Schwartz Zweben LLP
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SUCCESSFUL REPRESENTATION OF PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS AND ACCIDENT CASES IN CALIFORNIA

As representatives of a California personal injury law firm, the personal injury lawyers and accident attorneys of Schwartz Zweben LLP and PersonalInjuryAttorneyNow.com have firsthand knowledge of the various state statutes unique to California, as well as proven success in trying personal injury, accident, or wrongful death lawsuits in the state. They understand the key demographics that influence the occurrence, and ultimately the outcome, of personal injury lawsuits in California and can help you get the professional legal advice and representation you need to negotiate a just verdict or favorable settlement here. Areas of expertise include:

Schwartz Zweben LLP and PersonalInjuryAttorneyNow.com also offer an easy-to-use, efficient means of obtaining legal advice, personal injury information, and representation from qualified California personal injury attorneys and accident lawyers. The personal injury lawyers of Schwartz Zweben and its affiliate offices serve the entire state of California, representing plaintiffs in all types of personal injury and wrongful death actions from Manhattan to Buffalo, from Plattsburgh to Poughkeepsie. Among the practice areas in which our California accident attorneys specialize are:

• Asbestos and Mesothelioma
• Amusement Park Injuries
• Brain Injury and Brain Damage
• Car Accidents
• Construction Accidents
• Medical Malpractice
• Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
• Slip and Falls
• Unpaid Wages
• Workers Compensation

We can give you a free, confidential evaluation of your case at no obligation, as well as sound information about your legal options for pursuing personal injury damages. If you decide to proceed, we can provide access to the services of the very best personal injury attorney or accident lawyer in California for your needs. You will receive skilled, assertive, effective representation from a California personal injury lawyer who has direct experience with your type of personal injury or accident claim, a proven record of obtaining full and fair compensation for damages, and access to all the critical resources and experts needed to win your case. Contact us today for a free review and evaluation of your case.

CALIFORNIA ASBESTOS AND MESOTHELIOMA CASES

According to www.Asbestos.com, several types of asbestos occur naturally within California's state lines. The most common form is white asbestos (chrysotile asbestos), which accounts for roughly 95 percent of asbestos found in American buildings. White asbestos forms from pressure over time in metamorphic serpentine rock, which is abundant in California and designated the state rock. Serpentine rock and its parent substance, ultramafic rock, occur in great abundance along fault lines, the Sierra foothills, the Klamath Mountains, and the Coast Ranges of California.

Occurring naturally in 44 of California's 58 counties, asbestos deposits abound in and around Humboldt, San Benito, Monterey, and El Dorado counties. The California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports several sources of naturally occurring asbestos emissions, which include unpaved roads or driveways surfaced with ultramafic or serpentine rock, construction activity in ultramafic or serpentine rock deposits, or rock quarrying activities where ultramafic or serpentine rock is present.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) did not begin to regulate the amount of asbestos in crushed serpentine and ultramafic rock used in surfacing applications (such as gravel on unpaved roads) until 1990. With an original limit of asbestos contamination (in rock and soil for surfacing) set at five percent, the CARB revised the allowable limit to less than 0.25 percent in 1998. The board also added regulations regarding dust emissions from construction, grading, and surface mining in areas with serpentine and ultramafic rock.

California's strong industrial economy has found many uses for asbestos. The California power generation sector, for example, has a particularly large stake in the use of asbestos for industrial applications. Over the years, numerous California powerhouses--such as the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in Avila Beach; the Pacific Gas & Electric Power Plant in Eureka; and P.G.E. Power Plants in San Francisco, Moro Bay, and Pittsburg--have supplied electricity to the citizens of the state and exposed workers to asbestos in the process.

The mining industry also has had a strong presence in California. Though commercial mining of asbestos ended just recently in 2002, its legacy is ever-present in the state of California. The California Department of Conservation reports there are at least 39,000 abandoned mines throughout the state, such as the Coalinga Asbestos Mine and, just three miles away, the Atlas Asbestos Mine. Encompassing 435 acres, this mine was in operation from 1963 through 1979 and, along with the Coalinga Asbestos Mine, is now an EPA-designated superfund site--a designation reserved for the country's most contaminated sites.

