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Home / Long Beach / Cargo Container Accident
If you landed on this page, the chances are that you or someone you love was injured, and you need a Port of Los Angeles injury attorney or a Long Beach cargo container and shipping carrier accident attorney. It’s now one of the top stories in the news. Over 300 shipping containers fell into the ocean last year off a cargo ship. Sometimes people are killed, or seriously hurt by these steel icebergs filled with toys and other merchandise. It’s not just the Coast Guard who is concerned. Business and economic development also suffer, further disrupting supply chains at Southern California ports. Warehouse workers aren’t immune either, suffering severe crush injuries and death when containers come loose.
With all the recent news we read and follow about the COVID Pandemic, shortages, and container ships waiting at the Port of Long Beach Container terminal, and Port of Los Angeles, most Americans can understand the uptick in supply chain accidents, especially when there’s not enough trucks to fill the need.
Trucking Companies blames recent cargo truck traffic for lack of storage and executive fiat. Trade unions blame President Joe Biden’s executive orders and regulations for the log jam that make it impossible to get trucks in and out of the ports.
One thing is clear, President Joe Biden and his supply chain crisis is short by 80,000 truck drivers. Cargo container accidents at the two ports are becoming a non-stop situation as cargo ship traffic from Asia and elsewhere piles up in offshore and anchor drift area. Hello, I am Long Beach’s premier personal injury lawyer, Michael Ehline. I have a background as a contractor and transportation carrier. I am sharing this information with you as a public service.
Ever since I became a member of the California State Bar, maritime ship workers, cargo vessel ship workers, visitors, dockworkers, and others have come to me and my caring staff for legal advice at Ehline Law Firm.
These are clients who travel in and out of the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, on ships, up and down the Interstate 710 Freeway in cars. Many of these individuals lost family members when a barge ship crushed them, a cargo container slid loose on container ships, or a tanker shipcaused wrongful death or traumatic brain injury.
Our charismatic lawyers have represented thousands of clients and won them over $150 Million in the process. if you’d like to schedule a free consultation with a Long Beach cargo container ship accident attorney today, call us at (833) LETS-SUE. When it comes to shipment accidents, WE MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Other legal causes we help with include situations where cargo containers collapsed or fell on their heads near a heavy crane, or cargo trucks and ships loading up on the docks as the supply chain crisis continues. Other victims, we helped were involved in catastrophic trucking accidents when cargo ship containers fell off a long-haul tanker truck.
Freight trucking and logistics businesses and trade unions have their lawyers and politicians protecting their interests. But who protects you and your loved ones when they’re injured at the Marine Exchange by ocean carriers or cargo ships waiting to unload?
Survivors will often find multiple parties, including the government are potential defendants. After weeks of research, these defendants are still not identified without legal representation to help you search. Even with a university education, the smartest cargo container accident victim is no match for the problems presented by complex litigation against an international port, dock, ships, or transportation trailer business.
Who does a family sue when their child is injured or killed while playing on the dumped cargo ship trailers presenting an attractive nuisance all over Los Angeles neighborhoods? While shippers are more concerned with contracts drafted in their favor, or copyright, inventories, and trademark protection over the holidays, personal injury victims are interested in representation for litigation or simply down-to-earth legal advice. You deserve the finest in legal representation and case investigation.
To begin with, everything you tell us remains confidential. During our risk-free consultation, you’ll be sharing your troubles, and we’ll comfort you with certainty and a listening ear.
If you need legal advice with a claim against a third-party logistic (TPL) defendant involving a cargo container injury, we can help. Are you interested in learning more about an attorney-client relationship with us about a cargo ship container incident?
If you’re an employee involved in a docking bay accident or shipyard incident, our superior litigation knowledge and decades of experience in personal injury and insurance defense can benefit you greatly. If you’re a third party injured as a result of a supply chain incident, we have the capacity to leave no stone unturned to get you compensation for things like hospital expenses, pain, and suffering.
We don’t care what the defendant told CNN. We’ll work with Long Beach officials and Cal/OSHA during official investigations. We’ll hire investigators, gather video surveillance and witness statements, keeping clients in the loop.
First and foremost, we specialize in plaintiff litigation cases.
We serve as Long Beach shipping container accident attorneys throughout Northern California, Central California, and Southern California. We serve Orange County cities like Anaheim, Orange, Newport, and Huntington Beach.
We have meeting places in Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, and Irvine. We can also help with container-related injuries in San Francisco, Fresno, Oakland, and internationally.
We even help with warehouse and trucking injuries along with the delivery hubs of Fontana, Diamond bar, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Long Beach, Moreno Valley, Baker, and Bakersfield.
