San Francisco child injury law firm

School Bus Safety: Protecting Our Most Precious Resource

May 31, 2016 | Gregory J. Brod

The yellow school bus is an iconic symbol of childhood in America. Many of us waved goodbye to our parents as we headed off to school on the bus and then grew to become the parents waving goodbye our own children. They transport our most precious resource, our children, so we should be able to trust they are safe. A recent lawsuit calls attention to the issue of school bus safety and caught the attention of our San Francisco school bus accident attorney.

Settlement Calls Attention to School Bus Safety

According to SFGate, a school bus company agreed to pay $11.5 million in order to settle a lawsuit claiming the company used unsafe buses to take San Francisco students to and from school. The lawsuit claimed that from 2006 through 2011, the company provided buses to San Francisco United School District that had threadbare tires, worn brakes, and other maintenance-related problems. Although the California Highway Patrol inspected the buses annually, they did not identify the problems at that time. The two mechanics who led the lawsuit say that company records show the bus company misrepresented the safety of the vehicles. The case alleged that company records showed 300 cases where the company violated a requirement that buses be inspected every 45 days and also ignored complaints from drivers and mechanics about the buses including reports of “metal-on-metal” sounds during braking.

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.