Sonoma Personal Injury Law Blog

While you might think that falling asleep at the wheel only happens at night, it turns out that time really doesn’t matter. Car accidents caused by sleepy drivers can happen at any time of day or night, resulting in pain and suffering for those impacted by the crash.

The California Highway Patrol had to airlift an accident victim to a Napa hospital last week when a driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his car into two other vehicles in the middle of the afternoon.

Whether or not they realize it, parents of teenagers let their kids ride with the most dangerous drivers on the road every day. Young drivers have less experience and often make poor decisions on the road. They are often likely to have friends along for the ride.

This was the case for what was supposed to be a group date for six young people from Newport Beach, California on Memorial Day. The car, however, was without one young man who was supposed to be along for the ride. The boy's father made him stay home and study for a test instead of going out with his five friends.

In premises liability cases, the burden is on plaintiffs to show that a property owner or other party was aware of or should have been aware of the dangerous premises, and that the defendant still neglected to take steps to remedy the dangerous conditions. This is a particularly heavy burden of proof that requires a careful legal strategy, even in a case that would seem obviously to favor a plaintiff.

Some premises liability lawsuits in California pose particularly difficult questions for judges, and a case that would seem either completely unfounded or completely warranted may demand significant litigation.

The driver responsible for a fatal bicycle collision in Napa was recently sentenced to four months in jail. The 21-year-old was convicted of a misdemeanor offense of manslaughter.

Readers in Santa Rosa probably remember the May 2012 accident. The 56-year-old father of a Napa councilman was riding his bicycle on the Silverado Trail when the woman's vehicle drifted to the right and struck the man. He died at the scene, and the driver admitted that she was asleep at the wheel just before the accident occurred.