When you work with California Freight Trucking Logistics Lawyer Ehline Law Firm you’re working with an attorney who has been named a Top Lawyer in the prestigious Hollywood Weekly Magazine for several years. Lead attorney Michael Ehline has been listed as a “Superb” California personal injury Lawyer (Highest attorney rating available).
Other Cases We Take Involving Cargo and Shipping Employees
Michael Ehline is in Newsweek Magazine for good reason.
Michael has authored thousands of internet articles and has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Daily Journal newspaper, CNN, LA Times, and other major publications. He’s been characterized as a brilliant, legendary, world-famous “genius.” If you want a top attorney by your side, call Michael and receive your risk-free consultation at (213) 596-9642.
We will explore whether the opposing party is amenable to settle any dispute. We’ll attempt mediation or arbitration before a neutral judge in California with knowledge on the issues at hand, or by other informal methods of dispute resolution, before filing suit.
However, if there is the danger of irreversible damage occurring without prompt action, we may prepare and submit a lawsuit in the appropriate California court within hours in an emergency situation for a preliminary injunction.
The attorneys at the Law Firm of Michael Ehline have been successfully handling business, personal injury, and other civil litigation for over a quarter of a century in California. Our attorneys have helped our personally injured clients recover millions of dollars.
Our tanker accident lawyers and falling truck cargo accident attorney know all about shipping disruption. About 40% of all large containers that enter the U.S. come through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.
The logjam of hundreds of ships anchored off Southern California has interrupted the entire U.S. supply chain, leading to more pollution and accidents. Our longshoreman injury lawyer can help you with your cargo freight container accident case.
As noted, in the past months, container handlers moving containers have been mentioned in local news.
For example:
The backlog of cargo ships in southern California hit an all-time high mid-October 2021, as America’s busiest port complex continues to strain under a supply chain crisis.
On any given day off the California coast, over 100 vessels may be seen awaiting to unload thousands of containers. Residents of California frequently observe and smell ships stationary in our waters, anticipating a holiday arrival!
To address the increase in serious problems, such as an overabundance of imported consumer goods and a scarcity of trucks, drivers, and warehouse personnel, the Biden administration has committed to expanding port operations.
The Biden administration seeks to make the Long Beach port a 24-hour continuous operation to relieve congestion. His political allies at Walmart, FedEx, and UPS hope to make faster deliveries to people on forced lockdowns across the United States.
Meanwhile, the port of Long Beach is testing for 24-hour service. At its San Pedro facility, Union Pacific has extended rail service to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to CNN, the White House is considering putting the National Guard into action to assist reduce delays.
The street is the new storage container deposit? The historic surge has put considerable pressure on the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, the world’s ninth-largest, which has broken monthly records regularly since last summer. The Los Angeles port had its busiest September yet in 2015 and a 26% boost in freight compared to 2014.
Transport companies are attempting to attract 80,000 new delivery drivers, but the California government’s war against energy independence and refusal to protect truckers from rioters has made transporting goods less than an attractive profession (Source: 1, 2, 3).
Trucking firms have been dumping trailers with cargo containers in Long Beach surface streets, to the annoyance of locals. “Kids are playing on this equipment, views are obstructed and the sound of Jake Brakes, with diesel motors gearing and the gasoline fuel smell, is unbearable,” says Patty Gerdner, who lives in San Pedro. We’ll go over more about these issues later while discussing Long Beach anti-nuisance legislation.
“They [local residents] are taking the brunt of the pollution burden while all of us are benefiting from cheap flat-screens TVs from China or Korea or whatever is in those containers.” – David Pettit (Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC))
So we can see by the political response above, it’s the consumer’s fault, not an incompetent government that caused this problem.
Root causes are many, but sometimes the cure causes more harm than the disease. Regulations, negligence of other people, and even nuisance are known causes of serious injury and wrongful death accidents. Let’s discuss these instances.
Politicians in California’s single-party state love regulations and heavy taxes. To make a living, trucking companies are forced to cut corners or face bankruptcy. The voters seem to be ignorant of the fact that the cost of all this regulation means terrible service and higher prices. This is the battle.
Most shippers and dockworkers are blaming president Biden’s Covid vaccine mandates and Biden Admin executive orders for the backlog of containers. (62% of American voters blame President Biden).
Over 600,000 veteran drivers, tired of things like mountains of Dystopian paperwork, mandatory COVID vaccinations, and costs of compliance are fleeing the transportation haulage industry in droves.
Biden’s allies in the mainstream press and academia blame a booming economy and greater demand for goods thanks to forced vaccinations and more rules to govern every aspect of your life like the old Soviet model that worked so well in their minds.
