Sunday, July 5, 2009

Your California Assault and Battery Claim Needs Financial Compensation

Assault and battery claims are problematic all over the country, but many of these criminal cases occur right here in the San Diego-Los Angeles area of California. Although assault and battery victims almost always wish to press criminal charges against their violent assailants, many do not think about the ability and benefits of filing civil cases for punitive damages as well. Most assault and battery claims that are filed with a court of law have resulted in serious physical, emotional, and/or psychological injury to the victim or victims. In these circumstances, criminal charges will not cover the cost of medical treatment for the victim. In order to receive file civil charges and receive financial compensation for your assault and battery claim, you should contact a San Diego or Los Angeles assault & batter lawyer immediately.

You don't have to have received serious physical injuries in order to file an assault claim in court. Assault claims constitute those actions that were taken to intentionally harm you, even if you did not actually sustain a physical injury. Such an example could include an angry driving attempting to hit you with his car while you were riding your bike along the street. Perhaps someone threatened you with a knife or gun, but did not actually stab you or fire the weapon. You may have even been verbally threatened or abused, though your attacker may not have raised a hand to you at all. Any number of non-injury related claims can be filed as an assault charge because of the violent intentions of your assailant. These actions, though physically painless, can potentially leave emotional wounds that may require therapeutic counseling and psychological consultation.

Battery, on the other hand, constitutes physical harm that was intentionally inflicted upon one person by another. Maybe you were cornered and badly beaten by a former friend who felt betrayed or deceived. Perhaps someone sexually abused you at your place of employment or during a doctor's visit. Whatever your case of battery may entail, it likely caused you substantial physical injury. Medical treatment for physical injuries, as well as therapeutic treatment for emotional and psychological trauma, can cost a substantial amount of money. In addition to filing a criminal claim against the assailant that has caused you so much distress, you can contact a personal injury lawyer and file a civil case for punitive damages as well. This will give you the opportunity to receive financial compensation that can cover all of your medical costs. In addition, you may lose income and generate debt from being unable to work as a result of your injury. The settlement you receive will potentially cover these expenses as well, along with any other costs that you may have incurred from the attack.

In the worst case scenarios of assault and battery cases, the victims are regrettably unable to survive the wounds inflicted by their attackers. In these circumstances, a personal injury lawyer will represent the loved ones who were left behind after the victim's passing. Although a monetary settlement may seem a petty form of compensation for the passing of your loved one, it can provide family members with much needed financial assistance during this difficult time.

Southern CA Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Is Increasing

Nursing home abuse has been a topic of much discussion throughout the United States for several decades, but California is by far home to some of the most serious cases. The cities of San Diego and Los Angeles are particularly prone to nursing home abuse, although the problem is becoming more serious throughout the state every single year. If you suspect or are sure that your loved one has been abused or neglected in a nursing home in Los Angeles or San Diego, you should contact a personal injury lawyer immediately. Both neglect and abuse can result in the lasting physical and emotional wounds of your loved one, potentially requiring months or even years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to completely recover, if recovery is even possible.

There are different types of abuse one may be subject to endure while living in an ethically questionable nursing home. The first, and perhaps most common type of abuse evident in these types of environments, is neglect. Neglect is an indirect form of abuse in that a resident of a nursing home is perhaps being ignored or not receiving the care he or she wants and needs to be happy and comfortable. Neglect can cause both physical and emotional problems. There have been cases in which residents of nursing homes have been denied any reasonable amount of human contact for days and even weeks on end. Other forms of neglect could include not cleaning a resident properly when that resident is unable to adequately clean him or herself.

Direct abuse is also evident in nursing homes. Many nursing home employees have been convicted of hitting, kicking, punching, and attacking the residents for which they are hired to care and protect. Many residents are physically unable to inform their loved ones of this abuse. Others are threatened by the abusive staff, will result in more injuries, abuse and more pain. If you suspect at all that your loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse, do not hesitate to contact a personal injury lawyer right away.

Unfortunately, every year there is a substantial number of nursing home abuse victims who are unable to recover from the wounds they've received from either the direct abuse or intentional neglect of the staff supposedly dedicated to helping them. Many nursing home employees are taken to court and criminally convicted of these crimes each year. Although criminal charges may provide relief and justification to family members of the lost victim, criminal claims do not typically provide any sort of financial compensation to a victim's loved one. Financial compensation is often necessary to cover medical fees incurred while the victim remained alive or the costly funeral arrangements to lay your loved one to rest. In order to receive financial compensation to help cover these costs and others, personal injury lawyers help thousands of people each year in filing civil charges in addition to criminal charges. The civil charges for a personal injury claim will likely offer you and your relatives the financial support you'll require to carry on through the difficult mourning process.

Southern California Defective Child Car Seats Are Becoming A Problem

Being struck by an oncoming car or being otherwise involved in an automobile accident can be one of the most frightening experiences one can endure. But there is perhaps nothing more terrifying than getting into a car accident with your children in the backseat. Too many child car seats are proving to be ineffective throughout the United States, making automobile accidents the number one killer of children who have not yet reached their teenage years. Because of the substantial amount of car accidents that occur each year, the chances of children being injured or killed in car accidents due to defective car seats in Los Angeles & San Diego are substantially greater than in other areas of the country. This is just one of many reasons why there are a number of personal injury lawyers available to serve you and other families who have either lost a child or whose child sustained traumatic injuries during an automobile accident, both due to defective car seats.

Nothing can prepare a parent and other family members for the serious injury or death of a young child. The car accident may have been the fault of another vehicle and driver. Maybe the cause of the crash was purely accidental. Perhaps you stand in partial blame for going too fast down the highway. Whatever the case may be, your child's car seat was meant to protect your little one from any potential harm and injury that can occur during automobile accidents. If the car seat failed to provide this essential protection, it could be because the product was defective. The assurance and effectiveness of child car seats have been hot topics in the United States for the past decade as hundreds of manufacturers have been forced to recall their products due to defects and potential safety hazards that could crop up in case of an automobile accident. Many of the seats created to protect infants and children in this scenario were actually to blame for many of the injuries these young ones sustained.

Some of the defects that are common in child car seats can include an improperly structured harness, a sudden release seatbelt, dysfunctional handles, and an overall feebly constructed seat. To make potential accidents even more dangerous, some child car seats also play host to flammable fabrics and other hazardous materials. It is important for parents from all over to keep close tabs on product recalls, particularly regarding child car seats and other products used frequently for and around your children. If, however, your child was already the injury victim or fatal casualty of a defective car seat, you should contact an injury lawyer immediately following the accident. He or she can potentially help alleviate your financial stresses as you and your relatives take time to help your child begin recovery or mourn your little one's passing. Although financial compensation can in no way recompense the loss or serious injury of one's child, it can provide the financial support you'll need to survive through the difficult processes of recovery, grief, and healing. Making companies financially liable can prevent future manufacturing mistakes and actually save lives.