Big Box Stores… Look Out Above!

Stores used to be attractive and pleasant places to go where boxes of merchandise couldn’t fall on unsuspecting customers. Times have changed! Anyone who’s ever been in a big-box store in the past 20 years or so is aware that most of these stores are stocked full of merchandise in open view, almost from the floor to ceiling. Retail warehouse businesses that fall into the big-box category include Lowe’s, Home Depot, Kmart, Toys ‘R’ Us, PetSmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, and Staples. Retail warehouse business, which exploded during the 1990s, shows no signs of slowing down.
These stores operate on the premise that it is more efficient and more profitable to warehouse as much merchandise as possible right in the store itself, rather than in off-site warehouses. Merchandise in stores like this is not stored horizontally, but vertically and that invites trouble and the potential for serious injury in the form of falling merchandise. Over the past 10 years, it is estimated that tens of thousands of people have been injured, some even killed, by store merchandise and inventory that has fallen onto unsuspecting shoppers in big-box stores. Hot water heaters, doors, TVs, pet supplies, toys, you name it – can fall off high shelves and cause injuries to customers at a rate that most people would be surprised by. These events are usually quite serious, commonly involving injuries to the head, back injuries, and broken bones.
Falling merchandise injuries are often caused by the following negligent store practices:
High Stacking of Products. Merchandise is frequently stacked on shelves that can reach up to 15 feet above the sales floor. Stacking merchandise this high creates unstable conditions with boxes and merchandise. It’s not uncommon that customers much stretch, use a ladder, or climb on shelves in order to retrieve merchandise. This is a prescription for disaster.
Inadequate Danger Warnings. Merchants are well-aware of the risks involved in stacking merchandise this way and frequently fail to warn their customers of these risks with warning signs; sometimes they don’t bother to cordon off shopping aisles when merchandise is being stocked or removed and oftentimes they don’t use spotters when product stocking is taking place.
Unsecured Merchandise. Merchants often don’t employ physical-restraining safety devices such as security bars, fencing, safety ties, and shelf extenders on a store’s high shelves.
Inadequate Employee Training and Supervision. Many times, merchandise falls off shelving because items and boxes of different sizes are negligently stacked on top of each other, due to store employees being inadequately trained in safe product stocking techniques.
Surrounding Events. Falling merchandise can frequently tip over or become unstable when someone moves merchandise on a shelf in the adjoining aisle or in an immediately adjoining area that has been stacked in an unstable manner. The act of moving merchandise on one shelf can cause merchandise to fall from an adjacent shelf. At other times, simple vibrations can dislodge an item and cause it to plummet downward.
Many store managers know about the risk of falling merchandise but don’t take appropriate action to reduce this injury risk or to provide a safe environment for their customers. The reasons for this failure to act are usually a combination of increased cost and decreased attention.
Who is liable for injuries from falling merchandise?
A commercial business can’t just throw open its doors to customers, without taking certain measures to assure the safety of those customers. The law imposes a legal duty on a store or any business establishment to take steps to assure that the premises are safe for its customers and visitors. This duty is imposed under a body of law known as California premises liability. Store owners are legally obligated to make sure that their properties are reasonably safe from hazards. Premises hazards can be any conditions that create an unreasonable risk of injury to customers or visitors. The owner or operator of the property is required to inspect the premises on a regular basis for dangers and risks posed to the general public, and it is required to correct those risks.

Therefore, store owners and operators have a legal obligation to take every reasonable measure possible to prevent falling merchandise from injuring visitors. Some, but not all, of these measures include the following:
• Shelves need to be deep enough and wide enough to support the merchandise being stored;
• Merchandise should never be stacked in such a way that it increases the chances of it falling;
• Anchoring devices should be employed to stabilize and secure heavy merchandise that is often prone to tipping and falling;
• Shelves need to be checked periodically to discover whether merchandise has been stored in a safe position by employees.
When a store fails to meet the legal duty owed to its customers and invitees, the store can be held liable for any injuries that result from the breach of that duty. This translates into paying for all costs that the injured person has incurred as a result of the injury. These costs include medical and hospital bills, lost wages, physical rehabilitation and pain and suffering, as well as other damages.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a store like this or an event that is described here we urge you to call the Law office of Guenard & Bozarth right away. We have the experienced lawyers you deserve who will consult with you for no cost and work to determine what to do next. Please call our office 24/7/365 at 888-809-1076 or visit our website at http://www.gblegal.com We Can Help!

