Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer - Wrongful Death

Entertainer Impaled by Gate Operated by Indian Wells, Widow Sues City

Paul Kiesel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:30:46 GMT

A trial date for a case involving the death of a local entertainer is expected to be set by the end of the year, officials said.

Victor Leon, 63, of Palm Desert died Jan. 12 after he was impaled by a gate that pierced his car as he was driving through Indian Wells.

Leon was executive producer of Musical Chairs, a local tribute concert series featuring music by great American songwriters.

The incident occurred at the corner of Miles Avenue and Highway 111, near the construction site for the Indian Wells Crossing project.

Leon's wife, Elizabeth Leon, filed a lawsuit June 15 against the city of Indian Wells, the Coachella Valley Water District and two Illinois-based companies — Miles Lodge LLC and Jerson Investments LLC, demanding a jury trial.

A court hearing for the case was scheduled Oct. 7, but was canceled.

The next hearing date is set for Dec. 14, where it is expected that the judge will set the trial date, said Paul R. Kiesel, the Los Angeles-based attorney representing Elizabeth Leon.

“The investigation is ongoing to determine why this tragedy happened,” Kiesel said.

Miles Lodge LLC and Jerson Investments LLC are listed as owners of the property where the gate was, Kiesel said Friday.

Indian Wells and CVWD, however, had a legal easement that allowed employees to have access to and control of the area as well, he added.

According to court documents, the listed defendants “negligently designed, installed, maintained, controlled and operated the gate” that subsequently swung out into Miles Avenue, impaling Victor Leon.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Metrolink Settles Most Cases from 2005 Glendale Train Crash

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:33:29 GMT

From the Los Angeles Times:

After years of legal wrangling, Metrolink has settled most of the outstanding lawsuits arising from the 2005 Glendale crash that killed 11 people and injured about 180, the second-deadliest in Metrolink’s history, attorneys said.

Metrolink has agreed to pay $30 million to settle the majority of the approximately 150 claims and lawsuits filed against Metrolink, according to the lead plaintiff's attorney.

The remaining cases are expected to be resolved in the next month, plaintiffs’ attorneys said.

Any cases that are not settled are scheduled to go to trial in January.

Metrolink could not immediately be reached for comment.

A claims report in a July agenda for Metrolink’s board said it would be paying $3,901,500 in seven recently resolved lawsuits. Most of the cases involving serious injuries and fatalities were settled in a flurry of mediation talks in the last six months, attorneys said.

Plaintiffs' attorneys said Metrolink showed little interest in settling the larger cases until this April, more than four years after the Jan. 26, 2005, incident, which was the most severe in its history until last year’s Chatsworth crash.

“There was a sea change in attitude,” said Jerry Ringler, the lead plaintiff’s attorney, said in a recent interview. “I think we developed liability theories that were extremely powerful.”

In the 2005 crash, a Compton laborer parked his Jeep Grand Cherokee on the tracks and doused the interior with gasoline in what he later claimed was a suicide attempt.

A three-car southbound train, which was being pushed by a locomotive, slammed into the car, skidded down the tracks, then derailed. The lead passenger car crashed into an idle freight train, jackknifed and collided into a passenger train going the opposite direction on its way to Burbank.

“Thus far, we believe the Glendale settlements have been fair and reasonable given that Juan Alvarez, who parked his jeep on the Metrolink right-of-way, has been subsequently convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder,” Ringler said in a statement released today.

Click here for the rest of the article.

And click here to read archived blogs related to Metrolink.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Metrolink Still Struggling with Saftey Improvements

Paul Kiesel — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:18:10 GMT

From the Los Angeles Times:

As the anniversary of the Sept. 12 Chatsworth train disaster approaches, officials with Southern California's sprawling commuter rail service are facing a vexing array of technical, financial and potential legal challenges as they struggle to deliver on pledges of trailblazing safety reforms.

A burst of energy to remake the region's Metrolink train operation was unleashed by the deadliest rail collision in modern California history, a watershed event that killed 25, injured 130 and prompted landmark federal mandates to modernize the nation's rail safety systems.

