Kentucky joins the "no texting while driving" fold. The law does not have a lot of teeth: if you are caught texting while driving you will only get a warning. Next year, Kentucky will up the ante to $25 for the first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses. Yes, it is weak. But it is a start. The most important thing about the texting law is not the enforcement but in getting the word out that texting and driving is a dangerous cocktail.
Volvo is recalling 3,635 2007 to 2010 Volvo S80s due to incorrect tire pressure listed in the owner's manual. Instead of a maximum tire pressure of 35 psi, Volvo S80s with the V-6 should actually have a tire pressure of 36 psi. For the V-8, the 36 psi listed should be 38 psi.
It sounds silly on its face. But setting aside what we have been told about the correct tire pressure in our tires reducing our dependence on foreign oil, tire pressure matters when it comes to avoiding rollover accidents. This recall is also incredibly inexpensive for Volvo and it makes them look like what they apparently are: a company that is stepping forward to fix all problems big and small.
Head trauma and spinal cord injury cases are the most serious car and truck accident cases our lawyers typically see. On our website, we provide a new overview of spinal cord injury claims.
State Farm has the highest market share among California car insurance companies at 12.9 percent, according to 2008 statistics released by the California Department of Insurance. The Automobile Clubs came in second at 8.9% of the California market. Together, these companies collect over $4 billion in insurance premiums in California alone.
The California State Automobile Association garnered third place with 6.8% of the market, followed by Mercury and Allstate. Interesting, GEICO, which is a powerhouse in so many jurisdictions, including Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., has just over 1 percent of the California market.
If you have been injured in a car accident in California and need an accident lawyer, call 800-553-8082 or get a free consultation on line.
MSN provides the average annual premium for car insurance by state. The numbers are provided below.
The numbers are interesting for their relativity but not for their absolute values. Because the numbers are based on a male driving a 2010 vehicle with slightly better than average coverage (100 (per person)/300 (per accident)/50 (property damage). Why not shoot for a more average driver who is not driving a brand new car? These are insurance company statistics and insurance companies want us to read this and say (1) my insurance company is not charging me that much, it must be cheap, and (2) rates are high all over so we must need tort reform to lower car insurance.
With those caveats, here are the numbers:
1 Louisiana $2,510.87
2 Michigan $2,098.29
3 Oklahoma $1,869.39
4 Montana $1,857.96
5 California $1,774.41
6 South Dakota $1,772.83
7 Washington, D.C. $1,753.19
8 Georgia $1,751.42
9 Illinois $1,679.15
10 Connecticut $1,678.90
11 Arkansas $1,648.80
12 New Mexico $1,603.65
13 Rhode Island $1,595.97
14 West Virginia $1,589.69
15 Alaska $1,572.21
16 Wyoming $1,552.98
17 Maryland $1,550.13
18 Kansas $1,524.51
19 Kentucky $1,515.30
20 Colorado $1,480.97
21 Mississippi $1,474.94
22 New Jersey $1,473.73
23 New York $1,463.21
24 Texas $1,462.65
25 Florida $1,453.20
26 Pennsylvania $1,420.78
27 Delaware $1,405.80
28 Missouri $1,390.59
29 Minnesota $1,381.09
30 Alabama $1,380.38
31 North Dakota $1,365.22
32 Hawaii $1,306.97
33 Indiana $1,302.51
34 Nevada $1,282.50
35 Washington $1,279.84
36 Utah $1,234.30
37 Virginia $1,233.36
38 Nebraska $1,210.74
39 Oregon $1,194.69
40 Idaho $1,183.47
41 South Carolina $1,182.18
42 Tennessee $1,170.12
43 Arizona $1,152.50
44 North Carolina $1,130.45
45 Massachusetts $1,043.80
46 Iowa $1,039.04
47 New Hampshire $1,011.23
48 Wisconsin $1,010.93
49 Ohio $999.86
50 Vermont $968.58
51 Maine $902.85
Toyota has is asking dealers to temporarily halt sales of 2010 Lexus GX460 SUV after a Consumer Reports safety warning. Toyota is not - at least as of yet - going to recall the vehicle.
