San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

Civil Child Sexual Abuse Cases: Accountability for those Who Turn a Blind Eye to Abuse

January 29, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Parenthood is an intense, rewarding love. Parenthood also means never-ending concern. High on the list of every parent’s greatest fears is that someone will sexually, physically, or emotionally abuse your child. Darkness to Light, a nonprofit focused on preventing child abuse, reports that 90% of sexually abused children know their abuser(s). It is often someone the parents trust.

Our Oakland child abuse law firm believes in the dual approach of prevention and legal accountability. Accountability includes criminal and civil suits against abusers and those who turn a blind eye to child abuse, particularly when they had a legal and moral obligation to protect the victim. Civil child sexual abuse cases provide compensation that allows the child to get the help he or she will need to move forward from abuse and also makes those who allowed abuse to occur to be accountable pay for their negligence.

Judge Allows Use of “Perversion Files” in Sexual Abuse Case Against Boy Scouts

Bed Bugs in the Courts (Not Literally!) — Using Individual Lawsuits and Class Actions to Protect California Renters

January 27, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Landlord-tenant lawyer Greg Brod is often asked whether an individual tenant’s case can really be big enough to justify a lawsuit. Often the answer is “Yes.” Recognizing the potential for power imbalances and the critical importance of a safe home, rental contracts and state/local laws often provide extra legal protection for tenants, even allowing triple damages in some cases. Our team is proud to advocate for individual tenants, a practice that includes helping renters who’ve faced a major bedbug problem. In some cases, however, our San Francisco bedbug lawyer finds that the best way to fight back against an individual landlord or rental company that neglected its responsibilities is for tenants to work together through a bedbug class action.

Bed Bug Class Action Filed Against Public Housing Authority

We previously reported on a $2.45 million settlement in an Iowa class action involving the bedbug infestation at two apartment buildings in Des Moines. In October, another bed bug class action case was filed in Iowa’s capital, this time involving the city’s largest public housing complex. The Des Moines Register reports that the lawsuit alleges the public housing agency failed to properly address a major bedbug infestation creating unconscionable, substandard conditions at the Royal View Manor apartment tower. In addition to asking for monetary compensation, the suit also asks the Agency to immediately eliminate the bedbug problem.

The Threat of Overmedication in California Nursing Homes

January 23, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

In modern day America, many working adults find themselves as a caregiver two times over, caring for their growing children and aging parents. Often the needs of aging parents become too great for their adult children to address on their own and, especially when physical or mental illness is an issue, a nursing home is the best option. However, while there are many places that provide excellent care, others are the stuff of nightmares. Overmedication in nursing homes is a major problem and it is one of the forms of abuse we help people fight as a San Francisco nursing home abuse lawyer.

NPR Reports on the Overuse of Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes

Last month, NPR reported on the problem of drugging in nursing homes, opening with the fact that almost 300,000 nursing home residents receive antipsychotic medications. These medications are approved for serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but are often used to suppress anxiety and agitation in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. This is despite the fact that the medications carry a black box warning, the most serious warning a drug can carry while remaining on the market, indicating they can raise the risk of heart failure, infection, and even death when used by dementia patients. Even when they are medically indicated, these drugs should be used for as short a period as possible, often only a month. Still, as in examples cited in the NPR article demonstrate, many care centers use these drugs for the convenience of the staff because they can sedate patients and blunt behaviors. Guardians and patients often agree to the medications without knowing the drugs are unnecessary.

Backover Accidents: Prevention and Compensation

January 22, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Driving is a risky activity and far too many of us fail to give it the attention it deserves, especially when we’re travelling a common route. For many, trips begin by putting the vehicle in reverse and backing out of a garage or driveway. While drivers may be on the lookout for other traffic, sometimes people neglect to look directly behind them, assuming their usual path is clear. Drivers may also look too quickly, only glancing long enough or carefully enough to register the presence of large objects like another car. It is this type of everyday neglect that leads to tragic backover accidents. Our San Francisco backover accident attorney represents the victims of these terrible accidents and their families, a group that all too often includes injured children or grieving parents.

Backover Crashes & Child Victim Statistics

Backover accidents is one of the focal issues for the non-profit group KidsAndCars.org. In a Backovers Fact Sheet, they note that every year thousands of children are injured or killed because a driver failed to see them when backing up. Most of these backovers occur in either a parking lot or a residential driveway. In a typical week, 50 children in the U.S. are involved in a backover incident including 48 who are treated in emergency departments and two who are fatally injured. Children between 12 and 24 months are the most common victims and in 70% of backover accidents either a parent or other close relative is the driver. Most of these backover incidents involve a larger vehicles like a van, truck, or SUV.

The Surprisingly Common Danger of Vehicles Crashing Into Buildings

January 20, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

It’s the type of news story that always grabs attention. Yet, it is also an event that happens much more often than you might imagine. As the following blog post notes, vehicle-into-building crashes happen dozens of times each day in the United States. These crashes can cause injuries and death, putting the driver, the building occupants, and other bystanders at risk. Depending on the circumstances, the driver and building management may be liable to those injured in the crash. Our Alameda County injury attorney is prepared to help the injured and those who have lost a loved one recover needed compensation from all those responsible for the crash.

Car Plows Into Newark Macys Store

Last week, ABC7 reported on an accident in Newark, a California city located about 25 miles south/southwest of Oakland. Shortly before 5 AM on Wednesday, a car jumped a curb and crashed into the Macys store at NewPark Mall located south of Interstate 880. A 63 year-old woman was driving the vehicle which ended up about 50 feet inside of the store. Six people, the driver and five bystanders, were taken to the hospital including one customer in serious condition. A subsequent ABC7 article indicates one young woman nearly lost her right foot in the incident and one man remained hospitalized the next morning. Police believe the driver may have suffered some form of medical condition that contributed to the crash.

