California Injury Blog

When I read this, the first thing that came to my mind was this could absolutely happen on any California’s freeway, with the amount of new construction we have going on here all the time. The news is that settlement talks are about to begin in Boston between the family of a motorist killed about a year ago by failing panels in the Big Dig, Boston’s central artery and tunnel project, and attorneys for the companies that designed and built the project. The sticker price for the construction project was$14.7 billion, the costliest project in the history of this country.

According to an article in the Boston Globe a wrongful death lawsuit was brought by the family of Milena Del Valle, a 39-year-old woman who was killed July 10, 2006, when several concrete ceiling panels fell from the Interstate 90 connector tunnel as she and her husband drove toward Boston’s Logan Airport. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the Turnpike Authority and companies connected with the design and construction of the project.

Inspectors who checked out the tunnel after the accident believe that the bolts that were holding the ceiling panels in place came loose because of failures in the epoxy resin that is meant to glue them in place, the article said. After the accident, repairs were made throughout that tunnel system and concrete panels were supported with more bolts and brackets. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has said she will decide by the end of this month if her office will pursue criminal charges against the companies named in the wrongful death lawsuit.

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Posted In: Wrongful Death

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Earlier this month a Florida jury awarded $32.5 million to a man who suffered severe brain injuries when the seatbelt shoulder restraint in his 1993 Ford Escort failed during a head-on collision 11 years ago, according to an article published in the legal journal, Lawyers USA. The award came for 37-year-old Mark Force after more than a decade after the accident and two failed trials.

The first trial held in 2003 ended in Ford Motor Co.’s favor. But the appellate court, citing improper jury instruction in 2004 sent it back to trial court. But a second trial ended in a hung jury last year. The most recent trial this month lasted eight days when the six-person jury deliberated for half a day before finding Ford and Mazda – which designed the defective seatbelt system – liable for Force’s severe head injuries.

The plaintiff’s attorney says key evidence in this case included internal documents from Ford and Mazda – 45 complaints about Ford Escort’s seatbelt system. This evidence reportedly convinced jurors that the seatbelt retractor in American Escorts was defective and lacked the safety features used on the same vehicle in Canada. Ford, of course, plans to appeal the verdict. Ford’s attorneys say the seatbelt did its job and in fact saved Force’s life by preventing him from being ejected from the car.

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Posted In: Defective Auto Products

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A 22-year-old motorcyclist who is completely disabled after he was struck by a drunk driver will receive a $704,649 settlement from the insurer for an Indiana bar where the drunk driver that caused the accident had been drinking, according to an article published in the Journal and Courier newspaper.

Christopher Harmon is said to be in a “waking coma” after he suffered a severe brain injury in the Sept. 2, 2004 crash. According to the newspaper article, his parents quit their full-time jobs, sold their home and bought a house in Indiana just to take care of their son. The parents accepted the settlement from Jake’s Roadhouse bar’s insurer in return for releasing the bar from further liability.

According to a civil tort claim filed by the Harmons on their son’s behalf, 24-year-old Nicole Fox who had been drinking at Jake’s caused three oncoming motorcyclists to crash with her erratic driving. Fox’s blood alcohol level was 0.23 percent – almost three times the legal limit for driving in Indiana, which is 0.08 percent. Harmon suffered brain injuries while another 47-year-old man, Jerome E. Raiff lost part of his left arm and leg.

Continue reading "Motorcycle Accident Claim Settled for $700,000" »

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Posted In: Motorcycle Accidents

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It all started with pet food, moving on to toothpaste and toy trains. Now, a lawsuit says cheap tires made in China caused a fatal traffic accident in Pennsylvania, killing two and injuring two. The tires in question were sold under the names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS, according to an article in the consumer watchdog Web site.

And now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ordered the recall of as many as 450,000 tires purchased from a Chinese manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co.

The case sounds a lot like the Firestone tire recall of 2000 when defective tires were said to have caused a series of accidents and rollovers, many involving the Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle. The lawsuit alleges that the Hangzhou “deliberately and secretly removed a safety feature from these tires,” which caused the accident. The tires were manufactured by China’s Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. and imported by Foreign Tire Sales Inc. (FTS), of Union, N.J. FTS says a crucial safety feature was omitted from as many as 450,000 tires it imported from the Chinese company since 2002.

