You are in the middle of trial on a work-site injury case where the plaintiff is severely injured from a 20-foot fall following a collapse of a catwalk at the defendant’s aggregate plant. The evidence shows the failed rotted wood support beam that caused the collapse was at least 50 years old, and that no other aggregate plant in the state of California uses wood to support catwalks. You also know that immediately after the incident, the entire catwalk system, wood beams and all, are changed out to steel. How do you get this evidence in front of the jury ...

Not since 19791 has the California Supreme Court reviewed a case involving an injured construction worker and actually found that the defendant was liable for those injuries. These were not great odds going into the wait for the recent decisions of McKown v. Wal-Mart (2002) 27 Cal.4th 198 [115 Cal.Rptr.2d 853] and Hooker v. State of California (2002) 27 Cal.4th 219 [115 Cal.Rptr.2d 868]. However, with both of the decisions taken together, the Supreme Court finally places to rest an area of law under attack since the decision in Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689. The Court affirms ...

In the recent debates concerning medical malpractice insurance rates nationwide, the following saying comes to mind: "In this world, there are liars, damned liars, and statistics." Insurance companies, and the doctors they insure, are at the forefront of a comprehensive push to establish California MICRA limits nationwide. Such groups have endless statistics to prove their points. They cite four-to-five-fold increases in rates for high-risk specialties as evidence of a tort system out of control. A commonly-cited fact is the malpractice insurance rate for obstetricians in Florida being $200,000 per year.1 These groups also cite the average jury award in Nevada ...

In January of 2003, the Legislature approved California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1,1 which amended the one-year statute of limitations found in C.C.P. § 340 to include a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death actions. These changes were enacted as a part of Stats. 2002, ch. 448 (SB 688), which deleted the reference to assault, battery, personal injury and wrongful death from the one-year limitations statute (C.C.P. § 340) and created a new two-year limitations period for those causes of action in § 335.1. Libel, slander, false imprisonment, and seduction of a minor remain under ...

Spoliation of evidence can cause courts to render decisions based on faulty evidentiary records, frustrate parties in the prosecution of their actions, and, in extreme cases, deny litigants their rightful legal remedy, even though they have suffered harm. When evidence is destroyed, altered, or hidden, both litigants and the civil justice system suffer. However, the remedies for such loss of evidence have changed over the years. This article briefly looks at the history of this tort, and the current state of the law. The Birth of the Spoliation of Evidence Tort The common law has long recognized the seriousness of ...

Imagine owning a business in a competitive market. You are looking for any possible advantage. If there were a way to immediately cut overhead by as much as 40% without reducing your productivity, you would likely do it without question.[1] Now imagine working as an operations-level employee for a single employer for years. One day you go to work to find all employee benefits are gone. You are no longer guaranteed minimum wage, overtime, or workers’ compensation insurance coverage for on-the-job injuries. You would be in the same situation as the plaintiffs and 1,800 other delivery drivers in Dynamex Operations ...

In 2013, it was estimated that over 2.6 million unauthorized or undocumented (1) immigrants lived in California, making up 10% of the state’s workforce. (2.) Undocumented immigrants contribute an estimated $130 billion to California’s GDP, an amount that is greater than the entire GDP of Nevada. (3.) Those workers pay taxes, buy homes, shop, drive, and participate in virtually all aspects of our economic, civic and cultural life. The Social Security Administration estimates that nearly $12 billion are paid into the Social Security system every year by unauthorized workers who will never receive any in benefits. (4.)40% of Californians are ...

Joint representation in personal injury actions can be a plaintiff attorney’s most satisfying and rewarding experience. The attorney, beyond navigating the legal landscape, naturally bonds with the clients as they cope with their loss, be it a personal injury or wrongful death. However, when preparing to represent more than one individual in the same action, an attorney is well advised to keep in mind and prepare for the pitfalls and conflicts of joint representation. The typical scenarios that present conflict problems to practitioners are basically categorized into three situations (1) married couple where one spouse is injured and other spouse ...