San Diego Injury Law Blog

Our San Diego injury lawyer was encourages to read that the California Public Utilities Commission is showing that it takes threats to California consumer safety seriously this week with the announcement that it will investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”). PG&E is responsible for building and maintaining a large portion of the state’s pipelines that deliver gas to homes and businesses. The investigation comes on the heels of reports filed by two PG&E welders, Marshall Worland and Mike Mikich, both of whom claim that PG&E has violated safety protocols and failed to properly make necessary repairs to existing lines.

According to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Worland and Mikich have cited many problems with gas pipelines throughout the state. For example, they have said that many of the state's older gas transmission lines are plagued by rust and corrosion and are in need of repair or replacement. In addition, Worland and Mikich assert that during the re-installation of pipelines that had been tested for strength using high-pressure water tests, no workers were assigned to inspect the welding and ensure that it was being done properly. The welders say they have personally observed substandard welding work that they claim may make large portions of the gas pipelines extremely dangerous.

If the welding is not done correctly, of course, the structural integrity of the pipelines will be compromised, and there can be devastating consequences. In fact, part of the reason for concern with the quality and safety of PG&E pipelines stems from an explosion that occurred in September of 2010 when a gas transmission line blew up in a residential area. Eight people were killed, and more than three dozen homes were destroyed in the blast. Since then, PG&E has been under more and more scrutiny, and with the welders' recent allegations, that scrutiny is only increasing.

The Commission's investigation will look at safety practices within PG&E and whether they can be improved. Commission staff will also be conducting random inspections and testing of certain portions of the gas lines in order to determine whether there are any widespread problems with the lines. They will also be looking at results of testing that were previously conducted by PG&E to ensure that those test results fall within the standards of safety within the industry. The Commission hopes that by taking action now it can help to prevent any California gas explosion injuries in the future.

PG&E appears to be cooperating with the investigation, and a spokesman has said that the company will be working with the Commission to get to the bottom of the welders' claims. The company maintains that they have conducted extensive testing and that, once revealed to the Commission, that testing will demonstrate that all required safety standards have been met. The San Diego injury attorney at our firm hopes that will turn out to be the case, but, either way, it is always good to ensure that dangerous industries are subject to the proper amount of scrutiny.

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(Photo courtesy of Focal Intent)

Three Imperial County families will finally be able to take another big step towards healing this week after they were able to reach a settlement with the federal government in their San Diego wrongful death lawsuit. The settlement, which was reached after two days of mediation, awards a total of $11 million to the families of three women. The suit stems from a crash that occurred on December 29, 2009 when a federal border agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement ran a stop sign and smashed into a Dodge Caravan. The Dodge Caravan contained three women and two children. The women, Sandra Garcia, Maria Nieto, and Patricia Reyes, were all killed in the collision. The children and Cole Dotson, the federal agent who caused the crash, all survived, though they did receive injuries.

According to UT San Diego, The California Highway Patrol (“CHP”) conducted an extensive investigation into the cause of the crash and the circumstances surrounding it. Their report reached the conclusion that Agent Dotson had been part of a team that was watching and following a man who had smuggled methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico. The team had been having trouble communicating with each other via radio and had resorted to using text messages to communicate. Although it was not clear whether Dotson had been texting or using his cell phone or radio at the time of the crash, the CHP did conclude that he had been traveling at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour just a few seconds before the crash. There was also evidence that he had tried to brake just before impact then attempted to speed up in order to avoid the crash.

The lawsuit was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), a major piece of legislation that allows citizens to sue the federal government under certain circumstances. Traditionally, the government could not be sued under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. However, the FTCA allows certain kinds of suits to be filed, including some wrongful death cases. Suing the government does involve additional requirements, both on the federal and the state level. Our San Diego injury attorney appreciate that one of the most important of these requirements to be aware of is the notice rule, which states that those who wish to file suit against the government must provide written notice of the claim within six months of the incident giving rise to the lawsuit. It must be done before filing suit, and the government must be given a set amount of time to respond. If that notice is not provided, injured parties can lose their right to sue forever, even if the statute of limitations on the claim has not run.

In addition, federal agents like Cole Dotson do have immunity for some of their actions when those actions were taken in the scope of their employment duties. However, these various immunities can be overcome depending on how the suit is filed. In this San Diego injury case, the attorney for the victims argued that the wrongful death suit was not about the way he performed his duties but rather the negligent operation of his vehicle.

