San Diego Injury Accident Lawyer Blog

Expedited Trials May Come to California | San Diego Trial Attorney Lawyer

The California legislature has passed the Expedited Jury Trials Act which provides for a streamlined quick action trial providing for trials within 4 hours and a high-low damage agreement. If governor has until September to sign the bill into law. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a San Diego injury accident, please call the personal injury attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group at 888-233-5020 for a free consultation.

World Without Lawyers | Personal Injury Attorneys Protect San Diego CA | Accident Law

Trial lawyers and personal injury attorneys help to protect injured people within our community and help those throughout San Diego and California hurt due to the negligence and carelessness of other people and businesses. The Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) has produced a great video describing all the things that injury accident lawyers do for the public. If you or a loved one has been hurt in a San Diego accident, please contact the California personal injury attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group at 888-233-3180 for a free consultation.

New Movie Examines Tort Reform and Runaway Juries | San Diego Personal Injury Lawyer Attorney

A new movie, Hot Coffee--The Movie, examines the McDonald's Coffee Case and it's role in the civil justice system, tort reform movement, and how it has been exploited by insurance companies to paint injured people as greedy and out to win the lottery. Please donate to help finish the movie.

Proposed California Law Would Install Vehicle Cameras in Cars | San Diego Auto Injury Lawyer Attorney

Negligent driving is a huge concern and the cause of thousand of injuries and the loss of many lives on California roads.  The reckless attitude of some drivers is one of the prime causes of auto accidents throughout the State. These auto accidents not only harm the reckless driver but also other innocent people. To monitor driving and thereby reduce accidents, the California State Assembly has passed a bill on May 17, 2010, that would allow video recorders to be installed on vehicles' dashboards.

The two major challenges in implementing the law are that current California law prohibits dashboard devices that may obstruct a driver's view and video recording raises concerns about drivers' privacy.

The companies that hire teams of commercial drivers support this bill as it will allow them to ensure their employees are driving safely. Also, the cameras will prove helpful in investigations to determine fault in an accident.  The devices can record the vehicle’s speed, how and where it travels, whether the driver was wearing a seatbelt, and whether the brakes were applied before the accident.  It has been established that companies that use the recorders have reduced their accident claims by 80 percent. Parents of teenagers are also big supporters of these devices. 

However, there are many privacy concerns such as when the records will be installed and must be installed according to the law.  As the ACLU spokesperson states, “It’s one thing if you’ve got your teenager in the car…but it’s a different thing if it’s…an adult.” The ACLU also has concerns about monitoring employee drivers and is seeking protections to allow employees to opt out of being recorded while driving.

Ross Jurewitz is a San Diego auto accident attorney and the managing lawyer of the Jurewitz Law Group, a California law firm dedicated to representing people seriously injured and the families of people killed due to the negligence of another.  If you or a loved one has been killed or injured in a traffic accident in California, please order your free copy of Mr. Jurewitz's book, The Ten Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Accident Case. It is full of helpful information that will help you protect your legal rights and it is free to all California residents.

Did the San Diego Driver of the Runaway Prius Make up the Accident?

A recent San Diego runaway Toyota Prius with a stuck accelerator was nationwide news when its' driver, James Sikes, was rescued by California Highway Patrol officers. Now, new doubts emerge about the honesty of his story. If you or a loved one has been a victim of a defective automobile design or manufacturing, please call the San Diego personal injury attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group at 888-233-5020 for a free consultation.

Lindsay Lohan's Frivolous Lawsuit Against E-Trade: Hurting Plaintiffs with Real Injuries

Lindsay Lohan has filed a frivolous lawsuit against online brokerage E-Trade for their Super Bowl commercial featuring a baby named "Lindsay" who is called a "milkaholic". Lohan claims that the reference is to her and is suing for appropriation of likeness and defamation.

Toyota Sudden Acceleration Defect Demonstrates Government Conflict of Interest and Need for Trial Attorneys to Hold Manufacturers Accountable for Dangerous Products

With the government now owning and operating General Motors (GM), can it regulate competitors like Toyota without inherently using the arm of big government to gain an unfair business advantage? The Toyota sudden acceleration cases demonstrate that the government has a clear conflict of interest but that it is also complicit in helping to maintaining the public danger created by the alleged defect. So what is the answer to protect the public? The public again turns to trial lawyers to hold companies accountable for their dangerous products.

Virginia Judge Rejects Challenge to Attorney Blog Post About Case

A Virginia trial court ruled that a plaintiff's attorney did not need to remove his blog post containing sensitive facts about a pending wrongful death medical malpractice case because they were contained in an investigative report turned over by a hospital. If you or a loved one has been injured in a California personal injury accident, call the Jurewitz Law Group at 888-233-5020 for a free consultation.

Major Defeat for Insurance Companies in San Diego Appellate Court

San Diego personal injury clients should be happy that the California Court of Appeals has upheld the collateral source rule in Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions, Inc. Insurance companies were able to unfairly lower settlement values and offers by convincing California courts that collateral source was not the law.

Support Consumer Rights and Protection: California Personal Injury Lawyers Should Join CAOC!

