As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco’s Superior Court is facing the same budgetary issues that the entire judiciary is facing in California and it’s impacting access to justice.

Since 2008, San Francisco courts have cut staff by 31% and closed eleven civil courts. And all of those cuts took place prior to the budgetary shortfall that is now facing state legislatures. The state is now considering an additional $544 million additional cuts to state courts, which will only aggravate the problems brought on by the lack of courts and court staff.

What this will mean for individuals, and as the San Francisco paper points out, it is creating a two-tier justice system – one full of lengthy delays, a lack of resources, and postponed trial dates. And another system where arbitration is utilized far more extensively, which tends to favor corporate defendants and repeat players.

And as more and more courts close and budgets are cut, parties in personal injury actions or any type of litigation will find it harder and harder to have their day in court, so to speak.

The specific fear among San Francisco injury attorneys, and personal injury attorneys throughout the state, is that trials may be pushed out far in excess of our current fast-track deadlines.

And this will in turn cause settlement to become more and more difficult. In other words, if a case is set for trial three years from a given date, what incentive does the defense have in settling the claim in a reasonable time and manner?

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), personal injury concerns have prompted a voluntary recall by multiple retailers of crib tents and yard tents manufactured by Tots in Mind, Inc.

There have been 27 product failures involve these cribs and tents including one causing the death of a two year old boy and one serious personal injury accident. The company, Tots in Mind, Inc. is no longer in business and has ceased all sales of its products.

The risk is that the tents may malfunction causing a child to be entrapped or suffer strangulation. In 2007 for instance, a young boy suffered a traumatic brain injury when a crib tent inverted and the boy was trapped under it at the neck.

Consumers who have purchased these products, pictured above and to the right, should contact their  retailer for the store’s return policy.

Retail stores that sold the tents and cribs are numerous but included Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby, Burlington Coat Factory, Toys R Us/Babies R Us, Walmart and online on websites including Amazon.com, for between $60 and $85.

Here are the websites or phone numbers of the retailers listed above:
•    Amazon.com [Amazon.com]
•    Bed Bath & Beyond / Buy Buy Baby [bedbathandbeyond.com or buybuybaby.com or (800) GOBEYOND]
•    Burlington Coat Factory [burlingtoncoatfactory.com or (888) 223-2628]
•    Toys R Us/Babies R Us [toysrus.com or babiesrus.com or (800) 869-7787]
•    Walmart [walmartstores.com or (800) 925-6278]

For additional information please visit the CPSC website.

As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, a Dublin man was killed when he was hit by a driver while riding or walking his bicycle on Dougherty Road.

According to the San Francisco paper, the accident took place around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Witnesses reported that the man was hit by a dark colored Mercedes, either 2010 or 2011. The driver of the Mercedes did not stop.

If you have any information or knowledge of this accident please contact Sgt. Yesenia Sanchez with the Dublin Police at 925.833-6682.

In San Francisco we’re known for being a little fruity from time to time. However, we take claims by corporations very seriously.

And so a federal judge in San Francisco as allowed a lawsuit against General Mills to go forward claiming that the company mislead millions by claiming that its fruit roll-ups are made with real fruit. The ingredients of the sugary snack include many things but not real fruit. The lawsuit asserts that the company’s advertising leads consumers to believe that the snack is healthier than it really is.

And the plaintiff’s lawsuit in this case is no joke. This is only one of many suits pending across the country against food companies claiming that their products are healthier than they really are.

Recently, an Italian company was forced to set aside $3 million in order to resolve a lawsuit brought in the US by a woman in San Diego for claiming that its Nutella chocolate spread was part of a healthy and balanced breakfast.

The case is Lam v. General Mills Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 11-05056.

According to U.S. Medicine, San Francisco researchers with the San Francisco VA have been looking at the possible link between mild traumatic brain injury and dementia later in life.

A strong consensus in the medical community exists for the link between the most severe form of head injury – traumatic brain injury or TBI. However, the evidence for the same link regarding MTBI was not so great, according to reports.

So, researchers and epidemiologist Deborah Barnes at the San Francisco VA decided to take a closer look. Their objective was to examine diagnoses of TBI and determine or quantify the risk associated with dementia.

The team looked at 281,540 veterans over the age of 55 who received care between 1997 and 2000. What the team found was that the risk of dementia for vets who had suffered a TBI in the past was double, as compared to those who had not suffered a traumatic brain injury. And for those who suffered a MTBI – mild traumatic brain injury – the risk was less but still greater than the non-TBI patients.

According to the researchers, there are still more questions that need to be answered and more research that needs to be done.

But what is very clear is the link between TBI and dementia later in life and a greater risk of dementia even with a patient suffers a mild traumatic injury or MTBI.

Our Brain Injury Information page, that presents data regarding both traumatic brain injury (TBI) and mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), has been updated.

This update mostly includes new information regarding concussions or mild traumatic brain injury.

Because of the serious nature of this injury and the vast number of individuals across the country impacted by traumatic brain injury, we will be dedicated posts every week all summer to this condition.

Who is at risks for traumatic brain injury (both TBI and MTBI)? Who are these injuries impacting the most? What are the costs associated with traumatic brain injury? What new treatments are being developed? What are the symptoms of MTBI or TBI? All of these, are just a few of the issues that will be covered here on Legal Blog in posts and videos in the weeks and months to come.

