San Diego Injury Law Blog

The California Department of Public Health issued warnings last week to avoid eating any alfalfa or clover sprouts distributed under the Wo Chong brand. Laboratory testing of the sprouts revealed they were contaminated with salmonella.

“Consumers, especially infants, young children and the elderly, are susceptible to serious infection when exposed to Salmonella,” said Dr. Mark Horton, director of CDPH. “Today’s warning is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of foods sold in California.”

The Wo Chong sprouts can be identified by the four ounce packages or the one pound bag. The Universal Product Code for the spouts is 027862003017.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that typically causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhea, with the symptoms usually starting within a few days of ingestion. It can lead to hospitalization.

Source: California Department of Public Health

The San Diego personal injury attorneys at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of incidents, including auto accidents, worksite injuries, food poisoning, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free and confidential consultation.

Tri-City Medical Center is probably in the news way more than it wants to be. For the last few years, the hospital has been the subject of much turmoil, from serious budget problems, to battles with unions, but it had hoped to move beyond all of that a year ago when it hired Larry Anderson as its CEO. Anderson had a track record of turning troubled hospitals around and making them profitable.

Last week, however, that all changed when Anderson was fired, then rehired in a 24-hour period. On Monday the board of directors voted 4-3 to oust Anderson, and then reversed itself the following day, allowing Anderson to stay on until August, when his job performance is scheduled to be reviewed.

Anderson spoke to the North County Times about the turmoil, and said his flirtation with unemployment was due to fundamental disagreements over recent business deals he has entered into on the hospital's behalf. One of those deals addresses how uninsured personal injury victims would be treated, and how the hospital could be compensated.

Personal injury lawyers throughout North County will tell you that it is not uncommon to have legitimate personal injury clients without medical insurance call for legal advice. It's a conundrum. These folks (most of them fully employed) have good cases, need non-emergent medical help, but have no insurance and no family doctor. Yet the insurance company of the negligent actor that caused the injury (auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, etc.), won't pay a claim until the injured party has completed medical treatment. What do most attorneys do? The either try to find a doctor that is willing to treat the client on a lien, or send them off to the emergency room.

This is where Anderson got it right, but where he has ruffled feathers. He entered a deal with a company called Medical Acquisitions Corp., which will underwrite the medical expenses of individuals with valid personal injury claims, then, when the case resolves and the victim is compensated, the cost of medical care will be reimbursed to the hospital. This is a way to recoup costs for treatment that would otherwise have been provided to a patient without any ability to pay. Tri-City hospital provides about $20 million in care to individuals who are uninsured. A certain percentage of those are accident victims who arrive at the hospital without insurance, but who the hospital will provide care. This program at least provides a chance that the hospital will get compensated for some of the care.

Board member Ron Mitchell, without explanation, thinks it’s not "ethical" for a community hospital to be in "this type of business." But Anderson sees a way for his hospital to get compensated. Regardless of what one thinks of personal injury claimants (and, ahem, their attorneys), this is simply smart business.

Source: North County Times

The North County accident and injury lawyers at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of accidents, including auto accidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free consultation.

Fatal motorcycle accidents fell by 16 percent in the first nine months of 2009 after rising steadily for the previous decade, a report just issued by the Governors Highway Safety Association found. The reasons for the sudden plunge in motorcycle deaths are unclear, but there was some speculation that current economic conditions were keeping motorcyclists off the road. Indeed, new motorcycles sales were down 42% in 2009.

But the decline in deaths is obviously good news. Professor Samir Ahmed, who studies the causes of motorcycle accidents at Oklahoma State University, was stumped as to the cause of the decline. He told the Washington Post, "It's good news that fatalities are decreasing, but I really don't have a clue as to why. I really don't see anything that would cause that, unless people are just not riding."

