Encino looks calm from the hillside, but its roads carry some of the heaviest traffic in the San Fernando Valley. The US-101 Ventura Freeway cuts straight through the community, Ventura Boulevard runs parallel to it as the main commercial artery, and Balboa Boulevard channels a constant stream of cars between the freeway, the Sepulveda Basin, and the neighborhoods to the north and south. When those streams collide, people get hurt. If that person is you or someone you love, an Encino car accident lawyer at Nazaryan Law, APC can take the legal fight off your shoulders while you focus on healing.
Our firm is based in Woodland Hills, only minutes from Encino on the 101, and we have built our practice around one idea: injured people deserve an attorney who actually works their case. At Nazaryan Law, APC, attorney Artin Nazaryan handles cases personally, from the first phone call through settlement or trial. Consultations are free, we advance the costs, and you owe no fee unless we win your case.
Ask anyone who commutes through Encino what the 101 is like between Balboa Boulevard and the Sepulveda Pass approach, and you will hear the same word: unpredictable. Traffic can go from seventy miles per hour to a dead stop in seconds, and that speed differential is what produces the violent rear-end and chain-reaction crashes we see in this stretch. When the freeway jams, drivers pour onto Ventura Boulevard and Burbank Boulevard looking for a way around, bringing freeway impatience onto surface streets lined with shops, offices, and driveways.
Then there is the geography. South of Ventura Boulevard, Encino climbs into the hills on narrow, winding streets that feed toward Mulholland Drive. Those roads combine blind curves, parked cars, and drivers unfamiliar with the terrain. North of the boulevard, weekend traffic floods Balboa Boulevard toward Anthony C. Beilenson Park, better known to locals as Balboa Park, where sports leagues, the lake, and basin recreation draw thousands of visitors. Every one of these patterns creates its own kind of collision, and we have handled them all.
Before we talk about crash types, it is worth talking about what these collisions do to the human body, because the injury is the reason the claim exists. High-speed freeway impacts and hard side-impact collisions transfer enormous force through the spine, brain, and joints. Common injuries in the cases we handle include whiplash and other soft tissue injuries of the neck and back, herniated discs with radiating pain or numbness, concussions and traumatic brain injuries, fractured bones, torn ligaments in the knees and shoulders, and lacerations that leave permanent scars.
Many Encino crash victims are evaluated at Encino Hospital Medical Center on Ventura Boulevard before following up with orthopedic, spine, and pain management physicians. Two rules serve every injured person well. First, get examined the day of the crash, even if you believe you are only shaken up; adrenaline masks pain, and delayed symptoms are the norm with disc and brain injuries, not the exception. Second, follow through with the treatment your doctors recommend. Gaps and missed appointments become exhibits in the insurance company's argument that you were never really hurt.
The Ventura Freeway through Encino produces rear-end crashes at the back of sudden slowdowns, sideswipes in the weave between on-ramps and off-ramps at Balboa, White Oak, and Hayvenhurst, and multi-vehicle pileups when one collision triggers a chain reaction. Freeway cases move fast: vehicles are towed, debris is cleared, and camera footage is overwritten. The sooner we are involved, the more evidence we can lock down.
Ventura Boulevard through Encino is a working street: restaurants, banks, medical offices, and retail, each with its own driveway. Left turns across multiple lanes of traffic, cars pulling out of parking spots, and distracted drivers scanning for addresses produce broadside and rear-end collisions all day long. These cases often come down to right-of-way, and nearby businesses frequently have exterior cameras that captured the crash. We send preservation requests early, before that footage disappears.
On weekends, Balboa Boulevard near Anthony C. Beilenson Park fills with families heading to the lake, the ballfields, and the basin trails. Congested left turns into park entrances, pedestrians and cyclists crossing to reach the recreation areas, and impatient through traffic create a mix that leads to intersection crashes and pedestrian collisions. Injury claims involving pedestrians and cyclists are ones we treat with particular urgency, because the injuries are almost always on the severe end.
The winding streets that climb from Ventura Boulevard toward Mulholland Drive are beautiful and unforgiving. Blind curves, minimal shoulders, and grades that punish inattention lead to head-on near misses, solo runoffs, and collisions with parked vehicles. When another driver crosses the center line on a canyon road, the closing speeds make even a moderate crash serious. These cases can also involve roadway design and maintenance issues, which raises special deadlines discussed below.
Some drivers flee because they have no license, no insurance, or something to hide. If the driver who hit you took off on Ventura Boulevard or vanished after a freeway sideswipe, your case is not over. Your own uninsured motorist coverage was built for exactly this moment, and we handle those claims regularly.
