San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

As Public Access to New Bay Bridge Fast Approaches, Legacy of Old Span Will Include Wrongful Death Chapter

August 30, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Bay Area residents are anxiously awaiting the scheduled opening of the Bay Bridge shortly after the Labor Day weekend. The dismantlement of the old eastern span has begun in earnest as workers put the finishing touches on its gleaming new replacement. But as the region’s anticipation builds for the public use of the new bridge, a recently settled wrongful death lawsuit suggests an ill-advised design, poor communication and haste may have been behind an accident-prone temporary stretch of the old eastern span.

S-Curve Quickly Earned Perilous Reputation
As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, documents from the lawsuit reveal that Caltrans managers never green-lighted the dangerous design of the Bay Bridge’s S-Curve, a stopgap section of the old eastern span with tricky sharp turns that was the scene of a fatal accident on Nov. 9, 2009, in which a Hayward truck driver fell 200 feet to his death after his big rig swerved and heaved over the railing, plunging to Yerba Buena Island below. The documents from the lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of the deceased truck driver went on to say that Caltrans officials approved the use of movable concrete rails in spite of a known risk that vehicles could go over the side of the rails. Motor vehicle crashes on the S-curve spiked in the weeks after it was completed for public use, and Caltrans sought to mitigate the perilous nature of the S-curve by imposing a slower speed limit and then installing “rumble” strips.

Lawsuit’s Documents Recount Quick Adoption of Shaky Standards for Temporary Bridge Passage
The lawsuit accused Caltrans of negligence in setting up a “concealed trap” by requiring motorists to negotiate the very sharp, unbanked turn of the S-curve while driving over a roadway with narrow lanes and shoulders as well as a substandard railing. The lawsuit’s documents also show that the S-curve, which was designed in 2003, fell short of freeway standards set by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Caltrans had hitherto heeded guidelines set by the AASHTO, but proceeded with construction of the S-curve after waiving the organization’s restrictions and subsequently tightening up the curve’s turns. However, plans for tightening the S-curve were not blueprinted by the curve project’s original engineer, but instead by a different Caltrans engineer who, a deposition from the lawsuit states, never discussed the changes with the original engineer. The S-curve’s tightening is at the heart of what senior Caltrans officials said they never approved. Perhaps the most disheartening narrative to emerge from from the lawsuit documents, though, was the one strongly implying that Caltrans officials hastily proceeded with installation of the S-curve – in spite of its apparent shortcomings – because the agency was motivated by a desire to save money and time.
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California Elder Abuse Lawyer on the Fight against Financial Exploitation

August 30, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

When we report on the issue of elder abuse, including financial elder abuse, it is usually because of a recent headline that discusses a new wrinkle, a new twist on how an elderly person was mistreated and/or defrauded. Today, our San Francisco/Sacramento elder abuse law firm has promising news that may help victims bring suit against the perpetrators of financial fraud.

Law Shifts Victim’s Attorney’s Fees to Defendant in Certain Successful Financial Abuse Cases

Just a few weeks ago, as detailed in the Sacramento Business Journal, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 381into law. The bill permits courts to award attorney’s fees and costs to seniors in cases where someone abused a power of attorney in bad faith to facilitate financial abuse against the victim. This is helpful because, although the law does provide double damages in such cases, some victims worry about affording the lawsuit itself and knowing they can get the attorney’s fees and paid if they win is a relief (Side Note: Please call us if you are worried about fees in any subject matter. We can often use a contingent fee or create a payment plan to help you.).

Recent Findings and Litigation Suggest Consumers May Be Taking a Carcinogenic Bath with Use of Shampoos

August 29, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

It is reasonable to expect that consumers should be able to use everyday household products according to product directions without falling ill, but as a lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday argues, even the use of as seemingly an innocuous personal care item as shampoo can prove hazardous to one’s health. And as the scope of the lawsuit becomes clear and gels, this case has the possible makings of a major products liability and toxic tort legal action.

