California Legionnaires Disease Attorney
California Legionnaires Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson
The Right Choice in A California Legionnaires’ Disease Attorney
When you’ve been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease anywhere in California, finding the right California Legionnaires Disease attorney is essential to protect your rights and to make sure you obtain the compensation you deserve for your injuries and all you’ve been through.
California Legionnaires Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson offers over 40 years of experience representing victims and clients who deserve the best in legal representation and is ready to provide immediate assistance to you and yours after an accident.
When you work with California Legionnaires Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson, you’re working with with an attorney who has been named a Top Lawyer in Palm Springs Life Magazine year after year after year, and an attorney you can count on who has the determination to obtain a result you can be proud of. Tired of trying to reach an attorney who will actually answer your calls? Call us and see the difference when you’ve chosen the right California lawyer for your case.
Few people realize Legionnaires’ Disease can occur in nearly any location. The first reported outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak was at a Legionnaires Convention at a hotel in Philadelphia in 1976. Since then, outbreaks have been traced in California and other states to building water systems, spas and pools, fountains, and ventilation and cooling systems in hospitals, nursing homes, apartment complexes, shopping centers, fitness centers, dental offices, and individual homes. If you suspect a family member has contracted Legionnaires’ Disease or has been exposed in an outbreak of the disease, call California Legionnaires’ Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson immediately.
The Legionnaires Disease Outbreak Suffered by People Who Visited Disneyland and Anaheim in 2017
The most recent count we’ve seen reported of people affected by Legionnaires’ Disease who visited Disneyland and/or Anaheim in September 2017, but possibly anytime between August and October 2017, is now 16. Of those 16 who became ill, 14 were hospitalized and two died. Only four of those, including the two who died, had not visited Disneyland.
While the search goes on for what may have caused Legionnaires’ Disease to be suffered by those four who did not visit Disneyland, Disney has admitted that two cooling towers located behind the New Orleans Train Station in a backstage area tested positive for elevated levels of legionella, the bacteria which causes Legionnaires’ Disease.
While only 16 people are currently known to have contracted Legionnaires’ Disease in this outbreak, it is very possible that among the many out of state and international visitors to the amusement park and the surrounding city of Anaheim may have also contracted the disease and were either not diagnosed properly, or their doctors and hospitals may not have known to contact the Orange County Health Care Agency, the California Department of Public Health, or the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which investigated this outbreak.
If you visited the city of Anaheim and/or Disneyland during this time period or if you lost a loved one who visited during this time, contact an attorney who specializes in this area of law as soon as possible in order to determine if you have a case. More importantly, be sure to obtain medical treatment if you are experiencing residual symptoms of fatigue or increased symptoms related to other pre-existing illnesses you already may have had.
What Causes Legionnaires’ Disease
Legionnaires’ Disease is a potentially fatal infectious disease caused by a bacteria belonging to the genus Legionella. The bacteria grows best in warm water in locations such as hot tubs, hot water tanks, plumbing and air conditioning systems and even shower heads. Exposure comes when a person breathes in a mist or vapor containing the bacteria.
Unfortunately, the symptoms of Legionnaires’ Disease look so similar to other colds or the flu, that both physicians, families and personal injury lawyers often fail to recognize their potential seriousness. Symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, a high fever of 104 or higher, muscle ache, gastrointestinal symptoms and headaches. It primarily affects the lungs but can cause infections in other parts of the body, including the heart.
Not every suspected case of Legionnaires’ Disease is confirmed. Some can result in only a suspicion of the disease. Even with a high 104 degree fever, a plaintiff may only be diagnosed with Pontiac Fever, the milder form of Legionnaires’ Disease.
The Dangers of Legionnaires’ Disease
The CDC estimates that 8,000 to 18,000 people are hospitalized each year with Legionnaires’ Disease. Doctors who diagnose it must report it to the local County Health Department. The death rate from an outbreak of the disease can be significantly high. According to the CDC, the disease can cause death in 5 to 30 percent of the cases.
The milder form of Legionnaires’ Disease known as Pontiac Fever can produce similar signs and symptoms. At its worse, Legionnaires’ Disease can cause severe pneumonia, respiratory failure and death. The time between exposure and the onset of symptoms is usually between 2-10 days but can be as long as 16 days.
Any owner or property manager of a building where there has been an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease faces potential liability and claims by those who have been injured from the disease and by the families of wrongful death victims. It is especially dangerous for the elderly, for smokers and for persons with compromised immune systems.
A single source of exposure can infect as few as one or two people, to dozens or hundreds. Reported settlements can and have ranged from hundreds of thousands to settlements in the millions.
Proving A Case of Legionnaires’ Disease in Court
California Legionnaires Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson needs a confirmed diagnosis of Legionnaires’ Disease, proof of exposure at the property owned or managed by the defendant, and proof that the exposure was due to the negligence of the owner, operator or manager of the premises where the source of the disease has been located.
The value of a Legionnaires’ Disease case will vary depending on whether there are permanent complications involving the future health of the plaintiff, the age and occupation and wage loss of the victim, and the factors considered in determining the damages which should be awarded to the heirs of a wrongful death victim who unfortunately fails to survive their exposure to the disease.
It thus becomes essential to obtain health department and building department inspections and reports as well as medical expert reports to verify the source of the disease, the location of the disease, the exposure of the plaintiff to that source and the diagnosis of the disease in the plaintiff.
In cases where all of the above can be confirmed, juries have taken an hour or less to return their verdict against the defendants. With such evidence in the hands of a top personal injury attorney with experience in Legionnaires’ Disease cases, many cases are settled out of court.
Defense attorneys in these cases will argue that the claimant may not have contracted the disease on the premises, and that even if the plaintiff did, it was not due to the negligence of their client.
A history of negligent maintenance of the premises in question by the defendants and previous health code citations, however, can go a long way toward convincing an insurance company for the defendants to settle rather than to risk the anger of a jury toward their insured.
For a personal injury attorney in California or elsewhere, the first step is confirming a diagnosis of pneumonia, usually based on a chest X-ray or CT scan and blood work. Lab work can then determine if the Legionella bacteria is present. The client’s personal injury lawyer must then identify the source of the illness, and the location where the client became exposed. Normally, the exposure is part of an outbreak, but in a single family home, it may only affect one or more occupants.
An environmental investigation also routinely needs to be performed by experts to confirm the presence of the bacteria at the suspected source of the disease. In a large facility, it is important to examine the maintenance records which may reveal a lack of appropriate cleaning and disinfection resulting in the failure to eradicate the bacteria.
Once an attorney has proof that the bacteria was present at the source of the outbreak, and that preventative measures were not taken or were performed incorrectly or negligently, a Legionnaires’ Disease lawyer has some evidence that the owner, operator or manager of the property was likely at fault for the outbreak and damages suffered by those exposed.
California Legionnaires Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been named as one of the Top Lawyers the last 14 years running by Palm Springs Life Magazine, and has been given a perfect 10.0 Superb rating by Avvo. With dual law degrees in California and in Great Britain, and experience in both the U.S. and U.K., Attorney California Legionnaires Disease Attorney Sebastian Gibson has been called “Brilliant” and “A Legend.”
With our offices in the Palm Springs and Coachella Valley area in Palm Desert and in our Orange County, California offices in Newport Beach the law firm provides legal services in the fields of personal injury, toxic exposure, auto, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian and bicycle accident cases, dog bites and wrongful deaths.
