Chrysler announced today that it will recall more than 600,000 vehicles for safety problems in the brakes and wiring of popular Jeep and Dodge models. The company will recall... Read More
One of the hallmarks of Bay Area legal news has announced a significant forum switch. Following the trend among nationwide newspapers and magazines, The Recorder, formerly a San Francisco... Read More
That old Operation game has come to life, to the detriment of an abnormally high number of patients at California hospitals. In the past two years, doctors have left... Read More
Just looking at the yearly statistics for auto accidents here in the United States, it's clear that safety laws don't go far enough. Last year, for example, more than... Read More
If you thought Toyota's unintended acceleration problems prompted a legal whirlwind, the aftermath of the BP oil spill in the Gulf will blow your mind. Lawsuits are already popping... Read More
On May 28, Peter Erlinder, an American lawyer and professor at Minnesota's William Mitchell College was arrested in Rwanda for allegedly denying the existence of the country's 1994 genocide... Read More
Last month, we told you about the personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits pestering celebrities including Hulk Hogan, the Notorious B.I.G., and Owen Wilson. A month later, there has... Read More
Toyota managed to survive the last week of May without being threatened with any multi-million dollar fines. That's likely because the embattled Japanese auto company already paid the Department... Read More
While national TV will attempt to televise British Patroleum's newest attempt to plug their massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico this week, class action lawsuits continue to pop... Read More
If you're anything like me, you're looking forward to Memorial Day, if only to enjoy a rare three day weekend. It's the perfect weekend to pack up and find... Read More
Many ethical issues related to alcohol consumption are notoriously shaded in gray. Ideally, it would be up to the consumer to set his or her own limits to avoid... Read More
Three drivers were killed this Sunday while exchanging contact information following a three-car accident near Los Angeles at 2 a.m. California Highway Patrol officer Anthony Martin confirmed to the... Read More
On Thursday, California health officials cited a set of California hospitals for failing to adhere to safety standards. Two Bay Area establishments, Marin General Hospital and Alameda County Medical... Read More
One of the aspects of my job that I like the best, is interacting with other legal bloggers across the country and here in the Bay Area. But one... Read More
A national survey conducted by Consumer Reports and the National Research Center found that Americans' faith in the quality and safety of Toyota vehicles has evaporated, while confidence in... Read More
Congress has made clear that it intends to launch a safety overhaul for the country's fledgling auto industry. And despite years of heightened safety complaints and automobile recalls, Detroit,... Read More
Tomorrow is National Bike to Work Day, which is exciting because the weather report indicates that tomorrow will be a beautiful Bay Area day. But if you're planning to... Read More
GJEL Accident Attorneys Urges Share-The-Road Courtesy on National Bike to Work Day National Bike to Work Day is May 21, 2010 and GJEL Accident Attorneys is encouraging caution, courtesy... Read More
Ever since it became clear that Toyota lawsuits would be consolidated in federal court, personal injury plaintiff’s lawyers have been vying for the opportunity to take on the embattled... Read More
On Wednesday, Louisiana's Senate Commerce Committee became ground zero for the battle against environmental law clinics. The committee hosted a hearing for a bill proposed by state Sen. Robert... Read More
Last week, Wisconsin joined the 23 states in the battle to ban texting, typing, and talking while driving a car. "It is a situation in which technology moves... Read More
The fine folks over at the Avvo Blog are running a guest post I wrote recently about the thin line separating acceptable use of social media and the tendency... Read More
This mother's day, was the 50th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the birth control pill. The pill has had an enormous impact on reproductive freedoms,... Read More
The country's top auto safety regulator put his rubber stamp on legislation introduced in congress this week that would increase the power of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... Read More
Until recently, Toyota has done everything it can to minimize the impact of its embarrassing string of safety violations and product recalls by admitting fault and forking over government... Read More
For pedestrians, getting hit by a bus is one of the worst thoughts imaginable. We’ve written before about Muni accidents here in San Francisco. But right now, due to... Read More
Last month, we wrote on the GJEL blog about the growing challenge to university law clinics in Maryland and Louisiana. While some claim that the state-funded clinics provide a... Read More
On Friday April 30, television superstar Oprah Winfrey lent her powerful voice to the fight against distracted driving in celebration of "No Phone Zone Day." Oprah has been chronicling... Read More
I just sat in on Avvo's webinar on "Ethical Issues in Online Advertising and Social Media" and wanted to share some thoughts. I've recently been fascinated by the intersection... Read More
Toyota's in damage control mode. Feeling the backlash from their delayed recall of on vehicles with faulty brakes, the company now seems to be pulling any model with... Read More
Here on the GJEL blog, we keep track of many issues related to bike safety, including new proposed texting laws for cyclists, the environmental benefits of cycling, and a... Read More
This Saturday night 17-year-old Oakland driver caused an fatal accident while under the influence of alcohol. The driver, whose name has not been released because he is a minor,... Read More
