California Legal and Regulatory News

I know this is just the topic that you were looking for to brighten up your day:
A select group of mortuaries in Southern California have a new piece of jewelry they will be offering to those who have made the decision to have a loved one cremated rather than the typical burial. With cremations on the rise this is one way of keeping sales figures from dropping with more people requesting cremation. The figures show that cremation has reached 34 percent nationwide, and as high as 55 percent in the state of California.
The new piece of jewelry being offered is the Eternity Heart Fine Memorial Jewelry, which unlike the cremation jewelry of the past that was cheaper made, this is quality jewelry in the shape of a heart and sporting gem stones of sapphire, crystals and diamonds (not sure if that means diamond hoops or not) that are placed in gold or platinum castings, similiar to the gold chain making process..
The hearts are made to hold remains of a loved one or a lock of hair behind a fine crystal window in the middle of the heart, the heart hangs from a thin chain and is handcrafted. The new cremation jewelry is made with the gold or platinum casting and fine jewels making it a piece of jewelry of sentimental value that can be passed from generation to generation.

In rather strange and disconcerting news coming out of the southern part of the state, Rachelle Carlock was accused of being involved in the bombing at the San Diego Federal Courthouse a few months prior. Her odd array of excuses have run the whole gamut and have ranged from “ I think it was put there to send a message” to “ I don’t know why I did it.” In addition to pinning the blame on the other criminal defendent who has also been booked for th crime. It will be fascinating to observe just what kind of defense that her attorney formulates for this trial. Perhaps she will attempt to claim that it all some sort of an accident?
However I do think that the principle of being innocent untill proven guilty is the prudent course here, despite how bad the evidence looks for her.
All in all, the pair and the driver of the get away auto likewise bombed a FedEx office over near 47th Street and federal Boulevard in the Webster area in March. The initial bombing they were possible involved in was at a hardware store. The owner then called San Diego Fire Rescue Department and conversed with a bomb-squad detective.

Meanwhile, in out-of-state news (specifically Hawaii),  according to various media reports a motorcyclist that was involved in a Kaumualii Highway crash on the beautiful garden island of Kauai was airlifted to Queens Medical Center on Oahu.

 The bike was struck by a Nissan vehicle that was making a left turn driven by a fifty year old female going from the westbound lane of the road.

 According to officials the motorcycle rider was not wearing a helmet at the time of the tragic and was transported to Wilcox Hospital for treatment and then airlifted to Queens Medical Center. By the way if you are in Hawaii and you need to find a great Hawaii Nissan dealer then might I recommend King Windward Nissan, they are one of the top ones in the state.

 All in all, traffic on the Kaumualii Highway was diverted until about 10:00 p.m. in the eastbound lanes after the accident. These kinds of accidents appear to be becoming a bit more common in Hawaii, although it is still safer than many states.

According to the Reuters news network, wedged in between railroad tracks and beneath the roar of departing planes in this Californian suburb is perched the “tent city,” as it is called, which is basically a transit point for homeless folks. It is located in the suburbs to the east of the city of los Angeles.

There are now some two hundred individuals living here, including a number of kids, growing in size steadily due to the effects of the now infamous United States real estate mortgage crisis.

or as some analysts are calling it, mortgage fiasco.

The unhinging of this whole broad area almost seems to ech back to the Great Depression days, in terms of it’s overall look and feel, at least.

As additional families surrender their upstream struggle and head to foreclosure here and across America, the social casulaties are also piling up as a result of higher rates of homelessness and other related problems.

While none of the camp’s residents now claim to be victims of foreclosure, they all agree the place is a symptom of the broader economic downturn. And it is simply a matter of time before foreclosed families end up here, local housing experts say.

Nationally, foreclosures are at an all-time high. Filings are up nearly one hundred percent from last year, according to the data company RealtyTrac. Officials say that as many as 500,000 individuals could lose their houses as ARM loans rise over the next 2 years.

California ranks 2nd in the country overall for foreclosure filings, or 1 per 88 households in the previous quarter. Within the golden state, San Bernardino county is in the worst shape of them all, with a filing  filing for every 43 households, say the statistics.
Ouch, that is pretty bad ratio by any standards of measure.

An example of someone on the edge of this financial abyss of sirts is Maryanne Hernandez, who purchased her dream home in San Bernardino  a little over 3 years ago and now is in danger of losing it after falling some 4 months behind on her mortgage payments.
To make matters even worse, she has experienced an increase in crime since the foreclosures began. For example, her house wasburglarized, her kids’ bikes were stolen and she worries about the kind of message that empty houses can send to potential predators.

Th is particular pattern appears to be rearing it’s ugly head in localities across America, such as Acron, Ohio, Dade County, Florida and numerous others.

Health risks are also an issue. All those empty swimming pools in California have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which may transmit the occasionally lethal West Nile virus, Riverside County officials have stated.

