The English language is constantly changing and evolving, reflecting the changes in our lives as the years pass. Usually we don’t give much thought to the words we choose. But at the same time, when we use a certain word to describe a situation, it could affect how we think about what we are talking […]
A driver who uses his or her cellphone behind the wheel should be prepared to face the consequences if he or she hurts someone in a crash. But what about the companies behind the smartphone apps the distracted driver was using? Should they bear some responsibility too? A man who suffered brain damage in a […]
A woman who was seriously injured in a bicycle-car accident in 2014 has been awarded $6.1 million by a jury in Los Angeles. The woman who struck the bicyclist ran a Santa Monica red light. It took the jury just a few hours to determine the damages for the plaintiff, as the defendant in the […]
Statistics about bicycle crashes often claim that bikers are to blame the majority of the time. But if you dig past the numbers, you may find that the official record can be deceptive. An interesting opinion piece in Bicycling Magazine suggests that police bias sometimes skews the narrative of who was to blame after a motorist collides […]
Without a doubt, pets are members of the family in the eyes of most California residents. However, it is becoming impossible to refute that they can pose a hazard to citizens. Most pet owners strive to teach their animals not to attack humans and most pets are friendly and love people. However, attacks do happen […]
A man in California is fighting back after his wife’s death. The man has filed a lawsuit claimin that his wife’s ovarian cancer was caused by the talcum powder used in some Johnson & Johnson products. He is seeking unspecified damages for his wife’s wrongful death with claims of negligence, strict product liability, breach of […]
We have spoken before in this blog about wrongful death litigation, and why families of a person killed as a result of someone else’s negligence often choose to file suit. Though the circumstances of a wrongful death case are usually much more serious than the typical personal injury claim, the elements of a successful case […]
In our blog post about dog bites a few weeks ago, we referred to “vicious dogs” attacking and injuring people. (You can read that post here.) In California, “vicious dog” is a legal designation applied to certain dogs, which can lead to authorities requiring the dog be restrained or destroyed. State law defines a “vicious […]
California’s highways are for all of us to share, whether we drive a four-wheeled vehicle or commercial truck, or if we ride a motorcycle. When motorists act with care and a sense of responsibility toward everyone else on the road, usually everybody gets to their destination safely. But when a driver turns his or her […]
Many streets in Los Angeles would be made safer for bicyclists if they had a bike lane. But adding bike lanes is surprisingly difficult in California — and for a reason few might suspect. Believe it or not, a law called the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) stymied efforts by L.A. and other cities to […]
As motorcyclists know, California is the only state in the U.S. that allows lane splitting. Or, technically, the state has not banned it, leaving lane splitting in something of a legal limbo. Everyone who has ever driven on a California highway has seen lane splitting, but for those who have not: lane splitting is when […]
In most personal injury litigation, one of the plaintiffs is the person directly harmed, allegedly because of the defendant’s negligence. But in a wrongful death case, the victim’s suffering is over. It is his or her grieving family that brings the suit. Plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit typically seek compensation for their pecuniary, or […]
A bizarre and tragic airplane- car accident south of Los Angeles appears to have been caused by mechanical failure in the plane, the California Highway Patrol believes. One person inside the car was killed, while the pilot sustained life-threatening injuries. As KNSD-TV reports, the car was travelling on Interstate 15 when the driver pulled over to […]
The Los Angeles Police Department is fighting distracted driving, and with good reason. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, L.A. is the second-worst city in the country for pedestrian accident fatalities, with 99 deaths in 2012 alone. The city is also notorious for hit-and-run crashes; about 20,000 drivers flee the accident scene each […]
Californians love their dogs. Residents across the state own pet dogs, most of which are well-trained, friendly and carefully monitored by their owners while out of the house. But not all dogs are safe to be around people, and sometimes people get attacked by vicious dogs. Such incidents can be very grave, especially when the victim […]