Wedding Party Limousine Tragedy

There is an active news story about a wedding party in the Bay Area that was riding in a limousine that caught fire. 5 of the 9 members of the party were unable to escape the flames and were burned to death. We were deeply saddened to see this on the news and pray for the survivors and each and every member of the families involved.
What is instructional about this tragedy were the interviews with those that were both directly and indirectly involved and what the driver was quoted to have said at the scene of this tragedy.
One of the survivors was quoted as saying they complained to the driver that they could smell smoke in the passenger compartment and possibly due to a language barrier the driver misunderstood that they were asking to smoke and he said no and continued to drive. By the time the pleas for help become more urgent the limo was already in flames. The time between the driver actually understanding the issue and his appropriate action may contributed to the deaths of 5 of the 9 occupants. The driver was quoted at the scene saying that he mis-understood them.
It would be irresponsible to assign any degree of fault before the appropriate investigations have been completed and a few aspects of this case are clear. There was a language barrier that contributed at some level to this accident, the limo driver had precious little experience as a driver, some say as little as 3 weeks and the limousine they were in was almost 15 years old and mechanical defects that may have been delayed could be called into question. It is our understanding that the driver of the limousine was properly licensed as was the company.
Whenever anyone rents a limousine it is imperative that safety comes before anything else. Since this is prom season, parents will be placing their children into the hands of limousines drivers and the expectation of a safe trip is paramount, even of greater importance than having a great time. Knowing how to communicate with driver, knowing where the safety equipment is located and knowing the background of BOTH the driver and the company are all critical pieces of information you should know in advance. At the end of the ride you just want to arrive at your destination safely.
If you have been injured in a motor vehicle collision the experienced lawyers at Guenard & Bozarth can help you. We are available 24/7/365 by calling 888-809-1075 or at http://www.gblegal.com We Can Help!

Air Bag Injuries And A Common Thread

A Japanese manufacturing company is blaming problems with a component in an airbag that is currently found in millions of cars across the world for a massive new recall. The recall includes almost 4 million vehicles worldwide and includes some of the most respected Japanese automakers including Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda.
Toyota, no stranger to vehicle defects, recently confirmed that the defect is in the airbag inflator in the airbag for the front passenger could cause abnormal deployment of the airbag in the event of an accident. This abnormal deployment could cause injuries to the passenger. The airbags were manufactured by Tokyo based- seat belt and airbag supplier Takata Corporation.
Investigators have confirmed at least 5 reports of airbag malfunctioning involving defective airbags in Toyota cars. At least 3 of those reports came from the United States, and two were reported in Japan. Several non-Japanese automakers may also be affected by this airbag-related defect, although Takata Corporation has been unwilling to provide any additional details about the non-Japanese automakers. It’s been confirmed that Toyota is recalling 1.7 million vehicles, with about 580,000 of these being recalled in North America. The models included in the recall include the Lexus SC, Corolla, Tundra and Camry. These models were manufactured between November 2000 and March 2004.
Honda Motor Co. has announced a recall of 1.1 million vehicles of which about 680,000 cars are being recalled from North America. The models include the Honda Civic, Odyssey and the CR-V.
Nissan Motor Company has announced a recall of 480,000,000 vehicles across the world for the same problem. Many of these vehicles are being recalled from the American market, but the company has not confirmed how many vehicles are being recalled from the US. However, the company has confirmed that several models including the Maxima, Cube and X-Trail manufactured between August 2007 and 2004 are included in this recall.
The massive scale of this recall and the wide popularity of many of these models in the American market, make it imperative that consumers are made aware of this defect and recall as quickly as possible. Frequently the products that are designed to reduce injury will actually compound injury as a result of poor design or sloppy manufacturing. That is where your last line of defense comes into play and that may well be an experienced personal injury attorney like you will find at Guenard & Bozarth.
The attorneys at Guenard and Bozarth work daily to represent your best interests and we have a track record and a reputation for doing just that. If you have been injured in a car accident in any way you should have your case reviewed by one of our attorneys. Call us at 888-809-1075 or visit us online at http://www.gblegal.com/cases.php and e-mail our office. You will receive a call from a compassionate member of our team who will advise you what to do next. Give us a call today. We Can Help!

Think You’re In Good Hands? Think Again.

