A Granada Hills motorcycle accident lawyer makes the insurer prove its helmet argument. California’s pure comparative fault rule means a missing, loose or novelty helmet never bars your claim. The defense must show, usually through an expert, that a DOT helmet worn as Vehicle Code section 27803 requires would have prevented or reduced each injury it wants to discount.
The King Law Firm is a Northridge personal injury firm with its office at 16909 Parthenia Street, Suite 102A, Northridge, CA 91343. It handles motorcycle crash claims for riders and passengers across the north San Fernando Valley, Granada Hills included. Kenneth King has served Los Angeles County for over a decade. He personally oversees every case the firm accepts.
If the adjuster is already asking about your helmet, call The King Law Firm at (818) 452-2510 for a free consultation. The call costs nothing, and you decide what happens next.
Can You Still Recover After a Granada Hills Motorcycle Crash Without a Proper Helmet?
Yes. California follows pure comparative fault under Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804, so a helmet problem can reduce damages but cannot erase the claim. The Granada Hills motorcycle accident attorneys at The King Law Firm build every rider’s case on that rule. A driver who caused the crash still answers for the harm the crash caused.
Look closely at what the helmet question covers. It never decides who caused the collision. A driver who turned left across San Fernando Mission Boulevard in front of you is at fault whatever you had on your head. The helmet bears on a narrower issue, which is how badly you were hurt and which injuries a helmet could have changed.
Insurers know where that line sits, so they raise the helmet early, sometimes on the first call. How far the argument moves a claim turns on your injuries and the medical proof, which a lawyer has to review first.
What California’s Helmet Law Requires of Every Rider and Passenger
California has a universal helmet law. Vehicle Code section 27803 covers the driver and any passenger on a motorcycle, motor-driven cycle or motorized bicycle. Each must wear a safety helmet that meets the standards set under section 27802. Those standards include Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 218, the federal helmet rule at 49 C.F.R. 571.218. Age and riding experience make no difference.
The rule reaches every public road. Subdivision (d) applies it on highways, and Vehicle Code section 360 defines a highway to include a street. Balboa Boulevard, Rinaldi Street and the Ronald Reagan Freeway all count. The one exemption, in subdivision (f), covers certain fully enclosed three-wheeled vehicles weighing at least 900 pounds, which leaves out every ordinary motorcycle.
Three Ways a Helmet Falls Short of Section 27803
Most riders think the law asks one question, helmet or no helmet. It actually asks three. Under subdivision (e), a compliant helmet must be “fastened with the helmet straps” to count. It must also fit “securely without excessive lateral or vertical movement” on your head. A defense lawyer reads that definition word by word, and you should read it the same way.
Riding With No Helmet at All
This is the plainest violation, and it gives the insurer its strongest opening. Even then, the claim survives under comparative fault. The insurer still has to connect the bare head to a specific injury. A rider whose injuries are a shattered ankle and road rash gives the insurer far less to work with than a rider with a skull fracture.
Wearing a Novelty Helmet Without FMVSS 218 Certification
Novelty helmets look like protective gear, but they were never built to pass the federal test. Section 27802(b) bars selling a helmet for motorcycle use that does not meet the state’s requirements. Under section 27803(e), a helmet that misses section 27802 does not count as a safety helmet at all. Two kinds of evidence usually settle whether yours qualifies.
Reading the DOT Certification Label on the Back of the Shell
FMVSS 218 requires a certification label on the outside back of the helmet. It reads “DOT” with “FMVSS No. 218” and “CERTIFIED” beneath it, and the brand and model above it. The DOT symbol’s centerline sits between 1 and 3 inches above the bottom edge of the shell. A second label inside, readable without pulling the padding, gives the maker, the size and the month and year of manufacture.
Weight, Liner and Strap Clues From NHTSA
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration publishes a checklist in its advice on choosing the right motorcycle helmet. It warns that fake DOT labels are sold for helmets that never passed the standard, so the sticker alone settles nothing. Its physical clues cover weight, thickness and hardware.
- An unsafe helmet may weigh a pound or less, while a compliant one usually weighs closer to three pounds.
