By admin
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS), also known as abusive head trauma (AHT), refers to a combination of injuries that occur when an infant or young child is violently shaken. When a baby or young child is shaken violently, its head snaps back and forth or from side to side. Children’s brains are softer than adults’ brains, their neck ligaments are weak and not fully developed, and their heads are large and heavy in proportion to the rest of their bodies. In SBS, the infant’s brain is first pushed against one side of the skull, and then against the other. The bumping action can cause brain tissue to tear, blood vessels to break, and bruises to the brain, causing pressure and swelling of the brain. The large veins along the outside of the brain may tear, leading to further bleeding, swelling, and increased pressure, which can easily cause permanent brain damage or even death. Serious damage can be done in only five seconds of vigorous shaking of the child. SBS can occur if the child receives as few as three rapid shakes. Head impact is not necessary to develop brain swelling and trauma, but often the child is thrown onto a crib mattress or even into a wall.
Crying is by far and away the most common cause of shaken baby syndrome. It is a fact of nature that an infant spends at least two to three hours a day crying. But the caretaker, who may be frustrated in other areas of his or her life, takes out his or her anger by violently shaking the infant. Normal play, such as bouncing a child on one’s knee or gently tossing the child in the air do not cause SBS. The perpetrator is most often a male in his early twenties who is married to the mother or is the mother’s boyfriend. Women who injure babies are more likely to be a babysitter or childcare provider than the child’s mother. The child’s mother accounts for approximately 10 percent of SBS cases.
A baby’s head makes up as much as 25 percent of the baby’s weight, and the baby’s neck muscles are not sufficiently developed to support a disproportionately large head. An infant’s brain is softer than the brain of an adult, and the protective tissue that surrounds the brain only begins to form at birth, making the blood vessels more fragile and easily ruptured.
Shaking or throwing a child or slamming the child against an object causes uncontrollable forward, backward, and twisting head movement. Brain tissue, blood vessels, and nerves tear. The child’s brain can hit the skull with force, causing brain tissue to bleed and swell. The violent shaking can also cause injury to the cervical cord resulting in paralysis, bleeding in the eyes, and even death.
The injuries associated with SBS may not show up immediately. The infant may have nonspecific complaints, such as lethargy, breathing difficulties, irritability, and vomiting, which can be attributed to sources other than the shaking.
Shaken baby syndrome can occur in infants as young as a few days to children as old as five years. The majority of cases involve infants from three to eight months old. 25 percent of all children diagnosed with SBS die from their injuries. An infant or young child that has been violently shaken often requires emergency medical treatment, including life-sustaining measures such as breathing support and surgery to stop internal bleeding and bleeding in the brain.
Many cases of SBS or AHT are brought in for medical care as “silent injuries.” The parents or caregivers don’t admit to the doctor that they had violently shaken the infant or threw the infant head-first against an object. Because of this lack of information, the doctor doesn’t know to look for subtle or physical signs. This can sometimes result in children having injuries that aren’t identified in the medical system and the child’s being returned to the person who violently shook him or her. Unfortunately, in mild cases in which the infant seems lethargic, fussy, or perhaps isn’t feeding well, the doctor will misdiagnose the infant’s condition as a viral illness or colic. Without a diagnosis of child abuse and any resulting intervention with the parents or caregivers, these children may be shaken again, worsening any brain injury or damage from previous shakings.
Without the parents’ or caregiver’s disclosure of how the injuries really happened, shaken baby syndrome can be difficult for the pediatrician or emergency room doctor to diagnose, as there may be no visible symptoms in the baby even when there is extensive damage to the baby’s brain, and the parents or caregiver who inflicted the injury is not going to admit shaking the baby. As the brain swells and presses against the skull, damage to nerves and other areas of the brain may occur. Some of the more serious injuries that may result include blindness, hearing loss, paralysis, speech impairment, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and even death.
Some of the symptoms of SBS are vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, bleeding in the eyes, difficulty breathing, convulsions, decreased feeding, difficulty sucking or swallowing, no smiling or making sounds (“vocalization”), rigidity, pale or bluish skin, the head or forehead appears larger or the soft spot on the head appears to be bulging, inability to lift the head, and inability of the eyes to focus or track movement or unequal sizes of the pupils. Children who have been shaken violently may also sustain broken ribs, arms, legs, and neck.
If SBS is suspected, the doctor may look for:
-
Bleeding in the retinas of both eyes
-
Skull fractures
-
Swelling of the brain
-
Subdural hematomas (collections of blood pressing on the surface of the brain
-
Fractures of the ribs or “long bones” (the arms and legs)
-
Bruises around the head, neck, or chest
If the doctor suspects SBS, in addition to a thorough physical examination of the child, he or she may order a computed tomography (CT) scan or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the child’s head to check for swelling of and bleeding in the brain.
About one out of every four babies who has been violently shaken or thrown against an object, such as a crib mattress or a wall dies from his or her injuries. Survivors suffer permanent damage in the form of developmental problems, such as seizures, muscle stiffness, mental retardation, blindness or trouble seeing, physical or emotional growth delays, and learning or behavioral problems that may not appear until the child starts school.
Infants who have suffered SBS require emergency care, often including respiratory support and surgery. It is frequently necessary to drain the blood around the brain to decrease the ongoing brain injuries associated with brain swelling. Additional treatment may be required, including obtaining ophthalmologist and neurological examinations.
The prognosis for a baby that has been violently shaken is poor. Up to one in four victims of SBS die of their injuries. Those that survive may suffer from complete or partial blindness, mental retardation, loss of motor (muscular) control, cerebral palsy, neck and spinal cord injuries, learning and physical disabilities, hearing and speech disabilities, seizures, behavior disorders, and cognitive disorders.
A doctor, social worker, therapist or certain other professionals who suspect child abuse—such as violently shaking a baby—is under a legal obligation to report his or her suspicions to Child Protective Services.