California is a pure comparative negligence state under Li v. Yellow Cab. Even if you bear some share of the blame, you can still recover damages reduced by your percentage of fault. This matters enormously in Encino crash patterns like left turns on Ventura Boulevard or merges on the 101, where adjusters reflexively argue that both drivers contributed. An adjuster's fault percentage is an opening position, not a verdict. We contest inflated fault assignments with photographs, vehicle damage analysis, witness statements, and, where available, video.
From the moment we take your case, the insurance carrier's phone calls, letters, and recorded statement requests come to us instead of you. That alone removes one of the biggest sources of stress after a crash, and it removes the carrier's best tool: getting an injured, unrepresented person to say something that undercuts their own claim.
While you treat, we build. We gather the traffic collision report, medical records and bills, wage loss documentation, and photographic evidence, and we present the carrier with a complete, organized demand that prices your claim on the full measure of your damages: past and future medical care, lost earnings, diminished earning capacity where it applies, and the pain, limitations, and disruption the crash brought into your life. If the carrier will not pay what the case is worth, we file suit in Los Angeles County and litigate. Carriers price cases differently when they know the firm across the table actually tries cases to conclusion. If you want to understand the process step by step, our guide on how to file a car accident claim in California walks through it in plain English.
Plenty of the cars sharing the 101 with you tonight are uninsured, and many more carry limits too small to matter in a serious injury case. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own policy compensates you when the at-fault driver has no insurance or cannot be identified after a hit-and-run. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage makes up the difference when the at-fault driver's policy pays out but falls short of your actual damages.
These claims have their own procedures, their own deadlines, and their own negotiating dynamics, because your own carrier now sits on the other side of the table and evaluates your claim the way any insurer evaluates a payout. Having handled both sides of that dynamic in countless negotiations, we know how to document and present a UM or UIM claim so it is taken seriously from the first letter.
Under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, you generally have two years from the date of your Encino crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. Wait longer and the courthouse doors close, regardless of how badly you were hurt or how clear the other driver's fault was.
There is a much shorter deadline hiding inside many cases. If your crash involved a government vehicle, a public employee on the job, or a dangerous condition of public property, such as a defective signal or a hazardous roadway configuration, Government Code section 911.2 generally requires a written claim to the responsible public entity within six months. Canyon road cases and intersection cases sometimes have a public entity component that is not obvious at first glance, which is one more reason an early, free case review costs you nothing and can save everything.
Nazaryan Law, APC is headquartered at 21600 Oxnard Street in Woodland Hills, a few minutes west of Encino on the 101. This is our home turf. We know these interchanges, these boulevards, and the Los Angeles County courts where Valley cases are heard. Clients work directly with attorney Artin Nazaryan, not a rotating cast of case managers, and they get honest answers about what their case is worth and how long it will take.
We represent injured people throughout the San Fernando Valley. If your crash happened a few exits away, we have dedicated pages for Sherman Oaks, Northridge, and our home community of Woodland Hills.
It depends on your injuries, your medical treatment, your lost income, the available insurance coverage, and how the crash affects your daily life going forward. Anyone who quotes you a number before reviewing your records is guessing. What we can promise is a free, honest evaluation once we see the facts, and a fee structure where we only get paid if you do.
Very likely yes. If your own policy includes uninsured motorist coverage, you can pursue a UM claim through your own carrier, and we handle that claim for you the same way we would fight a third-party insurer. There may also be other responsible parties depending on the facts, such as an employer if the driver was working at the time.
A report is not legally required to bring a claim, but it helps enormously. If police responded, we obtain the report and use it. If they did not, your claim is still viable; photographs, witness information, and prompt medical records can carry the day. Do not let the absence of a report talk you out of a free consultation.
Claims against public entities follow special rules, and the most important one is speed: Government Code section 911.2 generally gives you six months to present a written claim to the entity before you can sue. If there is any chance a government vehicle, employee, or dangerous roadway condition played a role in your crash, contact a lawyer immediately so that deadline does not pass quietly.
Generally two years from the date of the crash under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, with important exceptions that can shorten the window, including the six-month government claim requirement. Building a strong case takes time, so the practical deadline for getting help is much sooner than the legal one.
At high-volume firms, your case is one file among thousands, often handled start to finish by non-attorneys. At Nazaryan Law, APC, the attorney whose name is on the door works your case, knows the Encino roads where it happened, and makes the strategic decisions personally. Insurance carriers can tell the difference, and it shows in their offers.
Evidence fades, cameras overwrite, witnesses move on, and deadlines run whether or not you are ready. If you were hurt on the 101, on Ventura or Balboa Boulevard, near the park, or on a hillside road above Encino, get a professional on your side now.
Call Nazaryan Law, APC at (818) 900-1888 for a free consultation with an Encino car accident lawyer. We answer your questions, we tell you the truth about your case, and if we take it, we fight it like it is our only one. No recovery, no fee.
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