Abbott Elementary’ Star Sheryl Lee Ralph Hurt in Car Crash

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s arm was in a sling when the 68-year-old actress appeared on an April 11, 2025, segment of a network talk show.

“I was a passenger in an SUV headed to my speaking engagement, and I guess the driver was disoriented, and we literally nosedive off of the loading dock of the convention center,” Ralph said on Good Morning America. “It is the craziest thing to feel yourself going straight down.”

“Life is short,” the Emmy-award-winning actress added. “You do not know what it’s going to bring to you. Every day appreciate it and the people and things around you.”

Passenger Injuries in Car Crashes

Television actresses and all other injured passengers have the same needs as injured drivers. All victims need and deserve compensation for their injuries. An injured driver usually has no qualms about taking another driver, who is most likely a complete stranger, to court.

But injured passenger dynamics are different. Frequently, these victims have close, personal relationships with tortfeasors (negligent drivers). Rather understandably, they don’t want to “blame” the driver for an “accident.”

Blame, or moral guilt, isn’t a legal concept. Car accident injury lawyers in California work to compensate victims, not to blame anyone for anything.

Additionally, in most cases, car crashes are intentional mistakes. No one accidentally drives drunk or turns without looking. Ideally, we’d all readily accept responsibility for our mistakes and do what’s right. But in case you haven’t seen the news lately, no one does what’s right.

The reluctance to partner with the best personal injury lawyer is especially strong if a health insurance company pays most or all of the victim’s medical bills. This reliance is often misplaced. Most health insurance plans exclude injury-related costs. If the company pays these bills, the company usually demands reimbursement. That’s not an issue recovering accident victims want to deal with.

Distracted Driver Crashes

Attorneys usually connect victims with doctors who charge nothing upfront for their services. These bills, like all others, must be paid eventually. So, an attorney must also prove liability. Legal responsibility for an accident is usually straightforward in passenger injury claims, especially in single-vehicle distracted driver crash claims.

Usually, lawyers use the ordinary negligence principle or the negligence per se rule to obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Ordinary negligence is a lack of care. Under the duty of reasonable care, which applies to most drivers, motorists must focus on driving instead of multitasking. If a breach of duty, such as driving a vehicle off the road, causes injury, such as an arm injury, the tortfeasor is liable for damages.

We should mention that the tortfeasor’s insurance company, and not the individual, is financially responsible for damages, at least in most cases. That understanding often helps victims overcome the emotional obstacles of court actions against friends or acquaintances.

Negligence per se is a violation of a safety law. If the tortfeasor commits a traffic violation, such as using a cell phone while driving, and that violation substantially causes injury, the tortfeasor could be liable for damages as a matter of law.

Contact Our Personal Injury Lawyers Today

Negligent drivers often unintentionally injure people they know and care about. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney, contact the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.

Credit: Photo by Midjourney