Wrongful death claims in Carlsbad often arise out of accidents and injuries that also seem like they could have given rise to a personal injury lawsuit. For example, a serious car accident might result in life-threatening injuries for one vehicle occupant, but that same accident might have led to fatal injuries for the driver of another vehicle. Similarly, construction accidents can sometimes lead to debilitating injuries that prevent construction workers from going back to the job due to a permanent disability, but sometimes a similar type of accident can cause fatal injuries for another construction worker. For example, a fall from scaffolding can produce different types of injuries in different people and in different situations.

How does California law distinguish between a personal injury lawsuit and a wrongful death lawsuit?

Connections Between Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Law

Personal injury law allows an injured person to file a lawsuit in order to seek compensation for her losses as a result of the injury. Wrongful death law in California (California Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60) is related to personal injury law in that it also allows a plaintiff to file a lawsuit when someone sustains fatal injuries. However, a personal injury lawsuit is filed by the injury victim, while a wrongful death lawsuit is usually filed by a surviving family member (a “personal representative”) such as a spouse or child of the deceased.

Wrongful death law essentially says that, since a victim of fatal injuries cannot file a personal injury lawsuit herself, a personal representative can step into her shoes and file a wrongful death claim.

Different Statutes of Limitations for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Claims

While personal injury and wrongful death law are related, the statute of limitations in these different types of cases begin running at very different times.

The California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 specifies that the statute of limitations in most personal injury lawsuits is two years from the date of the injury. This means that an injured person has two years from the date on which she got hurt to file a claim for compensation. Sometimes the statute of limitations can be tolled (paused), but a plaintiff should not rely on that. While the statute of limitations in wrongful death claims is also two years, the statute of limitations does not begin running until the death of the person for whom the claim is being filed.

For example, if a person suffers a serious injury in a car accident and decides to file a personal injury claim, she must file it within two years from the date of the injury in most cases. If that person ultimately dies as a result of her injuries, however, then the statute of limitations for a wrongful death claim begins running on the date of death.

Contact a Carlsbad Wrongful Death Lawyer About Your Case

If you lost a loved one in an accident caused by another party’s negligence, it is important to learn more about filing a wrongful death lawsuit in California. A dedicated Carlsbad wrongful death attorney can examine the facts of your case today and can discuss your options with you in more detail. Contact the Walton Law Firm to begin working on your case with an experienced and compassionate injury lawyer.

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(image courtesy of Matheus Ferrero)

Were you been seriou

sly injured in a car accident caused by a defective automobile product? It is important to know that you can file a lawsuit to hold the manufacturer liable for your injuries. Contact an experienced San Diego product liability lawyer today to find out more about how we can assist with your case.

Airbags Can Release Metal Shrapnel, Resulting in Fatal Injuries

The defective airbags involved in the urgent recalls involve at least seven different automakers. Indeed, Takata, the Japanese automobile parts manufacturer, provides airbags for many different types of cars, trucks, and SUVs. Back in October, the U.S. government issued “an immediate recall” for nearly 5 million vehicles that were installed with defective airbags. The airbags, in case you have not read about the serious dangers they can pose, “have released metal shrapnel during crashes that has led to the deaths of at least four people.”

Since the federal recall, the consumer website providing information about the vehicle identification numbers (VINs) of those cars implicated has not been working properly. As such, it is important to check your VIN directly to see if your automobile’s airbags could be defective. By early November, the numbers for potentially affected vehicles caught up in this recall looked like this:

• 778,177 Toyota vehicles;
• 2,803,214 Honda vehicles;
• 437,712 Nissan vehicles;
• 18,050 Mazda vehicles;
• 573,935 BMW vehicles;
• 133,221 General Motors vehicles.

As you can see, millions of American drivers are at risk of a serious or fatal injury resulting from the defective Takata airbags. And those numbers continue to grow.