FTS has filed another lawsuit in a New Jersey court seeking to shift all liability in this case to the Chinese company. The key question in this lawsuit is about a six-millimeter layer of rubber placed between the tire’s steel belts meant to strengthen the tire, which FTS says Hangzhou removed without notifying them.

Aside from a larger than usual number of complaints from customers, there was at least one other accident involving these tires when an ambulance crashed in May 2006 where a blown tire caused the emergency vehicle to roll over. FTS officials say they stopped buying tires from the Chinese company in June 2006.

Continue reading "Defective Tires – Made in China" »

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Posted In: Defective Auto Products

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A lawsuit against a Fort Smith-based nursing home company can proceed as a class-action suit, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The lawsuit basically alleges that the Batesville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Little Rock, “failed to live up to contractual and statutory obligations to take care of the basic daily needs of hundreds of residents,” according to a news article in the Dallas Morning News.

When you get down to the specifics of what went wrong in the Arkansas nursing home, it’s what we at Bisnar|Chase have been alleging in nursing home lawsuits for years, understaffing that leads to victimized clients. For example, this lawsuit states that over four years (2000 to 2004), the nursing home failed to provide proper care of its 489 residents. Why? Because, the suit says, they understaffed their facility.

On May 1, 2006, the courts granted class-action certification to the suit with respect to claims of statutory and contractual violations only, not claims of malpractice or personal injury. The defendants appealed that ruling. Attorneys arguing against granting the class-action certification said it would make it impossible to examine the issues in this case if each patient cannot be considered separately.

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Posted In: Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect

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The United States Senate has proposed a bill that would require automakers to increase fuel economy over 40% to 35 miles per gallon. The new regulation, if passed by the House, would apply to all sized vehicles-cars, trucks, and SUVs.

One of the major concerns by consumers is that their choice of ‘size’ will be impacted by the bill, but according to David Friedman, director of the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, he “…would expect them [cars] to look a lot like they do today, the same size, the same acceleration and the same or even better safety.” Friedman added that he believes the cars will “…have better technology, better engines, more efficient transmissions and stronger aluminum bodies”, but they may cost more.

The proposed legislation seeks to research ways to improve the use of lithium-ion batteries, like the kind used in laptop computers, but if the cars are plugged into electric sockets will the costs in electricity eclipse the savings in gas? Some studies suggest that averaging the cost of fuel and electricity could bring the cost down to the equivalent of $1/gallon.

While automakers are balking and lobbying hard against the fuel economy provision in the Senate bill, as proposed, because they believe they will be unable to change the mix of cars available to the buying public in the showrooms of 2020. Eric Ridenour, Chief Operating Office at Chrysler Group, indicates that right now 3 out of 4 vehicles are built on truck frames and the company will have to decide whether or not to keep selling some of its larger vehicles in light of the proposed regulations. Ridenour clearly believes that the larger family-sized vehicles will be the ones most at risk, and that in the end vehicles will be lighter and smaller.

Continue reading "Why Is The Auto Industry Fighting Mandated Fuel Efficiency Standards?" »

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Posted In: Defective Auto Products

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A former Navy seaman, who has survived two tours in Iraq without an injury, almost died June 14 when a suspected drunk driver struck him on the freeway near Torrance, according to a news report in the Daily Breeze. Brandon Wexler, 23, is still in critical condition and needs to undergo more surgeries to repair his damaged bladder, crushed pelvis and broken femur.

The accident occurred on the 110 Freeway at Alondra Boulevard when Wexler got hit from behind, hurtled through the air into a traffic lane where a sport utility vehicle then rolled over his body at 65 mph, the article said. It’s interesting to note that Wexler was actually on the freeway with members of his motorcycle club trying to help another injured SUV driver.

But as Wexler slowed to 50 mph to stop, the suspected drunk driver hit him from behind at 70 mph. He underwent six hours of surgery and told the newspaper what he said to his grandma: “I survived Iraq, I’m not going to die in Torrance.” After he recovers completely, Wexler hopes to get back on his motorcycle.

Continue reading "Man Injured on Motorcycle was the Victim of a Drunk Driver" »

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Officials investigating a fatal car-train collision in Covina, which took the lives of a 53-year-old man and his 10-year-old niece and left his 12-year-old daughter in critical condition, have ruled that the crossing arms at that site were all functioning properly.