But it is not just homeowners who are hit by this foreclosure wave. Individuals who have rent now find themselves in a tighter, more expensive market as demand rises from families who lost homes, said Jean Beil, senior vice president for programs and services at Catholic Charities USA.

For the more urbanized localities, foreclosures may trigger a range of short-term costs, such as increased law enforcement/security, inspection and code enforcement. These expenses can be substantial, said Lt. Scott Patterson with the San Bernardino Police Department, but the larger concern is that vacant properties lower home values and in the long-run, decrease tax revenues.

What everyone needs to know about Los Angeles and Orange County personal injury accidents is a many faceted question. Many of the circumstances in your daily life in California cities like Los Angeles and Newport Beach may lead you to an unfortunate incident causing you injuries and suffering. Accidents such as car accidents, truck accident and motorcycle accidents are bound to occur every now and then. In fact, your may need a Los Angeles injury attorney or  an Orange County car accident lawyer  sooner than you expected. 

As a matter of fact, you could simply might be walking along the roadway, crosswalk, or even in a grocery store aisle and get injured by a moving object, or trip or slip upon a substance that was not supposed to be on the ground to begin with.  If there had been proper care and maintenance the injury could have been avoided altogether.

Other accident situations could involve a railroad accident, truck accident or other types of vehicular bus accident while riding as a passenger, driving to or from work or on the way to the swimming pool at the health club.

There are other accidents that could happen out the blue like a dog bite or animal attack.  You could also become the victim of defective product from a design defect, or manufacturing defect, etc.

In many of these accident scenarios there is a real possibility you could suffer a catastrophic personal injury. Since a California personal injury is often caused from an accident or unexpected happening, it is fundamental that someone was negligent in causing you the injuries to your person or property because they were irresponsible.

The special and general damages sustained by an individual who is the victim of a serious personal injury in Los Angeles could be psychological and not just physical. An individual could also suffer a head injury resulting in paraplegia, quadriplegia, or some injury like a disc burst fracture that could result in a mild traumatic brain injury or (MTBI), all just from one simple accident.These personal injury damages need to be made into money damages, typically by highly trained and respected Los Angeles personal injury attorneys, assuming the accident occurred in LA. 

The help of an expert attorney with skill and expertise in personal injury cases is a necessity a personal injury victim in California in order to get the money damages owed to them by the person, individual or business who caused the injuries or wrongful death of you or your loved ones.

If you wish to retain or otherwise obtain a qualified attorney, there are many ways to do so. But you should hire a lawyer with lots of experience in issues like yours. The lawyer you need should have high levels of legal expertise and be able to handle the personal injury from start to finish.

Many Los Angeles personal injury counselors specialize only in auto accident cases. Some other ones like to specialize in motorcycle accident or bicycle accident claims. Still others like to litigate elder abuse law, or workman’s comp law cases.

There are also many free lawyer directories.  If you are old school, you can use the yellow pages or Penny saver ads. The thing is that unless you know someone who dealt with that firm, you won’t know until he or she is retained how they will do.

The best way is to look at the results, verdicts and settlements page of your lawyer.  This is simply the quickest way to answer the question of what everyone needs to know about Los Angeles and Orange County personal injury accidents, which is how to find the right injury lawyer.  It gives you a chance to observe the records and accomplishment and your attorney’s system of how he or she charges fees and what not.  If you were injured, you should take a look at the Ehline Law web site .  Michael P. Ehline is a former United States Marine, aggressive and has a proven online track record of success in injury cases.  His number is  888.400-9721

As defaults increase steaply due to subprime mortgages or ARM loans, many individuals are witnessing their neighbors caught up in the meltdown. And the defaulters misfortunes are severely affecting those who are left living in those particular communities.
In addition, the problem is not simply restricted to the poorer areas, because they are also finding their way into upper/middle-class neighborhoods as well.
The courts are simply seeing more default and foreclosure traffic these days. BTW if you need a good lawyer and you live in Southern California, contact Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorneys In the Franklin Reserve neighborhood of Elk Grove, California, for example, which has a plethera of expensive houses, they are fighting various inner-city issues such as gangs, narcotics, arson, theft and of course a lot of graffiti.
You see, during the height of the boom, this suburb near the state capital grew 10,000 houses in only 4 years time, attracting investors from the affluent San Francisco bay area. Now many of those same houses are empty, with weeds overtaking their lawns, and various bank repo signs
lining the area. Median house prices have dropped from around $570,000 to the low $400,000s or so, unfortunately.
As a matter of fact, it may surprise many individuals to note that California ranks 2nd out of fifty states in the country with 1 foreclosure filing for every 88 households, according to the statistics.
Yes, number 2 on that most unprestigious of scales.
The house owners themselves have no options but to accept any renters they can find, according to the folks involved in regional real estate there.
Furthermore, criminal elements have looted some of the vacated houses, even going so far as stripping them of copper wiring plus pipes which may be then sold as scrap to recyclers.
Banks are not watching their foreclosed properties very closely, according to Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden.
Franklin Reserve resident Susan McDonald claimed that 2 of the homes on her area were actually turned into indoor marijuana operations utolizing greenhouses, and each of them caught fire last year after the growers tapped into the city’s electric grid with bad wiring.
Pretty outragious is it not?
But she lightheartedly jokes that they make better neighbors than some.
“There’s been gang activity. Things have really been changing the last few years.”
Crime reports in Franklin Reserve rose by almost half percent in May, to 100 from 69 in the same month last year if you can believe that huge increase.
To deter crime, the community policing unit is charged with working with code enforcement officers on problems such as unkempt homes and patrol officers swing past vacant homes as part of their normal duties. But there has been no increase in police budget, overtime or staff as a result of the empty homes.
In the meantime community members are trying to make do. Last month, for instance, 24 church members gathered their lawn mowers and weed trimmers and cleaned up some twenty-seven vacant lawns.

