Structure and Bridge Safety Attorneys | Baum Hedlund Safety Advocates

Beyond Lawyering

Sometimes our quest for justice has continued long after a successful resolution of the lawsuit in an attempt to prevent similar harm to others. Our attorneys have spearheaded, and participated in, campaigns that have led to safety improvements, including commercial transportation, pharmaceutical drug safety and structural safety.

Baum Hedlund attorney and mechanical engineer, Paul J. Hedlund, testified before the California Seismic Safety Commission about seismic safety as a result of our client's sons' death in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Mr. Hedlund testified to the Commission about improving earthquake resistance for building facades since his client's son was killed when a building parapet, owned by Gap, partially collapsed and fell down onto cars and people below during the Loma Prieta earthquake. Our client's son was killed when parts of the building facade crushed the car in which he was sitting.

We had alleged in our complaint against the building owners that their building engineers had warned them that their building could collapse in a "medium to large" earthquake, but the owners did not strengthen the building or warn its tenants of the danger. San Francisco's building code requires seismic strengthening of unreinforced masonry buildings that have had substantial changes in use, which their's did.

The mother of the young man killed in the collapse went to Sacramento to testify with Baum Hedlund attorney Paul Hedlund to the California Seismic Safety Commission. After resolving her case, she wrote the following to one of the senior partners of our firm:

"I was very impressed when you sent one of your top trial attorneys up to Sacramento to testify with me at the Seismic Safety Commission meeting. It was a lot easier for me to speak to them with Paul sitting beside me. After I spoke, Paul testified about the building and what he thought needed to be done. They were very interested in what we had to say and asked quite a few questions. You didn’t have to do this but you did it anyway. Taking that extra step of trying to prevent the same thing from happening to others sets you apart from most other firms. You have my gratitude."

Our proactive attorneys have also:

Testified at a special State Senate Transportation Committee Hearing which was probing events leading up to a fatal truck accident which killed our clients' son. A California state senator invited our firm to testify at the hearing regarding a permit issued by Caltrans to the truck company, to carry a load two inches higher than the overpasses under which it was traveling. The large tank it was carrying was ripped from the truck by the overpass and crushed the car behind the truck, killing our clients' son.
Testified before state legislators in a train crash investigation in order to improve train safety

Testified before the U.S. FDA on two different occasions in order to get proper safety labels on certain drugs
Testified before a foreign government to warn them of contaminated blood products being used in their country by hemophiliacs
Met with members of the United States House and Senate regarding the risk of suicide in antidepressant drugs
Assisted Congressional Investigators from two separate Committee investigations which resulted in two Congressional hearings at which pharmaceutical executives and FDA officials were interrogated and chastised for failing to protect the public health
Helped obtain U.S. legislation to provide humanitarian aid to thousands of families affected by HIV‑contaminated hemophilia medication
Helped in a recall campaign of defective drain covers in spas and hot tubs so long‑haired people would not drown by being caught in them
Helped obtain equitable treatment for families of victims of airline crashes occurring in the deep ocean by advancing the amendment of the outdated 80‑year‑old federal "Death on the High Seas Act" which used to drastically limit the amount of recovery in similar crashes.

Organized and funded a national campaign in all fifty states and Canada urging school bus owners, operators and purchasers to relocate gas tanks positioned next to the front doors, to an unexposed position inside the frame thus reducing the chance of, and allow for more exit routes in case of, a fire.