Cal Supreme Court rules in child death case

Headline Legal News

Welfare officials can take children from parents who negligently cause the death of a son or daughter, such as failing to place them in a car seat, even if there was no criminal harm, the California Supreme Court ruled.

The court ruled Thursday that a "breach of ordinary care" with fatal results is enough reason for child welfare agencies to act because it poses an inherent concern for the safety of siblings, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"When a parent's or guardian's negligence has led to the tragedy of a child's death, the dependency court should have the power to intervene," Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the court.

"It's a big case for us, and it is a big case for the child welfare community," said Assistant County Counsel James M. Owens, who represented the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

The case involved the 2009 death of an 18-month-old girl in South Los Angeles. Her father was driving her to a hospital after she fell off a bed and hurt her arm, according to court documents.

The baby was sitting on her aunt's lap when another car ran a stop sign and hit their vehicle.

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Does a car or truck accident count as a work injury?

If an employee is injured in a car crash while on the job, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. “On the job” injuries are not limited to accidents and injuries that happen inside the workplace, they may also include injuries suffered away from an employee’s place of work while performing a job-related task, such as making a delivery or traveling to a client meeting.

Regular commutes to and from work don’t usually count. If you get into an accident on your way in on a regular workday, it’s probably not considered a work injury for the purposes of workers’ compensation.

If you drive around as part of your job, an injury on the road or loading/unloading accident is likely a work injury. If you don’t typically drive around for work but are required to drive for the benefit of your employer, that would be a work injury in many cases. If you are out of town for work, pretty much any driving would count as work related. For traveling employees, any accidents or injuries that happen on a work trip, even while not technically working, can be considered a work injury. The reason is because you wouldn’t be in that town in the first place, had you not been on a work trip.

Workers’ compensation claims for truck drivers, traveling employees and work-related injuries that occur away from the job site can be challenging and complex. At Krol, Bongiorno & Given, we understand that many families depend on the income of an injured worker, and we are proud of our record protecting the injured and disabled. We have handled well over 30,000 claims for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois.

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