San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

Social status, gender, relegious creed, and race matter not to bedbugs. Did you know there are exterminator units out there dedicated to the eradication of bedbugs? Often they are called to five star hotels, hostels, shelters, low income hotels, and camps. It can cost between $500 to $750 to exterminate a single room, and up to $5,000 to exterminate an entire house. If untreated, they can create colonies of thousands in just a few weeks. The bedbug resurgence has caused people to seek counsel among each other as they face the stigma associated with the situation. As result edbuggers.com was created as a means of support and a coping mechanism for victims who have been traumatized by bedbugs. Back in 2007, California was forced to issue state bedbug guidelines. Laura Krueger, a public health and writer of the new bedbug guidelines for California Department of Health Services, states that California does not use as harsh chemicals as we used to and do not spray mattresses with insecticide before selling them anymore and that bedbugs are becoming increasingly resistant to the few chemicals left. Unfortunately, some of the chemicals used to get rid of them can make people sick.

Last week, the CDC cautioned in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report of the dangers associated with using pesticides to treat bed bugs, as there has been acute illness associated with insecticide used to control bedbugs in seven states. The main contributing factor of those who became ill has to do with misuse and overuse of pesticides and insecticide products. There was one death reported due to misuse which is an example of the extreme desperation victims of bedbugs. An already ill woman, both physically and psychologically, used 9 cans of fogger in one day, on two separate days, as well as applied insecticide to her hair and body. Other people spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars trying to get rid of them, and the toll extermination takes on a person’s financial and psychological well-being can be costly. Some people report nausea, vomiting, headaches, and tremors from exposure to the chemicals used.

Sadly, even after a thorough extermination, some bed bugs may remain, and efforts such as quarantining a room are pointless, as bed bugs can live for an entire year without a blood feeding. However, because the pest control industry is so tightly regulated in most states, it may be possible to determine whether a property owner /manager acted negligently by looking to the state’s standards and regulations for pest control professionals. Pest control professionals must act in accordance with state regulations or face potential liability in many forms, as they can and have been sued for failing to get rid of an infestation as promise to the plaintiff, not living up to their warranty of service, and in a few sensational cases property damage caused by negligent discharge of flammable chemicals. When someone is the victim of a bed bug infestation it is sometimes difficult to assign liability for the infestation. Common targets of homeowner’s lawsuits include hotels, landlords and pest control companies.

Since bed bugs are often difficult to recognize by the untrained eye, it take time for victims to recognize that any health side effects they may experience were caused by bedbugs. Unfortunately, these lapses make it difficult to determine the source of the infestation. Often bed bus will attach to luggage or clothes and hitch a ride from a hotel, hospital, or friends house and follow a person to their bed where they are fruitful and multiply until your client has a genuine infestation. The good news is that legal entomology experts have developed methodologies to determine the origin of an infestation based on the species of insect. Victims of bedbugs infestations can seek to recover financial and physical personal injuries, emotional distress, as well as negligence, misrepresentation, violations of code and contract breach. Here in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors hearings are held regarding on-going inspections procedures, reporting, and referral procedures, enforcement of, prevention and control of bed bugs by the Department of Public Health, and landlords in San Francisco can be sued for threatening public safety if the department finds an infestation of bedbugs in any building.

Continue reading " Bedbugs--and the Chemicals Used to Kill Them--Can Hurt You " »

According to ABC World News, at least five states are seeking assistance from the Department of Defense for help with the growing presence of bedbugs in this country, and Ohio just asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for special permission to use a banned pesticide to eradicate the growing problem of bedbugs in this country. Half a century ago the United States had nearly eradicated the insects; however, the ban of the use of powerful pesticides like DDT, as well as reduced use of narrow spectrum products targeting specific pests, have enabled the insects to survive, thrive, and build pesticide resistance. The growing problem with bed bug infestations has been linked to increased travel. The US Centers for Disease and Prevention are reporting that the US is experiencing what is being described as an alarming return of the tiny bloodsucking parasites. This is happening just as the EPA issued a warning against using outdoor chemicals indoors, because some chemicals adversely affect the central nervous system and can lead to skin and eye irritation and cancer. As a result of the new invasion of bedbugs, people who are experiencing infestations in their apartments are filing lawsuits.

