California Injury Blog

When we strap our babies into car seats, we do so with the promise that if something bad happens on the road, the car seat will protect our little ones from harm. But what happens when these car seats that are meant to protect our infants add to the danger? What happens when a car seat contributes to your child’s injuries making it more serious – even fatal?

That’s exactly what happened to Chad and Jessica Malcolm, whose 4-month-old son Tyler died after a July 2000 rollover crash. Tyler was snugly buckled into an Evenflo “On My Way” brand car seat. But when the vehicle rolled over, little Tyler hit his head on the car seat’s hard plastic shell after the car seat was ejected. How did the infant car seat get ejected? Because a hook broke loose from the seat and there was evidence of the same defect in five other incidents that resulted in serious injuries to the babies.

Last week, a jury awarded $10.4 million to the grieving couple – including $6.7 million in compensatory damages, $3.7 million in punitive damages, according to an Associated Press news report posted in the Arizona Star’s Web site. This certainly is not the only failure of Evenflo child car seats. They have lost at least three other cases over their car seats, the damages adding up to $19.6 million. I have no idea how many other cases they have settled.

To me, the most aggravating fact of this case is that the car seat manufacturer had originally considered lining the hard shell of the car seats in question with foam. But later they decided against it. I can sum up the reason for that decision in one word – profits. I bet that was the reason they decided to go with the cheaper hard shell. To a manufacturer, that car seat is another finished item off the production line. It’s a serial number. It’s part of an inventory. To us, it’s a protective shield for those little people we treasure the most – our precious children.

Continue reading "Evenflo Liable for Infant’s Car Seat Death in Rollover Crash" »

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Posted In: Defective Child Car Seats

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It must be nerve-wracking to be a postal worker. As someone who delivers mail and parcels for a living, he or she doesn’t know the viciousness that lurks behind an open door or gate. I’m of course talking about dangerous dogs here.

Take the case of Mai-Anh Nguyen, a Milpitas letter carrier who was mauled by a Pit-bull while she was delivering mail on July 14. According to an article posted on NBC News’ Web site, Nguyen was on her rounds walking on the sidewalk when she was attacked by the Pit-bull that charged at her from an open garage door of a house in that neighborhood.

Nguyen, who is quoted in the NBC article states: “There was not even enough time to pull out my dog spray. It happened so fast.”

The article states that dog bite incidents costs the U.S. Postal Service $25 million annually. That includes medical expenses, workers compensation, legal costs, delivery curtailment, worker replacement and other miscellaneous costs. Last week, the Postal Service also released the picture of the injured Nguyen, whose face was completely disfigured by the dog bites, to raise public awareness about the horrific aftermath of a dog attack.

Continue reading "Dog Attacks Post a Threat to Postal Workers Every Day" »

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Posted In: Dog Bites

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It is time to institute criminal penalties for irresponsible dog owners whose dogs injure people or other animals. Civil penalties are not enough, especially for those who are not able to pay for the damages their dogs cause. Irresponsible dog ownership has always been with us. What has changed?

Two major factors have changed. The number of severe dog attacks by bigger, stronger, more aggressive dogs causing horrific injuries to people and other animals is on the rise. The number of vicious dog attacks on dogs is on the rise. The number of insurance companies dropping coverage for dog owners or refusing to cover certain breeds and sizes of dogs is increasing dramatically.

A steady stream of people have contacted us who have been attacked by vicious dogs, their children have been horrifically mauled by dogs, their pets have been seriously or mortally wounded by dogs or who are afraid to walk the streets of their own neighborhoods because dogs roam their streets. My wife is reluctant to walk our Bichon Frises in our gate guarded community due to a previous attack on them by a much larger unleashed dog. Nearly every day I see large dogs being walked, without a leash, on the bike/horse trail on the side of our property where over a hundred people pass each day.

In Orange County, California we have an ordinance that states:

“No person owning or having charge, care, custody, or control of any dog shall cause or permit, either willfully or through failure to exercise due care or control, any such dog to be upon any public property unless such dog be restrained by a substantial chain, or leash not exceeding six (6) feet in length, and is under the charge of a person competent to exercise care, custody, and control over such dog” (OCCO 4-1-45).

