Less than three months after the devastating Metrolink train accident in Chatsworth, California, another crash involving a commuter train and freight train about a half mile from the Rialto station, sent five persons to the hospital with complaints of pain. The commuter train hit the end of a Northern Burlington Santa Fe Railway train.

The scenario was eerily similar to the one that occurred on September 12th near Chatsworth when a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train crashed into each other. 25 people died in the crash, one of the worst in the state’s commuter train history. Several were sent to the hospital with catastrophic injuries in the crash that was later linked to the driver of the Metrolink commuter train missing a stop signal just before the train accident. Investigations into the driver’s cell phone records after the accident revealed that he had been sending text messages to a rail fan just seconds before the crash. Investigations in that train accident are still on.

Thursday’s train accident must have seemed to commuters like a replay of September’s tragedy. According to a spokesperson for Burlington Northern, the freight train driver had been given the go ahead, although it wasn’t clear whether the go ahead had been given by a signal or a dispatcher. In the September crash too, the driver missed a stop signal, although the reason for this still hasn’t been confirmed.

The crash occurred on a track that is owned and maintained by Metrolink, just like the one that occurred in September. This accident was markedly minor in its impact. For one, it was a side swipe, and not the kind of devastating head on accident that killed so many in September. There was no damage either to the freight car or the passenger coaches. September’s tragedy had crushed the first few passenger cars of the commuter train. Cars had been bunched up together like an accordion. In this recent train accident, only the last passenger car suffered some minor damage.

At least five commuters were taken to the hospital after they complained of pain, but no severe injuries were reported. The train was reported to be traveling at a low speed at the time of the accident, which might account for the lack of damage. As a response to the September train crash, there were two engineers present on board the commuter train.

Metrolink officials are making the usual promises of safety features. Board Vice Chairman Keith Millhouse announced that although the accident had occurred at a low speed, the agency would still treat investigations seriously to “ensure that incidents like this do not happen again.” Within the agency, awareness is high that Metrolink’s poor safety record is drawing attention among rail authorities around the country. Fortunately, there was very little damage, and not severe injuries in this accident, but the agency has a pitiful safety record with the highest fatality rates of all similar sized commuter rails in the country. Even some of the bigger networks like Chicago and Massachusetts commuter rail have had fewer train accidents than Metrolink, which carries fewer passengers than these rails.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of train accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

An El Cajon, California man will stand trial in a drunk driving accident case that occurred in July of this year. 35-year-old Shannon Shimp is charged with two counts each of murder, as well as gross vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Ian Kinney and Joseph Warren Edwards.

The accident took place on Highway 78 on July 22nd. 19-year-old Tessa Medearis was in a Lexus with her boyfriend, 19-year-old Ian Kinney. A pickup driven by Shimp attempting to pass three vehicles skidded out of control, and into the westbound lanes. It crashed into the Lexus, which was also westbound, ending up on top of the car. Ian was killed instantly. Also killed was Shimp’s passenger, 58-year-old Joseph Warren Edwards. Both men died at the scene. Ian left behind his parents, while Edwards is survived by his wife.

Tessa suffered moderate injuries, and had to be extricated from the wreckage. After the accident, Shimp, who had suffered injuries in the car accident, was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries, and then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was found to have been driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.19 when tests were conducted two hours after the car accident.

On Wednesday, Tessa appeared in court to testify about the car accident that killed her boyfriend. The Superior Court Judge ruled that there were grounds for a trial. There will be a hearing on December 3rd to decide on a date for the trial.

For the two families that lost the most in this tragedy, it seems like justice gets nearer every day. They have had to face the pain of losing their loved ones though no fault of their own.

California has a multi-pronged approach to dealing with the DUI menace. Not only does it have some of the most severe drunk driving laws in the country, but it has also had a significant amount of success in bringing down accident rates in the state, through better awareness programs for motorists, stronger checks and monitoring of drivers, as well as graduated licensing programs for teens that encourage them to be fully educated before they are allowed to drive on their own. The stringency of these laws has led to criticism from groups who believe that license suspensions and the focus on passing breath tests, are unfair. When we continue to have drivers like Shimp who think nothing of tanking up with alcohol that’s more than twice over the legal limit, it’s clear that these criticisms are baseless.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

After a spate of product recalls involving its Digitek tablets, Iceland-based drug manufacturer Actavis, is facing a lawsuit by U.S. attorneys who want a shutdown of the company’s three plants until such time as they are made compliant with FDA laws for manufacturing and testing.

