Los Angeles Injury Lawyer Blog

It has been a couple of weeks of heavy rain in Los Angeles. Here in the San Fernando Valley, we had days of wet weather. Although the sun is finally shining, there was a significant increase in the number of car accidents as a result of the weather.

If you are involved in a collision, you should remember a few simple things to do:

First, after the collision, move you car off the road to safety. You should not be walking around on the road in traffic.

If someone is injured, call the police or the highway patrol.

Exchange information with the other people involved. Try to get the following information: License plate numbers; make and model of each car; driver’ s license numbers; insurance identification, including name of insurance company, broker or agent, and policy number; names, addresses and phone numbers of witnesses and names and badge numbers of police officers or other emergency personnel.

Take some notes at the scene of how the collision happened. If you have a camera take some pictures of the area where the collision occurred, the damage to the cars, and the people who were involved.

In Los Angeles, there are many things that can cause a car accident. It is particularly distressing when you are injured because of a drunk driver. At Rice & Bloomfield, it is our job to ensure that you are properly compensated if you are injured by another driver. A problem which can often arise is when the person that hit you does not have enough insurance, or sufficient assets to pay a settlement.

A case just settled where a restaurant agreed to pay for injuries caused from a drunk driver, who was served too much alcohol. The attorneys argued that the restaurant sold alcohol to the patron when they should have known she was already drunk. After getting drunk in the restaurant, the patron got in her car and ran head-on into on-coming traffic killing an innocent person driving the other direction.

Although the drunk driver was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, the settlement helps to provide compensation to the family that was otherwise not available.

It was because of a careful and tenacious lawyer that the family got some justice, and restaurants were sent a clear signal about their responsibilities.

Here in Los Angeles, Tort reform is the term that has been adopted by groups that reject the notion of personal responsibility. They feel that people should not be held accountable for their actions. If they hurt someone else, they do not think they should have to pay for their negligence. I find this notion offensive. We make it our job to fight these people. In Los Angeles courtrooms, we have to deal with the impact these groups have on our jurors.

The McDonald's Coffee Case was the landmark action that fired up these groups. However, that case is mostly an urban legend. It was not a runaway jury, it was a case of a greedy company putting its customers at unreasonable risk. In that case, the injured person was not driving a car, but was a passanger, the coffee did not spill because the car was moving but spilled because the victim was taking the lid off the cup, and a vascular surgeon determined that she suffered full thickness third degree burns over 6 percent of her body requiring 8 days of hospitalization with skin grafting surgery.

She sought to settle her case for $20,000 and McDonald's refused. During the case, her attorneys obtained McDonald's documents showing that more than 700 people had previously suffered similar significant injuries but McDonald's continued to serve its coffee unreasonably hot because they were able to make more money but getting more coffee out of each bean. The jury awarded her $200,000 in compensatory damages which was reduced to $160,000 because they found the victim 20% at fault. She was also awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages which is the profit of 2 days of McDonald's coffee sales. That was reduced to $480,000. Clink on this link for more details about the truth of this case.

The American Tort Reform Foundation is a leading tort reform group. In a recent report, widely criticized for its lack of appropriate methodology listed Nevada and New Jersey and plaintiff friendly jurisdictions. That is to say, in those places, an injured person has a fighting chance of obtaining justice for their injuries.

At Rice & Bloomfield, our research in the area of tort reform sets us apart from many others who practice in our field. We are constantly studying the impact of tort reform on the jury panel to find ways to present cases in Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Courtrooms in a way to minimize the impact of this effect and ensure that our clients are protected.

A Rhode Island Hospital has been fined for the 3rd instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery in the wrong side of the patient's head. Last Friday, a chief resident started operating on the wrong side of an 82-year-old patient. In August, a similar error caused the patient's death.

These types of issues are not limited to Rhode Island as this issue is similar to battles we often face at Rice & Bloomfield. What is most frightening is that in Los Angeles, as in all of California, the most that could be recovered from litigation of this type of error is $250,000. From that amount must be paid litigation costs and attorneys fees. Because of that problem, many victims of medical malpractice often cannot find an attorney who will accept there case.

Although we are here to help people who have been injured, we must also make a living. We cannot continue to operate when faced with these type of limitations. This has become a common problem faced by injured patients throughout the state.

Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has frequently trumpeted Texas and California as models for providing access to health, citing an example of a doctor who moved from Maine to Texas and had his malpractice insurance premium reduced from $11,300 to $5,031. There is no evidence to tie the premium difference to the medical malpractice cap. Moreover, I find it hard to believe a doctor moved to Texas to save $5,000 per year. That amount would not even cover his moving costs.

Mitt Romney has joined in the insurance industry created hysteria about insurance premiums. He talks about the burden imposed by lottery-sized awards. However, he ignores the incredible burden put on a family who loses a loved one due to a doctor's neglect. Democratic hopeful John Edwards, a former trial lawyer, explains that the cap has little effect on premiums (less than 1%).

We feel that most doctors can certainly afford $11,000, instead of $5,000 to make sure that anyone they hurt is taken care of. I expect most doctors would prefer to make sure people hurt by medical errors are provided for. It is the insurance companies that do not want to take care of people.

Last Thursday, the state slapped Health Net, Inc. with a $1 Million fine. Ironically, Health Net is our neighbor here in Woodlands Hills although our only connection with them is in representing insureds with claims against them.

The insurance company set goals for cancellation on policies and paid bonuses to employees based on how many policies the dropped and how much money that saved the company. The penalties help shed light on the way insurance companies work. While they spend millions of dollars on commercials to make people think their goal is to help, these types of incidents show how insurance companies really work. Unfortunately, trusting your insurance company may be a mistake.

The fine came after the company mislead state investigators about bonuses paid to employees on more than one occasion. The fines resulted from the insurance company not be straight forward in response to the investigation. As we have found to be the case on many occasions with insurance companies, what they tell you they are going to do, does not always match what they actually do.

Basically, when a Health Net insurance employee found people who were sick, and made large claims and cancelled them, Health Net rewarded them. Health Net was able to find the people that needed protection the most, and hurt them. In one case, Health Net left an insured stuck with nearly $200,000 in medical bills.

As insurance companies always have an excuse for their conduct, Health Net claimed that the cancellations were necessary root out fraud and keep premiums down. It appears that it did so by committing fraud.

The fine is one of the largest in the history of the Department of Managed Care.

Last Sunday the Los Angeles Times printed an article indicating that a family was seeking $45 million from King Harbor hospital for medical malpractice causing death of a patient. The story was misleading, leaving readers with the impression that medical malpractice victims can get rich from lawsuits.

When doctor's negligence, when their mistakes hurt people, the 1975 MICRA law, prevents patients from obtaining justice. The law limits recovery for pain and suffering to $250,000. When first passed, it preventing patients from recovering full compensation for their injuries.

Now, 30 years later, as costs of litigation have gone up but the $250,000 has not changed. As a result, people injured by doctors errors are finding that they often cannot get a lawyer to take their case.

The article published last Sunday indicates that the family is suing for $45 million dollars, but does not mention that their recovery will be limited to $250,000. In response, Linda Rice sent a letter to the Los Angeles Times correcting the error. That letter was published on November 11, 2007.

As printed in the Times, Linda wrote: "A jury might think $45 million is fair and just compensation to the family of the woman who died while hospital personnel ignored her cries of pain for nearly an hour. But the judge will automatically reduce any possible verdict to $250,000 -- the most in noneconomic damages anyone can recover for any injury or death caused by a healthcare provider. The cap was passed at the behest of the insurance industry and medical establishment more than three decades ago. Because it has never been changed or adjusted -- even for inflation -- we may be reaching a point at which letting patients die is more cost-effective than treating them. The public needs to understand this. This article promotes the misconception that people who sue doctors end up rich. That isn't possible in California."

Over the past year, hospitals in Washington left "foreign objects? in 36 surgery patients. 21 patients got surgery on the wrong body part. A Washington law passed last year prevents public disclosure of these types of medical negligence. The law was supported by the Washington State Hospital Association.

Unfortunately, this type of medical malpractice is universal and does occur in Los Angeles area hospitals as well. Although California does not have a similar law, almost anytime a medical malpractice case settles, the settlement includes a confidentiality clause to prevent the patient from telling anyone about the doctor or hospital's negligence.