By admin
Approximately 7 million people worldwide go on cruises. Some go on long-weekend three-day cruises, others take six-month cruises, while many take cruises of two to four weeks. While the vast majority of passengers will have a delightful, memorable, and uneventful cruise, to some their dream cruise they had been planning for months, if not years, turns into tragedy when they are seriously injured or killed due to the carelessness (“negligence”) of the cruiseliner and its employees. Anyone of the following factors can turn a fun cruise into a nightmare due to an injury or death from any of the following:
-
Slip/trip and fall incidents
-
Hazardous decks, stairways, and walkways
-
Inadequate ship maintenance
-
Water slide, wave pool, and swimming pool accidents
-
Contaminated food and food poisoning resulting in serious injuries
-
Passengers who fall overboard
-
Unsafe doors that close too quickly or too forcefully
-
Drownings
-
Head and Traumatic Brain Injuries
-
Spinal cord injuries
-
Infectious diseases and viruses
-
Sexual or other physical assaults by crew members
-
Explosions and fires
-
Unseaworthy conditions
-
Injuries while on shore activities and excursions arranged or sanctioned by the cruise ship company
The legal rights of a passenger who has suffered an injury, or a passenger who has been killed, on a cruise ship depend largely on two things: maritime law and the provisions of your contract/ticket for carriage. (Deaths occurring more than three miles off the United States’ coast come under the jurisdiction of the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) discussed separately). Under maritime law, a shipowner owes passengers a duty to take ordinary reasonable care under the circumstances. A passenger’s contract/ticket is carefully drafted by the cruiseline not only to tell you of your rights, but just as important—if not moreso—it governs such things as what you can sue the cruiseline for, the location where you must bring suit, how soon after the incident you must give written notice of your claim to the cruiseline (usually six months) and the length of time you have to sue the cruiseline (usually one year). What law applies also depends on where the ship was at the time of the injury. For instance, if the ship was docked at Long Beach, was in Mexican territorial waters, or was on the high seas, different rules may apply changing the type and amount of damages you may be entitled to.
A passenger cruise ticket for an ocean voyage constitutes a maritime contract. Most ticket/contracts require that any lawsuits against the cruise ship must be filed only in certain places, usually cities or counties where the cruiseline has its offices. The top places designated by the contract/ticket for filing a suit for personal injuries or death arising out of a domestic cruise ship’s negligent conduct are Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. For purely international cruises, such as a Mediterranean cruise aboard a Greek cruise ship, if you should be injured or a loved one killed on the cruise, you are probably going to have to prosecute the claim in Greece, even though you purchased your ticket in the U.S. But if you left aboard a cruiseline out of the Port of Miami and went on a Caribbean cruise and returned to the Port of Miami, chances are that your contract/ticket provides that lawsuits against the cruiseline for injury or death must be brought in Florida.
In determining where you can and must file your lawsuit against the cruiseline, the contract/ticket contains language of where you must sue the cruiseline if you have been injured or a loved one killed on a cruise. The standard applied is that the ticket must reasonably communicate the existence of important terms and the passenger must have the opportunity to become meaningful informed of those terms. The court will also look to the location of any restrictive provisions and simplicity of the language used to limit a passenger’s rights. The question boils down to whether, taken together, the various notices and provisions of the cruise contract/ticket are legally sufficient to give effect to the various liability and claim procedures it contains. For example, a passenger who claims that requiring the case to be filed thousands of miles away has a heavy burden of demonstrating why enforcement of the site specified by the contract/ticket is unreasonable. Whether the terms and conditions of the passage contract were reasonably communicated is a question of law for the court to determine.
A cruise ship passenger who has been injured because of a cruise ship’s employee’s negligence is entitled to recover monetary damages for past, present, and future medical expenses, lost wage—both past and present—loss of earning power, and, if within three miles of the U.S. coastline, his or her pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Outside the three-mile limit, the passenger must allege a physical injury to recover damages for injuries. In one case involving a cruise ship, approximately 210 passengers brought suit against the cruiseline and its captain for extreme emotional distress. The gist of the cases was that their emotional injuries occurred because the captain sailed into bad weather that the ship’s officer was aware of but did not avoid. The cruise line proved that some 140 of the passengers did not have any objective physical injuries and were therefore not entitled to recover for their purely emotional distress.
If you are injured or a loved one killed on a cruise ship, you should report your injury or death to the cruise ship employees as soon as possible. If there is a medical doctor or other health care professional aboard the ship, you should contact him or her for immediate treatment in the case of an injury. It may be necessary for you to be taken off the ship by a helicopter, or the ship may have to change its destination and head to the nearest port of call so that you can get prompt medical treatment.
If you are able to, take pictures of the area where you were inured. If you’re not able to do it yourself, then you should instruct your spouse or traveling companion to take pictures for you. Don’t forget to take pictures of your injuries. If you didn’t bring a camera and your mobile phone doesn’t take pictures, a disposable camera can be purchased in the ship’s gift shop for around $10.00. If you are unable to do so, your spouse or traveling companion should get the names and addresses of all witnesses to the accident, and if possible a brief statement from them relating what they saw. The cruise ship employees have a duty to assist you in collecting this information when you are unable to do so yourself.
If you have been injured or a loved one killed while aboard a cruise ship, you should contact a personal injury law with experience in maritime law and cruise ship injuries and deaths as soon as possible so your claim is not barred by the “statute of limitations.” The statute of limitations tells you how long you have to file a lawsuit in federal court or you will lose the right to sue forever. The time you have to sue a cruise ship for injuries and deaths is determined by maritime law and the contract/ticket with the cruise ship. Although the normal time a person has to file under maritime law is three years, by signing the contract/ticket with the cruiseline, that time is generally shortened to one year. And before you can bring a suit in court, the contract/ticket usually requires that you must first file a claim with the cruiseline within six months of the incident.
