Southern California Injury Lawyer Blog

Many schools, churches, and shuttle services use various models of 15 passenger vans made by different automakers. Many accidents involving fatalities and serious injuries to children being transported in these types of vans have been documented in the past. Many of these accidents involved rollovers, which raised public concerns and eventually resulted in a safety study of 15 passenger vans by the National Transportation Safety Board. This study named, Evaluation of the Rollover Propensity of 15-passenger Vans. Safety Report was published in 2002 with recommendations to the automakers.

The study found that 15-passenger van accidents are involved in a higher percentage of rollover accidents than are passenger cars and smaller vans. Higher occupancy of these types of vehicles, combined with higher percentage of rollover accidents, result in serious injuries and fatalities to a disproportionately high number of people every year.

Especially in more rural areas in the San Bernardino County, like Colton, Fontana, Victorville, Bloomington, Beaumont, Rialto or even in parts of Los Angeles County, like Ontario, Covina, Monrovia, Pomona, and Sierra Madre, or even parts of Orange County like Santa Ana, Anaheim, Buena Park, Irvine, Garden Grove or many parts of Southern California, these types of vans are used more often.

A car lost control and went through the window of a popular Asian restaurant in downtown Los Angeles injuring several people. Serious accidents such as this, happen too often, resulting in death and injuries to bystanders and motorists alike. Most of us remember the deadly accident in Santa Monica some years ago, where a driver lost control and plowed through Farmers Market, killing and seriously injuring several people.

An experienced personal injury attorney, can assist an injured individual in determining who are the responsible parties in such complex circumstances. For example, in the case of the accident in Santa Monica, the attorneys for the injured shoppers, successfully argued that the City of Santa Monica was in part liable for the injuries to their clients for its failure to install proper barriers that would protect them.

Similar arguments maybe appropriate in the case involving a car crashing through a restaurant in Los Angeles, injuring its patrons. If such an accident was foreseeable and the restaurant failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it, then the restaurant and the at-fault driver can be held liable at the same time.

In an accident that could be the result of a faulty gas pedal, four members a California family are all killed. A 911  call made by the driver seconds before the car accident, suggests that a faulty gas pedal may have made it impossible to stop the car, causing it to go through an intersection, crashing and killing all occupants.

In a statement issued by Toyota, the company announced that it is ordering all its dealers to inspect all cars for mismatched floor mats. This, after a mat was suspected of snagging a gas pedal on a runaway car, ending with a fiery crash in San Diego.

If you or a loved one are involved in an automobile accident, involving any vehicle manufactured by Toyota, Lexus, or any other vehicle and suspect that a manufacturing defect caused it, please contact us immediately for a free consultation and case evaluation.

Sometimes, a defect in your vehicle can cause an accident and result in injuries to you, your passengers or others. Examples of such defects are a tire blowout, brake failure, design defects resulting in roll-over accidents or other mechanical failure.

In some instances, the defects do not cause an accident, but worsen your injuries. Common examples of such instances are, defective seatbelts, airbags that do not deploy, headrests that do not support your head and neck or vehicles that ignite in auto collisions that are otherwise non-injury causing.

An experienced auto accident lawyer, can assist you in detecting such defects and pursuing the automobile maker for injuries caused by defective vehicles.

A recent conversation with a client, gave me the idea to write a blog about what assumption of risk means in the context of an auto accident case, slip and fall case or any serious injury claim.

Defense attorneys and insurance companies sometimes raise the defense of assumption of risk in some injury cases. If raised successfully, it can deprive the injured person of any recovery in the case. What assumption of risk means is that although defendant injured an individual, the injured person was aware of the risk that caused him or her the injury and either expressly or impliedly assumed the risk.

The following example will help us better explain what this concept means to individual claims. Some years ago, when we were representing a severely injured passenger in an auto accident case, the insurance adjuster attempted to raise this defense by arguing that since the passenger knew the driver was drunk and allowed himself to be driven home by a drunk driver, the passenger can not ask for compensation for his injuries. In that case, we successfully defeated the insurance companies defense, by establishing that the passenger was unaware of the driver’s intoxication and therefore, he could not in fact assumed any risks relating to the driver’s drunkenness.