As a result, in California, Washington, and other states, patients do not have access to information that could be of great assistance in choosing a hospital or a doctor.

While there is an effort to change this damaging Washington law, Californians have no way to escape the confidentiality which accompanies most settlements. There was a recent effort to make it illegal to make a settlement confidential, but such reform efforts were quickly silenced.

Many Southern California families suffered the horrifying loss of their homes in the recent Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego wild fires. Nearly 1,500 homes have been destroyed and hundreds more have been damaged. The process of adjusting homeowners' claim will now begin with insurance companies working hard to limit how much they pay.

Insurance companies will be quick to pay for a coat of paint, but often will not do the necessary investigation to search for all of the damage a fire can cause. Especially where a home is left standing, smoke damage is often not detectable to the average person. While some people will simple settle with their insurance company for the damage which is easy to see, with the assistance of an attorney or other trained professional, a homeowner can obtain the comensation they are entiteled to receive.

It is estimated that the loss from the October fires will be about $1 billions dollars. While this may seem like a huge loss to the insurance industry, when compared to the $450 billion in policy sales last year, and the record $65 billion in profits, the loss if fairly minimal.

Many families suffered huge financial and emotional losses over the past week. They should not have to haggle with the insurance companies to obtain the compensation they paid for over the years with their premiums.

Lining a baby's crib with a bumper pad has long been a popular trend in Southern California. A recent study shows that that risk of death or accidental injury to a baby or toddler associated with a bumper pad outweighs their benefit. Ultimately, you should speak with your local Los Angeles peditrician to decide whether to use a bumper pad.

Many people use these pads to protect babies from injury. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commision date found that many infants lack the motor development to free themselves when they become wedged between the bumper pad and the surface. Babies are likely to suffocate because they are re-breathing expired air or their nose and mouth are compressed.

Both soft and firm bumper pads are dangerous. Researchers of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome indicate that a soft pad can cause suffocation while a hard pad can provide a means for babies to climb and fall out of the crib.

An elderly patient dies from a bed sore after a brief stay in an understaffed Los Angeles nursing home that has not provided the care she was promised. When the family complains about elder abuse, it takes months for the Dept. of Public Health to investigate.

A bill sponsored by Los Angeles Assemblyman Mike Feuer to ensure that most nursing home abuse and neglect investigations be completed within 40 days after a complaint is made passed the Legislature. It is awaiting signature by the Governor, whose office says he has not yet decided whether he will sign it.

More than 110,000 Californians reside in nursing homes each year. This law is needed to protect those senior citizens from serious injury or death from neglect or abuse. "A timely investigation with timely results can make the difference literally between life and death sometimes," Feuer said.

A California judge announced that Ford was nearing settlement of more than 400,000 rollover lawsuits involving its popular Explorer SUV. The suits allege that Ford knew about the safety hazard and withheld that information from the public, while marketing the cars as family-friendly and safe.

Passengers are more likely to be killed or suffer permanent and serious injuries, like being paralyzed, in rollover accidents than in almost any other type of car accident. Only head-on collisions kill more people.

In 2004, a jury awarded more than $80 million to a woman permanently paralyzed when the Ford Explorer she was driving rolled over after she swerved to avoid debris in the highway. The jury also awarded more than $200 million in punitive damages because it found that Ford knew about the problem but did not warn consumers. The trial judge later reduced the jury's verdict to $150 million.

Although publicly Ford defends the safety of its SUVs, it has been negotiating quietly behind the scenes to put an end to the lawsuits. An announcement is expected later this month.

A man driving a motorcycle on the freeway was critically injured when he was hit by a truck. A jury recently awarded $6 million to compensate him for the injuries he sustained in the accident.

Although this collision did not occur in Los Angeles, jury awards for this type of injury are similar in Kentucky where it did occur. The collision was in March 2006 on Interstate 35. The Defendant claimed that the motorcycle entered the freeway and cut in front of the truck. After trial testimony from accident reconstructionists, a jury found that the truck changed lanes and caused the collision.

The motorcyclist, Walter Browning was a 13-year Army veteran and former security guard, lost four fingers on his left hand and can no longer walk without assistance because of massive injuries to his left leg.