The contract/ticket may also require you to submit a “bill of particulars” to the cruise ship within the prescribed time. Typically, you must send notice of your injuries or loved one’s death and tell them why you feel the cruise ship is liable to the cruise liner within six months, and file suit against them within one year of the incident. The ticket inevitably will provide that you must present your claim to the cruiseline within six months, and if you don’t, you lose your right to sue the cruiseline forever. Unless your claim is very small, you should not attempt to negotiate with the cruise line itself. If you do send notice to the cruise line of your claim, you should send it via registered mail, return receipt requested to prove you sent notice of your claim in on time. The cruisliner is usually identified at the top of your ticket. Do not make the mistake of sending notice to the travel agent or ticket agent. The lawsuit is against the cruiseline, and timely (i.e., six months) written notice of the accident and injury must be sent to it.
If your injuries are serious, or a passenger died on the cruise, you should contact an attorney promptly after you return home. An attorney experienced in cruise ship liability will know how and where to file the notice. Don’t forget to gather your contract/ticket, and all other written information, pamphlets, and all other receipts and pictures so you will have them ready when you meet with your lawyer. If you are injured and unable to go to the lawyer’s office, the lawyer will usually come to your home or the hospital. If your injuries are serious or a death is involved, but you think you can handle the case yourself, think again. One respected study of injured and deceased victims demonstrated that, even after paying the lawyer’s fees, injured persons who had lawyers handle their case for them ended up with more money in their pockets than people who handled their cases by themselves.
A cruise line is liable for injuries to its passengers only where it has actual or implied (“constructive”) notice of a dangerous condition; without knowledge of any unreasonable risk or danger, the cruise line has no duty to warn. In maritime law, constructive notice of an onboard dangerous condition is shown when it has existed long enough to give rise to an inference that crewmembers must have noticed it.
Suppose you are on a cruise that stops at an island and offers passengers various excursions, from souvenir shopping to paragliding or Jetskiing. One passenger goes out on the Jetski and is injured by another Jetski that deliberately ran into her. Can the injured passenger sue the cruise line? Generally not. The contract/ticket usually states that the cruise line is not liable for injury caused by any act not shown to be caused by its negligence or the negligence of its employees. The contract/ticket usually provides that shore excursions and other tours may be owned and/or operated by independent contractors and the cruise line makes no representation and assumes no liability for the wrongful conduct of the provider/operator of the shore excursion. The contract/ticket may state that if the passenger takes part in organized activities, whether on the ship or as part of a shore excursion, he or she assumes the risk of injury and the cruise ship is not liable or responsible for it.
Let’s say that you’re a female passenger aboard a cruise ship and are assaulted and raped by a ship’s employee who had a master key to the passenger cabins. Can the cruise line be held liable for the sexual assault? In some cases, when an employee sexually assaults a woman, his employer is not liable if he had no reason to know of the employee’s dangerousness. But when the employer (the cruise line) gives an employee a master key or card to access all passengers’ cabins, the employer can be held liable for the employee’s acts. Also, the cruise line can be held independently liable for the wrongful acts of its employees, such as where it was negligent in running a background check on the employee or the employer supervisor was negligent in supervising the employee, knew he was dangerous, but failed to terminate him. But not all states will hold the employer legally responsible (liable) for the intentional assaults of its employees.
When deciding on which attorney or law firm you should hire to represent you, you should be guided by several factors. First of all, you should choose someone with experience in your type of injury. Second, you will want a lawyer or law firm that is competent, able to handle the case. Third, you want a lawyer or law firm with integrity. Fourth, you want to retain a lawyer or law firm that has the highest ethical standards.
Fifth, you want a lawyer who is not afraid of taking your case to trial. Many lawyers who handle personal injury cases are not comfortable trying a case before a jury and will advise their client to accept a settlement that is smaller than if the client were represented by a lawyer who is not afraid to go to trial. Insurance companies know which attorneys are not bluffing about taking the case to trial if they don’t give the injured client the maximum settlement, and which lawyers and law firms are settlement mills who will convince their client to settle for a lower sum to avoid having to go to trial. While it is true that approximately 95 percent of personal injury cases settle without going to trial, from the moment the client first walks into his or her office, the lawyer must prepare the case as though it is going to trial. It is not unheard of for the insurance company’s lawyer to come up with a higher, reasonable settlement figure for the client “on the courthouse steps” right before trial is set to begin.
Practical considerations you will want to consider include whether the lawyer or law firm will give your case the attention it deserves and keep you up to date on the progress of your case. You also want a lawyer or law firm that returns your telephone calls or e-mails promptly (generally no more than 24 hours), and explains things to you in plain English rather than obscure legalese. Remember, though, that yours is not the only case the lawyer is handling so he or she may not get to your file as quickly as you’d like.
If you have been injured or a loved one killed in a cruise ship accident, you should contact an experienced personal injury law firm as soon as possible. It is also important to contact an experienced personal injury law firm promptly, as the law firm may want to send its own investigators to examine the evidence before it is lost or changed. For example, in an automobile accident, the lawyer’s investigator will want to go to the scene of an automobile accident to inspect and take pictures of the vehicles, the accident site, and any dangerous condition that caused or contributed to the accident, especially before there is a change in the condition of the area or vehicle.
Pictures of the victim should be taken while he or she still has visible cuts, scars, disfigurements, abrasions, bruises, and other visible injuries, as a jury (and insurance adjuster) will otherwise generally see your client in good health, after broken bones have mended and plastic surgery or time has eliminated or diminished the scars and disfigurement. It is not unusual for a case to take several years before the actual trial, by which time you may appear to have improved greatly from your injuries, when in fact you still suffer such disabilities as severe back pain, injuries to your hands, or psychological and emotional disorders. But with pictures taken at the time of the incident will show the jury just how badly you were hurt and how far you’ve come. The attorney or his or her investigator will also want to talk to any witnesses to the accident as soon as possible while the facts are still fresh in their minds, and will also want to keep track of the whereabouts of the witnesses if they are needed to testify at trial.
