Most Los Angeles sexual abuse lawyers are familiar with sex abuse cases involving day care centers or schools. A woman in Orange County, Florida recently filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against her child's daycare center.

According to the lawsuit, the child was 6 at the time of the abuse. He was abused by another older child at the same center. According to the complaint, when the mother picked up her child at the center one day, he told her that he had been molested by another boy. This was not the first time this had happened. The abuse allegedly occurred at least 5 times.

The boy had to undergo therapy, and suffered severe emotional distress and anguish. The abuse took place in the playroom when the 2 boys constructed a fort. Inside the fort, the older boy had unrestricted and unsupervised access to the younger child. The older boy denies any sexual misconduct.

The mother has now filed a lawsuit against the day care center, accusing the center of negligence and misrepresentation. According to the mother, when she went to admit her child to the day care center, the facility owners informed her that they had closed-circuit cameras in every room in order to ensure the security of the children. However, they later found that none of the rooms had cameras installed.

In this case, the mother became aware of the abuse quickly. However, this doesn't often happen. Many times, children are too afraid to report the abuse to their parents, or believe that the abusive behavior is normal, and not out of the ordinary. In such cases, it falls back on parents to keep their eyes and ears open. Look for signs of abuse like bedwetting, thumb sucking, regression, and dropping school grades.

According to an investigation by the Associated Press, many of the bus accidents that have occurred recently in California and other states can be traced to a lack of oversight over the companies that perform inspections of these fleets.

According to regulations by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, all commercial vehicles like trucks and buses must be inspected regularly. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gives these companies a number of choices for them to get their inspections conducted. Inspections can be conducted by state safety agencies, or even private garages. Many companies get their inspections conducted by private companies that inspect these vehicles for a fee.

In a situation like this, Los Angeles bus accident lawyers find that there's no regulation over the kind of companies that perform these inspections. More than 50% of states have no inspection requirements, and motor coach carriers have the discretion to make decisions about inspections themselves. There is also no requirement that private garages be subjected to oversight. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says that its hands are tied. The agency does not have the resources to oversee private commercial vehicle inspection companies.

Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board have found that inadequate inspections may have been one of the causes of a deadly Texas bus accident in 2009 that killed 17 people and injured dozens of others. The bus in that case had been inspected by a local bus inspection company, but the inspection had been incomplete. The inspection company gave a clean chit to the bus, even though the bus had defects. Barely a week after the inspection, the bus suffered a blown-out tire, and flipped over. Investigations later found that the bus company also had a long record of safety violations.

Fewer people are dying in California accidents linked to cell phone use while driving. Since laws banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving were enacted in California, there has been a 47% reduction in traffic accident fatalities linked to cell phone use.

An analysis by the California Office of Traffic Safety compared accident fatality numbers two years before the law was amended, with the numbers 2 years after. According to the study, there were about 100 fatalities linked to cell phone use in the 2 years before the law banning hand-held cell phones went into effect in 2008. After the law went into effect, the number of fatalities dropped to 53.

While Los Angeles car accident lawyers attribute some of the decline to the fact that there has been an overall drop in traffic accident fatalities in the state of California, and that more cars now come with safety technology to keep occupants safe, the report does seem to indicate that there has been a decline in cell phone-related accident fatalities that can directly be linked to these laws.

Sen. Joseph Simitian, Democrat-Palo Alto who was the author of the bill that banned the use of hand-held cell phones while driving for motorists in California, is justifiably proud of the results of his legislation.

As far as the overall traffic accident fatalities caused by what the agency categorizes as ‘distracted driving’ are concerned, between 2006 and 2008, there were 396 fatalities traced to distracted driving. After the laws were implemented, those dropped to 278 fatalities, a drop of 30%. It must be noted here that the term ‘distracted driving’ includes not just the use of cell phones and texting while driving, but a number of other distractions that takes a driver’s attention away from the road, including applying makeup, snacking, talking with fellow passengers and so on.

If the use of a new imaging tool that has been recently used successfully to identify fiber breaks in the brain after injury is expanded, then Los Angeles brain injury lawyers expect that doctors will soon be able to better predict the recovery of victims who suffer these devastating injuries.