According to an article posted in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper, a ten-year
old boy has allegedly admitted to igniting one of the biggest of the wildfires to strike California, officials have stated.
He apparently told them it was an accident. The fire in question, known as the Buckweed fire, began on October 21, in Agua Dulce, which is a rural area in LA County.
 Fanned by the intense winds and very dry weather, it spread fast, forcing some fifteen thousand individuals from their houses and wiping out twenty-one
 houses and twenty-two other structures while injuring 3 individuals to boot. All in a day’s work for this kid I suppose. In the meantime
investigators from the LA County Sheriff’s Department spoke with the child, and he eventually “acknowledged that he was playing with matches and accidentally, his words, set the fire.”
For the time being the boy is in the custody of his mother and father while waiting to find out whether or not he would be prosecuted.
Incidentially if you happen to be in the lake arrowhead area and were affected by the wildfires you should take a look at
lake arrowhead disaster reconstruction for help.
If the answer is in the affirmative he will apparently be tried in the juvenile justice system and will not be tried as an adult. As of today it was not known
whether or not his parents would be held responsible for monetary damages that were caused by the fires. As of today these particular fires have been contained completely.
At least that is good news. In the meantime junior has started to play with his new woodburner kit. Just kidding. In addition to the kid,
some adult arson suspects have likewise been apprehended in the 7-odd counties affected by the wildfires. As if all of this was not bad enouph, USA today has reported that
big wildfires such as the ones that have been scorching California recently substantially boost carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. According to the report,
can actually give off as much carbon dioxide as vehicles in certain American states. Under usual circumstances, carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires are about five percent
of the man-made total in the country. But during the major fires, the proportion of fire contributions to carbon-dioxide emissions can increase dramatically, according to the study.

According to the Fox news network and assisted by the AP network as well, officials stated yesterday that they are continuing to look for a white Ford pickup which
 was apparently observed in the area about the same time the huge inferno known as the Santigao fire began. Evidently
been some eight hundred reporting calls made yet none has led to any firm data as of yet about the truck which is thought to be between the years of 1998-2004 and also with chrome tubular running boards.
Seems like this one should be pretty easy to spot but then again that is a big area to search. All the while,
fireman yesterday were hoping that they could hold on to substantial gains which were made against the raging fires, despite an unfortunate forecast of warmer, drier weather to come.
They say that they are fairly positive that they can continue to make progress against the wildfires despite the relatively unfavorable conditions in the region.
Better wind conditions and also a little rain has helped crews to contain the biggest fires after a week which killed 7 individuals, destroyed more than 500,000 acres of land and burned almost two thousand houses.
As of today, 4 fires in San Diego and San Bernardino counties are almost completely contained but over
21,000 structures remain threatened as well. By the way if you happen to be in the Lake Arrowhead area of california and have been affected by the fires, be sure to take a look at
lake arrowhead disaster reconstruction
Some churches in affected areas will be holding services for fire victims. The congregation of a church in San Diego County will worship even though their church was gutted by fire.
Meanwhile the San Diego union Tribune reported in it’s online newspaper yesterday that the historic community of Julian, which depends quite heavily on the tourists who wander the small shops, was a virtual ghost town.
 “Closed” signs were apparently hung in most of the shops & restaurants. The few businesses which were open served primarily the firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and a trickle of locals who were permitted home by that time.