- An unsafe helmet is usually less than an inch thick and lacks a stiff foam inner liner.
- A plastic buckle that can break in a crash is a warning sign, since compliant straps use solid rivets.
- A rigid spike or similar decoration on the shell signals an unsafe helmet.
Riding With the Strap Open or a Helmet That Does Not Fit
Here is the part many riders miss. A certified helmet worn with the chin strap undone does not meet the statute. Neither does a helmet a size too big that slides around on your head. If your helmet came off in the crash, expect the insurer to argue one of those points. Force alone can also pull a helmet off, so the strap, the scrape marks and the witnesses decide which story fits.
Passengers Carry the Same Duty Under Subdivision (c)
A passenger has an independent duty under the statute. Subdivision (c) makes it unlawful to ride as a passenger if the driver or any passenger is not wearing a compliant helmet. Subdivision (b) makes it unlawful to operate the motorcycle with an unhelmeted passenger aboard. Either way, the passenger keeps a separate claim against the driver who caused the crash.
What the Defense Must Prove Before a Helmet Cuts Your Damages
The burden sits with the defense. Comparative fault is the defendant’s affirmative defense, so the driver’s insurer must prove that you fell short and that the shortfall made your injuries worse. The motor vehicle chapter of California’s civil jury instructions, the CACI 700 series, has nothing written for helmets. It addresses seat belts in CACI No. 712 and stops there.
California’s published appellate law on the helmet defense itself is thin, so both sides argue from the seat belt cases. Whether that argument trims a claim, and by how much, turns on facts such as impact speed and injury type. A lawyer has to review those facts one case at a time.
The Seat Belt Defense California Courts Borrow
Seat belts and helmets are both safety equipment the Vehicle Code requires, so the seat belt rules are the closest guide a court has. The seat belt instruction spells out what a defendant has to prove. The leading appellate case explains how the defendant has to prove it. Neither one lets a jury cut your recovery on a guess about what a helmet might have done.
The Four Elements of CACI No. 712
CACI No. 712 lists four facts the defendant must prove before a jury may reduce damages for a missing seat belt. Each one puts work on the insurer’s side of the table. Applied to a motorcycle helmet, the same four questions look like this.
- A working helmet that met the standard was available to you.
- A reasonably careful rider in your position would have worn it, strapped and sized correctly.
- You did not wear it that way.
- Your injuries would have been avoided or less severe if you had.
The fourth element decides most helmet disputes. It ties any reduction to injuries the helmet would actually have changed.
Why Franklin v. Gibson Demands Expert Proof
Franklin v. Gibson (1982) 138 Cal.App.3d 340 is the case CACI No. 712 cites. The defendant, the court held, must show “what the consequence to the plaintiff would have been had seat belts been used” before any reduction. The defendants there offered no expert evidence on that point. The appellate court struck the jury’s comparative fault reductions of 30% and 35%. In a helmet case, the defense usually tries to fill that need with a biomechanical engineer or a physician.
Can the Insurer Call a Helmet Violation Negligence Per Se?
It can try, under Evidence Code section 669, but the presumption reaches only injuries of the kind the statute was designed to prevent. Section 669 presumes negligence when a violation proximately causes an injury resulting from an occurrence “of the nature which the statute” was meant to prevent. A helmet law guards against head injuries. It says nothing about a broken femur.
For seat belts, Vehicle Code section 27315(i) shuts this door by saying a belt violation does not establish negligence per se. Section 27803 has no matching sentence, so the presumption stays open for the defense to argue. Causation still has to be proved first.
Which Motorcycle Injuries a Helmet Argument Can Reach
A helmet protects the head and part of the face. Because the fourth CACI No. 712 element ties any cut to injuries a helmet would have avoided or lessened, the argument has a built-in limit. A rider’s legs, arms, chest and skin sit outside that protection.
That split shapes how a claim is valued. The Los Angeles motorcycle accident team at The King Law Firm sorts the injuries into two groups before an adjuster does. Where any reduction lands depends on the medical records and expert opinions in your own file.
