Catastrophic Personal Injury

When recovery for injury or loss is legally available, the law aims to compensate the victims as fully as possible.

Accidental death and serious injury happen all too often.  When you or someone close to you is seriously injured, life as you’ve known it stops completely; your ability to feel even simple pleasures comes to a screeching halt, and your awareness of having to meet your personal, professional and financial obligations, earn a living and take care of your dependents, suddenly becomes urgent, overwhelming, even despairing.

When an accident could have been prevented, the law holds responsible those whose carelessness brings harm to others.

The law does not provide a remedy for every accidental injury.  Accident laws, the remedies they provide, and the procedures that make those remedies available, are complex and vary greatly from case to case, depending on the specifics of the accident, the victims, and the person(s) or entity responsible.  

While some accidents could not have been prevented, too many happen because someone was careless. In most cases, the law provides for compensation to victims of such accidents, so that the person whose carelessness caused the harm is held accountable.

WRONGFUL DEATH

The accidental death of a loved one is the ultimate loss, forever impacting you and all others who depended on that person for support, companionship and love.  The pain of separating from a family member is made exponentially worse by the suddenness and seeming randomness of an accidental death.  Not only are surviving family members bereft in their grief, they more keenly feel their own vulnerability in a world where accidents with devastating effects can, and tragically do, happen.

Wrongful Termination

The law prohibits the termination of employees for reasons stemming from discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing, breach of contract and violations of public policy. The ability to earn a living has been a sacred and necessary function of society for as long as we can remember. Our work empowers us to provide for our families by serving others. We work a lifetime to be skilled at what we do and to nurture the relationships that maintain demand for our goods and services. It can take years to develop a strong and stable career and only one letter or phone call from an employer to destroy it all. The loss of a job can be a devastating experience that may cause lasting or permanent damage to one’s quality of life. Accordingly, the law protects victims of wrongful termination by holding employers accountable when they terminate employees for the wrong reasons.

Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) Actions

Over a century ago, the Legislature responded to the problem of inadequate wages and poor working conditions by forming the Industrial Welfare Commission, giving it authority to investigate various industries and pass wage orders establishing minimum wages, maximum work hours, and conditions of labor. California then passed the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) in 2004 to help the state uphold these protections for employees. PAGA plaintiffs are made up of current and former employees who collectively file a representative lawsuit against their employer. Under PAGA, these plaintiffs can seek penalties from their employer for violations of any IWC Wage Order that regulates conditions of labor.

If successful, a civil penalty is levied against the employer for each violation and the plaintiffs may be entitled to attorneys fees. The purpose of PAGA is to incentivize employees to enforce compliance with the Labor Code and recover civil penalties on behalf of the State. While 75% of fees go to the State of California, 25% of the fees go to the aggrieved employees.