In a severe car crash or workplace accident, it is possible for a victim to suffer a variety of catastrophic injuries. Many of these injuries, including brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and broken bones, are caused by a forceful impact, such as in a collision or a fall. However, burns are another common form of catastrophic injury, and they tend to have a different set of causes. If you suffer burn injuries due to someone else’s negligence, you should be aware of the compensation to which you may be entitled.

Common Causes of Burn Injuries

When a vehicle accident results in burn injuries, it is often because fuel, oil, or another flammable substance leaks and ignites, causing a fire or even an explosion. A person who is caught in the flames or trapped in a burning vehicle can suffer severe injuries, including third-degree burns that penetrate to the deepest layer of skin. Burn injuries are also possible in a truck accident when the truck is carrying flammable cargo or dangerous chemicals.

Burn injuries are also common on construction sites due to fires and explosions, electrical hazards, malfunctioning equipment, chemical exposure, and burst pipes carrying hot water, among other causes. When a construction site burn injury is the fault of a negligent third party, the injured worker has the right to pursue a personal injury claim.

Semi-trucks and other large commercial vehicles are already challenging to control when all of their parts are working properly. If a part malfunctions due to insufficient or improper maintenance, it may be enough to cause a serious accident. Truck accidents account for thousands of injuries and hundreds of fatalities in California every year, and improper maintenance is a factor in many of these cases. If you have been injured in a crash with a truck, you may be able to pursue compensation from multiple negligent parties.

Common Faulty Parts in a Truck Crash

If any of the following truck parts are poorly maintained, they may fail at an inopportune moment and lead to a crash:

• Brakes - Working brakes are crucial to ensure that a truck can slow or come to a stop if necessary to avoid a collision. When brakes fail on the highway, a truck can easily lose control of its speed.

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If you have been injured in a car crash caused by another driver’s negligence, one of your biggest concerns is likely recovering compensation for your medical bills. However, depending on the situation and the severity of your injuries, you may have other financial concerns as well, not the least of which are your lost earnings from any missed work time due to your accident. Fortunately, lost wages in both the past and future are included in the economic damages that you may pursue in a personal injury lawsuit.

Compensation for Lost Earnings and Earning Capacity

There are two primary reasons why you may lose income in the aftermath of a car accident injury. The first is missed time from work during your treatment and recovery. For relatively minor injuries, this could be limited to a couple of days in the hospital, but if your injuries are severe, your recovery may extend for several weeks during which you are unable to perform your usual work tasks.

The second reason is a decrease in your earning capacity due to a long-term or permanent disability caused by a catastrophic injury. In this case, your anticipated losses may continue long after the time it takes to resolve your personal injury case, so it is important to consider the full amount you expect to lose over time.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), pedestrian fatalities from car accidents have recently reached a 30-year high. California is responsible for more pedestrian deaths than any other state, with almost 900 in 2018 alone. In part, this is due to the state’s large population, but California also has a higher rate of pedestrian fatalities than many other states, with pedestrians accounting for almost 25 percent of all traffic deaths. In light of these shocking statistics, you may be wondering why pedestrian accidents are so common, and what you can do to avoid becoming a victim.

Factors That Lead to Pedestrian Accidents

One likely reason for the prevalence of pedestrian accidents in California is the presence of several major cities. The NHTSA reports that 80 percent of fatal pedestrian accidents happen in urban areas, and California is home to four of the 15 largest U.S. cities by population, including San Jose and San Francisco. If you are walking in an urban area in California, you should take extra care to stay aware of your surroundings and avoid putting yourself at risk.

Other common contributing factors in pedestrian accidents include low visibility during dark hours, distraction and alcohol intoxication on the part of both drivers and pedestrians, speeding, and improper use of sidewalks and crosswalks. To reduce the risk of accidents, the NHTSA and the California Office of Traffic Safety advise pedestrians to use lights, reflectors, and bright clothing; obey traffic signals and use crosswalks when crossing the street; and avoid walking near the road when they are drunk or using their cell phones.

If you have been injured in a car crash or any other accident, the financial costs can be high due to medical bills, property damage, missed time from work, and other expenses. A personal injury claim can often help you recover compensation for these economic damages if your injuries were caused by the negligence of another party. However, in some cases, the economic damages may not fully reflect the impact of your injuries on your life, and it may be worth working with your attorney to pursue further compensation for non-economic damages.

