With over 85 years of combined experience fighting for the rights of injury victims, our legal team has earned recognition among California’s Top 100 Attorneys. We’re dedicated to helping clients recover physically, emotionally, and financially while providing them with the consistent care and attention they deserve. Contact us for a free consultation with a San Jose personal injury lawyer today.
Personal injuries happen every day, changing the lives of many in fractions of a second. When a San Jose accident occurs, it may leave you with a serious injury that impacts the rest of your life. Suddenly, you’ll be unable to work and have a mountain of medical bills that further strain your finances.
At Caputo & Van Der Walde – Injury and Accident Attorneys, our personal injury attorneys have over 35 years of combined legal experience helping those who have suffered injuries recover the fair compensation they deserve from at-fault parties. We are recognized in the Top 100 Attorneys in California by the American Society of Legal Advocates and AV® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® for having the highest ethical standards. We care about making things right for victims of personal injuries and lend our voice to the cause.
Our practice focuses only on personal injury lawsuits, allowing us to devote all of our time, energy, and resources to your personal injury case. This difference is what has made us stand out from other law offices, earning us a variety of esteemed awards and accolades from qualified organizations including the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), Martindale Hubbell®, Super Lawyers®, the California State Assembly, the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association, the U.S. House of Representatives, the City of San Jose and more.
If you’ve been injured in an accident, you can face mounting medical bills, lost wages, and other financial costs as you struggle to regain your life. The last thing you need is to add legal expenses to your debt burden. However, there is no need to worry about finances because our injury lawyers represent you on a contingency basis. That means you don’t have to pay out of pocket to hire a personal injury attorney. San Jose law firm Caputo and Van Der Walde – Injury & Accident Attorneys offers free no-obligation consultations to injury victims. Call today to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney regarding your personal injury claim.
At Caputo & Van Der Walde, our mission is simple: to provide compassionate, dedicated, and results-driven legal representation to those who need it most. We understand that personal injuries don’t just affect your physical health—they impact your emotional well-being, financial stability, and overall quality of life. That’s why we fight tirelessly to ensure our clients receive the justice and compensation they deserve.
We believe in leveling the playing field for injury victims, especially when they’re up against powerful insurance companies or large corporations. Our team is committed to being your voice, your advocate, and your partner throughout the legal process.
When it comes to personal injury law, experience isn’t just a bonus—it’s essential. With over 35 years of combined legal experience, our attorneys have handled a wide range of cases, from car accidents to catastrophic injuries. This depth of knowledge allows us to anticipate challenges, navigate complex legal systems, and develop strategies tailored to each client’s unique situation.
Our experience also means we know how to negotiate effectively with insurance companies. These companies often try to minimize payouts, but we’re not afraid to push back and fight for the full compensation you’re entitled to. If a fair settlement can’t be reached, we’re fully prepared to take your case to trial.
We pride ourselves on putting our clients first, and obtaining the personal injury settlement they’re entitled to. From the moment you contact us, you’ll notice the difference in how we treat you. We take the time to listen to your story, answer your questions, and explain your legal options in a way that’s easy to understand.
We know that dealing with a personal injury can be overwhelming, so we strive to make the legal process as stress-free as possible. Our team handles all the heavy lifting—from gathering evidence to negotiating with insurance companies—so you can focus on what matters most: your recovery.
When an injury occurs, you want an experienced lawyer by your side. Our dedication to our clients has earned us a reputation for excellence in personal injury law. Over the years, we’ve recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for our clients. These results aren’t just numbers—they represent real people whose lives have been changed for the better because of our work.
Whether it’s securing compensation for medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering, we’re committed to achieving the best possible outcome for every client we represent.
There are many personal injury law firms in San Jose, but Caputo & Van Der Walde stands out for several reasons:
Injuries like these have the potential to permanently affect the rest of your life. You may no longer be able to return to work in your previous capacity or enjoy the activities and hobbies that once brought you joy. Daily tasks may now be impossible without assistance, and the emotional toll it can take may destroy your relationships.
