Child Injury

Auto Repair Fraud: When Your Trust is Abused and Your Safety Put at Risk

February 9, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

For most of us, hiring a good mechanic comes down to one crucial trait – trustworthiness. Hiring the wrong mechanic can lead to financial losses, injuries, and even deaths. Yet, according to one local news station, auto repair fraud is far too common and far too easy to cover-up. As a San Francisco auto repair fraud injury law firm, we fight for those who simply made the wrong choice (an easy error to make) and who paid a steep price for lies told by so-called “experts” in cars and safety.

Auto Repair Fraud and Government’s Blind Eye Impacts Bay Area Family

Last Friday, NBC Bay Area told a frightening tale of a visit to the auto shop gone wrong. Reporters spoke to a San Jose family who hired a local shop to make some repairs to their SUV. After noticing strange noises upon steering after the shop worked on the vehicle, the family eventually learned that the shop’s employees had gone to great lengths to hide more than $11,000 worth of damage done to the SUV allegedly while in the store’s care. Eventually, one employee broke ranks to tell the family that the SUV had crashed several feet off a mechanical lift. The employee said management ordered them to fix the car as well as they could and return it to the family without saying a word about the incident.

Nontraffic Collisions and Children: Northern California Child Injury Lawyer on Car Accidents in Driveways, Lots, and Similar Locations

February 3, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

Tragedies involving children are particularly difficult to comprehend and the mere thought of a car accident killing or injuring a child is enough to send a shiver down any parent’s spine. While statistics show that children are safer than ever on the road, a surprising number of car accidents involving children occur in driveways and other private spaces. So-called nontraffic crashes involving children are terrible to contemplate, but discussing them is crucial to preventing future tragedies and obtaining justice for the victims of these incidents. Our Oakland child injury lawyer is dedicated to both fights.

Toddler Killed as Car Pulls onto Road in Richmond

This week, the Oakland Tribune provided additional details about an accident on January 28 that led to the death of a young girl. It was around 2:25 PM in Richmond when a man was getting ready to leave his home on the 300 block of Beck Street near South 35 Street. As he pulled away in his truck, he tragically hit and killed a two-year-old girl. Police suspect the toddler was chasing after her father to say goodbye when she was hit and say they do not believe he saw the child before hitting her.

Northern California Dog Bite Lawyer Looks at the Facts and the Law on Dog Attacks

January 8, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

People with pets understand that dogs are family. A dog can be a longtime companion and confidant, a true ally who is always on your side. Sadly, however, sometimes we are reminded that dogs are indeed animals. As a San Francisco/Oakland dog bite lawyer, Attorney Brod helps people who are injured or who lose a loved one after a mauling or other form of animal attack. Dog bites are an emotionally charged topic for any animal lover, but ultimately we believe that people must be held responsible for the acts of their animals. California dog bite law agrees.

Dogs Fatally Attack 9-Year-Old Boy

NBC Bay Area recently reported on the tragic death of a 9-year-old boy who was mauled to death by three pit bulls on Sunday. Yuba County Sherriff’s Department officials told reporters that the child’s 24-year-old guardian left the boy alone in the Linda, California mobile home with her three pit bulls when she went to work. The woman returned three hours later to find the child had been mauled by the animals. The boy was taken to a hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. Animal Care Services denies having any history with the animals, but took possession of them in the wake of the attack.

Keeping Children Safe: A Growing Call for Seatbelts on All School Buses

December 29, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

It is an iconic symbol of childhood and education – a big yellow school bus. School buses help us keep the promise of a free and appropriate education for all children by ensuring children have a safe way to get to school. As adults, one of our most important duties is ensuring the well-being of the next generation and school bus safety is an important part of this obligation. Our San Francisco child injury lawyer fights for injured children and grieving families after school bus accidents, helping them recover needed compensation and helping make the roads safer for all

NHTSA Administrator on School Bus Safety Generally

schoolbus In November, the Administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) Mark Rosekind, PhD spoke about school bus safety with the National Association for Pupil Transportation. He opened by emphasizing that “[s]chool buses are by far the safest way for children to get to and from school.” Statistics show more children die each year on the way to/from the bus than while onboard and more than 450 die each year in personal vehicles while commuting to and from school.

Holiday Decorations: Keeping Your Loved Ones Safe This Holiday Season

December 23, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Loading the family into the car, perhaps armed with steaming travel mugs filled with hot cocoa, and looking at Christmas lights and other holiday decorations is a cherished part of many families’ holiday traditions. Whether you are looking to see what your neighbors have come up with (The Sacramento Bee lists some of the best home displays in the capitol region) or you prefer to tour some of our region’s grand estates (see The Press Democrat’s article for ideas), there are many options in the Northern California region. Still, the best decorations are quite often those you hang yourself and our San Francisco home injury lawyer wants to remind you of the importance of holiday decoration safety to ensure your holiday display is not only beautiful but also safe.

