San Antonio Legal Advice

While looking at KCTV5’s website this morning, I saw an article about new safeguards being implemented to help prevent additional concussions in student athletes. Concussions in sports is a trending topic lately with all the new information that has come out in the past year or two about professional football and the long-term effects concussions are having on these players. See: Schools are now looking at their student athletes and the risks of concussions.
In 2011, new laws started being passed to protect student athletes. With the increasing focus on professional ball players’ head injuries and soldiers in combat, we have been forced, with good reason, to look closely at the dangers of concussions in school sponsored organized sports.

KCTV5 just reported that 2 Kansas school districts are requiring all student athletes to test their baseline prior to playing in sports. They are using a new tool that will detect concussions. If a student athlete is injured during a game, the student will have to take the test again to compare the results to the baseline to determine whether the student can return. It will test reaction time and learning response.

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Car accidents can be tragic with devastating results such as paralysis, brain injuries, and even death. Unfortunately, no one is immune from motor vehicle collisions. Sometimes we make poor driving decisions, and sometimes those around us drive recklessly or negligently. Even though you can control your own speed, wear your seatbelt, and avoid distracted driving, you cannot control the actions of the other drivers on the road. Below is a discussion of some of the infamous celebrity car accidents that have occurred over the years. See: Driving Under the Influence Accidents

1. James Dean – September 30, 1955 – 24 y/o

James Dean was driving his Porsche 550 Spyder; a Ford Tutor attempted to turn, crossing into Dean’s lane, causing a collision. Dean died shortly after the accident, and his passenger sustained a broken jaw after being ejected from the vehicle.

2. Princess Diana – August 31, 1997 – 36 y/o

Although we may never know exactly what caused this accident, whether the driver was attempting to evade Paparazzi, whether the driver was speeding or driving under the influence, one thing is clear: the car she was in hit a pole resulting in her death and two others.

3. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes – April 25, 2002 – 30 y/o

Lopes was driving an SUV while speeding and she lost control, causing the SUV to flip over. She sustained a severe blow to her head that resulted in death at the scene of the collision.

4.Ryan Dunn – June 20, 2011 – 34 y/o

Dunn was drinking and driving when his car veered off the road and crashed into a tree. Both he and his passenger died in the accident.

5. Grace Kelly – September 14, 1982 – 52 y/o

While driving with her daughter, she likely suffered a stroke, causing her to lose control of her vehicle on a curve known as “Devil’s Curse.” Her Rover crashed through a barrier and went down the slope striking a tree.

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Texting while driving in Los Angeles continues to be a dangerous trend, particularly among teenage drivers. An alarming new survey reveals that more than half of high school seniors admit they text or email while behind the wheel. The survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides the first federal statistics on how common the texting is among young drivers.

The national survey, which was conducted in 2011, found that 58 percent of high school 12th graders said they read or wrote text messages or emails while driving during the previous month, according to a report in The Associated Press. About 43 percent of high school juniors also admitted to texting while driving or emailing while driving.

As a personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles, Mickey Fine knows first-hand how dangerous texting and driving, or emailing and driving, can be. Serious accidents resulting in catastrophic or fatal injuries can be traced back to someone who was looking at a phone instead of at the road.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced it was sending Sacramento $1.5 million for a “Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other” campaign. The money will be used to boost advertising and increased police enforcement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Distracted driving is an epidemic,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a news release.

California law bans texting and hand-held cellphone use while driving. According to the Office of Traffic Safety, 10.8 percent of Californians use cellphones while driving at any given daylight hour.
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The Law Offices of Mickey Fine – Bakersfield, CA
1801 Oak Street
Bakersfield, CA 93301
Phone: (661) 369-7735

As you can see from the break lights, the heavy traffic was unexpectedly slowing. By analyzing the actions of all veihicles we aggressivly persued each insurance company to obtain a substantial total recovery for our client from each available insurance policy.

Motorcycle Accident Attorney CT

Hot off the presses: motorcycle helmets don’t just save lives, they save money as well-a lot of money. When someone is involved in a motorcycle accident, the last thing on the injured biker’s mind is money, and yet in our society, money talks. So the Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study from 2008 to 2010 to find out just how much is saved when motorcycle riders and passengers strap on a helmet before hitting the road.

According to the study, over $3 billion was saved in 2010 alone, with total costs saved due to helmet use ranging from $2.6 million in New Mexico to $394 million in California. Economic costs saved from helmet use per registered motorcycle ranged from $48 in New Mexico to $1,627 in North Carolina, with a median of $286. In Massachusetts, the savings was over $400 per registered motorcycle.

Massachusetts personal injury attorney Mark E. Salomone is always glad to hear of any new research that supports the prevention of motorcyclist injuries and their passengers. See : Worcester Ma Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Having defended countless victims of motorcycle accident injuries, however, he knows how much helmets do to protect riders. “Every time riders take their bikes to the streets,” he says, “they’re placing themselves at risk of serious injury and death. When a motorcyclist is hit by a distracted driver in a high-speed collision or if their bike has brake defects, helmets are even more crucial, as they can prevent serious head injuries and brain damage. ”

Over 40 percent of motorcyclists killed in accidents between 2008 and 2010 did not have a helmet on, says the CDC report. On the other hand, helmets reduced fatalities by 37 percent for motorcycle drivers and 41 percent for passengers, which translated to 1,544 fewer motorcyclist deaths in 2010.

