Personal Injury News

Published on: September 10, 2021

Wrongful Death Verdict Against California Rehab Facility Upheld

In California, close family members of people who die are entitled to pursue compensation through wrongful death claims when their loved ones’ deaths are caused by the negligent actions of others. In Green v. Healthcare Services, Cal. Ct. App. Case No. G057950, the appeals court considered whether a patient’s suicide at a treatment facility qualified as a superseding cause and should have prevented a finding of negligence against the defendant.[1]

Factual and procedural background

Jeffrey Green was a 33-year-old man who had struggled with opioid addiction since he was 16. He started by using Oxycontin and began taking high doses of methadone beginning at age 27. Greene called Lighthouse, residential, voluntary treatment and mental health facility for an intake interview. During the interview, he told the intake person that he wanted to live but not the way that he was. He also stated that he needed to get off of methadone. He also informed the intake person that his father had committed suicide a few years before but denied any suicidal ideations himself. Green signed a “no harm” contract upon his entry to the facility in which he agreed that he would not harm himself.

Published on: August 5, 2021

Steven Sweat Named a Personal Injury Super Lawyer for Tenth Straight Year

by Steven M. Sweat

The principal attorney and founder of the Steven M. Sweat, Personal Injury Lawyers APC, Steven M. Sweat has dedicated himself to pursuing justice for his clients throughout Los Angeles and California for the past 25 years. Mr. Sweat focuses his practice in the area of plaintiffs’ personal injury law and strongly believes that people who have sustained injuries because of the negligent or wrongful actions of others deserve to be fully compensated.

Mr. Sweat was recently named as a Super Lawyer for the 10th year in a row. Before an attorney can be named as a Super Lawyer, he or she must undergo a rigorous selection process. Attorneys cannot nominate themselves. Instead, Super Lawyers receive nominations from peers. Super Lawyers also conducts in-depth research on attorneys and relies on third-party feedback and managing attorney surveys. Before selection, nominees are evaluated on 12 different indicators, including experience, settlements and verdicts, representative cases, community service and pro bono work, and several others. Attorneys who earn the highest number of points are then compared to other attorneys in the same practice area before a final selection is made. Only 5% of all attorneys are named Super Lawyers. The fact that Mr. Sweat has been named as a Super Lawyer for 10 years in a row is a testament to his legal skills and dedication to his clients.

Before attending law school, Mr. Sweat first completed his undergraduate education at Florida State University, from where he graduated with his Bachelor of Science in 1992. He then moved to California and commenced his legal education at the California Western School of Law, from where he graduated with his Juris Doctor in 1995. While he was in law school, he served as the president of the International Law Society.

Published on: February 17, 2021

Identifying Fake Reviews for Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyers

by Steven M. Sweat

fake-business-reviews-injury-attorneys-Los-Angeles

Trying to find a reputable personal injury attorney in Los Angeles can seem overwhelming. You might notice there are a large number of solo practitioners and law firms advertising their services as personal injury attorneys. You might have heard that checking online reviews from past clients can be a great way to narrow down your search. Reading about others’ experiences when working with an attorney can give you a general idea of what you might expect.

However, like any other product or service advertised online, legal websites and review sites might also include fake reviews to attract customers. This is especially troublesome when hiring an attorney because posting of fake reviews is actually a violation of the ethical rules governing lawyers in California (California Rule of Professional Conduct 4-100 prohibits untrue statements in advertisements) and is a clear sign that you may be hiring a dishonest and unethical injury lawyer. Knowing what to look for to help you identify law firms that publish fake reviews can help you to find an attorney and firm that you can trust. A good personal injury law firm will never post fake reviews to try to drive business. Here are some telltale signs that a Los Angeles personal injury law firm might be relying on fake reviews to sell their services.

1. Reviews that are generic

Published on: July 3, 2014

Does my personal injury attorney have a discipline record with the State Bar?

by Steven M. Sweat

Does my personal injury attorney have a discipline record with the State Bar? This is a question that you should ask (among many others) when trying to decide who to hire to represent you on any matter. It is especially important to know if you are considering retaining a lawyer to represent you or your family in a personal injury or wrongful death case. Why? Oftentimes, attorneys with disciplinary records have been reprimanded for things like failing to adequately represent their client’s interests or improperly accounting for settlement funds in their attorney client trust account. While every lawyer is “innocent until proven guilty” by the system, a simple check can tell you whether the legal counsel you are considering hiring has prior or pending charges lodged against them.

How to check if the personal injury attorney I am considering has a disciplinary record with the State Bar of California?

Most states, including California, have State Bar Associations who are charged with making sure lawyers in that state are in compliance with the rules which govern the practice of law. Many of these State Bar Associations now have online resources and websites where clients can look up the lawyer they are considering hiring and see whether or not that attorney has a record of pending or prior discipline. The web address in California is as follows: http://www.calbar.ca.gov/ . When you go to this site, you will see a small box towards the upper right hand of the home page, which says, “Attorney Search”. Simply type in the name of the lawyer, and look towards the bottom of the page under the category entitled, “Actions Effecting Eligibility to Practice Law”. The page will also tell you a lot of useful information about the lawyer including their educational background, official address and phone number, and the date they were initially admitted to practice law in the State of California.

Published on: January 4, 2014

Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney Reviews

by Steven M. Sweat

Los Angeles personal injury lawyer reviews are one way to determine if the law firm you hire to assist you with your accident claim has a reputation in the community for quality legal representation related to bodily harm or wrongful death claims in and around the SoCal area. L.A. is the second largest metropolitan area in the country and it is estimated that Los Angeles County has a population slightly over 10 Million people which is a little more than a quarter of the entire populous of the State of California. California, in general, and Los Angeles, in particular, also have a glut of attorneys simply due to the number of law graduates and new lawyers admitted to the bar versus the number of available jobs (See stats here ). With so many attorneys to choose from, it is tough to decide. The best way is not to simply pick an injury attorney out of the yellow pages or from a television or radio ad, but, rather to do your homework and look at things like consumer and peer reviews of that personal injury law firms you are thinking about employing for your accident claim. Here are what some of these reviews have been for Los Angeles Injury Firm, Steven M. Sweat, APC:

Google Business Reviews for Steven M. Sweat, Personal Injury Lawyers, APC

Some examples from our Google Business Listing include the following:

Published on: January 3, 2014

New Laws Important to California Personal Injury Victims

by Steven M. Sweat

New laws important to California personal injury victims is something I thought I would review here at the first part of 2014. It is not every year that new statutes are passed in the Golden State that may affect persons making claims for injuries or wrongful death but, this year there are a few, important new laws as follows:

Texting and Driving Restriction Loophole Has Been Closed for Teens in CA

The statistics don’t lie. Teenagers and young adults are statistically more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident where the driver has been distracted from the use of a cell phone, smart phone or other mobile device. For this reason, California chose to enact greater restrictions on persons under 18 than older drivers in this area. The prior statute, enacted in 2007, banned any cell phone use (whether by voice commands, wireless, hands free or otherwise) by any teenage driver. However, as the law was amended in 2012, there appeared to be a loophole which may allow for voice texting by teens. Therefore, the CA state legislature made the language of the law more clear and now any talking, texting, or use of a cell phone or mobile device whether by voice commands or otherwise, is now against the law.

Published on: October 11, 2013

Los Angeles Personal Injury Magazine – October, 2013

by Steven M. Sweat

Los Angeles Personal Injury Magazine

Published on: September 25, 2013

Korean Personal Injury Attorneys in Los Angeles

by Steven M. Sweat

Korean personal injury attorneys in Los Angeles are not unheard of but, quality accident lawyers for the Korean American community are far too few, in my opinion. This is a shame in that the Los Angeles area including Orange County and the Inland Empire has the highest concentration of Koreans anywhere in the world other than Korea itself. In fact, it is estimated that somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 Koreans and their families live in Southern California. For this reason, I see a great need in the community for a quality, honest, hard working law firm to get maximum compensation for accident victims. That is why I created my new website:

http://www.koreanattorneylosangeles.com

While the site has just begun, my hope is to grow this as a great online resource full of good information for consumers to go to when they have been injured in any type of accident including car crashes, slip and fall mishaps, pedestrian injuries, and any other type of catastrophic event that causes bodily harm or wrongful death.

Published on: September 20, 2013

The Truth About Lawyer Referral Services in California

by Steven M. Sweat

Published on: June 27, 2013

La importancia de contratar a un abogado no un asistente legal para una demanda por lesiones personales

by Steven M. Sweat

La importancia de contratar a un abogado no un asistente legal para una demanda por lesiones personales en los Estados Unidos es muy importante saber. En México y en muchas otras partes de América Latina, es común que los asistentes de abogados para prestar asistencia jurídica en diversos tipos de quejas, en particular los casos de lesiones personales. Debido a esto, muchos asistentes legales tratan de hacerse pasar por abogados aquí en los Estados Unidos, especialmente en las comunidades de América Latina en Los Angeles y en otras áreas urbanas. Sin embargo, es importante entender que en los Estados Unidos (incluyendo California) pasantes no están autorizados por un órgano gubernamental del Estado de proveer representación legal.

En California, la función de un asistente legal es apoyar el trabajo de un abogado con licencia. Sólo los abogados están autorizados por la ley para dar consejos legales, preparar y firmar el papeleo para ser presentada en la corte, los honorarios establecidos para los servicios jurídicos, y para comparecer ante el tribunal en nombre de una persona lesionada. Si un paralegal intenta hacer cualquiera de estas cosas por su cuenta sin el consentimiento expreso de un abogado, que están involucrados en la práctica no autorizada de la ley, que es un delito en el estado de California.

Con respecto a las demandas por lesiones personales, es muy importante asegurarse de que usted está siendo representado por un abogado. Abogados en California están obligados a completar un máximo de siete años de la escuela universitaria y la ley y pasar un examen muy difícil de obtener su licencia para ejercer la abogacía. Paralegales, por otro lado, no tienen licencia y pueden simplemente