Service Tag: traumatic injuries

Loading/Unloading Accidents

Accidents routinely occur during the loading and unloading process of trucks involving hand loading and forklifts including unsecured material, mis-stacking, mis-leveling of the truck at the dock and insufficient dock personnel and other negligence and regulatory code violations, including dock conflicts, where more than one customer is permitted to use each docking lane

Forklift and Hi-Lo Accidents

Warehouses are often viewed as a small city with roadways and, vehicles such as forklifts and hi-los, which have internal traffic signals. These vehicles are large and heavy and cause serious injury or death. We have decades of experience holding these businesses accountable for regulatory violations and negligence inside warehouses that hurt and kill people

Falls from Heights/Falling Material

Warehouses are places where products and pallets are stacked often times several stories high and severe injuries and death can occur from poorly maintained lifts or poorly shelved material that can fall and injure people. We have decades of experience holding these businesses accountable for regulatory violations and negligence in falling merchandise and stacking cases

Crosswalk Accidents

Pedestrians are often injured or killed in crosswalk accidents where inattentive motorists disregard the signals. We have traffic light engineers that help us establish the condition and color of the light at the time of the accident holding the driver and their insurers responsible for these devastating accidents

Emergency Shoulder Accidents

Motorists or motorcyclists will often pull off to the shoulder of the road to check on their vehicle, wait for assistance or look in the trunk only to get hit or killed by an oncoming driver. We have the experts in accident reconstruction, human factors and visibility to hold these drivers and their insurers responsible for these tragic events

Sidewalk Accidents

Pedestrians get injured walking on the sidewalk due to errant, inattentive drivers, open or improperly placed or maintained manholes or other debris, or falling objects from buildings, construction sites or locations above. We have the experts and experience to litigate and win these cases when these horrific events occur

Grade Crossing Accidents

We have experience litigating and trying cases that occur either in a vehicle or as a pedestrian at a grade crossing. We litigate issues of Federal preemption including the appropriateness of the crossing, signal or sign to recover damages for our client’s injuries or death

Train Operation Accidents

We litigate passenger and freight train companies where accidents occur due to engineer operator error including train speed, lookout, and brake application. These difficult cases require extensive and complex litigation and expert witness work and analysis which we have been doing for decades

Railroad Fencing Accidents

Railroads have a duty in some cases to fence their track to prevent motorists and pedestrian from crossing at locations other than grade crossings. We have been litigating these fencing cases for years holding railroads accountable for failing to fence and protect the public from their dangerous tracks

 

Life Care & Future Damages

Many of our clients suffer from injuries, whether orthopedic, spinal or brain-related which are likely to last for decades or perhaps for the rest of their lives. We routinely retain life care experts to offer opinions on the needs that our client will have for future care to address their medical needs deep into the future, and we have decades of experience presenting these issues to juries to support a substantial future damages award. Most of our life care experts are nurses or rehabilitation experts that have decades of training in medical care, home care and medical devices, including home and auto modifications. With our trial experience we make sure juries understand that future damages, both economic and non-economic, are substantial damages that can and should be awarded to our clients.

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.

Orthopedics & Joint Injuries

We see a host of serious orthopedic injuries that ranges from a broken foot to a hip replacement to a knee replacement. We have a stable of decorated experts who served on Olympic committees and professional sports teams as consultants and team doctors to evaluate, treat and serve as expert witnesses in our cases. We are wise to the defense’s common approach and argument that such injuries while caused by the accident were pre-existing through arthritic changes that would have likely occurred even without the accident, as well as there was no such mechanism of injury in the accident. Such defense attacks are tired and ineffective when met with experienced trial lawyers and experts that are prepared to demonstrate the manner in which the accident specifically caused the injuries resulting in substantial awards.

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.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic Brain Injuries known as a “TBI” are a very specialized area of injury litigation. Ranging from what is commonly known and referred to as a “concussion” to a moderate brain injury to a severe brain injury and coma all require specialized diagnostic brain imaging tools, neuropsychological and psychiatric testing and neurological evaluation that can only be found with lawyers that have handled these cases for decades and stayed abreast of the recent developments in the field. We certainly understand and appreciate the distinction of a person that has suffered a brain injury at some level but cannot readily be observed like a fracture or other more objective injuries, yet it impacts their daily life in an unspeakable and profound way.

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) Concussions

Traumatic Brain Injuries are measured in 3 categories: mild, moderate and severe. Those who are unable to function at all are considered severe, those that can function with a significant disability are moderate and those that can function with some symptoms are considered mild. Symptoms of TBI or concussion generally include headaches, dizziness, vertigo, memory loss and in more severe cases, speech problems (called word finding problems), leg and arm weakness as well as other neurological problems including being in a vegetative state

Accidents Cause Traumatic Brain Injuries

Obviously, a severe accident can cause brain injuries and even death, but more moderate and even low speed accidents can cause brain injuries at a moderate and mild level. Usually one assumes that you need contact with the head to have a brain injury, but a fast deceleration in speed and force can cause the brain to “rattle” and cause brain injuries even if there is no skull impact. Also, auto and truck accidents can enhance prior susceptibility to brain injuries as it has been shown in the NFL studies that each subsequent head injury can result in more severe brain injury consequences including in some cases encephalitis. We have decades of experience assessing and litigating brain injuries across the spectrum of accidents and severity and presenting them to juries for significant awards

Brain Injury Treatment and Effects

Brain injuries can range from mild to extremely serious, but in general the treatment ranges from rest and inactivity to nursing care and medication and in some cases admittance to a rehabilitation facility. Brain injuries can change your life because even if you are functional, you may experience headaches or dizziness in everyday activities and if the injury is more severe, it can be life-altering entirely. We have the experts that can assess brain injuries and refer for treatment, and we have the experience and skills to present your case to a jury and obtain significant jury awards for a life-time of suffering

Automobile Accident

One may think that just any lawyer can handle a routine auto accident case particularly one that is minor or that has relatively minor damage. However, the concept that people always receive minor injuries in minor accidents is a misnomer. We have special litigation and trial skills and experts to prove to juries that victims of minor car accidents can, in fact, sustain more serious injuries or death in these minor accidents. Through the use of damage matching analysis, computer-driven crush analysis, and vehicle dynamics programs, we can demonstrate that even the most minor crash can cause more serious injuries or death. In focusing on the scientific variable of Delta V or change in speed, we can demonstrate to juries that even minor accidents can result in larger impacts on the human body than one would expect or imagine. Often times a minor accident initially causes what is believed to be minor injuries which later develop into more serious problems, but we have the medical experts to combat claims by insurance companies that the injuries were not produced by the accident or were somehow caused by natural degenerative processes. As trial lawyers, we routinely see these claims by insurance companies but they backfire and juries award substantial damages. If you are in a minor accident but feel your injuries are more significant, please do not hesitate to call upon us to handle these kinds of cases.

Fender Bender Accidents

These are commons accidents that raise questions about how to get your car fixed, and how to hold the other insurance company responsible. We have 30 years of experience in handling these issues, and will also help you find doctors and other help that you might need as a result of the accident

Limited Insurance

Auto accidents often raise the question of what happens when you have injuries and pain from an accident but the other party has limited insurance or will not even disclose how much insurance they have. We have experience in demanding insurance information and in some cases holding the insurance companies responsible for the damages well above the insurance policy limit. We can make these complicated issues very simple for you

Low Speed Accidents

Most insurance companies take great pride in claiming that injuries cannot occur in lower speed accidents like those that happen in bumper to bumper traffic. We have experience trying these cases to juries with experts and demonstrative evidence that shows that low speed accidents can cause serious injuries and/or cause a pre-existing injury to become much worse

Falls From Height & Construction Accidents

Fall from height cases requires special knowledge and training because there are laws which regulate heights people can safely work at in California. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of four feet in general industry workplaces, five feet in shipyards, six feet in the construction industry, eight feet in longshoring operations and 10 feet in scaffolding work. These cases require extensive knowledge and understanding of OSHA regulations and regulatory experts. These accidents are generally very serious and require seasoned counsel to handle. As an example, we recently obtained a $3,500,000 verdict for our client in a warehouse accident where he fell from a ladder over 20 feet and sustained spinal injuries due to the negligence of the warehouse.

Falls from Heights

Workers are often injured or killed working on scaffolds or on high buildings or locations, we have experience at holding contractors and other business to OSHA and other regulation compliance

Collapsing Buildings and Vehicle Accidents

Workers and even the general public can be injured or killed due to collapsing buildings or scaffolds and heavy equipment vehicle accidents at construction sites. Regulation compliance, including OSHA, are crucial elements of proving fault in construction accidents involving falls or accidents with trucks, backhoes, graders, loaders, cranes, plows and other heavy equipment

Machine Accidents

Workers and the general public are often injured or killed when machines malfunction or lack appropriate guards or safety protections. Wood chippers, drill presses, boring machines, welding torches, fabricators, sanders, saws, grinders and other machiness can cause serious injury in the workplace and elsewhere and we have the extensive experience to hold these contractors, employers and product makers accountable for the safety hazards that can cause these damages

Electrocutions

Exposed power lines are often the result of negligent utility work and construction and regulatory violations and cause extreme injury and instant death. We have handled many of these cases involving power companies and construction firms to hold them accountable for regulatory violations and negligence that lead to these horrific accidents