Altadena Personal Injury Lawyer

If you were hurt in a crash in Altadena, you are probably sore, short a car, and hearing from an adjuster you never asked to talk to. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. is a Los Angeles firm at 527 W 7th St, Ste 924, that works for injured people only. Altadena is not a city. It is an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County, so the roads, the deputies who write your report and the claim rules for county property all work differently than they do in Pasadena next door. Here is what that means for your case. Moe takes cases only for people physically hurt in motor-vehicle crashes, or for families who lost someone in one. He does not take property-damage-only claims, workplace injuries, product cases or slip-and-falls. Call (323) 716-1992 for a free review, any hour, in English or Spanish. Attorney Moe Abdallah takes the calls himself and keeps you updated by call and text.

How we help injured people in Altadena

We handle every motor-vehicle injury case type for Altadena residents, dealing with the insurers directly while you focus on recovery.

Altadena belongs to the county, and that changes your case

Altadena is a census-designated community directly north of Pasadena, not an incorporated city. LA County governs it. At the 2020 Census it had 42,846 residents on 8.47 square miles, according to the LA Almanac. That is about 5,000 people per square mile, packed onto a street grid run by the county rather than a city hall. The county setup matters in three ways. First, LA County Public Works handles the roads. Second, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, through its Altadena Station, polices the streets, not a city police department. Third, if a county road defect or a county vehicle played a part in your crash, you do not file a city claim. You file a written claim with the county's Board of Supervisors, and the clock is short. Most Altadena injury cases still look like any other crash case: a driver ran a light, followed too close or hit someone on foot. But the first calls you make, who holds the report and where a claim goes, depend on knowing Altadena is county ground. Moe sorts that out on your first call so nothing slips.

Lake, Fair Oaks, Woodbury and Lincoln: where Altadena drivers meet

Altadena's main streets are Lake Avenue, Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena Dr., Lincoln Avenue, Woodbury Road, Loma Alta Dr., New York Dr. and Holliston Avenue. If you live or work here, you cross several of them every day. Lake Avenue is also the route LA Metro Line 662 uses to reach Pasadena's Lake rail station, so buses, riders and cars share it. One stretch has official attention. On January 10, 2023, the Board of Supervisors approved Supervisor Kathryn Barger's motion directing Public Works to assess traffic conditions on Fair Oaks Avenue between Loma Alta Dr. and Altadena Dr., and on Holliston Avenue between Altadena Dr. and New York Dr. The motion followed two separate pedestrian deaths in Altadena about a month earlier. A county review is not a finding that a road caused your crash, and Moe does not claim that. It does show the county already watches those blocks, and that can help when Moe asks for crash records and traffic data. Altadena has no freeway of its own. If your crash happened on a state freeway or its ramps outside the community, the California Highway Patrol normally handles it, not the Sheriff.

The Altadena Station report and what to do in the first week

For a crash on an Altadena street, the Sheriff's Altadena Station is the local agency. It sits at 780 East Altadena Dr., Altadena, CA 91001, and the phone is (626) 798-1131, according to lasd.org. If CHP handled your crash on a freeway or ramp, the report comes from CHP instead. Either way, write down the report number before the officer leaves, and ask for the deputy's name. We could not confirm a single online form for Altadena collision reports, so call the station and ask how reports are released for your date. Moe's office can chase it if you hit a wall. Do these things in the first week. Get checked by a doctor even if you feel okay. Photograph the cars, the signals, the skid marks and your injuries. Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. If the crash hurt anyone or caused more than $1,000 in damage to any one person, California requires a report to the DMV on form SR-1 within 10 days (Veh. Code section 16000). Moe's office can file it for you. Save every bill, every pay stub and every text with an adjuster.

Altadena crash types Moe handles, one by one

Car crashes come first. Whether you were rear-ended on Lake Avenue, hit by a left-turning driver on Lincoln or T-boned on Fair Oaks, the claim turns on the same questions: fault, medical bills, lost wages and pain. Moe builds each one from the evidence, not the adjuster's first guess. Pedestrian cases deserve special care in Altadena, given the county's 2023 review of Fair Oaks and Holliston after two people on foot were killed. Insurers still try to blame the walker. Bicycle and motorcycle riders face the same pattern: a driver says they never saw you. Moe gets the scene photos, any video and witness names while they still exist. Truck and delivery vehicle crashes can involve a commercial insurer and more records to preserve, such as driver logs and onboard data. Rideshare cases involve Uber or Lyft's coverage, which depends on whether the driver's app was on and whether a ride had been accepted. Hit-and-run and uninsured driver cases usually run through your own UM coverage, which has its own reporting rules. Wrongful death claims come from crashes that took a family member, and California law sets who can bring them, starting with a spouse or domestic partner and children (Code Civ. Proc. section 377.60).

Huntington Hospital, your medical record and the bills

The major hospital closest to Altadena is Huntington Hospital at 100 W. California Blvd., just south in Pasadena. The American College of Surgeons re-verified it as a Level II trauma center, per a 2015 announcement. We could not re-check that status on the hospital's own site, so call ahead before you rely on it for a specific injury. What matters for your claim is the paper trail. Go to the ER or urgent care the same day, tell them it was a crash, and describe every symptom, even small ones like a stiff neck or a headache. Follow up with your own doctor or a doctor who treats your type of injury. Gaps in treatment give the insurer an easy argument that you were not really hurt. Moe collects your records and bills, tracks what you still owe, and weighs that against what the claim should cover. If you have no health insurance, say so early. Moe has recovered $105,000 for an uninsured client with a broken sternum, which paid the hospital bills and future treatment. Past results do not predict a similar outcome. Do not sign a medical lien or a release without a lawyer reading it.

Metro buses, county vehicles and the six-month claim

Two LA Metro bus lines serve Altadena. Line 267 runs between El Monte Station and Altadena through Pasadena's Del Mar Station. Line 662 loops between Altadena and Pasadena along Lake Avenue, Altadena Dr., Lincoln Avenue, Washington Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue, and serves the Lake and Del Mar Metro rail stations. If a bus hit you, or you were hurt as a passenger, a public transit agency may be a defendant, and that triggers government claim rules. The same applies if a county vehicle hit you or a county road defect caused your crash. A written claim must reach the county within six months of the crash. Per the county's claims page, it goes to the Executive Officer, Board of Supervisors, Attention: Claims, 500 W. Temple Street, Room 383, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The phone is 213-974-1440. If the county rejects the claim in writing, you generally have six months from that notice to sue (Gov. Code section 945.6). Six months goes fast when you are healing. Moe checks early whether any public entity is involved, and he calendars both dates so you do not lose the case on a technicality.

Deadlines, the Pasadena courthouse and how Moe runs your case

Against a private driver or company, you generally have two years from the crash to file an injury lawsuit (Code Civ. Proc. section 335.1). Property damage has three years. California follows pure comparative negligence, so you can still recover if you were partly at fault, but your award shrinks by your share (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). The LA County locator lists Altadena in the service area of the Pasadena Courthouse, Northeast District, at 300 E. Walnut St., Pasadena. We have not confirmed that unlimited civil injury cases are heard there, so Moe confirms the right filing location for your case before anything is filed. Here is how Moe runs it. You call and reach him. He sends preservation letters, gets the report, collects your records, and handles every insurer call. You pay no fee unless he wins, and the free consultation is open 24/7. Moe's past results include a $100,000 uninsured motorist policy-limit recovery for a woman hit by a driver who fled, and $75,000 after an insurer offered $900. Past results do not predict a similar outcome. Google shows 5.0 stars.

Frequently Asked Questions