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Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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Whether you are driving on one of the major highways surrounding Poway or you are on a local road, a serious truck accident can happen without warning. Trucking accidents can happen for many different reasons, and it is important to work with an experienced truck accident attorney who can help you move forward with a claim and determine who may be liable for your injuries. Although every case has its own set of facts, the following are the general steps you should take if you have been injured in a Poway trucking crash. 

Gather Evidence at the Scene of the Truck Accident

Many truck accidents result in life-threatening and deadly injuries. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), large trucks usually weigh anywhere from 20 to 30 times as much as a smaller passenger vehicle, and they have a much higher ground clearance. As a result, a collision with a passenger car or light truck can mean that any occupants of those smaller vehicles sustain debilitating injuries. If you are physically and mentally able to do so, you should gather as much information as you can at the scene of the truck accident. You should take photos, and you should make sure to record the names and contact information of anyone else involved in the collision and anyone who witnessed it.

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nabeel-syed-2856-copy-300x200If you were injured in a car accident in San Marcos or elsewhere in Southern California, it is essential to know how to file an auto accident claim. Every car accident case will have its own particular set of facts, but we want to provide you with more information about the claims process and the ways a San Marcos car accident lawyer can help. 

Gather Information to Support Your Claim

You will need to gather information and evidence to support your car accident case. This process starts at the scene of the accident, where you should take photographs of the scene on your smartphone. You should also obtain contact information for anyone else involved in the collisions as well as witnesses who may be able to support your version of the events. Beyond the initial scene, it is also important to get medical attention as soon as possible. By seeing a doctor quickly, you will be able to prove that your injuries resulted from the car accident, and your medical records will become important evidence in your case.

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lance-asper-pAWY7xrsLwc-unsplash-copy-300x169If you live in Encinitas or in another part of San Diego County, you have likely been staying home as much as possible for the last number of weeks. All Californians are required to stay home “except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job,” according to the state’s stay-home order. The order is in place until further notice, and it first took effect on March 19, 2020. While anyone who has an essential job—and thus must drive to work—or needs to leave the house for food or medicine is still at risk of being injured in a motor vehicle crash, it looks like that risk is significantly lower. Indeed, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, since the stay-home order took effect, motor vehicle collision rates have dropped significantly. 

We want to say more about the lowered risk of an auto accident during the pandemic, and to discuss what you should do if you are involved in a crash at this time.

Fewer Motor Vehicle Crashes With Lower Traffic Rates

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sara-the-freak-v4lRAcrhBr8-unsplash-copy-300x200When you are driving in San Clemente or elsewhere in Southern California, are you at greater risk of being involved in a car accident than you think? Most San Diego County or Los Angeles County residents do not get behind the wheel with the expectation of suffering injuries in a serious motor vehicle collision. Many drivers have a false sense of security when it comes to driving and auto accident risk. According to a recent article in the Patch, a high percentage of Southern Californians are “in denial about safety” based on information from a recent study. We want to tell you more about the study and discuss actual car crash risks in Southern California. 

Driving is King in Southern California

More than in most other major urban areas of the U.S., driving remains the preferred mode of transportation in Los Angeles County and San Diego County. Indeed, in Los Angeles County, according to the article, “private vehicles are used at more than twice the rate of the second-most popular transportation mode, ride-hailing.” To put it another way, more than double the number of people drive than use Lyft or Uber.

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louis-reed-JeInkKlI2Po-unsplash-copy-300x200When young students are required to use certain devices or objects in science classes for experiments, those students could be at risk of suffering a serious burn injury. Anytime science classroom experiments require students to use flammable materials, a serious fire could start and students could suffer disfiguring and severe burn injuries. A recent report from CBS 8 San Diego discusses a burn injury case in which a sixth-grader in the Encinitas Union School District sustained life-threatening burn injuries. That student’s family recently filed a lawsuit against the school, and that claim highlights the serious dangers of particular classroom activities. 

Science Classroom Experiment Resulted in Face and Neck Burn Injuries

According to the CBS 8 San Diego report, the recent claim against Encinitas Union School District centers around a 13-year-old student, Priest Rivera, who “suffered burns to his face, neck, and chest after a school experiment allegedly went wrong.” The family alleges that the Encinitas Union School District is responsible for the injuries according to legal theories of negligence, and negligent supervision and training. As a result of the injuries, the student required four surgeries and spent one week in the burn unit at UCSD. The student’s complaint alleges that he ultimately suffered “severe and permanent injuries.” How did the burn injuries happen?