Sometimes when tourists visit our great State of California, they get involved in an auto accident, motorcycle accident or slip and fall during their stay.  If any such accidents result in serious injuries, such as whiplash, head trauma, brain injury, fractured bones or any other types of serious injury, you maybe entitled to compensation.

Often these individuals, mistakingly go back to their home state or country and contact a local attorney.   This will result in an attorney who is not familiar with the laws of the State of California to improperly handle these injury claims.  If you are injured in the State of California, you need to contact an experienced and aggressive California Injury Lawyer who can represent your interests properly.

At Sharifi Firm, APC, we handle such serious injury cases involving tourists throughout Southern California.   With our main office in Los Angeles, California, and with field representatives throughout the State, we are ready to represent injury victims in every city in California.

In order to better understand what your CALIFORNIA INJURY LAWYER is doing for you, it is important to understand the elements of your INJURY CLAIM. Most injuries are based on a tort claim, such as negligence (such as: Car Accident, Motorcycle Accident, Slip and Fall, Pedestrian Accident, Boating Accident, Trucking Accident, etc.), product liability, professional malpractice (such as: Medical Malpractice, Nursing Home Abuse).

In order for a victim of a tort to be able to recover for his or her injuries, he or she needs to prove certain basic elements. These elements are as follows:

1. Duty: A Plaintiff, has the burden to prove that the defendant (wrongdoer) owed a duty of care towards the Plaintiff. For example, we all owe a duty of reasonable care when we drive our vehicles to avoid causing injuries to other drivers, pedestrians and motorists.
2. Breach: The Plaintiff also has to prove that the Defendant, in fact breached his or her duty. Once again, using the example of a car accident, Plaintiff needs to show that the Defendant, violated the rules of the road (A Section of The California Vehicle Code).
3. Causation: Additionally Plaintiff needs to demonstrate that Defendant’s breach of his or her duty in fact caused the injuries. Many negligent acts take place, without causing any injuries to anyone. For example every time anyone makes an unsafe lane change or goes over the speed limit, they are breaching their duty of care to everyone on the road. However, unless those acts actually cause real injuries to anyone, there is no case.
4. Injury or Damages: The last element or part of a tort claim is the element of injury or damages. A Plaintiff needs to be able to show with some level of certainty that he or she was injured. Injuries or damages can be to a person’s body (bodily injury) or to a person’s property (for example: damage to vehicle).

In every stage of a case, an injured party can benefit from consulting with and retaining an experienced and aggressive injury attorney. An attorney can outline a theory under which the Defendant owes a duty of care to the Plaintiff, which was in turn breached by the Defendant; that directly caused injuries to the Plaintiff.

The time an individual has to file a lawsuit is limited by applicable Statute of Limitations.   Different Statute of Limitations apply to different types of cases.   In California the Statute of Limitations for injury claims is generally two years.  However this can vary depending on the type of injury claim and the defendants involved.

We often get calls from potential clients, as well as current clients with concerns regarding positions insurance companies take to justify making low and unreasonable settlement offers for legitimate injury claims. Even in cases where liability is seemingly clear and the insurance company has accepted responsibility for the loss caused by their insured, they often find any reason imaginable to avoid paying up.

Here are some commonly used tactics by the insurance company adjusters in an effort to minimize what is an otherwise serious injury:

It is a low impact accident! Therefore, it could not have caused any injuries. Although, this maybe a legitimate defense in some case, it is used more and more by large insurance companies to undermine very serious injuries that can in fact be caused even in a very minor accident. Documenting your injuries and getting timely medical attention is helpful in countering such an unfair evaluations of your injuries. An experienced California Injury Attorney, can assist you in getting compensation for your injuries.

In California, a spouse of an individual who is injured as a result of another’s wrongdoing is entitled to damages, called loss of consortium.  Loss of consortium is claimed value of the spouse’s services. 

For example, Plaintiff, Mr. Injured, hurts his back in an automobile accident, and is bed bound for three months.  Mrs. Injured, would be entitled to loss of consortium for the value of all the things that Mr. Injured would have done, had it not been for his injury.  Loss of consortium can include value of services such as house chores, cleaning, emotional support, and sexual services. 

In California recovery of loss of consortium is limited to married couples.  Individuals in relationships, boyfriend and girlfriends, or even couples who are engaged are not entitled to such damages.