The move comes after the company recalled its Digitek tablet for heart conditions. Digitek is prescribed primarily for the treatment of heart failure and other abnormal heart disorders. Over dosage however has been found linked to dizziness, low blood pressure, and even death, in patients who are already suffering from kidney problems. In April, Actavis recalled stocks of Digitek after fears that some tablets had been produced in an extra thick form, raising the possibility of overdosing.

This product recall was followed by another one in August that was prompted by FDA inspection at its facility that revealed non-compliance with agency standards for manufacturing practices. This second product recall included all drug manufacturers at the company’s Little Falls plant in New Jersey.

The company has two other facilities in Totowa. The FDA claims that it has inspected the three facilities a total of five times between January 2006 and May 2008, and had on all occasions, found the safety standards lacking. These unsafe practices include incomplete lab records of testing data, and failure to follow its own stability testing procedures. Actavis, it was found, had failed to ensure that the conditions under which the drugs were tested were the same conditions under which they were used. Test samples also didn’t meet the company’s own standards. The company on its part, has issued a press release claiming that it has been focusing efforts on meeting compliance standards, and has invited the FDA to revisit its facility for another inspection, but has not heard from the agency.

The lawsuit was field by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and the Department of Justice’s Officer of Consumer Litigation and seeks a permanent injunction that would bar the company’s three plants as well as the executives of the company, Douglas Boothe and Sigurdur Olafsson from manufacturing drugs until they are able to bring manufacturing conditions under the compliance of FDA requirements.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of product recalls. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

California’s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) law, one of the toughest in the country has been a great success, the California Office of Traffic Safety claims, and has contributed to a significant drop in the number of teens killed in car accidents in the state.

The objective of having the GDL laws is to introduce young drivers slowly to the correct ways of driving responsibly. The law which separates the process that a driver has to go through to be able to hold a full-fledged license into three levels, may have frustrated teen drivers itching to break free of parental controls, but it has definitely kept them a lot safer. The law requires teen drivers to pass through an initial first stage when they can only drive with a parent, after they have reached the age of 15 years and 6 months. This Learner’s Permit must be held for at least six months before they can graduate to a Provisional License which allows them to drive without parental supervision, but forbids them from having passengers below the age of 20 in their car, unless another driver who’s above 25 years of age, is present. A full license is given only when the individual reaches the age of 18, and if he or she has been able to complete the first and second levels of the process.

Now, according to a study conducted by the Auto Club of Southern California, the number of teen car accident fatalities in the state earlier stood at an average of 81.5 at-fault car accidents that caused fatalities and injuries in the age group of 16-year-olds, between the hours of 11 pm and midnight. This was before the GDL laws were passed in 2004 and 2005. In 2006 and 2007, these same numbers were down to 54.

The Office of Traffic Safety is funding a number of other such traffic safety programs aimed at teen drivers, including the “Smart Start” teen driver safety classes, “Real DUI trials” in high schools, a seatbelt challenge program to encourage more teens to buckle up (an area where there are still concerns) as well as other programs to boost traffic safety awareness.

It’s gratifying to see that these measures are taking effect, although much more needs to be done. Still, we can take pride in the fact that the state of California is on the forefront of enhancing safety standards, not just for teen drivers, but also adults. The authorities have been seeing a decrease in the number of car accident fatalities involving adults, and now they are noticing the same trend with teen accident deaths.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A family outing turned deadly for a San Jose family that lost its son in a car accident involving a teenage driver in Livermore, California on Saturday. The Alameda County Coroner has identified the boy as Jonathan Manzo.

Jonathan was in his mother’s minivan, along with his sister and bother, with his mother driving. According to reports in the San Francisco Chronicle, the family was driving along in their Mercury minivan when a teenage motorist heading in their direction, attempted to over take another car. In doing so, the driver of that car, a Toyota Corolla, lost control of his vehicle, and veered into oncoming traffic, and the minivan. The van broadsided the Corolla, leaving the occupants, and especially Jonathan, with severe injuries.

