Wrongful Death Law Firm in Oakland, Stockton, and Nearby Areas
Death to a loved one is devastating to the family, whether it is the death of a parent, spouse, child or sibling. If you have lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence or wrong doing, you will need an experienced and compassionate attorney to guide you through the difficult legal process to achieve justice for your loved one and to successfully recover monetary losses. The negligent corporation or insurance company providing insurance to the responsible person will vigorously defend the wrongdoer. We hold insurance companies and corporations accountable for their acts and misconduct through a settlement or by presenting your case to a jury if they will not agree to adequately compensate you. In some cases we have forced the wrongdoers to correct the conditions that caused the death, thereby preventing any one else from suffering a similar loss. We believe the presentation of a wrongful death case is a recognition and celebration of the person’s life. We attempt to achieve a positive result out of wrongful death litigation, not only in recovering compensation, but also result in emotional satisfaction. If you have lost a loved one due to another party’s negligence or wrongdoing, contact us to learn more about your rights regarding Oakland wrongful death.
Examples of our successes are:
Dangerous Intersection – $8,470,000
A total of five persons were killed and one person received permanent brain damage in three accidents occurring between August 1999 and November 2000 at the intersection of Eleventh Street and Lammers Road located in the City of Tracy and the County of San Joaquin. The intersection had no overhead lighting, no left turn lanes, and was controlled by stop signs on Lammers Road. As the City of Tracy grew in size, the traffic increased and the speed of vehicles in the intersection increased. The intersection was located on the main road out of the city westbound toward the Bay Area where many Tracy residents worked. The intersection was especially dangerous when it was dark in the morning when commuters shared the intersection with big rig trucks delivering products to nearby warehouses.
In the first case, we represented the families of two Tracy Defense Depot workers who were killed when their Honda Civic went under a semi truck trailer making a left turn across Eleventh Street in the dark. The truck driver had to wait for traffic to clear before completing his turn which left the trailer completely blocking the lane in which the Honda was traveling.
The City of Tracy began the design process to improve the dangerous intersection after the first accident in August 1999. However, the construction did not start for 16 months during which time two more deaths and a traumatic brain injury occurred because the City failed to take any interim safety measures or warn motorists of the dangerous intersection. In the next fatal accident, we represented a Tracy resident who was killed on his way to work at night when he attempted to make a left turn onto Eleventh Street and was struck by a speeding van that did not see his vehicle in the dark.
Tragically, the last accident occurred on November 10, 2000 only a few days before construction started on the intersection. In an accident similar to the first accident, three brothers, who were cement construction workers traveling in a Nissan pick up truck on their way to work in the darkness, went under a big rig trailer blocking Eleventh Street killing the driver and causing traumatic brain injury to a passenger. The case went to trial and settled thereafter in 2005 for $5,550,000. As a result of these accidents and the successful litigation by our attorneys, the intersection was finally improved to include speed controls, traffic signals, street lighting and left turn lanes.
Fire truck crashes into Store -- $2,515,000
A City of Oakland fire truck, operating without a siren on the way to a fire, crashed into a grocery store, killing a 28-year-old Vietnamese mother, survived by her husband and three children. The fire truck failed to stop at a stop sign, struck a vehicle in the intersection and crashed into the store. We contended there was a design defect in the Navistar International Fire Truck in the positioning of the brake and accelerator pedals that could not be individually applied in an emergency situation while wearing firefighter’s boots. The City failed to properly train the negligent driver of the fire truck.
Eighteen wheel tractor trailer crashes into van in Arizona – $1,641,416
A mother traveling with her 11 year old daughter on Interstate 40 near Seligman, Arizona was killed when an eighteen wheel tractor-trailer traveling at 70 mph crashed into the rear of her van. The 11 year old was thrown 40 feet into a field and suffered a traumatic brain injury, fractured clavicle and a L-4 compression fracture. Her fracture eventually healed, but she was left with cognitive residual deficits. A judgment after a trial resulted in an award of $1,641,416 for the 11 year old. Part of the funds were used to purchase a tax free annuity for her with guaranteed payments of $3,272,530.
Private plane crashes in Berkeley Hills – $1,490,000
A Cessna 310 private airplane crashed on the Tilden Park Golf course in the hills of Berkeley. The pilot was killed and investigators cited pilot error as the cause of the crash. Through extensive investigation and discovery, we established that an electrical malfunction in the aircraft’s autopilot was the cause of the crash. We obtained a settlement for the widow of the pilot.
Parents liable for drunk driving adult son – $1,183,000 jury verdict
Our Oakland wrongful death law firm has been instrumental in expanding liability to include persons who supplied alcohol or drugs to the driver. In 1983 we obtained the first reported jury verdict in the United States that held the parents responsible for the actions of their adult child by providing alcohol to their adult son who then caused an accident. The jury found the parents guilty of negligent entrustment because they helped their adult son finance a loan on his “hopped-up” red Dodge Charger when they knew he had a bad driving record including 12 traffic citations, four previous accidents and a prior drunk driving charge. The parents then gave wine to their adult son who had a blood alcohol level of .12 before he drove recklessly at 80 mph on a residential street in Castro Valley, California and broadsided our client’s Volkswagen, killing the driver and severely injuring the passenger. We obtained a jury verdict in excess of one million dollars in Hayward, California, a very large verdict at that time. The jury also awarded punitive damages against the defendant driver. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) referred to this landmark case to educate the public about the dangers of providing alcohol to someone who will be operating a vehicle.
