In our daily lives, we are always prone to unexpected occurrences, for example, accidents in the roads and in public places. While a few may say, they are lucky to be left untouched by an incident, physically and emotionally, many of these accidents result to personal injuries varying from simple to severe, catastrophic to fatal.

Let us say you were in California and were involved in a car accident, you may suffer not only physical and emotional injuries but also damages to property. Likewise, you may also experience this if you fall victim to accidents in public and work places and even your very home!

Carelessness or malpractice of health/medical service provider, lawyers and other professional service providers can also result to inflicting you with injuries.

When you become a victim of a wrongful or negligent act committed by another person or entity and resulted to injuries and property damages, you have to assert for your rights to recover damages.

California based personal injury lawyers who are experts in handling claims will be your ally in this matter.

Evaluation of your personal injury claim

Your personal injury lawyer will review the facts of the case in order to determine whether it has been another person or entity's wrongful act, which caused your injuries and losses. He or she will assess whether you have the elements of a personal injury claim or not.

Wrongful conduct has three facets:

1. Negligence – this is the most usual starting point in recovering for injuries and losses caused by an accident. According to a rule of law in the principles of personal injury, individuals are liable for each of their careless acts.

2. Intentional misconduct – recovering for damages caused by intentional misconduct may come about when someone hurts you or damages your property intentionally.

3. Strict Liability – companies and individuals could be liable for damages based on the policies of strict liability if they committed activities that are dangerous and detrimental to the well-being of other persons. Conduct of bomb testing, manufacture of potentially dangerous or defective products is an example of circumstances involving strict liability.

The value of your personal injury claim

A highly skilled lawyer who has already attained quite a lengthy experience in handling personal injury claims can give you an estimation of what your claim would be worth. Here are the following compensations you may be entitled to receive:

- Medical treatment of injuries / continuous therapy for trauma
- Lost wages and future earnings if you will be unable to take up your old job in the aftermath of the injury
- Cost of replacing and repairing damaged properties

Other compensation that may given an estimation of monetary value:

- pain and suffering
- physical handicap or disfigurement
- embarrassment
- loss of enjoyment in life
- other such psychological injuries

Sources of compensation

The personal injury claim would not be worth it if the person who had been liable for the injuries sustained becomes unable to pay for the damages. The personal injury lawyer has the responsibility to identify the insurance and assets available that can compensate the damages caused by the injuries.

In processing personal injury law claims in California and elsewhere, it is the responsibility of the one filing the claim to provide sufficient proof of the liability of the defendant. Thus, the personal injury lawyer must be systematic and organized during the procedure of obtaining your medical records of your injuries, police reports of the accident, interviewing witnesses, and acquiring other pertinent information in proving the claim.

Settling your claim and recovering satisfactory compensation without having the case progress into a lawsuit is a successful enough feat for any injury attorney.

By: Carla C. Ballatan
Our Los Angeles personal injury claim attorneys are experts concerning the processing of clients' California personal injury claims.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) is one of the country’s oldest consumer protection agencies. The FDA’s purpose is to promote and protect the public’s health by trying to ensure that safe and effective products reach the market; to monitor products for continued safety after they are in use; and to help the public get accurate, science-based information regarding health issues. The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (“CDRH”), a division of the FDA, must approve a medical device before it can be marketed to the general public. The CDRH is responsible for testing and approving every medical device to ensure that it is both safe and effective. The CDRH may discover a defect that prevents approval. If the device is approved and a defect is then discovered, the FDA may request a voluntary recall by the manufacturer or issue a recall if the manufacturer refuses to comply.

Injury or loss may be caused by a medical device. An individual person who has been injured using a medical device may be able to sue the manufacturer, wholesaler, company or person that sold the product for damages. A lawsuit can be brought against any person or company that was involved in producing or distributing the medical device. There are three main categories in which evidence can be shown to prove a device is defective:

• Design defect-There is a flaw in the conceptual design of the device.
• Manufacturing defect-There is a specific defect which occurs during the manufacture of the device.
• Warning defect-The device is not accompanied by adequate or reasonable warning or there has been a failure to educate the consumer at to potential and latent dangers regarding the device.

In some cases, the manufacturer of a medical device will clearly inform the physician community about the risks of a device and it then becomes the obligation of the physician to communicate those risks to the patient.

These cases are subject to a statute of limitations which is the fixed period of time in which a person must file a claim. The statute of limitations usually begins when the patient’s illness or injury is discovered, rather than when the injury happened. If a manufacturer, wholesaler or company that produced or sold the device is found at fault, a court can order them to pay damages. Depending on the state where the injury occurred, the following damages may be allowable:

• Economic damages: Compensation for monetary losses such as past and future medical expenses, loss of past and future earnings, loss of employment or business opportunities.
• Non-economic damages: Compensation for subjective, non-monetary losses such as pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive damages: Damages awarded for the purpose of punishing a party for intentional or reckless behavior or actions motivated by malice.

By: Melissa Neiman, M.D., J.D.
http://www.mneiman.com
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE:

I am a Board certified neurosurgeon and licensed attorney authorized to practice medicine and law in Texas. During my fourteen year private practice of neurosurgery I was involved in medical malpractice litigation as a consultant, case reviewer, and expert witness. As a result of that experience I decided to become an attorney. Since completing law school I have been practicing law and using my medical background in numerous areas including, inter alia, medical malpractice and healthcare fraud. My combined medical and legal experience places me in a unique position to offer a wide range of medical-legal consultation to a variety of clients.

Being sued can be an unsettling and frightening experience. However, it you are not careful, it can be a haunting one, even when you win. That is because court records about the lawsuit are available to the public - and in many cases over the internet.

A search of court records, which is an increasingly common part of background checks for jobs or housing, can reveal details of a lawsuit that are embarrassing or unfairly prejudicial. California law provides some protections from being unfairly prejudiced by a civil suit that was dismissed or without merit, but you often need to be proactive in protecting your good name.

There are different rules for different types of cases and different rules for who is providing the information about you. This three part series will examine :
(1) how to seal information from a typical law suit,
(2) the special rules that apply to unlawful detainer actions (evictions), and
(3) what can and cannot be reported and by whom.


To understand how the records of a dismissed court case can cause haunt you consider the following scenario:

Jane, a software engineer, quit her job when she became uncomfortable with her employer over-billing clients. After she quit, Jane told the client about the over billing. Her former employer was infuriated and filed a lawsuit against Jane that claimed Jane defamed the company, stole company secrets and violated an agreement not to quit and compete against the employer. The court case was dismissed when the judge found the lawsuit was without merit.

Jane, who is now looking for a new job and is one of two finalists for a position with a local high-tech company. The company, which is concerned about protecting its technology secrets, performs a background check that searches surrounding counties for civil and criminal court cases. The company sees that Jane was recently sued by her former employer for stealing trade secrets. The company decides that Jane is not the best fit for the job. While Jane cannot prove it, she suspects that the record of the lawsuit cost her the job.

Jane could have eliminated the risk of being unfairly prejudiced if she was proactive and asked the court to seal the record of the dismissed lawsuit. California Court Rule 2.550 provides the constitutional standard and procedure a court will use when someone requests to seal a court record that would otherwise be public. Because of strong First Amendment support promoting public access to court records, sealing a record is an uphill battle.

California courts will use a balancing test in deciding whether or not to grant a request to seal a record. The court weighs the First Amendment right of public access to court records against any “overriding interests” that support sealing the record to determine if the request should be granted. While the Rules do not define what may qualify as an “overriding interest,” a person’s interest in housing or earning income definitely qualifies.

In the scenario above, Jane could have argued to the court that her “overriding interests” included protecting her ability to obtain a job and earn a living. Her argument would be strengthened because the claims in the dismissed lawsuit are taken very seriously by her prospective employers. The court would seal the record and prevent it from ever being disclosed if it found that the threat of potential harm to Jane’s career prospects outweighed the public’s interest in knowing about the dismissed lawsuit.

If you do not have the time or resources to petition a court to seal the record, you might be able to take advantage of special rules based on the nature of the case, or you may even be able to prevent a credit agency from reporting it. These options are discussed in part 2 and part 3 of this series on Keeping Old Law Suits From Haunting Your Future.

By: Mathew Higbee
By Mathew Higbee, the founder of RecordGone.com, a law firm that specializes in record clearing. Law clerk Melanie Bronny contributed to this article. court to seal the record.

Lemon laws are U.S. state laws that offer remedies to consumers for products such as boats, cars, computers, motorcycles, refrigerators, RVs, etc. that frequently fail to meet the set standards of quality and performance. These products are commonly referred to as “lemons”. There are both state and federal lemon laws that protect the interests of consumers. The rights afforded to consumers by lemon laws may exceed any warranties expressed in purchase contracts.

The California Lemon Law states that if a purchased vehicle turns out to be defective in the warranty period rendering it unfit for use or inflicts some serious injuries to the user, then the consumer has every right to ask for refund or replacement.

If you purchase or lease a vehicle in California and then discover that it has defects that substantially affect its safety, use or value, California State Lemon Law may help you gain satisfaction from the vehicle's manufacturer. Under the California Lemon Law, new cars, leased cars, pre-owned cars, RV's, motor homes, motorcycles, boats and other consumer vehicles qualify for protection if they were accompanied by a written warranty. While the law cannot help everyone with a "lemon", and some people may have to hire an attorney to get their cases resolved, the law does create important rights for the consumers.

Circumstances in which the consumers seek protection under California Lemon Law:

The defect of the product is a manufacturing defect
The vehicle has been repaired at least four times and still the defect persists.
The defect is detected but not repaired within the period of 18 months or 18,000 miles.

There are several steps that the consumer must take to effectively use the lemon laws of California State. (1) Keep a detailed repair record, complete with dates of the repair attempts, when the vehicle was out of service, and a list that explains exactly what the trouble is, such as "cutting off" or "stalling"; (2) send a certified, return receipt requested letter to the manufacturer's consumer relations office and the manufacturer's nearest regional office listed in your manual; (3) after you have followed the previous steps and met the criteria as defined by your state's lemon law, request a refund or replacement, less depreciation, of the vehicle.

Differing from some laws in other states, the California Lemon Law allows unsatisfied car buyers to sell the defective vehicle, or to trade it in for a different automobile. To preserve the consumer rights outlined in the California Lemon Law, vehicles with warranty defects offered for sale must be accompanied by a written disclosure that declares the owner is aware of the automobiles defects (a written statement from a professional inspector is better), and the vehicle's manufacturer needs to be notified of the unsatisfied buyer's intention of sale or trade.

By: Ronaldo Wagh
Visit http://www.LemonLawAmerica.com for more information on State Lemon Laws and consumer protection tips from the well experienced attorney’s.