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markus-spiske-197281-copy-200x300Now that Thanksgiving is over and the holiday season is in full swing, it is more important than ever for parents, guardians, and other family members and friends to be aware of dangerous toys that could result in child injuries. While we should not have to worry about product defects when we visit a retail store in San Marcos or elsewhere in San Diego County to shop for Christmas or Hanukkah gifts for kids, it is necessary to know that a variety of children’s products may pose injury risks. According to a recent report from CBS News, the consumer safety group World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH) has just released its 2019 list of toys that could injure kids. 

WATCH List of 2019 Hazardous Toys

Just because a product poses an injury risk does not necessarily mean it will be subject to a recall. As such, it is important to know about recalled children’s products in addition to toys that have not been recalled but could cause injuries. Often, children’s products are not recalled until someone gets hurt. Many product recalls occur as a result of a marketing error, or a failure to warn. For example, if a toy maker fails to warn consumers about certain risks associated with using a product (or even fails to warn about risks associated with using the product in an improper but foreseeable manner), anyone who is injured may be able to file a product defect claim.

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anja-137284-300x225If you are in a car accident in Vista and file a lawsuit against the negligent driver, how will your case be impacted if the defendant says you are partially to blame for the accident? This question concerns “comparative fault,” which is sometimes known as contributory negligence or contributory fault. In short, when a plaintiff files an accident claim against the responsible party, that defendant can raise the issue of comparative fault as a defense to avoid paying the plaintiff the full amount of compensation he or she is seeking. While each state has its own laws concerning comparative fault, it is important to know that a plaintiff in California can still recover damages even if the court says the plaintiff is partially to blame.

We want to tell you more about California’s comparative fault law, and to explain how it may affect a car accident lawsuit in Vista.

California Follows a Pure Comparative Fault Rule

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perry-grone-WgXd5cMYVyM-unsplash-copy-300x200Whether you are a San Diego County resident with kids who enjoy zip lining, or if you live in another part of the country and are planning a trip with your family to an area of Southern California where zip lining is popular, it is important to understand that zip lining can come with injury risk. Indeed, zip line accidents happen more often than you might think, and these accidents frequently happen because of another party’s negligence. As an article in HealthyChildren.org explains, zip lines are a “common attraction at camps, amusement parks, and in backyards . . . across the U.S.,” yet not all zip lines are created equal in terms of their safety ratings.

 
Whether your kids are planning to zip line, whether it is close to home or on a zip lining adventure on vacation or at camp, you should learn more about the activity and ways to avoid zip line injuries.

 
Zip Line Injuries are Becoming an “Epidemic”

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ryan-wilson-18905-copy-300x300The San Diego area is full of swimming pools, from the private Rancho Bernardo Swim & Tennis Club to public pools managed by San Diego Parks & Recreation. When you visit a hotel pool, a public pool, or a swimming pool at the home of a friend or family member in or around San Diego County, it is important to be aware of slip and fall risks. People who own or manage properties including swimming pools owe a duty of care to customers (for private club and public pools) and to friends and family members (for private residential pools) who are on the property. 

Sometimes swimming pool slips and falls happen when nobody plans to swim but the area near the pool is slick from water, while slips and falls also happen to swimmers and sunbathers. We want to say more about preventing slip and fall injuries and provide clarification about liability in swimming pool slips and falls.

Keeping Areas Around Pools Safe

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the-climate-reality-project-zr3bLNw1Ccs-unsplash-copy-300x200Nobody wants to think about toxic substances that may exist in the drinking water in Encinitas or elsewhere in Southern California. However, companies have disposed of toxic and otherwise harmful substances in ways that result in serious and fatal harms to consumers in California and throughout the country, giving rise to a category of personal injury lawsuits known as toxic tort claims. Toxic tort injuries in a small town in Southern California made national news back in 1996, yet as a recent article in Grist highlights, those toxic substances continue to have relevance. 

Toxic Torts Legislation in Hinkley, California

Anyone who has seen the film Erin Brockovich (2000) probably remembers the name Hinkley, a town in Southern California made famous in 1996 when, as the article explains, “a group of residents famously won a massive direct-action arbitration against Pacific Gas and Electric.” The case involved allegations against Pacific Gas and Electric, which ultimately was found responsible for “dumping hexavalent chromium (aka chromium-6), a carcinogen used to suppress rust formation at the Hinkley gas compressor station, into an unlined pond in the ‘50s and ‘60s.” By the 1990s, the chromium-6 had seeped into the groundwater in Hinkley, and many people suffered serious injuries.

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