Not many recreations are as enjoyable as motorcycle riding in California, but to keep it fun, you have to keep it safe. California hasn’t been doing that well. The California Motorcyclist Safety Program reports that motorcycle-related fatalities rose 175 percent from 1998 to 2008; in 2008, 560 fatal motorcycle accidents were reported in California. While motorcyclists are obviously exposed to danger in ways that other drivers are not, these tips should help motorcyclists stay as safe as possible:

1. Wear a helmet; in California, it’s the law. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that helmeted motorcyclists are 37 percent less likely to be killed riding a motorcycle than unhelmeted riders. And minus a helmet, your chances of brain and spinal injuries jump dramatically. There’s also a sound legal reason for wearing a helmet. If you’re injured in a motorcycle accident without wearing a helmet, and you file a claim against another driver, that driver’s attorney will argue that you are partly responsible for your injury. Always consult a good personal injury lawyer if you are injured in an accident.

2. Know your surroundings. Be on guard for road debris, ice patches, oil patches, and negligent drivers. Limit distractions; leave your mp3 player in your pocket and don’t answer the phone. If you ride a motorcycle, you probably already know to maintain extra distance between yourself and the vehicle in front of you.

3. Be ready. When pulling up to a stop light or sign, position your hands over the break handles. Ride near the shoulder, too; if something happens you can swing off the road instead of into a vehicle.

4. Take a refresher course. Even good riders develop bad habits. The Motorcyclist Safety Foundation, for example, offers both beginners and advanced motorcycling classes.

5. If you’re injured by another motorist, speak to an experienced California personal injury attorney as quickly as possible. In any crash, protecting your health and your legal rights must be your top priority. If you or a member of your family has been injured in a motorcycle accident, an experienced personal injury attorney can help you win damages to cover your medical costs, lost wages, and more. In the San Diego area, contact personal injury attorney Gary Sernaker at (858) 509-0188, or email him at Gsernaker@gmail.com to discuss your rights and options under California law.

Southern California is the setting for some of the world’s heaviest trucking traffic. That also makes it the setting for plenty of trucking accidents. If you’re injured – now or in the future – in a traffic collision with a truck, speak right away to an experienced California personal injury attorney. By looking at the causes of truck accidents, some drivers may be able to avoid them. Five of the most common causes of trucking accidents are:

1. Fatigue: Truck drivers are governed by federal trucking regulations. They may not drive for more than 14 hours after at least 10 hours of off-duty rest. Additionally, a trucker may not drive more than 8 hours straight after taking an off-duty break of at least 30 minutes. When drivers bend the regulations, it leads to drowsiness and accidents.

2. Aggression: A commercial truck, fully loaded, can weigh up to 80,000 pounds; obviously, it must be handled with caution. Aggressive truckers can’t react as quickly as drivers in smaller vehicles; this endangers the lives of other motorists. When truckers follow too closely, cut someone off, speed, or drive aggressively in any way, they are more likely than other drivers to cause accidents.

3. Distraction: Trucks have huge blind spots, so drivers who become distracted – by phones, food, or even by radios – can cause catastrophic crashes.

4. Inexperience: Trucking companies are required to train drivers and ensure their qualifications. If you’re injured in a crash with an inexperienced truck driver, a good personal injury lawyer may suggest filing a claim against the company as well as the driver.

5. Poor maintenance: Trucks are big, heavy, and hard to drive. Failure to maintain an 18-wheeler can lead to blowouts, brake failures, engine and transmission troubles, and other issues that can result in trucking accidents.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, or if you are the survivor of a loved one killed in a truck collision, speak to a good personal injury lawyer as quickly as you can. Compensation for personal injury is your legal right. In the San Diego area, if you or a member of your family has been injured in a trucking accident, contact experienced California personal injury attorney Gary Sernaker at (858) 509-0188, or email him at Gsernaker@gmail.com to discuss your rights and options under California law.