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Buyer beware: Consumer Reports has released its annual list of worst cars, and one of the country’s most popular pick-up trucks is at the top of the list due to poor car test ratings. The Consumer Reports website is a common resource for new car and truck buyers, with a great deal of information on safety such as car accident statistics, crash avoidance systems and “rollover 101.” In place with long stretches of highway on which drivers speed fairly often, such as Texas, catastrophic truck accidents can cause roll-over wrecks and head-on collisions.

According to an article in the New York Daily News, the list is based on testing scores from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Consumer Reports, the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration and consumer analyst JD Power. Due to low ratings on car roll-over accidents, side impact collisions and seatbelt safety concerns, there are several defective cars on the market.

Fort Worth, Texas personal injury attorney David Glenn encourages new car and truck buyers to study as many safety and crash ratings as possible before making their purchase. By being informed, they will not end up with a vehicle that has safety problems such as a dangerous risk of roll-over, defective airbags, faulty brakes or unreliable seatbelts.

Due to overall poor crash test results, the Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck was been named as 2012’s most dangerous car in the United States, despite being a popular, high-selling vehicle. With so many trucks in Texas, catastrophic accident injuries here could be lowered if truck buyers consult Consumer Reports ratings first. Traumatic brain injury, brain and head injury, spinal cord injury are some of the most devastating Texas accident injuries, and while many are due to drunk driving, sometimes it is just a case of a dangerous car on the road.

Other cars that on the list of most dangerous cars on the road were the Chevrolet Colorado Super Cab, the Mazda CX-7, the Mazda CX-9, the Nissan Pathfinder, the Jeep Wrangler and the Suzuki SX4. No European automakers are among the worst-scoring seven models, which contained three US-made cars and four Japanese-made models.

Glenn Law Firm
210 W. Wall Street
Grapevine, Texas 76051

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What is the Collateral Source Rule?

The collateral source rule is a common law rule that has been applied to personal injury cases to prevent a defendant, also known as a tortfeasor, from introducing evidence to a jury of collateral source payments (such as health insurance) that could reduce the defendant’s liability to an injured party. Its purpose was to hold the defendant liable for the entirety of his or her negligent behavior, rather than benefiting from a collateral source.
Does the Collateral Source Rule Still Exist in Missouri & Kansas?

Within the past few years, the collateral source rule has become a thing of the past, which has worked to reduce a plaintiff’s potential recovery if the plaintiff had the benefit of health insurance. The collateral source has been referred to as a windfall for the plaintiff. Unfortunately, the move away from the collateral source rule seems to have become a windfall for the defendant. In reality, the ones that are really benefitting are the big insurance companies.

The collateral source rule still exists but in a much more limited capacity. Now it only prevents defendants from introducing the source of the collateral payment. For example, a defendant can introduce evidence that out of $15,000 in medical expenses, only $5,000 was paid and the other $10,000 was adjusted or written off. The defendant, however, cannot introduce evidence of whether the plaintiff’s medical expenses were paid by private health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicaid.

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According to a June 24, 2012 article in the Philadelphia Enquirer, Senator Barbara Boxer asked car rental companies to make a public pledge “not to rent or sell any vehicles under safety recall until the defect has been remedied.” So far, only Hertz has agreed to the pledge, while their competitors rejected the challenge. For anyone planning to rent a car from one of those non-compliant companies, this means that the consequences of unrepaired mechanical defects, such as faulty seatbelt car wreck injuries or defective brakes whiplash, could not only mar their holiday fun-they could risk lives.

The Knoxville, Tennessee personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of G. Turner Howard III believe car safety recalls should be heeded by both consumers and car rental companies, and hope that Hertz’s response may set a precedent for other auto rental companies to follow suit.

In a letter addressed to Sen. Boxer, Hertz said the pledge reflected a “long-standing Hertz policy.”

New legislation sponsored by Sens. Boxer and Charles Schumer would make it a legal issue, forcing car rental companies to stop renting recalled cars until needed repairs or modifications have been made. Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety says

Hertz has been lobbying with her, Boxer and Schumer to write the policy into law.

A nationally publicized defective car accident lawsuit sparked Boxer’s challenge to car rental companies and the subsequent proposed legislation she co-authored. The case involved a malfunctioning rental car rented by two young college-age sisters in 2004. Jacquie and Raechel Houck were fatally injured in a rental car crash when they lost control of their Enterprise Rent-a-Car PT Cruiser due to leaking steering fluid. During the accident, a fire erupted under the hood and both women lost their lives. After protracted litigation, Enterprise admitted liability two years ago, and accepted a jury verdict that awarded $15 million to their family.

Shahan says that Enterprise and Avis Budget Group are two of several rental car companies seeking to water down the legislation. One of their suggested changes would make it possible for them to attend to repairs “as soon as practicable” rather than before renting the vehicles out to customers. Another change to the legislation would allow them to still rent out unrepaired cars as long as they let car-rental counter customers know about what repairs needed to be made.

Unfortunately, the hazardous vehicle rental risks go beyond the car rental counter, since many car rental companies also sell their previously rented cars on the used-car market. That means many cars will end up on roads and highways that have, in fact, been recalled, which translates to a greater risk of car accident injuries and fatalities across the country. It is, therefore, a case of both renter and buyer beware.

At the offices of Tennessee personal injury lawyerG. Turner Howard III , we do all we can to ensure that our clients who have suffered car accident injuries are informed of their rights and any car recalls that may pertain to their Tennessee car crash. If you or someone you love has been involved in defective rented car accident, call us today for a free consultation at 1-800-HURTLINE or complete our online contact form. We are compassionate, experienced aggressive legal representatives who can seek justice for your injuries.

The Law Offices of G. Turner Howard III
5915 Casey Drive
Knoxville, TN 37950