A 9-year-old boy and an elderly woman were injured in a dog bite incident the morning of January 14, 2012. According to a news report in the Sacramento Bee, the brutal pit bull attack occurred at a home in the 7000 block of Third Parkway in South Sacramento. Police responded to a call from the home. When officers arrived they found an injured elderly woman and the boy with a head injury and severe injury to one of his arms. They say the child was attacked when he walked into the backyard. The boy was transported to a local hospital in serious condition. The woman is said to be recovering from her injuries. Deputies shot the pit bull when it tried to jump over a backyard fence and escape.

My heart goes out to both victims of this vicious dog attack. I wish them the very best for a speedy and complete recovery. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Dog Bite Statistics

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), dogs bite approximately 4.5 million Americans every year. About one in five dog bites require medical attention. In the year 2006, more than 31,000 people suffered serious injuries that required reconstructive surgery following a dog attack. Also, according to CDC statistics, more than half of all fatal dog bite incidents in the United States involve just two breeds of dogs – pit bulls and rottweilers.

Strict Liability in Dog Attacks

Based on this news report, it is not clear if the boy was in his own home or if he was visiting someone at the time. Under California's "strict liability statute," dog owners can be held liable for the injuries caused by their pets. California’s Civil Code Section 3342 states: "The owner of any dog is liable for the damages suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness."

Compensation for Dog Bite Victims

Injured dog bite victims often undergo quite a few medical expenses including emergency room costs, surgery, hospitalization, and even cosmetic procedures. Not all of these treatments may be covered by health insurance. In California, the dog owner's homeowner insurance policy will usually cover damages caused by a dog attack. Under certain circumstances, a landlord may also be held liable for allowing a dangerous dog to reside on the property. An experienced California personal injury lawyer will be able to analyze all aspects of a vicious dog attack and ensure that victims are fairly compensated for their losses.

A pedestrian walking near the intersection of Acacia Avenue and West Street was hit by an oncoming vehicle and then dragged for several feet by another  in Garden Grove on December 28, 2011. The 54-year-old man, identified as Gregory Martin, was seriously injured and transported to a nearby hospital for treatment and is in critical condition.

The driver of the second vehicle stayed on the scene to speak with police investigators. The driver of the first vehicle, described as a Dodge Magnum, fled the scene of the accident. With the help of the public, investigators were able to find the Dodge Magnum abandoned in a nearby city, the driver was not found. Investigators are still searching for the driver of the first vehicle.

Collision investigators are working diligently to piece together the scene of the accident and determine where the pedestrian was walking at the time of the accident. If it was discovered Gregory Martin was walking in an unmarked crosswalk and had the right of way, the driver of the first vehicle could be held liable in a court of law.

What happened to Gregory Martin is a travesty, and hit-and-run cases make me upset. The fact that the driver abandoned the vehicle and fled makes this case boil my blood even more. We wish Gregory Martin a speedy recovery on what can only be described as a difficult road ahead.

California Traffic Code for Yielding to a Pedestrian

California Traffic Code 21950 (a) requires that drivers must yield to the right-of-way of a pedestrian who is inside a marked crosswalk, or within the limits of an unmarked crosswalk. If collision investigators determine that the victim was within an unmarked crosswalk, the driver of the first vehicle could be held financially responsible for all medical expenses related to the accident.

California Traffic Code for Hit and Run Cases

California Vehicle Code 20001 VC outlines a felony hit and run citation. Drivers who fail to properly identify themselves and present information at a scene of an accident can be cited for a felony hit and run if there are bodily injuries or fatalities. The driver of the Dodge Magnum can be cited for a felony hit and run.

Victims of a felony hit and run accident, or an accident involving a failure to yield to a pedestrian may want to seek the advice and expertise of a skilled California personal injury attorney. The best California personal injury attorneys will offer you a free consultation to help you assess your case, and determine if you could seek compensation for medical expenses, damages, and pain and suffering.

The decision of which attorney you should choose to represent you for your California motorcycle case can be a difficult one. There are literally thousands of California attorneys who claim to have the knowledge and expertise needed to represent motorcycle accident victims, and each one will approach your case differently.

Before signing on the dotted line and hiring an attorney it is important to make sure that the lawyer and law firm you choose to represent you is right for you. To help you determine if a California lawyer is right for you, there are a few questions you can ask to help you make this important decision.

How Many California Motorcycle Accident Cases do you Handle a Year?

Asking how many motorcycle accident cases a particular California motorcycle accident lawyer handles in a year will help you assess how qualified he or she may be to represent your case. An attorney who represents hundreds of motorcycle accident victims will have the knowledge necessary to get you the results you need. While an attorney who only represents two victims a year may not have all the knowledge and understanding of how motorcycle accident cases work to handle your case.

What is Your Approach to Working with Clients and Accident Victims?

