According to the Public Policy Institute of California, California was home to about 2.6 million undocumented immigrants in 2010. In fact, almost a quarter of the undocumented immigrants in the United States dwell in California. If you are an immigrant – with or without documentation – and you are injured in California because of another person’s negligence, you have the same right to sue and recover damages as any other person. In southern California, if you sustain an injury due to negligence, do not hesitate to speak with an experienced Los Angeles personal injury attorney.
Be completely honest and forthright with your attorney; if you can prove you were injured due to negligence, you have the right to recover compensation for your medical care, lost wages, and other injury-related expenses. Your attorney can compile evidence and examine witnesses on your behalf and fight for the maximum possible compensation. You may in the end receive the compensation you need and the justice you deserve, but you have to take the first step and make the call as soon as possible after you’re injured.
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees due process and equal protection under the law to “persons,” and the courts have determined that “persons” means all persons; citizens, visa holders, lawful permanent residents, and undocumented immigrants too. Thus, every person injured by the negligence of another – in a traffic accident, at work, or in any other circumstance – has a right to seek compensation, regardless of immigration status, by filing a personal injury lawsuit. This doesn’t mean that immigration issues aren’t important and complicated; they are. So are personal injury cases. That’s one reason why, if you are an immigrant in southern California, with or without documentation, and you’ve been injured in an accident because someone else was negligent, you must obtain the services of an experienced Los Angeles personal injury attorney as quickly as possible.