Jonathan was airlifted to an Oakland hospital, along with one of his siblings. He died in the hospital from injuries sustained in the car accident. His mother, and the other sibling who was in the car, were hospitalized for their injuries. There’s no information about their condition.

This is no doubt a terrible time for the Manzo family, and our hearts go out to the surviving members who have lost so much in this car accident.

The driver of the Toyota, a 17-year-old boy was also hospitalized for treatment of injuries he sustained in the crash. Alcohol is not suspected to be a factor in the accident.

Investigations are ongoing, and we will doubtless hear more details as the days go by. For instance, at what speed was the teen motorist driving? Was there reckless or aggressive driving involved? What about the possibility of street racing in this accident? A young boy has been killed, and the people in charge of driving him do not seem to have been at fault.

The Manzo family, including Jonathan’s two siblings, continues to be in the hospital for treatment. They deserve to be compensated not just for their heart-breaking loss, but also their own trauma and injuries suffered as a result of this car accident. There are medical expenses involved, and loss of earnings that must be accounted for. The family must seek the advice of an experienced California car accident attorney as quickly as possible, to explore the legal avenues they have.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of car accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

Most California drivers will tell you they get nervous when they share the roads with a big rig, and after the semi truck accident on Sunday on Interstate-40, it seems like that nervousness is justified. According to the Orange County Register, a total of four people were killed in a horrific pile up on I-40 that was caused by a big rig crashing into a Porsche.

In the Porsche was a prominent Fullerton surgeon, Dr. Stephen Wilson who has been working at St Jude’s Medical Center for more than 30 years. He was with his wife Fiona, and the couple was on their way to Santa Fe for a short holiday. It appears that a big rig rear-ended the Porsche, pushing it off the Interstate, and into the desert. Dr. Wilson’s was treated at a hospital for severe injuries. He and his family didn’t have time to focus on his injuries, however. They had to grieve for Fiona who was killed instantly in the truck accident.

The same big rig accident killed at least three other passengers in another car. The Ramirez family, Jose, Wendy, and Robert William were all from Canyon Lake, and were on their way to Nevada to attend a Western Region Clown Association Conference. Robert William was just 15-years-old. Their Toyota Avalon seems to have been pushed under another semi truck that was included in the pile up, after having been rear ended by another truck.

All in all, the accident involved a number of cars, as well as big rigs. With vehicles the size of these trucks involved in the crash, it’s no surprise that the fatalities were so many, and the injuries so severe. The scene of the car accident, California Highway Patrol officers say resembled a pile of wreckage, with several cars pushed under big trigs, and at least one truck ending up on top of a car.

According to CHP officials, they are still not sure what happened to cause a multi-vehicle collision like this. A Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team has been called in to investigate the accident. Police are now trying to piece together witness and survivor testimonies with skid marks on the ground, to ascertain the reasons for the truck accident. They are also looking into the possibility that weather conditions on that day, which were windy, could have played a part in causing the crash.

Since there are big rigs involved here, it would be worthwhile to look into how much of a factor speeding big rigs had a part to play in the crash. The California Highway Patrol might also want to look at the condition of the drivers who were behind the wheels of the big rigs. Were the windy conditions exacerbated by the carelessness of the drivers? Big rigs need to be handled much more carefully than an ordinary car. These massive machines can get out of control quicker in bad weather and road conditions, and can take longer to stop after the brakes have been applied, because of their gigantic bulk.

Unfortunately, all too often we see trucking companies sacrificing driver fitness and preparedness, for the sake of quick profits. Investigations into the roles of the semi trucks here may provide clues as to what caused this fatal truck accident.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of truck accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A Rancho Cordova cop has been killed in yet another motorcycle accident involving an older motorist. The accident occurred on Wednesday afternoon when the officer, Deputy Lawrence Canfield, was trying to overtake a suspected speeding driver on his motorcycle. According to officer.com, a car driven by a 79-year-old man took a turn right in front of the motorcycle, slamming against it, throwing Canfield off. The officer suffered severe injuries, and was helped by several passersby until medical help arrived. He died later at the hospital.

