San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog

You have likely heard about the recent deadly tour bus carrying tourists, mostly from France, from the San Francisco area down to Los Angeles, where they were due to depart back to France. The Orion Pacific tour bus had overturned on a highway overpass in Central California where four passengers were ejected from the bus as it lay in a wreck around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. There were five confirmed deaths from the bus accident.

Photo Gallery with 8 total images from KTLA News

A new detail reveals that the American driver, John Egnew, 69, of Corona in Riverside County, had been involved in another accident about three years ago. The Associated Press found evidence that in 2005, Egnew struck a 71-year-old woman in Las Vegas as she was crossing the street with her husband, leaving the woman with serious injuries. Egnew claimed that he didn't see the pedestrian on the road. You can read more about this Central California bus accident in this KTLA news story.

Continue reading "Driver in Fatal Central California Tour Bus Crash had History of Prior Accidents" »

Children all around San Diego County enjoy playing hide-and-seek in the evening with their neighborhood friends. Many children play all along their street and neighborhood paying little attention when crossing. Last week in North Encanto, an 11-year-old boy was playing a hide-and-seek game when he ran in front of a tow truck and was hit. The truck accident happened on the 6800 block of Madera Street.

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San Diego authorities have stated that the tow truck driver did everything he could to avoid hitting the child but was not able to do so.. The driver does not appear to be at fault. You can read more about this San Diego pedestrian accident in this CBS8.com story.

Continue reading "San Diego Boy Injured in Tow Truck Accident" »

Many an accident on the road that cause injuries or even fatalities are not due to unsafe exterior conditions or even the irresponsibility of other drivers nearby. A lot of times, the fault lies in the interior conditions of our vehicles and, more often than not, fatigue.

Prompted by the charter bus accident in Utah in January 2008 that resulted in 51 of the riders to be ejected from the vehicle into the wintry night, nine of whom died and forty-three others who were injured, the National Transportation and Safety Board recently attributed the accident as relating to the fatigue of the 71 year-old bus driver who had underestimated his speed and had a slowed reaction time.

Continue reading "Fatigue Significant Factor in San Diego Car, Bus, Motorcycle Accidents" »

A friend of the Jurewitz Law Group and San Diego resident was riding his newly tuned-up bicycle around the uptown area of San Diego this last Saturday morning.

The University Heights resident was heading back home after running some errands during this busy day and, as he was riding out of the parking lot of the Ralph's in Hillcrest, he stopped behind a grey Ford F-150. This Ford pick-up truck was waiting to go into the underground parking lot blocking off the path.

Our friend stopped behind the truck waiting for him to move when suddenly the truck driver decided to go in reverse instead of forward. Not looking into his mirrors, the driver did not see our employee and hit him with his truck. Our employee fell off of his bike with his groceries spilling all over the floor.

Continue reading "Friend of San Diego Injury Law Firm Struck by Truck" »

The morning commute is a busy time for San Diego roads and many San Diegans are usually in a rush to make it to work on time. San Diego students are usually on their way to school at around the same time. Many of them ride the bus, a rather safe means of transportation. That expected safety that comes from being a passenger in a huge yellow vehicle with lights was compromised twice last Friday morning. Two San Diego Unified School District buses were struck by cars in unrelated auto accidents.

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A California Highway Patrol dispatch reported the first accident at 6:59 a.m. In this first accident, a van backed into a parked school bus on 54th and Pirotte Drive in the Chollas Creek neighborhood of San Diego. The bus had 23 passengers on it.

The California Highway Patrol reported the second accident just three minutes later in the neighboring San Diego neighborhood of Emerald Hills. At Bayview Heights Drive and Federal Boulevard. A truck struck a school bus at a stop sign carrying 15 passengers.

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Continue reading "Two San Diego Unified School District Buses Involved in Accidents" »

Yesterday morning, a San Diego pedestrian walking just east of I-5 near Balboa Park was hit by a San Diego Unified School District bus, suffering minor injuries. You can learn more in this 10news.com story.

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The bus crash happened at around 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of Hawthorn and Albatross streets. The California Highway Patrol reported that none of the 42 bus passengers were hurt. However, no other facts have been reported.

