A jury has found that the city of San Juan Capistrano must pay $8.3 million in damages to Trenton Merrill and Scott Agostini. The two boys were seriously injured in a 2005 accident because of a dangerous condition at a city street intersection. The jury found that the dangerous condition…
Two Laguna Hills residents were attacked and bitten by three bullmastiffs on December 18, 2008 after the dogs got out of their fenced yard, according to this ABC News report. The large dogs weighing between 100 to 150 pounds got out of their yard, made their way up Terra Bella…
I came across this interesting column in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that talks about an issue that has been of great concern to me – runaway trailer accidents. Runaway trailers usually occur as a result of not being properly secured to a vehicle and can cause catastrophic accidents with serious injuries…
An 18-year-old man killed during a December 19, 2008 fatal Orange County street racing accident has been identified as Jose Merino Pacheco of Mission Viejo. Pacheco had three other passengers in his car and was racing another car driven by a 17-year-old. The fatal accident occurred at Olympiad Road near…
Gerald Adelmund, 60, of Rubidoux, was mauled to death by his own two pit bulls when he stepped into the backyard of his home to smoke on December 19, 2008. According to this news report in The Riverside Press-Enterprise, Riverside County Sheriff’s officials are calling it an “unfortunate accident.” The…
The Orange County Board of Supervisors has rejected their own health department and grand jury’s recommendations that Orange County restaurants adopt either a color coded system or a letter-grade system to let consumers know how their establishment scored on their last inspection. According to this news report in The Orange…
A new Web site launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services on December 18, 2008 will help consumers evaluate nursing home care. According to this news report in the Bakersfield Californian, the agency will launch a Five Star Quality Rating System on its Nursing Home Compare Web site.…
A former funeral director of an Arizona funeral home has been named as the defendant in a civil lawsuit. The man who filed the lawsuit claims that employees at the funeral home stole valuable items left on his deceased father’s body. According to this news report in the Eastern Arizona…
Curtis Dale Cauthen, 31, was killed in a December 17, 2008 in a Santa Clarita helicopter accident. According to this KTLA news report, Cauthen, a mechanic for Swanson Aviation, was killed when a gust of wind caused a helicopter to blow over and spiral out of control. Cauthen, who was…
A much-awaited federal vehicle roof strength rule is being relegated to the back burner yet again by the Bush administration for the next administration to handle. The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced that it would not meet the Dec. 15 deadline for final adoption of a new roof strength…