According to WebMD, bedbugs are known to Biologists as true bugs. For the layman, this means they are wingless insects that are considered a parasite, meaning they feed on blood and nothing else. Bedbugs are flat and oval, about ¼ inch in diameter. They look like a small lentil. The vermin are brownish in color, but take on a rusty mahogany color after a blood meal. Close up they are covered with microscopic hairs that give it a banded appearance when it’s engorged with blood. Newly hatched bedbugs are light tan, translucent and hard to see. Bedbugs don’t actually bite but suck. They are equipped with a long, sharp, thin, hallow spike-shaped beak used to pierce the skin. Once they pierce the skin, saliva containing an anticoagulant that keeps the blood from clotting is injected so that they can feed. It may also contain a mild anesthetic. Most people don’t feel the bug feeding. You know you’ve been a pierced by when an itchy red dot with a lighter red ring around it appears on your skin. There will often appear one or more straight lines of these bites on your body, which means more than one bug has pierced your skin. Scratching bed bugs can lead to secondary infection. The good news is bedbugs are not known to transmit infectious diseases.

A common misconception people have is that bed bugs are invisible. They reason they seem invisible is because they only come out night. During the day they hide in bedding, creases of a mattress, bed frame, or in tears in the wallpaper. They also hide behind pictures and baseboards. They can end up travelling quiet far and manage to get into books telephones, radios e and attach themselves to clothing. They don’t fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings, and they can infest other rooms if you don’t catch them early enough. Female bedbugs may lay hundreds of eggs, each of which is about the size of a speck of dust, over a lifetime. The earliest sign of bedbugs, other than physical symptoms, is blood on the sheets, as wounds from bedbug bites bleed a little. And bedbug excrement is a liquid that appears as darker spots on the sheets. If you’ve got lots of bedbugs, your bed will have the distinctive sickly-sweet smell that bugs give off. Be aware that their breeding patters are pretty rapid, a single female bedbug lays 10 to 50 eggs every three to 15 days. The sticky eggs are laid near where they hide. If they feed regularly, bedbug nymphs become adults in two to six weeks.

Continue reading " The Return of the Bedbug and Need for Bedbug Lawsuits " »

Over the past two weeks a few serious pedestrian accidents occurred at different intersections in San Francisco. The first occurred last week in Duboce Triangle. A 59-year-old man, was struck and fatally injured by an SUV as he was crossing the street in that area. He was resident of the mission district, was a regular in the neighborhood where he was fatally injured, and, according to his friends, he was a beloved member of that community. Police stated that the driver of the SUV was not cited and that he stopped after the crash and cooperated with investigators. Also last week, a mother was walking with two children southbound on Third Street at Williams Street at around 3:30pm. She had one child next to her and her five-year-old was following behind her as they crossed the street. As they were crossing private shuttle bus was driving eastbound on Williams Street and stuck the5-year-old boy as it turned right onto Third Street. He was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The shuttle bus had one passenger who was not injured and the driver of the bus cooperated with the investigation. And this week, a pedestrian suffered suffered injuries after being struck by a car near the Haight-Ashbury district. The accident happened around midnight at the intersection of Page and Divisadero streets. The pedestrian was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

