Claims After a Head-On Crash With a Wrong-Way Driver

Attorney Answer

A driver who crosses into oncoming traffic and hits you head-on is responsible for the harm. In these cases the hard part is rarely fault — it is finding enough insurance behind it to cover injuries this serious.

Liability rests on Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a): “Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself.” Driving the wrong way on a divided highway breaks that duty about as plainly as it can be broken. Intoxication does not create a separate civil rule; it makes the ordinary one easy to prove.

What you can recover is measured by Cal. Civ. Code § 3333: “For the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, the measure of damages, except where otherwise expressly provided by this Code, is the amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not.” That reaches medical care already received and care still needed, income lost and earning capacity affected, the vehicle, and the human cost of the injuries.

Coverage is usually the constraint. For a crash on this date, the minimum liability policy a California driver had to carry was $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident for injuries, with $5,000 for property damage; the higher $30,000/$60,000/$15,000 minimums apply only to accidents on or after January 1, 2025 (Cal. Veh. Code § 16056(a)). Serious head-on injuries routinely exceed a minimum policy. That is what your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is for. Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2 requires uninsured motorist coverage in every bodily injury liability policy issued or delivered in California unless it has been deleted by written agreement on the forms the statute prescribes — many people carry it without knowing, so read your declarations page.

Expect an argument that you could have avoided the collision. It rarely goes far in a wrong-way case, and even where some share is assigned, California reduces recovery in proportion rather than ending the claim — the pure comparative system the Supreme Court reaffirmed in Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978). Finally, if there is a criminal case against the driver, it runs on its own track. It does not extend your civil deadline and it is not your case; the prosecutor represents the state.

What you can do

1. Get all the medical care you need and keep every record and bill, including anything you paid out of pocket.

2. Get the traffic collision report and note whether the driver was arrested, cited, or tested.

3. Ask your own insurer for your declarations page and open an uninsured/underinsured motorist claim if that coverage may apply (Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2).

4. Keep proof of income you have lost — pay stubs, schedules, a letter from your employer.

5. Do not give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement, and do not sign a release or settle, before you know the full extent of your injuries.

6. Ask a local personal injury lawyer promptly about every possible source of coverage, including your own policy and any policy that covered the other vehicle. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or the death of, an individual caused by another’s wrongful act or neglect. Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims carry deadlines of their own. Some are contractual notice and demand periods set by the policy, but the one that ends the claim is statutory: under Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(i)(1), no cause of action accrues unless, within two years of the accident, suit has been filed against the uninsured motorist, agreement as to the amount due has been concluded, or arbitration has been formally instituted by written notice sent to the insurer by certified mail. When each clock started depends on your facts. Have a local attorney check the dates against your own file rather than relying on a general rule.