As a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle explained, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), which is an Oakland watchdog organization, filed the lawsuit accusing Walgreens, Lake Consumer Products, Vogue International and Ultimark Products of having products for sale that allegedly contain cocamide diethanolamine, or cocamide DEA, and for not labeling the products warning consumers that the shampoos, soaps and other care products contained high levels of a carcinogen. Cocamide DEA is a compound used to make the foam and bubbles in shampoo, but it was listed last year as a carcinogen under California’s Proposition 65 in the wake of an International Agency for Research on Cancer report fingering it as a possible carcinogen in humans. That state measure, formally known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 and which was easily approved by the voters that year, seeks to protect drinking water from toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects. Prop. 65 also sets a general goal of reducing or eliminating exposure to such harmful chemicals in consumer products and mandates product labels warning consumers of the hazards of such chemicals.

The state had given companies a one-year grace period to comply with Prop. 65 after adding cocamide DEA to its list of possible carcinogens, but this summer the CEH purchased shampoos and other products from stores in the Bay Area and online retailers and then had them tested. The independently conducted tests demonstrated that 98 products contained unacceptably high levels of cocamide DEA. Now, the CEH has said that it plans to sue more than 100 other companies beyond the aforementioned group of four that manufacture or purvey such products, including such well-known firms as Colgate Palmolive, Kohl’s, Rite Aid, Sears, Sephora, Target, Trader Joe’s and Walmart.

With respect to products liability, a key basis for legal action is proving that a manufacturing or design defect was instrumental in causing harm to a plaintiff. In addition, the defect may be based on the fact that the product lacked sufficient instructions or warnings of potential safety hazards. Similarly, in the case of toxic torts, potential plaintiffs are exposed to harmful chemicals but may not have not been afforded the chance or opportunity to take steps to safeguard their health, usually because of the hidden nature of the problem.
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Massive Rim Fire in Sierra Could Pose Longer Term Threat to Hetch Hetchy Drinking Water

August 28, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

At one point the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park had consumed acreage the size of the city of Chicago. As of Wednesday, though, the fiery monster’s appetite has scorched 290 square miles, an area the size of New York City. As a result, the huge blaze now ranks seventh among the largest wildfires in California’s recorded history and is still only 23 percent contained, according the the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And as fallout from the growing conflagration increasingly looms over but has not yet fouled the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which supplies San Francisco with 85 percent of its drinking water, San Francisco toxic tort attorney Greg Brod is concerned that the Bay Area may not yet be out of the woods for some time on the issue of water contamination.

While Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Francisco last week and ash and smoke particles from the wildfire drifting into Hetch Hetchy have not yet reached excessive levels as set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, there is still the chance that conditions could deteriorate in the near future as well as down the road. In the short term, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has been working on contingency plans should ash and other byproducts from the Rim Fire make the reservoir’s water unsuitable for consumption. However, according to a report in The New York Times, even if firefighters manage to contain the blaze, and ash and smoke particle levels do not exceed a safe threshold in the reservoir, a longer term threat to Hetch Hetchy water will linger well after the fire is extinguished. As ash and other debris from the voracious Rim Fire continues to be deposited in the area around Hetch Hetchy, the resulting residue will build up over the landscape and could potentially wash into the reservoir upon the arrival of the state’s rainy season in the fall. Compounding the problem is the fact that Yosemite National Park experienced one of its driest winters on record through the end of the season this year and the snowpack in the Sierra has consequently been below average, according to statistics from the National Weather Service. This is crucial because precipitation-poor winters followed by the normally drier spring and summer months sets a parched table that is more vulnerable to serious runoff from storms when the rainy season resumes in the fall. In addition, the fact that Hetch Hetchy, at 83 percent of capacity, is one of many reservoirs in California that are currently at below-normal water levels, the Bay Area can ill afford to lose any of its crucial water supply from the Tuolumne River held in reserve by the O’Shaughnessy Dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
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“T-Bone Crashes” – A Closer Look Following a Crash that Killed One, Injured Three

August 28, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

Imagine you are riding in the passenger seat of a motor vehicle and you glance out your side window to see a pair of headlights bearing down upon you. You lock eyes with the driver, time stands still, and you share a moment of sheer terror. The phrase “t-bone crash” is a casual expression and one that belies the danger of side-impact collisions, a category of crashes that can be incredibly dangerous and result in multiple injuries or deaths. At the Brod Law Firm, our Sacramento car crash lawyer represents the victims of these terrifying accidents.