Today, the rush to reform Metrolink -- a thinly staffed hybrid transportation agency once derided as the political stepchild of the five counties that created it -- is becoming increasingly costly, time-consuming and complicated.

Labor leaders are digging in to fight an unprecedented push by agency officials to place locomotive train crews under continuous video surveillance.

Technical and financial challenges loom over an ambitious schedule to a deploy a $200-million collision-avoidance network for all commuter, freight and intercity trains moving across hundreds of miles of track.

Meanwhile, Metrolink officials have reversed course on an effort to assume direct control over hiring, training and supervising rail crews, a move prompted partly by disclosures that in Chatsworth, an engineer employed by a contractor apparently ran a red light while sending a text message on his cellphone just before colliding head-on with a freight train.

Fearing that trying to manage on-board train crews could overtax staff and trigger thorny labor issues, Metrolink's board of directors opted to farm out the critical function again, this time to Amtrak.

Compounding financial strains, ridership has been sliding since the crash, largely because of lower gas prices and the recession. Fare revenues dropped $1.4 million below estimates in the last quarter alone.

And operating insurance premiums recently surged $1 million above estimates because of Metrolink's accident history over the last decade, averaging one potentially catastrophic liability payout every two years, records show.

Although no major wrecks have occurred since Chatsworth, smaller accidents involving cars and pedestrians are running about the same this year as last -- 3.25 and 3.4 per month, respectively, the agency says.

But a rash of incidents leading up to this week's memorial observances has served as a reminder of the risks Metrolink confronts in its heavily urban mixed-rail environment.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Washington Metro Accident Will Prove Costly for Everyone Involved

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:48:48 GMT

From Bloomberg News:

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc. and insurers at Lloyd’s of London are among firms that may face a combined total of more than $100 million in claims tied to the Washington Metro crash that killed nine people last month.

The costs to the pool of insurers, which also includes Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd. and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will depend on estimates of medical care, loss of expected lifetime earnings and the degree of negligence by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

The cost “will easily exceed $100 million,” said Peter Grenier, a lawyer at Washington-based Bode & Grenier LLP, who negotiated a $2.3 million settlement for a man who lost his wife when she was struck by a Metro bus in 2007.

The train accident may weigh on results at insurers after investment declines and falling rates pressured the firms. U.S. property and casualty carriers posted a record $1.3 billion first-quarter loss, compared with profit of $8.5 billion a year earlier, according to Insurance Services Office Inc.

The June 22 Metro accident, the deadliest in the city’s history, occurred when one train, operated by a computerized system, collided into another, National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said June 23 in a press conference.

It was the worst U.S. commuter crash since an incident last September in Southern California involving a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific Corp. freight train. The Metrolink operator and 24 passengers died.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Lax Oversight Forces Metrolink to Hire Own Crews

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:41:52 GMT

From the Los Angeles Times:

In the latest fallout from last year's Metrolink disaster, the Southern California commuter rail agency could begin directly hiring and managing its engineers and conductors next year, taking full responsibility for key tasks historically delegated to outside contractors.

The move, which officials say appears likely, comes after Metrolink's relationship with the current provider of train crews, Connex Railroad, was soured by allegations of lax oversight. The company recently gave formal notice that it does not plan to extend its operating agreement.

The Metrolink board first raised the prospect of ending the agreement after the Chatsworth collision with a freight train, which killed 25 and injured 135.

Assuming direct control of train crews would mark a major change for Metrolink, a 17-year-old, five-county public agency that grew rapidly by relying largely on private firms for everything from maintaining rail cars to fixing signals.

But the mood shifted after the Chatsworth catastrophe, in which a Connex engineer who had been text-messaging on his cellphone drove Metrolink 111 head-on into a Union Pacific freight train. The Sept. 12 accident, which federal investigators say came after the Connex engineer ran a red light, has set off what could be one of costliest railroad liability court battles on record.

It also prompted disclosures that, in violation of safety regulations, the engineer sent and received hundreds of text messages while on duty in the days before the collision. Robert M. Sanchez, who died in the crash, also sneaked young rail enthusiasts into the control cabs of passenger trains for ride-alongs, investigators found. Metrolink ordered the removal of two company managers after the disclosures.

