California Injury Blog

Published on: May 8, 2007

Seatbelt Defiance Kills College Senior

By Brian Chase

Derek Kieper-what a waste of a young life! Derek Kieper was a 4.0 GPA Senior carrying five majors in economics, history, sociology, psychology, and political science when he died after a Ford Explorer, in which he was a passenger, rolled several times ejecting him from the car in January 2005. Two other young men in the car, the driver and the front seat passenger, were wearing their seatbelts and they escaped with non-life threatening injuries.

Interestingly, Derek was not only a columnist for the Daily Nebraskan, but he defied the government’s intrusion into what he called his individual personal freedoms when he wrote in one of his columns a year before his death that, “…if I want to be the jerk that flirts with death and rides around with my seatbelt off, I should be able to do that..”

Derek also railed against the Click-it or Ticket campaign to promote the new seat belt laws, scoffing at the fact that those commercials threatened that officer Joe Friendly would be pulling them over for a ticket if they didn’t adhere to wearing their seat belts.
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Published on: May 7, 2007

Big Rig Slams Into Minivan Killing Three Children

By Brian Chase

Three children died in a horrific crash on the I-5 in Mission Viejo Friday afternoon after a big-rig rammed into the minivan they were traveling in, according to a news report in The Orange County Register.

The three children Katie, 2, Kyle, 5, and Emma, 4, were traveling in car seats and booster seats in the back of a Chrysler Town & Country minivan with their mother driving the vehicle and their grandmother riding in the front seat, the article said.

The black-and-white big-rig came up behind the minivan at 55 and 60 mph, according to what the rig driver later told California Highway Patrol investigators. Packed with electronics, the big-rig didn’t stop and slammed into the back of the minivan, driving through the backseat of the Chrysler where the children were sitting. The semi drove through the back of the minivan, crushing it and pushing it into a Chevy Tahoe that was stopped ahead, CHP officer Katrina Lundgren told reporters.

Friday afternoon traffic had slowed to a crawl near Oso Parkway. The silver Chrysler minivan was stopped in the slow lane as the cars headed south stacked up. Andy Tran, a blinds installer from Santa Ana, tried to use his tools to get the children out of their mangled car seats, but couldn’t, the article said.

Katie and Kyle were rushed to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and Emma was taken to Saddleback Memorial Hospital in Laguna Hills. The two girls died within minutes of each other. Kyle was rushed into surgery, but could not be saved and died later that evening.
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Published on: May 6, 2007

Wrongful Death Lawsuit – Third For Singer/Actress

By Brian Chase

Singer and actress, Brandy Norwood, has been slapped with a third wrongful-death lawsuit stemming from a Dec. 30 freeway crash on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles that resulted in the death of 38-year-old wife and mother and caused major injuries to several other motorists, according to a news report on E Online.

Awatef Aboudihaj died after the actress rear-ended the woman onto oncoming traffic. Two lawsuits have been filed against Brandy so far – the first one by the victim’s parents and the second, by the victim’s parents on behalf of her two children who were also present in the vehicle during the accident. According to court documents, the children have suffered “permanent damage” as a result of the crash.

Now, Aboudihaj’s husband is getting in on the legal action, filing suit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court against the actress and other motorists involved in the accident.
The lawsuit specifically names the entertainer and Mallory Ham, the 50-year-old who broadsided Aboudihaj’s car while attempting to dodge another vehicle that had careened into her lane. The plaintiff, Maroune Hdidou, says up to 25 unidentified other drivers may have been involved, according to the E Online report.
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Published on: May 5, 2007

Auto Accident Involving Multiple Vehicles Leaves Two Dead

By Brian Chase

Two drivers speeding on the 710 Freeway triggered a multi-vehicle wreck Monday afternoon that killed two and critically injured three others, while shutting down a portion of the Long Beach Freeway for several hours, according to a news report in the Los Angeles Times.

The crash, which occurred north of the Firestone Boulevard exit, snarled freeway traffic for several miles as crews worked for hours to pull the victims out of their vehicles and clear the mess. The crash involved three big rigs, a two-axle box truck and a red Nissan compact carrying four passengers.