Repeat Drunk Drivers: A Look at the Problem of DUI Recidivism

January 16, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

We can answer many questions for the clients of our Santa Rosa DUI injury law firm. We can tell them about the law and the legal process. We can help them evaluate settlement offers and understand the unique world of the courtroom. While we are not medical professionals, we can help them understand what an injury may mean for their future. We cannot, however, answer one of the most common questions – Why? We cannot tell them why someone got a car while intoxicated, despite the fact that everyone has heard about the dangers. That decision, a decision that altered innocent lives, is especially hard to understand when dealing with the all-too-common situation of repeat drunk drivers.

Santa Rosa DUI Arrest is Man’s Second in 2015

Early Sunday morning, just eleven days into 2015, police arrested a Hayward man on his second drunk driving charge of the year. According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, at 6 AM on Sunday Mendocino County law enforcement sent an alert to their Bay Area peers about a suspected drunk driver in the area. Twenty minutes later police in Santa Rosa pulled over a gold Pontiac heading south on Highway 101 and weaving on the roadway. Behind the wheel they found 26 year-old Antonio Becerra Jr., a Hayward man with two previous DUI convictions and an arrest on suspicion of DUI earlier this month. Once again, police charged him with suspicion of driving under the influence.

Resident Aggression: A Growing Threat in Senior Care Homes and Facility Liability

January 14, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Nursing home abuse is a terrible crime that preys on the very people whom society should most respect. Abuse in senior care facilities can take a range of forms including physical, sexual, emotional, and financial mistreatment as well as neglect. Often, abuse is perpetrated by overworked staff members and the law typically holds both the individual abuser and his/her employer criminally and civilly responsible. There is, however, a less talked about scenario – resident-on-resident nursing home abuse, also known as peer abuse Our experienced Northern California nursing home abuse law firm believes that care centers should be held liable when their negligence or failure to provide adequate care allows one resident to abuse another.

Resident Dispute Ends With Stabbing at Sacramento Senior Care Facility

A case of peer abuse is believed to have left a 75 year-old woman with serious injuries according to an article in Monday’s Oakland Tribune. Police believe that 70 year-old Barbara Holland had an ongoing dispute with her neighbor at St. Francis Manor, a senior living facility in Sacramento. According to investigators, Holland arrived at her neighbor’s door last Saturday armed with a knife and stabbed the 75 year-old before fleeing the scene. Eventually, Holland was found in her own apartment, arrested, and booked on suspicion of attempted murder. Doctors say the 75 year-old, who was taken to an area hospital, is expected to survive.

An Introduction to Alternative Dispute Resolution

January 13, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

It is no secret that courts are crowded these days. This fact is largely responsible for the turn to alternative dispute resolution, also referred to by the acronym “ADR”. Sometimes parties agree to try ADR, sometimes courts or individual judges require parties attempt some form of ADR before proceeding to trial. Likewise, in part because of concerns about the costs of trial and the time it takes to resolve a case through the court system, an increasing number of contracts that include a clause requiring disputes be heard in an alternative tribunal. As a Northern California alternative dispute resolution law firm, we are fully prepared to guide our clients through ADR. This blog entry looks at two key forms of ADR, mediation and arbitration, and some advantages and disadvantages of turning to an alternative forum.

Mediation and Arbitration Explained

The website for the Superior Court in Alameda County discusses the forms of ADR used in civil matters. There are two types of ADR that all potential civil litigants should know about: mediation and arbitration.

Northern California Product Injury Lawyer Examines Recall Linking Unexpected Braking to Ignition Panel Design

January 9, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Technology is great. Until, that is, it isn’t. Our days our filled with technological devices that we couldn’t have even dreamed of even a short 15 years ago when the year 2000 arrived. New devices and modern additions to older products have changed the way we live, often offering huge safety improvements. However, sometimes a new technology turns out to be dangerous. Product liability law protects consumers in these situations. In today’s entry, our Oakland California product liability attorney examines in-car technology that has proved more harmful than good and looks at the types of product liability claims available to those harmed by a consumer item in the Bay Area.

Ford Recalls Vehicles, Design Linked to Unexpected Vehicle Shut-off

On Tuesday, CNN reported on the recall of approximately 13,500 Lincoln MKC crossover vehicles. The vehicles have a push-button ignition and buttons also take the place of a traditional gear shift. In a dangerous twist, Ford found that drivers who intend to press “S” to put the vehicle in sport mode sometimes hit the nearby start-stop button instead, causing the vehicle to shut down. Similarly, one car owner told federal regulators that his passenger was reaching for the radio but accidentally pressed the ignition switch button causing the vehicle to come to a sudden stop much as it would if a driver slammed on the brakes.

The Dangers of Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana

January 7, 2015 | Gregory J. Brod

Among the topics that dominated the news nationwide in 2014 was a growing shift in the laws involving marijuana. An increasing number of states have joined California in allowing medicinal use of marijuana and a few states have legalized personal recreational use. While federal prohibitions remain, authorities seem to be respecting state laws, at least on medicinal use. These trends make the issue of driving under the influence of marijuana even more relevant and of great concern to our San Francisco drugged driving law firm.

Legislature to Face Questions of Legalization & Regulation

Earlier this week The Sacramento Bee reviewed the key issues that California legislators will be facing in 2015. The paper included marijuana use on this list, noting that the state legalized medical marijuana two decades ago but has thus far refused to enact regulations dealing with marijuana cultivation, transport, or sale. However, advocates have won victories in other states and they are expected to push for recreational use in 2016. This year the legislature may be asked to rein in the medicinal use market.