California Injury Blog

Accident victims who have been catastrophically or fatally injured due to a roof crush should seek an experienced Newport Beach personal injury lawyer. A skilled products liability lawyer will know what to look for in a rollover accident and can help you receive fair compensation. If you're involved in a rollover accident in California, look for things such as a roof crush. In other words, did the roof on the car push in? Often times, a roof crush can cause fatal to catastrophic injury to a person's head or neck. So look at the roof. See if the roof is deformed down toward the dashboard.

Continue reading "Things To Look For If You're Involved In A Rollover Accident In California" »

Mark Thomas, 7, died in a fatal San Francisco car accident after his family's Ford Explorer SUV blew a tire, went out of control and rolled over on the Interstate 580 in San Leandro. According to a news report in the Oakland Tribune, Jewel Mims, Mark's 22-year-old sister, was driving the Explorer west on the Highway the afternoon of November 11, 2009, when the left rear tire blew. Mims took her hands off the steering wheel. The Ford Explorer went out of control, veered to the right and rolled over. Mark was partially ejected from the SUV. The boy was apparently in the rear cargo area and did not appear to be restrained, California Highway Patrol officials said. The boy died of head injuries shortly after the accident. No one else suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of this crash.

Continue reading "San Francisco Area Rollover Car Accident Kills 7-year-old Boy" »

Nine people including seven children, were injured in a California car accident as they were returning from a trip to Disneyland in Orange County on September 27, 2009. According to an ABC news report, the SUV with the children and their grandmother was rear-ended by a suspected drunk driver who was speeding on Highway 99. California Highway Patrol officials said the male driver of the SUV then lost control causing the vehicle to roll over. The driver of the SUV was partially ejected from the vehicle and sustained head injuries. The woman and her grandchildren all suffered injuries described as "minor to moderate."

Continue reading "Bakersfield DUI Car Accident Injures Nine" »

Charlotte Lorraine Winn, 73, was killed in a August 10, 2009 San Diego car accident after she lost control of her 2001 Ford Explorer SUV and crashed on Route 79, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Winn was heading north on the highway when she lost control of the Explorer, which ran off the pavement and rolled over several times. The SUV came to rest against a tree on the west side of the road, California Highway Patrol officials said. Winn was airlifted to an area hospital where she died. Her 68-year-old husband, who was a passenger in the SUV, reportedly suffered moderate injuries.

Continue reading "San Diego Car Accident Involves Ford Explorer Rollover" »

Two people died and six were injured in a three-car rollover car accident in Utah early morning July 12, 2009. According to a news report in The Spectrum, most of the injured victims were from Los Angeles and the Southern California area. The fatal car accident occurred when 29-year-old Juan Garcia, who was driving south on the 15 Freeway, swerved to avoid a deer. Garcia's 1993 Range Rover rolled over several times. His two children--Zapatista Angulo, 3, and Assata Angulo, 5 months, were ejected from the SUV.

The baby--Assata Angulo--died of head injuries. Olegario Angulo, 31, a passenger in the Range Rover, suffered fatal head injuries after the SUV's roof and door caved in. He died at the scene. Chantel Manuel, 22, suffered injuries to the lower torso and Garcia sustained head and arm injuries. Zapatista Angulo was also taken to the hospital with injuries.

Mario Mendez, 67, was driving a 2006 Toyota 4Runner south when he saw the debris, but missed the Range Rover crashing into it. He was not injured. But a third driver, 47-year-old Jennifer Jordan of Rancho Santa Margarita crashed her Toyota Tacoma into the Range Rover and suffered ankle injuries. Her son, Jeremy, 20, suffered minor injuries.

Continue reading "Fatal SUV Rollover Accident Injures Los Angeles residents" »

San Diego Chevy Tahoe Rollover Accident

Two people were injured in a California SUV rollover crash north of Lakeside the morning of April 8, 2009, 10news reports. The rollover accident occurred on southbound Highway 67 near Slaughterhouse Canyon Road, California Highway Patrol officials said. The driver of the Tahoe apparently lost control of the SUV, which overturned and rolled 50 to 60 feet down an embankment along the highway. Rescue crews freed two people who were trapped inside the Chevy Tahoe. The sport utility vehicle was smashed and the roof of the vehicle was completely crushed and caved in. CHP traffic investigators are looking into what caused this rollover crash.

