On Saturday morning, September 4, 2010, Irena Vilkas lost control of her car as she was traveling north on Interstate 5, just north of Interstate 210. According to the California Highway Patrol, Ms. Vilkas then collided with the center median and careened across the six southbound lanes of traffic.
Ms. Vilkas was carrying a passenger, identified as 89 year-old Eugene Vilkas from Valencia. Emergency responders transported Mr. Vilkas transported both the driver and passenger to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center but Mr. Vilkas died from injuries related to the accident.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: auto accident, auto accidents, car accident, legal articles, negligence, wrongful death
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
On October 28, 2008, Patrick Edwards, a wide receiver from the University of Houston, broke a leg when he crashed into a metal service cart belonging to the Marching Thunder band that was left just beyond the end zone at Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Edwards missed the remainder of the 2008 football season but was able to return in 2009, catching 85 passes for 1,021 yards.
Edward has filed a lawsuit against Marshall and Conference USA. In his lawsuit (based on theories of premises liability and negligence), Edwards claims that Marshall was negligent because it breached its duty to maintain its football field in a reasonably safe manner, including removing obstructions. Conference USA assigned officials for this nationally televised game, and the crew’s role in the incident will likely be examined. No comments have been issued by representatives of Marshall or Conference USA.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: court cases, lawsuit, legal arguments, legal articles, negligence, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawsuits, premises liability
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
Recall – An immediate recall has been issued on Sensio Slow Cookers sold exclusively at Kohl’s Department Stores. The hazard found is on the slow cooker’s control panel, which can overheat and melt, posing a fire hazard. These slow cookers were sold at Kohl’s from July 2009 through December 2009 for between $20 and $40.
The information on the recall, issued by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, is attached hereto: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10328.html
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: defective product, legal articles, negligence, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawsuits, recalls
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
A 51 year-old Hawaii man, named Craig Smallwood, has filed a lawsuit against NCSoft Corp., a South Korean game developer. In his lawsuit, Smallwood seeks emotional distress and misrepresentation for “phenomena of psychological dependence and addiction” to the game “Lineage II.”
Smallwood claims to have spent more than 20,000 hours playing “Lineage II”, which is a massive multi player online role-playing game with a medieval fantasy setting, between 2004 to 2009. Further, he claims that he continues to have a “compulsive urge and need” to play the game.
Smallwood’s complaint alleges that Defendant never warned him about the danger of addiction and that he would not have bought and played “Lineage II” if he knew he would become addicted to it. Smallwood, who claims to be a disabled veteran, also claims that the game has affected his ability to function independently in performing daily activities.
Tags: emotional distress, lawsuit, legal arguments, legal articles, negligence, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawsuits, video game
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
A new lawsuit has been filed against SeaWorld over the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau. In a lawsuit filed by the family of a 10 year-old boy, Todd and Suzanne Connell claim that their son, Bobby, was severely traumatized as he looked into the trainer’s eyes who was trying to free herself from orca’s jaws.
According to the lawsuit, Bobby “saw the look of horror and desperation on Dawn’s face as she was swimming for her life,” adding “he then saw Tilikum violently yank her down again to the depths of the pool.” Since witnessing the event, Bobby has been plagued by gruesome nightmares and “… he’s angry all the time. And he’s not eating. The school’s [sic] had some counseling for him.”
According to Suzanne Connell, the event “… affected all of us. I’ll start crying while driving. I mean, we saw her face. She made it to the surface and she looked directly at us. I see that face every night before I go to bed.”
The lawsuit, premised in negligence, was filed one day after the Labor Department smacked SeaWorld for regularly putting trainer Brancheau in mortal danger by letting her get close to the unpredictable 6-ton orca, who had killed twice before. SeaWorld was fined $75,000. The lawsuit is a welcomed sight to animal rights activists.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: court cases, emotional distress, lawsuit, legal arguments, legal articles, negligence
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
Daniel Dastrup, acting as his own attorney, has filed a lawsuit against Raleigh North Carolina Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Las Vegas man claims that he sustained a severely herniated disk in his back while performing baptisms on corpses in the church’s temple, some of which “weighed 250 pounds or more.”
In his suit, Dastrup claims that the church failed to warm him that “the repetitive motion required for performing baptisms for the dead could cause serious damage to a person’s back …” Dastrup seeks compensation for his medical expenses (including surgery) and loss of income.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: court cases, lawsuit, legal arguments, legal articles, negligence, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawsuits
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
Greedy insurance companies (backed by big, powerful and greedy corporations) have been fighting against the legal system, and particularly against Plaintiffs and their attorneys for years, usually by using propaganda ads and by sensationalizing single cases out of thousands of legitimate claims and lawsuits. But have you ever given thought as to how instrumental the legal field has been in improving our every day lives and the activities which we all take for granted, and how many lives have been saved by those improvements?
One example of how the legal field has improved our daily activities and saved lives can be seen in the automotive industry. Yes, those metal boxes that we drive every day to work, to home, to school, for pleasure, or for transporting our greatest treasure – our family. Lets take a look as to how the legal system, and particularly Personal Injury attorneys, have improved the automotive industry and made it safer for all of us.
(1) GAS TANKS.
Car manufacturers such as General Motors (GM), Ford and many others have designed defective gas tanks, the placement of which caused fire and explosion, even in minor car accidents. One such example was the Ford Pinto which was prone to fire and explosion. Because of lawsuits filed by Personal Injury attorneys, these companies were forced to redesign their cars and gas tanks are now generally located within rigid frames.
(2) SEAT BELTS.
