Injuries to Children
Trauma is the leading cause of death of children over one year old. Statistics indicate that more than 6,000 children die from accidental injuries yearly. When it comes to auto safety, children take a back seat. Many child seats are ineffective in accidents. Ill-fitting seat belts do not protect children properly. Rollout and submarining occur when poor belt fit allows a child to slide while belted.
There are a multitude of ways that children become injured. In most cases, these injuries could have been avoided. At Van Blois and Associates, we have successfully represented children injured in these circumstances:
- Swimming pools not complying with federal law
- Defective playground equipment
- Inattentive driver hitting child crossing the street in mid-block
- Drowning
- Dog bites
- Burns caused by flammable clothing
- Unsafe toys
- Recreation accidents
- School accidents
- Sexual molestation
- Defective car seat
In 2006, over 140,000 children were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for toy-related injuries. Product manufacturers, distributors and retailers may be held accountable if their toy causes injury to a child. A toy can be defective because of manufacturing, design or failure to warn. Cribs can be defective when slats can break, leaving gaps to strangle children. Contact an experienced products liability attorney to have your child’s injury by a toy or other product thoroughly investigated.
We have expertise in preserving settlements and awards for children so that the funds are available for use throughout their lives. We are able to obtain tax free annuities or refer parents or guardians to knowledgeable financial institutions for advice. We can establish Special Needs Trusts when appropriate to preserve all public benefits and allow settlement funds to be used for necessary and special needs of the child.
Examples of our successes include:
Boy struck in crosswalk – $3,400,000
We represented an 8 year old boy struck by a car at a dangerous intersection in Oakland, California. After decorating the family’s Christmas tree, the boy went to a corner market at Foothill Boulevard and 36th Avenue to buy an ice cream cone and was struck by an uninsured motorist as he crossed the busy intersection. We discovered that there had been 26 accidents in the previous five years at the intersection and neighbors had been lobbying Oakland officials for a traffic signal. After the accident the City installed traffic signals and redesigned the curve at the intersection. The settlement provided lifetime payments for medical and living expenses for the injured victim.
Boy injured in backseat -- $3,454,587 settlement
Farm workers in a Daihatsu vehicle making a left turn at dawn on their way to work were struck by a pick-up truck in rural San Joaquin County. The CHP officer investigating the accident determined that the collision was caused by the farm worker. The insurance company for the pick-up truck had limited insurance with Farmers Insurance, who refused to pay the drivers insurance policy limits because they were convinced that the Hispanic farm workers could not win at trial. Our accident reconstruction experts testified that the pick-up driver had been speeding, was inattentive and was a cause of the accident. Our client was an 18 year old passenger who received a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the collision. At trial we achieved a settlement of $3,454,587 which Farmers Insurance Company paid. The funds have been placed in an annuity with lifetime payments for medical and living expenses for our client.
Clergy Sexual Abuse – $17,050,000
After three weeks of trial in Oakland, California in 2003, we concluded what was then the largest California court settlement for a single victim of sexual molestation by a Catholic priest. Our client was a 15 year old altar boy in 1979 and 1980 when he was sexually molested by his pastor. Evidence was introduced at trial showing multiple molestations by several priests of the Oakland Diocese. Although the pastor had denied molesting the boy in his deposition, we were able to obtain an admission of molestation during his testimony at trial. The Alameda County jury was shown multiple instances of molestation by other Oakland Diocese priests as a pattern of conduct that had been continuously ignored by the church.
Clergy Sexual Abuse – $8,200,000
We represented five different women who had been sexually molested by Steven Kiesle, a Catholic priest in Fremont, California, when the girls were 8 to 11 years old during the years 1969 to 1972. Steven Kiesle had admitted molesting many children and bragged that he was the “pied piper” to children. He said that he tried to molest every child he sat on his lap. When asked how many children he had molested over the years, he answered “tons.” We held the Oakland Diocese responsible for continually allowing Kiesle to be a priest when they had evidence he had been inappropriately touching children.
Faded Centerline – $1,800,000
The centerline paint and reflective pavement markers on a curve on the French Camp Turnpike near Sixth Street in Stockton, California, were faded, missing and obscured. A father operating his car with his two minor children in the back seat was unable to determine the position of an oncoming vehicle that appeared to have crossed over the centerline into his lane, but had moved back into the correct lane and a collision occurred in the oncoming lane. The father was unable to see which lane the oncoming vehicle was in because of the faded and obscured centerline at the curve in the road.
The City of Stockton contended the sole cause of the accident was drunk driving by the oncoming vehicle that crossed over the centerline. The case against the drunk driver settled for his limited available insurance. We proved that the City of Stockton failed to properly maintain the centerline according to Cal Trans standards. The severely injured children received structured settlements that have provided for their medical care.
Tree Branches Obscure Vision – $1,750,000
The tree branches on several olive trees on a vacant lot on Fern Street in Merced County protruded over the road in an area where little children played. A three year old boy came out from underneath the overhanging branches onto the road and was struck by a car. The driver could not see the child in time to stop because of the overgrown vegetation. The County had allowed the overgrown trees to violate a County set back ordinance and had failed to cut back the branches. We contended that the roadway was in a dangerous condition and that the County of Merced was required to trim the trees. The case settled at the start of trial and the settlement funds have been used to allow the Hmong family to appropriately take care of their brain damaged child.
Teenage boy killed in Little League brawl -- Confidential settlement
Aggressive talk and racial taunts occurred between players during a Little League game played in Castro Valley, California. We contended that the coaches failed to control their players and after the game allowed the two teams to exit together in a confined area, where several fights broke out among the players. One of the visiting players violently swung a baseball bat during the fight accidentally striking an innocent bystander, causing his death. We represented the parents of the 17 year old boy who was a popular high school student. Little League agreed to a significant confidential settlement, thereby avoiding a public trial of this tragic accident.