Another lucrative industry in California with an extensive history in asbestos usage is the shipbuilding industry. This industry experienced a nationwide boom during World War II, when demand for vessels was extremely high. One of most renowned shipyards, the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, was a major facility that covered more than 200 acres and employed more than 17,000 during its height of operations. Thousands of workers at the facility were exposed while constructing, renovating, destructing, or repairing vessels. Other California shipyards that exposed many workers to asbestos-containing materials include the San Diego Naval Base and Shipyard, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, and yards in Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco owned by the Todd Pacific Shipyard company.

Many effects of toxic asbestos exposure are permanent and irreversible. One of the most serious health problems associated with asbestos exposure is a rare form of cancer called malignant mesothelioma. Almost all people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles. In fact, a history of occupational asbestos exposure is reported in 70 percent to 80 percent of all cases.

Initial symptoms of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related conditions are usually non-specific and may not appear until 10 to 40 years after someone is exposed to asbestos. When symptoms finally do appear, they may include shortness of breath, chest pain, weight loss, abdominal pain and swelling, bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, fever, night sweats, and anemia. Because the symptoms are similar to many other less serious health problems, missed or delayed diagnosis is not uncommon.

Victims of an asbestos-related disease may wish to seek compensation from the companies that knowingly manufactured asbestos-contaminated products, as well as employers who put them at risk. In addition, anyone who was near the WTC on 9/11 or assisted in cleanup measures who suffers from health issues like those cited above, may be eligible to receive compensatory damages. Although the law seeks to place an injured person in the position he or she was in before an injury, this usually is not possible with asbestos and mesothelioma cases. Instead, economic compensation estimated to be equivalent to the victim's damages is awarded.

A plaintiff who can prove that he or she was exposed to asbestos may be able to recover for both the economic and non-economic consequences of that exposure, including past and future medical care, necessary rehabilitation, past and future lost wages, lost earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and past and future pain and suffering. Plaintiffs injured by asbestos also may be able to recover "punitive" damages that punish the defendant's wrongful conduct. The amount of punitive damages awarded usually is based on the wealth of the defendant and the magnitude of wrongful conduct. Some states require that a portion of punitive damage awards be paid to the state.

Many people who have suffered injuries from toxic substances such as asbestos did not know of the health risks at the time of the exposure. As a result, some states have enacted laws allowing people to file lawsuits for a specified amount of time after the date when their asbestos-related illness was detected, rather than from the date of the exposure. The California personal injury attorneys affiliated with Schwartz Zweben LLP can tell you whether you still have time to file a lawsuit within the limitation period applicable in California.

At Schwartz Zweben LLP and PersonalInjuryAttorneyNow.com, the California personal injury lawyers and California accident attorneys who specialize in asbestos and mesothelioma lawsuits are experts at the litigation, arbitration, and negotiation of asbestos exposure claims. Every California asbestos and mesothelioma attorney on our team has extensive experience in dealing with the state's unique laws and history of asbestos exposure. They understand how to navigate the system, locate the most credible experts, and help you obtain full, fair compensation should you or a loved one be the victim of asbestos exposure in California. Contact us today for a no-obligation review of your case.

Amusement Park Accidents and Injuries in California

Few things in life are more fun than spending a day at an amusement park. California is home to a large quantity of amusement parks and theme parks, including Disneyland, Six Flags, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers Studios, Magic Mountain, Legoland, Sea World, and Knott's Berry Farm. These popular entertainment venues host millions of visitors every year. Unfortunately, they also pose many hazards that can injure and even kill.

The National Consumer Product Safety Commission (NSC) estimates that more than 270 million people visit U.S. amusement parks each year and take about 1.8 billion rides. Approximately 7,000 of these visitors require a visit to an emergency room for treatment of injuries sustained on an amusement park ride. Estimates place the number of deaths that have occurred in amusement parks over the last 25 years at considerably less than half this number, but exact figures are not available due to the lack of consistent regulations and standards among the states for reporting amusement park injuries and fatalities. There is no federal law or national agency requiring all amusement-park ride operators in every state to file accident reports. In California, most amusement parks are required to report accidents to the state and county agencies.