Consumer Reports suggests there is a serious rollover problem with the 2010 GX460. Consumer Reports is not pulling any punches either, specifically telling readers not to buy the new GX460 because of safety risks associated with the vehicle.
About 5000 of these GX460s have been sold. Although there have been no no reports of rollover have been uncovered in these models that are already on the road, reports often lag behind incidences and the GX460 apparently performed awfully during the Consumer Reports test track. The magazine reports that the rear tires skidding dangerously sideways at high speeds.
The one time golden child of the car industry continues to take its lumps. If Toyota/Lexus wants a spokesman who can relate to the product, it should consider Tiger Woods. Both larger than life giants crashed to earth hoping to rise up again that keeps facing every increasing roadblocks. I'm really joking but Toyota needs to do something dramatic and fast to restore public confidence.
One frustrating issue personal injury lawyers must deal with is assignments and authorizations which often require clients to sign away substantial rights to get the medical treatment they need.
This is a sample assignment and authorization from Florida that really cuts off substantive rights to the client. But the problem is that the client who signs an assignment and authorization placing a lien on their recovery typically does not have health insurance to get the needed medical treatment. So what choice does the client really have?
I am not, by the way, suggesting that doctors should not have a right to get placed in line ahead of personal injury plaintiffs in exchange for medical treatment (or to delay filing a lawsuit for payment). I just object to the one-sided unbalanced nature of most assignments and authorizations that my clients are required to sign.
The Maryland Accident Lawyer Blog provides interesting data on knee injury settlements. But it is important to underscore the obvious: every case and every jurisdiction is different and knee injury settlement data does not tell you what your cases is worth. Still, if you have no idea of what the value of your case is, verdict data can be one of the puzzle pieces you can add to equation.
There is a fundamental problem with soft tissue injury cases that few plaintiffs’ lawyers will admit: some percentage of soft tissue injury plaintiffs are either completely faking the injury or exaggerating the symptoms. Certainly, exaggeration is a more a nuance issue so this post will just focus on “victims” that are truly faking injuries to gain a settlement.
Whiplash. Car accident. What comes to mind when you hear these three words? Most people – and more important to this conversation, most jurors – conjure up some version of someone in a neck collar pretending to be more hurt than they really are. Clearly, the world view that most jurors have causes them to lean towards the insurance companies and doubt victims with soft tissue injury claims. How do I know this? Jury verdicts.
So just how many plaintiffs are faking soft tissue injuries? With some very notable exceptions, soft tissue injuries cannot be objectively proven or proven false. So the answer is anyone’s guess. Your guess is going to depend in no small measure on your own preconceived view of the honesty level of your neighbors.
I think a relatively small number of clients that I have met with who claimed serious soft tissue injuries were faking their injuries. Moreover, I do not think I have ever tried a soft tissue injury case where the client was not seriously hurt. This assertion obviously sounds like plaintiffs’ lawyers head in the sand fluff. So let me explain why I think these twin assertions are true.
I read something once I never forgot: “If you marry for money, you earn every penny.” Unbelievably true. But its cousin is also true: “If you receive medical treatment to get a larger settlement, you earn every penny.” From a victim’s standpoint, getting a substantial verdict or settlement involves a leap of faith that it will actually happen. Which means to get medical treatment you don't need, you are putting in a great deal of work for an uncertain result. Even if you have ill intent, it is hard to summon up the strength to continue to fake injuries. Most people that would go through the trouble are quitters. Maybe they can do it for a week or two but they will not have the strength to stick with it. If they have that kind of fortitude, they would probably just spend that energy getting a job or getting a better job.
So why then does anyone fake a serious injury? Some people spend more time trying to find creative ways to get around the system when they would do better just expending the same efforts to walk through the front door. We all know someone like this, someone who spends more time trying to find some way around the line that usually takes longer than just getting into line themselves. These are your soft tissue injury fakers.