A team of researchers has successfully used the tool that can help doctors detect minute breaks in connections in the brain after an injury. Using this data, doctors can help identify the connections that have been damaged as a result of the trauma, and predict the degree of recovery that the patient can expect.

These imaging techniques are similar to x-rays that doctors use to determine the size of fractures anywhere in the body. The technology has been developed by a team of researchers at the University Of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The imaging technology works by processing data from an MRI scan, revealing damaged cables in the brain.

Doctors can separate the damaged region from the non-injured area, and can compare both the sides, to understand the severity of the damage and the number of severed fibers. This can help doctors understand the potential speed of recovery of the patient.

Doctors believe that these imaging techniques will be especially useful in detecting minor injuries to the cables in the brain caused by trauma. These minor cracks in the fibers that damage connections in the brain may not show up on a CT scan. This means that many brain injuries go undiagnosed and untreated.

A person, who has suffered a mild concussion in an auto accident or during a fall, or during a sports-related accident, may not have the injury show up in the CT scan, but may suffer a number of symptoms of the concussion, including memory loss and unexplainable mood changes. These techniques can help identify and locate these damaged fibers, to determine the extent of the injury.

The personal injury lawyers of Lederer & Nojima are proud to announce their award of an A+ Rating from the Better Business Bureau.  This award signifies the quality of work that their firm provides their clients on a daily basis.

To see their online rating, click here.

A crane accident on the other side of the country does not normally catch the attention of any Los Angeles construction accident attorney. However, this particular accident occurred at the World Trade Center construction site, and led to work at the site being party shutdown.

According to reports, the accident occurred when a cable on the crane snapped, leading to a load of girders falling down approximately 40 steel stories below. Astonishingly enough, the girders landed neatly on a flatbed tractor-trailer, perfectly balanced, and looking almost like they had been placed there.

According to construction workers at the scene, there was a loud crash when the cable snapped, and workers began running helter-skelter. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries or fatalities in this accident. However, one man has been reported to have suffered minor injuries.

The girders fell from a height of 40 stories, and the beams weighed about 60 feet in length and weigh several tons. This was an accident that could have easily turned disastrous. After the accident, which occurred early in the morning, the construction site was party shut down. The company which was handling work at the site has begun an investigation into the accident. The Port Authority of New York and the local fire and police departments are also expected to launch their own investigations.

Crane safety at the Big Apple has been a concern for construction accident lawyers. Ironically enough, the collapse at the World Trade Center site coincides with the trial of the crane owner in the deadly crane collapse that occurred in New York in 2008. The owner of the crane is on trial for manslaughter in the accident which killed 2 workers, and is accused of scrimping on repair jobs that would've prevented the accident.

The contractor in charge of a construction site in Milpitas, California that was the center of a tragic trench collapse has had his license suspended. The Contractors’ State License Board has held that US Sino Investments Inc. failed to comply with state workers’ compensation insurance laws. In 2008, the contractor had allegedly filed paperwork claiming that it did not have any employees.

Over last weekend, a 39-year-old carpenter working for US Sino Investments was killed in a trench collapse at the site when a retaining wall collapsed on him. According to reports, at the time of the accident, the carpenter was working near an unsupported 13-foot retaining wall. The wall suddenly collapsed on him, effectively burying him under a wall of dirt.

Not surprisingly to Los Angeles construction accident lawyers, rescuers rushed to the scene, but were unable to reach the worker in time. He succumbed to his injuries. Rescuers could not even reach the worker's body, because the area was deemed unstable. Retrieving the body was a challenge, and emergency personnel had to draw up a safety plan to be able to retrieve the body safely without endangering any rescue personnel.

Just a few days before this construction accident, authorities had come down on the company for failure to obtain a state permit before digging a 30-foot deep trench. Under California laws, contractors who want to dig a trench that is 5 feet or deeper, must obtain a special license.

In fact, three days before the accident, city officials had inspected the property, and had slapped the site with a stop–work notice. The contractor was ordered to immediately cease work on the site. The inspector was especially concerned because of the rainy conditions, and because the foundation did not have shoring in place to prevent a collapse. The contractor ignored the stop-work notice. Barely 3 days later, the carpenter was killed.

