Blog

Most of California’s major newspapers have covered the controversy surrounding former DIR head Christine Baker and the report of the California State Auditor which I outlined in my last post (see some links to the newspaper coverage below). According to a LA Times report, Governor Newsom’s office and new Insurance Commissioner Ricard0 Lara are not happy. The [...]

Sharp Grossmont Hospital in El Cajon, California claims it was investigating employee theft of anesthesia drugs. So it installed motion-activated cameras on drug carts in three operating rooms at the facility. The only problem? Those three rooms were part of the women’s health center, and the secret cameras recorded some 1,800 patients in various stages [...]

The makers of the blood-thinning drug Xarelto, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson, have agreed to settle the 25,000 consolidated cases against them for $775 million. The massive mass tort settlement resolved the cases by creating a fund that the individual plaintiffs in each case can seek compensation from. Curiously, in six of the trials of individual [...]

Last week, a California jury determined Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer was a “substantial factor” in causing a longtime customer’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma. What was left to figure out was how culpable the company was in creating a dangerous product and failing to warn consumers. We now have our answer. In phase two of Edwin Hardeman’s trial, [...]

With yesterday’s release of a report by California State Auditor Elaine Howle, lingering questions have now been answered about the 2018 sudden departure of Christine Baker from her post as Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations. Howle’s report details a pattern of nepotism, lies, favoritism, manipulation, retaliation, creation of a culture of fear [...]

Scientists can’t seem to agree on glyphosate. The popular weed-killer ingredient was deemed “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organization in 2015, but the EPA in 2017 said it was “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” And then a new study suggests people exposed to large doses of the chemical have a heightened risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But while [...]

How has the law been developing on the “violent act” exception to California Labor Code 4660.1(c)(1)? That’s an issue I had occasion to look at recently as I prepared for a presentation on a panel with defense attorney Jake Jacobsmeyer at the yearly Montarbo Seminar in Sacramento. We spoke at the invitation of Red Bluff based [...]

A lawsuit filed against Universal Studios is seeking $15,000 in damages after a mother says her son was injured on the E.T. ride at the theme park in January. According to the suit, Tiago Perez’s left foot got stuck between the ride and a cement offloading area near the end, crushing his foot and breaking multiple [...]

We all know distracted driving is a problem. Many of us are using “do not disturb” functions that can mute alerts when we’re on the road. Even if we’re not willing to completely give up our smart phones and watches while behind the wheel, we know that hands-free options are better. And states are passing [...]

Working alongside 4,000-lb wild animals may seem like an inherently dangerous job. And wildlife lovers may not have a whole lot of sympathy for a zoo employee injured by an animal that has already tried to escape twice and should be roaming free in the grasslands of Central Africa. But a female zookeeper struck by “Archie’s” [...]