California Injury Blog

Published on: November 30, 2007

Rainy Weather Causes Auto Accidents, Snarls Traffic in Southern California

By Brian Chase

A five-vehicle injury crash snarled traffic on the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana during rush hour traffic Friday morning, according to a news article in the Los Angeles Times. Officers who arrived at the scene found a pickup truck wedged under a big rig’s trailer, the newspaper reported.

Firefighters had to extricate the car’s occupants from inside the pickup and then remove the vehicle, which was pinned under the big rig. The freeway was completely closed as firefighters and Caltrans crews embarked on the cleanup. Passengers were taken to the hospital. It took firefighters about an hour and a half to extricate them and there is no word yet on their condition or the extent of their injuries.

Both Los Angeles and Orange counties saw a multitude of accidents Friday morning, most of them caused by rain-slicked roads, officials said. The Times also reported a big rig accident on the eastbound Foothill Freeway in Pasadena and three crashes on the Pasadena Freeway.
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Published on: November 29, 2007

Paralyzed Hit-and-Run Victims Receive Record $50-Million Settlement

By Brian Chase

Two San Clemente mothers, who became quadriplegics after being struck by a hit-and-run driver last year, have settled with the city of Dana Point for $50 million, said to be the largest personal injury case payout in Orange County history, according to an article in The Orange County Register.

Stacy Neria and Carol Daniel suffered major injuries after they were struck by William Todd Bradshaw, a homeless man who was already on probation for a DUI. He drove away after he hit the women who were running on Coast Highway in Capistrano Beach. Police tracked him down and arrested him nine days after this crash and he ended up being sentenced to four years in prison for felony hit-and-run.

Apparently, this April 8, 2006 crash was the first of three incidents at that particular spot on Coast Highway, the Register reports. In fact, two bicyclists were killed on that dangerous roadway because there was no dedicated bike path. But now, after two deaths and two major injuries, the city has built that bike path.
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Published on: November 28, 2007

Family of Woman Run Over And Killed By Police SUV Gets $2.75 Million

By Brian Chase

The family of a 49-year-old Iowa woman who was run over and killed by a police sport utility vehicle when she was sunbathing on Mandalay Beach in Oxnard, received a $2.75 million settlement from the city of Oxnard, according to a news article in the Star Tribune. Cindy Conolly was hit by the police SUV on June 12, 2006 when she was laying on the sand after attending her son’s beach wedding, the article said.

Police officers didn’t even realize that they had run over Conolly until they got a 911 call about her. Conolly’s family filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city of Oxnard alleging wrongful death and negligence. Family members alleged that the city lacked proper safety policies and procedures, which could have easily prevented this unnecessary tragedy, the newspaper reported.

The city reportedly accepted full responsibility for what happened to Conolly. The case was scheduled to go to trial this week. An attorney for the plaintiffs said the family is pleased that their ordeal is finally over although no amount of money will ever bring their mother back. The two officers who were involved in the incident gave sworn depositions about the incident. They both said it was an honest accident and that they thought about Conolly every day.
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Published on: November 27, 2007

ATV Accident Round-up

By Brian Chase

The holidays seem to be a popular time for children to ride all-terrain vehicles. Unfortunately, this is also that time of the year when the number of deaths and injuries as a result of ATV crashes is at its highest. A majority of the crashes involve younger children or teenagers who crash their vehicles because they lose control of them. Safety experts urge parents to supervise their children, make sure they are buckled up and are wearing the necessary safety gear before they get on one of these vehicles.

Here is a round-up of recent ATV crashes from all parts of the country:

Girl injured: A 9-year-old girl suffered serious head injuries and a broken collar bone in Thibodaux, La. as she and her father rode the four-wheelers through a private cane field. The girl lost control of her vehicle when her accelerator became stuck, officials said. The girl was reportedly riding a child-size ATV.

Hunter dead: A hunter was found dead in Tunica, Miss. after he lost control of his four-wheel all-terrain vehicle on a rural road. The man was identified as 42-year-old Wayne Comardella. The ATV reportedly hit an embankment and flipped over. Comardella suffered fatal head and chest injuries, the article said.
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Published on: November 26, 2007

Diners At Two Valencia Restaurants Become Violently Ill

By Brian Chase

About 50 people who ate at two Valencia restaurants earlier this month became very sick, according to a CBS News Video. The news channel reports that diners who ate at the Buca Di Beppo Italian restaurant and a Marie Callender’s barely blocks away reported becoming sick soon after eating there.

Robert Swartz, who was interviewed by CBS, said both he and his wife suffered the consequences after eating at Buca Di Beppo. He told reporters that he and his wife experienced nausea, diarrhea, fevers and chills. His wife had to be hospitalized and administered IV fluids, he said.

Victims of this mysterious food-borne illness contacted the Los Angeles Health Department, whose investigators later tied in complaints from both restaurants and actually determined exactly what happened. As it turns out, the illness was spread by one employee who worked at both restaurants. He was reportedly the one who cut fruits and vegetables for the salad.
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Published on: November 25, 2007

Feds Propose Increase in Seat Height and Seatbelts To Improve School Bus Safety

By Brian Chase

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing new rules to improve school bus safety by expanding the use of shoulder belts. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters made the announcement in Morrisville, N.C. last week.

