Hulburt Law Firm represents cyclists and families after serious and fatal bicycle crashes throughout San Diego County. We focus on life-changing cases involving brain injuries, spinal injuries, severe fractures, permanent disability, and wrongful death.
We move quickly to preserve evidence, investigate the driver, inspect the roadway, and identify all available insurance coverage. Our attorneys have recovered more than $150 million for personal injury clients, including multi-million dollar results in bicycle cases involving negligent drivers, commercial vehicles, unsafe bike lanes, and dangerous road conditions.
Injured in a bicycle accident? Get help today.

Hulburt Law Firm specializes in handling bicycle accident cases involving serious injury and death. We represent injured cyclists and their families against negligent drivers, commercial vehicle operators, product manufacturers, property owners, contractors, and public entities responsible for unsafe roads.
Many bicycle crashes happen because a driver fails to see, yield to, or safely pass a cyclist. These cases may involve unsafe passing, drifting into a bike lane, rear-end impacts, dooring, distracted driving, or a failure to keep a proper lookout.
Drivers sometimes claim that a cyclist “came out of nowhere.” In many cases, the evidence tells a different story. Vehicle damage, sight lines, roadway layout, video, witness statements, and crash reconstruction can help show whether the driver had enough time and distance to see the cyclist and avoid the crash.
Intersections are especially dangerous for cyclists. Drivers may turn left across an oncoming rider, turn right across a bike lane, fail to yield from a driveway, or misjudge a cyclist’s speed, position, or right of way.
These cases often require careful review of signal timing, turn movements, lane positioning, visibility, vehicle speed, video evidence, and who entered the intersection first.
Speeding, distraction, drunk driving, and drug-impaired driving can directly lead to bicycle collisions. A speeding driver has less time to see and react to a cyclist, a distracted driver may drift into a bike lane or fail to notice a rider ahead, and an impaired driver may misjudge distance, speed, turns, or the cyclist’s right of way.
These cases often depend on evidence showing how the driver’s unsafe conduct caused the crash, including vehicle speed, phone use, braking, steering, lane position, witness statements, video evidence, and alcohol or drug impairment.
A hit-and-run bicycle crash can leave an injured cyclist without immediate answers about who caused the collision or what insurance may apply. These cases often require quick investigation to locate witnesses, preserve nearby video, review debris or vehicle damage, and identify the driver before evidence disappears.
Even when the driver is not found, there may still be potential insurance coverage through the cyclist’s own auto policy, a household policy, or another available source. Early investigation can help protect both the claim and the evidence needed to prove what happened.
Learn more about hit-and-run bicycle accidents in San Diego and the legal steps cyclists should take when the driver flees.
E-bike crashes can involve the same driver-negligence issues as traditional bicycle cases, including unsafe passing, right hooks, distracted driving, and failure to yield. They may also raise additional questions about e-bike classification, speed, helmet rules, roadway use, braking, or motor defects.
If you were hurt riding an electric bike, our San Diego e-bike accident attorney page explains the e-bike classes, local ordinances, and claim issues that make these cases different.
Bicycle crashes involving rideshare, delivery, or commercial drivers can be more complicated than ordinary driver-negligence cases. The driver may have been transporting a passenger, making a delivery, looking for an address, following app instructions, or operating a company vehicle.
These cases may require investigation into the driver’s work status, app activity, route, schedule, vehicle ownership, employer or contractor relationships, company policies, and all available insurance coverage.
Some bicycle crashes involve more than a careless driver. Road design, poor maintenance, unsafe bike lane transitions, debris, potholes, sight-line problems, signal timing, confusing markings, construction zones, or missing signs can all contribute to a serious crash.
These cases require careful investigation of the roadway, not just the people involved in the collision. Depending on the facts, a public entity, contractor, property owner, or other party may share responsibility for creating or failing to fix a dangerous condition.
When a bicycle crash takes a person’s life, the family is left facing grief, unanswered questions, and decisions they should not have to handle alone. These cases often require prompt investigation to preserve evidence, understand how the crash happened, and identify all responsible parties and available insurance coverage.
A wrongful death claim may help surviving family members seek accountability for the loss of love, companionship, care, support, and financial contributions caused by the crash.
To learn more, see our guide to fatal bicycle accident claims in California.
Conor and Leslie Hulburt founded Hulburt Law Firm to help injured people uncover the truth and acheive justice. Bicycle cases often require more than proving that a driver made a mistake. The best cases are built by preserving evidence early, challenging unfair assumptions about cyclists, identifying every responsible party, and showing the full human impact of the injury or loss.