Continue reading "Pit-bulls Maul Poodle in Irvine Park" »

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Many of us fall into the ‘sandwich’ generation, so named because while many of us are still raising our children we are also finding ourselves responsible for the care of our parents as well. According to a CBS news story, over 16 million Americans find themselves sandwiched between children and parents, and when family members can no longer care for a loved one at home a nursing home may become necessary. In 25 years it is projected that there will be 60 million Americans between the ages of 66-84 - many needing part or full time nursing home care. The only thing worse than the feelings of guilt at not being able to care for a sick, aging parent is the guilt of placing them in a nursing home and then finding out they are being abused in that home. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse happens way too often! So, do your homework!

But how does one find a good nursing home? How does one know if a nursing home has had violations and/or fines levied against them? There is so much to learn and fortunately as the need for such homes has continued to rise, so has the information that is available. Many organizations and government agencies are there to help you in your search for an appropriate nursing home. For example, Medicare provides a helpful checklist to use as you call each nursing home center.

Another organization, called Member of the Family provides a list of over 16,000 Medicare and Medicaid ‘certified’ nursing homes-listed by state.

Further, the State of California’s website offers valuable information.

If possible, include your parent in the decision-making process. The best way that I know of to really know what is going on in your parent’s nursing home is to make irregular unscheduled visits to get a feeling for how the home is run when no one is looking.

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Posted In: Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect

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The recent settlement reached by the Los Angeles Archdiocese certainly catches our collective breath for the staggering amounts of money involved. At $660 million, it is the largest sexual abuse compensation package negotiated in the country. The settlement resolves over 500 claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy just before the first of the cases were to start trial.

Is the settlement amount a reflection of how badly the Archdiocese wanted to keep its secrets secret? Was it coincidence that the first of many clergy sex abuse trials was about to start? Before this is over, the Catholic Church and its insurance companies will have paid over a billion dollars in settlements to abuse victims. Apparently it was worth a billion dollars to the Catholic Church to keep their dirty laundry from being aired in public courtrooms with the media hanging on every word.

A report in the Los Angeles Times stated that each of the 508 plaintiffs could receive amounts ranging from just about $100,000 to over $3 million. That is a big spread. How are the individual claims going to be valued? The short answer is, on the relative value of each case, prorated against the entire settlement fund.

Continue reading "Clergy Abuse Cases are Settled for $660 Million" »

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According to a KCBS news story, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer traveling northbound on 3rd street in San Francisco on July 24, struck and killed a bicyclist as the big rig was making a right turn. Alvaro Aguilera, 39, the bicyclist, was pronounced dead at the Bayview District scene. The big rig and the bicyclist were traveling in the same direction at the time of the accident, about 2:20 p.m., according to Police Sgt. Steve Mannina.

According to Sgt. Mannina, the 45-year-old driver of the 18-wheeler was not arrested or cited. The big rig driver did submit to a voluntary blood test and there has been no determination of fault, according to the Sergeant as reported by KCBS.

Aguilera's family needs to have their own investigation of this accident done immediately. This doesn't smell right. They need to hire a trucking accident expert law firm now so that the attorney's investigators and accident reconstruction experts can gather the evidence before it is altered and then figure this one out. Special attention needs to be given to exactly where and how Aguilera came into contact with the truck and where, exactly, on the roadway the truck was at that very moment of impact.

The trucks and driver's log needs to be inspected as well. Had the driver exceeded his maximum number of driving hours? Were the turn signals on the truck activated? Were they working? Is there a "blind spot" that prevented the big rig driver from seeing Aguilera or did the driver just not see Aguilera?

I am available for trucking accident consultations by appointment, upon request. To request an appointment, call us.

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Posted In: Truck Accidents

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A white Toyota Camry struck Jessie Possehl, 15, while he rode bicycle home around 3:00 p.m. Wednesday. Jessie was riding with his brother, 14-year-old Alex Possehl, who was coming home from summer school when the accident occurred. Alex witnessed the collision as the Toyota Camry came around a bend in the 21000 block of River Road in Perris, California and hit his brother head on, according to a report on the Press-Enterprise website.