Examples of Non-Economic Damages

The purpose of non-economic damages is to provide compensation for losses due to injury that are not easy to quantify. Often, these losses are related to your mental state or your personal life. Some reasons to pursue compensation for non-economic damages include:

• Pain and suffering: While economic damages can cover the cost of medical treatment for your injuries, non-economic damages consider the effects of chronic pain on your day-to-day life.

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While it may not attract as much attention as drunk driving or distracted driving, drowsy driving is another serious issue that contributes to car accidents, many of which result in injuries and fatalities. The most recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show more than 90,000 annual accidents in which driver fatigue was a factor, with nearly 800 resulting fatalities. Understanding some of the common factors in these accidents may help you avoid falling victim to one yourself.

Common Factors in Accidents Involving Driver Fatigue

Research shows that all of the following are possible factors in accidents involving drowsy drivers:

• Time of day: Perhaps unsurprisingly, drowsy driving crashes are more likely to occur late at night. What may be more surprising is that they are also more common in the late afternoon, in part due to the human body’s natural sleep rhythms.

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Construction sites are common places for injuries to occur, with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting that falls and scaffolding accidents, machinery, and improper hazard communication are some of the most frequent causes. Usually, the workers on these sites are the most likely victims.

If you are injured in the course of your construction job, you are likely entitled to workers’ compensation benefits from your employer, and if you or your employer were responsible for the accident that caused your injury, this may be your only option for compensation. However, many construction site accidents involve the negligence of a third party, in which case you can pursue additional compensation through a personal injury claim.

Negligent Third Parties in a Construction Site Accident

Often, many different parties are involved with a construction project, and it is possible for any of them to contribute to unsafe circumstances that could result in an accident. Possible third parties that could be considered negligent include:

On an annual basis, around 18,000 people are injured and more than 1,000 people are killed in car accidents involving alcohol throughout California. Suffering a serious injury or losing a loved one in a crash with a drunk driver can be devastating, and it is important to know how you can obtain compensation and find some degree of solace for your losses. Fortunately, an attorney can help you do so through a personal injury or wrongful death claim.

Building Your Case for Compensation

If you have been injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver, there are important steps you should take to give yourself the best chance at recovering compensation. Namely, you should:

• Seek medical attention: This ensures that you receive the proper treatment for your injuries, and it also serves to create a record that demonstrates the extent of your medical expenses and other damages and connects your injuries to the accident.

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Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz has been a consistently dangerous stretch of road for decades. The “Safe on 17” commission of the late ‘90s led to a temporary decline in the number of car accidents, but over the last few years, crashes have once again been on the rise. For example, in 2019, Highway 17 was the site of 521 accidents from just January to the middle of March, an increase of 30 crashes from that same time period the year before. To help keep yourself safe, it is important to be aware of why accidents are so common on this road, and what you can do if you are injured in a crash.

Risk Factors on Highway 17

Area law enforcement notes several factors that contribute to accidents on Highway 17. These include:

• Heavy traffic: More than 60,000 vehicles travel Highway 17 each day, and the simple fact of this many drivers in close proximity to each other increases the risk of accidents.

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Any driver who is distracted by his or her cell phone poses an injury risk to other people on the road, but a distracted truck driver can be especially dangerous. A semi-truck traveling at 55 miles per hour can take more than 5 seconds to come to a complete stop, but sending a text message can remove a driver’s attention from the road for at least this long, so a distracted truck driver may not even have the opportunity to start slowing down before a serious collision occurs. For this reason, cell phone use is strictly regulated for truck drivers throughout the U.S.

Cell Phone Regulations For Commercial Truck Drivers

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) prohibits truck drivers from not just sending and reading text messages and other electronic communication while driving, but all handheld cell phone use. This includes holding a phone while making a call, dialing that requires pressing more than one button, and reaching for a phone. Drivers who violate these restrictions can be fined up to $2,750 and disqualified from driving, and truck driver employers who fail to enforce these restrictions can be fined up to $11,000. Handheld cell phone use while driving is also a violation of California law in most cases, and can result in a fine of at least $20 for a first offense and $50 for additional offenses.