These accidents should be a reminder that of all the potential hazards to pedestrians, it is intersections that are riskiest of all. The major problem with intersections is that they are unanticipated or sudden requirement, and, in general, they are considered a necessary inconvenience by drivers. As a result drivers are not always patient and cautious when they reach them. What is more, most people feel intersections are an obstacle they feel forced to negotiate. Think about the psychology involved: Every person who arrives at an intersection is heading different directions with different purposes, and all trying to quickly get through on their way to their desired destination. For this reason, collisions regularly happen at intersections. So it is important for everyone who approaches an intersections become hyper vigilant, especially pedestrians. The following is a nice long list of tips for getting through intersections safely:
• Drivers need to remember that the law requires drivers to stop once someone has entered the crosswalk.
• A red light does not guarantee that vehicles will stop.
• drivers and pedestrians make eye contact with each other.
• Drivers should always yield to pedestrians at an intersection.
• When making a left turn, always yield the right-of-way to oncoming traffic.
• Leave enough space between your car and the one in front.
• Leave early, allowing extra travel time in case of delays.
• Remember: yellow lights mean stop unless it’s unsafe to do so.
• Look for—and expect to see-pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles.
• Don’t make any sudden moves that might confuse another driver—or a cyclist or pedestrian.
• If you haven’t just seen the traffic light up ahead turn green, be ready to stop in case it changes to yellow.
• Always check your mirrors and look around. Slow down well in advance.
• Only go through a yellow light if it is unsafe to stop.
• Check the pedestrian signals—at most crosswalks the signal will change from a white figure to an red hand just before the light turns yellow, or will show how many seconds are left before the traffic light will change.
• Make sure you are always in the correct lane before a turn.
• Don’t change lanes in an intersection.
• Always use your turn signals well before you make a move, as it helps other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians know what you are doing.
• If you’re the first car to stop—make sure you remain behind the crosswalk.
• Ignore aggressive drivers—pay no attention if they’re honking their horns behind you.

Continue reading " The Most Dangerous Places for Pedestrians in San Francisco " »

For those of you who do not get around by bicycle, you may not know that the door zone, the space in a bike lane between the cyclist and a parallel parked car, is one of the biggest threats to bicyclists in San Francisco. According to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), dooring is the second most common form of injury collision involving cyclists, behind unsafe speed, though the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition contends that dooring is the highest injury collision type caused by motorists or their passengers. The good new is the San Francisco Municipal Transportation agency is piloting a series of projects designed to encourage bicyclists to steer clear of the door zone. On sections of Polk Street, for example, the SFMTA has painted a batch of T’s in the bike lanes that are supposed to guide bicyclists away from the door zone. The design proves to be an improvement over the standard bike lanes, yet it does, at the same time, underscore the fact that there is not much space available for cyclists to ride safely. Research shows that bicyclists are only given a very narrow area of a space in a bike lane when a car door opens, about one to two feet wide, depending on the width of the lane and size of the car door.

The SFMTA is also trying out this T style cross-hatch design on 17th Street between Dolores and Guerrero streets, and they have installed the T design in the bike lanes on Howard Street between 5th and 7th. The T design is becoming more and more cities across the country and is a feature that is highlighted in the Urban Bikeway Design Guide put out by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). The SFMTA has done before/after studies on both Polk and Howard where they were able to reduce the number of cyclists riding in the door zone. In a 2006 study in Howard Street, the average distance from the curb where cyclists rode increased from 10.3 feet to 10.9 feet, with 24% riding in the door zone before and 10% after. In a 2009-10 study on Polk Street, the average distance from the curb where cyclists rode increased from 10 feet to 10.4 feet, with 41% riding in the door zone before and 30% after.

The SFMTA says the T installations have been effective so far. They are also considering implementing left side bike lanes. Left-side bike lanes are conventional bike lanes placed on the left side of one-way streets or two-way median divided streets. They offer advantages along streets with heavy delivery or transit use, frequent parking turnover on the right side, or other potential conflicts that could be associated with right-side bicycle lanes. The left side bike lane benefits are:
• Avoids potential right-side bike lane conflicts on streets,
• improves bicyclist visibility by motorists by having the bike lanes on the driver’s side,
• provides consistent facility configuration in locations where right-side travel lanes are subject to rush hour parking restrictions and other flexible uses,
• minimizes door zone conflicts next to parking because of fewer door opening on the passenger side of vehicles,
• fewer bus and truck conflicts as most bus stops and loading zones are on the right side of the street.
If Bike lanes are to provide a measure of safety, then they must provide minimum safe distance from cyclists. This world is changing, and as more people become conscious of the environment, interested in sustainable living, and turn to public transportation and bicycling, then society and governments must move along with those changes. Consequently, as this happens, it is imperative that urban planning designs evolve to include safer routes for cyclists.

Continue reading " How San Francisco Can Make Its Streets Safer For Cyclists " »