Every Los Angeles car accident lawyer is aware of the fact that teenage motorists who are traveling with teen passengers in their car are at a high risk of accidents. Two new studies confirm this.

The 2 separate studies which were conducted by researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance finds that teenage motorists driving with teenage passengers were more likely to be distracted in the seconds before the crash, compared to teenagers driving alone.

The first study included a total of 198 teenage motorists. The researchers found that teen motorists who were more likely to drive with multiple teen passengers in the vehicle identified themselves as ‘thrill seekers.’ These motorists also perceived their own parents as being less able to set standards, or monitor their children's activities. These teenage drivers were also found to have a poor perception of driving risks in general.

In the 2nd study, researchers analyzed a nationally representative sample of about 677 motorists. These drivers had been involved in serious automobile accidents. The researchers compared the risks of driver distraction and risk-taking behaviors just before an accident.

Among the teenagers who admitted that they were distracted just before the accident, 71% of male drivers and 47% of female drivers admitted that the distractions were directly related to the actions of the passengers.

Male teenage motorists were found to be 6 times more likely to perform an illegal driving maneuver just before an accident. These drivers were also found to be twice as likely to drive aggressively just before an accident, compared to teenage male motorists driving alone. This indicates that a male teenage motorist with teenage passengers has the highest accident risks.

Almost all American motorists are unanimous in their belief that speeding, drunk driving and the use of cell phones while driving are extremely dangerous behaviors. However, that belief doesn't seem to make a difference to their driving practices. A survey of more than 3,100 people by the AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety finds a wide dichotomy in what Americans believe about traffic safety and what they actually do on the road.

• Almost all respondents believed that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was dangerous, but 14% admitted to driving under the influence at least once the previous year.

• 94% believed that using cell phones and text messaging while driving is dangerous, but in the past month, at least one third of them had read texts or e-mails behind the wheel, while a quarter of them had sent text messages while driving.

• At least 72% thought it was dangerous to drive more than 15 miles above the speed limit, but more than 50% had actually done so.

• Approximately 90% of the respondents found driving at excessive speeds on a residential street hazardous, but at least 25% had driven at high speeds on these roads.

• Almost everyone seemed to believe in the sanctity of red lights, and said that drivers must stop, if possible, when they see a red light. However, in practice, 37 percent admitted that they had run a red light.

• 90% of the drivers believed that drowsy driving was dangerous, and persons should not drive while sleepy. In practice, at least one third of the drivers admitted that they had dozed off at the wheel.

• Similar such difference between belief and practice was seen in the use of seatbelts. Almost all respondents said that seatbelts are important safety aids, but 25% had not used a seat belt in the past month.

When it comes to traffic safety, Los Angeles car accident lawyers would like to see more people actually practicing what they preach.

The California Office of Traffic Safety has released its annual seatbelt usage data for the state of California. While the rest of the state is buckling up like never before, the Los Angeles area seems to be lagging behind.

According to the data, overall seat belt usage rates in California are approximately 96.6%. That is a record for the Golden State, and an accomplishment that Los Angeles car accident lawyers are definitely proud of. After all, California's seatbelt usage rates are some of the highest in the country. More numbers of drivers who are buckled in safely simply mean more drivers who enjoy basic protection against severe injuries.

However, when it comes to the Los Angeles area, seatbelt usage rates decline to just about 95.6%. A 95% seatbelt usage rate may seem good enough, but the California Office of Traffic Safety doesn't think so. The agency has set a goal of requiring every person who gets into a car to buckle up. According to the agency, 100% seatbelt usage rates could result in as many as 1,000 lives being saved in accidents every year.

The need for Los Angeles motorists to wear seatbelts is even more severe now, because of the increased number of motorists on our streets. You need to buckle up every time you step into a car, but during the holiday season, when your risks of an accident are at their highest, it’s even more imperative that you and everyone else in your car wear safety restraints. It takes barely a couple of seconds to buckle up, but it could save your life. Even in moderate impact accidents, wearing a seatbelt dramatically reduces your risk of suffering serious injuries.