Pursuing Compensation from a Texting Truck Driver

These regulations and penalties may prevent many truck accidents, but if you are injured by a truck driver who was distracted by a cell phone, you can file a personal injury claim to further hold the driver accountable and pursue compensation for your damages. It is not always easy to demonstrate that a driver was distracted, but an attorney can help you collect crucial evidence that potentially includes camera footage of the accident, police reports, and the driver’s phone records.

In 2017, almost 12,000 people suffered severe injuries in California car accidents, meaning that their injuries prevented them from walking, driving, or performing other activities that they were able to do before the accident. Many of these severe injuries involve damage to the spinal cord, which can have long-lasting effects and may require many years of recovery for the victim to even approach his or her condition before the accident, if recovery is possible at all. If you have suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident caused by another driver, a personal injury lawsuit can help you obtain compensation to cover your extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Signs that You May Have a Spinal Cord Injury

Sometimes spinal cord injuries are immediately apparent after a car accident. If you find that you are paralyzed or have lost the ability to move body parts below the neck or waist, it is likely that you have suffered spinal cord damage. However, sometimes the extent of the injury is not obvious right away. Other signs that you may have a spinal injury include extreme back or neck pain, weakness, numbness or tingling, and difficulty walking or breathing. You may also be able to visibly detect a possible spinal cord injury if your neck or back is in an unnatural position after the accident. If you suspect that your spinal cord has been injured, you should seek medical attention immediately to prevent the damage from getting worse.

In 2018, an estimated 400,000 people in the United States were injured and almost 3,000 were killed in car accidents involving distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Distracted driving is a serious problem nationwide and in California, and if you have been injured in an accident caused by a distracted driver, you need an attorney who understands the legal strategies that give you the best chance of obtaining the compensation you need and deserve.

Common Causes of Distracted Driving

Distracted driving refers to any situation in which a driver removes his or her attention from driving to focus on another task. One well-known cause of distracted driving is cell phone use, especially texting, which can remove a driver’s eyes from the road for five seconds or more. In California, texting while driving and any other handheld cell phone use is against the law. Other common distractions are not explicitly forbidden, but they can be dangerous, nonetheless. Some of the most frequent causes include:

In California, a wide variety of occupations may expose employees to injury risk throughout the course of their work. As such, the state requires employers to provide workers’ compensation benefits for employees who are injured on the job, whether those injuries were the fault of the employer, the employee, or a third party. However, as an employee, your eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits does not mean that you cannot also file a personal injury claim against a third party. In fact, in many severe workplace accident cases, it is necessary to pursue a liability lawsuit in order to receive full compensation for the extent of your damages.

When Is a Third-Party Personal Injury Lawsuit Possible?

You may have grounds to file a personal injury lawsuit if you suffered an injury during the course of your work, and that injury was caused by the negligence of someone other than you or your employer. A few examples of work-related injury situations that may involve third-party liability include:

According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, approximately 500 motorcyclists die and many more are injured in accidents each year, often because of another driver’s negligence. The physical, emotional, and financial costs for motorcycle accident victims can be extreme. If you have been injured in a crash, it is important that you understand how to pursue the compensation you need and deserve with the help of an experienced personal injury attorney.

Available Compensation for Motorcycle Crash Injuries

Although California law requires all motorcyclists to wear a helmet, they are still mostly unprotected compared to occupants of other vehicles. When accidents occur, injuries are often severe and have lasting impacts. When another party is at fault, you can pursue compensation through a personal injury lawsuit for damages including:

• Medical expenses: Motorcycle accidents can cause traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, paralysis, loss of limbs, lacerations, and more. You can seek compensation for the cost of emergency treatment, surgeries, medication, and rehabilitation.

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Dogs have a reputation for being “man’s best friend,” and for many children, a good family dog can be a source of joy and companionship. However, when dogs feel scared, angry, or threatened, they may become aggressive, and young children are often the ones who suffer the consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children are not only more likely to be bitten by a dog than adults, but their dog bite injuries also tend to be more serious. As a parent, you can help your children avoid dog bite injuries using a few effective strategies. Regardless, a California pet owner may be held liable for injuries inflicted by his dog depending on the circumstances. 

