Law Office of Lowell Steiger

Category: Interesting Cases


What’s My Personal Injury Case Worth?

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: February 20, 2010

Is my case worth $1 million? $10 million? We’ve all heard the stories. “My friend broke her fingernail and got $150,000.” “My brother-in-law’s friend’s cousin’s son’s wife got $4 million when she fell at the A & P and broke her wrist.” “Bob Hartman got $2.7 million because he was rear-ended by a drunk driver and the drunk’s insurance company was afraid to go to court.”  How are these crash-to-riches cases possible?  Well, in a word, they’re not! Are there multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements? Of course there are but they are based on major injuries, good liability and deep pockets. Click here for… Read More

Motorcycle Accident Leads to Traumatic Brain Injury, $8M Settlement

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: August 26, 2009

Just when you think you have no case, you may have a case. I was asked to take a case where Billy, a motorcycle rider who on first impression was thought to be partially, if not all, to blame for an accident from which he suffered catastrophic injuries. Billy was a vibrant, young 20 something motorcycle rider who was not expected to live. Turns out a lady turned left in front of him in a road construction zone. Upon further investigation, I discovered that there were potentially many reasons why this accident happened – not all of which could be… Read More

Motorcycle Accident $275,000 Settlement

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: March 29, 2009

This case is one wherein my client, Bobby, suffered serious injuries as a result of a car making a u-turn in front of him while he drove his motorcycle at a safe speed. In particular, he suffered a degloving injury to his right leg which necessitated a painful skin graft and had left him with a large permanent scar (see picture to the right).Graphic photos of Bobby’s injuries, before and after the surgery, can be seen by clicking here – due to the graphic nature of these motorcycle injury degloving photos, it is inappropriate to just post them here because they are too shocking and… Read More

Work Injuries Resulting From Negligent Third Party (Someone Other Than Your Employer)

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: April 20, 2008

Through California’s Worker’s Compensation Laws injured employees are able to recover from the limited benefits of their employer’s insurance. But what happens in cases where an employee has sustained an on-the-job injury caused by someone other than the employer? Simply put, in addition to filing a workers’ compensation claim, the injured employee may sue this third party (i.e., other person or entity) in tort law. Third party cases may fall into categories such as traffic accidents, slip & fall incidents, defective products, defective equipment or the exposure to toxic substances and any number of other situations. If a worker suffers a significant injury,… Read More

Roof Top Electrocutes Worker by Charles Samo, Safety Engineer

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: April 10, 2008

Thank you to safety engineer/expert Charles Samo for contributing this fascinating and informative article. Mr. Samo has been an expert witness in a multitude of litigation matters and can be reached at samoengr@sbcglobal.net. INTERESTING TIMES Have you ever wondered why birds resting on high and bare electric conductors do not get electrocuted? It is because the birds are not grounded or rather in contact with the ground. This is an interesting phenomenon. Whenever a person comes in contact with an overhead power line, if not in contact with ground, he or she is perfectly safe but as soon as a part of… Read More

How the Grinch Stole Free Speech

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: March 13, 2008

The following posting is copied from the article Intellectual Property Bullies — This Time It Is the Grinch which was recently posted in the always brilliant Consumer Law & Policy Blog. I found it quite interesting and provocative and wanted to share it with you. Dr. Seuss –- or, at least, the lawyers for his estate — are at it again. The victim this time is Teamsters for a Democratic Union, which put articles on its web site and in its newspaper that portrayed Teamster President James Hoffa as the Grinch. TDU used an illustration of the Grinch, and used the distinctive font used in the… Read More

Five Insurance Executives Guilty in AIG Fraud Case

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: March 1, 2008

Well, there is justice after all. No one, not even the multibillion dollar insurance industry, is above the law. I, for one, am glad to see that major corporate greed and deceit has not gone unpunished. Convictions for, among other things, mail fraud, conspiracy, and false statements to the SEC have humbled at least 5 insurance executives and have hopefully injected indescribable into many other insurnace executives sitting on the sidelines in anticipation of last week’s verdict. Essentially, the government presented evidence that the defendants engaged in a scheme to falsely inflate AIG’s reported loss reserves, a key indicator of… Read More

Case of the Dangerously Icy Sidewalk: Broken Ankle, Six Figure Settlement

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: February 18, 2008

Miss May T., a then 17 year old girl, slipped on black ice outside of a convenience store and suffered an excruciatingly painful bimalleolar fracture of her right ankle. Her injuries were so severe that massive swelling ensued and the doctors were unable to operate on her ankle for over a week! While May writhed in unspeakable pain and doctors were unable to do anything more than give her pain pills (which she was reluctant to take), the insurance carrier for the convenience store denied liability! A massive liability dispute arose. I hired a meteorologist, a slip and fall expert and a private investigator to get… Read More

Rear-Ended By Drunk Driver: Leads to Surgery, Large Settlement

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: February 11, 2008

How horrific it was for my client, Mrs. F., an innocent woman legally slowing down for a stop to be suddenly, and without warning, be rear-ended by a drunk driver. Otherwise in great health, this lovely lady’s life was turned asunder by the flagrant disregard of a guy who was more concerned with his afternoon cocktails than the safety of other people on the road on which he drove. The physical impact to Mrs. F’s car was so severe that it was deemed a total loss. In particular, the insurance company felt that it would cost more to repair her car… Read More

Case of the Exploding Wine Bottle: Personal Injury Settlement

Author: Lowell Steiger

Published On: December 8, 2007

A fascinating product liability case involved a wine conossieur who, while attempting to uncork a bottle of wine, was using a cork extractor which operates as follows: A needle is inserted through the cork, the user pumps the spring-loaded handle and air pressure then forces the cork out. The result is shown in the picture to your left. Mr. A. had owned the cork extracting unit for several years and, up to the date of his injury, had used it to uncork at least 200 bottles of wine. Although he reports that the cork is usually extracted on the fifth to seventh pump, the… Read More

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