A Holiday Decoration Safety Tips pamphlet authored by the Consumer Product Safety Commission contains many tips for keeping your holiday decorations safe. These tips include:

Tree Safety

Hoverboards: A Holiday Craze that May Become a Holiday Nightmare

December 16, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

It is hard to miss the signs that the holiday giving season is upon us. For many children, the top item on their list for Santa is a so-called “hoverboard.” Although it isn’t quite the air-riding skateboard some of us remember from Back to the Future II, hoverboards offer both transportation and excitement attracting both the young and young-at-heart. If a hoverboard is on the wish list for someone you love, or if it makes your own “Dear Santa” letter, you need to know about the growing number of hoverboard fires. As an injury lawyer with a keen understanding dangerous product and recreational injury claims, Attorney Greg Brod can help people injured by hoverboard fires as well as other injuries caused by toys r recreational equipment. With three offices serving Northern California, his San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Oakland product liability law firm wants to ensure holiday gifts don’t become holiday tragedies.

The Hoverboards of 2015

First things first: What exactly are the hoverboards of 2015? Buzzfeed, a social and entertainment news site, published a fairly comprehensive report this summer titled Everything You Need to Know About the Hoverboard Craze. The article references multiple types of hoverboards including a motorized skateboard and a board with a single wheel in the center. For those looking for a “true” hoverboard (a la Marty McFly), boards that actually hover above ground are largely in the development and testing stages.

California Child Injury Attorney Demands Toy Safety as the Holiday Rush Begins

November 27, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

The family has gathered, the feast has been eaten, and the hosts are contemplating the inevitable leftovers. Today is the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season, although it seems like some stores have been holiday-ready for weeks! As you begin to think about gifts for the youngest set, we urge you to consider the issues of toy safety. Some of the hardest cases we see in our office involve children and our San Francisco, Oakland, and Santa Rosa toy injury lawyer wants children in Northern California and worldwide to enjoy a fun and safe holiday season.

WATCH Releases 2015 10 Worst Toys List

World Against Toys Causing Harm, a mouthful of a name that lends itself to the handy acronym “WATCH,” believes (as does our firm) that “One injury to one child as a result of a poorly designed or manufactured children’s product is one too many.” Sadly, the group explains on its website, the toy industry makes some $70 billion worth of sales worldwide each year and with thousands of avoidable toy injuries occurring every year, WATCH believes that “safety often takes a back seat to earnings.”

Northern California Child Injury Lawyer on Children and Premises Liability Law

November 18, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Children are our most precious resource and protecting them is both a duty and an honor. Children are naturally curious and unable to fully appreciate potential dangers, making it important for adults to exercise vigilance to keep them safe. The law reflects this shared responsibility, including in the context of children and premises liability law. Our Oakland child injury lawyer helps parents fight for the rights of children who are injured or killed because someone else did not maintain their property in a safe manner.

Child Nearly Drowns at Oakley Pond

The Oakland Tribune reports that a young child nearly drowned in a pond in Oakley on Monday. Responding to a call, East Contra Costa County Fire Protection District arrived at a pond near the 5300 block of Tule Tree Lane where a one-year-old had nearly drowned. As of this writing, the child’s injuries are unknown but the article reports that an air ambulance transported the baby to a hospital.

Northern California Child Injury Lawyer on Strangulation by Window Cord Blinds: The Product Danger Remains

November 11, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

From hard corners softened with cushions to outlets plugged with guards, parents spend hours making their homes safe for their children. Still, even the most diligent parent can’t spot every potential danger in their own homes or in other places children visit. That truth is one of many reasons we demand that companies produce and sell safe products, a demand backed up by California’s strict liability rules in product liability cases. At The Brod Law Firm, a San Francisco child injury law firm, we believe in both prevention and accountability. Today’s blog entry looks at a danger lurking in many buildings including children’s homes, child care centers, and the residences of relatives or other caregivers – window blind cords. We encourage every parent to be alert for this danger, but we also believe the manufacturers should be held responsible when unnecessarily dangerous products harm our children.

ABC7 Reports on Strangulation Danger Despite Industry Standards

The threat of strangulation by window blind cords is not an unknown danger, but ABC7 recently investigated and found the danger remains despite industry standards intended to prevent child injury and child deaths. According to the report, the government estimates that one child dies every month after being strangled by blind cords. The news channel relays the story of one California toddler whose mother had tied the pull cord out of reach to protect blinds her children and then, one tragic day, found her son dangling from blinds near his crib. Sixteen month old Jacob had gotten trapped in the inner cord of the window coverings.

Car Accidents and Daylight Savings Time: The Dangers After We Fall Back

November 3, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

The end of Daylight Savings Time is a yearly occurrence that many of us eagerly anticipate and dread in equal measures. Many people reveled in an extra hour of rest this past weekend (at least those without young children whose sleep cycles don’t change simply because we adjusted our clocks!). However, that extra hour of sleep comes at cost: lost daylight. While many people worry about the impact on afternoon activities and even on people’s moods, at our Oakland injury law firm we worry about another danger – the tie between car accidents and daylight savings time.

Increased Risk of Car Accidents When Daylight Saving Time Ends

sunset Last year, Time Magazine delved into the twice-yearly debate about changing the clocks, focusing on the impact of Daylight Savings Time (“DST”) on road safety. The article suggests that losing an hour of afternoon sunlight, as we do each fall when DST ends, may result in an increased number of traffic accidents. According to a 2004 study, the lives of some 170 pedestrians and 200 motorists could be saved each year by maintaining DST all year.