Enterprise Rent-a-Car is no stranger to controversy. Last year, a Kansas City Star investigation revealed that the rental company had the side airbags removed from thousands of Chevrolet Impalas that it purchased for its fleet, and conveniently forgot to inform consumers that the cars they were driving did not have side airbags. In fact, its website continued to advertise these cars as coming with side airbag protections. The company also faces a lawsuit in Tulare County, involving a 16-year-old boy who suffered serious spinal cord injuries and was left paralyzed in an accident involving a Ford Expedition. The Expedition had been rented from Enterprise. Three people had been killed in that accident.

The rental company has however, lost its most recent wrongful death lawsuit involving the death of two sisters in Santa Cruz. The two young women, aged 20 and 24 years, were traveling in a rental 2004 PT Cruiser on October 7, 2004, when the car went out of control and crashed into a truck. The car burst into flames, and the two women were killed instantly.

Their families begin investigating the car that the two sisters had been traveling in at the time of the accident. Enterprise records revealed some appalling facts. The Cruiser that the women had been traveling in, had been recalled by Chrysler one year earlier. Chrysler said in its recall notice that the problem had to do with a power steering hose issue. A leak in the hose could lead to a fire.

More damning testimony against Enterprise came from one of its own managers who said that the policy of the company was to take as many bookings as possible, because it was impossible to tell when a car would be returned. In case of a car crunch, they said employees were free to rent out recalled vehicles too. There were no failproof systems in place to prevent recalled vehicles from being rented out. In fact, they claimed it was understood that if there was a shortage of cars, recalled cars could be made available to consumers.

It also doesn't look great on Enterprise’s record that the company offered the family of the two women $3 million if they could keep the case confidential. Not all publicity is good publicity in Enterprise’s case. The company must realize that damaging publicity like this and coming up against California wrongful death attorneys frequently, could actually cost it several times more than a returned car.

The National Transportation Safety Board has released a report of its investigation into the Continental Airlines plane crash at Denver international Airport in December 2008. As aviation lawyers would expect, the report has criticism not just for the pilot of the plane, but also for the air traffic controller and the broader inadequacy of pilot training programs.

On December 20, 2008, as the pilot was making the takeoff roll, wind gusts reached 51 mph. However, the Captain of flight 1404 stopped using the plane’s right rudder about 4 seconds before a massive burst of wind struck the airplane's tail. The Boeing 737-500 left the runway, and went over a frozen field. The plane crashed and exploded in flames. Fortunately, none of the passengers were killed. However, six of the passengers suffered serious injuries. Some passengers suffered minor injuries. According to the report, the pilot should have been able to keep the jet on the runway by making proper rudder inputs.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigative report into the crash has plenty of praise for the crew members of the plane, who showed great presence of mind and bravery as they helped evacuate all passengers safely.

However, there were many factors that could so easily have been prevented. For instance, crosswinds at Denver International Airport at the time of takeoff were between 30 and 45 knots, which is about 51 mph. The pilot was not trained for such flying conditions. The NTSB report also zeroed in on the air traffic controller's failure to warn the pilot of the high winds. The traffic controller had given the pilots instructions that the winds were about 27 knots, or about 31 mph from the west. However, he had other information from sensors that predicted much gustier winds. If the pilot had been given this information just before takeoff, it is highly likely that he would have chosen not to take off at all.

The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration should insist that pilot seats be upgraded to match the strength of seats in the passenger cabins. The NTSB has also recommended that the FAA require airlines to include strong and realistic gusty winds in their pilot training.

By the end of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration hopes to restart a program that gives air traffic controllers the chance to sit in airline cockpits, in order to experience the challenges of flying firsthand and at close distance. The program was suspended after 9/11, when the government placed strict restrictions on access to airline cockpits. The opening up of the cockpits to the controllers is part of a series of measures that the Federal Aviation Administration is taking to improve air safety and minimize the risk of collisions.

Of particular worry to the Federal Aviation Administration is the increasing number of incidents involving violation of separation distances. Generally, planes are required to keep a distance laterally of about 6 miles at high altitudes, and 3.5 miles when the plane is approaching an airport. However, several incidents recently have involved planes coming far too close to each other. It is these incidents, possibly signifying both pilot and air controller error, that have been the topic of much discussion at the agency.

The Federal Aviation Administration program that encourages air traffic controllers to report mistakes to the agency, has also been receiving good response, the agency says. It has been receiving an average about 250 to 300 reports about errors a week. Under the program, the agency promises not to use this information against controllers, but rather to use the information in order to spot possible error trends. The agency has similar programs in place for pilots.

The agency has had a rocky history getting the controller unions to agree to its safety proposals. However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association backs the new proposal to allow controllers to sit in airline cockpits. That is definitely a very encouraging sign to California aviation lawyers. Bickering between the country's premier aviation safety agency and its employees’ unions spell nothing but trouble for the safety of American passengers. California plane accident lawyers would encourage more cooperation between all the parties involved, so that Americans can enjoy a safer flying environment.

A Chicago City Council committee has agreed to a $3 million settlement in the case of a young woman who suffered permanent brain damage as a result of an unauthorized police pursuit.

The morning of Aug. 10, 2004, police initiated a chase following a stolen van. The van was exceeding speeds of 55 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone, and struck the side of Regina Varela’s personal vehicle. Regina was thrown from her car and hit the ground more than 40 feet away. The accident caused Varela broken bones and serious internal injuries, and traumatic brain injury. She was in the hospital for more than two weeks, and while she had suffered from prior learning disabilities, the brain injury caused by the impact has left her unable to hold more than a menial job.

The officers claimed they did not chase the vehicle at all, but witnesses testified that the pursuit stretched over more than eight blocks. Additionally, the officers’ timeline of when they ran the vehicle’s license plates and when they arrived at the accident scene does not match department records.

At issue: the Chicago Police Department’s guidelines on vehicular pursuit. Following a fatal 1999 incident, all officers are required to receive authorization from their superiors for any auto chase. Additionally, even if they receive confirmation, they are required to break off the chase if the offender begins to disobey traffic signals, due to dangers to the public.  In this situation, officers never notified their supervisors.

In short, the evidence strongly suggests that the police not only chose to disregard procedure, but also may have misled investigators. The accident caused serious harm to a woman who was in no way involved, which is just the type of circumstance the new pursuit guidelines were designed to discourage. Attorneys representing Ms. Varela argued that this expensive accident was therefore entirely unnecessary, and that the case would not have even occurred if the guidelines had been observed.