Tree Branch Crushes 14-Year-Old Students at Yosemite

In what has been described as a horrific freak accident, a falling tree limb crushed to death two 14-year-old students from Orange County as they slept in their tent on a Yosemite camping trip. Dragon Kim and Justin Lee were friends and promising students set to begin their Sophomore and Freshman years at Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana. Their deaths occurred early on Friday morning, August 14.

While such accidents are by no means common, they are not isolated incidents either. While park officials note that Yosemite is a wild place where accidents can happen and where campers and hikers enter at their own risk, it is not always clear that accidents involving falling trees are avoidable. If you are a victim of a Los Angeles fallen tree branch injury, you owe it to yourself to consult an experienced premises liability attorney from Ellis Law in order to better understand your right to compensation.

Speak with a Los Angeles fallen tree branch injury attorney

The fate that befell Kim and Lee in Yosemite was not, unfortunately, unique. Other deaths and injuries have been reported at the park, including two deaths and nine injuries that occurred when a 25-foot oak branch fell on an open-air tram in 1985, seven injuries from an oak tree falling on a tour bus, and the death of a concession worker killed when a tree branch crushed him in his tent.

However, tree branch injuries are not confined to Yosemite by any means. For instance, eight campers were injured, two crucially, when a tree fell on them at a Pasadena day camp in July.

Liability issues related to deaths and injuries resulting from falling tree limbs can depend on many factors, including whether the incidents took place on private or public land, the nature of responsibility that various parties may have had to maintain the tree, and whether the injured individual contributed to the accident by behaving in an irresponsible manner. To determine the nature and degree of culpability in your particular case, please contact our team of seasoned LA personal injury attorneys for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Liability for a fallen tree limb accident in L.A.

If you are seeking information about legal liability following a fallen tree branch accident in Los Angeles, please contact an attorney from Ellis Law to work through the details surrounding your case. Lawsuits will need to be approached differently depending on a number of factors.

For instance, the owner of a private property where the fallen tree or tree branch was rooted is generally responsible for any injuries the tree caused if they are shown to have been negligent in their duty to maintain their property. Accidents on public property can be more complex and require that a plaintiff in a lawsuit demonstrate clearly that a government agency did not maintain the property or did not properly warn about any danger.

By calling 310-641-3335, you can get a clearer picture of the nature of compensation that you may be able to obtain through a premises liability lawsuit. An attorney from Ellis Law can sit down with you during a no-cost, no-obligation consultation session to answer any of your questions.