The bus driver's actions will hopefully be investigated soon and if the pedestrian needs any further medical care, he should be provided with monies to take care of his medical and lost expenses for the bus driver's carelessness.

If you or someone you know has been injured or killed while crossing the street please contact the San Diego pedestrian accident attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group at 619-233-5020 or contact them online here.

On March 12, a man driving a black Volkswagen Jetta caused a serious San Diego car accident after he ran a red light on Seventh Avenue and collided with a San Diego MTS bus that was eastbound on Broadway. The driver of the Jetta initially denied running the red light but after several witnesses reported otherwise, the investigating San Diego Police officers concluded that he indeed ran the light. You can read more in this San Diego Reader article.

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Seven San Diego MTS bus passengers and the driver of the Jetta were taken to the hospital after officials from the San Diego Police Department, the San Diego Fire Department, and other San Diego medical services came to the scene.

Continue reading "Car Crashes into MTS Bus in Downtown San Diego" »

A San Diego jury awarded the widow of a motorcycle rider and his two children $4.9 million after he was struck on a motorcycle by a truck driver. After the verdict was read, the judge--as is typical--polled the jurors for their votes. However, the judge forgot to get the answers from one juror to two of the 13 questions asked during the polling process.

The juror did agree with the other jurors that the truck driver was negligent and caused the trucking accident. However the judge forgot to ask him if he agreed with the other jurors on the apportionment of damages. The jury verdict found to the truck driver to be 80% responsible for causing the accident but also found the motorcycle rider to be 20% responsible.

On appeal by the insurance defense counsel for the truck driver, the judge's mistake led to a reversal of the verdict by the Fourth District Court of Appeals. The Court of appeals held, in part, that:

...the trial court erred in accepting the juror declarations to inquire into and resolve the results of the jury's decision making process, and also when it made a credibility determination that Santana could not effectively have voted other than 80/20 at any relevant time.

The Keeners, the family of the motorcyclist, have appealed to the California Supreme Court to reinstate the jury verdict.

The entire Court of Appeal opinion can be read here.

Continue reading "San Diego Wrongful Death Verdict to be Reviewed by California Supreme Court" »

An unidentified pedestrian, in the Ramona section of San Diego, was killed after being hit by in a semi-truck accident Wednesday morning while crossing the street.

The accident happened just after 2:30 a.m. when the driver of the truck was heading west on Main Street at the intersection with 7th Street. According to the driver, the pedestrian appeared to come out of nowhere and appeared in front of the truck. The truck driver stopped after the impact and found the man’s body pinned under the truck.

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Both lanes of Main Street were closed until 5 a.m. while the California Highway Patrol investigated the accident. At the time of publishing this entry, the cause of the accident was still under investigation.

If our office was approached by the pedestrian's family, we would first have to determine what happened that early morning. We would hire a professional accident investigator and private investigator to track down witnesses and to document the facts of the accident, including sight lines for the truck driver, the traffic controls available at the intersection, and obtaining witness statements. If the pedestrian was in the crosswalk, had the right of way, or even if the driver was not paying attention while he was driving, the pedestrian's family might have a strong case for their wrongful death claim.

Continue reading "Ramona Pedestrian Killed After Being Hit by Truck" »

A motorcyclist was killed in San Bernardino when she fell off her motorcycle and was run over by a big-rig truck.

Sharon Woodcock, 51, of Long Beach, was driving her motorcycle eastbound on Interstate 10 and making the transition to northbound Interstate 215 when she fell off her Harley Davidson and fell into the adjoining lane. Upon falling into the lane, she was run over by the big-rig truck.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

A tractor-trailer truck loaded with Coca-Cola bottles flipped on top of a Honda Civic, injuring the driver of the Civic.

The driver, Eduardo Ibarro, was entrapped in his vehicle with his leg caught under the Civic's dashboard.

Trucking companies and truckers are highly regulated. There are restrictions for the hours that can be driven in a given day and over a 48 hour period. They are regulated in their maintenance and upkeep. They are regulated as to the weight that can be carried.

There is a question why and how this particular truck lost control. If you are involved in a trucking accident, be sure to contact a knowledgeable trucking accident attorney, like the Jurewitz Law Group, who can ask the detailed questions and find out whether the trucking company and truck driver complied with all regulations.