San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

Many Defective Airbags Still Not Repaired

October 28, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

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Those who have paid careful attention to the news over the past year may remember manufacturer Takata, whose defective airbag inflators are believed to be responsible for at least 16 deaths and another 100 injuries. According to reports, the defective airbag inflators contain a substance called ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate is used to inflate the airbag quickly in the event of a crash, but the compound can explode unintentionally in hot and/or humid conditions. In the Takata airbags, the explosion causes the metal canister in which the compound was stored to blow apart and become deadly shrapnel. The Takata inflators were mainly found in cars manufactured by Honda.

Recall Notices Not Having Intended Effects

Northern California Elder Abuse Attorney Discusses Recent Charges Against Nursing Home Worker

October 26, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

A Canadian nursing home nurse was recently arrested and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. The nurse is accused of poisoning eight residents between the years of 2007 and 2014. As terrible as these allegations are, this is only one example (albeit, a potentially tragic and incomprehensible example) of the abuse and neglect that thousands of nursing home residents face each day. Sadly, many instances of nursing home abuse or neglect go unreported and/or uninvestigated because:

The abuse victim feels ashamed or embarrassed about the abuse or neglect;
Family members or friends to whom the abuse is reported do not believe the victim;

San Francisco Car Accident Lawyer Examines Evidence in Massive Highway Pileup

October 24, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

No two car crashes or highway collisions are the same, and no matter how many victims you help recover compensation through the civil courts, you can never be truly prepared for the carnage and tragedy of a crash like the one that happened this week on Interstate 10. There, a tour bus returning from a casino slammed into the back of a slow-moving tractor-trailer truck. The truck was believed to have been traveling at five miles per hour because of utility work that was going on; the bus is believed to have been traveling over 60 miles per hour when it struck the trailer. The crash killed 13 individuals and injured another 31, making it one of the deadliest car crashes in state history.

“No Evidence the Driver Applied the Brakes”

According to a Fox News report, the California Highway Patrol concluded that there was no evidence the driver of the tour bus applied the brakes to the bus before striking the tractor-trailer. In order to make this conclusion in this or any other car crash case, investigators usually look at two pieces of evidence:

Northern California Pedestrians Injury Lawyer Offers Tips on Keeping Your Ghouls and Goblins Safe This Halloween

October 23, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

Every Halloween, certain things are bound to come around:

New, larger sizes of chocolates and candies for adults to distribute to the “ghouls” and “goblins” in their neighborhoods;
Scarier and more authentic costumes for children and adults alike; and

San Francisco Landlord-Tenant Lawyer Discusses New Submeter Requirement for New Apartments

October 21, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

If you expect that you will be needing to rent an apartment in a few years, your experience will likely be significantly different from that of modern-day renters. Today, your payment of rent covers the cost of your room as well as your water use. This is because most apartment buildings do not have individual water meters (called submeters) to measure the amount of water you personally use. This is about to change thanks to surveys and studies like the one conducted using Los Angeles tenants that found water usage among the tenants remained unaltered despite the state’s drought and the governor’s order that water usage be reduced by 25%.

New Law Requires Submeters Installed

Senate Bill 7 (signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2016) will now require every new apartment building constructed on or after January 1, 2018 to have submeters installed for every unit so that the tenants of each unit can be billed separately for their individual water consumption. Supporters of the law hope that merely being able to see one’s water consumption on a monthly basis will help encourage apartment dwellers to cut back on their water usage. A this time, the law does not require that existing apartment buildings to be retrofitted with submeters.

Is There a Right Way to Make California Cities More Bike Friendly?

October 19, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

Across the country and around the world, more and more cities (such as Paris and Los Angeles, just to name two) are looking for ways to become more “bike friendly.” This is a trend that our Oakland bicycle accident law firm applauds and encourages. A city that encourages more bicyclists to take to the road can experience several benefits: Less wear and tear on roadways (which reduces the amount of money that must be spent to repair roadways), less congestion on roads that may not have been built to accommodate today’s volume of traffic, and less carbon emissions, not to mention a population that is generally healthier.

