Service Tag: product liability

Psychological & Emotional Injuries

We have decades of experience in handling PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) cases ranging from assault and battery and rape cases to psychological trauma suffered by accident victims and by-stander victims who witness injuries and death. These injuries are unfortunately not given the proper weight that they deserve in litigation and trial by corporations and insurance companies and we make sure we retain the proper experts to evaluate, treat and testify convincingly to a jury as to the effects of PTSD and emotional injuries to support our claim for substantial damages.

Paralysis & Spinal Injuries

In most of the accident cases we handle, our clients typically suffer neck or back spinal injuries ranging from complete paralysis to disk and facet injury in the spine. We utilize the best neurosurgeons, radiologists and pain management experts to evaluate, these injuries who can offer expert opinions on the severity at trial. In a world where every defense lawyer contends that any level of spinal injury is degenerative or pre-existed the accident, we aggressively litigate and offer evidence on the traumatic nature of the injuries through expert opinion, diagnostic tools, and medical illustration and animation. Our experience and knowledge of the jury instructions allows us to build a case around the defense arguments of degenerative conditions that wins every time and results in substantial monetary awards.

Paralysis

Paralysis is obviously the most serious form of spinal cord injury, whether it is intermittent or partial paralysis, or complete and permanent paralysis such as quadriplegia. We have handled paraplegia and quadriplegia cases from auto and truck accidents, falls, products cases or other accidents. We have the experience and the experts to present your case to a jury to obtain significant jury verdicts for this devastating life-long injury

Spinal Cord Injury, Surgery and Fusion

The most common form of spinal cord injury is a herniated or bulging disk which can enter the spinal canal or the nerve roots and cause extreme pain and/or weakness in your arms or legs. We handle many cervical spine or neck injuries and lumbar spine or back injuries through jury verdict. We have the experience and the experts to assess the spinal cord injury including spinal surgery, which could be a discectomy (trimming of the disk), a laminectomy (removal of the disk) and/or a fusion (a removal of the disk and fusion of the spinal bones). These injuries and surgeries have life-long consequences on your ability to work and function as a normal person, extensive medical bills sometimes losing your career and ability to take care of yourself and your family and live a normal life. We have taken many jury verdicts for clients with spinal cord injuries including fusions

Back and Neck Injuries (Whiplash) and Pain Management

Spinal injuries such as whiplash can be mild but can be very painful and lead to a life-time of pain and medical care. We have the experts to assess the spinal injury and refer for the appropriate care. The injuries often occur in low speed accidents, such as in bumper to bumper traffic, but we have the experience and the experts in accident reconstruction, biomechanics and kinematics to prove to the jury that the accident was most likely the cause of the injury. We also have experts available to assess the treatment for these injuries, whether it is chiropractic, physical therapy, pain management and injections or referrals for surgical consultations.

Wrongful Death

We represent many families whose loved ones have been lost in an accident by the negligent act of another. We have decades of experience in asking juries for damages for the loss of a loved one. Understanding how to calculate both economic loss and non-economic losses of the deceased requires special experts and trial preparation. Our time-honored methods of selecting juries and presenting evidence of the loss of a loved one and the grief of their absence has allowed us to recover millions of dollars for our clients in these cases.

Loss of Life

Wrongful death cases arise when a family member is killed in an accident, whether it is a vehicle, premises, construction or other kind of accident. The loss to the surviving family is horrendous making it difficult for the family to cope. We have decades of experience at dealing with the grief that families experience in wrongful death cases and presenting these cases to juries for large verdict awards

Survivor Claims

In California, the closest family members can file a lawsuit in a wrongful death case seeking damages, including funeral expenses and other economic damages such as lost earnings that the decedent would have made had they not been killed. Family members can also make survivor claims for the loss of support, direction and counsel that the decedent would have given over their lifetime. These are very sensitive cases and we have decades of experience in litigating and trying these cases to trial juries.

Catastrophic Accidents

Wrongful death, usually but not always, occurs in larger scale accidents, trucking accidents, warehouse accidents, extreme falls, poison, burn and explosion cases. We have the experts and the experience to analyze and assemble these cases for juries to easily understand who is at fault and what the measureable losses are to the family members resulting in significant jury awards

Slip & Fall Accidents & Premises Liability

We see many “slip and fall” and/or “trip and fall” accident cases at indoor and outdoor malls, restaurants, pubs, fast food chains, hotels and motels, clothing retailers, home improvement centers, city government buildings, hospitals, apartment complexes, warehouses, grocery stores, coffee shops, nursing homes, even laundromats and beauty salons, and many other public and private locations where people can fall and get seriously injured. There are special laws that govern whether or not the floor, stairs, lighting or lights, handrails (if any), drains, curbs and chairs were maintained in a safe manner. We have the experience and the experts to successfully prosecute these claims against the resources and wealth of some of these businesses and insurers, particularly retailers. We use time-tested techniques against facility managers to establish that more often than not dangerous conditions and unsafe practices at these locations are generally a function of them choosing profits over safety. And, there are special laws and jury instructions that hold these entities responsible for periodic and written inspections referred to as the Ortega rule, that strictly require companies to inspect their premises and facilities at regular intervals to prevent spills, or simply a broken drain or other defects in the floor or the building. We have the experience required to locate and preserve the surveillance camera tapes which often show the accident and/or the lack of maintenance and inspection.

