Should You Hire an Arizona Personal Injury Attorney to Handle Your California Injury Case

Should You Hire an Arizona Personal Injury Attorney to Handle Your California Injury Case

This week Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC took in a new car accident case. The firm agreed to represent and help a Scottsdale couple who were injured in a car accident while in San Diego, California. The couple sustained serious injuries and needed the help of skilled injury attorneys in order to obtain full compensation.

Attorneys Licensed In Arizona and California

The couple hired Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC because the firm’s lead attorney, Tony Piccuta, is licensed in both Arizona and California. If you are injured in California but live in Arizona, you should definitely hire an attorney who is actively licensed and practices in California. The same is true if you were injured out of state in any other state. You should look to hire and retain an attorney in the state where the injury occurred and where you were injured.

The couple hired Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC because the firm’s lead attorney, Tony Piccuta, is licensed in both Arizona and California.

The reason for this is simple. You or your loved ones need to have an attorney who knows the law of the state where you or they were injured. You and your loved ones need to have a law firm that can file a lawsuit in that state if the insurance company will not pay fair compensation for the injury. Of course, attorneys who are seeking new clients and are hungry for business will not tell you this. They will simply take your case, even though they can not practice in the state where the injury happened, and try to represent you there with the hope of getting paid. 

Even if an attorney is licensed in the State where you were injured, you need to make sure that attorney actively practices and handles cases there. Unlike some other Arizona attorneys who may be licensed in California, Piccuta regularly practices in California. Piccuta has an office there and regularly handles personal injury cases and civil rights cases throughout California.

Even if an attorney is licensed in the State where you were injured, you need to make sure that attorney actively practices and handles cases there.

Just last year, Piccuta obtained a $1.925 million dollar jury verdict in a California motorcycle accident case. That jury verdict was a top 100 verdict in the entire state of California for 2018. Earlier this year, Piccuta settled a case for a Scottsdale man who suffered an eye injury while on a chartered fishing trip off the Coast of California. That case was filed in Los Angeles in the United States District Court of California, Central District. The settlement obtained was $550,000.

In the last two months alone, Piccuta has settled or obtained judgments in seven California cases totaling over a million dollars. Those results are as follows:

• Police Excessive Force Case, Northern District of California – $600,000 Settlement
• Negligent Security Case, Alameda County Superior Court – $195,000 Settlement
• Medical Malpractice Case, Monterey County Superior Court – $150,000 Judgment
• Underinsured Motorist Case, San Francisco County – $35,000 Settlement
• Car Accident Case, Monterey County – $22,000 Settlement
• Police Excessive Force Case, Eastern District of California – $20,000 Settlement
• Car Accident Case, Monterey County – $8,000

Piccuta is currently handling cases throughout all of California. This includes the following counties:

• Alameda County
• Fresno County
• Los Angeles County
• Monterey County
• Orange County
• San Diego County
• San Francisco County
• San Joaquin County
• Santa Clara County

Piccuta has handled past cases in several other counties in California and can practice and handle a case in any County in California.  The couple that just hired Scottdale Injury Lawyers, LLC and Piccuta wanted a law firm and attorney that was familiar with the California court system. The couple also wanted an attorney who they could meet with in Arizona locally. More importantly, the couple wanted an attorney who was familiar with the California Vehicle Code, California insurance law and the medical reimbursement rules that apply to injury cases in California. The couple now has that because they hired Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC and Piccuta to handle their case.

What to Consider When Hiring an Arizona Based Attorney To Handle Your California Injury Case

Injured individuals who are looking for an attorney in Arizona who can practice in California should be cautious. If you are a resident of Arizona who was injured in California, you should make sure you hire an attorney who actively practices in California. You should ask the potential attorney the following:

• How many cases has that attorney handled in California
• How many cases does that attorney have currently filed in California courts
• Does that attorney have a California office
• What percentage of that attorney’s cases are California cases
• When was the last time that attorney tried a case in California
• Will that attorney handle the case himself or need to bring in other attorneys more familiar with how to practice in California

By asking these questions, you will be able to tell if the attorney actually practices in California or if he or she simply has a license there. If the attorney you are considering tells you he or she works with an attorney in California or that he or she is going to refer you to an attorney in California—you should be wary. At the same time, if the attorney tells you he or she is going to handle the case with the insurance company, but if a lawsuit needs to be filed, he or she will be unable to do that—you should reconsider your options. These are all signs that the attorney really does not practice in California and is not competent to handle cases there.

Simply put, you want to find an attorney who practices in California and can prove it to you. All too often, attorneys in Arizona who are also licensed in California, have not practiced there in years, if ever. Those attorneys may have gone to law school in California and taken the bar with their classmates shortly thereafter. After that, they failed to find a job or only worked at a job for a few years. They then headed back to Arizona where they were originally from. Those individuals simply did not work as an attorney in California or work long enough as a California attorney to understand the intricacies of California law. They should not be handling your Arizona injury case.

At the same time, an attorney who used to practice in California, but then relocated to Arizona may not handle your California injury case properly. This is true if the attorney has not actively practiced there for a year or more. The law is always changing. There are new cases and developments in the law which require an attorney to actively stay up to speed. If an attorney leaves a state, and stops practicing there, he or she will likely not know the most recent changes in the law. This could be problematic to your case and result in you receiving inadequate representation and less money. The couple that recently hired Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC did so because they wanted someone in Arizona locally, that actually practices regularly in California.

Contact a California Attorney Who Can Meet With You In Arizona Today to Discuss Your California Injury or California Car Accident Case

If you or a loved one were injured in California but live in Arizona, contact Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC today. Scottsdale Injury Lawyers, LLC handles cases in both Arizona and California. Our attorneys regularly practice in California and have the necessary experience to handle your California personal injury or California car accident case. By hiring our firm, you or your loved one will have the best of both worlds. You will have a skilled attorney who regularly handles California cases located here locally in Arizona to meet with you.

About the author: The content on this page was written by Scottsdale civil rights lawyer and personal injury attorney Tony Piccuta. Piccuta actively practices in both California and Arizona.  Piccuta graduated with honors from Indiana University-Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana (Ranked Top 35 US News & World Report 2018).  Piccuta took and passed the State bars of Arizona, California, Illinois and Nevada (all on the first try). He is a trial attorney that regularly handles serious personal injury cases and civil rights lawsuits. He has obtained six and seven figure verdicts in both state and federal court. He has been recognized by Super Lawyers for six years straight. He is a member of the Arizona Association of Justice, Arizona State Bar Association, Consumer Attorneys of California, California State Bar Association, Maricopa County Bar Association, Scottsdale Bar Association, American Association for Justice, National Police Accountability Project, among other organizations.

Disclaimer: The information on this web site is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading and relying upon the content on this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, you should contact our law firm for a free consultation and to discuss your specific case and issues.