
UCLA Law Trained Attorneys in Sherman Oaks
Sherman Oaks has some of the heaviest traffic in the San Fernando Valley. Motorcycle riders navigate that traffic daily, using legal lane splitting to move through congestion. When a car driver changes lanes without checking and hits a rider, the insurance company will argue that the rider should not have been there. They are wrong. Lane splitting is legal in California.
Arya Firoozmand handles motorcycle accident cases in Sherman Oaks and files at Van Nuys Courthouse West. He knows how to establish that the rider was operating legally, that the car driver failed to check mirrors, and that the collision was caused by negligence, not by riding a motorcycle.
A Sherman Oaks Attorney Who Knows This Neighborhood
I previously lived in Sherman Oaks, near the Ralphs on Ventura and Hazeltine, and have spent years representing injured residents across the San Fernando Valley. I've spent many nights at Mizlala and The Little IZAKA-YA next door. I know how hard it is to get to the 405 from Sherman Oaks, the Westfield Fashion Square area, and what it takes to get fair results for people injured in this community. I earned my law degree at UCLA and grew up in Woodland Hills, just a few miles away.

What Makes Your Case Different From Day One
The dangerous corridors, the trauma routing, the legal framework, and the deadlines that apply. Sherman Oaks has one of the highest injury collision rates in the Valley. Here is what that means for your case.


The US-101 and I-405 interchange near Sherman Oaks is one of the busiest and most crash-prone freeway junctions in Los Angeles. High-speed weaving traffic, aggressive merging, and chronic congestion create year-round collision risk.
Paramedics route to Northridge Hospital (Level II Trauma) or Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills. Sherman Oaks Hospital is nearby but not a trauma center. Critical cases go to UCLA Ronald Reagan or Cedars-Sinai (both Level I).
California is the only U.S. state where motorcycle lane splitting is explicitly legal (Vehicle Code §21658.1). When done safely at a reasonable speed differential, fault cannot be assigned to the rider solely because they were lane splitting.
Insurance adjusters routinely inflate rider fault to reduce payouts. California's pure comparative negligence rule means you can still recover even if partially at fault — but only if your attorney actively counters the insurer's fault-shifting narrative.
What Shapes an Injury Case Here
Westfield Fashion Square has a corporate liability team that handles every slip and fall and parking structure incident with the same approach: deny, delay, lowball. Getting the property's prior incident reports early matters because it proves they knew about the hazard. Once those records get buried in a legal hold, they are harder to obtain.
The 101/405 interchange at the south end of Sherman Oaks is one of the busiest freeway junctions in LA. Multi-vehicle crashes here mean multiple insurance policies, and the adjusters from each company will point fingers at each other while your bills pile up.
Sherman Oaks has a huge number of apartment buildings, particularly along the Magnolia and Oxnard corridors. Premises cases against property management companies, things like broken stairwells, inadequate lighting, or security negligence, are a recurring case type. These companies have their own insurance adjusters and their own lawyers. They do not fold easily.
Sepulveda Boulevard between Ventura and Magnolia has one of the highest concentrations of orthopedic, chiropractic, and imaging practices in the Valley. Opposing counsel will scrutinize your choice of treating provider here more than in less medically dense areas, which is why it matters that your attorney knows which providers produce records that hold up.
Cases file at Van Nuys Courthouse, one of the busiest civil courts in LA County.
Where People Get Hurt
The 101/405 junction is the headline, but Ventura Boulevard generates just as many cases. The combination of high pedestrian traffic, valet zones, driveways, and drivers distracted by their phones makes this stretch a persistent source of pedestrian strikes and intersection collisions.
Van Nuys Boulevard carries heavy north-south traffic with signal timing that seems designed to cause T-bones. Sepulveda runs through the medical district where patients pulling in and out of parking lots create their own hazard pattern. Riverside Drive gets the cyclist and jogger incidents along the LA River path.
We recently handled a case where a client was rear-ended at a dead stop on the 101 by a driver doing 55. Another involved a delivery truck that ran a red on Van Nuys and T-boned a minivan with kids inside. A third was a slip and fall in the Fashion Square parking structure where the property had ignored a leaking pipe for weeks. Three cases, three completely different defendants, three different legal strategies.
Crash Data
Most Dangerous Intersections
Recent Crashes
View all crash reports in Sherman Oaks →Compensation Available in Your Case
A rider who gets hit in Sherman Oaks traffic faces injuries that are categorically more severe than what a car occupant experiences. The damages must reflect that reality.
Medical Expenses
Sherman Oaks Hospital, surgical repair, skin grafts, and physical therapy. Motorcycle crashes at busy intersections cause injuries that need months of treatment.
Lost Wages & Earning Capacity
Multiple surgeries and rehab sessions mean extended time away from your job. Permanent injuries can change your career trajectory entirely.
Pain & Suffering
Daily pain from road rash, hardware in your bones, and the anxiety of sharing the road again. Insurers lowball this. We don't let them.
Motorcycle Damage
Your bike, helmet, protective clothing, and accessories. Everything damaged in the crash gets included in your claim.
Permanent Disability & Scarring
Road rash on Van Nuys Blvd or Ventura Blvd pavement leaves permanent marks. Joint damage from the crash may never fully resolve.
Punitive Damages
A driver who hit you because they were drunk, texting, or raging through Sherman Oaks may face punitive damages.
What to Do After a Motorcycle Accident
Motorcycle accidents cause catastrophic injuries. Your actions in the immediate aftermath directly affect your ability to recover full compensation.
Move to safety and call 911
Sherman Oaks intersections are high-traffic. Get out of the road and call LAPD or CHP depending on where the crash occurred.
Do not remove your helmet at the scene
If you feel dizzy, numb, or have any neck pain, keep your helmet on. Let the paramedics make that call.
Photograph the scene thoroughly
The intersection, traffic signals, skid marks, vehicle positions, and your injuries. Sherman Oaks intersections often have security cameras nearby.
Get the driver's information
License plate, insurance details, license number, and contact info. Write down what they say at the scene.
Seek emergency medical care
Sherman Oaks Hospital is nearby. Motorcycle crash injuries, especially TBI and road rash, require immediate professional evaluation.
Contact Westwood Law before speaking to insurers
Arya Firoozmand handles motorcycle cases at Van Nuys Courthouse and fights the rider-blame tactics insurers use. Call us first.

