When Safety Fails – Dealing with Construction Accidents
October 8, 2012 | Adriel B. VillarrealThere is no surprise that construction work is not only a physically demanding job, but also a dangerous one. When you are working hundreds of feet above the ground, standing on unstable structures or handling heavy equipment, there is a real risk of workers being injured in construction accidents. Safety Doesn’t Always Come First While there are plenty of laws, rules and regulations issued by OSHA and the Department of Labor, companies don’t always abide by them. With the high demand of getting jobs done quickly, safety measures are often overlooked in order to keep the job moving which causes accidents to happen. Oftentimes, it can be difficult to really pinpoint who is actually to blame when there are numerous contractors and companies that can be working at the site of the accident. The blame can be passed back and forth and sometimes no one will accept responsibility for the incident. The reason for these accidents could be from improper use of a piece of equipment, improper safety measures being taken or plain negligence. The blame may lie with the site owner, a supervisor, an independent contractor or an equipment manufacturer. However, sometimes there are multiple people at blame because of numerous safety measures that were not taken. What to Do if You…
Read MoreHow to Deal With Dog Bites
October 4, 2012 | Adriel B. VillarrealDog bites are more common than you may realize. Dogs seem to be everywhere we turn from walking on the street with their owner to the local park and maybe even in your friend’s home. Unfortunately, humans cannot control animals in every situation and sometimes these animals attack. Why Dogs Attack Most dogs are good natured and don’t viciously attack, but sometimes when provoked or scared they will bite to protect themselves and accidents happen. Even worse, there are dogs that are trained specifically to be aggressive or are aggressive due to their environment. Either way, there are dogs that are prone to attack at any given time. Increasingly, we are hearing more and more cases about dog bites in this country. In fact, there are about 800,000 reported cases in the United States every single year. These incidents are not isolated to children as many people think; they can happen to anyone of any age. When pet owners become too lax and don’t keep their pets on leashes, they are opening themselves up to a huge liability. The same is true when they do not keep their dogs kept behind a fence that is tall enough or someplace where they cannot escape. If their dog somehow does escape or is not properly…
Read MoreWhy I Do What I Do
October 1, 2012 | Jon P. EricksonPeriodically I receive a call or a letter from a client I represented that reminds me of the importance of legal defense and how what we do can have such an impact on a client’s life. I recently received just such a letter from a mother whose son I represented on a Criminal Sexual Conduct charge of an incident involving an under aged female. He was an 18-yr-old senior in high school at the time, and she a 15-yr old-freshman. We were unable to negotiate a plea agreement, so we chose to have a jury trial. He was found not guilty. The following letter (names changed for privacy) told me of how he is now doing some two years after his acquittal. If he had been found guilty he likely would not have gone to college to follow his dream because of the collateral consequences of a criminal sexual conduct conviction. Dear Jon, You may not remember Mike, but a couple of years ago you represented him in a Felony Criminal Sexual Conduct case. You were able to prove him innocent, and clear his name. I was thinking about you the other day, as I was sitting in the stands watching Mike play football in his second year at University. It was such…
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