section 911.2, not two years. A claim involving the university also gets presented differently than a claim against the City of Los Angeles, which is another reason to sort out the right path early rather than late.
California also applies pure comparative negligence, which the California Supreme Court adopted through case law rather than by statute. You can still recover compensation even if you bear some fault for the crash, since a jury or adjuster reduces your award by your percentage of responsibility rather than eliminating the claim entirely, which matters in crowded pedestrian areas where fault often gets split.
What Can Compensation Cover?
What a claim covers depends on the documented harm, the strength of the evidence, and the insurance actually available to pay, as stated in California Civil Code Section 3333, which includes all the detriment proximately caused. A number quoted before anyone has reviewed the records is an estimate rather than an evaluation. Compensation typically includes:
- Medical expenses connected to the crash, both the bills already incurred and the documented cost of care still ahead
- Lost wages and reduced future earning capacity if the injury affects your ability to work
- Property damage, including mobility devices damaged in the crash
- Pain and suffering tied to the physical and emotional toll of the injury
- Loss of consortium, meaning the harm a serious injury does to a spouse or family member’s relationship with you
- Wrongful death damages when a crash proves fatal
For older clients specifically, compensation often needs to account for a longer arc of care than a younger person would face from the same incident, and the cost of that longer arc has to be documented rather than assumed. For UCLA students, lost income sometimes looks different, too, since an injury that interrupts a semester or an internship can carry consequences that extend past medical bills alone.
How We Build Your Case
We start with a free consultation reviewing the crash and every policy that might apply, including UCLA’s own coverage if campus property or a university vehicle was involved. From there, we investigate directly, securing footage and witness information quickly, since Westwood car accident cases near campus or the Village often involve evidence that disappears fast in a high-turnover area full of students and short-term visitors.
If negotiations stall, we prepare every case as though it may go to trial in the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s West District, based at the Santa Monica Courthouse on Main Street. Note that new personal injury cases filed in the Central District go instead to Independent Calendar departments at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, so which district a case belongs in is worth settling early. You work directly with a Westwood personal injury attorney throughout, and the attorney who knows your file is the one handling it.
We also pay close attention to how a case gets framed for negotiation, since the age-based arguments common in Wilshire Corridor claims and the fault arguments common in pedestrian claims both need answering before either one settles into place. We take these cases on a No Fee unless we win basis, and the first consultation is free. Call Aghnami Law Group at (213) 212-4334, and we will walk through which of those you are likely to face.
What To Do After a Crash in Westwood
The steps you take right after a crash protect both your health and your claim.
- Call 911 or the California Highway Patrol, and follow through on any care you are advised to get, which is also what starts the record a claim is later built on
- Photograph the scene, the vehicles involved, and your visible injuries
- Get contact information for witnesses, especially near campus, where students often move on quickly between classes
- Avoid giving a recorded statement to any insurer until you have spoken with a personal injury lawyer in Westwood, Los Angeles
- Keep records of missed work, medical visits, and any repair or replacement costs, and file a Report of Traffic Accident Occurring in California with the DMV within 10 days if anyone was injured or killed or property damage tops $1,000
Skipping any of these steps leaves more of your claim open to dispute later, particularly in a neighborhood where witnesses and evidence tend to turn over quickly.
FAQs: Westwood Personal Injury Lawyer
These are the questions Westwood clients ask most often on a first call.
What if I was hit while crossing Westwood Boulevard during class change?
Campus-area pedestrian crashes usually come with more evidence than people expect, since UCLA security cameras, nearby business footage, and a large pool of student witnesses are all typically available in the first days. That evidence disappears quickly, though, because footage overwrites on a rolling basis and students scatter between terms. Photographs and witness names collected the same day are worth more than a reconstruction attempted months later.
What if my elderly parent was hit crossing Wilshire and the insurer says their age made it worse?
This is exactly the argument the eggshell plaintiff rule rejects. A defendant remains fully responsible for the injury they caused, regardless of whether your parent’s age or health made the outcome more severe than it would have been for someone younger. CACI 3928 is the instruction a jury would be read on that point, and knowing it exists changes the shape of a negotiation.
What if the crash happened in a UCLA parking structure?
These cases can involve the university itself as a public entity, which shortens the filing deadline significantly compared to a standard private property incident. Early legal involvement matters more here than in a typical private parking lot incident, since government claim requirements come with strict procedural steps that a private landowner claim simply does not carry.
What if a driver hit my parent in a marked crosswalk and claims they had the light?
Signal timing records and nearby camera footage usually settle that dispute faster than either account does, and both are obtainable if requested early. California also requires drivers to exercise due care toward pedestrians regardless of who had the light, so a driver who saw someone partway through a crosswalk and proceeded anyway may still bear responsibility even where the signal had changed.
Does it matter if the other driver was visiting and unfamiliar with the Village's one-way streets?
Not for liability itself. Unfamiliarity with local streets does not excuse a driver from following posted signs, though it does sometimes explain patterns worth documenting, like a driver making an illegal turn against clearly marked signage while searching for a parking spot or trying to reach a specific address.
What if my injury happened at the West LA VA Medical Center campus?
Claims involving federal property, like the VA campus, can trigger a different claims process than a standard California personal injury case, sometimes involving federal rather than state procedures, depending on the facts and who caused the injury. Sorting out whether state or federal rules apply matters early, since the deadlines and required steps can differ significantly from a typical Westwood crash claim.
Talk to a Westwood Personal Injury Lawyer Today
The protections are already in the law. CACI 3928 exists, the six-month government deadline exists, and pure comparative negligence exists, and all three are worth money to the person who knows to raise them. Call Aghnami Law Group at (213) 212-4334 for a free consultation, and a Westwood personal injury lawyer will walk through which of them apply to your case.
Aghnami Law Group - Los Angeles Office
1801 Century Pk E 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Ph: (213) 279-0976
Why Choose Us?
- Free Consultation: We offer free consultation to discuss your case and explore your options.
- No Upfront Fees: We work on a contingency basis, meaning you don’t pay unless we win your case.
- Proven Track Record: Our experienced attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for their clients.
- Transparent Communication: We keep you informed and involved, providing updates and answering your questions promptly.
- Client Centered Approach: We prioritize your needs and tailor our strategies to achieve the best poossible outcome for you.
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