An experienced personal injury law firm can also help with seeing to it that you obtain appropriate and thorough medical care for your physical, emotional, and psychological injuries suffered as a result of the accident. The attorneys in the firm can also do everything possible to ensure that you obtain full compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, property damage, lost wages, and all of your other injuries and damages.
By admin
One day on your way to work you’re stopped at a red light when you are hit forcefully from behind. You get out of your vehicle and the first thing you see on the other car is a federal emblem. You can’t believe you’ve just been injured by an employee of the United States government. Can you recover monetary damages for your injuries and damage to your car?
Under old English law that was followed by the states for many years, a person who was injured by the King (or the United States government) or an agent or employee could not sue the King for his or her injuries (or the death of a loved one). The rule used to justify this denial of the right to sue was that “the King can do no wrong.” This is known as “sovereign immunity.” In a 1907 decision of the United States Supreme Court, the eminent jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes explained that a “sovereign is exempt from suit, not because of any formal conception or obsolete theory, but on the logical and practical ground that there can be no legal right as against the authority that makes the law on which the right depends.”
Governmental immunity was pretty much the rule in the United States until 1946, when Congress passed the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Before the FTCA was enacted, a person who was injured by a federal employee or agency or dangerous condition of federal property, had to have a member of Congress introduce a private bill to get compensation for his or her constituent’s injuries or death due to the negligence of a federal government employee. With the 1946 passage of the FTCA, it is no longer necessary to have your congressman or congresswoman get a bill approved authorizing payment of our injuries. Today, under the provisions of the FTCA, the United States can basically be held liable in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under similar circumstances.
The FTCA permits a person who has been injured by a United State’s employee to sue the United States in federal court to recover money damages “for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.” Put simply, if a private citizen would have been held liable for his or her wrongful conduct, then the United States is similarly liable, so long as this type of injury is not specifically excluded by the FTCA.
The FTCA expressly recognizes 13 exceptions in which the United States cannot be held legally liable even though it was at fault. The most frequently asserted defense by the United States is that the employee or agency was exercising or performing a discretionary function or duty, whether or not the discretion involved was abused. Under the “discretionary function” exception, the FTCA specifically states that the waiver of immunity from lawsuits does not apply to any claim “based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.”
Other exceptions to the FTCA include that the federal government is not liable for enforcing unconstitutional statutes, for any claim arising out of the loss, miscarriage or negligent transmission of letters or postal matter, for actions of the military in time of war, for damages caused by the fiscal operations of the Treasury Department or regulation of the monetary system, for collecting custom duties, for claims arising in a foreign country, for most intentional torts—such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, misrepresentation, deceit, or interference with contract rights—and for several other kinds of claims. However, the federal government can be held liable for conduct or omissions of investigative or law enforcement officers of the United States Government involving assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution. “Investigative or law enforcement officer” means any officer of the United States who is empowered by law to execute searches, to seize evidence, or to make arrests for violations of Federal law.
The United States Supreme Court has placed other limitations on the scope and effect of the FTCA. In the well-known Feres case, the United States Supreme Court held that active members of the armed forces and their families cannot sue the federal government for injuries arising out of or in the course of activity related to military service.
The FTCA defines “employee” as including officers or employees of any federal agency, members of the military or naval forces of the United States, members of the National Guard while engaged in training or duty, and persons acting on behalf of a federal agency in an official capacity, temporarily or permanently, in the service of the United States, whether with or without compensation.
A person who has been injured by the carelessness (“negligence”) of a United States’ employee has two years to file a claim with the appropriate federal agency. That claim must contain enough facts to give the agency notice of the plaintiff’s version of how the accident happened and the claim must ask for a “sum certain” of money. The claim must be submitted on the U.S. government’s Standard Form 95. The federal agency then has six months to allow or deny the claim. If the injured person does not receive a decision from the federal agency within six months, he or she may assume that it has been rejected and is then free to file a lawsuit against the United States in federal court.
When, say, a family of five gets into an accident caused by a federal employee, five separate claims must be filed with the appropriate federal agency, one for each person injured. Only one claim may be presented for wrongful death. Parties in interest in federal wrongful death cases are limited to the surviving spouse, children, and dependent parents.
If the person does not hear back from the federal agency within six months as to whether the claim is approved or denied, the victim can then file suit in federal court. As for the “sum certain” that the plaintiff is required to state in his or her claim to the federal agency, if he or she later files a complaint against the United States, the monetary damages he or she is seeking cannot exceed the sum certain contained in the notice to the federal agency, unless the increased amount in the complaint is based upon newly discovered evidence not reasonably discoverable at the time the claim was presented to the federal agency.
Under the FTCA, the laws of the state in which the negligent act or omission occurred that give rise to the suit apply. Civil personal injury and wrongful death laws are not uniform throughout the United States. What might be considered a compensable civil wrong in one state may not be so considered in another state. Where the negligent act occurred in California, then California law applies to the substantive claim.
To prevail in a lawsuit against the United States government, it is essential to prove negligence or other fault (“unlawful conduct”) by the United States employee(s). Cases cannot be brought against the United States for strict liability (that is, liability without fault). Attorney’s fees are limited to 20 percent if the case settles before a complaint is filed, and 25 percent after the complaint has been filed with the court.
Damages recoverable in a personal injury case against the United States include economic damages (also known as “special damages”), such as past, present, and future medical expenses, lost past and future wages, loss of earning power, and damaged or destroyed property. Non-economic damages (also known as “general damages”) are those damages that are more intangible but no less important than economic damages. In fact, in many cases, non-economic damages are significantly greater than economic damages. Non-economic damages include such things as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inability to engage in usual activities, disfigurement, and emotional distress and other psychological injuries.