Because the injuries are subjective and cannot be proven, you cannot know specifically which clients were being honest even in hindsight. But I don't think I have ever tried a case before a jury with someone faking their soft tissue injuries. Why? Because to take a case to trial and believe you will do substantially better than the offer, you have to believe in the client and believe the case is large enough for a jury trial when you file it.
Sample uninsured motorist caption:
The one thing defendants (and plaintiffs for that matter) consistently screw up at deposition is time, speed and distance calculations. Often, how a defendant claims an accident happened could never happen as defendant claims. If you are cross examining a defendant, make use of the following information to back the defendant into an impossible claim on liability:
1 mile per hour = 1.4667 feet per second
10 miles per hour = 14.7 feet per second
20 miles per hour = 29.3 feet per second
25 miles per hour = 36.7 feet per second
30 miles per hour = 44.0 feet per second
35 miles per hour = 51.3 feet per second
40 miles per hour = 58.7 feet per second
45 miles per hour = 66.0 feet per second
50 miles per hour = 73.3 feet per second
55 miles per hour = 80.7 feet per second
60 miles per hour = 88.0 feet per second
65 miles per hour = 95.3 feet per second
Defendants often want to stretch on how fast a plaintiff was going on how slow the defendant was traveling. Often, these stories, even after being prepared by their insurance defense lawyer, are impossible as a matter of physics.
The Nebraska Supreme Court has has agreed that a lawsuit arising from injuries suffered by a woman whose family purchased a used car from a car dealer that allegedly failed to inspect the car. The court held that under these facts, the dealer was obligated to warn consumers about potential defects.
We provide on our website a summary of the law that pertains to Atlanta car accidents. If you need an Atlanta car accident lawyer, call 800-553-8082 or click here for a free no obligation consultation.
Miller & Zois has a new webpage discussing C4/C5 and C5/C6 cervical herniated disc lawsuits.
Personal injury victims want a calculator or formula to determine what their settlement should be. "How much is my case worth?" seems like a fair question. The human brain is adverse to uncertainty. In lab experiments, our wiring in this regard is underscored: we prefer physical pain to uncertainty.
Regrettably, there is no formula or calculator that shows how much money you will get in your accident case. The real world is too complex for a personal injury settlement calculator. A car accident case is worth what a judge or jury would give the injury victim.
That said, below are some links that can help you determine the value of your case by giving you information both on how claims are valued and what juries have awarded or settlements that have occurred for injuries similar to yours.
A jury in Texas found that the Texas Motor Speedway was negligent in an accident that left a boy with traumatic brain injuries, awarding more that $11 million in damages for his injuries.
The boy was hit by child while driving a miniature race car in the parking lot of the Lil’ Texas Motor Speedway, a paved one-fifth mile at the race track. The jury found the Texas Motor Speedway 80% responsible for the accident (and the boy's parents 20%).
I would like to know how fast they kids were driving. My kids are too young but they are going to want to drive go-carts and the like just like I did as a child. Should I let them? Depressing issues to digest.
A Mississippi police department tried to cover up for a police office in a fatal car accident that killed a 19-year-old man last November in Brandon County, according to a lawsuit filed last week. Plaintiff's attorney claims that police officer was traveling nearly 30 mph over the posted speed limit and was not using his siren at the time of the crash. The lawsuit also questions police findings that the decedent was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of his death.
One issue was the amount of drugs and alcohol in the deceased system. Toxicology experts say that any internal injury can destroy the accuracy of the drug and BAC tests because the stomach and intestinal alcohol mix with blood when organs rupture, which increases the BAC test results. Moreover, the BAC from a deceased person must be tested from the heart which is often not what the coroner does in practice.
The family of a New Hampshire woman crushed by another car at a Massachusetts car wash has agreed to a settlement of their accident lawsuit. The woman died in 2007 after being struck by a car driven by defendant, who still faces criminal charges. The victim's 12 year-old daughter thankfully survived the collusion.
The Boston Herald has the story.
The Maryland Accident Lawyer has a post on bad intersections and the balance between human life and the convenience of the automobile.