This is nightmare material. While supposedly trying to hail a cab Wednesday, 49 year old Scott Whitsett was sandwiched between a Muni train and a bus. When the vehicles... Read More
In honor of Earth Day (today!), we wanted to bring you some big picture developments from the world of environmental law. At any moment, there are dozens of legal... Read More
In it's April 2010 issue, Plaintiff Magazine, one of the leading sources of legal news in northern California, profiled GJEL managing partner Andy Gillin about his four decades of... Read More
There's Supreme Court trouble brewing here in the Bay Area, where a Christian students' group has sued UC Hastings College of Law for withholding public funding from the group... Read More
Our friends over at Avvo, the social networking site for lawyers and non-lawyers in need of advice, launched a new blog today with the purpose of "exposing the law... Read More
For the past few weeks at GJEL blog, we've been focusing on distracted driving bans limping through state legislatures across the country. The movement is also picking up steam... Read More
After a year of devastating PR stories that included unintended acceleration due to faulty car mats, delayed corporate reaction to potential recalls, and an additional forthcoming Lexus GX 460... Read More
Toyota recalls aside, the debate on distracted driving has been the month's most compelling consumer issue. Over the past few years, eight states have banned the use of cell... Read More
This Tuesday, a New Jersey state appeals panel heart arguments on whether the Rutgers University's state-funded environmental law clinic must disclose client names and finances. Developer Sussex Commons claims... Read More
Last week, Avvo, the social media directory of attorney profiles that prospective clients can use to find the right fit, bought itself "a new suit." Avvo CEO Mark Britton... Read More
We wrote yesterday about the proposed hands free phone law currently languishing in congress. A set of key democrats think the law would drastically reduce vehicular deaths, but the... Read More
We've written before about the dangers of turning your car into a mobile work station. A driver's risk of collision quadruples when speaking on the phone, and skyrockets if... Read More
This post is the third in a series of interviews with the professionals who live at the intersection of law, the internet, and social media. Today I’m switching gears... Read More
This post is the third in a series of interviews with the professionals who live at the intersection of law, the internet, and social media This week brings with... Read More
This post is the second in a series of interviews with the professionals who live at the intersection of law, the internet, and social media. Today I’m happy to... Read More
I’ve written quite a bit about how the practice of law has changed and is continuing to change because of the growth of the internet, and specifically the growth... Read More
We’ve been following the Toyota recalls here at GJEL for the past several months. We’ve reported on the recalls that were in response to runaway vehicles, and about the... Read More
Toyota Motor Corp. has been all over the news lately. With all the news about Toyota recalling dozens of models of Toyota and Lexus vehicles for design flaws in... Read More
Last Monday morning when I walked into the office, I saw Amy and Kimberly, two of the assistants to our attorneys, counting out large amounts of cash into piles.... Read More
According to the New York Times, Toyota Motor Corp announced a recall today of eight models of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Europe. That recall affects 1.8 million cars,... Read More
The Transportation Department announced on Tuesday, January 26th, that it is prohibiting bus and truck drivers from texting while driving commercial vehicles, according to National Public Radio. The ban... Read More
I was fortunate enough to spend January 21st and 22nd at the Avvocating Conference in Seattle, where I learned more than I ever thought possible about online legal marketing.... Read More
There’s no doubt that drivers are constantly bombarded by distractions. At any given time on the highway, you can see someone eating, applying make-up, fiddling with an iPod or... Read More
Teen Driver on Cell Phone by photo240779 According to Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys’ website, “ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) reports that in the year 2000 there were over 46,000 motor... Read More
This post is the fifth in a series in which I’ll be taking a look at how technology is impacting the law and the way legal professionals practice. A... Read More
This post is the fourth in a series in which I’ll be taking a look at how technology is impacting the law and the way legal professionals practice. I... Read More
December 11 Bedtime with the Beasts Bedtime with the Beasts is a special overnight program for youth groups (ages 6-18) and their chaperones. An Oakland Zoo education specialist will... Read More
This post is the third in a series that will continue over the next couple weeks in which I’ll be taking a look at how technology is impacting the... Read More
December 4 Benicia Holiday Open House and Tree Lighting First Street merchants along with Benicia Main Street host this ever-popular open house at the beginning of the Christmas Season.... Read More
This post is the second in a series that will continue over the next couple weeks in which I’ll be taking a look at how technology is impacting the... Read More
This post is the first in a series that will continue over the next couple weeks in which I’ll be taking a look at how technology is impacting the... Read More
This post is the third in a series of Thanksgiving posts. Stay tuned from now until Thanksgiving to read about how you can keep yourself and your loved ones... Read More
This post is the second in a series of Thanksgiving posts. Stay tuned from now until Thanksgiving to read about how you can keep yourself and your loved ones... Read More
It’s no secret that teen drivers aren’t always the safest. Automobile accidents involving 16-year-olds occur nine times more than those involving 20-year-olds, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway... Read More
It’s been all over the Bay Area news: A man in a big rig drove right off the side of the new S-curve in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge... Read More
When texting kills, Britain takes it seriously. A recent poll by the New York Times suggests that Americans would like to do the same. Britain has a nationwide ban... Read More
Over the years, GJEL has seen its cases involving uninsured motorists increase by roughly 20 percent. Add to that underinsured motorists, unlicensed motorists, aging drivers, and teens with their... Read More
It’s commonly said that there are two types of motorcyclists: those who have been in an accident and those who will be. For the past eleven years, motorcycle fatalities... Read More
Next time you go for a drive and hit a red light, pay attention to where you stop your car. If you find yourself stopped behind another car, take... Read More
At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, 206 patients were given CT scans that delivered a dose of radiation many times higher than they were supposed to. The excess... Read More
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two bills Sunday that will require or encourage convicted drunk drivers to install ignition-interlock devices in their vehicles. The devices allow a car to be... Read More
I’ve written many times about the dangers of driving while texting or talking on a cell phone. There have, of course, been bans on these activities put in place... Read More
You’ve probably heard by now that Supreme Court Justice Scalia thinks that some of our greatest minds are being wasted in the legal profession. I was planning on not... Read More
I’ve been acutely aware of the pharmaceutical industry lately. I’ve been following the first of the test trials in the Foasamax cases, and the ensuing jury tension, and here at GJEL we’re investigating... Read More
I don’t have an iPhone, but if I did, I’m not sure if I’d be too crazy about all the applications available for them (applications are “apps,” for short).... Read More
Being a Wisconsin native, I’ve been following the case surrounding State Supreme Court Justice Michale Gableman for the past several months. Of course, it wasn’t a case, exactly, when... Read More
In May of this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim arrested after the September 11th attacks, could not sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft or current... Read More
It’s no secret that the state’s budget is a mess. And though a deal was reached between the governor and the legislature to try and make the best of... Read More
There’s been some uproar on the internet this weekend after the New York Times published an article about what legal professionals can and can’t say on the internet. The story... Read More
You might remember me writing about the case against Merck because of the horrendous side effects of their drug, Fosamax. If you’ll remember, the first “test” case to go... Read More
Tom Orloff, Alameda County’s current District Attorney has decided to retire after serving fifteen years as DA. He’s looking forward to spending more time with his family. But who,... Read More
A couple weeks ago, the ABA launched its new website, Legal Rebels. The idea behind the site was to encourage people, especially those practicing law, to realize that the... Read More
Pharmaceutical cases are all the rage these days, so it seems… The first Fosamax case has been submitted to a jury today in New York. Fosamax is an osteoporosis... Read More
Things have been all together too serious on this blog for a while. There’s been way too many reports of texting while driving, accidents, and other generally serious topics.... Read More
I’ve been bringing you news of the possibility of a BART strike for a while now, and am now bringing you what is (hopefully) the final update– it looks... Read More
I encourage my readers to never talk or text while driving because the behavior is inherently dangerous and has been shown in studies to increase the risk of an... Read More
Cyclists may need to be careful to avoid getting doored, but at least they can rest assured that if they do happen to slam into the door of a... Read More
After two serious MUNI accidents in the last month, the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee will hold a hearing examining MUNI safety standards for bus and train operators... Read More
Attorney Stephen Owens, who was named new president of the Utah State Bar Association. (Paul Fraughton/The Salt Lake Tribune) A new program in Utah requires newly admitted lawyers to... Read More
The Fog City Journal is reporting that an accident involving two Muni F-Line streetcars and an SUV has left six people hurt, two of whom were hospitalized. According to... Read More
One college grad is suing her school to get her tuition back because she claims they didn't do enough to help her find a job. What about all those... Read More
The U.S. Senate introduced legislation Wednesday that pressures states to ban texting while driving. If they don't comply, they stand to lose millions in federal highway money. Read More
Furloughs are intended to save the state money, but if you furlough employees of a Board whose sole product is the creation of revenue, the furloughs don't work quite... Read More
I know all those recent grads are taking the bar exam this week and are probably a teensy bit panic-attack-inducingly stressed. And for those students who aren’t taking the... Read More
The New York Times just reported on a fatal car crash that happened when one driver drove the wrong way on a road for nearly two miles. The accident... Read More