The nature of the injuries suffered by the two people is not exactly known. I hope they did not suffer major injuries in this rollover accident. I wish these SUV roof crush victims the very best for a quick and complete recovery.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 10,698 rollover fatalities in the United States in 2006. That accounts for 35 percent of vehicle occupants killed in traffic accidents, according to government statistics compiled by consumer rights group, Public Citizen. That was up from 9,379 rollover deaths in 1996, which then accounted for 29 percent of all vehicle-occupant fatalities.

Continue reading "San Diego Rollover Accident" »

Frank Kwangsu Kim, 49, of Lake Elsinore was killed in a Chino Hills rollover auto accident the morning of February 3, 2009 after his car hit some debris on the 91 Freeway and crashed. According to this news report, Kim was driving a Nissan Sentra eastbound on the 91 Freeway near Green River Road when the vehicle was struck by debris. Kim lost control of his vehicle and hit the center divider and overturned. Kim suffered major neck injuries and died shortly after the crash. Officials did not say what kind of debris Kim struck on the freeway.

My heart goes out to the family of Frank Kwangsu Kim for their tragic loss. I offer my deepest sympathies to the victim’s family and friends. It is heartbreaking to see that a man was killed because someone else carelessly dropped debris on the freeway.

Hundreds of deaths occur each year in the United States because of debris on the roadway. The California State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) says highway debris has caused 155 California traffic accident deaths just over the last two years. In fact this is the second freeway accident relating to debris in Southern California over the last one week! We just wrote about 52-year-old Leonard Vernon Maxwell who was killed in a January 30, 2009 accident on the 91 Freeway in Corona after his motorcycle struck debris on the freeway.

Continue reading "Man Killed In Rollover Accident after Striking Debris" »

Federal safety regulators are delaying a tougher vehicle roof-strength standard by three months, according to a news report in the Detroit Free Press. This more stringent standard is expected to prevent highway deaths in rollover accidents that caused vehicles with weak roofs to cave in and crush causing numerous fatalities, brain and spinal injuries.

The new roof crush standard, which was supposed to have been in place by July 1, will instead be issued Oct. 1, according to a recent announcement made by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). Safety advocates reportedly told regulators June 4 that the proposed rule was inadequate and that the federal safety agency should take more time to strengthen the proposed standard.

More than 10,000 people die in the United States each year in rollover accidents. Many of these auto accidents involve sport utility vehicles, which are prone to rollovers because of their high center of gravity. Recent studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that Ford Explorer and Chevrolet Suburban, especially the older models, had the worst roof strength which has been confirmed by our own testing.

Continue reading "Roof Crush Standard Delayed By NHTSA" »

Three people were injured in a two-car SUV rollover accident on Highway 12 in Santa Rosa after a Chrysler sedan reportedly ran a red light and struck a Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle, which flipped over. According to an article in the Press Democrat, both the driver and a passenger in the sedan and the driver of the Suburban were injured.

From the photo of the Chevrolet Suburban in this SUV Rollover accident, it appears that the vehicle’s roof crushed, which is common for General Motors Company SUVs. If the injuries to the occupants of the Chevrolet Suburban were severe head or spinal cord injuries or if any other injuries were caused by the collapsing roof or seat belt failures, the victims would be well-served by consulting with one of about a dozen auto defect law firms in the nation that are truly experienced in handling GMC SUV litigation. When considering hiring a SUV rollover accident attorney, ask them how many similar cases they have completed and how many they have in progress. Your might also want to know how many auto defect cases in total they have successfully completed against General Motors.

Continue reading "Three Injured In Santa Rosa Chevy Suburban Rollover Accident" »

An SUV accident in the Hollywood Hills on Monday, May 25th, near Crescent Drive killed an unidentified man in his 70s and a woman in her 20s, while critically injuring the driver of the vehicle, a woman in her 40's according to an article in The L.A. Times.

Two people died and three others were critically injured in the wreck as a Range Rover sport-utility vehicle went off the narrow canyon road, rolled down the slope before stopping against the carport of a home. By the time the vehicle landed upside-down it had crashed into a house in the 8700 block of Duncamp Place, near Lookout Mountain Avenue and had injured the SUV’s driver, a woman in her 40s, the news report said. A toddler and another passenger suffered moderate injuries.

Los Angeles Police Capt. Nancy Lauer stated that the accident happened as the driver lost control after hitting a huge pothole. Fortunately, the child was properly restrained in a car seat, without which the child probably would have been ejected from the SUV as well. A torn sunroof helped the injured victims find a way out of the vehicle.

