Los Angeles Wrongful Death Law Blog

Commercial trucks, such as tractor-trailers, have the ability to inflict a great deal of damage when they're involved in an accident. Whether the driver is intoxicated, fatigued, or simply loses control of the truck, the results can be catastrophic. Accidents involving a semitruck often result in death.

One family is grieving the loss of a 12-year-old boy who was involved in a fatal truck accident while riding his bike in Simi Valley, California. The boy was riding bikes with an 8-year-old friend. The younger boy was not hurt, but the older boy was struck by the big rig and died at the scene.

Despite the many laws that have been put into place, drunk driving continues to be a national problem that doesn't seem to be going away, or even decreasing in its severity. Although every state was required to comply with enforcing a .08 percent blood alcohol content limit during Bill Clinton's presidency, the National Transportation Safety Board thinks that number may not be low enough.

Fatal drunk driving accidents make up one-third of all traffic deaths. Officials at the NTSB believe that the reason for this is that individuals who have blood-alcohol contents of .05 percent are still too impaired to get behind the wheel of a vehicle The recommendation is to lower the limit even further, to .05 percent.

A beloved uncle and friend fell victim to what police say was a street racing accident in South Los Angeles. The 57-year-old was trying to cross Compton Avenue when a speeding white car driven by an 18-year-old driver hit the man. An investigation of the scene led police to note skid marks on the street, suggesting that the driver tried to prevent a crash by using his breaks, but his efforts to avoid a collision obviously failed.

The accident happened at about 9 p.m., when two vehicles reportedly came racing down the avenue. An LAPD investigator said the driver now in custody tried to maneuver around the pedestrian but ended up striking the man, along with some parked cars and a pole.

When we think of fatal workplace accidents, we generally think of construction or industrial accidents. But the truth is that a work-related death can occur in virtually any profession.

Consider the tragic death of a University of California research assistant. In 2008, the 23-year-old was working with t-butyl lithium when a plastic syringe dismantled and a highly flammable chemical compound ignited when it came in contact with air. The assistant was badly burned on almost half of her body, and she died of her injuries 18 days after the accident.