Punitive damages, which are designed to punish someone who has intentionally and deliberately hurt another person, are not recoverable from the United States government, regardless of how deliberate, outrageous, and heinous the federal employee’s conduct was. The United States also cannot be held responsible for prejudgment interest.
When a married person is seriously injured and unable to perform sexually, the other spouse has his or her own claim for “loss of consortium,” which includes not only lack of sexual services, but also company, society, cooperation, affection, and aid. Loss of enjoyment of life includes such things as impairment of mental health, disfigurement, loss or impairment of senses, inability to participate in daily, family, or recreational activities, interference with childbearing and childrearing, interference with sexual relations, and shortening of life expectancy.
In a wrongful death case, the survivors are entitled to recover loss of financial contributions and support, loss of services, loss of nurture, guidance, care, and training by a child, loss of society, comfort, love, and affection, and loss of inheritance or net accumulation.
Once a person files a complaint against the federal government, the FTCA lawsuit becomes the plaintiff’s exclusive remedy, regardless of any statute that expressly or impliedly permits actions against a designated agency. Unlike state courts, where the injured party has the right to choose between having the case heard by a jury or by a judge, civil cases under the FTCA must be filed in federal court and are heard by the judge without a jury.
Our Law Firm has experience in diligently representing clients who have been injured or had a loved one killed due to the negligence of a government employee. We understand the physical, financial, and emotional toll the injury takes on the injured victim and his or her family or the effect a wrongful death due to the negligence of a federal employee can have on the deceased’s loved ones. We will work our hardest on your behalf to get you the maximum recovery possible.
If you have been injured or a loved one killed in an accident involving the federal government, you should contact an experienced personal injury law firm as soon as possible. It will be necessary to file a claim for a “sum certain” with the appropriate federal agency within two years of the accident, and file a lawsuit within six months after the claim is turned down or six months have passed and you have had no response from the governmental agency. An experienced personal injury attorney will know how and where to file this claim on your behalf and which specialized form the particular federal agency requires claims be submitted on.
It is also important to contact an experienced personal injury law firm as soon as possible after the accident, as the law firm may want to send its own investigator to the scene of the accident to inspect and take pictures of the accident site and any dangerous condition that caused or contributed to the accident, especially before the government or its employees change the conditions where the accident occurred. The attorney or his or her investigator will also want to talk to any witnesses to the accident while the facts are still fresh in their minds.
An experienced personal injury law firm can also help with seeing to it that you obtain appropriate and thorough medical care for your physical, emotional, and psychological injuries suffered as a result of the accident. They can also do everything possible to ensure that you obtain full compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, property damage, lost wages, and all of your other injuries and damages
By admin
Having a strong military air presence is critical to the safety of our nation and democracy throughout the world. We ask our men and women in the military to sacrifice their lives in the service to their country. It is only fitting that we should provide them with the best and safest equipment possible. America is deservedly proud of its air force and is the envy of all other nations. Our military aircraft provide a host of things: flying combat and bombing missions in times of war, providing relief aid to impoverished areas or areas that have been struck by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane or flood, training pilots, mechanics, and others to keep our superiority in the air. Military aircraft accidents happen in various ways: pilot error, substandard maintenance of the aircraft, faulty repairs, defective component parts, or air traffic controller negligence, to name a few.
To illustrate the dynamics of a military aircraft accident, let’s look at one specific case: On December 8, 2008, a United States marine jet—a twin-engine F/A-18D Hornet—had engine problems and was attempting to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego (the setting for the movie “Top Gun”) when it crash-landed two miles away in University City, plowing into a home and killing the four occupants. The pilot of the craft was able to safely eject from the plane moments before the crash. The right engine of the F-18 fighter jet gave out with an oil leak shortly after it took off from an aircraft carrier on a training flight. Instead of choosing to land at Naval Air Station North Island, on the tip of a peninsula in San Diego Bay in Coronado, the pilot attempted to make it to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, several miles inland surrounded by residential communities. North Island is approached over water and there are fewer buildings to hit if things go wrong. Air traffic controllers told the pilot three times that he was cleared to land at North Island, according to flight tapes released by the Federal Aviation Administration. As the jet approached Miramar, the other engine failed, and the pilot safely ejected, resulting in the plane crashing into two houses, killing four people inside one house.
After an investigation into the crash, military officials called it “clearly avoidable.” Among the mistakes made was the decision by maintenance crews to allow the aircraft to fly despite reports of a problem with its fuel flow, the decision by the pilot to try to land at Miramar rather than the nearby Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado despite losing function of the jet’s right engine, and a series of “miscommunications and bad assumptions” by the pilots and officers directing him that eventually caused the left engine to “flame out.” As a result of the investigation, four Marine Corps officers were relieved of duty for directing the aircraft to fly over the residential area, and nine other military personnel received lesser reprimands. Officials stated that the pilot should have been told to fly over San Diego Bay and land at Coronado. The next of kin of the four people killed may be able to bring a lawsuit against the United States based on the carelessness (“negligence”) of the pilot, the mechanics, and others.
Suppose a military pilot takes off in a jet but encounters problems with the handling of the jet due to the negligence of the repair crew, causing the pilot to crash the plane and suffer injuries or even death. Can the injured pilot (or a deceased pilot’s loved ones) sue the federal government for his or her injuries or death? No. Under the longstanding Feres doctrine, the federal government is immune from lawsuits for injuries or deaths to servicemembers that occur because of activities that are “incident to service.”
One rationale behind the Feres doctrine is the same as that which prohibits civilian employees from suing their employers. Injured employees are given the right to receive worker’s compensation benefits, even where the injury is due to their own fault, as a trade-off for not being allowed to sue their employers. Servicemen and women are entitled to receive benefits under the Veterans Benefits Act for service-related injuries, akin to worker’s compensation benefits. However, even though the servicemember or his or her next of kin cannot sue the federal government, they may sue the manufacturer of the aircraft, the supplier of a defective product or component that was used in the aircraft, negligent air traffic controllers, subcontractors who performed substandard maintenance or repair work on the aircraft, or any other nongovernmental company whose wrongful conduct was a cause of the accident.
Lawsuits involving military aircraft crashes typically involve a number of people and entities being sued. For instance, there is the federal government, as owner and maintainer of the aircraft; the manufacturer of the aircraft; subcontractors who supplied defective parts or service to the aircraft; air traffic controllers; and others. However, because of procedural legal restraints and laws protecting the government and defense contractors, lawsuits based on, for instance, defective military aircraft or pilot error, are considerably more difficult to pursue than accidents involving civil aircraft.
Investigating a military aircraft accident presents difficulties not found in non-military aircraft crashes. When a commercial plane crashes, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sends a cadre of experts in various areas of expertise to investigate the accident. Its findings and conclusions are released to the public and may be used by the victims’ attorneys in placing the blame for the accident. In serious military aircraft accidents, a Safety Mishap Board investigates the accident and compiles a Safety Mishap Investigative Report that is kept secret.
Unlike commercial airliners, military aircraft traditionally have not been equipped with cockpit voice records (CVRs) and flight data recorders (FDRs), the so-called “black boxes.” One reason for this is that, if the plane were shot down in enemy territory, the enemy could access the black boxes to determine where the plane had been flying and gather important intelligence information from them. Today, more and more military aircraft are being equipped with CVRs and FDRs, which can provide invaluable information in the event of a crash or other accident.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the Safety Mishap Board Report and confidential statements obtained in its making do not have to be disclosed to the injured victim or his or her survivors, or any other pubic person or entity. One reason given for this policy is that the investigation team often includes or is assisted by members of the manufacturer of the aircraft or the supplier of a defective component that may have failed. The thinking is that if the manufacturer, supplier, or other government contractor were not guaranteed the confidentiality of its findings, they would not be forthcoming about possible causes of the accident due to their fault, stalling the investigation and putting other lives in peril (that is, the pilots of other aircraft of the same type and make that may have the same defect).
The military releases an “Accident Report,” which is used for court martial and other punitive or administrative proceedings against servicemembers resulting from the accident. The Accident Report may consist of the purely factual components of the safety mishap investigation, but does not include the most important technical analysis performed by the safety mishap investigative team, especially if it involves a government contractor.
Lawsuits against the United States government arising out of a military aircraft crash or other mishap must be brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Usually a government cannot be sued and held liable for injuries and damages its agencies and employees cause. This is known as “governmental immunity.” However, the FTCA provides that the United States government may be held liable for damages “for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the laws of the place where the act or omission occurred.” The FTCA also provides that you cannot recover prejudgment interest or punitive damages from the government.
However, although the federal government allows people to sue it for their injuries or the wrongful deaths of their loved ones, there are a number of exceptions to this rule that may protect the United States from liability. One such exception is the “discretionary function” immunity, which provides that the government cannot be held liable for any claim based upon the exercise or performance, of the failure to exercise or perform, a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the United States government, regardless of whether the discretion involved is abused.
Conduct cannot be discretionary unless it involves an element of judgment or choice. If there is a federal statute, regulation, or policy that specifically prescribes a course of action for an employee to follow, then the discretionary rule does not apply. The discretionary function exception applies only to conduct that involves the permissible exercise of policy judgment. The discretionary function exception marks the boundary between Congress’ willingness to impose tort liability upon the United States and its desire to protect certain governmental activities from exposure to suit by private individuals.
Many military aircraft are deployed throughout the world. Two exceptions to the FTCA’s imposition of liability against the federal government are especially worth noting here. First, the FTCA specifically prohibits claims against the federal government for injuries or deaths arising out of the “combatant activities” of the military or naval forces, or of the Coast Guard, during times of war. Second, the FTCA forbids claims against the United States arising in a foreign country.
Although the designer and manufacturer of a product generally has a duty to design their product so that it does not pose an unreasonable risk of harm to users of its products and others who might be foreseeably injured by the product, manufacturers of military aircraft can escape liability for design defects under the so-called “government contractor defense.” Under the government contractor defense doctrine, a manufacturer or subcontractor is not liable for injuries or deaths resulting from a defective and dangerous design of the aircraft or any part of it where the United States government approved reasonably precise specifications for the plane’s design, the equipment conformed to those specifications, or the manufacturer or supplier warned the government about the dangers in the use of the equipment which were known to the manufacturer or supplier, but not to the government.
If you have been injured or a loved one killed in an accident involving a military aircraft, whether it be a fighter jet on training maneuvers or a transport helicopter, you should contact an experienced personal injury law firm as soon as possible. It is also important to promptly contact an experienced personal injury law firm, as the law firm may want to send its own investigator to the scene of the accident to inspect and take pictures of the accident site and any dangerous condition that caused or contributed to the accident, especially before there is a change in the condition of the area or vehicle.
The attorney or his or her investigator will also want to talk to any witnesses to the accident as soon as possible while the facts are still fresh in their minds. Further, before filing a lawsuit in court against the United States government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, it is necessary to submit a claim to the appropriate government agency within a set time period. An experienced personal injury law firm knows how and where to file such a claim and will do so on your behalf.
An experienced personal injury law firm can also help with seeing to it that you obtain appropriate and thorough medical care for your physical, emotional, and psychological injuries suffered as a result of the accident. The attorneys in the firm can also do everything possible to ensure that you obtain full compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, property damage, lost wages, and all of your other injuries and damages.
Call now and talk to a lawyer for free about your case 888.207.5321
By admin
Alexandria Drake, 25 of Chula Vista San Diego was killed when she was caught inbetween two vehicles racing. Drake was struck by a Jaguar and crashed into a tree. Police are searching for Melvin Pearless, 47, who was driving a white BMW. The police have indicated that they were engaged in a “speed contest.”