Continue reading "Hollywood Hills SUV Crash Turns Fatal" »

A rollover crash in San Bernardino, which officials say was caused by speed and unsafe lane changes, sent six people to the hospital. According to a news report in the San Bernardino Sun, witnesses told police that the driver of a Honda Civic cut off a Chevy Suburban while making a turn. The driver of the Suburban then reportedly made a lane change and lost control causing the vehicle to rollover, the report said.

The crash caused minor to moderate injuries to four people in the Suburban and two in the Civic. The Suburban hit a Jeep Cherokee as it flipped over, but thankfully the driver of the Jeep did not suffer any injuries.

It is a miracle that this accident did not result in catastrophic injuries. It seems as if the driver of the Honda Civic was who triggered this rollover accident, but had the Chevy Suburban been better designed, it would not have flipped over. The Suburban has been known to cause serious injuries in rollover accidents because of its weak roof that caves in when it flips. The roof crushes the occupants within leaving them with severe traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. The occupants of the Suburban are very fortunate that they did not suffer major injuries.

Continue reading "Six Injured In San Bernardino Chevy Suburban Rollover Accident" »

It turns out that personal injury attorneys and advocacy groups were right all along on the issue of SUV rollover and roof crush. A study released this week by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) reveals beyond doubt that there is a definite connection between a vehicle’s roof strength and passenger safety. The study concludes that more than 200 deaths could have been prevented in rollover accidents in 2006 had the roofs been stronger, an article in USA Today reports.

Here’s an excellent example to help you visualize what these guys mean when they say “roof strength.” When the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2000 Nissan Xterra were subjected to the crushing force of up to 10,000 pounds, the Xterra’s roof crushed about 2 inches while the Grand Cherokee’s roof crushed 10 inches, according to the study. And still some carmakers deny there is any connection between roof strength and passenger safety. The Ford Explorer performed even worse, especially the 1996 to 2001 model years.

The study was released even as federal officials in the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) are preparing to come out with more rigorous standards to test roof strength. But these have been a long time coming. NHTSA has been talking about new roof strength standards for a decade and proposed new standards two years ago but nothing has been implemented. The standards have not been updated in nearly 30 years giving auto makers like Ford the excuse that they have been complying with the federal standard.

Continue reading "Stronger Roofs Will Save Lives In SUV Rollover Accidents" »

Ford Motor Company has lost an appeal in an $82.6 million lawsuit involving an Explorer rollover accident, which left Benetta Buell-Wilson, a mother of two, paralyzed from the waist down. Ford’s attorneys had previously succeeded in reducing a $109 million damage award to $82.6 million. But an appellate court in San Diego has ruled that Buell-Wilson was entitled the reduced award, out of which $55 million was punitive damages, according to a Dow Jones news report.

The 4th District Court of Appeal took on the case after the U.S. Supreme Court asked the appellate court to review it. Ford had appealed the award arguing that they were being unfairly punished even though its design met federal vehicle safety standards. Buell-Wilson was reportedly driving her 1997 Ford Explorer on a freeway in San Diego when she lost control of her vehicle while swerving to avoid some debris on the road. Her Explorer rolled over four and a half times and the roof of the SUV collapsed on her neck severing her spine.

Continue reading "Ford Loses Appeal In $82.6 Million Explorer Rollover Lawsuit" »

Two people died and six suffered severe injuries after their 2003 Ford Expedition lost control and ran off Interstate 19 in Tucson, ramming into a tree. According to reports on KOLD News’ Web site, Idalia Montano, 34, and Margarita Gonzalo Leon, 55, died in the SUV rollover crash. Both women reportedly did not wear a seatbelt, according to the Tucson Citizen. In fact, the article states that other than the driver, no one in the Expedition was wearing a seatbelt, including four children who were in the vehicle, ages 11, 10, 4 and 1.

Officials are looking into why the Expedition went off the highway. It’s really unfortunate that a majority of occupants were not buckled up – not even the children. But the fact that they were traveling in a Ford Expedition also raises some questions. We just got off a case involving one of our clients, Gloria Levesque, who was severely injured in an Expedition crash and rendered paraplegic. Her trial ended in a hung jury, but soon after, Ford settled for an undisclosed amount.

