San Jose, California Personal Injury Blog

In March we wrote about how the ban against handheld cellphone use in California has appeared to help improve driving safety throughout the state. But even though California has seen a reduced number of distracted driving accidents, the rest of the nation has not. And nationally, as well as throughout the state of California, law enforcement agencies are continuing to crackdown on distracted driving as part of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

In California, the state Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has joined up with local law enforcement agencies to implement its annual road safety campaign: "It's Not Worth It!" Even though cellphone-related accidents in Northern California have fallen in the last year, driver distractions in the form of electronic devices continue to be a leading factor in serious accidents.

Throughout the state, this message is being promoted as sheriffs' departments run increased enforcement campaigns, looking for individuals texting and making calls while behind the wheel. A ticket for handheld cellphone use in California runs $159 for an initial violation and increases by hundreds for subsequent offenses.

California Assemblyman Jim Beall is announcing proposed legislation that would strengthen California's child molestation and sexual abuse laws.

The legislation was introduced with input from child molestation victims' rights attorney Robert Allard and victims of USA Swimming coaching molestation.

If passed, Assembly Bill 1628 would outlaw confidential settlements involving charges of child sexual abuse, raise the statute of limitations for victims to seek civil justice from age 26 to age 35, and require private entities that use public property, such as a soccer field or swimming pool, to conduct enhanced background screenings on individuals having access to children.

The bill is scheduled to be heard April 17 in the Public Safety Committee.

In a related action, Beall has also introduced ACR 125, a resolution designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Seventy-three legislators joined as co-authors to Beall's resolution, which was approved by the Assembly.

Read the full press release.

Beginning in July 2008, California enacted a ban to prohibit drivers from using their cellphones while driving, unless using a hands-free device. The intent of the ban was to enhance driver safety, but according to new information, the effect may have been even greater than lawmakers envisioned.

According to researchers at UC Berkley who reviewed California Highway Patrol records, the number of fatal car accidents involving cellphone use dropped by 47 percent in the two-year period following the ban.

The California Office of Traffic Safety, who commissioned the research, believes that the drop in fatal accidents has a direct correlation to the ban on cellphone usage. They report that drivers voluntarily have chosen to not use their cellphones 40 percent of the time.

Carbon monoxide (CO) cannot be seen, and is odorless and tasteless. In large doses, it is deadly. But this does not mean that people have to be defenseless against it.

In California alone, 40 people die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning and hundreds more are hospitalized from carbon monoxide-related illnesses. Carbon monoxide poisoning often occurs as the result of a defective appliance, such as a furnace or space heater. In many cases, carbon monoxide deaths and injuries could have been prevented by the use of a carbon monoxide detector.

Carbon monoxide detectors are similar to smoke detectors, and will send an alarm in the event that CO rises to an unsafe level in your residence. Detectors can be hardwired into your home, or you can purchase battery-powered or plug-in models.

California Lawyer magazine is announcing that San Jose child molestation victims' rights attorney Robert Allard has been selected to receive one of its coveted CLAY Awards. The CLAY Awards are given to California attorneys whose achievements had a significant impact on social good over the past year, or whose work is expected to have such an effect in the coming years.

Long before Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, and Penn State highlighted the issue of childhood molestation in sports, sexual molestation lawsuits against USA Swimming (filed by Allard's legal team, which included attorneys Lynn Johnson, John Parisi, Daniel Singer and Rex Sharp of Kansas City, Missouri and Jonathan Little of Indianapolis, Indiana, forced the organization that oversees competitive swimming in the US and selects our US Olympic team to make the protection of young athletes a top priority. At the same time, the United States Olympic Committee was pressured by work of the legal team, called Lawyers Against Sex Abuse of Children ("LASAC"), into centralizing and standardizing background checks across all Olympic sports, thereby affecting approximately one million athletes.

Allard actively campaigns for the use of law as a positive means of obtaining justice for his clients and in creating a safer community for all. With the victims that he represents, Allard's legal team is also working with California state legislators to craft new laws that will expand and strengthen the reporting of childhood sexual molestation.

The California Commission for Health, Safety and Workers' Compensation has completed a study on the state's Injury and Illness Prevention Program that has shown that the program has had almost no effect on making California workers safer at their jobs.

Started in 1991, IIPP set forth requirements for California employers to create written plans that outline safe work practices, training and correction procedures.

According to the recent study, employers that do not develop and maintain a written safety plan (as required by IIPP) are involved in two-thirds of all IIPP violations. However, the study also showed that those same companies actually have better overall safety records than companies with no IIPP violations.

Reports indicate that one in three girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. Yet it has taken the Penn State Jerry Sandusky case for the media to start reporting about child molestation claims.

In the news this week, reports out of Los Angeles claim that Mark Berndt, Miramonte Elementary School teacher, faces charges for allegedly molesting up to 23 children.

In the Evergreen Elementary School District in San Jose, O.B. Whaley Elementary School teacher Craig Chandler is facing sexual abuse charges for lewd acts on a child and is accused of having multiple victims.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the suspect in the Trace CDC child molestation lawsuits, Keith Woodhouse, has apparently confessed to his actions. The newspaper quotes from a police report which includes a note written by Woodhouse, which reads: "I am sorry for not being a strong willed person and giving into this sickness that has recently been affecting me."

Attorney Robert Allard has filed two child molestation lawsuits filed on behalf of two young children allegedly molested by Keith Woodhouse. The lawsuits claim that both Trace CDC and Child Development Inc. should be held accountable for employing Woodhouse. The lawsuit claims that if the organizations had conducted a thorough background or reference check, they would have learned of Woodhouse's previous behavior. Trace CDC runs the before- and after-school care program operated by Child Development Inc.

Allard, working with victims of USA Swimming coaching sexual abuse that he represents, is looking at making changes to mandatory reporting laws in California and throughout the nation. One of the proposed changes would require public facilities to mandate that any organization that seeks to rent or lease a public facility conduct a thorough background and reference check on any individual who has contact with children. In the case of Trace CDC, they ran a program for children on the campus of a public school, Trace Elementary.

Mercury News story: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19621625