George Washington once said:

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

Letter of Instructions to the Captains of the Virginia Regiments [July 29, 1759]. The advocates of consumer rights, viewing the resources of defense firms and corporate defendants, can relate to the trepidation felt by the out-numbered and out-gunned Continental Army. Because of that disparity in resources, Consumer Attorneys of California ("CAOC") consolidates the voices of consumer attorneys throughout the state to (1) preserve and protect the constitutional right to trial by jury for all consumers, (2) champion the cause of those who deserve redress for injury to person or property, (3) encourage and promote changes to California law by legislative, initiative or court action, (4) oppose injustice in existing or contemplated legislation, (5) correct harsh, unjust and oppressive legislation or judicial decisions, (6) advance the common law and promote the public good through the civil justice system and concerted efforts to secure safe products, a safe workplace, a clean environment, and quality health care, (7) uphold the honor, integrity and dignity of the legal profession by encouraging mutual support and cooperation among members, (8) promote the highest standards of professional conduct, and (9) inspire excellence in advocacy. This post is a multi-blog effort to inform consumer attorneys about CAOC's value and encourage participation in CAOC through membership.

CAOC works tirelessly to protect or advance those causes of import to consumers and their attorneys in California. Often those efforts, though valuable, receive little fanfare. For example, CAOC recently sponsored SB 510, which affects the re-sale of what are known as "structured settlements," in which victims receive financial compensation over a period of time for medical expenses and basic living needs, as determined by a jury. Before SB 510 was signed by the Governor, Courts expressed frustration at their inability to prevent the sale of structured settlements on terms that might ultimately lead to long-term financial hardship for the victim. Now, SB 510 gives judges the information they need to make a reasoned decision about the propriety of a structured settlement sale.

Measures like CAOC-sponsored SB 510 help protect the most vulnerable members of our society and ask for nothing in return. They exemplify the spirit of CAOC. However, CAOC is only as effective in its mission as its membership allows it to be. When consumer attorneys join the ranks of CAOC, its voice gains in power and clarity. But if consumer advocates sit on the sidelines, hoping to benefit from the work of others, CAOC is stretched thin, and we are all at risk as a result.

Now, consumer advocate bloggers from across the state are combining their voices to call upon each and every lawyer and firm that regularly represents plaintiffs to join CAOC, thereby strengthening the consumer's first line of defense. The blogs participating in this unified call to action are:

• The Complex Litigator (H. Scott Leviant)
• The UCL Practitioner (Kimberly Kralowec)
• Bailey Class Action Daily (Matt Bailey)
• California Employee Rights Blog (James J. Peters)
• An Appeal to Reason (Donna Bader)
• California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog (Jonathan G. Stein)
• California Debt Blog (Jonathan G. Stein)
• TrialLawyerTips.com (Mitch Jackson and Lisa Wilson)
• California Injury Blog (John Bisnar)
• San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog (Ross A. Jurewitz)
• San Diego Car Accident Lawyer Blog (Ross Jurewitz
• San Diego Injury Accident Lawyer Blog (Ross A. Jurewitz)
• California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog (Walton Law Firm LLP)
• San Diego Injury Law Blog (Walton Law Firm LLP)
• California Personal Injury Law Blog (Norman Gregory Fernandez)
• Biker Lawyer Blog (Norman Gregory Fernandez)
• California Credit Law (Mark F. Anderson, Carol Brewer & Andy Ogilvie)
• Lemon Law Blog (Mark F. Anderson, Carol Brewer & Andy Ogilvie)

Show your support of consumers' rights by joining and supporting CAOC. Together we can make an impact that we cannot make alone.

New Tort Reform Proposal....From Personal Injury Lawyers?

There seems to be a constant effort by the insurance industry and their friends in state and federal government to "fix" the system justice system.  These proposals are part of a planned scheme, called "Tort Reform", to limit insurance companies' exposure to paying injured people full value for their claims.  The most recent example is taking place in Oklahoma, where the Republicans in the state legislature--led by a former medical malpractice defense attorney--are trying to pass as many different changes to current law as they can.  Not surprisingly, while all the proposals are favorable to the insurance companies, they are also all detrimental to protecting and compensating the general public.  We wrote about the Oklahoma tort reform efforts on our San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog, here.

Now, here comes a new report and possible effort to reform the civil justice system.  However, the source of this report is from an association of personal injury attorneys--those who represent injured people.

This report, described in this AP news story, recommends major changes in the civil justice system in the way that courts hear civil lawsuits.  The reasoning behind these suggestions is that the current system drags out disputes unnecessarily by demanding irrelevant and hard-to-find information through the "discovery" process where the parties are able to request information from one another.

Focusing on the federal civil justice system, the authors of the report point out that the federal discovery rules (which are very similar to state discovery rules) are out of date because they were created in the 1930s.  Accordingly, they were written for a time when the volume of documents were much smaller than they are today in an age of e-mail communication.  Major corporations are now hiring personnel merely to manage their document systems if they ever get sued  to ensure they can, in the possible future, comply with federal discovery statutes.

In addition to updating the view of electronic discovery management in the federal discovery rules, the report also suggests creating new specific requirements for expert witness testimony, making sure a judge handles a case from beginning to end, and giving the judges the power to order mediation in some cases.