Our firm has conducted several crash tests involving Ford sport utility vehicles such as the Explorer and Expedition. About 10,000 people die each year in the United States in rollover accidents. We have particularly found that Ford SUVs are unstable, ineffective and fail to protect their occupants, especially in rollover accidents. These vehicles have been known to tip over even in moderate speeds. What happens when the vehicle flips over is the weak roof caves in on the driver or the passenger, crushing their head and spine causing catastrophic injuries.

Our client, who had been a teacher at a Montessori school for 25 years before her accident in 2003, will remain unemployed, disabled, dependent and catastrophically injured for the rest of her life. And it’s aggravating to think that Ford could have strengthened that roof for about $30.

A Florida jury has ordered auto maker Mitsubishi to pay $11 million in compensatory damages to a couple whose son was killed after being partially ejected from the Montero sport utility vehicle that rolled over, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The lawsuit brought against Mitsubishi by Donna and Peter Laliberte, alleged that the carmaker put its Montero SUV on the market in spite of knowing about problems with the seatbelt.

Their 25-year-old son, Scott, was thrown backward through the rear window in the SUV rollover crash, which occurred nearly four years ago. Scott was a passenger in the vehicle and was reportedly wearing his seatbelt. Jurors were convinced after attorneys argued that Mitsubishi took the unprecedented step of releasing a new version of the Montero halfway through the 2000 model year to fix those problems. But Mitsubishi officials never told consumers about the seatbelt defect in their earlier model.

Attorneys for the auto maker still denied that, which is typical. However, they did acknowledge that the changes in the Montero happened because of “poor crash test results,” the newspaper reported. Jurors awarded the couple $10 million for pain and suffering and the rest for funeral expenses and losses. The newspaper also reported that the trial was emotional for jurors and that many of them embraced the couple teary-eyed after the verdict.

Continue reading "Florida Jury Awards $11 Million To Parents of SUV Rollover Victim" »

Ford Motor Company has agreed to an out-of court settlement in an automobile defect/rollover accident case that we have been pursuing for our client, Gloria Levesque. She was seriously injured in a Ford Expedition rollover accident five years ago and rendered quadriplegic. The initial trial in Los Angeles Superior Court lasted three weeks and ended in a hung jury last December.

Of course, we’re pleased that Ford decided to settle with our client for an amount that is being kept confidential pursuant to Ford’s condition of settlement. But the more important fact in this case is that Ford’s top officials know – and have known for a very long time – that the roofs of their sport utility vehicles leave much to be desired in terms of strength. What happened to our client has happened to thousands of others.

The roofs of Ford’s SUVs such as the Explorer and Expedition are made so weak that they cave in during a rollover accident. Gloria’s accident happened on the 5 Freeway in Fresno County. She was a passenger in the vehicle. The driver swerved to avoid a collision, lost control of the vehicle, which rolled over many times. The Expedition roof collapsed and crushed inward causing her severe head and spinal injuries leaving her quadriplegic.

This is a classic case of Ford putting their financial interests ahead of consumer safety. They could have made that roof withstand a rollover accident for as little as $30, about what they charge for a chrome exhaust tip! How many unnecessary deaths has such skimping caused? Had Ford been a little more safety conscious Gloria would still have full use of her arms and legs. Now, she needs full-time care for the rest of her life and has no capacity to be employed. The settlement funds will help but they will not restore what she lost.

We consider this a victory for our client and more importantly, for justice. It’s cases such as these that constantly sound the warning bell to manufacturers such as Ford that they will be held accountable for the decisions they make in the board room.

One man died and four Fresno State football players were injured after their car veered off Highway 99 in Selma and rolled over. Terren Hall, 18, the only one who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, died in the crash after he was ejected from the 1998 Ford during the rollover crash. According to an article posted on the local ABC News Web site, investigators are looking into whether the driver lost control of the vehicle because a big-rig may have cut him off.

Those injured were the driver Jermaine C. Thomas, 19, of Duarte; Isian Green, 18, Sharrod Davis, 22 and Terrance Dennis, 19 – all football players from Cal State Fresno, the Fresno Bee newspaper reports. Thomas was reportedly the one who told investigators that the big-rig cut him off and sent him careening off the roadway.

Continue reading "Fresno Fatal Rollover Crash Kills 1, Injures 4" »

A 52-year-old Costa Mesa woman is dead after she was ejected from her Jeep Wrangler, which rolled over on the northbound 5 Freeway near Avenida Vaquero in San Clemente, The Orange County Register reports. Gloria Ann Weaver reportedly died in the rollover accident. Officials are still not clear what caused the accident and why the vehicle flipped, the article states.

