JULY 28, 2009 - A jury awarded nearly $2 million to a woman whose husband was killed when his golf cart plunged down a steep rocky hillside at a San Diego County golf resort, authorities said. Edwin Payne, 65, was halfway through a round of golf when he lost control of the golf cart in May 2007 and plummeted down an 80-foot cliff, according to the attorney for the plaintiff. Payne was ejected onto the southbound lane of Old Highway 395. Pala Mesa Resort was found negligent by a North San Diego County jury last week, and the Payne’s widow was awarded $483,426 in economic damages and $1.5 million for non-economic damages. The jury found that Payne was 30 percent to blame for the golf cart accident and the resort 70 percent liable.

MARCH 6, 2009 - Chula Vista’s Scripps Mercy Hospital has been fined for the death of a patient last year. The critically ill woman visited the facility on February 28, 2008 because she was suffering from low blood sodium. Though the hospital staff encouraged her to stay, she left the hospital that day. The woman returned the next day with high blood pressure and difficulty breathing. Tests showed that her sodium level was critically low; however, it took doctors over 2 ½ hours to order an intravenous saline solution. Though the doctor submitted two requests for the solution, the hospital’s pharmacy did not expedite the orders. The patient was then transferred to intensive care, where a nurse faxed a third order for the saline solution. The order finally arrived approximately 1 ½ hours later, but the nurse took a break before administering it to the patient. The woman died 45 minutes later.

On March 3, 2009, state health officials fined the hospital $25,000, which is the maximum penalty. The facility was one of ten California hospitals to receive such a fine. Furthermore, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that both Scripps Mercy facilities had pharmacy delays, a shortage of nurses, and poor management. Several days after the incident, hospital officials devised a plan to prevent similar instances from occurring. Emergency room nurses must now notify the pharmacist when an urgent order is placed. The pharmacy is also now aiming to fill orders in 15 minutes, as well as keeping a log to monitor turnaround times. No staff members have been punished for the incident.

NOVEMBER 12, 2008 — John Joseph Taskey Jr., 47, of La Mesa, on parole for his fifth drunken-driving conviction, was given a sentence of 15 years to life in prison today at a sentencing hearing in San Diego Superior Court. Taskey pleaded guilty last month to second degree murder charges for a freeway fatality accident on September 13, 2007.  In the crash, Taskey hit a Ford Focus  near West Mission Bay Drive on westbound Interstate 8, killing Rosa Degerman, 75. Degerman died as a result of her injuries the day after the accident. Taskey’s five previous DUI convictions dated back to 1997.

A 20 page report released this week by the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the United States Department of Justice revealed plaintiffs won more than half of all civil trials in state courts in the year 2005.  The report was the first of its kind to represent national statistics for civil trials.

Out of the approximately 26,950 civil trials held in 2005, a jury decided nearly 70% of them.  For both jury and bench trials, plaintiffs won about 60% of trials, or 14,000 cases.   

60% of civil trials involved tort claims, including motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, medical malpractice, product liability, animal attacks, and professional negligence. The most common tort claim involved motor vehicle accidents, which accounted for 35% of civil trials in 2005, or 9,431 trials.

While the median compensatory awards for all trials in 2005 was $28,000, certain tort cases saw much higher awards.  Asbestos related claims, for example, had a median award of $682,000. The largest award was $172 million, a class action lawsuit brought by 116,000 Wal-Mart employees.

Estey & Bomberger, LLP is a law firm with offices throughout the state of California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents and wrongful death accidents. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 672-1036 or visit our web site.

A motorist who killed a woman in a 2007 San Diego auto accident has pleaded guilty. 47-year-old John Joseph Taskey was traveling westbound on Interstate 8 when he rear-ended another vehicle near West Mission Bay Drive. A passenger in that vehicle, 75-year-old Rosa Degerman, suffered severe internal injuries. She died the next day. It was discovered that Mr. Taskey’s blood-alcohol content was over the legal limit at the time of the crash and he also had five prior DUI convictions. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder this week and may face 15 years to life in prison.

A settlement has been reached in a 2006 accident in La Jolla. 71-year-old Robert Coon had been riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane on La Jolla Mesa Drive when his front tire got caught in a sunken depression in the roadway. Mr. Coon was thrown of f the bike and landed on his head, neck, and shoulder. He suffered a fractured neck and mild traumatic brain injury. His injuries required neck surgery; however, Mr. Coon continued to experience pain and numbness in his legs and buttocks. He then underwent epidural corticosteroid injections and lumbar laminectomy, foraminotomy, and decompression to his central spinal cord. This aggravated Mr. Coon’s pre-existing spinal stenosis. He continues to experience pain and numbness in his lower back and buttocks, and this may require an additional neck operation. Mr. Coon also underwent knee surgery.  

