All Topics

• Family of Trench Victim calls for stronger Laws

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 4:02 PM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  Why employers who kill by willfully violating OSHA standards shouldn't receive more serious punishment should be an issue that every candidate has to address during this political season. Unfortunately, families of those killed seem to be the only ones asking the questions. Although much is known about Trench accidents , companies in the pursuit of fast profits often leave their workers totally...

• How to value a personal injury claim

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 11:11 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  Clients often call an attorney early after an accident wondering what the potential value of their injury claims might be. Evaluating an injury claim is an art not a science and many factors go into such evaluation.I will list a few of such factors here.Liability, along with insurance information, is the first thing most atorney's look at. Liability simply means who is at fault in an accident....

• Causes of and Standards in Playground accidents

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 10:54 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  Swings, slides and climbing frames, metal bars and merry go rounds contribute to over 70% of all playground accidents. Rope-plank type swings are frequently the cause of backward falling accidents. It is important to be aware of standards and specifications for playground equipment if you represent a child injured by playground equipment. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued...

• Truck races train---loses badly (Video)

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 2:56 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  Here's another video on how not to enter a train crossing. A trucker decides her can beat this oncoming train, but doesn't realize a line of cars is blocking his path on the other side of the tracks.Many accidents at train crossings are due to the motorists error, however many train crossing accidents are due to negligence on the part of the railroad.

• Chronic Pain - RSD Information Expo

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 2:22 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  On November 18, 2006, Noon-3:00 PM, a conference on Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) will be Held in the Stained Glass Lobby of St Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center 350 W Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ.Reflex Sympathetic Distrophy is a rare nerve disease where nerves send constant pain signals to the brain even after the original injury has healed. Between 200,000 and 1.2 Million American suffer...

• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 1:37 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  It's hard to imagine a minor injury, like an ankle sprain, turning into a lifetime of pain. But it's happening to as many as one million Americans. It's a disease called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and doctors don't know what causes it or how to cure it. Complex regional pain syndrome can be triggered by even the slightest injury to nerves or nerve endings.According to Dr.Robert Schwartzman,...

• Common Sugar Compound Reduces Seizures

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 1:23 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  Although in use for decades, a sweet tasting compund, 2-deoxy-glucose, or 2DG, may be a potential cure for epilepsy.About 1 percent of the world's population suffers from epilepsy, a neurological condition that makes people susceptible to seizures. Researchers at the University of Wisconcin have found that the compound completely blocks seizures in laboratory rats. Human studies are on the...

• Truck Drivers plead guilty to falsifying logbooks.

  Ed Smith | October 16, 2006 1:14 AM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  10-13-06 Five truckers pleaded guilty Wednesday to falsifying their driver's logs, bringing to an end a major federal investigation of the practice in the commercial-trucking industry. This was the culmonation of an operation known as "Operation Safe Roads" begun in 2003 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, whose regulations include limitations on the number of daily driving hours...

• School bus accidents -- all too common and short time lines involved

  Ed Smith | October 13, 2006 6:11 PM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  While the statistics involved are likely due, in part, to the number of miles driven on a daily basis by school buses state wide, our office has seen an increase in the number of cases involving accidents caused by school bus drivers. Recently, my office settled a case for $1,900,000.00 as the result of the negligence of a San Juan Unified School District bus driver. The accident was...

• Iraq War Vets with Brain Injuries

  Ed Smith | October 13, 2006 4:05 PM | 0 CommentsSacramento, CA

  We have lost close to 3,000 American Soldiers in Iraq, there have been about 20,000 wounded soldiers and now President Bush decides to cut the budget that had been set aside for traumatic brain injury centers that would treat these soldiers by half. The president has also cut $190 million from the Department of Veterans Affairs budget for 2007, even though it is currently underfunded and the...