Almost a third of the drivers on California highways today are uninsured or underinsured. These drivers, not surprisingly, are often the least cautious, and their cars are often the least safe. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is included with all automobile insurance policies in California. If you’re in an accident, and the other driver is uninsured or underinsured (or flees the scene and cannot be identified, thus committing hit-and-run), UM coverage lets you file a claim with your own insurer. When you’re not driving, your automotive UM coverage still applies if an uninsured or underinsured motorist injures you, even if you were walking, riding a bike, or even sitting at a sidewalk café. California requires a minimum of $15,000 in UM coverage, but adding additional coverage is wise. In some accidents, a victim’s losses can run into the tens of thousands or more. You may want a policy that can cover medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost earnings, and more.

UM coverage is designed to compensate financial and other losses you sustain in a collision caused by the negligence of an uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run driver. Financial losses include medical expenses, any loss of income or earnings, any damage to your ability to work in the future, and associated out-of-pocket expenses such as additional child care costs. Non-financial damages include pain, suffering, and other losses. While there’s no foolproof, ultimate way to establish a precise financial value for these losses, insurance companies and attorneys can usually reach an agreement based upon the severity of the injury, the prospects for recovery, and the length of time involved.

If you are injured in an accident with an uninsured motorist – now or in the future – you may need help negotiating with your own insurance company; contact an experienced personal injury attorney. Despite the terms of your policy, some companies will delay, ignore, or even deny your claim. Any time you are injured in a traffic accident – regardless of who is insured or for how much – get help at once from a good personal injury lawyer. In the San Diego area, if you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident with an uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run driver, call experienced California personal injury attorney Gary Sernaker at (858) 509-0188, or email him at Gsernaker@gmail.com to discuss your rights and options under California law.

A wrongful death suit is a legal claim brought against a party whose negligent act or oversight caused the death of a close family member. Wrongful death claims can arise in several ways, including:

• Traffic accident fatalities
• Improper nursing care or medical malpractice
• Deaths from defective and consumer products
• Fatal falls
• Violent crimes

Under California law, your relationship to the deceased victim determines whether you can collect damages in a wrongful death case. While the loss of a loved one is extremely painful, a wrongful death suit can at least cover the costs associated with death, and sometimes, loved ones can also win compensation for lost potential earnings. Damages that may be awarded include:

• Medical expenses
• Funeral expenses
• Loss of future earnings and retirement income
• Loss of consortium
• Emotional distress of survivors

Potential plaintiffs should keep in mind that emotional distress damages and loss of consortium damages are considered “non-economic” damages that do not involve a genuine monetary loss or possess a precise cash value. As such, when a wrongful death case goes to trial, the amount of an award for emotional distress or for loss of consortium is usually left to the discretion of the judge or jury.

An experienced wrongful death attorney will work aggressively to win every cent of compensation you deserve while understanding the grief and pain you are still undergoing. If you’ve lost a family member to a wrongful death, you’ll have to deal with both legal and emotional issues. It may be difficult, but it’s imperative to launch a wrongful death suit as quickly as you can; speak to a good wrongful death lawyer right away. In the San Diego area, if your family has suffered a wrongful death, contact experienced California wrongful death attorney Gary Sernaker at (858) 509-0188, or email him at Gsernaker@gmail.com to discuss your rights and options under California law.

A few months ago I discussed the effect which the bankruptcy filed by Chrysler had on their liability for defective Jeep Cherokees and other vehicles that they manufactured before they declared bankruptcy.

An unintended consequence of allowing Chrysler and General Motors to file bankruptcy, was that the government not require either company to accept liability for defective and unsafe vehicles they manufactured before they declared bankruptcy.

Based upon recently disclosed information from General Motors, their engineers were aware nearly five-years ago regarding the dangerous and faulty ignition switch contained in their Chevrolet Cobalt. General Motors now admits, that their engineers’ had a meeting which confirmed these defects in May 2009. This was after at least 23 fatal crashes had occurred resulting in 26 deaths. This meeting occurred before July 3, 2009 when General Motors’ bankruptcy agreement went into effect.

It is significant to note that the government also became a significant shareholder of General Motors. This was based upon the financial bailout provided, with taxpayers’ dollars, to keep General Motors in business.

However, the government was also responsible to monitor and supervise vehicular consumer safety. General Motors allegedly reported these automobile accidents to the government under a system called Early Warning Reporting. This requires all of the manufacturers to disclose claims that they receive blaming vehicle defects for serious injuries or deaths.

