A San Francisco woman, whose leg had to be amputated after she was injured in a Muni train accident, has settled with the City of San Francisco for a sum of $2 million.

The woman, Dina Gryn, was 90-years-old at time of the train accident in January of 2007. She was crossing the intersection between 9th Avenue and Irving Street at about 5:40 pm at a green light, when the N-Judah train struck her. Gryn was seriously injured, and was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. Doctors there were able to save her life, but had to amputate her right leg below the knee. She also suffered a number of other injuries, including broken bones.

Gryn filed a lawsuit against the city, which she accused of creating “dangerous conditions” at the intersection where the train accident took place. The suit claimed that the intersection lacks proper signage to guide pedestrians, and pedestrians have barely enough time to cross the street.

In a closed door session, the Municipal Transportation Agency has approved the settlement for Dina.

Considering what Gina has lost – she is a 90-year-old woman whose leg has been amputated – the settlement seems quite musicale. There will be little left for her after taxes, and she will definitely be in need of life-long care. We wonder if Muni considered all the special ramifications of the case, including her disability after the accident, and her age before they awarded her settlement.

In any case, it seems as if the payouts that Muni is being forced to hand out regularly could actually be better used to update their systems and train drivers. The stranglehold that the union has got over Muni is an embarrassment. Drivers are hardly ever fired, and it’s not uncommon to find drivers who have been found guilty of negligence to find their place back in the driver’s seat after a couple of weeks. This mismanagement has turned Muni into a local street terror – the list of train accidents is simply too long to see it otherwise.

There’s also the question of the defective road. Yet again, we see that pedestrian rights are taken not so seriously. What did the city expect 90-year-old Dina to do when the Muni train came bearing down her, and she was still far from the other side? Sprint across? She was 90-years-old!

The settlement amount is hardly enough, considering the Dina Gryn has lost a limb, and the people who share the blame for her plight are unaffected by her tragedy. Hopefully, she will be able to make long-term arrangements for her care.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of amputation accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The case against driving with a cell phone glued to your ear just got stronger. For Georgia-based International Paper Company, the lesson has been an expensive one. The company has paid a sum of $5.2 million to settle a personal injury lawsuit that resulted from one of their employees using a company provided cell phone.

Vanessa McGrogan, the employee in question, was driving on Interstate 16 near Dublin, Georgia, and was talking on her cell phone. Her car rear-ended the car ahead being driven by Debra Ford. The impact caused Ford’s car to roll into a nearby ditch and then rolled over. Ford’s arm was caught between the car and the ground. The injuries were serious enough for Ford to have her arm amputated right up to the shoulder. Ford is a widow and a mother of four.

Ford’s attorney argued that the cell phone provided an unacceptable distraction for McGrogan, who it was revealed was driving on cruise control at a speed of 77 mph in a 70 mph zone.

International Paper, it seems, tried every tactic to argue that Ford’s loss of her arm was related to the fact that she was a smoker, and that vascular problems that were smoking related could have caused the arm to heal slowly. This claim was refuted by Ford’s doctor, as well as another medical expert who said that Ford’s amputation was a result of the force of the car crushing her arm.

International Paper initially offered to settle for $750,000, which was refused. It seems now that the company was not willing to let the case go to trial because of the “cell phone stigma” attached. Juries are known to be very unforgiving in accident cases where the driver was talking on a cell phone.

Although it was never conclusively proven that Vanessa McGrogan was in fact talking at the exact time of the accident, the company no doubt felt the risk of association with a cell phone would be too costly to bear. Regardless of the technicalities of McGrogan’s cell phone use, it’s clear that she was speaking on the phone at some point of her car ride, which was enough for International Paper to panic.

Ford’s attorney used a wealth of research pointing to the effects of cell phone usage while driving. The effects of talking on the cell phone while driving can be more dangerous then the influence of alcohol. The state of Georgia hasn’t banned cell phone usage in cars, but more such million-dollar verdicts might cause the state to take a hard look at its laws.

Regardless of whether McGrogan was talking on the phone at the moment of impact, this is a welcome settlement. Laws need to be tough and settlements need to be hefty if any sort of progress in the right direction is to be made.

If the growing numbers of fatalities related to cell phone caused accidents is not enough impetus for Georgia authorities to enforce a total cell phone in cars ban, then maybe, the prospect of multi million dollar settlements will.

If you have suffered a devastating injury as a result of a car crash or any other event, you need the help of a top California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

Not all the exhilarated screams coming from the people enjoying the Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom were those of joy or excitement. Germantown, Kentucky teenager Kaitlyn Lassiter has now testified that she screamed for the ride operators to stop the ride in vain. Nobody heard the teenager as one of the cables fell on her and her friends, coiling around Kaitlyn’s neck and almost decapitating her. By the time the malfunctioning ride was finally stopped and the girl rescued, both her feet were severed. She’s all of 14 years old.

Kaitlyn’s deposition, her first, was part of a discovery in the lawsuit her parents have field against Kentucky Kingdom. The amount claimed is unspecified. Her attorneys are looking into the possibility of having four people testify who claim that they witnessed problems with the ride before Kaitlyn’s horrific incident. On one such incident, the ride was stalled for 15 minutes because of cable problems. Whatever the problems were, it is obvious Kentucky Kingdom did a poor job of fixing it. The state Department of Agriculture, which inspects the ride, is conducting its own investigation into the incident.

Whichever way this case turns, there’s no denying that Kaitlyn’s life has changed dramatically. In the hours after the incident, surgeons managed to reattach her right foot. Her left leg had to be amputated just below the knee. She is being home schooled and walks with crutches or a walker, with great difficulty. Her parents say she’s battling depression, and experiences consistent pain in her back. There’s no doubt Kaitlyn is lucky to be alive, and any compensation that she receives will help her parents, both of whom have given up their jobs to be able to look after her, some financial relief.

Here in California too we have a Six Flags park, Magic Mountain in Valencia. In all the thrill of enjoying a ride, maybe we have forgotten to ask some basic safety questions of amusement park operators. What safety checks are at place at the California park? How often are rides serviced or maintained? Is there a guarantee that what happened in Kentucky will not be tragically repeated in our state?

Let’s hope we don’t have to wait for an accident to find out the answers.

If you have suffered a limb amputation or any other form of personal injury, you need the help of an aggressive California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.