Law Blog

O'Connor, Runckel and O'Malley LLP would like to announce our 2021 law school scholarship recipient, Margaret McCallister.

Margaret is an incoming 1L at Georgetown University Law Center. She just wrapped up a 2 year fellowship working as a Carbon Pricing Analytics Fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).  Through analysis, policy outreach, and capacity development on the design and implementation of market-based climate policies, Margaret focused on the fight against climate change. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Princeton University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with certificates in Environmental Policy and Sustainable Energy. While at Princeton, Margaret engaged with environmentalism as a member of Princeton Student Climate Initiative and as the managing editor of the Princeton Legal Journal. She used the Legal Journal as a platform to conduct and share research in environmental policy. Incorporating her personal interest in law and innovation into her independent work, such as her senior thesis, has challenged Margaret to more fully explore the politics of environmentalism and to envision creative solutions and strategies for combating environmental injustice.

We look forward to seeing Margaret succeed in her upcoming years at Georgetown University Law Center.

A car accident can cause many different types of injuries, ranging from minor all the way up to catastrophic and possibly fatal. Generally speaking, there are two different categories of injuries resulting from car accidents:

• Impact injuries: These are caused by the victim being slammed into part(s) of the car.
• Penetrating injuries: These are caused by objects penetrating into the victim.

O'Connor, Runckel and O'Malley LLP would like to announce our 2020 law school scholarship recipient, Annie Liu. Annie is a first-year law student at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.  She is the proud daughter of Taiwanese immigrants and the first person in her family to pursue a law degree.  Growing up in a low-income household, Annie shared in her family's struggle to overcome financial hardships and make a better life for themselves.  

Following her graduation from Harvard University with a degree in Sociology, Annie joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as a Strategy Analyst.  She played an integral role in the creation of the Crime Strategies Unit (“CSU”), a special operations team that combined the office’s best legal talents with cutting-edge technology to concentrate resources on prosecuting Manhattan’s most violent criminals.  CSU paved the way for prosecutors to take on more proactive roles, not only in prosecuting crime but also in rehabilitating the communities most afflicted by it.  CSU quickly became a model for innovative prosecution and has been replicated by dozens of district attorney’s offices nationwide.

California drivers involved in any type of traffic accident are under specific legal obligations to report the crash. If you plan to hold the driver who caused the accident financially responsible for the losses you incurred, California has some laws that could substantially affect your case.

How Long do Personal Injury Cases Typically Take Before a Settlement is Reached?

If you have a personal injury claim that you are seeking to settle, it may not be smart to rush it because your compensation may be less than fair.

Should you become injured or harmed in some way due to the negligence or actions of another, you may be legally entitled to compensation from the responsible party. Unfortunately, this often requires the filing of a personal injury lawsuit. These lawsuits take time and typically go through a number of stages before winding up in court.

The statute of limitations states how much time you have to file a lawsuit if you’ve been wronged. The law requires most lawsuits to be filed within a specified time frame. Generally speaking, once the statute of limitation passes, your claim is no longer legally valid.

The length of time you have to file a lawsuit depends on which type of legal claim you’re making.

Personal Injury Claims

If you’re making a personal injury claim, you have a full 2 years from the date you were injured to file your lawsuit. However, if you did not realize you were injured right away, then you are given 1 year from the date you discovered your injury.

O'Connor, Runckel and O'Malley LLP would like to announce our 2019 law school scholarship recipient, Kristina Nakao. Kristina received her Political Science B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon graduation, she worked as a Legal Assistant at a family law firm assisting in dissolution matters. Kristina is committed to serving the Asian and Pacific Islander community and is a volunteer with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. Kristina is currently a first year law student at the University of San Diego School of Law.

We look forward to seeing Kristina succeed in her upcoming years at the University of San Diego School of Law.

The California Highway Patrol has reported that two people have died so far, and five others were badly hurt in an apparent wrong-way crash that occurred in the early hours of the morning last Sunday, not far from Orinda.

Although the investigation is still in the early stages, it is suspected that the male driving a Saturn Vue was traveling east in the westbound lanes of Highway 24 between Fish Ranch Rd. and Wilder Rd. when his vehicle crashed head-on into the Toyota Camry, the CHP reported. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The family of the driver who lost his life in a Santa Clara County car crash filed a lawsuit against Tesla on Wednesday. The lawsuit claims that Tesla is beta testing autopilot technology on open roadways in California.

The man who was killed was riding in his Tesla, which was on autopilot at the time of the crash. His family is suing the car manufacturer and others for wrongful death.

The lawsuit is not only against Tesla, but it could also include subcontractors who helped design and build the autopilot system on Tesla’s Model X. 

Walter Huang was killed in March 2018 when his 2017 Tesla Model X smashed into a barrier on Hwy.101 in the city of Mountain View while it was on autopilot. 

His grieving wife Sevonne Huang told the press that this Tesla was her husband’s dream car.

“I gave the car to him for his birthday,” she said.

The family is convinced that the autopilot system is defective and probably the cause of Huang’s death.

Mark Fong, the family’s lawyer, said, “The car moved out of a safe lane, headed directly towards a solid concrete barrier while accelerating nearly 10 miles an hour in 3 seconds.”

Family members claim that Huang complained about the car constantly veering towards the same barrier at the very same location where the crash occurred. They also said that he took his car to the dealership a number of times to tell them about the malfunctioning autopilot.

The lawsuit is being filed on the grounds of defective product design along with intentional misrepresentation.

The company released a statement soon after the crash that said, “The driver took no evasive action even though he had a 5-second view of the divider before crashing into it.” The company went on to say, “Mr. Huang had received both visual and audible hands-on warnings earlier while driving and his hands were not on the steering wheel for a full 6 seconds before colliding into the barrier.”

Attorney Doris Cheng said, “Attempting to put the blame on Mr. Huang by suggesting that it was up to him to figure out what was wrong with his Tesla, is very unfair.”

The family also filed a lawsuit against the State of California, claiming that the highway median had no protective crash guard, which could have possibly prevented the death.

The lawsuit is for monetary damages, as yet unspecified.

Huang’s wife said, “I’m doing this so that other families don’t suffer through the same experience.”

The NTSB has not yet released the final report of its investigation into the accident. When asked, a Tesla representative declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A number of other Tesla drivers have lodged complaints and filed lawsuits against Tesla for autopilot errors.

The autopilot feature is one of Tesla’s most popular features because it is supposed to take over other functions, like steering, braking, changing lanes and speed.

Last year a Tesla driver whose car was on autopilot fell asleep while the car kept driving all on its own. Eventually CHP officers boxed the Tesla in with their cars, slowing it down until it stopped. They then arrested the driver when he couldn’t pass the field sobriety test.

Published on behalf of O'Connor, Runckel & O'Malley LLP