Prior to now, it is significant to note that General Motors has aggressively defended several of these claims, which resulted from the faulty ignition switch design, by denying that such a defect in fact existed.

General Motors has now officially recalled 1.6 million Cobalt vehicles and other small cars, confirming that the ignition switch when bumped or weighed down with heavy key rings could cause the unexpected shut-off of the engine’s power while disabling airbags and the vehicle’s braking system.

The New York Times recently reported that by the end of 2007 General Motors had examined data from 9 sensing and diagnostic modules of crash vehicles. In 4 cases the ignition switch was in the accessory position. General Motors claims that it was not until May 15, 2009 that GM engineers verified this data.

At the very least, General Motors was in possession of sufficient information to place them on notice that there were serious and dangerous defects which existed in the design for this ignition switch before bankruptcy was finalized.

This safety defect was made even more egregious by the fact that these vehicles were marketed to either young or new drivers.

In order for families who have been tragically affected by these defects for vehicles manufactured before the date of bankruptcy, it would be necessary for the bankruptcy Judge to set aside the bankruptcy protection as it relates to these claims. He could provide relief based upon fraud by General Motors in failing to disclose this information before it completed bankruptcy.

If this relief is not granted by the Bankruptcy Court, then it would be necessary for the Justice Department to file criminal charges against General Motors. They could have them compensate the families victimized by the loss of their children while operating these unsafe vehicles as part of the criminal penalty assessed against them.

This appears to be one more example of how the government failed to protect the interests of the consumer public against the dangers of unsafe or defectively designed vehicles when taxpayer relief was provided to keep these companies in business.

In 1975 California doctors staged a walk-out to protest the rising medical malpractice insurance premiums that they were forced to pay due to the underwriting practices of the insurance carriers who sold this type of insurance coverage in California.

Governor Brown, in his first term, agreed to place draconian limits in the amount of $250,000 for an injured patient’s pain and suffering. Therefore, any individual who receives substandard medical care, or who goes into a hospital and doesn’t come out, due to the negligence of the physician or hospital personnel, can receive no more than this limit for those type of damages. This limits applies to all injuries, no matter how catastrophic they might be, including injuries which occur at birth which damage the brain or result in quadriplegia.

The Consumer Attorney Association for California is presently mobilizing for an initiative fight to increase this limit which was never intended by the Assemblyman who proposed it, John Garamendi, to be permanent.

However, the time and considerable money which will be expended, by both sides of this initiative battle, fails to address the real issue that this damage cap has had upon injured patients, who suffer grievous injuries through no fault of their own.

The Supreme Court of Florida, recently overturned Florida’s 2003 cap for malpractice damages by calling it discriminatory and therefore in violation of the in State Constitution. The court also investigated the basis for the so called medical malpractice insurance crisis that prompted the Florida State Legislature to impose these damage caps.

The Court determined that the assertion that doctors were leaving the state in droves because of multi-million dollar malpractice awards by juries, driving insurance premiums sky high, was untrue.

During the “purported crisis”, the supply of doctors in Florida was increasing not decreasing. Reports of physicians fleeing where anecdotal and often fabricated. The actual increase for rising medical malpractice insurance premiums was found not to result from litigation claims but from the insurance industry’s underwriting practices. These same practices were also behind the so-called medical malpractice crisis in California which resulted in the current stringent malpractice cap.

The Court also cited evidence that malpractice caps have no appreciable effect on malpractice rates. The Court did find that just like in California, these caps significantly increase and ensure insurance company profits without achieving anything for the doctors who pay premiums or the patients who are turned away at the courthouse door.

The Court determined that this limitation was unfair and illogical, effectively saving a modest amount for many by imposing devastating costs on a few. The individuals who are most grievously injured or who sustain the greatest damage and loss simply because of the existence of this cap on their pain and suffering.

Therefore, the true debate should be whether or not these caps should be removed entirely instead of just raising them in order to provide additional profits for the medical malpractice insurance companies. Those caps also unfairly protect the medical providers who negligently inflect catastrophic harm to their patients.