In the meantime, check out our updated Brain Injury Resource and Information Page.

As a personal injury attorney in San Francisco I’ve sat in numerous depositions wondering – OMG! what is this $%#@!! going to ask next. And I’m positive I’m not alone.

Well, that may be coming to an end soon and thanks to a new bill that has just been approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The bill is AB 1875 and is supported by Consumer Attorneys of California. What the bill does is limit the amount of time that someone can be deposed in a lawsuit.

AB 1875 places a limit of seven hours over the course of one day on the amount of time anyone can be deposed in a lawsuit, which is the current standard in federal court. And if either side needs more time, they have the right to request an extension from the court. The bill made it through the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7-3.

The inspiration for AB 1875 came, in part, from the story of a personal injury victim who suffered from asbestos-related cancer. The plaintiff, or injury victim, in the case was made to suffer through 22 days of deposition by the defendants. And before they had even concluded with their exhaustive questioning, the plaintiff died from his illness and injury. The wife of the victim conveyed this story in testimony before the Judiciary Committee in support of the bill.

The California Chamber of Commerce is opposed to AB 1875 as are many corporate groups. Their opposition is misplaced, however. Reasonable limits on depositions do not prevent access to justice, they support it. An injury victim does not open their entire life to scrutiny due to a personal injury lawsuit nor should they be forced to.

AB 1875 is reasonable and a common sense approach that is already adopted by our federal courts; we should all support it.

With the backdrop of an epidemic of accidental deaths and addiction to pain killers, the U.S. Senate has launched an investigation into the makers of narcotic pain medications and the groups that promote them.

Last December ProPublica issues a report that focused on this epidemic and the group American Pain Foundation. The allegation by many, according to ProPublica, is that groups like American Pain Foundation are downplaying the risks associated with opioid painkillers.

American Pain Foundation promotes itself as the nations largest organization for pain patients. It announced on Tuesday that it would “cease to exist, effective immediately.” It is unknown if this announcement was related to the Senate investigation.

Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa chair the committee that is heading the investigation.

The Senators wrote in a letter to the foundation and drug companies noting “an epidemic of accidental deaths and addiction resulting from the increased sale and use of powerful narcotic painkillers,” which includes drugs like Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Opana is currently taking place in the country.

The Senators also stated that the makers of these drugs may be partially responsible for this epidemic by “promoting misleading information about the drugs’ safety and effectiveness.” In 2007, Purdue Pharma – the maker of Oxycontin – plead guilty to criminal charges that it mislead regulators, physicians and consumers about Oxycontin’s risk of addiction, according to ProPublica.

So far the Senators are looking at payment information from 1997 to present regarding ten groups and eight people, including two doctors. The general concern is that an overuse of these painkillers has brought on an epidemic of addiction and all that comes with it. The general allegation is that these groups and the makers of painkillers have helped to usher in this epidemic due to the promotion of aggressive policies regarding the use of these drugs and the not providing accurate information regarding their risks.

Any personal injury attorney, or anyone who has been treated for pain in the last several years, can tell you that these medications, while often vital and necessary, are being used too often and with far too little regard for the patient and context.

If you want more information on this issue please vista ProPublica’s website linked above.

Concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injury or MTBI, have been prominent in the media recently and for good reason. Football players are not the only ones at risk of head injuries; over 1.5 million Americans suffer brain injuries, either MTBI or TBI, every year.

But much attention has been paid recently to the NFL due to players suffering repeated injuries and the consequences associated, scandals and lawsuits concerning what the league knew and when they knew it, regarding the impact of repeated concussions, and the ramifications for aging players who suffered numerous head injuries earlier in their careers.

Well, in a sign that the problem is very serious and widespread, ESPN is devoting an entire week to look into the subject and all the issues involved. It will be a five-part series on Outside the Lines, which airs at 3 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday on ESPN.

The Brain Injury Association of America provides vital resources for individuals who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI or MTBI) and professionals who treat such injury victims. And, they have new resources out for the public that will assist injury victims and their families deal with the symptoms and consequences of traumatic or mild traumatic brain injury.

First, their Brain Injury Resource page provides potential causes, consequences, symptoms and the various treatments associated with a brain injury or acquired head.

Second, they also provide a Brain Injury Statistics fact sheet, which is a one page fact sheet that presents data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other sources and provides valuable statistics regarding the incidence, cause, and costs of traumatic brain injury in the United States.

For instance:

• Over 1.5 million individuals every year are treated in emergency rooms for traumatic brain injuries.
• 5.3 million Americans suffer long-term disabilities due to traumatic brain injuries.
• 75% of these injuries are injuries are diagnosed or classified as mild traumatic brain injuries or MTBI.
• Males have a greater likelihood than females of suffering a TBI.
• The annual costs of TBI is greater than that of stroke in the United States and exceeds $76 billion.

And finally, the About Brain Injury resource page provides an overview of the Brain Injury Association’s mission as well as the products and services provided by the organization.

If you would like to read about these resources or visit the Brain Injury Association of America’s website click here.

You can also visit our brain injury resource page here at Legal Blog.