How to Reduce the Risk of a Dog Bite

The key to preventing dog bite injuries is often helping your children understand a dog’s behavior and how they should act around a dog. Here are some suggestions that can keep your children safe:

According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the number of people injured and killed in accidents involving large trucks has risen significantly in recent years. The primary danger is not to the truck drivers themselves, but to the occupants of the other involved vehicles, who account for over 70 percent of the annual fatalities. Truck accidents are dangerous not only because of the vehicles’ large size but also because of the heavy loads they carry. When those loads are not properly secured, they can lead to accidents in a number of ways.

How Unsecured Cargo Loads Cause Accidents in California

Semi-trucks are built to haul heavy weight, but in order to do so safely, they must be loaded properly with their cargo fully secured. When loose cargo shifts in transit, accidents often result because of one of the following reasons:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that approximately 90 percent of vehicle occupants in recent years use a seat belt and that seat belts save almost 15,000 lives each year. However, failing to wear a seat belt is still a significant factor in many vehicle-related deaths, as 47 percent of people killed in vehicle accidents in 2017 were not wearing a seat belt at the time. Even if you survive a car accident in which you were not wearing a seat belt, you may experience serious injuries resulting in costly medical expenses and a lasting impact on your quality of life. Furthermore, your failure to wear a seat belt may actually result in less compensation in a personal injury case.

How Do California Seat Belt Laws Affect Negligence?

California law requires vehicle occupants to wear a seat belt under most circumstances in recognition that doing so is the most effective way to save lives in the event of an accident. If you are wearing a seat belt and driving responsibly and you are involved in an accident caused by another driver’s negligence, you may be able to reduce or avoid serious injuries entirely. If you are seriously injured under these circumstances, you can make a strong claim that the other driver was completely at fault for the accident and seek full compensation for any damages resulting from your injuries.

Due to the perennially warm climate, residential and commercial properties in California may require regular fumigation to help protect the health of both the buildings and their residents from infestations. Among the nastier types of insects, Californians may have to contend with are bed bugs, cockroaches, and termites. A report released by Orkin Pest Control ranking the top 50 cities most at risk for termite damage in the United States placed three major California cities within the top 15: San Diego in 11th place, San Francisco at 9th, and Los Angeles as the 2nd most at risk for termite damage in the entire country.

Due to the high risk of infestation, especially along coastal cities including San Jose, CA properties may require pest control operations—including fumigation—from time to time in order to ensure the structural integrity of buildings and the health of their residents. Although the process of fumigation is often considered low risk for humans when proper precautions are taken, the recent death of a Whittier resident as reported by The Mercury News highlights the fact that pest control operations are not without risk. “Pest exterminators were not actively working at the house at the time, but it was still filled with toxic chemicals,” the news agency reported.

Injuries associated with consumer products accounted “for nearly one-third of all unintentional fatal injuries and nearly half of medically attended nonfatal injuries,” according to a report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 2018. Based on the latest data available—41,200 Americans are fatally wounded by a consumer product-related injury every year, and 39.8 million will require medical treatment for their injuries. This means nearly one out of every 10 Americans will receive medical attention due to such an injury.

What Is a Consumer Product?

The CPSC is a government agency created to protect citizens “from unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with consumer products.” The regulatory body excludes some common items from the definition of a “consumer product” because these items fall under the jurisdiction of other government agencies, including, but not limited to boats, firearms, tobacco, automobiles, and more.

For many people, there is little else they would rather do on a nice day than go golfing. While we do not typically think of golf as a sport that is likely to cause a player injury, serious golf resort injuries do occur. In some cases, the injury is simply caused by bad luck. In other cases, the injury is a direct result of the golf resort’s failure to maintain a safe premises. If you or a loved one have suffered a major injury at a golf course, you may wonder whether or not you will be entitled to compensation. Determining fault for a golf-related injury is often a tricky process, so getting help from an experienced personal injury attorney is crucial.

Premises Liability Injuries on a Golf Course

Golf is not a high impact sport, however, there are still many ways that someone playing golf can be seriously injured. Sometimes, the injury is the result of the player’s own actions. For example, if a golfer is driving a golf cart in a wildly erratic manner and crashes the vehicle, it is unlikely that the golf resort would be held liable for the golfer’s injuries. However, a golf resort may be liable for injuries caused by an unreasonably dangerous condition on the property.

Examples of injuries that may occur on a golf course include but are not limited to: