Brain injuries from sports and other traumatic accidents, such as vehicle accidents and falls, often result in depression and cognitive impairment. It’s no wonder that football players like Junior Seau, who recently committed suicide, are at risk for depression, or even greater, life-threatening side effects as a result of concussions or damage to the head. Studies looking into NFL players’ brains are ongoing. However, some already indicate that certain NFL players’ brain changes mimic those of Alzheimer’s patients. Concerns about concussions have taken the legal stage, too, with the family of ex-Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson’s family filing a wrongful death suit against the NFL in 2011 after he shot himself in the chest, for example. Ray Easterling, formerly of the Atlanta Falcons, died after struggling with depression and dementia from sustaining injuries, his wife claimed in a lawsuit. Important measures are now being taken for sports players of all levels in order to mitigate dangerous head-to-head contact.

Similar brain injuries involving closed head traumas can occur in high-impact motor-vehicle accidents, slip and falls, or other accidents caused by the negligence of others. Our job when handling these delicate cases is not only to provide compensation and restitution for medical expenses, nursing, monitoring and assistance to the victim and his or her family, but to also protect and try to preserve our client’s quality of life. We are also committed to obtaining fair compensation for the loss of enjoyment suffered.

We understand that brain trauma can lead to serious physical and mental struggles. We will fight for you with compassion and conviction to prove the nature and extent of your injuries and damages and preserve your enjoyment of life.

Any impact involving your head can cause post-concussion syndrome with symptoms ranging from headaches, eye pain, nausea, fatigue, visual floaters, detached retina, cognitive impairment, brain damage, depression, speech impairment and even death due to intracranial bleeding. Many of these symptoms are painful yet very hard to diagnose. Only C.T., MRI or PET scans of the head and brain can determine the full extent of damage to brain function. This type of injury often results in depression and anxiety due to the loss of enjoyment of life and functional losses including memory and speech deficits and physical coordination deficits.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has focused heavily on reducing the threat to passenger safety from motor coach carriers that operate under new names and addresses after they have been shut down by regulators. However, this is a common practice in the trucking industry too. In spite of this, the agency hasn’t been as tough on rogue trucking companies as on bus companies.

According to an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration could use some of its limited resources to monitor companies that operate under new names and addresses after they have been shut down. As part of the investigation, the Government Accountability Office developed its own system to track and identify more than 2 million freight carriers. Using the system, the GAO was able to identify more than 1,100 new motor carrier applications in 2010 that displayed such chameleon characteristics.

Los Angeles bus accident lawyers have found that federal regulators have been especially keen on clamping down on the practice of bus companies reemerging with new identities and resuming operations after being shut down. Freight carriers also engage in such practices. When regulators shut down a trucking company because of repeated safety violations, the company may simply lay low for a while, and then reemerge under a new address, continuing operations as before.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration however has limited resources, and has not been able to come down harder on similar practices in the trucking industry. Freight carriers also engage in such practices.

The Government Accountability Office recommends that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration dedicate more personnel to tracking down trucking companies that have similar addresses - or ‘chamelon carriers’ - in order to identify these companies. The FMCSA needs to dedicate more staff members for this task.

The Los Angeles Police Department has been at the receiving end of scathing criticism over the shoddy quality of investigations into accidents involving police cars. Now, the LAPD has announced new rules governing investigations of accidents involving its officers.

Los Angeles car accident lawyers and the Los Angeles Times has been one of the foremost critics of the way the Los Angeles Police Department conducts investigations into the hundreds of accidents involving its police cars every year. According to the Los Angeles Times, there have been 1,250 accidents involving police cars over the past 3 years alone. That makes it an average about one accident per day.

Most of these accidents ended in minor injuries, but quite a few were serious accidents that ended in catastrophic injuries or fatalities. In at least 2 of these accidents, the driver of the other car was killed.

The Los Angeles Police Department admits that its earlier investigations into accidents involving officers have been shoddy, and did not inspire public confidence. Under the new rules, when there is an accident involving a police car, and when the accident has been serious enough to kill or injure someone, a team of detectives and officers who are specially trained in crash reconstruction will respond to the scene of the accident immediately. All physical evidence at the scene of the accident will be preserved, and all witnesses at the scene will be interviewed immediately.

Until now, Los Angeles Police Department policies did not require that officers involved in an accident speak with investigators. Also, under the old law, regular officers interviewed witnesses, and as a result, the witness testimony was hardly compelling. Additionally, under the old laws, accident scenes were left unsecured for a long time, leading to important evidence being compromised, damaged or destroyed. All that will change under the Department’s new laws.