Head, Brain and Facial Injuries Draw the Fight
A traumatic brain injury, a skull fracture or a broken jaw is where the insurer focuses. Its expert may say a compliant, strapped helmet would have absorbed the blow. Your side answers with the treating doctors and its own expert, who look at impact speed, the point of contact and the injury pattern. An open-face helmet that met FMVSS 218 never covered your jaw in the first place. The CT and MRI records from the trauma team sit at the center of that dispute.
Fractures, Road Rash and Losses a Helmet Never Touches
Many of the most expensive motorcycle injuries have nothing to do with the head. A helmet does nothing for a leg pinned under the bike or skin torn on the pavement. The causation element gives the insurer little to work with on losses like these.
- Fractures of the leg, ankle, pelvis or wrist come from the impact and the fall, not from the head.
- Road rash, skin grafts and the scarring that follows them stay outside a helmet’s reach.
- Lost wages tied to those injuries are measured the same way with or without a helmet.
- Repair or replacement of the motorcycle and your gear is a property claim the helmet does not affect.
Listing these losses apart from any head injury makes the insurer argue each one on its own facts.
How the Collision Report Records Your Helmet After a Granada Hills Crash
Two agencies write the reports, and which one you deal with depends on where you went down. LAPD’s Devonshire Community Police Station, at 10250 Etiwanda Avenue in Northridge, lists Granada Hills among the communities it serves. Collision investigations there belong to the Valley Traffic Division, which handles traffic collisions for all of LAPD’s Valley Bureau. On the freeways, the California Highway Patrol takes over.
Both agencies feed the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System and record safety equipment for every party. The helmet entry is one of the first lines an adjuster reads, so get the report early.
Valley Traffic Division Reports on Surface Streets
For a crash on Balboa Boulevard, Chatsworth Street or another city street in Granada Hills, the report comes from LAPD. The Valley Traffic Division works out of 7870 Nollan Place in Panorama City. LAPD asks you to allow at least 45 days for review before requesting a copy online. You can also mail a request with a $19.00 check or money order to the Records and Identification Division. LAPD releases reports to victims, their representatives and the other people Vehicle Code section 20012 names.
CHP Reports for Crashes on the Ronald Reagan and San Diego Freeways
The Ronald Reagan Freeway, State Route 118, crosses Granada Hills with exits at Balboa Boulevard, Hayvenhurst Avenue and Woodley Avenue before it meets Interstate 405. A crash in those freeway lanes is a CHP case. The CHP West Valley Area office, at 5825 De Soto Avenue in Woodland Hills, took over freeway traffic duties in the Valley from LAPD in 1969. Ask that office for the report, and ask whether officers photographed the scene.
Why the Helmet Code on the Report Is Not the Last Word
The statewide code list gives an officer four helmet entries, and none of them describes the helmet. Code V means the driver’s motorcycle helmet was not used, and W means it was used. X and Y say the same for a passenger. No code exists for a novelty helmet, an open strap or a helmet that flew off on impact.
So a W does not end the insurer’s argument, and a V does not prove it. An officer may arrive after paramedics have already removed the helmet. Witness statements, the paramedics’ patient care report and the helmet itself can confirm the code or contradict it.
Protecting the Helmet and Your Records After a Crash on Balboa Boulevard or the 118
Your helmet is physical evidence in any head injury claim. Its cracks, scrapes and strap show where the blow landed and whether the buckle held. Once it is cleaned, repaired or thrown out, that record is gone. These steps protect it and the paper trail around it.
- Keep the helmet exactly as it came off, unwashed and unrepaired, in a bag away from heat.
- Photograph the inside label with the month and year of manufacture and the DOT label on the back before anyone else handles it.
- Find the receipt, the box or the online order that shows the brand, model and size you bought.
- Copy any helmet camera or dash camera footage the same day, because many cameras record over older files.
- Request the paramedics’ report and the emergency records from Providence Holy Cross Medical Center at 15031 Rinaldi Street in Mission Hills, or whichever hospital treated you.
An insurer that asks to take the helmet is asking for your best evidence. A fair inspection happens with both sides present and the chain of custody written down. If a party intentionally destroys evidence, CACI No. 204 lets a jury decide it would have been unfavorable to that party.
Where a Granada Hills Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Files Your Case and How Long You Have
Many motorcycle claims settle, but the filing deadline runs whether talks are going well or not. The rules below come from the court’s own filing locator and the state’s limitation statutes. Which deadline applies to you depends on who was at fault and whether a public agency was involved, and a lawyer should confirm both early.
A helmet dispute can slow negotiations while each side lines up experts. That delay does not stop the statute of limitations. Filing preserves the claim while the helmet questions get answered through expert discovery.
Chatsworth Courthouse Handles Unlimited Cases From ZIP 91344
The Superior Court’s filing court locator gives the same answer for both community names it lists under ZIP 91344, Granada Hills and Los Angeles. Unlimited civil cases, meaning claims over $35,000, go to the Chatsworth Courthouse at 9425 Penfield Avenue. Limited civil cases of $35,000 or less, other than collections, go to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown. The locator itself warns that caseload adjustments in the San Fernando Valley can move a case, so the clerk’s office has the final word.
Two Years for the Driver, Six Months for a Public Agency
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives you two years from the crash to sue the driver who hit you. A claim against a public entity runs on a much shorter clock. Government Code section 911.2 requires a written claim within six months when a government vehicle or a road defect helped cause the crash. On Granada Hills streets that entity is usually the City of Los Angeles, and on the 118 it is the State of California. Missing the six-month window can cost the public claim even while the two-year deadline is open.
Questions Granada Hills Riders Ask About Helmets and Injury Claims
These helmet and gear questions come up again and again after crashes in the north Valley. Each answer gives the rule and its source. Your own facts can change how a rule applies, so treat each answer as the start of a conversation, not a forecast.
Does California Require Motorcycle Jackets, Gloves or Boots?
California’s helmet statute does not. Vehicle Code section 27803 covers helmets and says nothing about jackets, gloves or boots. An insurer that blames missing gear has to rely on ordinary negligence. It still has to prove the gear would have prevented or reduced a specific injury.
Does a DOT Helmet Made Before 2013 Still Count?
It can. NHTSA explains that helmets certified before May 13, 2013, may carry a back label reading only “DOT,” without the newer “FMVSS No. 218” and “CERTIFIED” lines. The inside label with the month and year of manufacture helps prove which rule applied. An expert may still check an older liner and shell for wear.
Should I Discuss My Helmet in a Recorded Statement?
You have no contract with the other driver’s insurer, and no California law makes you give that insurer a recorded statement. Anything you say about the brand, the fit or the strap goes into its file. Many riders talk with a lawyer before deciding whether to give one.
What if the Driver Who Hit Me Had No Insurance?
Uninsured motorist coverage on your own motorcycle policy may pay under Insurance Code section 11580.2. The helmet argument can come up there too, since an uninsured motorist claim weighs fault and damages much as a lawsuit against the driver would. The firm’s article on what happens when the other driver has no insurance walks through the coverage rules.
Can I Make a Claim Against the Helmet Maker?
Possibly. If a certified helmet cracked or its strap failed in a way it should not have, the manufacturer may share responsibility. California adopted strict product liability in Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc. (1963) 59 Cal.2d 57. That claim depends on keeping the helmet intact for testing.
Call a Granada Hills Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Before the Adjuster Asks for Your Helmet
The helmet question arrives early, and your answers shape the rest of the claim. A Granada Hills motorcycle accident lawyer at The King Law Firm can review the report code, the helmet labels and your medical records first. Kenneth King personally oversees every case, and his attorney profile covers his background.
Call (818) 452-2510 for a free consultation about your crash. Bring the helmet photos, the report number and any medical records you have. Would you rather write first? Use the firm’s contact page and describe what happened.
Riders hurt in other kinds of crashes can start with the firm’s Granada Hills personal injury page. Every claim is different, and no lawyer can promise a result. A review shows where the helmet argument is strong, where it is weak and which deadline applies.