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A California products liability case against the manufacturer of a popular hair product came to a close in a settlement with the California Attorney General's office this week. GIB, LLC is a California-based company that manufactures Brazilian Blowout, a hair salon product that straightens and smoothes otherwise curly hair. According to report in Fox News, Brazilian Blowout has been one of the top choices for many women seeking to straighten their hair quickly and efficiently, without the long process of daily straightening with a flat iron or hair dryer. The Brazilian Blowout solution is applied and, when combined with heat, smoothes and straightens the hair.

Unfortunately, San Diego injury lawyer has learned that the Attorney General's case has exposed some major health concerns with the product. In particular, because of the chemical formaldehyde contained in Brazilian Blowout, there is a possibility of a carcinogenic effect, which essentially means that the product has the potential to cause cancer. This risk applies to both the person receiving the hair treatment and the hair stylist administering it. It is therefore very important to ensure that consumers have all the facts before they decide whether or not to use it. Formaldehyde emits a gas, which can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, and lungs.

Among the allegations lodged against GBI by the state was a claim of deceptive advertising stemming from the fact that GBI had labeled its products as “formaldehyde-free” when certain formulations of Brazilian Blowout, in fact, did contain the chemical. As part of their consumer safety lawsuit settlement, GBI has agreed to remove the false claims that the product is formaldehyde-free from the labels and to add a warning regarding the possible cancer-causing effects. In addition to the label changes, GBI will pay $600,000 in civil money penalties for failing to properly warn consumers of the risks of irritation and cancer and for not having the products properly tested prior to marketing them in the United States. Brazilian Blowout had previously been sold in Brazil where labeling requirements are likely different than those imposed in the U.S. The company will also provide literature to salons that use Brazilian Blowout in order to educate them as to all the risks and how to protect against them.

Selling dangerous products is certainly not unheard of in the United States, nor is it illegal in all cases. The manufacture and sale of cigarettes is a prime example of this. However, just as tobacco manufacturers are required to provide information about health risks on their packaging, manufacturers of other potentially dangerous products have a duty to warn consumers that the product could harm them. A failure to properly warn in our area can be the basis for a San Diego products liability lawsuit, even if the government had not taken action. In fact, some California consumers have already joined in a class action lawsuit against the company, and it is possible that more such suits will follow. Consumers in our area who have used Brazilian Blowout should consult a San Diego County personal injury lawyer to see what their rights are and whether they also have a case against GBI.

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A California torts lawyer and a devastated family's dogged pursuit of an unprecedented legal claim ended in a $2.37 million settlement after more than five years. The LA Times reports that In 2006,18-year-old Nicole Catsouras took her father's Porsche out for a high-speed joy ride. She lost control of the vehicle when she clipped another car and crashed into a tollbooth. The teenager was killed on impact. The crash was so severe, and the damage to Nicole's body so gruesome, that authorities did not allow the grieving parents to view her body after the accident. Unfortunately, the death of their daughter was only the beginning of a long and horrific nightmare for the Catsouras family.

At the scene of the crash, officers from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) took photographs of Nicole's mangled body, presumably for some kind of investigative purposes. The pictures show that the accident nearly took her head off and left her covered in blood. Those photographs were never supposed to have been seen by anyone outside the department. However, for reasons that are not clear, two officers subsequently leaked them on the internet. In the aftermath of the leak, the Catsouras family had to endure knowing that the pictures of their once-beautiful daughter were available for the world to see and comment on. They also received anonymous letters in the mail. The letters maligned their parenting abilities, criticized their daughter, and made cruel comments about the grisly pictures.

The Catsouras family spent a great deal of time, money, and effort trying to get the pictures taken down. Sometimes, they were successful in getting websites to remove the pictures, only to have them pop up on other sites a few days later. Finally, feeling that their efforts were futile, the family filed a suit against CHP. The California invasion of privacy lawsuit was originally dismissed by an Orange County Superior Court judge on the grounds that the CHP had not breached any legal duty owed to the family. Our San Diego injury lawyer knows that at that time, California tort law did not allow an invasion of privacy claim for survivors. However, Nicole's parents refused to give up, and in 2010, an appeals court reversed the dismissal of the claim and officially recognized the right for surviving family members to sue for invasion of privacy in cases involving photographs of their deceased loved ones.

The case then dragged on for over a year before finally resulting in a multi-million dollar settlement this week. As part of the settlement agreement, the CHP also pledged their assistance in trying to get the images removed from the web. Experts have told the family that they will likely never be able to completely scrub the images from the internet, but Nicole's parents have not given up on their efforts. Hopefully, because of their unrelenting pursuit of justice, the CHP will take the extra precautions to ensure that other photographs or sensitive information will not be leaked in the future, and other families will not have to suffer in the aftermath of tragedy.

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