San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog

Public transportation rail systems and trains are potentially very hazardous—not only to pedestrians and patrons but to maintenance workers working on the system. Unfortunately, this proved true yesterday when two veteran employees of Washington, DC’s Metro system--Jeff Garrard, 49, and Sung Duk Oh, 68--lost their lives as they were crushed beneath a maintenance truck.

This tragic workplace accident happened around 1:45 a.m. on January 26, 2010, near Rockville, Maryland while the workers were installing new train control equipment on the track bed. They usually ended their shift at 11:30 p.m. but were working overtime at the time. The maintenance truck that hit the victims had four employees inside it. Jim Graham, chairman of the Metro Board of Directors said that “the tragedy was a direct result of human error.”

The victims were known to have impeccable track records and had not laxed in their services to Metro. With over 10,000 hours of experience between them, Garrard and Oh were fastidious and always careful. Yet, they lost their lives due to someone else’s carelessness and negligence. Both Garrard and Oh lived in Montgomery County, Maryland. Garrard is survived by a wife and teenage daughter (pictured above, photo courtesy of this Washington Post story). It is always very difficult losing a loved one. In normal circumstances it becomes hard to adjust to someone’s passing away. But if a cherished person loses his life to such carelessness, the wounds never seem to heal. Our prayers go out to Garrard’s and Oh’s family.

In addition, this is not an accident unique to Washington DC’s public transportation system. It could have just as easily happened in San Diego or anywhere in California’s many public transportation services. One has to wonder whether the late hours and long hours that the crews were working also played a factor in this industrial accident. Many times accidents like these occur when workers are fatigued.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a San Diego workplace accident, please contact San Diego industrial accident lawyer Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego personal injury attorneys at the Jurewitz Law Group. You may also contact these San Diego truck accident lawyers online or at 888-233-5020 for a free consultation and helpful information.

If you would like more information about what to do if you find yourself the victim of someone else’s negligence, please order your free copy of Mr. Jurewitz's book, The Ten Biggest Mistakes that can Destroy Your California Accident Case. It is free to all California residents.

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" »

Most of the time, when San Diego workers are injured on the job, worker's compensation should cover the costs of the injury. It usually does not matter whether the worker is at fault for the injury or if the injury is caused by an unsafe condition on the site. Even if a San Diego worker at work is clumsy or stops paying attention while operating on a machine, worker's compensation will most likely cover the costs of the injury. Carelessness and even recklessness are not enough to prevent compensation for a San Diego injured employee.

Worker's compensation may be denied to San Diego workers when they self-inflict injuries, while committing a crime, or if they hurt themselves while violating a company policy such as drinking on the job. However, if none of these situations are true and a San Diegan is hurt on the job, they are entitled to rights and financial pay-offs for the costs.

In addition, if a San Diego laborer is injured while on the job due to the negligence or carelessness of an employee or agent of another company (one other than his employer), then he may have a civil workplace accident claim against the other company for its' employee's negligence.

Continue reading "Workers' Compensation Coverage is Still Effective for San Diego Workplace Accidents Even When Worker is at Fault" »

A San Diego man was killed on February 6 at the Miramar Landfill in a workplace accident when a forklift fell from a rental truck on top of him, crushing him. The man, Lee Haleem, was at the landfill because he was relocating his business and went to the landfill as part of his move.

He was backing the forklift from a rented truck when the forklift backed over the tailgate, causing it to tip over and crushing Haleem. He was taken to the hospital but was declared dead less than an hour after the industrial accident.