According to the news report after the bicycle accident, the Camry was left in the middle of River Road and the driver fled on foot, leaving Jessie in the road, according to California Highway Patrol officials. The CHP suspect a local man in his 20s, the son of the owner of the Camry. Investigators are hoping he will turn himself in although they are looking for him.

Jessie died at Inland Regional Medical Center a few hours after the accident. He had been wearing a helmet. Jessie was well liked and fondly remembered.

Please keep Jessie, his family, especially his brother Alex in our prayers and send them good wishes.

Continue reading "Fatal Hit-And-Run Auto/Bicycle Accident" »

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Posted In: Bicycle Accidents

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Vicious dogs and especially vicious pit-bulls are a danger to society. My regular readers are familiar with my complaints about the more aggressive and vicious breeds of dogs. I have been unaware of the size, scope and cruelty of the dog fighting under-world.

Recalling a number of vicious Pit-bull attacks on our clients, I am wondering if some of those dogs were actually raised for fighting, inadvertently escaped from their owners and took out their pent up hatred of their handlers on the next human being they came in contact with. Could it be that a part of the reason we see so many really serious maulings of people and pets from Pit-bulls is that those particular dogs were from a line intentionally bred for their vicious and aggressive tendencies. Is the sub-society, that supports and participates in dog fighting partially to blame for the increasing number and severity of dog attacks by Pit-bulls in America?

The Human Society of the United States is campaigning the National Football League to punish, Michael Vick, a mega-star NFL player and alleged dogfighter in an appropriate manner. If you would like to weigh in on this matter and let the NFL know how you feel about this issue, the HSUS has made it easy for you, go to:

Continue reading "Protecting Pit-Bulls And Ourselves" »

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I came across a blog article written by Florida personal injury attorney Sean C. Dominick. The topic of his blog is seatback failure – something very close to my heart, because here at Bisnar|Chase, we have represented numerous individuals who have suffered heart-rending losses because the front seats in many of our cars touted as “safe” are simply not sturdy enough and collapse in rear-end collisions. And who is most at risk in these crashes that involve seatback failures? Children!

According to the most recently available numbers, there were estimates of 1,100 deaths and 1,600 serious injuries in 1990 because of seat back failures in rear-end collisions. And I’ll bet there are many more accidents now and that the majority of the victims are children, whose faces are used shamelessly in vehicle commercials by the very same auto makers who can so easily prevent these seat back collapse deaths if only they had changed the seat back design by applying proven safety measures and technology that have been readily available for decades.

Most of us know that we should keep our young children out of the front seats of our vehicles because of the danger of larger seatbelts and of course, airbags. But is the back seat really safe? Consider this. In a rear-end accident, the mechanism holding up the back of the bucket seat can break causing the seat to collapse back and the occupant to fall back violently. The impact of a front seat passenger’s fall on anyone, especially a child sitting in the back seat could be powerful enough to seriously injure or kill the child. Strangely enough, it’s the child, whose parent conscientiously buckles them in to the rear seat, who is most likely to suffer horrific injuries as a result of these seatback failures.

I absolutely agree with Mr. Dominick who rightly points out that there are no known auto industry “… crash tests (performed) using instrumented dummies to evaluate the forces imposed on children in the rear seat in a collision,” by the auto makers. Again there is the looming question: How can auto makers claim they are designing a safe vehicle when they are not doing the necessary tests to design that safe vehicle? Or maybe as my partner, Brian Chase, believes, they do not need to do the testing, they know what the results will show. Mr. Chase has conducted extensive testing of front seat collapse with instrumented dummies.

Continue reading "Seat Back Failures in Rear-End Crashes Put Our Children At Risk" »

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Every parent knows that losing one child can make you want to crawl up in your bed and not ever get out. What would anyone do if they lost their three children in a freeway truck accident? That pain will likely stay with Chris and Lori Coble of Mission Viejo whose three children -- Kyle, 5, Emma, 4, and Katie, 2 – were killed May 4 after a truck loaded with electronic equipment rammed into the family’s minivan on the 5 Freeway.

What do we find out now? According to an investigative news report published by The Orange County Register July 21, federal investigators have found that the trucking company, whose truck was involved in that horrific crash, violated at least 15 safety standards and could be shut down. I think they should be shut down given the serious nature of the violations and the pain they have caused to a dear family and an entire community.

