Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

California Has a Plan to Protect Motorists from Tahoe’s Toppling Trees

November 17, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Trees falling onto motorists travelling along the highway can be deadly. This has proved to be a consistent problem in the Tahoe Basin area year after year, season after season. In September, California Public Service workers will begin cutting down trees that are drought-weakened or dead. This major statewide effort attempts to protect motorists from falling trees.

Earlier this year, during heavy winter snowstorm weather on Highway 89, a tree fell into the roadway and killed a Tahoe City woman as she drove in her car in Squaw Valley. Other mountain highways near the lake have also experienced tragic crashes caused by falling limbs and trees. Highway 89 will be where crews begin their work. A $115 million California safety campaign has made it possible for crews to have already cut more than 100,00 dead trees all over the state on state property next to highways.

The next step in the process begins after Labor Day when crews will begin cutting trees on private property that sits adjacent to highways. According to the State Department of Transportation, crews are instructed to approach private dwellings and ask for permission to cut the trees at the states expense. The trees must be dead and in danger of obstructing the roadway to be cut down. Once trees are marked to be cut, property owners will receive a Permission to Enter form in the mail within one to six months. It is illegal for the state to cut down trees on private property without the owner’s permission. Some dead trees on private property have already been marked along highways around Tahoe including 28, 50, 89, and 267, which are all used heavily by skiers and winter sports enthusiasts.

Jury Finds Police at Fault in Woman’s Death After High Speed Chase

November 15, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Maria Gaglione, 24, from Pittsburg, died after the car she was a passenger in during a high-speed chase with police in a stolen car. Her parents assert she did not know the car had been stolen 2 days earlier and was not participating in the flight from law.

Jurors at a coroner’s inquest ruled the death was not an accident and was caused by the police in a negligent and dangerous chase. The father of the victim spoke out in agreement with the decision. Two Clayton sheriff’s deputies, chased the car at speeds of over 80 MH in an area designated at 25 MPH in Concord. The driver of the stolen car was Amy Fiasconaro, 32, of Antioch. She lost control of the car and hit a wall at 109 MPH. She also hit a tree on Myrtle Drive in front of Myrtle Farm Montessori School. The roof of the car smashed Gaglione in the passenger seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Fiasconaro was found a few feet away crawling around on her hands and knees. She first said Gaglione was driving. Fiasconaro was found to have heroin and methamphetamine in her bloodstream.

Coroner’s inquests are held in all officer-involved or in-custody deaths in Contra Costa County. They are publicly held to determine cause of death. Findings cannot be appealed. They have no criminal or civil implications. Gaglione’s death was said to have been caused by someone’s negligence and not an accident. Her father feels the police were at fault and should be fired and imprisoned.

California Court Throws Out Text-Lock Case Against Apple

November 13, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

The death of a California college student by a distracted driver prompts his father to file a claim against Apple for a failure to institute a program to disable texting while driving.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge, Judge Maureen Folan decided against plaintiff Craig Riggs in August, saying he had not adequately proved that Apple should bear responsibility in the death of his son, David Riggs in 2013. The suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning no option of refiling the claim.

David Riggs died in 2013 while riding a scooter on the way to his Minnesota home. He was hit by distracted teen driver sending text messages on his iPhone in a Honda Civic. The teen was only convicted of a misdemeanor.

Seat Covers and Airbags Are a Deadly Mix

November 11, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Many consumers choose aftermarket car seat covers to keep the seats of their car fresh. For people with side airbags, however, this could be a deadly choice.

Add-on seat covers do not hold the attraction to car buyers that they used too. Our car seats are still getting daily wear and tear and the occasional drop of ketchup or drip of coffee but less car owners are opting for seat covers. One reason is the safety issues related to seat-side airbags.

Seat-mounted side airbags are in most modern automobiles. They are most often found under the factory seat-back covers, nearest the doors on both outboard sides of the front seats. They are identified by the labels sewn into the side of the seat panel. An explosive canister is lodged inside geared to inflate airbags in the event of a crash.

The Biggest Class Action Verdicts in History

November 9, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Myriad class action suits course through the court systems every day at both the state and federal levels. Many of which wait for years and never reach the vital stage of class court certification, the most decisive step toward obtaining a settlement. The famous class action employee discrimination suit against Walmart by female employees went on for 11 years and was finally defeated by the supreme court in 2011. Many class action lawsuits reach settlements with payout amounts spanning a wide spectrum. Some payouts reach into the billions.

1998 Tobacco Master $206 Billion

This suit was brought by 46 different states attorneys as a consolidation of cases so it is not technically a class action. It was brought on behalf of states against several tobacco manufacturers. It merits inclusion for the similarities to a class action lawsuit and the sheer size it encompasses. Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, Phillip Morris, and RJ Reynolds settled with the attorney generals for expenditures by the states for the treatment of illnesses caused by smoking in the various state funded medical programs. Doing so kept them from getting sued privately by individuals. The $206 billion is set to be paid to the states over a span of 30 years.

Humboldt County Hit With $2.5 Million Wrongful Death Verdict in Federal Court

August 23, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

The family of a man who died in the Humboldt County Jail in 2014 was awarded $2.5 million in damages by a federal jury in August 2017. The jury found that three corrections officers were negligent in failing to initiate proper screening of the man before placing him in a sobering cell. The county was also to blame for failure to adequately train the officers. It was noted that the officers were not thought to have acted with malice or a conscious disregard for human life. The trial lasted four and a half days. The six man, two woman jury deliberated for 10 hours before delivering their unanimous verdict.