Peters has also proposed increasing the height of seat backs on all school buses from 20 inches to 24 inches to better protect children from injuries during accidents, according to an Associated Press news report. The first batch of school buses to begin using these restraints will be the shorter school buses that are said to be more prone to rollover accidents. Longer buses may not need restraints right away. Instead the federal agency is leaving it up to the school districts to get funding to purchase new buses with seat belts.

According to the news report, a new school bus equipped with restraints costs $10,000 more than one without seatbelts. Most of the nation’s schools now have higher seat backs. School districts will have three years to begin having seatbelts in the smaller buses, which currently use only lap belts.
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Published on: November 24, 2007

Reckless Big Rigs Can Ruin Lives Big Time

By Brian Chase

Recent deaths on our highways have highlighted the danger of big rigs out of control on California’s freeways.

According to an article in the Orange County Register, on Oct. 30, Jorge Romero entered a not guilty plea to three counts of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Chris and Lori Coble’s three young children-Kyle, 5, Emma, 4 and Katie, 2. I am certain that Chris and Lori Coble, of Ladera Ranch, do not consider what Romero did to their family a misdemeanor!

Romero, a big rig truck driver, whose speeding was determined to have caused the deaths of the Coble’s three young children when he slammed into the back of their minivan, apparently had been cited two other times for speeding while driving a heavy truck — in both 2002 and 2006.
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Published on: November 23, 2007

Oakland Man Arrested On Suspicion of Causing DUI Fatal Hit-And-Run Auto Accident

By Brian Chase

Oakland Police on Friday arrested a 28-year-old man who they say caused a fatal car crash on Thanksgiving Day and then fled. That auto accident left two girls dead and a mother and her daughter with critical injuries, according to an Associated Press news report.

Salas was reportedly hiding under the covers in a bedroom of a relative’s home when officers barged in and arrested him, police told the Associated Press. Salas allegedly ran a stop sign and slammed his Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle into a Ford Mustang driven by Laura Herrera. She and her 3-year-old daughter remain in critical condition, according to the report. Killed in the crash were Herrera’s 4-year-old daughter and 15-year-old niece.

Salas’ own nephew told officials that Salas was driving recklessly even before he caused the fatal crash. Reports say he was driving in excess of 80 miles an hour and running several stop signs before the accident and was also drinking, making proclamations that he “wasn’t afraid to die,” the article states. Salas reportedly told investigators that he was only doing 25 miles an hour and missed the stop sign.
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Published on: November 22, 2007

12-year-old Paso Robles Girl Dies In Thanksgiving Day ATV Crash

By Brian Chase

In what was a horrible tragedy during a family’s Thanksgiving Day get-together, a 12-year-old Paso Robles girl died when she crashed while riding an all-terrain vehicle with her cousins and uncles, according to an article in the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Ashlyn Vargas reportedly went to California Valley on Thanksgiving Day morning to drive ATVs with her family members just before their planned celebration. Ashlyn was reportedly driving an ATV described as a “quad with a roll cage” on flat ground, when she lost control. She was ejected from the vehicle and then the ATV rolled and landed on the girl, crushing her.

Ashlyn’s cousin, also 12, who was riding another ATV nearby, ran to a family member’s house in the neighborhood to get help, the article said. Ashlyn’s uncle tried to resuscitate her with CPR, but that did not help. Ashlyn was pronounced dead by paramedics on the scene.
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Published on: November 21, 2007

Columnist Who Criticizes Personal Injury Attorneys and the Justice System Fails To See the Big Picture

By Brian Chase

In his Nov. 17 “Talking Business” Column, New York Times columnist Joe Nocera meted out a scathing criticism of personal injury attorneys who represent about 27,000 victims of the defective drug, Vioxx, manufactured and aggressively marketed by pharmaceutical giant, Merck, a few years ago. I am one of those attorneys he criticized.

Nocera’s problem is not only with plaintiffs’ attorneys but with the justice system. His column is titled “Forget Fair; It’s Litigation as Usual.” Nocera asks this question: “Is a mass tort really the right mechanism to settle disputes about product safety, or to punish corporate wrongdoing?”

His answer, if you can guess from that sarcastic headline, is a resounding “no.” Nocera argues that product liability lawsuits make personal injury lawyers rich and leaves the people who were really affected with very little. He calls it an “unfair” system and a “rogue form of regulation.”

Well, Mr. Nocera, when the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t do its job and greedy corporate giants in the pharmaceutical and auto industry flood the market with defective products, who else is there to “regulate”?

The plaintiff’s attorneys of America make it their business to go after wrongdoers and hold them accountable. Mr. Nocera, how would you suggest holding Merck and other corporate giants liable when they have injured the public? Your article didn’t have an answer, it only complained about the only effective process we currently have in this country — a process that works.
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