In addition, motorcycle riding has changed dramatically over the decades. It boomed in the years after World War II, when it was primarily popularized soldiers coming home from the war, but over the years the age of the average rider has risen dramatically. In 1987, the average age of a rider was 27, but by 2004 the average age was 41. Statistics from 1975 show that the riders under 50 years old accounted for 97% of all motorcycle accident deaths, whereas now more than 28% of all deaths are riders over 50.

Source: Washington Post

The Walton Law Firm represent accident victims throughout San Diego County and has recovered millions of dollars for individuals involved car accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian injuries, uninsured motorist claims, defective products, construction accidents, slip and fall injuries, dog bites, insurance disputes, and medical malpractice suits. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free consultation.

Rancho Springs Medical Center and Inland Valley Regional Medical Center were informed by Medicare last week that they will lose Federal Medicare funding because of their repeated failure to follow basic care standards. The hospitals were also hit with hefty fines for serious healthcare related deficiencies.

The decision by Medicare to end funding came after an inspection in January where officials found, among other things, that pharmacists failed to ensure that dangerous medications were used in a safe manner, and where physician assistants were not properly equipped to screen patients. The hospitals have been under the watchful eye of regulators since 2007, when they were first notified of the questionable care being provided to patients.

These two hospitals find themselves in small company. Since 2000, only 32 hospitals have lost Medicare funding. And, remarkably, despite the problems, the company CEO was rewarded with a $3.4 million bonus in March.

Source: California Watch

The personal injury lawyers at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of accidents, including auto accidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free consultation.

The San Diego Union Tribune is out with a story today about the risks elderly drivers pose behind the wheel, and the problem of "pedal misapplication." What is pedal misapplication? An innocuous way of describing what happens when a driver accidentally hits the gas when they think they are applying the brakes.

In the article there are several accounts of San Diego accidents caused by elderly drivers, several of them fatal (and a few covered in this blog). Although pedal misapplication can happen with a driver of any age, the evidence suggests that it is mostly elderly drivers that are the cause.

“I get these cases maybe one week, and three the next week,” said San Diego police Detective Dan Wall. “They’re usually hitting several cars or several people, dealing with very rapid acceleration, flying through the back side of a garage, driving through the front of a post office, a bank, a convenience store, a restaurant, a fast-food store.”

At the Sharp Memorial Hospital Rehabilitation Center’s Driving Performance Lab elderly drivers are tested for the driving acuity, and frequently have problems. Dr. Peter Rosen, the director of the center told the Union Tribune that it’s common for the elderly to confuse the pedals.

“As we get older, our neurological processes slow down. Our vision and reaction time slow down,” he said. “The conduction rate at which neurons fire slows, so that our brain function slows. Brain function determines driver fitness — that is 99 percent of it.”

What to do about the problem. There is an effort to change law, and require elderly drivers to obtain annual certifications to continue driving.

Click here to read the entire Union Tribune story.

The accident and injury lawyers at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of accidents, including dog attacks / bites, auto accidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free consultation.

An Indiana man has sued the Internal Revenue Service for the wrongful death of his wife, who committed suicide in 2007. James Simon has alleged in his lawsuit that the U.S. Government, through the IRS, intentionally and negligently inflicted emotional distress when it negligently obtained a search warrant and invaded the privacy of the family. The United States has denied any wrongdoing.

The case stems from business relationships Mr. Simon maintained that put him in the middle of an IRS investigation. An agent with the IRS wanted to search the Simon home, and obtained a search warrant from a local Federal judge. On November 6, 2007, when Simon was out of town, and while Simon's wife Denise was getting her 11-year-old child ready for school, armed agents showed up at the front door and executed the warrant.

A few days later, Denise Simon committed suicide. In a suicide note she left behind, Denise wrote, “I am truly innocent of any attempt to evade taxes, launder money, and commit fraud or the other things I am being accused of. ... I also have no faith in the legal system or the ability of the government to seek the truth... with my dying breath I swear Jim and I are innocent.”

In its response to the lawsuit, the government states that the Simon family’s claims are barred “by their own unlawful, wrongful, or negligent conduct.”