The crash took place on Route 67 near Ramona. Drake’s 1-month-old son was also in the car during the crash and was uninjured.
If you have lost a loved one in a car accident, call today and speak with a lawyer for a free legal consultation.
By admin
Paul Albert Alferos, Jr., 19 and Mario De La Rosa, 21 were killed when Rosa lost control of his car and crashed into a telephone pole in Clairemont over the weekend. His passenger, Alferos died immediately on the scene while Rosa died later at a nearby hospital.
It is still unclear as to why they lost control of their Toyota Camry, but the San Diego Police Department is still investigating the crash. If you have lost a loved one as a result of a wrongful death accident, call today and talk to a lawyer about your legal rights. Let our law firm fight for you.
By admin
Yesterday, a Ford Mustang was involvedin a rollover crash on highway 94 near College Grove Way. Julio Ruelas, 22 and Ramon Garcia Jr., 19 died at the scene. Three other passengers who were in the car were also seriously injured. The cause of the rollover is unknown and the CHP are continuing their investigation.
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a car accident, call today and talk to a lawyer for a free evaulation of your case. Don’t risk losing your legal rights. Act Now. 858.909.9090
By admin
A fairly common injury resulting from an automobile accident, a fall, or a blow to the face is a broken (fractured) jaw. There are two bones that may be broken. One is the “mandible,” the lower jawbone. The other is the bone that makes up the upper jaw, the “maxilla.” The term jaw fracture generally refers to a break in the mandible, while a break of the maxilla is considered a facial injury. (When the maxilla is broken, there are usually other bones of the face that are broken as well. Breaks to the maxilla may cause double vision, numbness in the skin below the eye, or an irregularity of the cheekbone.)
A broken jawbone is a common facial injury; only the nose is broken more frequently. The most common cause of a broken jaw is injury to the face. This may be due to a motor vehicle accident, a physical assault, an industrial accident, or a recreational or sports injury. An impact with a dashboard during an automobile accident can fracture any part of the jaw. The force of the impact can dislodge teeth and cause fragments of the broken jaw to pierce the gum or damage nearby blood vessels and nerves. A broken or dislocated jaw requires immediate medical attention. Emergency situations include difficulty breathing or heavy bleeding.
The jawbone (mandible) is a long bone that includes the chin and angles up toward the ears on both sides of the face. On each side, the end of the jawbone is rounded like a ball. This ball (a “condyle”) is the part of the jaw joint right in front of your ear that lets you open and close your mouth. The jaw joint is called the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ.
Symptoms and complications of a broken jaw can include:
Pain in the face or jaw, located in front of the ear on the affected side, and gets worse with movement
-
Bruising, swelling, and tenderness along your jaw or below your ear
-
Bleeding from the mouth
-
Airway blockage
-
Breathing blood or food into the lungs
-
Jaw joint (TMJ) pain and other problems
-
Your jaw is deformed, crooked, or shifted out of its normal midline position
-
You have a painful lump in your jaw or below your ear
-
Jaw tenderness or pain, especially when chewing or biting
-
The feeling that your teeth don’t fit together properly or that your bite is “off” (“malocclusion”)
-
Improperly aligned teeth
-
Missing or loose teeth
-
Difficulty opening your mouth widely
-
Numbness in your lower lip or chin resulting from nerve damage
-
Very limited movement of the jaw (with a severe fracture)
-
Drooling because of the inability to close the mouth
If you have been injured in an automobile accident or other accident, or suffered a blow to the jaw the results in severe pain, it is important that you seek immediate medical treatment. To diagnose a jaw fracture, the doctor will conduct a physical examination of the area and take standard X-rays of your jaw. Sometimes the doctor will order a special dental panoramic X-ray (Panorex), and in some cases, especially for fractures near the TMJ, a CT scan may be ordered. A potential but very serious consequence of jaw fractures is a problem breathing due to loss of support to the tongue. If you have any signs of breathing problems, you should get immediate medical attention by dialing 911 to summon the paramedics.
In more than half the cases of jaw fracture, the jaw breaks in two places: a “direct” fracture where the jaw was hit, and an “indirect” fracture somewhere else along the opposite side of the jaw. This second fracture is usually near one of the ends of the jawbone, close to the jaw joint (TMJ). The second fracture occurs when the force of impact travels upward along the jaw and snaps the relatively thin part of the jawbone just below the ear.
If you have been subject to that degree of trauma that was forceful enough to break your jaw, you must also be evaluated by the medical doctors to determine whether you have suffered any injuries to your spine in the neck area (your “cervical vertebrae”) or whether you suffered a concussion or have bleeding within the skull. X-rays should be taken of your upper spine to diagnose whether or not you have suffered a fracture of a cervical vertebra. Sometimes a fracture goes through a tooth or its socket (an “open fracture”) creating an opening into the mouth, which requires immediate treatment with antibiotics to prevent it from becoming infected with oral bacterial.
The specific treatment for a broken jaw depends on how badly broken the bone is. If you have only a minor fracture, you may only need pain medications and to follow a soft or liquid diet for a while. Surgery is often needed for moderate to severe fractures. To stabilize the broken lower jaw, it may be wired to the upper jaw. This may last six to eight weeks, depending on the rate the person heals. During this time, the broken-jaw victim is only able to drink liquids through a straw. Small rubber bands are used to hold the teeth together for a few weeks, at which time they are removed to allow some motion and reduce joint stiffness.
Alternatively, depending on the nature and extent of the fracture, the doctor may surgically repair the broken jaw with a metal plate that is screwed into the bone on each side of the fracture. If a metal plate is used, the jaw is immobilized for only a few days, after which the victim should eat only soft food for several weeks. If fragments of bone have pierced the skin or if teeth were lost or loosened, the doctor will probably prescribe an antibiotic to reduce the risk of infection.
