California Injury Blog

Published on: December 25, 2008

Orange County Street Intersection Accident Victims Receive $8.3 Million Jury Award

By Brian Chase

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 at the intersection was a “substantial factor” in the injuries caused to the teenagers. Our source for this blog is this news report in The Orange County Register.

Merrill, who is now 18 years old, was a passenger on a dirt bike that belonged to Agostini. The boys were crossing San Juan Creek Road at Paseo Christina when they were struck by a BMW. Residents of that Hidden Valley neighborhood had complained to the city several times asking for a crosswalk or a stop sign at the intersection. City documents show that residents had been complaining for years about this dangerous Orange County intersection. But city officials decided that the intersection did not warrant a crosswalk or a stop sign.
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Published on: December 24, 2008

Laguna Hills Woman Mauled by Pack of Unsecured Dogs

By Brian Chase

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 Street and attacked Ed Barnard, who was standing near his truck. The dogs bit Barnard in the thigh, but he was able to get away. The dangerous dogs then attacked their second victim, a woman in her 60s.

Neighbor Jim Warren, who helped free the woman from the pack of dogs, said he ran to help her when he saw “three huge dogs pulling this gal from the sidewalk to the middle of the street”. He said he saw the dogs mauling the woman. He then jumped on the dogs and got some help from another neighbor who picked up a shovel and hit the dogs over the head until they let the woman go. Barnard described the dogs as having a “pack mentality.” Two dogs followed the bigger dog in the pack and did everything that dog did, he said. Fortunately, the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening. The three dogs were apparently euthanized at the request of the dogs’ owner.

I’m relieved that this Orange County dog attack victim and the other victims who were preyed on by these bullmastiffs are not seriously hurt and are recovering from their injuries. I’m sure the woman must be undergoing intense emotional trauma at this point. I wish her the very best for a quick and complete recovery.
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Published on: December 24, 2008

Activist Shines Spotlight on Tragedies Caused by Runaway Trailers

By Brian Chase

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 or deaths.

This news report is about an activist, Ron Melancon from Glen Allen, Virginia, who has taken it upon himself to document accidents involving passenger vehicles that tow trailers. A 43-year-old retail sales manager, Melancon is working to get national safety standards in place to prevent these tragic accidents from happening. Most recently in Pennsylvania, 36-year-old Michelle Kott was killed on a local highway when a trailer came loose from a truck and crashed into the car she was driving. In fact, this tragedy was similar to a horrific April 2006 accident in Richland, Pennsylvania, where a wood chipper detached from a truck and slammed into a minivan killing 37-year-old Spencer Morrison and two of his 4-year-old triplets.

California is no stranger to these tragic runaway trailer accidents. Statistics on these accidents are not readily available because the government does not keep track of these incidents very well. However, a recent Los Angeles Times investigation identified 540 runaway trailer accidents from news reports and court files between 2000 and 2007. These accidents resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of injuries and at least 164 deaths. It is very likely that there were many more runaway trailer accidents, injuries and deaths that were not reported by news sources.
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Published on: December 23, 2008

Orange County Street Racing Accident Claims Teen’s Life

By Brian Chase

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 Jeronimo Road when Pacheco lost control of the Volkswagen Jetta that he was driving. The car flipped several times and then slammed into a light pole. Our source for this blog was this news report in The Orange County Register.

It is extremely fortunate that Pacheco’s three passengers did not suffer life threatening injuries. One person suffered moderate injuries while two others escaped uninjured. The other driver was in a 2008 Scion TC. That teenager’s name was not released because he is a minor.
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Published on: December 23, 2008

Riverside Dog Owner Attacked and Killed By his Own Pit Bulls

By Brian Chase

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 dogs are described as a 4-year-old, 107-pound male part pit bull part mastiff mix and a 6 year old, 52-pound female pit bull. Both dogs, as well as the female pit bull’s nine puppies, were euthanized soon after the attack.

Adelmund’s neighbors were shocked by this brutal dog attack. One of his neighbors said the dogs were always “mild-mannered” and that he even took his own dog to Adelmund’s house to play with the pit bull mastiff. Adelmund always kept the male pit bull in an enclosure surrounded by a 6-foot tall fence, says his neighbor, who called it a “random” attack. However, other neighbors say they have always been afraid of Adelmund’s pit bulls and describe the dogs as “vicious.” One neighbor said the pit bulls always growled and snapped at her through a chain-link fence that divides their property. Other neighbors said they did not even know about the pit bulls.
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Published on: December 22, 2008

Officials Reject Letter Grades for Orange County Restaurants

By Brian Chase

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 County Register, county supervisors voted down the changes saying that they could burden restaurant owners with added costs during this period of economic crisis. Supervisors also said the county’s existing system is “doing a good job” at protecting local diners safe from food borne illnesses.

What was this big financial burden on the restaurants as a result of these changes? It would have increased the payment by no more than $7 a year for the biggest restaurants! It is a shame that the supervisors voted against both a color-coded and a letter grade system. As an Orange County personal injury attorney who has represented numerous victims of food borne illnesses over the years, I know that the current system of displaying inspection placards outside the restaurant has been woefully inadequate when it comes to preventing food borne illnesses. A color-coded or letter-grade system would definitely have been more effective and user-friendly.
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Published on: December 21, 2008

Federal Agency’s New Online Tool Rates Nursing Homes

By Brian Chase

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.

This Web site apparently already provides beneficiaries of Medicare with comparison information on 17,000 nursing homes nationwide. But this new online rating tool will utilize federal data to score each nursing home’s performance and competence in three important areas: health inspections, staffing and quality measures. The best nursing homes will receive a “five-star” rating while the worst nursing homes will receive a “one-star” rating.
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Published on: December 19, 2008

Former Funeral Home Director Faces Civil Lawsuit

By Brian Chase

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 Courier, Matthew Mendoza entrusted the body of his father to the Morris-David funeral and interment services of which Anthony E. Davis was the manager.

Mendoza alleged in his complaint that he was not allowed to see his father before the cremation and that he did not receive his father’s personal property that was given to the funeral home. Some of the items that were “missing” include $600 in cash, a wallet, a Waterman fountain pen, a reproduction World War II bullet lighter and a wedding ring. Mendoza is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages in this case.
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Published on: December 19, 2008

Santa Clarita Helicopter Accident Kills Mechanic

By Brian Chase

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 doing some work on the ground, was struck by one of the helicopter’s blades.

The helicopter was apparently contracted by Southern California Edison to string power lines between poles, Los Angeles County fire officials said. The helicopter’s pilot suffered minor injuries. The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Cauthen’s employer, Swanson Aviation, is a sub-contractor working on Edison’s massive Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project.

I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Curtis Dale Cauthen, who was tragically killed on the job. Please keep this family in your prayers.
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Published on: December 19, 2008

Obama Administration Expected to Handle New Roof Strength Standard

By Brian Chase

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 rule. The department has set a new target of April 30, 2009 – more than three months into the Obama administration. Our source for this blog is this news report in Automotive News.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not changed the standard in more than 30 years. It is outdated to say the least and has cost Americans tens of thousands of lives and millions, if not billions, in medical and related costs. The NHTSA estimates that out of about 40,000 fatal accidents each year in the United States, close to 10,000 deaths may be attributed to rollover accidents.
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