Efforts to get California’s numerous unsafe mines that are a potential accident and injury hazard cleaned up and closed, might get fresh impetus from the federal stimulus package. The package includes more than $1.5 billion for the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the Forest Service. The funds are expected to be used for eliminating the safety hazards posed by abandoned mines scattered across California, Arizona and Nevada.

Our blog had earlier carried a report on the high risk posed by these abandoned mines, many of which are over 100 years old. The most dangerous abandoned mines in California are located at the Death Valley National Park as well as the Mojave National Preserve and the Joshua Tree National Park. Of these, Death Valley has the highest number of abandoned mines.

In September 2008, a child who was playing near Keane Wonder Mine fell in, causing authorities to shut down the mine. In 1984, another person fell down the mine shaft. Not all the mines are open and unsafe. But there are far too many that continue to exist with barely enough protection to prevent unwary passers by like hikers, from falling in. A few of the mines have old wooden doors that have been padlocked while others have flimsy wire meshing. Park authorities have posted warnings outside one of these unprotected mines, alerting people to the dangers of getting to close to the mine. However there continues to exist a fascination with these old mines that once used to be full of mining activity, and were the harbingers of prosperity to neighboring towns. Too many hikers are tempted to try to explore these mines from close up and the results can be dangerous.

Up until now, the biggest hurdle in closing down these mines and making them safe again has been the enormous cost involved. This has meant that park authorities have had to use temporary protection like bat gates to protect abandoned mines. Now, with funds earmarked in the federal stimulus package, lack of resources may finally cease to be an obstacle to securing these mines. According to representatives of California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the Forest Service have spent a total of $25 billion on cleaning up mines in the last budget year. The funds can be used for a variety of projects that include fixing hiking trails, and it is likely that at least some of the funds will be used elsewhere. Proponents of cleaning up of the mines say that there is a strong potential for generation of much needed jobs in a weak economy. Because mine clean up work does have job-generating potential, there is a strong possibility that more funds may be channeled in that direction.

With the report last year by the Department of the Interior outlining the dangers of these abandoned mines, including exposure to lead, arsenic and mercury from these old mines, and the threat of fall accidents as well as mine collapses, it seems like the time is right for these mines to be secured again.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of premises liability. 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.

For eight years, Brandon Zucker fought to regain his life as it had been before an amusement park accident at Disneyland altered it dramatically. On January 26, the 13-year-old who spent the last eight years not able to walk or talk, died at an Orange County hospital.

In September of 2000, Brandon was on the Roger Rabbit ride at Disneyland when he fell off the cab. The boy was dragged more than 10 feet under another cab, and by the time he could be rescued, had suffered horrific injuries including a torn diaphragm, liver and spleen. His body had been folded in two by the cab, and he had been in that position for 10 minutes before help arrived. The injuries to his brain were the longest lasting. He was unresponsive initially, but he recovered enough to be sent home. However, he never spoke or walked again. The next eight years were challenging, with intensive physical rehabilitation and expensive medical treatment. He suffered more than a boy his age should, with frequent bouts of scoliosis making it hard to breathe, as well as cellulitis. His parents say his health had taken a turn for the worse in the past year. His father found him on the morning of the 26th in his room, not breathing. He was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, but died in his mother’s arms a while later.

In the weeks after the accident, his parents sued Disneyland, and settled with the entertainment and theme park giant for an undisclosed amount in 2002. The settlement helped pay for his expensive medical treatment after the accident, including the Feldenkrais therapy that helped his brain connect with his body. After the accident, a number of safety goof-ups at Disneyland came to light including the fact that a child of Brandon’s age was supposed to have been seated far away from the door of the cab entrance, not close to it. Three months after Brandon’s accident, the state’s Permanent Amusement Ride Section of the Division of Occupational Safety ordered Disneyland to fit doors in all taxicabs on the Roger Rabbit ride. The ride now also comes with a skirt at the bottom of the cabs. Other emergency measures were revamped, including a provision that required employees to call a central communications center first when an accident occurred, instead of calling 911. A few days after the accident, Disneyland issued a memo asking all employees to call 911 in case of an emergency. Since the accident, the theme park has also stationed paramedics inside the park.

The Zuckers’ lives over the past eight years have continued to be as painful as they were in the minutes and days after Brandon’s accident. Watching their son being subjected to new treatments and therapies in an attempt to make him seem whole again, has been excruciating. Brandon’s death however, has not been in vain. There have been numerous safety checks introduced at Disneyland that may have made life safer for the thousands of kids who pass through the gates of the Magic Kingdom.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of premises liability. 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 collapse of the Yo-Yo ride at the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee has been blamed on “mechanical failures.” Two girls still remain hospitalized from injuries after the accident. At least 23 people were injured on Friday at the carnival in Angel Camp, California.