Contradicting reports surfaced after this collision, which happened the afternoon of June 17. According to an article posted on KNBC’s Web site, witnesses saw that the arm at the crossing never came down. Those accounts clashed with initial accounts that the man may have been trying to make it across the tracks before the Metrolink train went through. Earl Brown, the driver of the Mitsubishi Galant and his 10-year-old niece, Raven Elizabeth Smith, both of Covina, were killed, officials said.

The Metrolink train had 150 passengers aboard and fortunately no one was hurt. The train, which was traveling from Union Station to Riverside, was reportedly traveling at 40 mph when it entered the crossing where the accident occurred. The collision pushed the car about 75 feet from where it was hit, according to the KNBC report. All three occupants of the car were wearing their seatbelts, officials said.

Continue reading "Investigators Say Crossing Arms Were Working During Fatal Car-Train Wreck" »

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A Texas widow has sued Service Corporation International, one of the world's largest funeral companies which owns cemetery properties here in Orange County, CA. Juanita Guerra alleges in her lawsuit that the Mont Meta Memorial Park in San Benito, Texas, moved her husband’s remains not once, but twice, over a period of just five years.

According to an article published in the Brownsville Herald, Juanita Guerra had picked a spot at the cemetery for her husband, Marcos, because it was just a few feet away from where other family members were buried. Marcos was laid to rest on Oct. 8, 2001. But barely a month later, as the pain of losing her husband was still fresh, Juanita was forced to relocate Marcos’ body because the cemetery said they messed up and gave her plots someone else had already bought, the lawsuit states.

Here is the worst part. A year after putting her through the "we messed up" and having to dig up and move her husband's body, the cemetery moves his body again – this time without even telling the poor woman! Can you imagine going to a cemetery to visit a loved one only to find that their body and grave stone have been replaced with someone else's remains? Can you imagine a multi-million dollar corporation digging up your husbands remains and moving them a second time, without any notification to you? Deplorable!

Juanita Guerra's lawsuit accuses SCI of fraud, trespassing, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Here’s what the plaintiff’s attorney tells the newspaper:

“If there is anybody that is doing the work of the devil, this company seems to be doing it.”

Continue reading "Family Sues Cemetery After Remains are Moved a Second Time" »

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Posted In: Funeral Home Negligence

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It took a while for state officials to whip out a pen and write out a citation. Two years, to be precise. But this week they did it and fined Emmanuel Health Care Center of Norwalk $80,000 after investigators found that poor care by employees led to the death of a 54-year-old resident in August 2005, according to a news article in the Los Angeles Times.

A California watchdog group is criticizing state officials for taking too long to impose what is considered as the most severe penalty that can be imposed on a nursing home for negligence. If negligence by a nursing home took someone’s life, the state health department should act quickly to ensure that the facility corrects the problems and more importantly, to make sure it never happens again, said Michael Connors of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.

The male resident, whose name was not released, reportedly died after suffering an injury to his forehead from a fall. Investigators determined that the resident was at risk for falls and died of “massive bilateral hemorrhage” from the head trauma. The Times reports that the nursing home’s parent company plans to appeal the citation. The death involving the Norwalk facility was the third that state investigators have attributed to negligent care at nursing homes owned by Pleasant Care Corp., California's second-largest nursing home chain.

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An accident on the Pomona (60) Freeway took the life of a man as his 1988 Volvo apparently blew a tire and hit a big rig. According to an article posted on the MSNBC Web site, the 49-year old man, James Ong of Moreno Valley, was heading west on the freeway and was near the Fairway Drive exit at about noon Monday when the incident occurred.

CHP Officer Patrick Kimball was quoted in the article saying the car which was doing 60 mph, lost control after blowing its right rear tire and moved suddenly across from the No. 2 lane onto the No. 4 lane. The big rig on the No. 4 lane traveling at about 50 mph hit the passenger side of the car. The impact pushed the car to a concrete drainage ditch and caused the big rig to land on top of the car’s roof, Kimball said.

While, firefighters who had rushed to the scene, cut Ong out of his car using hydraulic tools, he had already received major head trauma and was declared dead, the article reported. The big rig’s driver, Robert Bokkes, 67, of Aguanga was not injured.