Investigators determined late Monday that the crash was caused by a speeding Ford pickup and a Mustang convertible. The driver of the pickup, Armando Casares, 35, of Long Beach, was arrested for investigation of hit and run. Casares was being held on two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, reckless driving and hit-and-run, all felonies.

Authorities were still seeking the driver of the Mustang. The names of the victims, all adults, have not yet been released.

The Nissan was pinned beneath one of the big rigs, and it took rescuers more than an hour after the 12:29 p.m. wreck to extricate the two women in the car and the driver of one of the big rigs, according to the article. Both women were seated on the right side of the car — one in front and one in the back — and were pronounced dead at the scene. The car’s driver and the man seated behind him were also critically injured, as was the trapped driver of one of the trucks.
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Published on: May 4, 2007

Elder Abuse, Neglect and Death – Double Tragedy for One Couple

By Brian Chase

Two wrongful death lawsuits were filed recently in Contra Costa Superior Court against Windsor Manor, a nursing home in Concord, California, as a result of the deaths of two elderly women. Surprisingly, the two women who died at Windsor Manor were the elderly Mothers of the married couple – Nancy and Jack Roberts.

And, just so you know this couple is not ‘sue-happy’! Jack and Nancy, married for 42 years, have never filed a lawsuit before in their lives, but when Nancy’s Mom, Doris 91, suffered a fatal fall in early 2006 Nancy had had enough. According to Nancy’s lawsuit, her Mom had a history of multiple falls at Windsor Manor, but their so-called skilled nursing staff neglected to provide a call light that was within her Mother’s reach, and none of the staff assisted her Mom to the bathroom, even though they knew she was prone to falling – leaving her to fend for herself.

Remarkably, Jack Roberts’ Mom, Nellie 93, passed away a year before Nancy’s Mom, at Windsor Manor. Jack’s lawsuit claims that his Mom’s death from aspiration pneumonia was preventable if the skilled nursing staff had been tending to his Mom’s condition. But, how could they when they were seemingly understaffed?
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Published on: May 3, 2007

Food Safety Hearings Held by Congressional Committee

By Brian Chase

On Tuesday, hearings were held by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations to weigh the role of regulatory bodies in protecting food safety. Families who have suffered from the recent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses met with the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to push for a strengthening of federal oversight of the nation’s food supply.

“I don’t know what the right answer is, but I do know what the wrong answer is: It is to continue doing what we’re doing, when it’s not working,” said Michael Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong described the disheartening situation faced by him and his wife, Elizabeth in regards to their daughters Ashley, 3, and Isabella, 5 who had both become seriously ill by E. coli after eating contaminated greens in September of 2006. The girls were two of over two hundred people identified as infected by the bacteria including 31 people who suffered kidney failure and three who died.

In March of 2007, 60 million cans of dog and cat food were recalled after the deaths of 16 pets that had eaten products contaminated with the chemical melamine. In the weeks following the initial recall several other companies have recalled pet foods tainted by melamine and now there is suspicion that the food contained tainted vegetable protein imported from China. In April thousands of reports of illness and deaths of dogs and cats are still being probed for any correlation with the contaminated food.
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Published on: May 2, 2007

Elder Abuse Is Not Just Physical – Elder Couple Loses Deed to Home

By Brian Chase

Pat Torano, 89-years-old and partially paralyzed by a stroke, came to the realization that he could no longer take care of his 95 year old wife, Dorothy Torano, who was blind and suffering from some dementia, so he decided to seek help. Pat and Dorothy had lived in their dream home in Cardiff since 1964, and not wanting to leave the comfort of their home Pat and Dorothy contracted with Visiting Angels – but what they got was no angel!

What they got was convicted felon, Gina Trevino, who eventually tricked the couple into signing over the deed to their dream home. Later, in August after Trevino was arrested, but before the home could be put back in the Torano’s name, worried family members placed the couple in a nursing home as they could no longer care for themselves. Unfortunately, Pat Torano passed away in the cold confines of the nursing home on April 5th, never again to return to the dream home he and Dorothy loved for over 40 years. Trevino added insult to injury when she used Pat and Dorothy Torano’s credit to purchase three cars and also to charge thousands of dollars on the Torano’s credit cards.