This will be an interesting one to watch.

Source: JournalGazette.net

The San Diego accident and injury lawyers at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of accidents, including auto accidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free consultation.

RIVERSIDE - This appears to be a story about an careless mother visiting the apartment of an unfit dog owner, resulting in a horrific attack on a six-month-old child According to reports, Point Loma resident Carrie McKinney left her baby in a carrier on the floor in her friend's apartment, then left the toddler alone with a pit bull and pit bull mix dog. When the two adults heard screaming, then came into the room of the toddler and found the dogs attacking the boy. Sadly, it appears that the dogs, which were apparently biting at the child's diaper, bit off one or both of his testicles.

According to Willa Bagwell of Animal Friends of the Valleys, an organization that provides animal control for the Murrietta area, both dogs were involved in the attack. According to Bagwell, this is the first time in over 20 years that she has seen such a serious dog bite injury on a small child. She was stunned that such a small child would be left with such large dogs, which were estimated to be 70 and 60 pounds respectively.

The owner of the dogs signed a release to allow animal control to euthanize the animals, which was apparently done yesterday.

Bagwell didn't mince words about the attack. "It was very negligent," She said. "We're just all praying for this poor baby. It's such a tragedy. And what's sad is that it was so preventable."

Source: The Press Enterprise

The Temecula accident and injury lawyers at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of accidents, including dog attacks / bites, auto accidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (866) 607-1325 for a free consultation.

It appears a lawsuit will be filed against Tiffany St. Ives, a woman currently facing criminal charges of striking 17-year-old Marlene Resendiz as she tried to cross Escondido Street in Escondido, then driving away and attempting to cover up the crime. (Here's a link to some original coverage.) As you may recall, St. Ives hit Resendiz (who was about to be married), then went to great lengths to cover up the accident, including cleaning her car with bleach, repainting, and trying to sell it in Mexico. Luckily, a friend with a conscience turned her in.

Resendiz's cousin told 10News, "It's disgusting, cruel and horrible. She took much from our family that she needs to be held accountable for her actions." Now the family is rightfully filing a wrongful death lawsuit against St. Ives, who operated a sanctuary for farm animals at the time of her arrest, and who was allegedly "on the job" at the time of the accident.

The family's attorney Dan Gilleon told 10News, "It was such a heartless act on so many levels. The message that needs to be sent is if you commit a crime like this and go to great lengths to cover it up, you should spend the rest of your life paying back the family you’ve harmed so much."

Just how much? The suit is reportedly seeking $75 million in damages. Where's the money going to come from? Well, if it is established that St. Ives was indeed "acting in the course and scope" of her employment at the time of the accident, her employer (and its insurance carrier) may very well be on the hook. Good luck to the family.

Source: 10News.com

The San Diego accident and injury lawyers at Walton Law Firm represent individuals who have been injured in all types of accidents, including auto accidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free consultation.

A San Diego paramedic died Thursday while responding to an auto accident on SR 163. According to reports, the paramedic was hit while setting out flares at the location of a multi-vehicle freeway accident on th e 163 near Washington Street. All lanes of northbound 163 were shut down as a result.

The preceding cause of this tragedy was a Pacific storm that delivered rain to San Diego County last night and into this morning, causing multiple traffic accidents on San Diego freeways. The CHP reported only six auto accidents between midnight and 4:00 a.m., but that number leaped to 79 reported accidents by 7:00 a.m. because of the arrival of rain.

The name of the paramedic has not been released. There are reports that that driver of the car that hit him was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries:

Source: Fox5SanDiego and SignOnSanDiego

The Escondido injury and accident attorneys at Walton Law Firm represent individuals and families who have been impacted or injured by the negligence of others, including those injured in auto accidents, product liability incidents, worksite injuries, pedestrian injuries, construction accidents, property injuries, and malpractice matters. Call (760) 571-5500 for a free and confidential consultation.