Modesto Personal Injury Lawyer | Burg & Brock

California's general personal injury statute of limitations is two years from the date of the injury. Claims against a public entity (a city, county, or state agency) require a written government claim within six months. Wrongful death cases follow the same two-year general window. The clock starts on the date the injury occurred — not the date you finished medical treatment.

If the other driver carries no insurance, your recovery usually depends on your own uninsured / underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. We pull every applicable policy on day one — your own auto, household members' auto policies, umbrella policies, and any commercial coverage if the at-fault driver was working when the crash occurred.

Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee — our fee is a percentage of the recovery, paid only if we win. We also front the case costs: investigators, expert witnesses, deposition fees, accident-reconstruction reports. If we don't recover, you owe us nothing.

Most personal injury cases involving a Modesto crash are filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court — Modesto Main Courthouse (800 11th Street). Cases against a national defendant or with multi-county facts are sometimes filed in federal court (the Central or Eastern District of California, depending on geography) when diversity jurisdiction applies.

The closest trauma-capable facilities to our Modesto office are Doctors Medical Center of Modesto (Stanislaus County's primary trauma center) and Memorial Medical Center. We routinely work with treating physicians at these hospitals to obtain medical records, billing, and treating-physician declarations.

California uses pure comparative negligence. Even if you're found 80 percent at fault, you can still recover 20 percent of your damages. The defense will argue your share was higher — our job is to keep the percentage assigned to you as low as the evidence supports.

Most cases settle before trial. We prepare every case as if it's headed to a jury — that's how we get full settlement value — but the majority resolve at mediation or in pre-trial negotiation. If your case does go to trial, our trial attorneys handle it.

We do not charge hourly. Our compensation is a contingency percentage of the recovery, set in writing at the start of your case.

A clear-liability soft-tissue case can resolve in six to nine months. A catastrophic case with disputed liability, expert testimony, and a trial date typically runs 18 to 30 months. We give you a realistic timeline after the first round of medical records and the at-fault party's policy disclosures come back.

No — and you should not. Once you retain us, the at-fault carrier communicates with our office, not with you. Recorded statements are routinely used to limit a claim's value, and there is no legal duty for you to give one to the other side's insurer.

California allows recovery for past and future medical expenses, past and future lost earnings, lost earning capacity, property damage, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. Cases involving conduct that meets the legal standard for malice, oppression, or fraud may also support punitive damages.

Yes. Our intake team and several of our case managers are bilingual in Spanish. We also publish Spanish-language versions of our practice-area pages so clients and family members can review information in their primary language.

Get medical attention even if you feel okay — adrenaline masks injury for hours and sometimes days. Photograph the scene, the vehicles, and any visible injuries. Get the other driver's insurance and license information. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer. Then call us — early evidence preservation matters more than people realize.