According to several respected news sources, the number of fatalities from the wildfires which have been destroying so much of the golden State
has reached 12 after the discovery of 4 more burnt bodies. These particular bodies were found just north of the Mexican border.
They were found by border agents just as the firefighters have started to bring the fires under control. So far,
about a million individuals pr so have been forced out of their homes by the calamity. In related news, perhaps 2 of the
fires might have been purposely set by arsonists, the authorities believe. In fact, 2 suspects were identified on thursday,  with 1 being shot and killed
 after a chase into the foothills close to San Bernardino. The individual in question, a
27-year-old man, was observed behaving strangely in the bushes close to the California State University prior to fleeing from the police department and jumping into his vehicle.
 He attempted to ram police vehicles on 2 seperate occasions which prompted them to fire on him.
By the way if you have suffered damage in the fires and you are looking to rebuild by all means take a look at lake arrowhead fire reconstruction
He later died at the scene. meanwhile, the other man was arrested in Hesperia, which is also in San Bernardino county, on suspicion of setting a fire.
Another fire, this one in Temecula, is liekwise considered to be the work of an arsonist, according to the prestigious LA Times.
A minimum of 3 of the 12 fires in question have been blamed on sparks from fallen power lines, however. all in all,
about 1,700 or so buildings have been destroyed in the eighteen wildfires which have started since Sunday,
ranging from the glamorous Malibu area to beyond even the southern border region. This particular fire has been the
worst to hit the Golden State since the terrible 2003 blazes which caused some 22 fatalities.

2 more victims of the California wildfires were discovered, in this case
 in a scorched home. This was reported in a number of news sources from around the world and confirmed by officials.
 Meanwhile, the infamous flames drew close to thousands more homes just a short time before the Commander & Chief
 arrived on the scene to view the carnage as weary residents looked on. The dead bodies, which have not been
named as of yet, were found in the town of Poway, apparently, which is near San Diego, according to the police, By the way if you have had damage there be sure to take a look at  poway fire reconstruction
The 2 individuals in question were thought to be related. In addition to this tragedy, the fire also
appears to have taken a 52-year-old man to his death. Meanwhile the city’s medical office listed also listed 7 fatalities
related to the blazes since all who died were evacuees. The number of official deaths will probably rise as authorities return to neighborhoods where homes.
Memories are still fresh regarding the poor response to Hurricane Katrina two year ago. The C&C however downplayed any comparisons between Katrina and this disaster,
saying that that the biggest priority was to assist those affected by the blazes. He took a
 tour from the air of the afflicted areas and also visited the ravaged community of Rancho Bernardo, where houses
 have been incinerated. At one juncture he tried to offer comfort to the Jeffcoat family as they stood near what remained of their house.
Meanwhile certain evacuees were being allowed back into their houses, and the shelters were starting to clear out.
Qualcomm Stadium for example, which sheltered over ten thousand individuals, had only 2,500 people left as of today.
The unpredictable Santa Ana winds that have fanned the fires into a chaotic fury are expected to disappear. “That will certainly aid in firefighting efforts,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Meier was quoted as stating
And yet power was a still a major concern. The fire cut a main power link with Arizona, while more such smaller cuts were also possible.
More power was being shipped from south of the border, according to another report. well it looks like things could start getting better soon
in Southern California, thank goodness.

Firefighters in the Golden state are bracing for at least another day of high winds and hot temperatures which have fanned the menacing fires across large sections of southern California.
Well over half a million individuals have evacuated their houses in an area stretching rouphly from Santa Barbara to the southern border (approx. 165000 Hectares) in what is now the biggest evacuation in the state’s history.
Considering that it is the most populous state in the country, that is really saying something. The Commander & chief
has declared a state of emergency across the 7 most-affected counties, and plans to visit the state today to witness the damage firsthand.
He also has promised federal aid to the many victims of the tragedy.
Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger has requested an official upgrade of the the fires staus to that of “major disaster”.
Some analysts have even thrown around the  term “Biblical Proportions”. This may be stretching it at this point, but it is a huge calamaty, no doubt about it.
I am glad i am not in the state right now. As luck would have it, i have avoided this disaster although I feel for the many victims of it.
So far, at least twent-one firefighters have been injured, and by all accounts they have been effective and brave under the circumstances.
Today the Homeland Security stated that the particular lessons learned the Katrina fiasco are being applied to this disaster.
The number of evacuees may reach 750,000 before this is all over, unfortunately. The upgrade of disaster status pushed by the Governor has made it possible for some
 aid for temporary housing and home repairs, and providing low-cost loans to property owners whose losses are not covered by insurance.
You can also recieve help at California Fire Damage Restoration
Many of the affected individuals that have been forced from their communitoes have taken refuge in places such as schools, in San Diego’s Qualcomm sports stadium and at the Del Mar race track,
amonger other spots. In the meantime, various relief efforts have been somewhat tripped up an assortment of factors including the unpredictable desert winds known as the Santa Anas.
 Reports seem to indicate that these winds may diminish within two or three days thus assisting firefighters to make much needed progress. let us all pray for an end to this tragedy.