Labor Shortage Means Less Good Drivers
In the trucking business, there has been a serious labor shortage (workers choosing to remain at home rather than face BLM rioters or hours parked in a line waiting for an inspection or paperwork check), a scarcity of equipment, and a lack of storage space for all that stuff across the country.
More drivers will not help alleviate the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach congestion, where a shipping container debacle is keeping trucks from delivering goods to consumers.
Truckers Are Not Paid To Be Government Law Enforcement Agents
The shortage of truckers may be exacerbated by the backup, since many port operators are not compensated for the time they spend standing in line to receive a container, making the position less appealing.
President Biden and Executive Vaccine Mandates?
Transport companies worry testing requirements will pose logistic hurdles for workers with more traditional notions of personal liberty and freedom. Many workers don’t wish to take a vaccine that does not innoculate them, and still can land them with COVID-19. (A non-peer-review Israeli Study determined fully vaccinated individuals are at “Greater Risk of Hospitalization” and “13 TIMES MORE LIKELY” to Catch Covid-19 than those with natural immunity.)
A physical injury claim may be filed to seek compensation for people who have been injured by heavy equipment or shipping containers. Damages may be used to compensate for lost income, medical expenses, and pain and suffering. Plaintiffs in civil lawsuits must establish negligence on the part of the defendant.
The non-employee plaintiff must prove:
• Defendant owed the victim a legal duty of reasonable care.
• The breach caused the accident directly/proximately.
• The plaintiff sustained foreseeable, certain and unavoidable damages.
Both government and private plaintiffs will fight to get out of responsibility for incidents that occur on or off their property. A personal injury lawyer can research all of the evidence in your case and advise you on your legal alternatives.
They can get to the bottom of what may have caused an accident and take steps to help ensure that your rights are being protected.
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system that provides financial assistance to injured employees to help pay for missed wages, medical bills, and disability insurance.
An injured employee may be able to pursue justice through a third-party liability claim, depending on the circumstances of any case. A third-party liability claim is conceivable if a nonemployee caused an accident.
Construction sites and ports usually contain a variety of personnel, contractors, and subcontractors who must all collaborate. Because of this, there may be many jointly and severally liable parties at fault to pay their fair share under California’s pure comparative negligence law. Your attorney needs to package and sell your case to the insurance adjuster or a jury, however.
The Port of Los Angeles has the most advanced and extensive train network in the United States, which connects foreign goods and exports to domestic markets. The Port’s railway system serves seven container terminals, with 35% of intermodal containers using it. On-dock train usage is on the increase every year.
When a cargo container train collides with a pedestrian, or a container falls onto a motor vehicle, injury and death will loom. We can help hold the responsible parties liable on your behalf.
If you’re in the freight trucking and logistics service industry accident, multiple parties will point the finger at each other. We can help identify and hold accountable, all third-party logistics (TPL) providers.
Liable parties may include the freight trucking company, and anyone involved in the logistics of goods, produce machinery, and other types of commerce. From a pallet falling on your head to getting run over by a truck, we help employees and non-employees with torta claims over containers.
We’ll investigate any specialized freight shipping which because of its size, weight, shape, or inherent characteristics, requires specialized equipment for its transportation such as flatbeds, tankers, or refrigerated trailers. If there were violations, we can use this as evidence of negligence.
A cargo container may have spilled toxic and non-toxic agricultural products, boats, livestock, automobiles, human waste, hazardous liquids, and more. We will seek out tracking records to find the liable defendants to pay damages on your behalf.
We also understand the CCC and UCC. We’ll seek out warehouse receipts to track down everyone in the chain of commerce. We may find evidence of negligence per se when local, state, and federal laws were ignored.
Truckers have a duty to maintain proper licensing, permits, and environmental training as they expand operations due to overwhelming demand. As noted, many are claiming Biden executive orders were the straw that broke the camel’s back. However, violating these regulations gives rise to negligence liability.
More and more, many experts think trucking companies and container shippers will rely upon jury nullification. But many jurors are government employees, so we can use this leverage against big business and make them settle.
Smart personal injury attorneys should be mindful of this when considering a case. Ehline will look at things like insurance matters, products liability claims, and others giving rise to negligence. We’ll advise you in all of these areas to avoid protracted litigation. A lawyer like ours can be quite beneficial.
The plaintiff in a non-work comp claim can seek special economic damages for lost past, present, and future wages, as well as general damages for pain, suffering, and loss of consortium. Sometimes punitive damages are available. Because we also help dockworkers, let’s discuss wrongful death first!