Connex has defended its safety and supervision record, saying it has an intensive field testing program that exceeds industry standards. In a recent letter...

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

AP: Californians' Access to Emergency Healthcare in Jeopardy

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:49:21 GMT

From the Associated Press:

A coalition of emergency doctors took the state to court Tuesday over low reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal patients.

In a lawsuit filed against the California Department of Health Care Services, doctors said Medi-Cal payments have remained low during the past 17 years while the cost of providing care has nearly doubled.

The physicians also complained that the number of uninsured and underinsured patients has become untenable due to the closure of 85 hospitals and 55 emergency rooms in the past decade.

In 2007 alone, they provided $100 million in unpaid services, according to the lawsuit.

"The entire emergency room system in the state of California is on its last breath," said Raymond Boucher, a lawyer for the doctors. "If somebody doesn't immediately come in and provide a lifeline to these emergency rooms, too many of them will continue to close."

The Department of Health Care Services declined comment on the lawsuit, but in a statement said it supports health care reform in California that would benefit patients and physicians.

The suit seeking class action status was filed in Superior Court on behalf of five groups that Boucher said are top providers of emergency care in the state: Centinela Freeman Emergency Medical Associates, Valley Presbyterian Emergency Medical Associates, Valley Emergency Medical Associates, Sutter Emergency Medical Associates and Valley Emergency Physicians Medical Group.

Under state law, emergency care must be provided to all patients regardless of ability to pay. Doctors have long complained that the state has required them to provide care without providing necessary financial support.

The lawsuit calls for restitution, unspecified damages and an order protecting the right of emergency room doctors to be "justly compensated."

A doctor involved in the lawsuit, Dr. Irv Edwards, works as an emergency room physician in five hospitals, including Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center. Patients have flooded the emergency room there since the closure of three nearby hospitals, he said.

"Most of us went into this specialty with the positive feeling that we'd like to take good care of our patients, and we've seen a steady erosion of our ability to take good care of patients," said Edwards.

In a national study published last month, the American College of Emergency Physicians ranked California last in access to emergency care, taking into account the number of emergency physicians in the state, percentage of doctors who accept public health insurance and the number of hospital closures.

The study also found that California has 7.1 emergency departments for every one million residents, compared to a national average of 19.9.

Dr. Dev GnanaDev, president of the California Medical Association, praised the lawsuit, saying doctors "can't continue to subsidize the state of California forever."

The trade association was able to secure an injunction last year against a proposed 10 percent cut to Medi-Cal rates.

"I think the emergency room is just the tip of the iceberg," GnanaDev said. "They are on the front line but every on-call doctor has the same problem."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

California's Overstressed Emergency Healthcare System on the Verge of Collapse

Paul Kiesel — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:16:44 GMT

Raymond Boucher of Kiesel Boucher Larson filed a lawsuit today, on behalf of emergency room doctors, against the State of California.

The complaint says that California's emergency healthcare system is in near shambles, and unless additional funding is received soon, the state should expect to see severe financial-related consequences throughout this sector of California's healthcare system, such as fewer available doctors, quality of care, and more people dying due to long waits in emergency rooms all across the state.

California's hospital closure rate and poor reimbursement rates to ER doctors places the state of California last in the country in access to emergency care and emergency room availability per capita, with only seven rooms per one million people. The reimbursement rate for California ER doctors ranks 43rd in the country.

From the Los Angeles Times' L.A. Now Blog:

Emergency room doctors filed a lawsuit today against the state, saying that California’s overstressed emergency healthcare system is on the verge of collapse unless they receive additional funding.

California has seen 85 hospital closures in the last decade. An additional 55 facilities have shut down emergency rooms. The state now ranks last in the country in access to emergency care and is last in emergency rooms per capita with only seven per 1 million people. The national average is 20 emergency rooms per 1 million people.

“Patients are suffering every day,” said Irv Edwards, one of the doctors represented in the lawsuit and president of Emergent Medical Associates, which staffs 12 emergency rooms in Southern California. “There are emergency rooms throughout the state where people, we believe, have died. Some have died in the lobby before they were seen. Some have died shortly after being placed in a bed after having waited in the lobby for hours. Are people truly suffering consequences? Absolutely.”