Recall Numbers Grow, More Automakers and Models Implicated

By mid-November, the Takata airbag recall expanded to include more Honda vehicles. According to a report in Autoblog, investigators discovered that a pregnant woman in Malaysia suffered fatal injuries in a car accident when the airbag inflator ruptured. This victim’s case was the first to be reported outside the U.S., and it resulted in the additional recall of about 170,000 Honda vehicles in Europe and Asia. With these additional recalls, the total number of potentially affected vehicles grew to more than 14 million.

Meanwhile, vehicles manufactured by Ford Motor Co. were also added to the list. A report from Automotive News indicated that Ford pickup trucks across the country may have defective Takata Corp. airbags installed in them. The recent death in Malaysia actually alerted the automaker and manufacturer to a previously unknown defect in the airbags. As such, Ford will be adding its 2004 and 2005 model year trucks to the list of Takata recalls, and it will replace both the passenger airbags and the driver’s-side airbags.

If you or a loved one sustained severe or fatal injuries in an accident caused by a defective product, you deserve to be compensated. You may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit and should contact a San Diego defective product attorney to discuss your case.

Image Credit: DodgertonSkillhause via morgueFile See Related Blog Posts: Do Product Recalls Prevent Consumer Injury? More GM Recalls Amidst Release of Defect Report

ke their eyes off the road or experience distractions, serious and fatal accidents can occur. Indeed, according to a recent report from NBC San Diego, a woman suffered fatal injuries after she was struck by an automobile while unloading her car “along a busy La Jolla street.” The pedestrian accident occurred in the late morning on Girard Avenue, just across the street from Nosh Delicatessen and Orange Theory Fitness, the article reported.

Elderly Driver Strikes Victim

How did the accident happen? According to reports, the victim, a 45-year-old woman who was a resident of La Jolla, was pinned between her own parked car and the vehicle of the elderly driver who caused the collision. The driver, a 91-year-old, “backed out of a nearby parking spot on the west side of the street, crossed into the other side, and rammed into the woman,” according to San Diego Police Department Sergeant Joe A. Benavidas.

Benavidas emphasized that the 91-year-old driver stayed at the scene after the collision to answer questions from the police. While the accident remains under investigation, the San Diego Police Department believes that “speed likely played a factor.”

This part of Girard Avenue—around the 7700 block—is particularly busy. According to residents of the area, the street often produces “a difficult dance in the afternoons between shoppers and heavy traffic.” One resident, Justin Rowley, told NBC San Diego that the intersection of Silverado and Girard, near to the victim’s fatal accident, “is always busy with foot traffic and cars.” As such, if you are a pedestrian, “you always have to watch what you are doing when you are walking across the street.”

Filing a Wrongful Death Claim in California

When you lose a loved one due to the negligence or wrongful act of another person, you may be eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit. What is a wrongful death claim? It is a civil lawsuit that is brought by the survivors of a person who sustained fatal injuries because of another person’s negligence or bad behavior.

A wrongful death claim is a lot like a personal injury lawsuit in that it allows for recovery of damages following a serious accident and injury. Here is another way to think about it: if the deceased person had lived, she or he would have been able to file a wrongful death claim to seek compensation for injuries. Since the deceased died as a result of those injuries, the survivors can step in and file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the deceased person.

California law specifies that only certain people are eligible to file a wrongful death claim. Typically, the following people are the ones to bring a lawsuit for another person’s wrongful death:

• Surviving spouse;
• Surviving children;
• Surviving domestic partner.

If the deceased person does not have a surviving spouse, domestic partner, or children, then the following people are the likely ones to file a wrongful death claim:

• Surviving parents of the deceased;
• Surviving siblings;
• Children of deceased siblings;
• Surviving grandparents;
• Persons who financially depended upon the deceased person.

Pedestrians who sustain severe and life-threatening injuries in traffic collisions may be eligible for compensation. If you have lost a loved one in a dangerous pedestrian accident, you should speak to an experienced San Diego injury lawyer about filing a wrongful death claim.