The Register reporter, who obtained this information by filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act, has discovered that the Carson-based K.W. Express allegedly allowed drivers to work before getting results of their pre-employment drug tests; falsified drivers’ hours; failed to come up with a written policy for drug and alcohol abuse; and kept no records for vehicle maintenance or inspection.

Company representatives tell the Register that all deficiencies have been corrected after they had been pointed out and everything’s great! In fact, one spokesman tells the paper that it was an “innocent ignorance of certain requirements.” Innocent ignorance? Are you kidding me? These answers and excuses are and must be completely unacceptable to federal officials. Trucking companies must be made to pay the price for their callous disregard for public safety. Is this the same "innocent ignorance of certain requirements" that contributed to the "innocent ignorance" when one of their trucks crashed into a minivan and killed three children?

Continue reading "Trucking Company Responsible For Multiple Deaths Could Be Shut Down" »

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Posted In: Truck Accidents

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“Trust” is an important word -- because if it does not exist, the world will cease to function and everything will come to a standstill. We trust many people to do their jobs every day and every hour of our lives. We entrust our precious children to the care of school bus drivers, who we believe will safely take them to their schools. We trust that the bus or train we board will take us safely to our destinations. And we entrust our elderly loved ones to the care of nursing homes, which we trust will provide the best possible care for them – care that we cannot provide with the limited resources in our homes.

From what I've observed, sadly and unfortunately, many nursing homes around the country are breaking that trust. They are not giving their patients the care they need and rightfully deserve. They are not staffing their nursing homes up to standards so their employees have the time, energy and resources to provide the best possible care to their elderly residents.

Here’s one of many examples of this outright breach of trust. According to a news article in the Chicago Tribune, the daughter of an 82-year-old woman sued a nursing home accusing the nursing home of not providing her mother with care and supervision needed to prevent the woman from falling. The incident, according to the lawsuit, led to Minnie Burger’s death. The nursing home was very well aware of Minnie Burger's problems with falling

Continue reading "Nursing Home’s Negligence Breaks Invaluable Trust" »

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Posted In: Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect

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The toy company Hasbro is doing a repeat recall of one its most popular toys – the Easy- Bake oven. In February, the company recalled 1 million of these toys after they got reports of more than 250 children getting injured by getting their hands or fingers stuck in the ovens.

But as it turns out, the incidents have hardly stopped. Since February, there have been about 25 incidents involving serious injuries of a similar nature. Now, Hasbro is recalling 1 million more Easy-Bake ovens, according to an article posted on ABC News’ Web site. According to the ABC article, in the original recall in February, 77 incidents involved burns – 16 involving second and third-degree burns. One 5-year-old girl even had to have her finger amputated as a result of one of these injuries.

But there is also another problem. Consumer Product Safety Commission officials say that consumers have not turned in the defective ovens. Hasbro is saying that one of the reasons Hasbro is reissuing the alert is because it was not heeded the first time. According to the CPSC’s Web site, the latest recalled models include purple and pink Easy-Bake ovens, Model Number 65805. These toys were reportedly made in China and sold after May 2006 at Toys “R” Us, Wal-Mart, Target and other major retail outlets.

Officials say that a lot of parents don’t realize that these toys are not safe for children under 8 years old. The greatest danger of these toys is to smaller children. That’s where they say they see a lot of injuries happen. I am wondering if this is a case of younger siblings playing with a toy intended for their older siblings.

Continue reading "One Million Toy Ovens Recalled " »

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Posted In: Product Liability

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On Monday, an unprecedented event of enormous significance happened in a courtroom at the Los Angeles Superior Court. Cardinal Roger Mahony signed a historic $660-million settlement with more than 500 plaintiffs who alleged that they had suffered sexual abuse in the hands of Roman Catholic priests who served parishes that come under the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

We heard the sound bytes on radio. We read pages and pages of analysis in newspapers and on the Internet in the days leading to the formalizing of this agreement. We saw powerful reactions from victims on television. Hallelujah! We even heard an apology from Cardinal Mahony to the victims who have undergone nothing short of psychological and emotional torture for years if not decades and suffered in silence for most of that time.