It was not long ago that a CNN reporter uncovered evidence against major insurance companies such as State Farm and Allstate, which are profiting immensely by underpaying injured car accident victims, many of whom were unrepresented by a personal injury lawyer. The money the insurers were denying car accident victims would otherwise pay for the victims’ doctor visits, lost wages and rehabilitation. However, new strategies adopted by the insurers include making take-it-or-leave-it offers that often don’t even cover a fraction of the victim’s expenses.
CNN reported that when a vehicle driven by middle aged female was hit by a large SUV, she suffered damaging spine injuries. Her medical bills rapidly accumulated, and she expected Allstate, the insurer of the other driver, would pay for her injuries.
More than three years later, after an extensive regimen of doctor visits, CT scans, x-rays and a host of medical problems, she was still fighting with Allstate. The company finally offered her $15,000, a sum that didn’t even cover her medical expenses, much less her pain and the mental anguish of not knowing whether she would be able to afford her treatment, and loss of enjoyment of life. She fought Allstate and convinced a judge to find that Allstate acted in bad faith by offering substantially less than the amounts later awarded by a jury; by not attempting to make a prompt, fair and equitable settlement of a claim in which fault was clear. The court further found Allstate liable for malicious abuse of process in an attempt to delay or extort her into accepting less than the full value of what was owed. The court awarded punitive (punishment) damages to deter Allstate from abusive claims practices in the future.
Allstate’s delay and wear down the victim tactic is a typical insurance company strategy used to increase profits. CNN’s year-and-a-half investigation into the insurance industry found that if you are injured in a minor accident, major insurance companies will often challenge your claim, drag you into court and take years before making a reasonable offer. We have experienced that they won’t make a reasonable offer at all, instead only offering an amount significantly less than your claim is worth.
Insurance insiders say this can result in 80-90% of injured accident victims accepting what the insurance company offers instead of fighting. Why would an insurance company, especially one that you trust and have paid significant amounts of money in premium over the years, act with such reckless disregard toward you in the event you are injured? The answer is simple. Insurance companies profit more if they pay you less and when you multiply your case by hundreds the profits are staggering.
Neither Allstate nor State Farm would discuss the investigation’s results with CNN. However, Jim Mathis, a former insurance company insider, told CNN: “As long as the public allows this to occur, insurance companies will get richer, and people will not get a fair and reasonable settlement. Period.”
The math behind the insurance company’s strategy is simple. Take $1,000 off of one thousand claims and you’ve essentially made one million dollars. Do this with every claim over a number of years, and you’ve made billions of dollars.
Insurance companies achieve this cost-cutting through a process known as the “Three Ds”:
1. Deny the claim.
2. Delay the claim.
3. Defend their denial of the claim.
When the insurer only offers “pity, take it or leave it settlements,” often made years after the actual accident occurs, bills have already added up and people are afraid that they won’t get any money for their claims. They fear they will be stuck paying the bills themselves and could eventually lose their life savings. Preying on the fear of car accident victims who wonder if they will ever recover at all for their accident, insurance companies intentionally scare the victims into accepting an unreasonably low settlement.
One judge told CNN that many insurance company defense lawyers have confided in him that they want to settle many of these minor impact cases, but the insurance companies won’t allow them to. The insurance companies would rather fight every claim even though that often means not giving their own paying customers the money they need to heal and get back to their lives. A lawyer for Allstate said that the company’s strategy was to drive lawyers who represent victims out of the insurance industry. The company tried to accomplish this by making the act of fighting a claim “so expensive and time-consuming that lawyers would start refusing to help clients.”
Insurance companies avoid this tactic when they see the name Guenard and Bozarth. They have paid us over $120 Million Dollars and some of that money was from bad faith cases that could have and should have been settled. If you are having a hard time with an insurance company you should call our office at 888-809-1075 or visit http://www.gblegal.com/insurance-disputes.php We are the law firm that will fight for you. We Can Help!

The Use Of A Defense Independent Medical Examiner Can Be Used As Evidence Of Bad Faith!

Personal injury claims typically boil down to our office proving someone has injuries as a result of an accident and the insurance company trying to show that the injured party was either not injured or was injured less seriously than our medical experts say they are. This typically works well and most cases are settled before they get to court. What happens when an insurance company refuses to play by the rules?
The insurance company will do anything they can to hold on to their money and that’s the nature of the beast. Each of us must follow certain rules in a personal injury lawsuit or the system will fall apart due to big issues like fraud and bad faith. When an insurance company uses the same “Expert” over and over, knowing in advance what opinion they will get, the system fails and the injured partys rights are compromised. The job of many insurance company experts is to tell their customer (the insurance company) exactly what they want to hear. When they do that they get more business and the insurance company pays less in damages.
When does the term independent go out the window? Whenever we research the background of what we call and IME (Independent Medical Examiner) and we find that, according to the reports they write that the injured party is never really injured or is always less severely injured than our treating doctors suggest, we smell a rat! In fact, we often find that the report used is called a boiler plate and little other than the name and the facts are ever changed. Sadly, we smell rats more and more these days. In fact, we read recently that an insurance IME denied disability benefits to a patient they never even examined and then decided they were able to return to their business… A business they had sold because they couldn’t do the work any longer. A bad faith lawsuit was filed and settled for over $7,000,000 dollars, $5,000,000 of this amount was punitive in order to punish the insurer for not playing by the rules. Actions like this happen daily and it requires a law firm with the courage and experience to fight this behavior. We are that law firm!
As your lawyer we are required to submit the paperwork and documentation to substantiate and prove what we allege happened and the extent of your injuries. We are accountable to both the court and the defense insurance company to get it right. Our reputation shows that we get it right and we don’t allege anything we cannot prove. As a result of this reputation we are taken much more seriously than many other law firms. You deserve an attorney that has your best interests at heart and the strength to back up what they say.
When your injury is serious shouldn’t your attorney be just as serious? When results matter to you call the Law Office of Guenard and Bozarth at 888-809-1075 and talk to an attorney that cares about you and your results. You can also find us online at http://www.gblegal.com We Can Help!