According to OSHA, the following are the most common causes of private sector employee deaths (excluding highway accidents) are:
These “Fatal Four” were responsible for more than half (58.6%) of the construction worker deaths in 2018. Eliminating the Fatal Four would save 591 workers’ lives in America every year.”
Container handlers play a role. These are large, forklift-like vehicles and can be extremely dangerous for many reasons.
• The wheels on their low-profile vehicles are also visible. They have exposed tires that are more than 6 feet tall. If a driver isn’t paying attention, they can easily crush any car.
• Blind spots on container handlers are enormous. Drivers frequently have difficulties seeing what is immediately in front of them.
• Containers must be carried from one location to the next, which is time-consuming and hazardous. Containers are also hefty and hard to handle.
Container handlers must be driven by drivers who have received the necessary safety training. However, safety rules are not always followed. Heavy machinery operators, like other drivers, must exercise caution to avoid colliding with pedestrians and other vehicles.
According to California Civil Jury Instructions for jurors,
“A person must use reasonable care in driving a 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.”
Fortunately, a number of laws safeguard victims of vehicle accidents. When a worker is hurt on the job in California, he or she has access to the worker’s compensation system.
“Nuisance” is an umbrella term that includes everything from noise disturbances, loitering, and the unlawful selling of controlled substances to overgrown vegetation and the violation of any Building Standards Code. (See also Long Beach Municipal Code Section 9.37.090, et. seq.)
Residents may be able to bring various nuisance claims against container companies, including encroachment, mobile source air pollution, and trip reduction measures.
The waiting times have had a significant impact on the United States and California, given that 40% of container imports and 30% of exports stem from these ports. Environmentalists and public health advocates are concerned about the environmental consequences of the congestion, with diesel-fueled engines on the ships whirring while they’re moored outside ports like pollution factories in bulk.
Even in ordinary situations, the ports generate around 100 tons of smog and other cancer-causing chemicals each day. The communities near the port and along truck routes and stores that lead to it are largely low-income minority areas.
Maintenance of properties or premises in such a manner that causes containers in the hood, presents a substantial diminution of the enjoyment, use, or property values of adjacent properties. There may be a federal issue as well with all these ships idling outside U.S. ports pumping out pollutants!
You’ll need to find out if the trucking firm, rail company, or transportation company involved in your Long Beach cargo container or shipping container accident was using substandard equipment, negligent drivers, reckless driving, and/or an unsafe vehicle.
As noted, many parties are potentially liable, including federal and state agencies. When a manufacturer of products hires a transport to carry precious goods without a formal written agreement and the transporter’s insurance company refuses to cover accident victims, this is known as a cargo shift issue. This is just one of many ways shippers conceal liable parties. Our lawyers won’t fall for it.
Testimonial:
“I took a wrong turn on a busy Monday while driving through Long Beach during peak traffic. I nearly jumped from my chair at the crazy driver who crashed into me who then blamed me. After battling his insured for over a month, I hired Mike Ehline. He led the case to success after I got stuck. He got me paid for my time off from the workforce, as my repaired car sat in our driveway. Mike wouldn’t let me sign anything until dozens of scenarios were explained. His paralegal also promptly returned my calls. I recommend this lawyer for all accidents in the air, land, and sea.”
These are tricky cases, under California law, a plaintiff normally has two years to sue for a personal injury or wrongful death in Long Beach. But other laws may apply, and typically you only have six months to make a written claim against the government. Your employee contract may also play a role here. We can help you understand your rights to justice.
More containers are expected to arrive shortly for Christmas in Dec. If you need assistance with freight trucking, warehousing, or third-party retailer distribution accident legal matters, we can help accident victims and community residents, retailers, and neighbors. Take advantage of our expertise. Call us or use our convenient online contact us form with ease today.
Ehline Law Firm can help you with legal issues in California, the United States, and internationally. When it matters most and you need a top-rated lawyer for your freight trucking and logistics agreements, advice, or business litigation in California or internationally, call California Freight
Trucking Logistics Lawyer Michael Ehline at (213) 596-9642 to discuss how we can best assist you with your legal matters in the cargo freight trucking and logistics industry. Let us protect your family from the trucking company and others who contributed all the way to the executive director of the governor’s office. Let our trust carry you to the very end.
Citations:
UCTI Trucking Company owner, Frank Arrieran “we only have so much space.” (A bunch of containers being unloaded into upset local neighborhoods in dead of night, continue blocking driveways due to record bottlenecks)
Anchored Cargo Ship Causes Oil Spil
*Other sources contributed to this report and analysis, including Thomson Reuters.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 Out of 5 Stars)
The helpful attorneys from Ehline Law Firm provide superior car accident lawyer – legal services.
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