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Deadly Diving Accident Near Catalina

According to a recent article in CBS’s KUTV2, a vacationing physician was recently identified as the victim of a deadly diving accident off the coast of Orange County. The victim, Jared Royer, 40, was on a lobster-diving vacation with a group of other physicians. Royer’s brother-in-law indicated that it was an annual trip, and Royer “was an experienced diver who had been on several similar trips with his colleagues in previous years,” according to a report in The Spectrum. The group was diving in Emerald Bay late in the evening, and around 11p.m., the other physicians noticed that Royer had not returned to the boat.

Royer was an anesthesiologist, and he worked in the operating room and birthing center at a Southern Utah hospital. In addition to his work and prior diving experience, he was an “accomplished triathlete” who had also run the Boston Marathon.

What happened off the coast of Orange County, then? While autopsy results are pending, early indications suggest that Royer “may have run out of air and made a rapid ascent.” The accident happened on the third day of Royer’s dive, and according to the other physicians in the group, he was in about 110 feet of water at the time of the incident.

Royer made it to the surface and called for help, but the other divers could not locate him afterward. After nearly 70 hours in which search and rescue officials from Los Angeles County attempted to locate him, including the Los Angeles County Fire Department dive team, divers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Coast Guard, Royer’s body was found nearly 100 feet underwater at around 11:30a.m.

Diving Accident Trend in Southern California

Since lobster season began on September 27th, Southern California has experienced a striking number of diving-related deaths. While diving fatalities are more common among inexperienced divers or those with existing medical conditions, these dangerous accidents can happen to anyone.

As of October 2nd, five deaths were already been reported, according to Fox 5 San Diego. Four of those deaths occurred at night during lobster-diving excursions, and one of the deaths resulted from a diver’s medical complications. Royer was the fifth fatality reported in just about a week’s time.

What are the primary causes of diving fatalities? According to statistics from the Diver’s Alert Network (DAN), the following represent the top three causes of death resulting from diving accidents:

• A pre-existing medical condition in the diver (such as a disease or other pathology);
• Poor buoyancy control;
• Rapid ascent or violent movement in the water.

While the overall risk of death during scuba diving is low (only 1 in every 211,000 divers suffers a fatal injury, according to the DAN), nighttime diving in Southern California can prove deadly. If you lost a loved one in a diving accident, do not hesitate to contact an experienced San Diego wrongful death lawyer. You may qualify for compensation.

Photo Credit: heirbornstud via morgueFile See Related Blog Posts: Boating Race Accident Fatality Six Children Suffer Near-Drowning Accidents Over a Two-Day Span

According to Oseana Bratton, a nurse at Rady Children’s Hospital, “six cases of young children nearly drowning in a 48-hour period may seem like a lot, but it’s not that uncommon this time of year, and there’s plenty more hot weather ahead.” Are parents and caregivers keeping an appropriately watchful eye?

One-year-old Gabriel Clark, his four-year-old sister, and the children’s nanny were swimming in a neighbor’s pool in Oceanside. According to the article, “it was just another day for his parents, both of them at work, until his mom Karen got a heart-stopping text.” The nanny texted Gabriel’s mother with a “terrifying text” that simply said “please call me.” The nanny had placed Gabriel in a flotation device—“the kind where his feet were in the water.” Karen told San Diego News 6 that the nanny reportedly “turned away for just a few seconds to help four-year-old Mia jump into the pool.”

In the brief moment during which the nanny turned her attention away from young Gabriel, he “had just tried to get out, so he wasn’t totally out, but his head was submerged,” according to the victim’s mother. When the nanny removed Gabriel from the water, “he was blue and not breathing.” The nanny performed CPR on Gabriel. When emergency medical responders arrived, Gabriel was breathing on his own again.

Though Gabriel was okay in the end, secondary drowning can be a serious—and often deadly—result of a near-drowning. As a precaution, Gabriel stayed in the pediatric intensive care unit at Rady Children’s Hospital overnight.