Understanding how your motorcycle attorney approaches working with his or her clients will allow you to determine if they are a good match for you or not. Ask whether they will ask for your opinion in regards to how to handle situations or decisions, or will they make them for you. Some motorcycle accident victims feel comfortable with an attorney who makes all their decisions for them and just consults them for final approval. While other accident victims want to be hands-on and know what is going on with their case.

These questions and more can be asked during your initial consultation with the attorney. A  qualified California motorcycle accident attorney will typically offer you a free consultation. Consultations are used for attorneys to assess your case. However, they can also be used for you, the accident victim, to assess whether or not the attorney is right for your case. Use the time provided wisely by presenting the lawyer with accurate accident information and asking questions to help assess whether the lawyer is right for you. It is important that you not only hire a qualified, knowledgeable motorcycle accident lawyer, but one that you feel comfortable and confident handling your case for you.

DogsBite.org, a web site, which does advocacy work for dog bite victims, recently released its 2011 numbers on dog bite fatalities nationwide. According to the a news release issued by the group, there were 31 fatal dog attacks last year. As was the case the year before, pit bulls were involved in more fatal attacks than any other breed.

Pit bulls were involved in 71 percent of all fatal dog attacks in the year 2011 despite only making up 5 percent of the U.S. dog population. Of the victims killed in pit bull attacks, 68 percent were between the ages of 32 and 76 and 32 percent were 5 years old or younger. Among cases involving a pet owner being killed by his or her own dog, the breed of the dog was a pit bull 88 percent of the time. Pit bulls are not, however, the only breed commonly associated with causing fatal injuries.

Dangerous Dog Breeds

Pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for a combined 84 percent of all fatal dog attacks in the United States. This number is slightly higher than in past years. In the seven-year period from 2005 to 2011, pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for a combined 73 percent of all recorded dog attack related deaths (156 out of 213). While rottweilers are consistently the number two most dangerous breed, they account for a substantially smaller amount of fatalities than pit bulls. Over the last seven years, pit bulls killed 127 people, while rottweilers caused 29 fatal injuries.

Based on this news report, California and Texas led the rest of the nation in dog bite-related fatalities in 2011 with four deaths each. Pit bulls accounted for 88 percent of all fatal attacks in those two states.

Laws and Liability Issues

In the state of California, the dog owner can be held liable for the damage his or her dog causes. California Civil Code Section 3342 states: "The owner of any dog is liable for the damages suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness."

Dog bite victims would be well advised to contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer, who will hold negligent owners accountable. Injured dog bite victims can seek compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, hospitalization, cosmetic surgery, pain and suffering, and other related damages.

In a time when nursing home abuse and neglect are rampant, an investigation by the Sacramento Bee has found that some of California's nursing homes have altered patients' health records and provided false information on medical charts. Nursing home abuse lawyers who have been suing these facilities for damages on behalf of injured clients and their families also tell the newspaper that they encounter some form of "suspect record-keeping" in almost every case they investigate.

A Dangerous Trend

According to the report, between 1990 and 1999, the California Public Health Department issued 180 citations for "willful material falsification" against nursing homes. Between 2000 and 2010, that number dropped to 29. A number of personal injury lawyers say the number has dropped because these cases are being less frequently pursued by authorities. Falsifying health records is a misdemeanor under California law. But it is rare to see nursing home administrators or employees face criminal charges for what is clearly an offense.

This trend of falsifying records is, to say the least, dangerous and alarming. Why do most nursing homes falsify records? To cover up incidents of nursing home neglect or abuse, the Bee reports. Some of the most common cover-ups in nursing homes include hiding incidents where patients die or sustain injuries; staff members filling out paperwork without verifying the accuracy of the information involved; inaccurate recordings of medications dispensed to patients. Nursing home industry representatives have responded to the report saying that falsification of health records is rare and is not a cause for concern.

Holding Wrongdoers Accountable

There is no question that understaffing issues in nursing homes have a significant role to play in neglect and abuse that occurs in the facilities. As personal injury lawyers, we believe it is our duty to expose the injustice that occurs in such care facilities. Without the civil justice system, there would be no way for victims of nursing home abuse to hold these wrongdoers accountable. When nursing homes don't pay attention to the accuracy of the information they have, there is the potential for fatal mistakes such as prescription or medication errors. There is absolutely no excuse for falsifying records to cover up wrongdoing. It is appalling that those who falsify records, especially in cases involving injuries or death, don't face serious criminal charges.

Victims of nursing home abuse or neglect would be well-advised to contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer who has successfully handled similar cases. The best nursing home abuse law firms will always offer a free consultation and comprehensive case evaluation to injured victims and their families.