Police are investigating the cause of the motorcycle accident, and whether traffic violations played any part. The accident occurred in a school zone, and both schools in the area were just closing for the day. It’s clear that Deputy Canfield died in a heroic enactment of duty, trying to keep the streets free of speeding drivers. We extend our sincere sympathies to his wife and two young children. Canfield has been remembered by his peers as a jovial, fun-loving guy who will be sorely missed.

Just yesterday we carried a story on our Orange County motorcycle accident lawyer blog involving Henry Eaton, the young man who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident that also included an elderly motorist. There too, the driver seems to have made a turn right in front of the motorcycle, throwing the rider off. There are several reasons why the elderly may be more prone to accidents as they get older, and defining a set driving policy for elderly drivers should be a priority. So far, there has been no indication that there were traffic violations in the Rancho Cordova accident, although it’s too early to confirm. There also doesn’t seem to have been any criminal intent on the part of the motorist.

Fingers are also being pointed at the road in question. Apparently, there had been another similar accident in the area about three years ago, in which an officer on his motorcycle was thrown off his bike when a car slammed into him. He spent the next two months in the hospital, recovering from his injuries. That accident took place just about 50 feet from the site of the accident that killed Deputy Canfield on Wednesday. According to Sheriff John McGuiness, it might be prudent to conduct a complete safety investigation of the road to determine if there were construction and design flaws that could be causing an increase in fatal and near-fatal car accidents on that stretch. Besides the previous accident, there seem to have been many more pedestrian and motor vehicle accidents on that stretch of road. A study conducted by engineers would be able to pinpoint any flaw in the dangerous road that may have escaped the attention of the authorities until now. Any failings could be corrected, helping avoid more auto accidents in the area.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of motorcycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A Vacaville resident is reported to be in a serious condition after he was involved in a motorcycle accident on Saturday. The accident occurred while the motorcyclist, Henry Eaton, was traveling north on Peabody Road. His motorcycle was struck by a Volvo driven by 79-year-old Alfatoon Edalat. The older driver was apparently attempting to make a U-Turn directly in front of the Harley Davidson, across double yellow lines.

The impact of the motorcycle accident was enough to cause serious injuries to Eaton, who was not able to avoid the collision. He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. According to cbs5.com, Edalat was not cited at the scene of the accident. Police are investigating the causes of the motorcycle crash. So far, police say there has been no evidence that speeding played any part in the motorcycle accident. However, it may be possible that the motorist’s age could have had a role to play.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, accident rates tend to decrease for both men and women, until they reach the age of 70, when these accident rates begin to rise sharply again. Also, the number of at-fault accidents that result in fatalities rises dramatically, when the driver is aged 80, and above.

The issue is a sensitive one, and this is one of the reasons that California, along with many other states, has not been able to formulate effective driving policies for senior citizens. The state had earlier toyed with a number of proposals for older drivers to enable them to drive safely on the roads. These proposals had included a sort of restricted license system for drivers that would impose certain limitations, based on the person’s age, driving skills, life style and their driving needs. Currently, the state is considering variations of these proposals in order to formulate policies that would keep our older citizens safe on the roads, without imposing too many restrictions on their movements.

There is also evidence to show that the high accident rate for older drivers is also a result of there simply being more older drivers on the streets now, than there used to be. People are living longer and healthier lives, which means that they continue to be active until well into their seventies and eighties. Even so, traffic experts warn that with age come certain deficiencies in the system that older drivers have to account for when they make the decision to get behind the wheel. For instance, body and joint stiffness may affect the person’s reflexes, and their ability to make quick and sudden turns. Vision can be impaired leading to an inability to see in the glare of the sunlight. Traffic signs may take longer to be read. With hearing loss, there may be difficulty hearing the sounds of horns from other vehicles. Most of all, reaction time can be impaired, and this can be the cause for devastating car accidents. Older people who suffer from arthritis, have a history of stroke, or suffer from Parkinson’s disease, may also face unique challenges on the road.