Unintentional Drownings: Keeping Kids Safe

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately ten people suffer fatal drowning injuries each day in the U.S. About 20 percent of those victims are kids under the age of 15. The CDC emphasizes that drowning is the fifth-leading cause of unintentional injury death in our country. Those figures do not include people who die in boating-related accidents.

To prevent unintentional drownings, it is important to know the risk factors:

• Males are much more likely than females to die from drowning. In fact, about 80 percent of fatal drowning victims are males.
• Children between the ages of one and four years old are at greatest risk of drowning. About one-third of accident related fatalities of children in that age group are caused by drowning.

According to the CDC, important prevention measures include the following:

• Learn to swim, or ensure that your children have swimming skills before you go near or into the water;
• Learn CPR;
• Wear a lifejacket or other flotation device;
• Always make sure children are supervised when they are in the water or around water;
• Teach children to use the buddy system when in the pool or at the beach;
• Always avoid drinking alcohol before swimming.

If your child died in a drowning accident, it is important to talk to an experienced San Diego wrongful death attorney. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn how we can assist you.

Photo Credit: taylorschlades via morgueFile See Related Blog Posts: Child Drowning Accident in San Diego Child Pool Drowning Figures Released by Consumer Product Safety Commission

Personal injuries can occur in many different environments, and accidents during recreational activities often result from negligence. If another person’s negligence led to catastrophic injuries or the wrongful death of a loved one in a boating accident or other activity, it’s important to speak to an experienced boating accident lawyer. You may be eligible to file a wrongful death claim or a personal injury lawsuit to seek financial compensation.

San Francisco Sailboat Collision

What happened recently in the San Francisco Bay? According to the article, a planned “fun night of sailing” quickly ended when a sailboat “collided with a channel marker buoy in the San Francisco Bay.” The four occupants onboard the boat had been involved in a “noncompetitive race along the shores near Redwood City,” reported Lieutenant Sean Hart. Additional reports indicated that the noncompetitive racing event had been designed as a kickoff for the yacht club’s “Beer Can” races, which occur on Wednesday nights during the months of April through October. In these races, “people new to sailboat racing learn about the sport and give experienced racers and their crews a chance to practice.”

The name of the event has nothing to do with alcohol consumption, however, and drinking is “frowned upon and discouraged while racing.” The local authorities indicated that alcohol didn’t appear to be a factor in the fatal collision. Indeed, the owner of the boat, Winston Bumpus, passed a sobriety test soon after the crash. And weather conditions weren’t a factor, either. According to Hart, “it was a great night for boating.” Authorities continue to investigate the crash in order to determine the cause of the collision and possible liability for the fatal and serious injuries.

The sailboat involved in the crash, a 42-foot-long Catalina called “Bella,” is now in ruins. The collision reportedly caused the mast of the boat to “snap off completely.” Two of the four occupants sustained severe injuries, and one of those passengers, 39-year-old Young Sun, died. The victim, according to the San Mateo Coroner’s Office, had been a resident of Burlingame. A U.S. Geological Survey boat rescued the passengers, but Sun was pronounced dead at the scene. The other victim sustained a brain injury and “was hospitalized in serious condition.”

Recreational Boating Statistics

Boating is a popular recreational activity in California and in many states across the country, but boating accidents can end in tragedy. According to statistics gathered by the U.S. Coast Guard, 4,515 boating accidents occurred in 2012 alone. Those collisions led to 651 deaths, 3000 personal injuries, and about $38 million in property damage.

While a majority of boating accident fatalities result from drowning (more than 70 percent), boating crashes also occurred with some frequency. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the primary contributing factors in such accidents include:

· Operator inattention

· Operator inexperience

· Improper lookout

· Mechanical failure

· Excessive speed/speeding

As you can see, most of these factors are likely to involve negligence of the boat operator. If you or a loved one has sustained injuries in a boating accident, don’t hesitate to contact an experienced San Diego injury attorney who can examine your case for you today.

Photo Credit: nixam via Compfight cc

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