Dangerous Floors and Aisles

Floors in stores or malls can often have liquid or debris on the floors or aisles from other shoppers or even employees of the location that can cause you to fall and sustain serious injury. Stores and malls have a particular duty to keep the floors clean and clear from debris and hazards. We have experience in holding them accountable under the laws that require them to keep their locations safe and to do routine inspections and safety sweeps

Dangerous Merchandise-Impulse Buying

Retailers, stores and malls will often place products in a place where they can sell more products, even if it is not safe for the customer which can cause injury or death. We have experience handling cases where merchandise is placed up high and can fall, or is in the aisle and has jagged or sharp edges on the shelves or showcases or even putting dangerous carts in the aisles to encourage impulse purchases from customers. This is called putting profit above safety and we hold them accountable to win your case

Poorly Maintained Sidewalks, Stairwells, Parking Lots and Shopping Carts

Retailers are required to keep their parking lots, sidewalks and stairwells in a safe condition with appropriate markings for pedestrians, clear of debris, ice and snow and to make sure handrails are not broken and shopping carts are maintained in a safe condition

Fast Food Restaurants

These fast food stores present a particular danger because they serve food and drinks and are required to have mats near the beverage station and to keep the floors clear of food and debris, which can be very slippery and cause injury. They are also required to serve food that does not make you ill or sick and to make sure their drive-thru lanes are correctly marked and are safe for pedestrians and motorists. We have decades of experience in holding these food chains accountable for the safety of their restaurants, food and drive-thru lanes

Apartment Buildings and Laundry Mats

All buildings and businesses have a duty to keep their property safe and clear from debris, including proper handrails and lighting, and misleveling of elevators and escalators. We have decades of experience in holding these businesses and their insurers accountable for the safety of their locations and services

Product Liability Litigation

Over the years, we have handled and tried to verdict almost every kind of product defect case imaginable. With respect to automobile defects, we have litigated and tried cases involving enhanced catastrophic injuries (commonly referred to as crashworthiness cases) from defects related to automobile seat backs, seat belts, SRS (Supplemental Restraint Systems) or airbags, door latches, roof crushes, laminated glass windows, gas tanks explosions in frontal, side-impact, rear-end and rollover collisions at high and low speed. We have also handled utility trailer cases involving weight ratio claims against manufacturers of cargo trailers, tow dollies, and rental trucks. We have litigated guard cases in conveyors belts, wood chippers and drill presses among other plant machinery. We have litigated defects in the household and commercial step stools, ladders and other climbing devices, as well as defects in commercial truck batteries and tire tread separation cases to name a few. These cases require decades of experience, specialized and expensive experts, including extensive crash testing of products to prove our case. Litigating these cases can take years and require hundreds of thousands of dollars in expert fees and costs before reaching trial and we are one of the few firms that actually handles these matters through trial and verdict. You do not have to pay anything until we win your case

Single Vehicle Crashes and Rollovers

These cases are referred to as “crashworthiness” cases and are complex and expensive to litigate, and often involve serious injury, paralysis, brain damage and death, but we have decades of experience handling cases against car and truck manufacturers and dealers. These cases usually involve defective accelerators, brakes, airbags, seatbelts, seatbacks and on-board computer systems, including self-driving cars. We utilize the best accident investigators, demonstrative evidence and expert witnesses to prove these difficult cases to a jury

Explosions

We handle cases involving battery explosions, tank explosions and chemical spills which injure, maim and kill people. We have decades of experience holding companies and manufacturers responsible for code violations and negligence that leads to these devastating accidents

Consumer Defects

Everyday household items such as kitchen appliances, ladders, irons, blenders, machines and even children’s toys all can have defects that cause unexpected and devastating injuries. We know exactly how to handle these unexpected injuries and cases to hold the manufacturer, distributor, installer, retailer and marketer responsible for the damages, which often involve burns, choking, falls and death

Warnings Cases

Product manufacturers and business have a duty to warn of a potentially dangerous products or services, such as hotels who have dangerous and unsupervised swimming pools or defective shower glass. But these warning principles apply to every retailer, business, office building, apartment complex, store and mall for any good or service that causes harm