Fixed-site amusement ride safety in the United States involves a network of regulatory and monitoring authorities that enforce, evaluate, and modify amusement ride safety guidelines and specifications. The network includes state certified ride inspectors, internal policing by facilities, and third-party technical analysis. In addition, the industry at large tries to monitor itself.

The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), for example, sponsors an annual survey to collect and analyze ridership, attendance, and patron injury data from IAAPA-member facilities that operate fixed-site amusement rides including amusement and theme parks, tourist attractions, and family entertainment centers. Data from a statistically valid sample is used to produce an annual amusement ride injury estimate for the overall fixed-site amusement ride sector in the U.S. The most recent survey reports that an estimated 1,309 ride related injuries occurred in 2007, with only 35 of the injuries (roughly 3%) "serious," enough to require some form of overnight treatment at a hospital.

In addition to the fixed-site amusement park rides surveyed by the IAAPA there are a large number of other popular attractions where ride-related injuries and accidents can occur. Yearly, mobile amusement rides result in about 3,000 injuries and accidents where trips to the emergency room are necessary. Inflatable rides (e.g., inflatable slides and bounce rooms) cause about 2,500 emergency room hospital visits annually.

The non-profit organization, Safer Parks, is dedicated to preventing amusement ride injuries through research, information sharing, and advocacy. They try to understand the causes of preventable amusement ride accidents and injuries, and effectively communicate that information to interested consumers, industry members, and governments. They are a consumer advocate group in setting standards and regulations that protect the public safety, with a special emphasis on children. They also maintain a database of public accident reports provided by U.S. ride safety agencies.

For 2007-2008, three states--California, New Jersey, and Texas--provided more than 80 percent of the accident reports in the database. This is due to a confluence of factors: the unusually high number of amusement parks and carnivals that operate in those states; strong consumer laws that require, at a minimum, public reporting of all medically-treated injuries; and good government practices that make public safety records available on request. (If Florida did not exempt theme park companies from compliance with mandatory accident reporting laws, its reports would account for a far larger slice of the pie.)

The Saferparks database has only a partial record for California's rides in 2007-2008. Portable ride accident reports are available through Spring 2007. Fixed-ride accident reports are available through Fall of 2007 for Northern California parks and Fall of 2008 for Southern California parks, with the exception of any late reports submitted to regulators after Saferparks' records requests were processed. Even with these data gaps, the database shows that there were 221 amusement-ride injuries in 2007 and 201 incidents in 2008 in California

The leading cause of accidents on amusement park rides in California and elsewhere is rider misconduct. Misconduct includes eluding safety harnesses, standing up on rides, non-compliance with height and weight restrictions, and ignoring posted warnings for certain medical conditions. However, negligence on the part of amusement park owners and amusement ride operators is a huge contributing factor to many amusement park injuries and accidents. Liability may be assessed for inadequate security, failure to inspect and maintain equipment and premises properly, mechanical failure, animal attacks, ride-operator error, insufficient training of amusement park staff, inadequate warning about amusement park ride dangers, and known hazardous condition such as inadequate lighting.

In California and many other states, personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits involving amusement parks are "common carrier" cases. Since they are open to the public, amusement parks owe a higher duty of care to the men, women, and children who visit them. Therefore, the law applies a different standard to accidents that happen in these venues than it does in ordinary premises liability cases. As a result, the laws regarding amusement park injury and wrongful death cases are complex.

At Schwartz Zweben LLP and PersonalInjuryAttorneyNow.com, the California personal injury lawyers and California accident attorneys who specialize in amusement park injuries and amusement park accident lawsuits are experts at the litigation, arbitration, and negotiation of asbestos exposure claims. Every California amusement park injury attorney on our team has extensive experience in dealing with the state's unique laws. They understand how to navigate the system, locate the most credible experts, and help you obtain full, fair compensation should you or a loved one be the victim of an amusement park injury or death in California. Contact us today for a no-obligation review of your case.

 

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