Conor has recovered more than $150 million for injured clients and grieving families, including multi-million-dollar results for cyclists struck by negligent drivers, commercial vehicles, and dangerous public roadways. His advocacy has earned recognition from Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, Best of the Bar, and Martindale-Hubbell.
Together, Conor and Leslie make sure each client receives direct attorney attention throughout the case. The firm accepts a limited number of cases so each one can be carefully investigated, prepared with the right experts, and positioned for the best possible result.

Our attorneys have recovered significant results for cyclists and other catastrophically injured clients in cases involving negligent drivers, dangerous public roads, commercial vehicles, and defective products.
Jury verdict against Caltrans for a 13-year-old boy who was hit by a car while using a dangerous crosswalk.
A sudden tire failure caused an SUV to fishtail and crash into a tree on the side of a San Diego County highway, killing a beloved husband and father.
A massive, improperly installed gate collapsed on a subcontracted worker who was asked by the general contractor to paint it, causing his tragic death.
A negligent driver rear-ended a cyclist in Carlsbad who was lawfully using the bike lane, causing a severe spine injury.
A commercial truck driver drifted off the road and struck and killed a San Diego bicyclist lawfully riding on the shoulder.
A negligent driver swerved across multiple lanes and struck a North San Diego County cyclist from behind, causing a serious head and brain injury.
During your free case review, we listen to what happened, how your injuries are affecting your life, and what questions you have. We review any photographs, police reports, medical records, insurance letters, or witness information you already have. We will give you an honest assessment of the potential case, including the strengths, challenges, likely next steps, and any urgent deadlines that may apply.
Once you decide to move forward, our team begins a focused investigation. In bicycle cases, that can include examining the crash scene, inspecting your bike and safety gear, reviewing police and traffic collision reports, obtaining dash-cam or traffic-camera footage when available, and interviewing witnesses. We work to secure key evidence early, before it’s lost or overwritten.
To fully explain what happened and how it has affected you, we collaborate with carefully selected experts. Depending on the case, that may include accident reconstructionists, medical specialists, life-care planners, and economists. They help us analyze how the collision occurred, document the nature and extent of your injuries, and calculate the financial impact on you and your family.
With the evidence and expert input in hand, we build the strategy and the demand package. That means demonstrating liability and damages in a single persuasive presentation. A well-built demand package is often the most important document in a bicycle case because it is the carrier's first look at what trial will cost them.
We handle all communications with the insurance carriers and defense lawyers so you can focus on your recovery. The lawyer handling your case is the lawyer at the table, presenting the evidence, explaining the medicine, and walking the carrier through the trial exposure they face. Throughout negotiations, we keep you informed, explain every offer, and tell you plainly what we think it is worth.
If the carrier will not pay a fair number, we file suit and prepare the case for trial. Litigation involves written discovery, depositions, expert reports, and pretrial motions, and the case can resolve at any point along the way. If it does not, we present your case to the jury through your testimony, witnesses, experts, and exhibits built to make the full impact of the crash unmistakable.
California law gives bicyclists the right to use the road, and drivers must treat cyclists with reasonable care. When a driver, company, public entity, or another party causes a serious bicycle crash, the injured cyclist may have a claim for compensation.
Bicyclists in California generally have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers. Cyclists are allowed to use public roads, and they are also required to follow traffic signals, signs, and other rules of the road.
California law generally requires a cyclist riding slower than traffic to stay as close to the right side of the road as practicable. But there are important exceptions. A cyclist may take the lane when passing, preparing for a left turn, avoiding hazards, or riding in a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and vehicle to safely share.
Cyclists must also follow rules for lights, reflectors, and helmets. After dark, bicycles must have required lighting and reflectors. Helmets are required for riders under 18 and for Class 3 e-bike riders. A violation of one of these rules does not automatically defeat a claim, but it may become part of the comparative-fault analysis.
Learn more about bicycle laws and regulations in San Diego.
Drivers must use reasonable care around bicyclists. That includes keeping a proper lookout, controlling their speed, yielding when required, checking before turning or opening a door, and giving cyclists enough space when passing.
Many bicycle crashes happen when a driver turns across a cyclist’s path, drifts into a bike lane, opens a door into traffic, speeds through an area where cyclists are present, or fails to see a rider who was there to be seen. In a serious bicycle accident case, driver conduct must be thoroughly examined.
