This November, California voters will get to decide whether or not the caps on damages in medical malpractice cases should be raised for the first time since they were enacted in 1975. Along with this lift on damages, will be further measures to prevent doctors from being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while…
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The Hollywood Reporter reports today that the death of Lisa Robin Kelly at a drug rehabilitation facility in California (“Pax House”) has spawned a wrongful death lawsuit by her former husband, Robert Gilliam. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/estranged-husband-70s-show-actress-710636). The story seems to indicate that Mr. Gilliam was “estranged” from Kelly in the period shortly preceding her death. The allegations…
Continue reading ›California law on emotional distress claims is based upon hundreds of years of jurisprudence including statutes and case law. The rights of any particular individual to claim damages for psychiatric trauma from an intentional or negligent act depends upon many factors including whether the person suffered actual physical harm or was in the so-called “zone…
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When do California courts deem a defendant to have “caused” personal injury to the extent that they should be held to pay damages to the injured party? This was a long standing debate in the State of California up until fairly recently. Based upon definitions of “causation” dating back to English tort law and moving…
Continue reading ›The Third Circuit Court of Appeal in California has recently issued a ruling in Corenbaum v. Lampkin (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 1308, that, in my opinion as an attorney that represents injured victims in California, has simply added insult to injury to a terrible decision issued in prior CA Supreme Court case, Howell v. Hamilton Meats,…
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has just released its “Most Wanted” list, which reflects what it feels should be priorities for transportation safety in the U.S. moving forward into 2014. These priorities are all well in line with what I see as transportation safety needs for California as well. They include the following: The…
Continue reading ›As a resident of Los Angeles, I began seeing cars around town with big, pink fuzzy mustaches on them and wondered what this was all about. It turns out that this is one indication of a “ride-share” vehicle. The concept is to allow drivers to connect with people needing rides via smart phones and the…
Continue reading ›Los Angeles is home to more than its fair share of drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities. While most of these make good faith efforts at curbing drug and alcohol addicted patients, the Hollywood Reporter recently published a story about a wrongful death civil lawsuit filed by the parents of 22 year old Andrew Witkoff arising…
Continue reading ›This is the third installment in my continuing series of famous tort cases that have come from the California court system. Today’s case is Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1976) 17 Cal.3d 425. Facts of the Case: A graduate student attending the University of California at Berkeley met another graduate student at…
Continue reading ›“…it has properly been said that when a child is endangered, it is not beyond contemplation that its mother will be somewhere in the vicinity, and will suffer serious shock.” (Prosser, Law of Torts (3d ed. 1964) p. 353.) As part of my continuing series of famous case law that came from the California Court…
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