The settlement is the largest payout by a diocese, says a news article in the Los Angeles Times’ Web site. But the victims who fought the Roman Catholic Church for five years will tell you that no amount of money or apologies can right the horrendous wrongs these men have done to innocent little children as well as women who trusted and respected these so-called spiritual leaders. But the money is the lowest penalty the diocese can pay to compensate the victims for what they have suffered, the memories and effects of which they will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives.

Yet, the biggest implication of this settlement, far more valuable than the money is the fact that it is a vindication for the victims. It is an admission by the Roman Catholic Church of their wrongdoing. It is confirmation, as one of the attorneys for the victims said, that “they did nothing wrong – it was not their fault.”

Having represented victims of clergy abuse, I know very well that many victims blame themselves for the abuse they endured - and that’s what tortures them and eats them up from within. It’s that sense of guilt that results in their silent suffering, the hiding from the truth, the shame of it all. In many media interviews over the last two days, I heard victims say the same as our clients have said, that the abuse completely messed up their lives; that they became alcoholics, resorted to drug abuse and struggled to come to terms with their sexual identity. Most victims had failed marriages. How does anybody put a price on this type of suffering?

Continue reading "Clergy Abuse Victims get $660-million Settlement" »

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Posted In: Clergy Abuse

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Let's start holding the supplier of alcohol responsible for accidents caused by intoxicated drivers.

A 21-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs after she allegedly hit and killed a motorcyclist on the 101 Freeway and then abandoned her car and hitched a ride home with a passing motorist. According to an article posted on Fox News’ Web site, Stephanie Nordberg was taken into custody in her home early Friday morning, several hours after the alleged incident.

Police said the crash happened at about 10:40 Thursday night north of Highland Avenue when Nordberg’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo hit a motorcyclist traveling in the number three lane. The rider, identified only as a 33-year-old Palmdale man, was driving a custom-made two-wheeler to the home of its owner, who was following in a nearby vehicle, according to the article.

Nordberg’s Chevy then careened and hit the center divider where it was hit by a 2006 Toyota Solara. The 28-year-old woman who was driving that car was fortunately not hurt. Officials say Nordberg then left her vehicle on that freeway near the scene of the crash and then flagged down a passing motorist who reportedly drove her home. Meanwhile paramedics took the motorcyclist to a local hospital where he died, the report said.

What a tragedy for the young man and his family! It is beyond me how someone can cause a severe injury accident and not do whatever they can for the injured and immediately leave the scene, seemingly like nothing happened. I am trusting that Nordberg, if she was the at-fault driver, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Years in jail would not be too harsh for causing a hit-and-run fatal accident, especially while intoxicated.

Continue reading "Motorcyclist Killed by Drunk Driver on the 101 Freeway " »

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Posted In: Motorcycle Accidents

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Here is the kind of news that really gets me mad and makes me wonder if we are really in the 21st Century. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has filed a lawsuit against some of the biggest lenders in the area accusing them of racial discrimination. Why? Apparently, these lenders have been partial to their white clients giving them favorable loan terms, while burdening black clients with higher-interest sub-prime loans. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, is seeking class-action status, according to an Associated Press news report.

The lawsuit is also asking that the court order the 11 lenders named in the complaint not to discriminate against blacks, an order which would mandate them to comply with fair housing and credit laws. Well, I thought it was already illegal and unconstitutional to discriminate based on race. Here are some of the alleged offenders – Washington Mutual, Citigroup and Ameriquest Mortgage Co., a unit of Orange County-based ACC Capital Holdings, which is one of the country’s largest sub-prime lenders.

Sub-prime loans attract high-risk borrowers with questionable credit history. Those who get these loans usually wind up with higher interest rates than other borrowers. But the lawsuit maintains that black homeowners who got these loans in 2004 were 30 percent more likely to get slapped with higher interest rates than white borrowers, all other parameters being equal. This is according to a 2006 study by the Center for Responsible Lending. Recently, the Federal Reserve Board also concluded blacks were more likely to pay higher prices for mortgages than whites, according to the suit.