California follows a comparative fault system. That means more than one person or entity can share responsibility for a bicycle accident. A driver, cyclist, commercial company, public entity, contractor, property owner, or another party may all be examined depending on how the crash happened.
Insurance companies often try to reduce what they owe by blaming the cyclist. They may argue that the rider was outside the bike lane, hard to see, riding too fast, not using lights, or should have avoided the crash. Those arguments should be tested against the evidence, including vehicle speed, sight lines, roadway layout, lighting, video, witness statements, bike damage, vehicle damage, and crash reconstruction.
Learn more about driver mistakes that cause bicycle crashes.
Responsibility for a bicycle crash may extend beyond the driver who hit the cyclist. Depending on how the crash happened, the case may involve several people, companies, or public entities connected to the vehicle, roadway, worksite, or defective product.
Potentially responsible parties may include:
Identifying every potentially responsible party is especially important in serious bicycle cases because multiple insurance policies or sources of recovery may apply.
Uncover more potential defendants after a bike crash.
Some bicycle crashes are caused or worsened by dangerous road conditions, including potholes, unsafe bike lane designs, missing signs, poor visibility, confusing intersections, unsafe construction zones, or bike lanes that disappear without warning. When a public road condition contributes to a crash, a city, county, Caltrans, or another public agency may share responsibility.
These cases are different from ordinary driver-negligence claims. A public entity case usually requires proof that the public agency created the dangerous condition, knew about it, or should have known about it in time to fix the hazard before the crash. Important evidence may include prior complaints, prior crashes, maintenance records, inspection history, public records, design plans, photographs, video, and 311 service requests.
Government claims also have shorter deadlines. In many cases, an injured cyclist must file a written government claim within six months of the crash before filing a lawsuit. Because roadway conditions can change and public-entity deadlines are strict, these cases should be evaluated as early as possible.
See our guide to suing a public agency for a bicycle accident in California.
The compensation available after a bicycle crash depends on the injuries, how the crash happened, the long-term effects of the crash, and the insurance coverage or other sources of recovery available.
In a serious bicycle accident case, damages may include emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, future medical treatment, lost income, reduced earning capacity, pain, physical limitations, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and damage to the bicycle, helmet, electronics, and other gear.
When a bicycle crash causes permanent disability, brain injury, spinal injury, severe fractures, or wrongful death, it is important to understand both the immediate losses and the future impact of the crash. That may require input from doctors, life-care planners, economists, vocational experts, family members, and others who can help explain how the crash has changed the cyclist’s life.
See our resource on bicycle accident compensation for a more detailed discussion.
Insurance coverage after a bicycle crash is not always limited to the driver’s personal auto policy. Depending on the facts, coverage may be available through the at-fault driver, the owner of the vehicle, the cyclist’s own auto policy, a rideshare or delivery company, a commercial vehicle policy, a public entity, or another responsible party.
This matters because serious bicycle injuries can quickly exceed a basic insurance policy. A careful investigation should identify every available source of coverage, including liability insurance, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, MedPay, commercial coverage, and any additional policies that may apply.
Explore further: What Insurance Covers a Bicycle Accident in California?
California bicycle accident cases are subject to strict deadlines. In many personal injury cases, the general statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury. Shorter deadlines may apply if the crash involved a public entity, government vehicle, public roadway, dangerous bike lane, construction zone, or dangerous condition of public property.
Claims involving government entities often require a written government claim within six months. Missing that deadline can affect the right to bring a lawsuit, even when the injuries are serious and the fault appears clear.
Bicycle accident cases also have practical evidence deadlines. Video can be erased, vehicles and bicycles can be repaired or destroyed, roadway conditions can change, and witness memories can fade. Speaking with an attorney early can help protect both the legal claim and the evidence needed to prove what happened.
Learn more about your time limit to sue after a bike crash.
We investigate the crash scene, vehicle and bicycle damage, witnesses, video, roadway conditions, traffic signals, insurance coverage, and other key evidence.
We use scene photography, drone footage, 3D reconstruction, and biomechanical animation to show a jury what happened.
Defense attorneys and insurance companies know us and respect us. We assess the full extent of your damages, and we identify every party that shares fault.
We have taken on the largest corporations, insurance companies, and defense firms in the country and won.
From providing regular case updates to achieving life-changing results, we genuinely care about each and every one of our clients.