Two Ways to Encourage More Bicyclists

Traditionally, when a city decides to become more friendly to bicyclists the city creates new infrastructure specifically designed for bicyclists, like designated roadways. Some jurisdictions even create laws like California’s three-foot passing rule in an attempt to show bicyclists that they are welcome in the town. However, a new technique has been proposed to encourage more people to ride their bicycles in California and elsewhere: Permit them to disregard certain traffic laws.

Your San Francisco Personal Injury Attorney Asks, Do You Know the Value of Your California Bed Bug Infestation and Injury Case?

October 17, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

In every personal injury case – regardless of whether it arises out of a car accident, a construction site mishap, or a fall down stairs, valuation is an important step of the investigative process that helps prepare a case to be filed and tried. Valuation refers to the process of assigning a dollar figure to the case that represents the total amount of harm suffered by the victims. It is, in other words, the case’s “worth.”

The Importance of Proper Valuation in Bed Bug Cases

Valuation is key: Without an accurate understanding of the case’s worth, the victim in the case will have a hard time determining whether a proposed settlement agreement adequately compensates the victim for his or her injuries and should be accepted. Moreover, if the valuation process is not completed correctly, then the amounts of compensation requested by the victim for this loss or that expense may be quite difficult to prove.

Settlement Reached in Case of Death of Girl at Camp

October 15, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

The family of a 13-year-old girl who suddenly and tragically died after an allergic reaction brought on by consuming a snack containing peanut butter have settled their suit against the City of Sacramento and Camp Sacramento for several million dollars. According to the suit, the girl went into anaphylactic shock after consuming a Rice Krispies treat that contained peanut butter. According to the suit, the peanut butter had been mixed in with the other ingredients so that it would not have been noticeable by sight or by taste. There was also no warning label placed near the treats that would have alerted someone that peanut butter was present in the snack.

Settling Wrongful Death Cases is a Heart-Wrenching Experience

News reports do not disclose the reason the family decided to settle their case against the city. Nonetheless, the decision to settle any personal injury case – especially one involving the sudden death of a loved one – is not a decision many plaintiffs enter into lightly. By settling, plaintiffs may feel as if they are somehow letting the responsible party “off the hook” or allowing them to escape full accountability for their actions. However, settling a case may make sense when:

New Law Aims to Protect Rideshare Passengers

October 14, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

Passengers using rideshare services like Uber and Lyft know (or at least should know, as these terms and conditions are posted on each ridesharing company’s website) that the ridesharing companies consider their drivers to be independent contractors. When a passenger is involved in a crash while riding in an Uber or Lyft vehicle, the process of obtaining compensation can be complicated enough. However, passengers who are deliberately injured by an act of violence committed by their Uber or Lyft driver are left in a vulnerable legal position. Neither Uber nor Lyft allow themselves to be sued for such acts, meaning that the passengers will likely have difficulty holding the responsible party accountable for his or her actions.

While a new law signed by Governor Jerry Brown does not solve this dilemma completely, it does aim to make passengers who use rideshare platforms a little bit safer.

Criminal Background Checks Now Required

Northern California Food Contamination Attorney Discusses the Listeria Bacteria and Nestlé’s Recent Recall

October 10, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

Nestlé “Drumsticks” are synonymous with warm, sunny days. The sweet ice cream treats are distinguishable by their chocolate-and-nut candy “shell” that encapsulates ice cream atop a waffle cone and have been a sought-after treat by children for generations. However, one of the production facilities used to create the Drumstick ice cream cone has tested positive for listeria. As a result, Nestlé has issued a voluntary recall for all Drumsticks that were part of the company’s Drumstick Club 16-Count variety pack and 24-count Vanilla Pack boxes manufactured between August 31, 2016 and September 17, 2016.

Listeria Bacteria and Complications

The bacteria Listeria monocytogenes can lead to listeriosis (or listeria) if a person eats food contaminated with the bacteria. The bacteria can cause food poisoning in individuals, particularly the elderly, pregnant women, newborn children, and those who have weakened or compromised immune systems. Symptoms of infection can include: