Los Angeles Injury Attorney Blog

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has for decades been recognized as the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. In the last several years however, the excitement has come at the cost of one death and close to a dozen others injured in "stampede" type rushes for mass discounts and loss leader sales. This past Black Friday, a 32-year-old Tennessee woman suffered a fractured leg after a stampede when the doors opened at midnight at a Toys "R" Us store. The woman had been standing in line since 8 p.m. Thanksgiving evening outside of the store until it opened at midnight. Authorities estimated about 100 people were crowded outside the store before it opened. When the doors opened, a standoff occurred between those standing in line and group of line-cutters. The woman ultimately suffered a fractured leg in the rush to get inside the store.

While many stores hired extra security to monitor Black Friday lines and keep crowds under control, this particular Toys "R" Us, located on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard in Clarksville, Tennessee, did not. This is not the first incident involving injury during a Black Friday sale, and it is unfortunate that Toys "R" Us did not hire extra security to manage crowds that could have prevented the woman's injuries.

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An Illinois man and his teenage daughter have been awarded a $6 million settlement for serious injuries they sustained in a motorcycle accident near Chicago in 2006. According to reports in the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Wright was riding his motorcycle with his 15-year-old daughter in Joliet, Illinois, when they were struck by a Chevrolet truck turning left at a stop sign. Both Richard and his daughter suffered multiple fractured bones and other injuries that required surgery.

The $6 million settlement was reached three years later for both Richard and his daughter's injuries. The award was a record motorcycle accident personal injury settlement for Will County, Illinois.

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Timothy Howard, 48, a former middle school administrator from Valencia, went to his doctor in October 2007 with intermittent blindness in his right eye. His primary doctor referred him to an ophthalmologist, who found no abnormalities. For several weeks, Howard continued having vision symptoms, as well as headaches and pain in his neck. On thanksgiving evening two years ago, Howard experienced complete vision lost in his left eye. Howard went to Urgent Care, where a doctor diagnosed him with an ocular migraine, but agreed to run a CT scan. While waiting for the results of the scan, Howard suffered a stroke. Doctors at the emergency room diagnosed a carotid tear (dissection) as the cause of the stroke. Last week arbitrators ruled that Kaiser Permanente will pay Howard $5 million for the misdiagnosis.

According to a suit filed by Howard, Kaiser physicians did not properly diagnose the cause of Howard's episodic blindness, headaches and other symptoms. Instead of diagnosing Howard's tear in the carotid artery, physicians said Howard had a migraine. After Howard's stroke two years ago, an infection related to his treatment resulted in both of Howard's legs being amputated. Howard has no use of his left arm and has left-sided weakness. He has not been able to return to work since the stroke and is wheelchair bound.

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Today, the Los Angeles Times reported that Toyota Motorcorp will either reconfigure or replace more than 3.8 million gas pedals on Toyota and Lexus vehicles included in a recall announced on September 29, 2009. Toyota initially believed the floor mats in these vehicles could cause the accelerator gas pedal to become "stuck", causing the vehicles to accelerate suddenly.

Beginning in January 2010, Toyota and Lexus owners will be able to take their car to a local dealer for gas pedal reconfiguration or replacement. In some of the vehicles, specifically the Lexus ES 350, Toyota Camry and Toyota Avalon, the shape of the floor surface will also be reconfigured to make additional space between the gas pedal and the floor. Additionally on the Toyota Camry, Toyota Avalon, Lexus ES 350, Lexus IS 350 and Lexus IS 250, Toyota Motor Corp will install a brake override system to cut engine power when the gas pedal and brake pedal are applied simultaneously.

The recalled vehicles include 2007-2010 Toyota Camry, the 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, the 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, the 2005-2010 Tacoma, the 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, the 2007-2010 Lexus ES 350 and the 2006-2010 Lexus IS 250 and IS 350. Toyota and Lexus owners are still strongly advised to take out any driver's floor mat and not replace until repairs and reconfigurations have been made. In a statement, Toyota said, "The safety of our owners and the public is our utmost concern and Toyota has and will continue to thoroughly investigate and take appropriate measures to address any defect trends that are identified." According to the LA Times, an Edmunds.com analyst said the gas pedal modifications proposed by Toyota were "viable solutions."

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Federal regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced today that Toyota would recall 110,000 Tundra Trucks from model years 2000 through 2003. The recall only affects vehicles registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

These states use chemical de-icer agents such as road salts to treat roadways and highways during the winter. The salts can cause corrosion to the frame of the truck that can cause damage to the brake system, which could lead to brake failure. Owners of recalled vehicles will be contacted to bring their trucks to a local dealer will the frame will either be replaced, repaired, or a rust-resistant compound will be applied.

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Hospital officials at Glendale Adventist Medical Center said this week that 10 patients received three to four times normal radiation exposure during brain CT scans at the hospital. The hospital claims to have notified all 10 patients who were overexposed. One patient suffered hair loss as a result, a hospital spokesman told the Glendale News.

Since it was discovered in October that about 260 patients were exposed to 8x radiation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, California Department of Public Health officials began auditing CT procedures at hospitals. A General Electric technician has since helped reprogram the CT scanner at the Glendale hospital. The scanner at Glendale Adventist was a less powerful model than the one used at Cedars-Sinai, and only exposed patients to 3-4 times the normal radiation.

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A sports utility vehicle crashed into the rear of a parked big-rig early Sunday on the 210 Freeway about 20 miles north of Los Angeles in Sunland, killing three people, authorities reported. The 2007 GMC SUV, which was towing a trailer, burst into flames following the collision, which killed a 41-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy. A passing motorist Good Samaritan helped pull out a 9-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy. The crash occurred at about 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

The cause of this accident is under investigation. The California Highway Patrol reported there were no skid marks leading up to the collision, indicating the driver did not hit the brakes before the crash occurred. The two surviving children were taken to Children's Hospital Los Angeles in fair condition. The 73-year-old driver of the big rig was also hospitalized.

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