Those who were on the ride had nothing to suspect when the Yo-Yo, a swing-like ride that has arms that swing out as they spin around an axis, was whirling them around. At some point, the arms seem to have crashed down, taking the riders with them. The aftermath of the crash resembled a disaster zone, survivors say, with tangled cables everywhere and children on the ground with blood gushing from their legs.

At least one person who was on the ride the previous day said that he mentioned to the operator that the ride felt shaky. He says he told the operator that the ride seemed to be going faster and higher. Now it appears that this was just a sign of the impending disaster. Warning signs were very clearly evident, and the people involved, it appears, chose to ignore them.

The accident has brought back memories of another horrific amusement park ride accident last year, when 14-year-old Kaitlin Lassiter had her legs severed when cables from the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom detached themselves and wrapped around her ankles. One of her legs has been amputated and her family has since sued Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Her parents have turned ardent campaigners to bring about better safety inspections standards in the amusement park industry. A loophole in the law allows no federal oversight over amusement parks, and all inspection has to be conducted by state inspectors.

There seems to be a growing number of these “accidents” taking place at amusement parks, where people don’t go expecting to be hurt. That more people were not hurt or even killed at the Calaveras County fair disaster is simply a matter of good fortune. With the number of children on that ride, there could have been more deadly injuries. The Carnival, surprisingly enough, is back in operation after a day of quiet.

It seems there is a level of carelessness when it comes to amusement park rides. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions has released a statement after this accident saying its record is “outstanding.” With a recent accident that severed a young girl’s legs and now this new accident, which could have had potentially disastrous consequences for the riders, it would seem that “outstanding” is a bit optimistic. The CPSC reports that nearly 37,000 people were rushed to emergency rooms in 2006 with amusement park ride related injuries. That’s a huge number for an industry that prides itself on its safety records. We hope careful attention is paid to these troubling accidents before we see a major and unnecessary disaster.

The families of two women who were killed during the San Simeon earthquake on December 22, 2003 have been awarded $2 million in compensation. In the earthquake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale, the Acorn Building, which dates back to 1892, collapsed killing the two women, 20-year-old Jennifer Myrick and 55-year-old Marilyn Frost Zafuto. The two women were in Ann’s Dress Shop inside the building, when the ground started to shake.

The jury seems to agree that the building, which was not reinforced, provided an environment for danger and risk. Attorneys for the family of the building’s owner, Mary Mastagni, tried various means to pin the blame on the women who ran out when the building began to rumble. They should have stayed in, they argue, and should have covered themselves under tables as school children are taught to do. Closing arguments for the case, which went on for up to 6 hours, focused heavily on this action of the two women as the reason for their deaths, and not the structure of the building itself.

The attorneys for Mary Mastagni’s family seem not to have taken into consideration the fact that the women were in a shop with mirrors and were surrounded by a glass display and an entire mirrored wall. The women must have presumed they weren’t safe inside, since the risk from broken and flying shards of glass was immense.

The Acorn Building had the only two fatalities in the earthquake. Most of the buildings which were also damaged in the quake had one thing in common – they were all historic buildings constructed many years ago, and were not reinforced or retrofitted with safety measures. In fact, soon after the quake, it was found that buildings which had been partially retrofitted suffered no damage at all.

To leave a century-old building not reinforced in a city that is famous for its propensity for earthquakes is beyond negligence. Regardless of whether the women ran out or whether they stayed in the building, the fact of the matter is that the building crumbled like a pack of cards, while other even partially retrofitted buildings in the area remained standing. That says a great deal about safety standards at the Acorn Building. In fact, the Mastagnis have been given until 2018 to renovate the building to bring it within seismic safety guidelines.

For the families of Jennifer Myrick and Marilyn Frost Zafuto, the victory is bitter sweet. These were two women who died unnecessarily, they insist.

Both families have been outspoken campaigners for building safety standards in the state. In 2004, the Jennifer Lynn Myrick Memorial Law was passed which states that all unreinforced masonry building should have a placard outside that says that the building might be unsafe if an earthquake hits. The seismic safety bill, also known as Jenna’s Law, was signed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a few months after the tragic quake.

It’s just unfortunate that Myrick and Frost-Zafuto didn’t have the good fortune of a warning placard outside the Acorn Building in Dec 22, 2003. They might have been alive today.

If you have been injured or a family member has been killed due to unsafe conditions on another person’s property, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury law firm. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.