With greater numbers of California's seniors now heading to care facilities, incidents of nursing home abuse and neglect are on the rise, and quality of care has been continually dropping, according to a recent study. The Ventura County Star cites studies, which show California was ranked 49th when it came to the percentage of nursing home residents who are physically restrained. While the national average for physical restraints is 3.3 percent, California's nursing homes restrain 7.9 percent of their residents.

California Nursing Home Statistics

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) reports that California ranks 15th in the nation in long-term care for the disabled. At the same time, the report also states that California scores were at the bottom of the list in quality of life for individuals requiring specialized healthcare. It is also projected that the number of elderly Californians will increase by 100 percent between the years 2010 and 2030.

Common Problems in Nursing Homes

As California's nursing home population increases, there is an increased risk of the quality of care plummeting. It is common for nursing homes to increase their profits by adding residents without hiring more qualified workers. Nurses and aides who are over-worked, underpaid and unqualified are more prone to over medicate residents to make their jobs easier.

Such facilities that are understaffed, which employ under-qualified, cheap workers, create an environment where nursing home neglect and abuse take place. Care facilities that allow workers to wrongfully use restraints or drug difficult and combative residents can and should be held liable for their negligence. All elderly residents deserve quality care. Our seniors do not deserve to be put in a situation where they are at risk for physical injury, death or emotional distress.

Liability Issues

Nursing homes that deliberately understaff their facilities and put profits over the people they serve should be held accountable. Victims of nursing home neglect and abuse can seek compensation for their physical injuries and emotional suffering by filing a personal injury claim. In cases where neglect or abuse has caused death, the victim's family can file a wrongful death claim against the negligent nursing home. Victims or their families would be well-advised to contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer who will go after these facilities and hold them accountable. The best personal injury law firms will always offer a free consultation and comprehensive case evaluation to injured victims and their families.

California Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys

It is shocking how often nursing homes are found to have contributed to tragic forms of abuse and neglect which lead to a person's death. Do you feel that this nursing home should be held responsible for this victim's death? Yes No Unsure Current Results

Imagine that you have been in a car accident. Imagine that you have the unfortunate situation of having nothing available to help take down information, take photos of the accident scene to help with insurance, and develop a credible log of information to help with litigation if necessary. Well, thankfully that nightmare scenario is over with the development of the car accident sidekick, brought to you by the American Lawyer Academy. If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you know that while your mind tries to process what just happened, mistakes can be made. Errors can occur. Lapses in judgment can cause you to forget to take down crucial information. But, with the Car Accident SideKick, such mistakes can be a thing of the past.

The Car Accident SideKick is your companion during the time that you will need it most. This iPhone application will allow you to take down crucial information without having to remember to keep a pen and pad of paper in the car. With a simple point and shoot camera that is the camera on your iPhone, the ability to take down information for both victims, a feature that lets you contact the nearest attorney in your area, 911 access, a flashlight utility, and much more, the car accident sidekick is your app of choice in a situation that pressures you to keep accurate and detailed information on hand.

While there are car accident applications on the market, none are as versatile and as user friendly as the car accident sidekick. Months of research, design, and development have brought to you an application that can change the course of your car accident claim.  We are proud to have been able to develop an application that can help so many people. So proud in fact, that we have decided to make the app free for download today! All you have to do is download the application from the Apple App Store to your phone, install the application, and register your free account. This way, you will have the app completely locked, ready, and loaded for the next time that you have the unfortunate experience of being in a car accident.

Don’t get caught without an option to take down information in the event of an accident. Be sure that the Car Accident SideKick is installed on your phone as quickly as possible! Download the Car Accident SideKick today!

Tanner Scott Tom, 19, and his mother 47-year-old Debra Lynn Tom, both of Artesia, were killed in a Kern County car accident, the night of September 1, 2011. According to a news report in The Long Beach Press Telegram, the fatal car accident occurred on State Route 14, near State Route 178, in northern Kern County. Tanner Tom was driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse northbound in the southbound lane of the highway and crashed head-on with a southbound Toyota Camry driven by 22-year-old Joel Yanez.

Both Tanner Tom and Debra Tom were killed. Two passengers in their car – Angela Navejas, 19, and a 5-year-old boy – were critically injured. Navejas was pregnant at the time. Her baby did not survive. Yanez was critically injured as well. Officials say alcohol was not a factor. They say the Mitsubishi likely crossed over into the southbound lane in an attempt to pass slower moving traffic.

I offer my deepest condolences to the Tom family. My heart also goes out to all the victims of this crash who have suffered serious injuries. I wish them the very best for a speedy and complete recovery. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Car Accident Statistics

According to California Highway Patrol's 2009 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), there were 101 fatalities and 1,694 injuries involving car accidents in the unincorporated areas of Kern County. Also, countywide, 129 people died and 3,061 were injured as a result of car accidents during the same year.

Unsafe Pass?

