Highland Personal Injury Attorney

Highland sits at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains, and its reputation is that of a quiet residential city. The state’s crash data says otherwise. In 2023 Highland had the 11th-worst overall traffic-safety ranking of 103 California cities with 50,001 to 100,000 residents, a sharp fall from 44th the year before (OTS 2023).

People hurt here often carry assumptions that work against them, about who investigated, who pays and how long they have. Many of those beliefs are understandable, and some are costly. Before you speak with a Highland personal injury attorney, it helps to test seven of them against the law and the local record.

Highland in brief

• An estimated 57,614 residents in 2025 (Census)
• Patrol by a Sheriff’s station that uses the Highland Police Department name
• Gateway to SR-330, the mountain highway to Running Springs
• Two Level I hospitals within reach, in Loma Linda and Colton

How Highland’s crash record compares

Many residents assume crashes in a foothill suburb are mostly fender-benders. The 2023 numbers show a city with more serious crashes than its size would suggest. The count of people hurt or killed on Highland streets climbed to 229 in 2023 from 213, while its standing among peer cities slid from 44th to 11th.

Leave out the Foothill Freeway: OTS city tables omit CHP freeway crashes, so a pileup on SR-210 at the city’s southern edge never reaches these counts.

Deaths behind the figures

• Palm Avenue at Cypress Street: four people, two of them children, were killed when a Ford Taurus was struck, rolled onto its roof and caught fire (CBS LA).
• Base Line at McKinley Avenue: a car traveling the wrong way at high speed crashed, killing two people inside (NBC LA).
• Church Avenue at Stratford Street: a 52-year-old man on a motorized scooter died after colliding with a pickup (CBS LA).

News coverage of these crashes did not always give a date, but each happened on a street residents use every day.

Who investigates a Highland crash

The department’s name leads many people to think Highland has its own police force. In fact, the officers are San Bernardino County deputies assigned to the Highland Patrol Station at 26985 E. Baseline, which uses the Highland Police Department name (San Bernardino County Sheriff). That contract dates to November 1987, when Highland became a city, and it pairs with a separate Cal Fire contract for fire service (Wikipedia). The station describes itself as one of the busiest in the department for calls for service.

That arrangement matters when you need records. Your collision report is a Sheriff’s Department document, and serious crashes can bring in the Sheriff’s Major Accident Investigation Team, as the Church Avenue scooter death did. Ask for the report through the Highland station rather than City Hall.

When the other driver had been drinking

It is natural to expect that a drunk driver’s insurer will simply pay. A DUI arrest helps prove fault, but it does not end the argument. Insurers still contest how badly you were hurt, whether all of your treatment was needed and what your lost income is worth. Whatever a San Bernardino County judge orders in the DUI case, the money for your surgery comes from the civil claim.

Young impaired drivers stand out in Highland’s record. Drinking drivers under 21, and those aged 21 to 34, each put the city 9th on the state’s 2023 lists. Crashes between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. totaled 33 in each of 2022 and 2023. If a young driver caused your crash, the case can also involve the policy of a parent whose car the driver was using.

When the driver fled

Victims of a driver who fled often believe no one is left to pay. Hit-and-runs with someone hurt or killed numbered 25 on Highland streets in 2023, which left the city behind just 17 of its 102 peers (OTS 2023). A driver who disappears into the East Highlands side streets leaves your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage to answer, provided the Sheriff heard about the crash promptly. Report it to the Highland station the same day, and keep the report number.

Crashes near the casino

A Highland mailing address does not always mean Highland city limits. Yaamava’ Resort & Casino lists its address as 777 San Manuel Boulevard, Highland, but it lies within San Bernardino city limits on the San Manuel Reservation (Wikipedia). The resort runs around the clock, with a 17-story, 432-room hotel and a 3,000-seat theater, and it draws traffic around the clock. For a crash on the approach roads, the precise location decides which agency investigated and which public entity, if any, is involved. Pin down the exact spot before assuming which rules apply.

Watch out: Late-night casino traffic and the 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. crash pattern overlap. Write down the time of the crash to the minute; it matters when an insurer disputes lighting, visibility or a driver’s sobriety.

Questions from Highland residents

My report says “Highland Police Department.” Why is it a Sheriff’s record?

The name and the agency behind it differ. Highland buys its policing from the Sheriff, so the Baseline station’s paperwork is filed under Sheriff’s numbering.

I was hurt in a crash during the Line Fire evacuation. Who is responsible?