There is no mention in the article whether or not she was wearing a seatbelt. Officials are still investigating, but I hope they don’t jump to the conclusion that she was not wearing a seatbelt just because she was ejected from the vehicle. Many times traffic accident reports will jump to the conclusion that an ejected occupant of a vehicle in an accident wasn’t wearing a seatbelt simply because they were ejected.

Our law firm has been involved with dozens of auto accident cases where an official accident report states that an ejected person wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, yet our experts on close examination of the involved seatbelt system, found evidence of use at the time of the accident and/or failure of the system. My partner, Brian Chase, is one of the most knowledgeable seatbelt failure attorneys in the country. Personal injury attorneys from all over the country consult with him on their seatbelt failure cases.

Continue reading "Orange County Woman Dies in Jeep Wrangler Rollover Accident" »

Officials suspect it could’ve been caused by road rage or street racing

A 29-year-old woman was killed after her 1999 Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle veered off the 15 Freeway in Fontana, causing her car to flip several times. According to an article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the crash was reportedly caused by road rage or street racing.

The newspaper reported that Lauda Young, 28, and Maxine Ferry, 29, were both driving in separate vehicles south on the 15 Freeway. According to eyewitness accounts, both women were traveling at a high rate of speed – 80 to 85 miles an hour. At one point, Young cut off Ferry with her 2004 Toyota Corolla in the slow lane leaving no more than three to five feet between the two vehicles, the article stated.

Ferry was forced into the dirt on the right shoulder because Young was tapping on her brakes while driving in front of Ferry, California Highway Patrol officials said. It was then that the Explorer veered back on to the road and began to fishtail. But at this point the Explorer was reportedly way out of control. Back on the shoulder, the SUV rolled over three or four times before it came to a stop.

Continue reading "Woman Killed In Ford Explorer Rollover Crash In Fontana" »

Gloria Levesque is getting her day in court today. Gloria was catastrophically injured in an auto accident when the Ford Expedition she was a passenger in rolled over and the roof caved in crushing her. As a result of the roof crushing in on her, Gloria suffered severe head and spinal injuries. She is permanently disabled.

The auto product liability lawsuit, Gloria Levesque vs. Ford Motor Company, started today, December 3, 2007, in Los Angeles Superior Court, Central District, before the Honorable Ricardo Torres. Brian Chase, my partner and chief litigator for the firm, is heading Gloria's trial team.

Mr. Chase will offer evidence that Ford knowingly manufactured and sold the Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle (SUV) with a defective roof that collapses during rollover accidents. Gloria Levesque, was permanently paralyzed on July 25, 2003 when the Expedition she was a passenger in swerved to avoid a collision with a big rig and the Expedition rolled over several times. During the rollover, the roof crushed inward, causing her permanent head and spinal injuries.

We have been gathering evidence on this case and doing testing of the Ford Expedition for two years. I believe that the evidence will show that Ford knowingly chose corporate profits over the safety of their SUV's occupants. Could it be that an American auto maker would willingly ignore known catastrophic injury problems of their SUV just to improve their profits?

"Ford clearly put profit before people," says Brian Chase. "This is another example of an auto maker profiting from the production of a vehicle known to have serious and life threatening defects. For only $30, Ford could have easily strengthened their SUV's roof structure to withstand these types of rollover roof failures.

If only Ford had strengthened the Expeditions' roof structure along the lines that some of their engineers suggested, Gloria Levesque would be teaching at her Montessori school as she had for the past 25 years. Instead she is unemployed, permanently disabled, and catastrophically injured.

Our case against Ford alleges that Ford manipulates the general public into believing that their large SUVs are safer compared to other vehicles while knowing that their SUVs have one of the highest rates of rollover injuries and deaths of any vehicle on the road today.

"Ford's SUVs are not built strong enough to protect the front seat occupants from being catastrophically injured during a rollover, says Brian Chase. "Ford knows this and have for years. However, Ford chooses to ignore this inherent safety problem in order to save $30 per vehicle."

A jury of 12 Southern Californians are going to decide if Gloria's claims are true and weather she deserves compensation from Ford. Hooray for our justice system that gives a school teacher nearly equal standing as Ford, to present her grievances, to request Ford be held accountable and that justice be done.

Regardless of the outcome of this trial, please pray for Gloria and her family. Her paralysis and brain injury have turned her into a shadow of who she was and put a enormous strain on her family to take care of her. They could use your prayers and well wishes.