December 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
All Terrain Vehicles, also known as ATVs or non caged Four-Wheelers, are common across the country, especially in rural areas. We turned to Michael Ehline of Ehline Law Firm PC, a Los Angeles personal injury advocate, in order to learn more about these types of vehicles.
Ehline has a lot of experience in these cases, because California has so many inexperienced city dwellers that trod off to the desert and forests to be weekend ATV warriors on these rides. Ehline says that while California restricts usage of these vehicles on public land and roads, “there are no regulations on private property.”
People of any age, including children, operate these ATVs on private lots, often with minimal safety equipment. In 2011 alone, over 100,000 injuries were caused by these vehicles, including hundreds of deaths (View Source.). When faced with the aftermath of a severe four-wheeler injury, your family is in need of the finest medical and legal advice. Contacting an attorney is the first step of getting your life back on track. “For example”, Ehline says: “We had a client who had signed a waiver to use their off road vehicle on private land, but it turned out that the property owner had created a trap for the unwary, and was engaged in ‘active negligence’, which pierced the waiver and opened up the liability insurance policy to help pay our client’s clavicle injury”
Having great representation is particularly important, since each year there are thousands of serious injuries nationwide that are caused by riding ATVs. Many of these injuries happen on the property of the ATV owner, but as discussed, these wrecks sometimes happen on other private property. Some of these cases happen on land where the rider is invited to come through. Some of these trails are rutted or have dangerous obstacles that can cause crashes and serious injuries. The owner of that property may be liable for these injuries and damages to the vehicle. If someone borrows a four-wheeler from the land owner, then the owner could be responsible for any similar injuries. The ATV producer, like Polaris, Honda, or Skidoo could also be liable if the vehicle has a defective design or manufacture.
Make sure that you know who to hold responsible in the aftermath of such an accident. Having skilled, effective attorneys at your side can make a major difference in identifying the proper party and challenging their insurance carrier or themselves personally if needed. Contact Michael P. Ehline and his team of partners for more information today at (213) 596-9642, if your incident took place in California. If you were hurt in our state, then please fill out our contact form and let us interview you about your potential claim.