A person whose jaw has been wired shut should have metal cutters readily available to cut the wire in the event of vomiting or choking. If the wires must be cut, you should consult your doctor promptly so they can be replaced. You should call your doctor if you develop a high temperature, experience a severe headache, lose feeling in your face, have severe pain that will not go away despite the use of painkillers, or if the wires or splints become loose. You should seek immediate emergency health care if you have difficulty breathing.
If you have suffered a broken jaw, with proper and prompt medical care the jaw should heal in about two months. However, where there are several fractures or the person heals poorly, long-term complications can include facial deformity, long-lasting facial pain, or pain or limitation of the movement at the jaw joint and a bad bite.
A dislocated jaw means the lower jawbone (the mandible) has moved out of its normal position at one or both joints where the jawbone connects to the skull (the TMJ). When a person presents with a dislocated jaw, the doctor may be able to place it back to the correct position using the thumbs. Numbing medications (anesthetics) may be required to relax the strong jaw muscles. The jaw may need to be stabilized. This usually involves bandaging the jaw to keep the mouth from opening widely. In some cases, surgery may be needed to repair a dislocated jaw, particularly where the person suffers from repeated jaw dislocations occur.
If you have been injured in an accident and suffered a broken jaw, you should contact an experienced personal injury law firm as soon as possible. It is also important to contact an experienced personal injury law firm promptly, as the law firm may want to send its own investigators to the scene of the accident to inspect and take pictures of the vehicles, the accident site, and any dangerous condition that caused or contributed to the accident, especially before there is a change in the condition of the area or vehicle. The attorney or his or her investigator will also want to talk to any witnesses to the accident as soon as possible while the facts are still fresh in their minds.
An experienced personal injury law firm can also help with seeing to it that you obtain appropriate and thorough medical care for your physical, emotional, and psychological injuries suffered as a result of the accident. The attorneys in the firm can also do everything possible to ensure that you obtain full compensation for your medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, property damage, lost wages, and all of your other injuries and damages.
Our Law Firm has experience in diligently representing clients who have been in accidents resulting in a broken jaw. We understand the physical, financial, and emotional toll a broken jaw can take on the injured victim and his or her family. We will work our hardest on your behalf to get you the maximum recovery possible.
Call now for a free consultation of your case: 858.909.9090
By admin
Jeffrey Althoff was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol was arrested yesterday when he struck and injured a man on a bicycle. The crash occurred on Balboa Avenue and the bicycle rider was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of head injuries.
The bicycle accident happened at 10:30 a.m. No further reports have been released. If you have been injured in a bicycle accident in San Diego, call now and talk to a lawyer for free. Don’t guess about your legal rights, let us fight for you.
By admin
Quadriplegia (now becoming more commonly known in medical jargon as “tetraplegia,” tetra meaning four in Greek, plegia coming from the Greek word for paralysis) is the most serious of all the spinal cord injuries and one of the most devastating injuries a person can sustain. Quadriplegia results from the fracture, dislocation, or compression of one or more of the seven cervical vertebrae that make up the top of the spine, causing severance of, compression of, or tears to the spinal cord itself.
The exact extent of a victim’s injury depends on how high up on the cervical vertebrae the fracture is. If the break is at the first (top), second, or third cervical vertebrae (“C-1,” “C-2,” or “C-3”), the injured victim will lose the ability to breathe on his or her own and will have to rely on artificial respiration to survive for the rest of his or her life. A person with a spinal cord injury at or above the C-3 level usually has no control over or feeling in any of his or her four limbs.
If the break is to the C-4 through C-6 vertebrae, in addition to being able to breathe without artificial help, the victim generally has varying degrees of use of his or her shoulders, biceps, and wrist, but no hand function. A fracture at the lowest of the cervical vertebrae (C-7) generally means that the injured victim will have some use of his or her arms, hands, and fingers, and trunk. Injury to the spinal cord at or below the C-7 level generally gives the injured victim functional independence akin to a paraplegic.
The damages in terms of financial costs for treating a quadriplegic are extensive, running into the millions of dollars. There are tremendous “economic damages,” including medical expenses, rehabilitation and physical therapy costs, the cost of around-the-clock caregivers, lost wages due the inability to return to a career or job, the loss of earning potential, the costs of education and retraining if the quadriplegic victim is able to do some work, modifying the house to accommodate a wheelchair, purchasing a special van or other vehicle to transport the quadriplegic, etc. Damages for so-called “non-economic damages” such as pain and suffering and “loss of enjoyment of life” are substantial.
The life span of a person who has been rendered quadriplegic is often shortened due to an impaired immunity system that leaves the quadriplegic victim more susceptible to infections and diseases. For instance, pneumonia is a leading cause of death among quadriplegic persons. Infections from bedsores (“decubitus ulcers”) are common in quadriplegics, explaining why it is so important that the quadriplegic victim be carefully monitored by his or her caregiver and turned frequently to prevent the development of bedsores. Untreated bedsores can result in deadly infections.
Besides the serious physical injuries, a person who suddenly and unexpectedly gets into an accident or otherwise is harmed by another person’s careless conduct that causes him or her to become a quadriplegic, the mental and emotional side of the injury must also be considered. The victim may go into despair and grieve for the life lost. The victim may become depressed, withdrawn, hopeless, even suicidal. The mental health aspects of becoming a quadriplegic are serious and require appropriate psychotherapy and even psychoactive medications.
Slaughter & Slaughter has experience in diligently representing clients who have been rendered quadriplegic due to the careless conduct (“negligence”) of another person, a company, or a defective product. We understand the physical, financial, and emotional toll quadriplegia takes on the injured victim and his or her family. We will work hard on your behalf to get you the maximum recovery possible to help you to adjust to your new living requirements.