Emergency room physicians say they have been particularly hard hit by the state’s fiscal problems. Unlike other doctors, who can choose not to accept Medi-Cal patients, emergency rooms cannot deny treatment. They provide care for these patients but are reimbursed at rates they say are half the cost of the treatment. California’s reimbursement rate ranks 43rd in the country, state officials said.

“As we go forward, these emergency room doctors, they can’t any longer take on the financial burden of the state’s obligation to its poor and to its elderly,” said attorney Raymond Boucher, who filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court today. “This isn’t a joke. This isn’t just a power play. They are on life support.”

Emergency room doctors statewide believe they subsidized more than $100 million in services provided to Medi-Cal patients in 2007 alone, according to the lawsuit.

Tony Cava, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Care Services, declined to comment on the lawsuit until the state has been served with the papers. However, he acknowledged the low reimbursement rate and said more budget cuts may be on the horizon.

A budget proposal calls for cutting an additional $1.1 billion from Medi-Cal by decreasing eligibility and eliminating some optional benefits. Reimbursement rates for doctors also are scheduled to be reduced an additional 1% to 5% on March 1.

Besides overcrowding and threatened quality of care, Edwards said he was also seeing a flight of medical school graduates out of California and a graying of the ranks of emergency room doctors.
“Ever increasingly, I’m hearing the story, ‘I’d love to stay and I love California, but I can’t afford to live here any longer,’ ” Edwards said. “They say, ‘Reimbursement is not competitive with what I’d get in other states, not to mention I can buy a house there for a quarter of the price of a California home.’ ”
Most medical school graduates carry $250,000 to $300,000 in debt and they cannot afford to stay, he said.

“I’m seeing an exodus of providers of emergency medicine and ... a graying of our specialty,” he said. “Fewer and fewer young doctors are wishing to practice in California.”

-- Kimi Yoshino

From the O.C. Register:

BY COURTNEY PERKES

A group of emergency room doctors sued the state Tuesday, saying rates paid by Medi-Cal are too low and ultimately mean longer waits and diminished care for everyone.

The class action lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names the California Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal, the insurance program for low-income families. It alleges that ER doctors subsidized state Medi-Cal with more than $100 million in care in 2007.

State officials declined to comment, saying they had not yet been served.

"We treat the uninsured and collect nothing and we treat Medi-Cal patients and collect what little we can, which doesn't cover the cost of services," said Dr. Irv Edwards, founder of Emergent Medical Associates, which staffs emergency departments at Huntington Beach Hospital and La Palma Intercommunity. "We are truly struggling or sinking in our efforts to provide quality emergency services to our patients."

Edwards said those shortfalls in payment mean longer waits and fewer specialists who are willing to be on call for insured and uninsured patients.

"You could be traveling through a nice community and be in a freeway accident and taken to the ER and there's no on-call orthopedist," Edwards said.

According to the latest report from the Orange County Health Needs Assessment, Orange County residents made 566,311 visits to local emergency rooms in 2007. Among them, nearly 16 percent were covered by Medi-Cal. Another 12 percent lacked any health insurance. Hospitals reported the data to the Office of Statewide Health and Planning Department

According to the report, uncompensated emergency care in the county totaled $240 million for the year. That figure does not include low reimbursements from Medi-Cal or Medicare. Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat anyone, regardless of ability to pay.

The suit says while California's population has grown in the past decade, 55 emergency departments have closed, straining those still open. The most recent Orange County ER closure was at Tustin Hospital in 2007.

The suit comes at a time when doctors are facing fewer options for reimbursement and California has a massive budget deficit.

Late last year, the California Medical Association unsuccessfully challenged new state regulations forbidding out-of-network hospitals and doctors from going after HMO patients for bills not covered by their health plan. They argued that so-called "balance billing" was necessary because insurers don't pay a fair rate.

Recently, the American College of Emergency Physicians issued a statement saying emergency rooms become more crucial during times of economic difficulty.

"When people lose their jobs or their health insurance, they go without preventive care and necessary medications, and depend on emergency physicians to treat them when their illnesses turn critical. Your stockbroker may not see you, but emergency physicians are always there when you need them, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year," the statement reads.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

President Bush, Wyeth v. Levine & Ethex's Morphine Sulfate: Consumers Beware!

