Practice Areas

Automobile/Trucking Accidents

This area of the law generally needs little explanation. Every person behind the wheel must use reasonable care in driving their vehicle. Drivers must keep a lookout for pedestrians, obstacles, and other vehicles. They must also control the speed and movement of their vehicles. The failure to use reasonable care in driving a vehicle is negligence.

Sometimes the standard for the operation of a motor vehicle is set forth specifically in the Vehicle Code of California, such as the provisions establishing the maximum speeds. Vehicle Code section 22349(a) sets the general maximum speed at 65 miles per hour, and section 22349(b) sets the basic maximum for two-lane, undivided highways at 55 miles per hour.

If you believe you were injured in an accident because of someone else's negligence, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

Medical Malpractice

A health care provider is negligent if he/she fails to use the level of skill, knowledge, and care in diagnosis and treatment that other reasonably careful medical professionals would use in the same or similar circumstances. This level of skill, knowledge, and care is sometimes referred to as ''the standard of care.'' In general, if a suit goes to trial, a judge or jury must determine the level of skill, knowledge, and care that other reasonably careful health care professionals would use in the same or similar circumstances, based only on the testimony of the expert witnesses.

If you believe you or a loved one was injured or killed because of a health care provider's negligence, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

Dog Bites

The law in California creates a liability when the victim is harmed without the usual necessity of proving a previous vicious act of the dog, or the knowledge of its dangerous habits on the owner's part. Dog bites often result in significant, and sometimes permanent, scarring, and those injuries generally require evaluation by expert, plastic surgeons. Mr. Ralph has a great degree of experience in handling such matters and is available for a free case evaluation.

Mr. Ralph has a great degree of experience in handling such matters and is available for a free case evaluation.

Premises Liability

A person who owns or occupies property is negligent if he or she fails to use reasonable care to keep their property in a reasonably safe condition. Those in control of property must use reasonable care to discover any unsafe conditions and to repair, replace, or give adequate warning of anything that could be reasonably expected to harm others.

Typically, the question is whether in the management of his or her property, the possessor of land has acted as a reasonable person under all the circumstances. The likelihood of injury to plaintiff, the probable seriousness of such injury, the burden of reducing or avoiding the risk, the location of the land, and the possessor's degree of control over the risk-creating condition are among the factors to be considered by the judge or jury in evaluating the reasonableness of a defendant's conduct

Broadly speaking, premises liability alleges a defendant property owner allowed a dangerous condition on its property or failed to take reasonable steps to secure its property against criminal acts by third parties. Some examples of situations giving rise to a valid claim include:

If you believe you were injured in an incident because of someone else's negligence, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

Construction Accidents

Like the owner or occupier of property, those responsible for the safety of a construction site must conduct themselves in a reasonable manner to ensure their work areas are safe. If you believe you were injured in an incident because of someone else's negligence, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

If you believe you were injured in an incident because of someone else's negligence, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

Denial of Insurance Benefits

In every insurance policy there is an implied obligation of good faith and fair dealing that neither the insurance company nor the insured will do anything to injure the right of the other party to receive the benefits of the agreement. To fulfill its implied obligation of good faith and fair dealing, an insurance company must give at least as much consideration to the interests of the insured as it gives to its own interests.

If you believe you were unfairly denied insurance benefits, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

False Arrest/Imprisonment

False imprisonment requires some restraint of the person and that he be deprived of his liberty or compelled to stay where he does not want to remain, or compelled to go where he does not wish to go; and that the person be restrained of his liberty without sufficient complaint or authority.

In addition to recovery for emotional suffering and humiliation, one subjected to false imprisonment is entitled to compensation for other resultant harm, such as loss of time, physical discomfort or inconvenience, any resulting physical illness or injury to health, business interruption, and damage to reputation, as well as punitive damages in appropriate cases.

Mr. Ralph has a great deal of experience with law enforcement and security related cases, and he is available for a free consultation regarding your potential claim.

Products Liability

A manufacturer, distributor, or retailer is liable in tort if a defect in the manufacture or design of its product causes injury while the product is being used in a reasonably foreseeable way.

A manufacturer who fails to exercise reasonable care in the manufacture of a product which, unless carefully made, he should recognize as involving an unreasonable risk of causing physical harm to those who use it for a purpose for which the manufacturer should expect it to be used and to those whom he should expect to be endangered by its probable use, is subject to liability for physical harm caused to them by its lawful use in a manner and for a purpose for which it is supplied.

If you believe you were injured by a defective product, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

Sexual Harassment

A cause of action for quid pro quo harassment involves the behavior most commonly regarded as sexual harassment, including, e.g., sexual propositions, unwarranted graphic discussion of sexual acts, and commentary on the employee's body and the sexual uses to which it could be put. To state a cause of action on this theory, it is sufficient to allege that a term of employment was expressly or impliedly conditioned upon acceptance of a supervisor's unwelcome sexual advances.

Additionally, an employer and/or workers may be liable for creating a "hostile work" environment. For such sexual harassment to be actionable, it must be sufficiently severe or pervasive ''to alter the conditions of [the victim's] employment and create an abusive working environment.''

If you believe you were the victim of sexual harassment, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.

Racial Discrimination

California law provides that it is an unlawful employment practice ''[f]or an employer, because of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, or sexual orientation of any person, to refuse to hire or employ the person or to refuse to select the person for a training program leading to employment, or to bar or to discharge the person from employment or from a training program leading to employment, or to discriminate against the person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

If you believe you were the victim of racial discrimination, please call Mr. Ralph for a free consultation.