April 2026

On the afternoon of April 16, 2026, an 81-year-old man named Ed Ashman was walking through his Lake Forest neighborhood near the corner of Toledo Way and Ridge Route Drive. A former United States Marine Corps captain who had served as a pilot during the Vietnam War, Ashman had spent his recent years working as…

If you drive through Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano, Yorba Linda, or Dana Point, there is a good chance you have passed through (or will pass through) one of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s distracted driving enforcement operations this month. April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and the OC Sheriff…

A California jury recently awarded $88 million to the families of victims killed in a commercial truck crash, sending a direct message to the trucking industry: if your company knowingly puts exhausted drivers behind the wheel of trucks with failing brakes, you will pay for it. The verdict included $20 million in compensatory damages and…

Within a day or two of a car accident in California, your phone will ring. The person on the other end will sound professional, sympathetic, and genuinely concerned about how you are doing. They will introduce themselves as an insurance adjuster, explain that they are calling to “help process your claim,” and ask you a…

On Monday, April 7, 2026, at approximately 4:50 p.m., an Audi traveling on Crown Valley Parkway near Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point left the roadway, traveled through a landscaped area, and came to rest in a parking lot. The driver, 59-year-old Rainer Schwarz, was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no other vehicles…

Picture this: you are driving home on the 5 Freeway through south Orange County. Traffic slows. The car behind you does not. You are rear-ended hard enough to deploy your airbags. Hours later, the police report arrives, and you learn the driver who hit you has no insurance. No liability policy. No assets. Nothing to…

If you have been injured in a car accident, a slip and fall, or any other incident caused by someone else’s negligence, this is probably the first question on your mind. It is also the first question nearly every client asks when they call our Dana Point office. The honest answer is that no responsible…