Fatal Side-Impact Crash in Rancho Cordova

A two-vehicle accident that occurred in Rancho Cordova on Sunday left one person dead and three others injured, as detailed in a short report by the Sacramento Bee. According to officials with the Rancho Cordova Police Department, the crash occurred at approximately 3:45 P.M. at the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and Douglas Road. An SUV heading north on Sunrise Boulevard struck the passenger side of a sedan traveling east on Douglas Road before overturning from the force of the collision. The female occupant of the sedan’s passenger seat was pronounced dead at the crash scene. Emergency responders transported the sedan’s driver and both of the SUV’s occupants to area hospitals with injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening.

Advent of School Season Reminder of Perils Younger Bicyclists Face

August 27, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

The August 14 fatal collision between a bicycle and a truck in San Francisco that resulted in the bicyclist’s death is still fresh in the minds of Bay Area residents as well as in the thoughts of San Francisco bicycle accident attorney Greg Brod. However, with the back-to-school season upon us, the region is entering a potentially dangerous period for younger bicyclists, who are among the most vulnerable members of our society.

The tragic crash at the intersection of Sixth and Folsom streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood took the life of 24-year-old Amelie Le Moullac, who died when a truck hit her while making a turn. The female bicyclist was riding in the bike lane when the truck struck her, and she succumbed to her injuries and was later pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, it wasn’t until Monday that the San Francisco Police Department agreed to expedite the release of a copy of the police report on the collision to the Le Moullac family.

As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s most up-to-date statistics reveal, bicyclists even younger than Le Moullac are the highest risk group for injuries in traffic crashes. While the 45-54 age group of bicyclists accounted for the highest number of those of killed in traffic collisions in 2011, the 16-20 age group of bicyclists registered the highest number of injuries resulting from traffic crashes for that year. Indeed, just as NHTSA statistics showed that the majority of bicyclists killed or injured in 2011 were males – 85 percent and 78 percent, respectively – within injuries alone, the largest single group of the 38,000 male bicyclists injured in 2011 were the 6,000 in the 16-20 age category. By far, the highest injury rate per million in the population of both males and females, 380 per million, was registered by 16- to 20-year-old bicyclists involved in a traffic collision in 2011.

While on their way to and from school or college, teenagers often choose to ride their bicycles, especially in a state with an ingrained bicycle culture such as California. As NHTSA statistics further reveal, it was precisely during the period when students are most likely to be returning home from class, during the 4 p.m. to 7:59 p.m. period, that largest percentage of bicyclists were killed in traffic collisions in both 2010 and 2011, at 28 percent and 30 percent, respectively. In 2010 and 2011 the 8 a.m. to 11:59 a.m. period (13 percent and 14 percent, respectively) and the noon to 3:59 p.m. time slot (17 percent and 18 percent, respectively) – when students are most likely to be on their way to school – also accounted for large shares of bicyclist fatalities from traffic collisions.
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Acidizing Opens Potentially Toxic Frontier in California Oil and Gas Exploration

August 26, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

While the jury is still out on whether the practice used to extract natural gas and oil from shale known as “fracking” is inherently dangerous, the process has been known to cause contamination, especially of drinking water. And another technique related to fracking that oil companies are employing to separate hydrocarbons from shale formations in California known as “acidizing” could prove to be as harmful to health as it is effective in oil and gas exploration. Attorney Gregory Brod, who has achieved notable success in resolving numerous oil and gas related disputes and has litigated and tried several energy industry cases in the state, is closely monitoring this potential source of toxic torts.

