San Diego Accident Law Firm News Section - Best Source of Personal Injury Law News & Info in CA

As most people in San Diego have heard by now, on February 13, 2011, at approximately 2:00 a.m., an Emerald taxi cab driver named Sam Hassan Daly (52 years old) ran his cab into a crowd of people standing outside the San Diego nightclub known as the "Stingaree." Approximately 36 people were injured, and approximately six were critically injured including a Ms. Dominique Gambale.  Ms. Gambale's leg was crushed in the terrible accident (however, recent news reports have confirmed she just had her third surgery and her doctor, Dr. Paul Girard, M.D. says she is resting and in good spirits).

In terms of the legal consequences, there may or may not be a monetary recovery for those who were injured.  For example, if Mr. Daly, the at-fault taxi cab driver was an "independent contractor" at the time of the accident, then his employer may not be liable for his negligent actions in the ensuing accident he caused.  The injured parties would have to look at Mr. Daly personally for any potential legal recovery, and the question remains if he had enough insurance coverage to cover the medical bills for all who were injured in this unfortunate San Diego taxi cab accident. 

As an injured pedestrian in this accident, it becomes extremely important if any of them had uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on their own personal insurance polices.  The reason is important because if Mr. Daly is under-insured (remember, California law only requires a California motorist to carry a minimum of $30,000.00 in liability insurance!), then the injured pedestrians will want to look at their own auto policy for under-insured motorist benefits to see what they have - to see if they may have to file a claim once all the damages are known. I talk about this scenario in my video on California uninsured motorist coverage and why it is important to have in California.  Thankfully no one was killed in this accident.