The man who died, Daren Ethan Borges was a 42-year-old homeless man. He had been diagnosed as schizophrenic. He was arrested on June 13, 2013 for public intoxication in Eureka. Officers first detained him at approximately 2:15 p.m. as he stood at the Seventh and D Street corner. He was booked into jail by 2:40 p.m. He was placed in a sobering cell alone. Officers checked on him at 4:00 p.m. but found him unresponsive. He was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead approximately 20 minutes later.

The federal civil rights lawsuit was brought by Stephany Borges, the deceased mother. It was filed by Dale Galipo and John Fattahi, two southern California lawyers. The suit originally named the city of Eureka, county of Humboldt, individual officers with both agencies and the California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., which administered medical services at the jail on a contract basis, as defendants. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, however, dismissed the case against Eureka and its officers. California Forensic Medical Group agreed to settle its portion of the case for $250,000. Humboldt County did not make a settlement offer in the case. Sheriff Mike Downey and four officers were the only defendants left in the suit when it went to court in August.

California Court Throws Out Text-Lock Case Against Apple

July 12, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

The death of a California college student by a distracted driver prompts his father to file a claim against Apple for a failure to institute a program to disable texting while driving.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge, Judge Maureen Folan decided against plaintiff Craig Riggs in August, saying he had not adequately proved that Apple should bear responsibility in the death of his son, David Riggs in 2013. The suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning no option of refiling the claim.

David Riggs died in 2013 while riding a scooter on the way to his Minnesota home. He was hit by a distracted teen driver sending text messages on his iPhone in a Honda Civic. The teen was only convicted of a misdemeanor.

Jury Finds Police at Fault in Woman’s Death After High Speed Chase

July 9, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Maria Gaglione, 24, from Pittsburg, died after the car she was a passenger in during a high-speed chase with police in a stolen car. Her parents assert she did not know the car had been stolen 2 days earlier and was not participating in the flight from law.

Jurors at a coroner’s inquest ruled the death was not an accident and was caused by the police in a negligent and dangerous chase. The father of the victim spoke out in agreement with the decision. Two Clayton sheriff’s deputies chased the car at speeds of over 80 MH in an area designated at 25 MPH in Concord. The driver of the stolen car was Amy Fiasconaro, 32, of Antioch. She lost control of the car and hit a wall at 109 MPH. She also hit a tree on Myrtle Drive in front of Myrtle Farm Montessori School. The roof of the car smashed Gaglione in the passenger seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Fiasconaro was found a few feet away crawling around on her hands and knees. She first said Gaglione was driving. Fiasconaro was found to have heroin and methamphetamine in her bloodstream.

Coroner’s inquests are held in all officer-involved or in-custody deaths in Contra Costa County. They are publicly held to determine the cause of death. Findings cannot be appealed. They have no criminal or civil implications. Gaglione’s death was said to have been caused by someone’s negligence and not an accident. Her father feels the police were at fault and should be fired and imprisoned.

California Has a Plan to Protect Motorists from Tahoe’s Toppling Trees

July 6, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Trees falling onto motorists traveling along the highway can be deadly. This has proved to be a consistent problem in the Tahoe Basin area year after year, season after season. In September, California Public Service workers will begin cutting down trees that are drought-weakened or dead. This major statewide effort attempts to protect motorists from falling trees.

Earlier this year, during heavy winter snowstorm weather on Highway 89, a tree fell into the roadway and killed a Tahoe City woman as she drove in her car in Squaw Valley. Other mountain highways near the lake have also experienced tragic crashes caused by falling limbs and trees. Highway 89 will be where crews begin their work. A $115 million California safety campaign has made it possible for crews to have already cut more than 100,00 dead trees all over the state on state property next to highways.

The next step in the process begins after Labor Day when crews will begin cutting trees on private property that sits adjacent to highways. According to the State Department of Transportation, crews are instructed to approach private dwellings and ask for permission to cut the trees at the expense of the state. The trees must be dead and in danger of obstructing the roadway to be cut down. Once trees are marked to be cut, property owners will receive a Permission to Enter form in the mail within one to six months. It is illegal for the state to cut down trees on private property without the owner’s permission. Some dead trees on private property have already been marked along highways around Tahoe including 28, 50, 89, and 267, which are all used heavily by skiers and winter sports enthusiasts.

How Are Damages Proven for California Car Accidents?

July 3, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

If you are in a car accident you have to prove any damages you have claimed in order to get the compensation owed to you for any damages in the accident. It is a common concern accident victims have as it can be tricky to accomplish. There are several things to keep in mind to successfully prove your damages.

California is Not a No-Fault Car Accident Insurance State

In California, you must prove fault in order to prove your damages in a car accident. California is not a no-fault state and so tort law is used to determine responsibility for a car accident. Car accidents are most often the result of a driver’s negligence. Negligence is when someone does not act with due care and common sense. They violate their duty to be safe to other drivers on the road. Violation of that duty resulted in the injury of another person on the road. The injury could be personal or that of property.