Largely Mum Oil Industry Sees Monterey Shale Formation as Big Prize
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the process of acidizing, which pumps a type of acid into vertical wells to create pores in rocks and thus release petroleum locked in, may work better than hydraulic fracturing, which uses water, in California’s shale formations. The state’s oil industry is eyeing in particular the large Monterey Shale formation – thought to hold 15.4 billion barrels of oil – for utilizing the acidizing process. While petroleum companies have set their sights on the Monterey Shale formation in Central California, they have been fairly tight-lipped when it comes to discussing the details of acidizing for competitive reasons as well as the desire not to draw the attention of environmentalists and state officials.

When it comes to acidizing, there is plenty to ponder and debate. Hydrofluoric acid, the particular acid used in acidizing, is highly corrosive, capable of breaking down steel as well as rock, and it can also damage lungs and cause serious burns to the skin. When hydrofluoric acid exceeds 67 degrees it forms a vapor cloud that lingers near the ground, according to energy experts. A high-profile example of the deadly nature of the acid arose last September, when a hydrofluoric acid accident at a South Korean chemical plant killed five people.

Acidizing Process Attracts Scrutiny from Lawmakers in Sacramento
While state officials say they are not aware of any serious accidents involving the use of hydrofluoric acid as an acidizing agent to extract petroleum in California and there have been no recorded incidents of the acid seeping into groundwater, lawmakers in Sacramento are moving to include acidizing in legislation to regulate fracking. More specifically, the bill would require oil companies to secure permits for acidizing as well as fracking of wells, and it would authorize a study of the potential environmental perils of the two extractive techniques.
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San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer on Assigning Legal Responsibility in Dog Bite Cases

August 26, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

In the end, the law is an attempt to enforce some of the same basic concepts that lend truth to the maxim that we learn all the really important lessons in kindergarten. One of these basic concepts is responsibility. It is both a simple concept, asking people to account for the results of their choices, and a complex one, giving rise to protracted lawsuits attempting to assign responsibility after a tragic event. For example, who is responsible when a pet attacks? This debate gives rise to protracted litigation in criminal courts, but a blanket rule on civil liability helps avoid this difficult process. By assigning responsibility to pet owners via a strict liability framework, the civil dog bite law helps our San Francisco dog bite injury law firm get justice for those injured by domestic animals.

Criminal Court Considers Charges in Mauling Death of Toddler Under Grandfather’s Care

Over the weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle delved into a pending case in Contra Costa County and the difficulty of determining whether a pet owner bears criminal responsibility for the animal’s acts. Fifty-five year old Steve Hayashi is currently on trial and facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment related to the death of his step-grandson. On July 22, 2010, Hayashi was caring for two year old Jacob Bisbee while his wife slept. He decided to go play tennis, leaving the toddler and his four year old brother unsupervised. Jacob wandered through an unlocked door into a garage area where three of Hayashi’s five pit bulls were located. On a 911 tape recorded some time later, Hayashi’s wife is screaming as she confirms the boy is no longer breathing, having been mauled to death by the animals.

PG&E Awaits Decision on Fines as Bay Area Continues to Deal with Safety Issues in Wake of 2010 San Bruno Explosion

August 23, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

As we approach the third anniversary of the September 9, 2010, gas line explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed and damaged more than 50 homes, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility whose gas lines exploded, has yet to complete an overhaul of its gas system in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Bloomberg, the California Public Utilities Commission, which is the state agency responsible for regulating PG&E, also has yet to determine a punishment for the fiery catastrophe but expects to make a decision by the end of this year.

Utility’s Bill for Disaster Yet to be Tallied
Should the CPUC levy a $2.25 billion fine – commission staff recommended that penalty last month – PG&E’s total bill for the disaster would come to $4 billion, including funds already spent on infrastructure repairs and safety upgrades, according to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Earley. In the meantime, the utility and its shareholders are concerned that the CPUC-imposed fine could push PG&E into its second bankruptcy in 12 years.