According to an NBC news report, other companies named in the lawsuit are -- HSBC Finance Corp.; Bear Sterns Residential Mortgage Corp.; First Franklin Financial Corp.; Lehman Bros. Holdings subsidiary BNC Mortgage Inc.; Accredited Home Lenders Inc.; H&R Block subsidiary Option One Mortgage Corp.; General Electric-owned WMC Mortgage Corp.; and Fremont General Corp.'s Fremont Investment & Loan.

Continue reading "NAACP Files Lawsuit Alleging Lenders Charged Blacks Higher Rates for Loans" »

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Posted In: Illegal Lending Practices

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It was a crowded pool at a birthday party in a Villa Park home. It was a perfect day for a party – warm and sunny. There were plenty of kids in the pool and even more adults standing around the pool watching them. But not one of those kids or adults noticed 4-year-old Aurora Pruitt of Moreno Valley slip underwater and drown in the shallow end of the pool, according to an article in The Orange County Register.

The article states that there were as many as 15 children in the pool ranging in age from 3 to 16 years old. According to the report, five adults were watching the children. They made the horrible discovery at lunch time when all the children got out of the pool except for little Aurora. A parent, who saw her at the bottom of the shallow end of the pool, pulled her out and tried to resuscitate her, but didn’t succeed. Paramedics rushed her first to Chapman Medical Center and later to Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange, where she died just after 9 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, 18 children under the age of 18 have drowned in Orange County since January and nine of those children who drowned were under 13 years of age.

These are truly alarming numbers for Orange County. Drowning is the leading cause of death for young children in Orange County and California where backyard pools are the norm rather than the exception. Pools are a great resource and a pool parties are a great activity for the summer. But they can also be a liability. If a child drowns in your backyard pool under your watch, you could be held liable.

Continue reading "Fatal Drowning Occurs in Backyard Swimming Pool During a Party" »

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Posted In: Swimming Pool Accidents

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I recently came across an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat titled “Despicable People”. Obviously I was intrigued. But as I continued to read the article, I was hardly surprised to find out that it was about a Petaluma nursing home that was fined $100,000 for poor care and neglect of a 76-year-old woman.

According to the newspaper article, her husband and daughter placed Mary Keel at Pleasant Care Convalescent Home after the woman suffered a stroke. Now, our firm, Bisnar|Chase, has represented numerous victims of nursing home abuse and negligence. But this is one of the worst stories I’ve ever heard. Apparently, Keel’s sat in dirty clothes unchanged for weeks and was even allowed to eat her meals as she sat on soiled diapers! State investigators found 17 violations in that nursing home in connection with Keel’s death.

The facility is also reportedly one of 30 owned by Pleasant Care Corp., a La Canada-based company, which is in legal and financial hot water after many of its facilities were found to be far below state standards. And I’ll bet most of these sub-standard facilities were also understaffed. That’s how unscrupulous nursing homes, that don’t care whether people live or die, make their big bucks. They literally build their castles over the tombstones of those they were supposed to serve.

And it’s not as if they do it for free. Families pay good money to place their loved ones in these facilities. In fact, this article states that the Keels paid a “base rate of $5,400 per month.” And I know from personal experience, that more than money, it’s emotionally hard for families to make that decision.

Continue reading "California Nursing Home Fined $100,000" »

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Posted In: Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect

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Even though it was four years ago, Robert Rise says he will never forget the excruciating pain, "Like someone was sticking a knife through my intestines," the 60-year-old Helendale resident says. He wasn't in a traffic accident or injured in a fall. Robert ate sushi.

Robert remembers the day, August 28, 2003. Robert had lunch at the Karuta restaurant, a Buena Park sushi place near where he worked. Robert ate sushi topped with a raw quail egg, something he'll never do again. Robert wound up in the hospital for a week with salmonella poisoning. He lost 15 pounds in the first two days. He suffered sharp, cramping pain, the worst diarrhea he had ever known, cramps and vomiting.

He described his stools as resembling black water with a terrifying smell. Robert describes his experience, "Imagine you had a flue and a hangover at the same time and multiply a 100 times". Click here to read more about Robert's Salmonella experience.

Continue reading "The Horrors of Salmonella Poisoning" »

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Posted In: Foodborne Illness

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A jury in New Mexico, while acknowledging that a