The accident with its horrific and tragic end does underscore a very common and hazardous issue that affects all drivers – the proper maintenance of vehicle tires. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), low tire pressure-related crashes are to blame for 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries every year. NHTSA estimates that about one in four cars and one in three light trucks has at least one significantly under inflated tire.

Continue reading "Tire Blow-Out Kills Man in Pomona Freeway Big Rig Accident" »

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In 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 3308 unintentional, fatal drownings. That is an average of 9 lives lost per day. Boat-related deaths accounted for an additionally 676 drownings.

For every child under 14 who drowns - 5 others are treated at hospitals, some unable to regain their lives because of severe brain damage.

While in self-report studies men consistently reported more swimming ability than women, the hard numbers show that as men age they are more at risk of drowning in natural water settings, especially where alcohol is present. Men lead in so many of life’s statistics, and they can be risk-takers, so perhaps it is not surprising that of the unintentional, fatal drownings 76% were men.

Another group at risk seems more intuitive, as unintentional fatal drownings are the second leading cause of death in children ages 1-14. Surprisingly, most of the young pool drowning victims had only been out of sight for less than 5 minutes.

Additionally, responsible ‘fun in the sun’ activities require you to be good to your skin! Skin cancer can devastate your life. While many people like to get a head start on their summer tan by burning a couple of times medical experts say that after burning only 5 times your risk of skin cancer doubles. Be sure to use a good sun screen; stay out of direct sun if possible during the hours of 10-4, as the sun’s damaging rays are more potent during these hours. See your family doctor or dermatologist at least once a year for a complete body examination. Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer has been known to kill a person who did not notice a mole between their toes or behind their ear. Your skin is the largest organ in your body-take care of it!

Continue reading "DON’T LET A WATER ACCIDENT RUIN YOUR SUMMER FUN!" »

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Posted In: Water Recreation

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An Orange County judge ruled last week that a pit-bull that aggressively attacked a woman, is a potential threat to the public and must be put down, according to an article in The Orange County Register. The judge turned down an appeal and desperate plea by the dog’s owner to spare her pet’s life.

Orange Court Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Didier determined that Brutus, a 1-year-old Australian shepherd and pit-bull mix, lunged unprovoked at a 23-year-old woman who was visiting the home of the dog’s owner, Sheri Moody. The judge also ruled that the dog’s release “would create a significant threat to the public health, safety and welfare, and is ordered to be destroyed by the city and its animal control department,” the newspaper reported.

The 53-year-old Moody, who owns three dogs including Brutus, wept when she was informed of the ruling, the article said. Moody insists that it was an accident and that Brutus is a “great dog” and “he never bit anyone before.” The city of Westminster had ordered, after an investigation, that Brutus be put down, but Moody had appealed the decision in court.

Continue reading "Pit-Bull Attacks Woman – Judge Orders Dog to be Euthanized" »

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In an ironic twist of events, Judge Robert H. Bork, a one-time Supreme Court nominee and one of the architects of the judicial conservative movement, has filed a trip-and-fall lawsuit against Yale Club demanding $1 million in compensatory damages in addition to punitive damages, according to a news report in the New York Times.

What’s the irony here? It’s just that Judge Bork has been a leading advocate of restricting plaintiffs’ ability to recover through tort law. In a 2002 article published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the judge famously argues that such “frivolous claims and excessive punitive damage awards” have led to the transformation of the Constitution into a document that would allow Congress to enact tort reforms, which would have been considered unconstitutional at the time of framing.

“Accordingly, proposals such as placing limits or caps on punitive damagers or eliminating joint or strict liability, which may once have been clearly understood as beyond the Congress’ power, may now be constitutionally appropriate,” Judge Bork said in that article.

But his opinions on tort law miraculously changed after the 80-year-old Bork took a tumble on June 6, 2006 as he was climbing up the stairs of the Yale Club to deliver a speech for The New Criterion magazine. His suit explains that the Yale Club did not provide handrails on the stairs for the guests to climb up to and that Bork’s fall was a direct result of that.

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Posted In: Personal Injury

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There is a lawsuit that’s going through the Riverside county court system, which could change the way auto makers look at safety options in their vehicles – and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for consumers.