According to Kim Collins, the Torano’s daughter, who supports new legislation for the caretaking industry, “She [Trevino] sounded like she genuinely cared. I was so naïve.” The San Diego Union Tribune reports that Trevino, who is 49, has served time in prison for child abuse and also for receiving stolen property and forging checks, and while Visiting Angels did a background check that went back 7 years, Trevino’s past felonies did not show up as they were more than 10 years old.

• As of April 24th Dorothy Torano still doesn’t have ownership of her Cardiff dream home.

• According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office an ‘average’ of 37 caretakers have already been prosecuted between the years of 2001-2006 for stealing from clients.
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Published on: May 1, 2007

Defective Drug Kills Three Patients – Lab Error To Blame

By Brian Chase

A Dallas pharmacy company erroneously made a drug 10 times more potent than intended, killing three people who received it at an Oregon clinic, according to the state medical examiner’s report. ApotheCure Inc., a drug compounding pharmacy company, said an employee committed a weighing error in making the drug colchicine, according to an Associated Press news report posted in The Dallas Morning News Website. The drug was sent only to the Center for Integrative Medicine in Portland, where three people received injections of the defective batch to treat back pain, company officials said.

All three recipients of the defective drug — two from Portland and one from Yakima, Wash. — died between the end of March and beginning of April from the toxic levels of the drug, officials said. The Food and Drug Administration said it is investigating the deaths, but the agency’s officials believe that the problem has been contained, according to the article.

The article reported that Gary Osborn, a pharmacist and certified clinical nutritionist for ApotheCure Inc., said the problem could have been contained even earlier had the clinic contacted ApotheCure Inc. after the first death occurred. Osborn told the Associated Press that the clinic did not contact then until nearly two weeks after the first death. He also said the second death occurred before the company was able to completely recall the bad batch and send a new lot.

Osborn said this is the first such incident in his company, which he says is an industry leader.

“But you know what people say, stuff happens,” he said to the reporter.
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Published on: April 30, 2007

Pit Bull Kills 1 Year Old

By Brian Chase

South Carolina authorities say they are likely to charge a local mom with negligent homicide charges in connection with the death of her 1-year-old son who died after being mauled by the family’s Pit Bull Monday morning, according to a news article posted on the First Coast News Website.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the family’s apartment after getting reports that a Pit Bull got out of a laundry room and killed 1-year-old Brian Palmer. According to investigators, the dog showed clear signs of aggressive behavior before the attack, killing a cat and attacking other dogs. The boy died in a local hospital Wednesday morning. Initial cause of death was reported as “lacerations to the throat.”

“When you have small children in the house, you may have to exercise better judgment,” Sgt. Michael Miller told the newspaper. “And it’s going to be our job to investigate to see if this judgment was proper or not.”
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Published on: April 29, 2007

Drowning Accident Claims the Life of a 4 Year Old Boy

By Brian Chase

A 4-year-old Stanton boy drowned in his backyard pool Tuesday night after wandering away from the rest of the family, according to an article published in The Orange County Register.

Jose Ornelas went missing just before 9 p.m. while at least one of the boy’s parents and several other children were in the home in the 7700 block of Yorkshire Avenue, officials told the Register. Family members began searching the house and back yard and found the boy at the bottom of the pool. Firefighters from the Orange County Fire Authority and Orange County sheriff’s deputies went to the home but were unable to revive the boy, who wasn’t breathing when he left the house, according to the article.

Jose was taken to the West Anaheim Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Officials said that there was no fence around the pool. The Sheriff’s Department homicide unit is investigating the death, which is a standard procedure for any suspicious death, but officials said that it was most likely an accidental drowning. This is the third Orange County pool drowning in two months. Last month, a 2-year-old boy and his 21-month-old cousin died after falling in a murky backyard pool in Garden Grove.
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