Mr. Coon believed that Westcoast Communications Co., an agent of Time Warner Cable, was responsible for the depression in the roadway. In 2000, the City of San Diego required Time Warner to move their overhead wires underground. Time Warner hired Westcoast Communications to dig a trench and install their wires underneath the bicycle lane on La Jolla Mesa Drive. Construction and industry standards required Westcoast Communications to place a concrete cap over the trench and compact the backfill material. This would prevent the asphalt from sinking and creating a depression. Westcoast Communications claimed they were unaware of the City Standards and therefore did not cap the trench or compact the backfill. Consequently, a 4-inch depression resulted in the bike lane on La Jolla Mesa Drive. Mr. Coon also believed the City of San Diego should have been aware of the condition of the roadway because the depression had been present for three years prior to his accident. It was discovered that the City had failed to inspect the area.  

Time Warner Cable Co. and Westcoast Communications argued that SDG&E and Par Electric were primarily responsible for the depression. They claimed the companies had previously dug trenches and had not arranged the backfill correctly, allowing ground water to penetrate the backfill, causing the depression. SDG&E and Par Electric denied any responsibility, claiming their work had met City standards.  

The case was settled for $1,830,000.

The family of a man who died in the Staten Island Ferry crash has won a wrongful death lawsuit. 44-year-old John Healy was killed when the ferry operator struck the concrete pier in 2003, killing ten others and injuring many. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of New York and was recently awarded $8.75 million. There were a total of 172 claims against the City due to the ferry crash. $45 million has been awarded so far, with 44 cases yet to be settled.

A man is suing Ford Motor Co. after he was injured in an accident last October in
Arizona. 31-year-old Luis Pena, a U.S. Border Patrol officer, was responding to a narcotics call when his pickup truck began to drift to the right on Federal Route 20. When Mr. Pena tried to straighten the vehicle’s direction, the truck turned sideways and flipped. The roof of the F250 pickup came down on Mr. Pena and trapped him. He is now a quadriplegic. He is suing Ford Motor Co. for the defective and dangerous vehicle. Mr. Pena’s lawyers believe that Ford designed an unstable vehicle and did not inform the public of its known problems.

A Mexican man has won a case against the government after he bought a car filled with marijuana. Francisco Rivera Agredano bought a Nissan Pathfinder at a government auction in San Ysidro in 2001. Approximately four months later, he was pulled over at a military checkpoint near Ensenada and soldiers found 37 pounds of marijuana stashed in the vehicle’s doors, sides, and upholstery. Mr. Rivera and his passenger, his brother-in-law Alfonso Calderon Leon, were held in an Ensenada prison for nearly a year until they could prove their innocence. Mr. Rivera’s lawyer, Carlos Mejia Lopez, eventually convinced an appeals court that the marijuana was old and not only of no value, but therefore had been in the vehicle before his client purchased it. Mr. Rivera sued the government for breach of contract and was awarded $551,000. A district judge will decide how the money will be dispersed. Mr. Rivera’s attorney fees for Mr. Mejia total $350,000, along with $172,000-$285,000 for San Diego-based lawyer Teresa Trucchi.   

Though the case is settled, it is still unknown as to how the drugs were not found by U.S. Customs before they auctioned the vehicle. Judges refused to explain what happened to the Pathfinder from the time it was seized and before it was sold to Mr. Rivera because the government does not want smugglers to learn about their search procedures. Mr. Rivera’s attorneys claimed that Customs officials do not adequately search the seized vehicles because they do not want to take the risk of damaging them and lowering their value. However, Mr. Rivera’s lawyers do feel that the U.S. government has improved its inspection procedures in the years since Mr. Rivera’s ordeal.

Four hospitals in the San Diego area have each been fined $25,000 for mistakes that put patients in danger. Pomerado Hospital in Poway was fined for using an anesthesia machine that was not working properly. Three patients remained partially conscious during surgery and experienced a great deal of pain. A staff member had questioned whether the machine was functioning properly; however, the hospital continued to use it. When the patients complained, the hospital then discontinued the use of the machine. A fine was issued to Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla after a patient fell off an examination table during surgery. The staff had not properly restrained her and had placed a slippery plastic biohazard bag on the mattress. The patient suffered spinal, head, and shoulder injuries. La Mesa’s Sharp Grossmont Hospital was fined for the death of a patient after staff neglected to turn on a ventilator. Lastly, Promise Hospital, formerly Villa View Community Hospital, was fined for allowing a nurse with a revoked license to treat patients and instruct other nurses on administering medication. Pomerado, Scripps, and Sharp officials have reported that they have hired more staff and increased training in order to correct these problems. The CEO of Promise Hospital is appealing the fine because no patients were harmed. Starting in July of 2007, hospitals are required to inform the state of any events that could or did harm patients. Forty hospitals have now received such fines. Other incidences at Scripps Green Hospital, Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, and Sharp Grossmont are being reviewed and may result in fines as well.