Personal Injury News

Published on: June 9, 2013

California Law on Punitive Damages Explained

California law on punitive damages are the legal remedies provided to the citizens of the Golden State when they are harmed by egregious or reckless conduct. What does California Law say on punitive damages? To answer this question, we first have to explain what punitive damages are and when they might apply to a claim for personal injury in California.

California Law

What are punitive damages?

These are damages that a defendant in a civil action may be ordered to pay to punish them for particularly egregious conducting including personal injury and employment claims. They are meant to have a deterrent effect on the defendant from acting in a same or similar way in the future. They can be awarded to the plaintiff in addition to “compensatory” damages like medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Generally the cannot be awarded for a simple breach of contract but, can be awarded in cases such as insurance “bad faith” claims where an insurance company wrongfully refuses to pay a legitimate claim. In order to obtain such an award against a corporate employer for the acts of an employee, there also needs to be proof that the employer (through a manager or officer) had advance knowledge of the conduct or “ratified” (approved) of the conduct.

Published on: April 16, 2013

What Is the Process of Bringing a Personal Injury Claim In California?

by Steven M. Sweat

What is the process of bringing a personal injury claim in California? As a California personal injury attorney, I find that many people have questions about this process. I would break this down in stages as follows:

From The Date of The Accident to Filing a Lawsuit

Obviously, it is not a pleasant thing to be involved in a car, motorcycle or other type of accident but, if one happens, it usually follows this course:

Published on: April 5, 2013

Personal Injury Evidence

by Steven M. Sweat

Personal injury evidence must be gathered in a systematic and organized manner and checklists are one way of doing this. I think they keep us mindful of certain things that need to be done on each and every case. In addition, they keep the personal injury lawyer from forgetting to uncover every stone that might provide useful information to gain maximum monetary recovery for their client. Here is a simplified version of my basic index as follows:

Obtain the information of all persons involved including names, addresses, telephone numbers, driver’s license numbers, Vehicle Identification Numbers of both parties and witnesses.
Examine Automobile Insurance Policy coverages including: medical payments, rental, collision, and uninsured motorist coverage for my client and bodily injury and liability coverage for any drivers at fault.

Published on: March 28, 2013

What is comparative fault in negligence claims?

by Steven M. Sweat

I had a trial recently that involved a woman who fell on another person’s property. During the closing argument, the defense attorney stated, she wore the wrong shoes for the weather and wasn’t looking where she was going, so you should give her nothing. When I got up to argue, I said, I don’t believe that the evidence showed that her footwear was inappropriate or that she was not cautious where she stepped but, even if you buy that argument, this doesn’t mean you must award her nothing. This means that you must decide how much comparative fault, if any, you attribute to my client versus the culpability of the defendant.

What does it mean to apportion responsibility for an injury causing incident?

Prior to the concept of “comparative negligence” was a concept of “contributory negligence“, which was that, if the plaintiff (person harmed bringing a complaint for money damages) was at fault more than the defendant (person or persons against whom the civil petition is brought), then they received nothing. This rule was abolished in California by the seminal case of Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804, 810 [119 Cal.Rptr. 858, 532 P.2d 1226] , where the court concluded that the “all-or-nothing” rule of contributory negligence should be abandoned in favor of a rule that assesses liability in proportion to fault. What this means is that the injured person may still receive compensation even if they are partially culpable.

Published on: February 25, 2013

Human and economic costs of car wrecks in America

by Steven M. Sweat

The Human and Economic Costs of Car Crashes

The Human and Economic Costs of Car Crashes infographic

Published on: February 23, 2013

California Legal Links

by Steven M. Sweat

CALIFORNIA LEGAL LINKS – Provided for Your Convenience

The following are links to various state and federal legal websites which contain information on statutes and case law as well as public safety resources.

California State Government and Law Links

Published on: January 31, 2013

The Civil Litigation Road Map

by Steven M. Sweat

The following is a civil litigation road map which provides a timeline for the average personal injury or other civil lawsuit in California:

Initial Stages Of A Lawsuit

A claim for civil damages begins with the Summons and Complaint by the “Plaintiff(s)” (person/entity suing) against the “Defendant(s)” (person/entity being sued). This document states causes of action or reasons why a person is seeking money damages from another person or entity. These reasons can include torts (like negligence, assault and battery, products liability, breach of contracts or wrongful termination of employment). The document must be personally served (so called Service of Process) by a licensed civil process server or a person above the age of 18 years old who is not a party to the action. In the case of a person being sued, they can be handed the paperwork personally or the documents can be served upon any adult that is residing in their same household with follow up by the process server through the mail (if there have been efforts to serve them unsuccessfully). In the case of a corporation or other business entity, they must be served through their agent for service of process (the person whom the business designates with the California Secretary of State to accept service on behalf of the business entity). Once the documents have been served, the defendant has 30 days to respond. A response can be an Answer (denying the allegations and stating certain defenses to the claim(s)) or it can be a motion such as a Demurrer or Motion to Strike (which attack the validity of the claims).

Published on: August 8, 2012

Attorney Steve Sweat is honored with 10.0 Superb AVVO Rating!

by Steven M. Sweat

Personal Injury Attorney Los Angeles
Receives 10.0 Superb AVVO Rating

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Los Angeles, California – Personal Injury Attorney Steven Sweat has received a rating of 10.0 on Avvo.com, deemed “Superb” and the highest rating possible for this rating service.

Published on: February 22, 2011

Train Accidents

by Steven M. Sweat

Train accidents happen throughout California and often result in death or severe personal injury. Trains are used all the time for multiple purposes; they are used for transporting goods across the country, as well as traveling. Unfortunately, sometimes a train’s destination is never met because of a horrible accident that occurs due to the negligence of another party. Individuals on the train, people in their cars or pedestrians can all be victims of this type of accident. Many times, personal injury and death results. Our lawyers practice in and other various areas of California and are here to help you or a loved one if involved in a train accident.

What Are the Major Causes of Railway Accidents?

How do major rail carriers such as Metrolink, Amtrak, BART and other rail lines get involved in accidents with other vehicle or pedestrians? Some examples of train accidents include derailments, rear end collisions, crashing into automobiles, and fires on the train. How do things like this happen? There are a number of different factors that can contribute to a train accident. One major cause of train accidents is operator negligence. An operator that has not been trained properly is drowsy, impaired or distracted while operating a train can result in disaster. Equipment on the train and lack of inspections can also lead to train accidents. Finally, factors that don’t include the actual train itself – such as defects in railroad tracks or lack of railroad crossing signals – can result in a horrible accident. If you feel one of these reasons resulted in your accident in San Diego contact a lawyer.