Personal Injury Lawyer in Long Beach

If a crash on the 710, Pacific Coast Highway or a side street near Belmont Shore sent you to the hospital, an insurance adjuster is probably already calling you. Talk to a Long Beach personal injury lawyer before you answer. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. is a Los Angeles motor-vehicle injury firm, and attorney Moe Abdallah handles Long Beach cases himself, by call and text. We take crash cases only, so our time goes to evidence, medical records and the insurer's math. This page is a local guide. You will read how crashes happen here, who writes the report, where your case gets heard, which hospitals treat you, and the deadlines that can end a claim. The consultation is free, you can call (323) 716-1992 any hour, and we speak Spanish.

How we help injured people in Long Beach

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

Long Beach crash numbers, and what they mean for your claim

Long Beach has a lot of dangerous crashes. The California Office of Traffic Safety ranked it first among 15 comparable cities for total fatal and injury crash victims in 2023, with 3,774 victims. It also ranked first for crashes between 9pm and 3am (485) and second for alcohol-involved victims (373). The 2022 ranking looks just as bad for people outside a car. Long Beach came in second of 15 for pedestrian victims (359), second for bicyclist victims (233) and third for motorcycle victims (173). Local reporting adds that the city logged 53 fatal traffic collisions in 2025, its most in more than ten years. Of the dead, 32 were walking, biking or riding e-scooters. In 2016 the City Council set a Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2026, and the city plans speed cameras at 18 locations. None of this decides your case. It does show the stakes. Adjusters take a claim seriously when it comes with photos, medical records and a clear timeline. A phone call and a hopeful guess get far less.

The freeways and streets where Long Beach drivers get hurt

Six highways run through or along the city. The I-710 (Long Beach Freeway) is the most direct route between the port complex and the inland railyards, so it stays loaded with trucks. The I-405 (San Diego Freeway) and the I-605 (San Gabriel River Freeway) carry commuters through Long Beach, and SR-91 (Artesia Freeway) and SR-22 (Garden Grove Freeway) tie it to neighboring cities and Orange County. SR-1, Pacific Coast Highway, is the long surface route that links the neighborhoods. Orange Avenue and Artesia Boulevard are major surface streets. Long Beach Post reported on a resident pushing for speed humps on Orange Avenue between Seventh Street and Hellman Avenue because drivers speed there. LAist described a rollover crash at 10th Street and Elm Avenue, where neighbors in the Washington area worry about speeding. No official city list of the worst intersections exists, so we will not invent one. For your claim, the exact spot where you were hit matters most. It tells us who owns the road, which camera might have filmed it and which agency wrote the report. Port trucks on the I-710 and I-405 are a big part of that picture, and our Long Beach truck accident lawyer page covers drayage carriers and the CHP offices that write those reports.

Police reports, city claims and who to notify in Long Beach

Long Beach runs its own police department, so LAPD and the Sheriff do not handle a crash on a city street. To get your collision report, mail the department's release application, with a copy of your photo ID, to 400 W. Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90802, attention Information Management Division. The fee is $30, though crime victims pay nothing, and the department says the wait can run about six months. Lawyers and insurers can ask about status at PD-RequestStatus@longbeach.gov. Freeway crashes usually belong to the CHP. If anyone was hurt or damage passed $1,000, California also expects an SR-1 report to the DMV within 10 days. If a city vehicle or a city road condition played a part, the rules change. You have to present a written claim to the City Clerk, 411 W. Ocean Blvd., within six months of the injury, under Government Code section 911.2. The city has its own claim form and instructions online. Crashes on state highways go to a different entity. We work out who owns the road before any clock runs out.

Where your Long Beach injury case is heard and where you are treated

The local courthouse is the Los Angeles Superior Court's Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia Ave. The California Courts website lists 31 courtrooms there for criminal, traffic, civil and family matters, and the courthouse number is (562) 256-3100. Where your case is filed and heard depends on where the crash happened, where the defendants are based and how the court assigns injury cases. We check before we file. For treatment, Long Beach has two Level II trauma centers. MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center treats adults and children and was verified by the American College of Surgeons in 2017. St. Mary Medical Center, run by Dignity Health at 1050 Linden Ave., is also Level II. Your first chart from either hospital matters. It records what you said and what the doctors saw on day one. Tell every provider about the crash and every new symptom, even small ones. Adjusters quote gaps and vague notes back to you later.

Buses, trains and city vehicles in Long Beach injury claims

Long Beach Transit runs the buses here and says it serves 14 cities across more than 100 square miles, including Long Beach, Lakewood and Signal Hill. The LA Metro A Line light rail ends at the Downtown Long Beach station. If a Metro train or a city truck hurt you, you are dealing with a public entity, and public entities play by special rules. After a Long Beach Transit bus crash, we confirm early which of these claim rules apply. You have six months to present a written claim (Government Code section 911.2). If the agency rejects it in writing, you then have six months from that notice to file suit (section 945.6). Miss the first deadline and you may ask permission to file a late claim, but that request must come within one year (section 911.4). A claim against a private driver gives you more room, generally two years to sue under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Bus cases also reward fast evidence work. The operator holds the onboard video, driver schedules and maintenance files. Our first move is a prompt letter telling them to keep it all.

Every kind of Long Beach crash we handle

Moe takes motor-vehicle injury cases only, and each type has its own playbook. Car crashes turn on fault, photos and the other driver's policy limits. Truck crashes near the harbor involve carriers, logs and black-box data. Insurers blame motorcycle riders for lane splitting or no helmet more often than the facts support. Cyclists and pedestrians face the same bias, plus the physics of a body against a car. Rideshare cases bring Uber or Lyft coverage into play. Bus, hit-and-run and drunk-driving crashes each carry their own evidence and their own insurance fights. Brain injuries and wrongful death claims often grow out of these crashes, and they need doctors, life-care planners and patience. If you ride, our Long Beach motorcycle and bicycle pages go deeper, and our brain injury page covers the symptoms people miss. We do not handle dog bites, slip-and-falls or medical malpractice. We will say so on the first call instead of wasting your time. When a crash takes a life, our Long Beach wrongful death lawyer page explains who can file, who shares the money and what the Medical Examiner does.

How Moe handles a Long Beach case, and what you pay

It starts with a call. Moe answers, you tell your story, and he explains what you can and cannot do. Next we send preservation letters, request video, collect the police report and pull your treatment records. Your own insurer and the other side's will both call you. Do not give a recorded statement, and do not sign a medical release broader than your injuries. California follows pure comparative negligence, so you can recover even if you share some blame, but your award shrinks by your percentage of fault (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). Minimum auto liability limits are only $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, so we also look for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Past results include $105,000 for an uninsured client with a broken sternum and $75,000 after an insurer first offered $900. Every case is different, and past results do not predict a similar outcome. You pay nothing unless we win, and the consultation is free 24/7.

Frequently Asked Questions