California Injury Blog

Mark Alan Dickson, 51, was killed and his wife, Rebecca Gonzaga, 47, suffered serious personal injury in a ride accident on August 31, 2009 involving the Heavenly Lake Tahoe's Tamarack Express Chair. According to a news report in the Sacramento Bee, the accident happened after a line from a nearby lift tangled with the line the couple were on and struck their chair knocking Dickson out and on to the rocks 50 feet below. Dickson sustained fatal injuries and Gonzaga, who managed to stay in the chair, suffered a leg injury. Preliminary investigations show that the fatal accident was the result of a malfunction with part of the zip line coming in contact with the chair lift.

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Twelve students and two teachers at the North Orange County Regional Occupational Program building in Anaheim were taken to the hospital with injuries after the roof of the adult classrooms collapsed on December 15, 2008 because a main drain failed. According to this news report in The Orange County Register, the injured victims suffered neck, back, muscular, skeletal and wrist injuries.

Officials are saying that the roof caved in after a main drain failed above one of the classrooms. This caused water to collect and the roof to cave in taking an air-conditioning unit down with it. The injured victims were said to have been between 17 and 50 years old. A 50-year-old female teacher had to be rescued after she was trapped under the debris.

I’m relieved that this Anaheim roof collapse did not result in catastrophic injuries. My heart goes out to everyone who was injured and possibly traumatized by this horrific incident. I wish all of the injured victims a complete and quick recovery – both physically and emotionally.

Continue reading "Anaheim Education Center Building Roof Collapse Injures 14" »

Two young girls were killed and another was critically injured in an apartment fire at 1052 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Long Beach, California early Friday morning. Long Beach firefighters knocked out the fire within five minutes of their arrival. The fire inside the converted garage apartment was reportedly caused by a portable heater. This is all according to an article in the Press Telegram.

The three sisters were immediately taken to Memorial Medical Center. Stephanie Aviles, 6-years-old and her sister Jasmine Aviles, 10, died there. Friday afternoon, Jocelyn Aviles, 7-years-old, was transferred to Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s burn unit which is much better equipped to treat Jocelyn and the only true burn center in the southern region of Los Angeles County.

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Investigators are still trying to determine what caused a roaring fire that swept through an apartment complex Saturday night killing a teenage couple and three young children. The fire also destroyed the home and personal belongings of a number of residents of the building.

According to an article in the Fresno Bee newspaper, the horrific tragedy struck in the wee hours of the morning taking the lives of the couple – Derek Fabian and his fiancée, Michelle Mattison; their 2-month-old daughter, Hayden and two other children who were there for a sleep over – Mattison’s siblings, Lexus Bisnar, 4, and her 2-year-old brother, Ariel.

Firefighters have been unable to explain why the five victims were not able to get out of the second floor apartment. Other residents of the building escaped unharmed. The fire didn’t take too long to spread because the apartments had shingle roofs and plywood siding, fire officials said. Neighbors told the newspaper that the apartment did have smoke detectors and that the apartment managers inspected them regularly.

Continue reading "Fresno Fire Victims Need a Skilled Personal Injury Lawyer on Their Side" »