The driver who caused the crash is usually responsible, as in any collision. If evacuation traffic control or a road condition played a part, a public entity could also be involved, and the six-month claim rule would apply.

Does it matter that the driver who hit me was 19?

It can. Drinking drivers under 21 hurt five people on Highland streets in 2023, and a 19-year-old is often behind the wheel of a parent’s car, which brings that owner’s policy into the claim.

Can I recover if I was partly at fault on Base Line?

Yes. If a jury decides you were a quarter to blame for a Base Line left turn, you still collect three-quarters of your losses.

I was hit leaving Yaamava’ late at night. Is that a Highland case?

It depends on exactly where the crash happened. The resort itself is inside San Bernardino city limits on reservation land, even though its mailing address says Highland. The other driver’s insurance applies either way, but the investigating agency and any public-entity claim depend on the spot.

SR-330 and the mountain approach

Insurers like to treat every mountain-road crash as the driver’s own fault. State Route 330 begins at SR-210 near Highland and climbs about 15 miles at a 6% grade to Running Springs, one of three roads from the valley to the mountain resorts (Wikipedia). Downhill braking, weekend ski traffic and weather all play a part, and so can the road itself.

Washouts and the Line Fire

A December 2010 washout closed the highway until May 2011. In September 2024 the Line Fire, which began inside Highland near Baseline and Alpin Street, forced evacuations near Greenspot Road and closed SR-330 from Highland Avenue to Running Springs for about two months (ABC7; Sentinel).

When the road shares the blame

Where a road defect, debris or a poorly managed closure contributed, the claim is against a public entity. SR-330 is a state highway, so that means a written claim against the State.

Filing deadlines

The two-year rule is the deadline most people have heard of, and it is not the only one. Against the drinking driver on Base Line or the owner of a Palm Avenue storefront, CCP §335.1 allows two years. Against City Hall, the County or the State over SR-330, Gov. Code §911.2 allows only six months for the written claim, and a late one is usually rejected. Partial fault does not end a case either way: California reduces your recovery by your share (CACI 405). If the case reaches court, it belongs to the San Bernardino County Superior Court; the court’s district rules decide which building hears a Highland case.

Where Call Jacob fits in a Highland case

We represent Highland residents, East Highlands families and the commuters and visitors who drive Base Line, Palm Avenue, Greenspot Road and SR-330. On a Highland case we request the report from the Sheriff’s Highland Patrol Station, check whether the crash happened inside city limits or on state or tribal land, and file any government claim before the six-month deadline.

Highland’s OTS profile sets the order of this list, and we take on each kind of case in it:

• Crashes caused by drinking drivers, with a parent’s policy in play when the driver was young
• Late-night collisions and hit-and-runs on Base Line and Palm Avenue
• Car accident and motorcycle accident claims on the SR-330 mountain route
• Pedestrian, bicycle and e-scooter injuries like the Church Avenue crash
• Rideshare collisions, dog bites and falls on business property
• Wrongful death cases after a crash like the one at Palm Avenue and Cypress Street

If you need a Highland car accident lawyer after a crash on Base Line, or a Highland personal injury attorney for a fall at a Greenspot Road business, the first step is the same: get the Sheriff’s report and fix the exact location.

No bill follows the first conversation. Once we accept a Highland case, the contingency arrangement means you pay nothing unless we win. If you are still at Loma Linda University Medical Center, which the state lists as Level I for both adults and children, or at Arrowhead Regional in Colton, a representative of The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani will come to you there (EMSA). Phone (888) 952-2952 from the hospital bed or from home, or put the Base Line, Palm Avenue or SR-330 details into our case evaluator.

The myths and facts above are general information for people hurt in and around Highland; for advice on your own claim, talk with a lawyer about the specifics.

Sources

1. OTS 2023 — California OTS
2. 2025 estimates — U.S. Census Bureau
3. Palm and Cypress — CBS LA
4. Base Line wrong-way — NBC LA
5. Church Avenue scooter — CBS LA
6. Highland station — San Bernardino County Sheriff
7. Yaamava’ — Wikipedia
8. SR-330 — Wikipedia
9. Line Fire — ABC7
10. CCP §335.1 — California Legislature
11. Gov. Code §911.2 — California Legislature
12. CACI 405 — Justia
13. Trauma list — California EMSA
14. SR-330 closures — San Bernardino County Sentinel
15. Highland — Wikipedia