Insurance Company Bad Faith: What Is It And Why Should You Care?

All of us buy insurance for peace of mind. We reasonably expect that when something goes wrong our insurance will be there to make things right again. What happens if the insurance company you have paid your premiums to doesn’t treat you fairly or flat out fails to honor its promises?
Every insurer owes what is called a “duty of good faith and fair dealing” to its insured. If it breaches this duty, the insured may have what is called a tort claim for “bad faith” in addition to a breach of contract claim. In a “bad faith” tort claim, the insured’s damages are not capped by the policy he or she bought. If the insurance company acted egregiously or irresponsibly the jury may award money damages to punish (also known as punitive damages) and deter insurance companies for similar bad conduct in the future. These punitive damage awards can be millions of dollars.

WHAT KINDS OF BAD ACTS CAN GIVE RISE TO A TORT CLAIM?
Some examples of bad acts by an insurance company include:
• Failing to pay valid claims.
• Failure to settle within policy limits.
• Failure to properly investigate or value a claim.
• Deliberately delaying payment.
• Insurance broker or agent negligence.
• Refusing to defend a lawsuit.
• Failure to pay on a legitimate automobile insurance claim.
• Failure to pay reasonable health care benefits.
• Failure to have life insurance benefits paid after premiums have been paid.
• Failure to honor a disability insurance policy.
• Refusal to uphold your homeowner insurance policy.

HOW DO YOU YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE A BAD FAITH CLAIM?
Bad faith is typically defined in part by court decisions. This is a moving target and may require an attorney that is well versed in matters such as this because the entire subject changes so frequently. Not every insurance company denial gives rise to a claim for bad faith and that is why you need a lawyer that is experienced in situations like this. The first step to finding out if you have a claim is to consult with an experienced bad faith insurance attorney.
The Law Office of Guenard and Bozarth in Elk Grove and Sacramento has handled numerous Bad Faith claims and we have developed a reputation with insurance companies for taking on Bad Faith claims and winning them. If you have any reason to suspect that you may be the victim of a Bad Faith denial you should call the Law Office of Guenard and Bozarth at 888-809-1075. We have the experience and resources to assist you. You can also find us on line at http://www.gblegal.com/insurance-disputes.php

What Are Your Daily Living Activities?

As your attorney, one of the areas I look at in any accident is the impact on your activities of daily living which are also referred to as ADL. These are things like feeding yourself, showering, driving and even holding a child if that is something you do. In short, anything you do on a daily basis. This question is magnified in the presence of a low speed injury.
When you have a broken arm or have undergone surgery it is simple to show an insurance company or a jury what happened. When the impact was at low speed I need to show them the significance of what happened. Since your head weighs between 8 and 15 pounds and is supported by small bones it makes sense that any impact might cause an issue. When that impact prevents you from brushing your hair or safely driving a car because it is difficult to turn your head we have a significant limitation that might follow you for the rest of your life. While it may be difficult to relate the neck and arm pain with the low speed impact it is real and the ramifications are serious.
When you first see a doctor it is imperative that you feel like you were taken seriously. If they minimize what you are dealing with or want to give you a never ending supply of drugs to cover up what is going on you may not be in the right office. The doctors we refer our clients to are experts at knowing what to look for and then documenting their examination. If there is damage they record it and likewise, if the damage is minimal or non-existent they document that as well. They take you seriously and want you to get well!
An injury from any accident is serious business. Your job is to get well and our job is to get you reasonable compensation for your injuries based on the facts. Your next call should be to the Law office of Guenard and Bozarth at 888-809-1075 or go to http://www.gblegal.com. We Can Help!