Based on this news report, it appears that Tom, the driver of the Mitsubishi, may have made an unsafe pass on the highway. California Vehicle Code section 21751: "On a two-lane highway, no vehicle shall be driven to the left side of the center of the roadway in overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction unless the left side is clearly visible and free of oncoming traffic for a sufficient distance ahead to permit such overtaking and passing to be completely made without interfering with the safe operation of any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction."

Protecting Victims' Rights

In such cased injured victims or families of deceased victims would be well-advised to retain the services of an experienced California personal injury lawyer, who will analyze all aspects of the incident and ensure that the negligent parties are held liable. The best personal injury law firms will always offer a free consultation and comprehensive case evaluation to injured victims and their families.

Shirley Ann Murphy, 52, was killed in a car accident in Central California involving a suspected drunk driver who was traveling the wrong way on the freeway. According to a news report in The Press Enterprise, the fatal car accident occurred early morning on August 30, 2011 on the Interstate 5, near Kettleman Junction, in Kings County. Murphy was a passenger in a 2002 Ford Explorer SUV, which was being driven by 33-year-old Charles Snyder.

The Ford was northbound on the freeway when it was hit head-on by a Volkswagen Passat travelling south in the northbound lanes. Snyder and two passengers in the Ford SUV – 18-year-old April Murphy and 32-year-old Donell Watts – suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Passat, 49-year-old Wayne Boatright, also suffered injuries, but he faces DUI and vehicular manslaughter charges.

I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who knew and loved Shirley Ann Murphy for their devastating loss. My heart also goes out to the injured victims of this crash. I wish them the very best for a speedy and complete recovery.

DUI Statistics

According to California Highway Patrol's 2009 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), there were seven fatalities and 67 injuries involving DUI collisions in Kings County. Also, countywide, car accidents claimed 26 lives and caused 487 injuries, during the same year.

California Drunk Driving Laws

Based on this news report, witnesses saw Boatright driving the wrong way on the freeway. Officials say he was under the influence at the time. Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is illegal under California law. According to California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a): "It is unlawful for any person who is under the influence of any alcoholic beverage or drug, or under the combined influence of any alcoholic beverage and drug, to drive a vehicle." A driver whose act of driving under the influence results in the death of another will likely face vehicular manslaughter charges under California Penal Code Section 191.5 (a).

Claim for Compensation

In such cases, where negligence or wrongdoing is involved, injured victims and families of deceased victims would be well-advised to contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer who has a successful track record of financially pursuing drunk drivers. Car accident victims can seek compensation for damages including medical expenses, lost wages, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and pain and suffering. For more information about the dangers of driving under the influence, please visit the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) web site at www.madd.org.

Drunk Driving Car Accident Lawyers in Riverside

Do you think that convicted drunk drivers should have to use ignition interlock devices (breathalizers installed in their vehicle) before they start their cars after their first offense? Yes No Current Results

Entrusting a loved one to the care of a nursing facility can be a traumatic, heart-wrenching decision for many. But more and more Americans are making those decisions everyday. Increasingly disturbing reports of nursing home abuse and neglect do not make these decisions any easier. However, there are several guidelines and tips available for those who are about to make the decision to place a family member in a care facility.

GAO Report

Most recently the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report comparing privately owned nursing homes to non-profit facilities. This report found that on an average privately owned or for-profit nursing homes had more total deficiencies than non-profit homes. Private facilities also were more likely to have been cited for a serious deficiency than non-profit homes, the report states. Total nurse staffing ratios were also lower in for-profit homes although they had a higher number of registered nurses.

Tips to Select a Nursing Home

This does not mean, of course, that all for-profit nursing homes are poorly run. There is a lot of homework you need to do before you select a nursing home for your loved one. A good first step is to start a nursing home search in your area with Nursing Home Compare, a Medicare web site that rates nursing homes. Once you narrow your search to a few facilities, go out and actually visit the places you picked. See what the staff is like and how they interact with patients. Taste the food they serve. Visit the facility at least a couple of times unannounced and at different times during day and night.

Another thing to look for is staffing levels. What is the nurse to patient ratio at these facilities? Because staffing is costly, for-profits tend to understaff their facilities or hire cheaper, unqualified labor in order to help the bottom line. But lack of staffing or understaffing often leads to nursing home neglect. Also, appearances can be important. How does the nursing home smell and look? Do the residents seem happy? Are they well-groomed? Do they seem overly medicated? Although geography and convenience can be important, it is crucial to keep the focus on quality.

Understanding Your Rights

This can definitely prove to be a lot of work, but it will be well worth the effort. Being proactive is the best way to avoid getting into a bad situation. However, even with careful preparation in choosing a facility, abuse and neglect can unfortunately occur anywhere and at any time. If you or a loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, please contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer, who will better explain your legal rights and options. Negligent nursing homes or care facilities that put profits over people must be held accountable.