Defining better safety guidelines for older drivers without restricting their mobility will be one of the challenges facing our traffic system.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of motorcycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A 29-year-old woman was killed in a suspected drunk driving accident in Crescent City, California over the weekend. On Sunday night, 38-year-old Michael Jones, and the victim Jolynda R. Peters, were in Jones’ Honda Prelude, with Jones in the driver’s seat. The car collided with a Ford Ranger which was attempting to make a right turn into a driveway. Jones had apparently been speeding at the time of the car accident. The force of the impact pushed the Ford off the road, and into a ditch. Both Jones as well as the driver of the Ford, 59-year-old Ivan Beckendorf, were injured in the car accident. Peters suffered major injuries, and was later declared dead at the scene of the accident.

Both the injured men were taken to the hospital for treatment of their injuries, and were later transported to a Redding hospital. Tests revealed that Jones was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the car accident. According to Times-Standard, he was arrested for vehicular manslaughter, and for driving under the influence of alcohol. The California Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate the case.

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration place the number of dead each year nationwide in drunk driving accidents at 17,500. Apart from the people who are killed, there are thousands of others who are injured. This in turn, leads to high expenses for medical treatment, inability to work, and other effects that have an impact on our society.

California has some of the strongest drunk driving laws in the country, and they have been used with great effect by the CHP and drunk driving accident lawyers to bring down the statewide number of drunken driving accident fatalities. According to the laws we have here, it’s not just the person who’s behind the wheel in a drunken state who can be held responsible for injuries sustained as a result of the car accident, but possibly also the establishment that was responsible for serving him the alcohol.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of drunk driving accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

There’s more than desert fauna and sand dunes at Death Valley National Park, and judging from a recent Los Angeles Times report, the chance of a premises liability lawsuit against federal authorities is not such a remote possibility. The park is home to thousands of abandoned mines, many of which lie open and exposed, waiting to trap unsuspecting visitors or fool hardy hikers who may decide to explore one of these old death traps.

Most of the mines are over 100 years old, going back to the days when the sands were covered with busy miners, excavating the riches that lay hidden beneath the ground. But, when the mines had been exhausted, and their reserves depleted, they were abandoned without as much as a padlock to shut them up. Years later, these old mines pose untold dangers to visitors, many of who have perished in the deep dark depths. According to experts, between 1999 and 2007, at least 33 people have died in mine related accidents in Death Valley and other parks including Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park. Death Valley however, has the distinction of having the largest number of abandoned mines.

As recently as September, Keane Wonder Mine was closed after a child playing near the mine, nearly fell in. This was the same mine that had been the site of a fatal fall back in 1984, when a visitor fell down the 30 feet deep mine shaft.

Some of the mines have been closed shut with wooden doors with padlocks that keep human beings out, while letting animals inside. Others exist as gaping holes in the ground, and have been covered with wire meshing to protect hikers from falling in. However, there are still too many mines that are left open, too many treacherous holes that threaten to swallow unsuspecting trekkers, and hikers. Many of the mines have warning signs posted outside, and the park itself warns about getting too close to the mines, but the fascination that exists in the public mind, and the lack of proper fencing, means that park authorities are resigned to the idea that there will be more casualties in the area. As one park official puts it, it’s not a question of “if” the next casualty will occur, but “when.”

The biggest obstacle to making these dangerous mines safe again is the huge costs involved. The National Park Service estimates that at least $233 million is needed to make all these defunct mines safe again. That’s a tall order for a parks authority that faces a perennial funding shortage. At the Joshua National Park, which has close to 300 abandoned mines, authorities have undertaken cheaper ways of securing the mines, using inexpensive bat gates, and depending on volunteer services to map out the mines in the Park. Just the opposite is happening at Mojave National Preserve, where some of the shaft openings, officials say, are huge enough to gobble up large vehicles, and still have no warning signs posted outside to warn people.

It’s clear that these abandoned mines are a disaster waiting to happen. Death Valley needs to look into the cost effective mine securing measures that Joshua Tree has implemented with some success to secure its own mines. Otherwise, the park authorities and the federal government could be looking at premises liability lawsuits if there are any more mine related casualties.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of premises liability. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.