Personal Injury Blog

It has been a big year for class action lawsuits. Most recently, thousands of Toyota drivers have sued the Japanese auto giant for injuries and loss of investment resulting from unintended acceleration, and victims of the BP Gulf oil spill disaster are lining up to take on the British oil conglomerate in court. Both of those budding class action battles pale in comparison to the legal storm about to engulf WalMart, which is being sued for gender discrimination by more than a million women in potentially the largest class action suit ever. To put this in perspective, we decided to round up a list of other massive class action titans over the past two decades.

The film industry is loaded with movies throughout history that have a focus on lawyers and the drama that takes place in the courtroom. Some of the greatest…

The attorneys at GJEL recently hosted a scholarship program and asked incoming law students why they wanted to go to law school. As a part of this contest,…

Beginning this month, AC Transit increased Transbay fares by $1 to $5.50 for a one-way trip to San Francisco and by $36 to $198 for a monthly pass….

Increasingly, people try to manage the complexity of their lives by multitasking. Whether eating while driving or sending a text message while waiting at an intersection, motorists are…

There are so many safety factors to consider when your teenager begins driving. When it comes to teen brain development, distracted driving, and graduated license laws, parents have a strong role in assuring that their children stay safe behind the wheel. Great safety strategies include educating your teen about the dangers of distracted driving, and creating a teen-parent safe driving contract that rewards safe driving behavior. But there’s one aspect for new teen drivers that parents have complete control over: what car (if any) they will drive.

Last week, we brought you some of the most absurd attempts of replicating judicial in the most unlikely courtroom dramas. Ranging from Chicago to Miracle on 34th Street, it was clear that film writers are comfortable fudging the facts and realities when it comes to telling a compelling story. Not surprisingly, the same is true for legal comedies… to an even more outlandish extent. But since comedies typically aren’t bound by realism or attention to detail, the freedoms taken in the films described below are perhaps more forgivable than those taken in courtroom dramas. Take a look at our list, ranging all the way from Legally Blonde to Ghostbusters II.

Welcome to May, which marks the first full month of Spring, and the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Month. The group will celebrate the month with a variety of programs and events, including Bike-to-Work Week May 16-20, and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday May 20. Here on the GJEL blog, we will be posting a series of in depth blog posts on bicycle safety and bike accident statistics here in California and nationwide. To start off the month, we’ve collected data on the states that have pushed ahead of the pack with strict bicycle safety laws: Oregon, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, California, and Maryland.

Victims can hold the person who injured them accountable for his or her negligence in court and receive money damages as compensation. But what happens if the victim…

Scooters have proven very popular in Oakland since their launch earlier this summer, offering a convenient means of travel for a variety of trip purposes. In a matter…

Another fatal accident involving a bicyclist in Lafayette serves as a timely reminder that bicyclists must take all possible precautions when riding on the roads. Unfortunately, cyclists cannot…

Being hurt in an accident is already a horrific experience, but it can be more overwhelming and confusing when you are injured while visiting California. As a non-resident,…

The Scooter revolution has arrived in Oakland. Over the past week or two, both Lime and Bird have introduced over 300 electric scooters spanning north and west Oakland…

When you are grieving the accidental death of a family member, you may not immediately appreciate the full extent of how that person’s passing may affect your life….

People who follow the news in the United States are not strangers to disturbing legal stories that often dominate the headlines. From the Casey Anthony trial that concluded last month, to the Scott Peterson verdict years before, and even the controversial O.J. Simpson murder case nearly 20 years ago, it’s often difficult to avoid the day’s most followed legal stories. But there are thousands of legal stories that go unnoticed each year by much of the general public, or are nearly forgotten years later. In the four following examples, documentary film makers have exposed and revitalized those stories to create powerful documentary films discussing a variety of troubling legal issues. We’ve compiled the trailers for the films Hot Coffee, Capturing the Friedmans, Deliver Us From Evil, and Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, along with short descriptions and reviews.

The average personal injury settlement is $52,900, according to Martindale-Nolo Research, but the settlement range is $3,000 to $75,000. Thirty percent of claimants receive nothing, while a good…

Does it Matter Why You are Asking? California courts make critical inquiries about the “gig economy” in a wide variety of contexts. Questions encountered include: Who works for…

The U.S. sees approximately six million car accidents each year. That breaks down to approximately 15,000 accidents each day. There are about 37,000 crash fatalities each year, or…

A year after its introduction to Berkeley and Oakland, GIG Carshare recently announced a significant expansion, doubling its fleet and expanding to two new cities, Alameda and Albany….

Under California law, registered domestic partners are “two adults who have chosen to share one another’s lives in an intimate and committed relationship.”‘ The California Domestic Partner Rights…