Concern over PG&E’s financial health notwithstanding, much work remains to be done on the Bay Area’s gas line network, with many infrastructure and safety issues that were raised by the explosion still unresolved or whose fixes are a work in progress. And, according to a recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle, PG&E has not been forthcoming enough on disclosing problems concerning transmission lines in its system and has employed records with errors to document maintenance. With natural gas such a volatile element and with the high-use winter months fast approaching, a less-than-safe gas network and an error-prone utility maintaining that system is hardly a reassuring combination for residents of San Bruno and other Bay Area communities to contemplate.

Poor Record-Keeping Bedevils Gas Network Still in Need of Key Fixes
Inaccurate records were a key factor behind the September 2010 disaster in San Bruno. PG&E failed to accurately describe the failed gas line’s characteristics, which in turn led to the utility not conducting tests that would have revealed the gas line’s fatal flaws. Furthermore, PG&E’s erroneous or outdated records led the utility to run a gas line at a pressure level that was dangerously too high for another urban area on the Peninsula. Indeed, government investigators have found that PG&E has inaccurate or even nonexistent records for much of the more than 1,000 miles of gas transmission lines in its system. These fundamental lapses in record-keeping procedures have come to light in the context of revelations that PG&E workers have found significant stretches of gas pipes with faulty seams in a major connector line on the Peninsula – contrary to what records kept by the company asserted – which could result in a major explosion similar to the one that rocked San Bruno three years ago.
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Investigation Briefing Leaves Lingering Questions, Liability Issues Concerning Deadly San Mateo Bridge Limousine Fire

August 22, 2013 | Gregory J. Brod

It’s reasonable to expect that a well-planned, memorable event such as a wedding day should unfold in a safe and enjoyable manner. However, as we were reminded in the case of the ill-fated limousine ride over the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge on May 4, even the best laid plans can, unfortunately, end in tragedy. Our San Francisco automobile accident attorneys have been carefully combing through this incident’s unresolved issues, especially in the wake of the California Highway Patrol’s briefing Monday on the fiery and fatal disaster that captivated the nation.

As reported by the San Jose Mercury News, after a three-month investigation the CHP revealed in a press conference Monday that it was a “catastrophic failure of the rear suspension system” that triggered the deadly fire inside a limousine crossing the San Mateo Bridge. As a result of the blaze, the bride and four other women, who were on their way to a wedding party, lost their lives. It’s still unclear why all nine women aboard the limo couldn’t emerge safely from its passenger compartment doors.

According to the CHP representative at the news conference, Commander Mike Maskarich, the limousine’s rotating metal driveshaft came in contact with the limo’s frame, generating friction and enough heat to ignite the fire, which turned Neriza Fojas’ wedding celebration heading for a party at a Foster City hotel into a fiery nightmare. “This unfolded very, very rapidly and the overall nature of this tragedy was not something that was foreseeable,” Maskarich said.

While the general nature of the tragedy may have been unforeseeable and, officials have stated, no criminal charges will be filed in connection with the fatal crash, outstanding liability issues are yet to be determined. Foremost among them are those concerning common carrier law found in California Civil Code Sections 2100-2104, which governs the operation of limousines, including why the limousine was carrying more passengers than its licensed limit. As stated in Civil Code 2102, “A carrier of persons for reward must not overcrowd or overload his vehicle. The limousine company will be fined $7,500 for the excessive number of passengers.

In addition, the fact that the 1999 Lincoln Town Car stretch limo’s suspension system failed and therefore placed it into catastrophic contact with its driveshaft could raise products liability issues in this incident. While the limousine had up-to-date maintenance records and was in compliance with state rules, according to officials, there remain some key questions to be answered. Of primary concern is whether the limousine became unreasonably dangerous as the result of a defect. More specifically, the failed suspension system may have been the result of a faulty product design, which, should a court determine existed, would have made the limousine inherently dangerous. Alternatively, the limousine may have become unreasonably dangerous as a result of an error in product manufacture or assembly, which also would be grounds for products liability.
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