Here’s why. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, this lawsuit, filed by family members of two people killed in a 2002 Chevy Suburban rollover, contends that General Motors Corp. was negligent in not providing an electronic stability control system in its mainstream SUV model. The auto maker offered those options only in its luxury vehicle models such as Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Corvette and the Cadillac Seville.

Here’s the question the plaintiffs pose to the jury – should safety be a luxury option? Or should it be mandated for all vehicles? Well, plaintiff attorneys say that once a company has developed a safety device or technology, they have the obligation to consumers to offer it on all their vehicles – whether they are economy or luxury models.

Continue reading "Chevy Suburban Rollover Lawsuit " »

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An Alabama jury awarded $1 million to a Prattville physician who sued a local cemetery for breach of contract because cemetery officials reduced the size of a 16-plot parcel the doctor bought in 1976 for $1,595.

According to an Associated Press news article posted in the Decatur Daily, the jury decided against the owners of Prattville Memory Gardens, awarding the plaintiffs the highest damages recorded in Decatur county for such a lawsuit -- $80,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

The physician, Dr. W. E. “Gene” Patterson, who plans to be buried in the plot, bought it 31 years ago as an “estate plot” from the former owner of the business. Patterson had envisioned it as a family memorial with concrete walkways, a large family marker and landscaping, the article said. The doctor, who told the reporter that he was surprised at the jury’s verdict, said he was happy that the cemetery owners have been penalized and held liable for breach of contract and fraud.

Continue reading "Cemetery Fraud Results in a Million Dollar Judgment" »

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A 10-year-old El Monte girl is in critical condition after she was hit by a car while crossing a busy intersection with her sister and cousin Friday night, according to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Mirissa Cortez was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with major head injuries after she and the two other girls were hit as they tried to cross Peck Road.

Mirissa’s sister, Cosvi, was treated for minor injuries and released while the girls’ 18-year-old cousin, yet to be identified, remained in the hospital with a back injury. According to the news report the accident happened at about 8:50 p.m. at the intersection of Peck Road and Ranchito Street, when 71-year-old Julian Weisberg of Thousand Oaks drove through the intersection and hit the girls, who were walking on the marked crosswalk. There were no arrests or citations. Officials are still investigating the circumstances of the crash.

But several eyewitnesses and local residents say that the intersection where this accident occurred is one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in the area. Although there is a 35 mph speed limit, motorists rarely stick to it, observers say. Officials have reported four collisions at that intersection since December. Residents say the intersection needs at least a stop sign to make motorists stop for the pedestrians.

Continue reading "Pedestrian Accident Causes Serious Injuries to 10 Year Old Girl" »

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Posted In: Pedestrian Accidents

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The family of a Tongan Prince killed on Highway 101 in Menlo Park last year has filed a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company. The family is alleging that the Explorer sport utility vehicle they were riding in was unsafe and that the auto maker marketed it as a safe vehicle in spite of knowing its dangers.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Explorer was sideswiped during a street racing incident on the highway on July 5. Edith Delgado, a Redwood City teenager, is facing three counts of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Tongan Prince Tu’ipelehake, 55, his wife, Princess Kaimana Aleamotu’a Tuku’aho, 46, and their driver, 36-year-old Vinisia Hefa of Palo Alto, the article said.

The 1998 Explorer flipped several times. Delgado and her passenger were not injured in the crash. The lawsuit accuses Ford of deceptive marketing saying that the auto maker touts the Explorer as a safe vehicle while knowing very well that it was prone to rollovers and has a roof that crushes on impact. The plaintiffs’ attorney states that had the prince and his wife been a passenger in a Honda, Toyota or even a Ford Mustang, they would have probably survived the crash.

Continue reading "Fatal SUV Accident Leads to Another Lawsuit Against Ford" »

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A six-person jury in Palm Beach, Florida, deliberated for nearly 11 hours over three days, before finding that Ford Motor Co. should pay $10.4 million after the woman became paralyzed as a result of a defective seat in her Ford Explorer, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post.

Donna Grimes said the decision was a victory for her husband. He has long believed that the flaws in the design of her Ford Explorer seat caused her neck to snap during her 2001 crash, which left her a quadriplegic; putting an end to the couple’s once-active lifestyle. The couple says this money will go toward paying Donna’s mounting medical bills.

Grimes’ accident occurred about six years ago when the driver of a Toyota Solara rear-ended her Explorer at 60