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:15:07 GMT

As President Bush does his best to rewrite federal rules aimed at pre-empting product liability litigation (50 rules that would govern product-liability laws from motorcycle brakes to pain medicine, like Ethex's Morphine Sulfate that was recalled by the FDA twice this year), which would block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states, a Supreme Court case is being heard, Wyeth v. Levine, that could tip the scale in favor of "big-business" (Bush) or consumer protection laws (us).

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Wyeth, the defendant and manufacturer of a drug that caused the plaintiff, musician Diana Levine, to lose her right arm, Bush will be able to manipulate the language of these federal rules, aimed at state preemption laws, to make sure they stick around long after he's left the White House. If it the Court rules in favor of Levine, which is probable since she was already awarded $6 million from the physician whose decision of how Wyeth's drug was to be administered (IV push instead of IV drip method) caused Levine to develop gangrene and, subsequently, left her without a right arm, it's doubtful that Bush's new regulations will have a lasting impact past a year or two.

On top of this, Ethex, a subsidiary of KV Pharmaceutical, has recalled its generic drug Morphine Sulfate due to oversized tablets that can pose life-threatening consequences. If Bush's laws go into effect next month or before January 20, 2009, and someone were to fall gravely ill or even die due to ingesting the drug (which the person probably thought was either a 15 mg, 30 mg or 60 mg tablet, when in fact it could have been as much as double the labeled level of active Morphine Sulfate), what can that person do to find a proper legal remedy? They will find it all the more difficult to pursue legal recourse due to Bush's wanton need to have his corporate buddies approve of him.

Former Bush domestic-policy adviser Jay Lefkowitz, whose been an instrumental force in these processes of taking away consumer rights, said that the president's philosophy is, "You can't ask companies to follow different standards." Because they're not smart enough?!

Lefkowitz's logic: The Bush Administration believes that corporations are too simple minded to follow both federal and state laws, particularly when it comes to consumer products or protection, therefore, consumers are now fortunate enough to have the burden of protecting themselves against drugs, like Ethex's Morphine Sulfate, be placed on them.

Now, how could any person who's been prescribed Ethex Morphine Sulfate know the difference between an actual 60 mg tablet (size) and one that is oversized (essentially 120 mg-sized), unless Ethex made a 120 mg tablet (which it does not) and had the latter-sized table right next to him or her. Consumers trust that the FDA will impose regulations on drug manufacturers, that physicians will follow how drugs are to be administered or prescribed, and if manufacturers and physicians fail to follow these FDA rules, a consumer can and should be able to seek the appropriate legal recourse for the distresses (physical and emotional) he or she suffered.

If only January 20, 2009 were tomorrow...

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

NTSB Updates Annual "Wish" List of Safety Recommendations

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:39:21 GMT

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES—The National Transportation Safety Board has removed worker fatigue and the use of positive train control from its annual "most wanted" list of safety recommendations to federal agencies.

Tuesday's decision comes after Congress, responding to last month's deadly train crash in Los Angeles, passed a railroad safety bill that was signed into law by President Bush. The law will require more rest for workers and the installation of positive train control technology that can stop a train in its tracks if it's headed for a collision.

For nearly two decades, NTSB officials pushed for widespread use of this technology. Federal officials have said it would have prevented the Sept.12 crash that killed 25 people.

Board Chairman Mark Rosenker says he believes the new law will save many lives.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Metrolink Engineer Sent Text Message Seconds Before Crash

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:47:03 GMT

From NBC News: The engineer of a Metrolink commuter train sent a text message 22 seconds before the collision with a freight train in Los Angeles last month that killed 25 people, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said that cell phone records of Robert Sanchez show he received a text message a minute and 20 seconds before the crash, and sent one about a minute later.

Investigators are looking into whether Sanchez was distracted when he ran through a red signal and collided with a Union Pacific train Sept. 12 in suburban Chatsworth.

The records also showed that Sanchez sent 24 text messages and received 21 messages over a two-hour period during his morning shift. During his afternoon shift, he received seven and sent five messages from his cell phone.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel