Modesto Injury Lawyer Blog

Wrongful death caused by choking on small toys or parts of toys is a real concern for Modesto parents. Especially now that summer is here and children are spending most of their vacation time playing with siblings and friends, parents must take necessary steps to safeguard their children against choking hazards.

How to Prevent Choking Hazards
One of the most important things you can do is check for government or manufacturer-issued recalls. Recalls are mandatory actions that must be taken to send back products that have been identified as dangerous in some way. For a list of recalls on toys that present choking hazards, visit the website for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or go to Recall.gov, a collaborative site that joins forces with six federal agencies to list all of the most current product recalls across the country.

Before you buy or allow your child to use toys that may contain small parts, be sure to read all packaging and examine the toys for several things:
- Recommended age for use (is the toy age appropriate?)
- Warning that small parts may present choking hazards
- Quality of the product and any interlocking parts
- Harmful chemical ingredients such as BPA or lead

If a toy, regardless of a recall, injures your child, you must contact a personal injury lawyer immediately. Toy manufacturers are responsible for ensuring the safe use of their products and they can often be held liable for injuries caused by their items.

On June 7, 2010, the Modesto Bee reported a story about a two-year-old toddler who drowned in a pool in Antioch, California after wandering away from relatives at a family barbecue. The drowning was ruled an accident and no negligence was found, but stories like this one are becoming all too common during the summer months in our state.

The number one cause of death for children under the age of 14 in California is drowning. If you have a pool, it's important to use the following pool safety tips to avoid tragic accidents on your property:

1. Make sure an adult is supervising children at ALL times. Even walking away for a few minutes can lead to tragedy.
2. Install a four-sided barrier (such as a fence with gates that automatically close) around the pool on all sides.
3. Install alarms on pool gates so that you know if anyone enters the pool area while you're not watching.
4. Use safety covers to prevent drowning while the pool is not actively in use.
5. All adults and children who use the pool should know how to swim.
6. Get basic CPR training and first aid training to help victims in case of an accident.
7. Install an outdoor phone line or keep a cell phone handy to quickly reach emergency services should and accident occur.

With more than one million private residential pools in California, pool safety should be top of mind this summer. If you have experienced the loss of a loved one on someone else's property, it is critical that you contact a Modesto personal injury lawyer to represent your case.

According to the Mayo Clinic, tinnitus (pronounced TIN-i-tus) is defined as noise or ringing in the ears. This condition affects about one in five people. Particularly after car accidents, tinnitus is a common problem that can be caused in a number of ways. The sheer decibel level of a car accident can be enough to cause temporary or permanent tinnitus. Airbag deployment can also cause tinnitus. As a matter of fact, the explosion of an airbag creates sound pressure equal to 170 decibels--more than an airplane jet engine or a shotgun blast at close range.

Recent studies suggest that more than 15 percent of car accident victims suffer some type of permanent hearing loss after airbag deployment.

The intense level of sound pressure caused by an auto accident is enough to cause immediate and even permanent hearing loss. "Acoustic trauma" can rupture the eardrums, causing other related problems such as severe loss of equilibrium (including dizziness and unsteadiness) and tinnitus (this can exhibit as persistent ringing, buzzing, roaring or pulsating sounds in the ears). Some people with serious trauma may even experience severe ear pain and bleeding from the ear canals.

If you've been in a car accident and suffered from tinnitus or any type of hearing loss or ear injury, you must contact a Modesto personal injury lawyer right away. This type of injury can cause you to suffer from ear ringing for years to come, and only a professional attorney can help you obtain fair compensation for your injuries.

Social networking has revolutionized the way many Modesto residents are connecting with each other, sharing personal information and keeping in touch. Unfortunately, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are also causing a myriad of problems for personal injury and workers compensation victims.

Insurance companies are savvy when it comes to social networking sites. They are now using information that people post on public profiles to deny or limit payments for car accidents, truck accidents, workers' compensation and other injuries. For example, if an insurance company approves a car accident victim for a settlement and she posts: "Healing quickly, headed to the gym this morning!" on her Facebook page, an insurance company can use this as justification to deny further benefits.

Although this act is reprehensible, it is not necessarily illegal. If you publicly declare any information about your injuries or recovery, you can invalidate your benefits, so lawyers advise that it's better to simply stay mum when it comes to your personal injury.

In addition to denying benefits, insurance companies can also use information that you post against you in court to damage your character or embarrass you. If the insurance company can prove that you're a "bad person" (by using illegal or immoral evidence found on your page), then they may also be able to prove that you don't deserve damages. Also, be sure to tell friends not to write about your recovery or tag you in photos that may be used against you.

If you are being denied coverage for a personal injury, be sure to contact a personal injury lawyer in Modesto today.