Get medical care first. If you are able, report the crash, take photos of the scene, vehicle, bicycle, helmet, injuries, and road conditions, and get witness information. Avoid giving a recorded statement to an insurance company before you understand your rights. Bicycle accident evidence can disappear quickly, so it is important to preserve video, witness information, and physical evidence as soon as possible.
Read more about what to do after a San Diego bicycle accident.
Yes. California does not require most adults riding traditional bicycles to wear helmets. Helmets are required for riders under 18 and for Class 3 e-bike riders. Even when helmet use becomes an issue, the question is whether a helmet would have prevented or reduced the specific injuries involved in the case.
Not automatically. California uses comparative fault, which means responsibility can be divided between more than one person or entity. But drivers have duties around cyclists, including keeping a proper lookout, yielding when required, passing safely, avoiding unsafe turns, and checking before opening a door. Fault should be based on the evidence, not assumptions about cyclists.
A hit-and-run bicycle crash should be reported to law enforcement as soon as possible. Quick investigation may help identify the driver through witnesses, nearby cameras, vehicle debris, license plate information, or business video. Even if the driver is not found, the cyclist may still have potential coverage through uninsured motorist benefits on their own auto policy or a household policy.
Explore more options when the driver is uninsured or underinsured.
In many California personal injury cases, the general deadline is two years from the date of injury. Shorter deadlines may apply if the crash involved a public entity, government vehicle, public roadway, dangerous bike lane, construction zone, or dangerous condition of public property. Government claims often require a written claim within six months.
Read more about the bicycle accident statute of limitations in San Diego.
When a defective component (a failed brake, a defective e-bike battery, a blown tire, a defective steering or wheel assembly) contributed to the crash, the manufacturer can be held liable under California product liability law in addition to any at-fault driver. Product liability claims do not require proof that the manufacturer was negligent, only that the product was defective and that the defect caused the injury. These claims are usually pursued in parallel with a negligence claim against the driver, and they often add a significant additional layer of coverage.
Possibly. If a dangerous road condition contributed to the crash, a city, county, Caltrans, or another public agency may share responsibility. These cases may involve potholes, unsafe bike lane designs, missing signs, poor visibility, confusing intersections, dangerous construction zones, or bike lanes that disappear without warning. Public-entity claims have special rules and shorter deadlines.
Learn more about road hazards and bicycle accidents in San Diego.
Crashes involving rideshare, delivery, or commercial drivers can involve more than the driver’s personal insurance. Coverage may depend on whether the driver was working, logged into an app, carrying a passenger, making a delivery, or operating a company vehicle. These cases often require investigation into app records, route information, employment status, company policies, and available insurance coverage.
Children's bicycle injury cases follow the same rules as adult cases, with two important differences. First, California Code of Civil Procedure §352 tolls the statute of limitations until the child turns 18, which means the deadline to file extends well beyond two years from the crash. Second, any settlement involving a minor requires court approval through a Minor's Compromise process designed to protect the child's interests. We handle every step of that process and work to ensure the child's recovery is preserved for their future medical and educational needs.
California Code of Civil Procedure §377.60 gives surviving spouses, registered domestic partners, children, and certain other family members the right to file a wrongful death claim. Recoverable damages include funeral and burial expenses, the loss of the decedent's financial support, and the loss of love, companionship, society, and guidance. A separate survival action under §377.30 allows the estate to recover the damages the cyclist sustained between the crash and the time of death. Fatal bicycle cases deserve the most thorough investigation a firm can give, and we treat them that way.
Most bicycle cases resolve through negotiation, with or without a lawsuit being filed. The timeline depends on the severity of the injuries, the complexity of liability, and the position the insurance carrier takes. Straightforward cases may resolve in nine to twelve months. Cases involving catastrophic injuries, public entity claims, or multiple defendants typically take longer, and some go to trial.
See our guides to the process and timeline for San Diego bicycle accidents and bicycle accident settlements.
Compensation depends on the facts of the case and the injuries involved. It may include medical bills, future medical care, lost income, reduced earning capacity, pain, physical limitations, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and damage to the bicycle, helmet, electronics, and other gear. In fatal bicycle cases, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim.
Bicycle accident cases are handled on a contingency fee basis. That means there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you. The initial case review is free.
Hulburt Law Firm proudly serves cyclists and their families throughout San Diego County, including San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, La Mesa, El Cajon, Santee, Poway, Escondido, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, and surrounding communities.

Simply fill out the form or call 619.821.0500 to receive a free case review. We’ll evaluate what happened, your injuries, and potential defendants to determine how we can best help you.