Los Angeles Injury Lawyer Blog

This motorcycle accident happened in Long Beach, California in Los Angeles County. A car crashed into his motorcycle after it entered the intersection at the wrong time. Our client’s leg was dragged across the ground causing a severe road burn (also known as road rash). Road burn occurs when bikers are thrown or dragged by their bikes, and their skin comes in contact with pavement, gravel, or ground surfaces. Road rash injuries take time to heal and often leave behind permanent scars and disfigurement. In the case of our client, all of the flesh and skin was removed from his ankle. He ultimately needed to have his leg amputated from the ankle down as a result of his road burn. Although the motorcycle crash was a minor impact between the motorcycle and the car, he suffered serious injuries from being dragged across the road and his roadburn was severe.

Our client was an experienced motorcycle rider. He went for a ride and had his sister on the back of his motorcycle. He slowly entered the intersection, not going more that 20 mph. A car negligently entered the intersection at the same time hitting the bike and causing our client to skid across the street for approximately twenty feet. His sister was luckily not injured. Our client, the rider, unfortunately did not have boots on- he was just wearing tennis shoes. The foot that was under the motorcycle slid across the rode, under the motorcycle for about twenty feet dragging off all of his skin and flesh from around the ankle. The injury resulted in the amputation of his leg. The rider called the Law Offices of Rudman Law Firm LLP and hired us as his motorcycle accident lawyer.

As our client was still hospitalized, he asked if I could come to the hospital to have him sign the retainer and give me the information on the accident. At the time, I was a young personal injury lawyer, and hadn't seen many seriously injured people. My client was lying in bed covered with a sheet when I entered the hospital room. I didn't know the extent of his injury, but I thought with a low impact motorcycle crash and no spinal injury, no brain injury and no head injury, how badly could he be injured? As I was interviewing him, he asked if I would like to see his injury. Before I could answer, he threw off the sheet, and I was staring at his leg which had his foot totally missing from the ankle down. I had never before seen the damage that road burn could cause. If you think about it, when a motorcycle rider goes down, his body is being dragged across the road which acts like a giant rasp, scraping off the skin and flesh. Road rash injuries are serious, and if you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident you should consult with an experienced motorcycle accident attorney. If you live in California, please call us for a free consultation.