Lawsuits filed by Personal Injury attorneys went a long way to highlight the dangers of no seat belt and defective or inferior seat belts. One of those involved Chrysler’s Gen 3 defective seat belts, which were installed in more than 14 million vehicles. These seat belts were defective because they had a tendency to unlatch in accidents, making them useless for the very purpose which they were invented. As a result of these lawsuits, seat belts (and seats) have been redesigned.
(3) AIR BAGS.
As early as the 1950s, the technology for air bags has been in existence and developing. However, auto manufacturers were very slow in installing them. In lawsuits filed by Personal Injury attorneys, courts determined that auto manufacturers were aware that their cars would be safer with air bags and that air bags saved lives, leading to installation of air bags in all cars.
(4) ROOF CRUSH ZONE.
Manufacturers, specifically makers of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), have known for a long time that the lack of roof strength was a critical safety flaw in rollover accidents. As a result of lawsuits filed by Personal Injury attorneys, manufacturers were forced to address this critical safety issue leading to the strengthening of automobile roofs.
(5) SIDE IMPACT PROTECTION.
In a lawsuit filed by a police officer who was left paralyzed in a low-speed, side impact collision, the court found that the absence of side protection was a design defect. This decision resulted in cars being designed with a rigid side impact protection.
So, the next time you see an ad or hear about “too many lawsuits” or about “tort reform”, stop and think about it: (1) Who benefits from tort reform and from fewer lawsuits? (2) Who suffers from tort reform and the lack of being able to file lawsuits? (3) Do you know how many lawsuits are filed every year? (4) How could anyone judge for themselves what the number of lawsuits filed would be justified and what number of lawsuits would be excessive? Finally, (5) Why are many of the lawsuits filed in the first place?
Here are the answers: Insurance companies and big (and wealthy) corporations are behind tort reform and stand to gain millions of (additional) dollars. There is no such thing as “too many lawsuits” because there is no way to gauge the number of lawsuits filed versus the number of lawsuits that should be filed. Insurance companies and big (and wealthy) corporations have been using deceptive marketing, telling us that most lawsuits are without merit. Clearly, there are some (handful of) lawsuits that lack merit, but the vast majority of the lawsuits filed have merit.
The one last fact that consumers should be aware of is that most lawsuits are filed because insurance companies (and the corporations behind them) force (and in fact dare) the injured party and his/her attorney to file the lawsuit instead of negotiating in good faith to resolve the matter.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: auto accident, auto accidents, car accident, court cases, legal arguments, legal articles, negligence, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawsuits, product liability, rear-end collision, wrongful death
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
On August 23, 2010, three professional cyclists were injured when they were struck by 81-year-old Maria Magdalena Morales who was making a left turn from eastbound Mulholland onto Stokes Canyon Road, in Calabasas. According to the California Highway Patrol, there is no stop sign or traffic signal at this intersection.
Two of the three bicyclists, identified as 49 year old William Jessberger and 47 year old Maurice Azcarate sustained critical injuries, while 32 year old Yair Vetchtein sustained non-life threatening injuries. The injured cyclists were part of Fast Friday, a nonprofit team of about 50 members, who were practicing for an upcoming time trial. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Statistics on Bicycle Accidents
Statistics show that in 2008, about 52,000 bicyclists were injured in traffic accident nationwide, out of which 716 bicyclists sustained fatal injuries. In fact, bicyclist deaths accounted for about 2% of all traffic fatalities in 2008.
Potential Cause of the Accident
Pursuant to California Vehicle Code, Section 21800 (a): “The driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle which has entered the intersection from a different highway.” Based on the information released, it is unknown as to why the driver (Morales) made the turn, striking the bicyclists. So, the question that needs to be answered appears to be “who had the right of way? and “who needed to yield?” The other question that is raised by this accident: “is this a dangerous intersection, i.e. did the lack of a stop sign or traffic signal create a dangerous condition, causing or contributing to this accident?”
If the bicyclists had the right of way, then liability appears to be in their favor and against the driver Morales. If this is a dangerous intersection, some liability may also imposed upon the public entity responsible for maintaining this intersection. However, there are specific rules when it comes to pursuing a claim against public entities, who will likely argue “design immunity”. Additionally, any claim against a government entity would be subjected to the written claim notification, requiring that a written claim be submitted within six months from the date of this accident.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: auto accident, auto accidents, bicycle accident, bike accident, car accident, dangerous intersection, legal articles, negligence, personal injury attorney, personal liability, yield the right of way
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
Garmin Ltd. has recalled about 1.25 million personal navigation devices (PNDs) because of a potential fire hazard from overheating batteries. The recall affects Garmin’s devices with batteries by a third-party supplier within a defined date code range and a specific printed circuit board design.
According to Garmin, this problem (overheating batteries) has been identified in less than 10 cases, with no reports of injury. Approximately 796,000 of the recalled units were sold in the United States. According to Garmin, the recall will not hurt its results and the battery supplier has agreed to share the cost of replacement packs.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://mrscvlaw.com
Tags: legal articles, personal injury attorney, product liability, recalls
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
In July 2006, some friends dressed as zombies danced through downtown Minneapolis. These seven friends were protesting what they called mindless consumerism. They also carried bags with wires sticking out which the police believed simulated ‘weapons of mass destruction.’
When the zombies failed to show their identification to the police, they were arrested and spent two days in jail. They were apparently never charged with any crime. Their lawsuit recently settled with the City of Minneapolis, who paid $165,000 to settle this matter.
Mason Rashtian is the owner/partner of The Mason Law Firm, specializing in personal injury matters, including, but not limited to accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, electrocutions, food poisoning, and defective products. We represent clients throughout the State of California. For more information, go to http://www.mrscvlaw.com
Tags: court cases, lawsuit, legal articles, personal injury attorney, personal injury lawsuits
Category Legal Reviews and Articles |