Even if your injuries aren’t as severe as some of the ones listed above, you may still be entitled to make an insurance claim. Our personal injury lawyers serving San Jose will analyze your case to see if we can help, and if so, we will seek the maximum compensation allowed under the law. Contact our law office for a free consultation today.
These are some common injury types that are the subject of most personal injury claims:
The state of California allows plaintiffs to seek compensation for injuries caused by someone else’s negligence. Compensation is divided into three categories:
These represent the financial costs associated with an accident. Economic damages include the cost of past and future medical treatments, lost wages, property damage, etc. In a wrongful death claim, economic damages will also include funeral expenses and the future lost income of the decedent.
While economic damages reimburse plaintiffs for their financial losses, non-economic damages address the intangible costs of an accident, such as physical pain, emotional distress, inconvenience, loss of life quality, etc. Personal injury lawyers also refer to non-economic damages as “pain and suffering.” In wrongful death cases, general damages consist of your loss of love, comfort, companionship, and support from your loved one.
While economic and non-economic damages are compensatory in nature, the court may award punitive damages in personal injury lawsuits to penalize the parties responsible for reckless or intentional behavior. For example, if an investigation discovers that a negligent driver was drunk at the time of an accident, the court may award punitive damages for this reckless conduct in addition to compensatory damages.
Our San Jose personal injury lawyers will review all aspects of your claim. Once we’ve reviewed all of the important evidence and have established that your injuries were caused by someone else’s carelessness, we will be able to help determine full and fair compensation for your losses. Contact us for a free consultation with an injury attorney who fully understands your plight.
Note that a lawsuit for wrongful death is intended to compensate the survivor for their own losses, not for the losses incurred by the decedent prior to death. Therefore, a survivor cannot recover for the following:
Though these elements are not recoverable in a wrongful death action, you can pursue them through a survival action. A survival action is brought when an injured party dies from the harm inflicted by a negligent person. The decedent’s personal representative, i.e., the executor of their estate, brings this type of lawsuit and recovers all economic losses of the decedent prior to death.
A survival action does not include damages for the pain and suffering experienced by the decedent, only actual quantifiable losses, like medical bills and lost wages.
The following are the questions that accident victims ask when they sit down with our legal team. For specific information about your case, you can contact our law firm to talk to one of our San Jose personal injury lawyers without paying legal fees.
While we often file lawsuits on behalf of our personal injury clients, the majority of cases do not result in trial but rather are resolved during the litigation and the many opportunities for settlement presented during this process. However, if, during negotiations, or litigation, our San Jose personal injury attorneys are unable to reach a fair settlement with the insurance company, we always prepare for trial as it is the best way to get a fair settlement.
San Jose area personal injury law firms like ours represent clients on a contingency basis. That means that instead of charging a retainer and working against that amount, we waive our fees until the end of the case. When you receive a settlement or court award, we receive a portion of those proceeds. In most cases, the proceeds of the case are substantial enough to cover the contingency fees. If our accident attorneys don’t win, we do not receive payment.
California typically allows two years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit. In wrongful death cases, the statute of limitations expires two years from the date of death. These Statutes of limitation are also affected by the claimant’s age and whether one of the defendants is a public entity. In these cases, the time may be longer or shorter than the typical two-year statutory period.
No. Unlike other states, California does not cap damages in personal injury cases other than medical malpractice actions. After collecting evidence and assessing your case, your San Jose attorney will prepare a demand for settlement based upon your economic and non-economic damages based upon our experience and which have previously paid on insurance claims for similar injuries.
As members of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum® and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum®, we have proven our ability to negotiate and litigate on behalf of our clients successfully. Retain us to put our tactical strategies to work for you. These skills are what make our legal team such a formidable opponent in any courtroom or negotiation setting.