Posted on April 08, 2016 in Uncategorized

The Panama Canal will soon be able to accommodate much larger cargo ships, which almost certainly means more large trucks on Interstate 35.

An extensive slate of renovations was originally scheduled to be in place by October 2014, but a string of labor difficulties and contract disputes kept delaying the project. That project includes mechanical gates that should reduce traffic congestion, along with larger locks that can accommodate post-Panamax ships (the Panama Canal’s prior maximum size) that are up to three football fields long and can carry 2.5 times as much cargo as smaller vessels.

The $5.2 billion upgrades will begin accepting ships on June 26, 2016.

Truck Wrecks

For the last 20-plus years, Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo all the way to Duluth, Minnesota, has been the main route for consumer goods being imported from Latin America. In Texas, about a quarter of the vehicles on Interstate 35 are large trucks. More available goods mean more trucks, along with the significant possibility of more truck crashes.

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 Posted on April 06, 2016 in Uncategorized

A man is dead after his vehicle was sandwiched between an abandoned vehicle and an onrushing car near Uptown.

According to police, the victim was northbound on I-35 near O’Connor when he collided with a stalled vehicle that had apparently been abandoned in the roadway. Moments later, another vehicle smashed into the rear of the victim’s car, killing him almost instantly.

No one else was injured in the incident.

What Happens in a Car Crash Trial

Both in court and at mediation sessions, each side has an opportunity to present its version of events. The plaintiff is nearly always the victim or deceased victim’s family, and the defendant is generally an insurance company appearing on behalf of the tortfeasor (negligent driver).

In a hypothetical trial or mediation concerning the above wreck, the sudden emergency defense would probably come into play at some point. This doctrine ameliorates or possibly excuses liability in the case of:

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 Posted on March 30, 2016 in Uncategorized

An area preschooler suffered a serious brain injury during a seemingly routine trip to a local dental office.

The 4-year-old girl visited a dental office in Houston to have several decaying teeth treated. Then, according to documents filed with the Texas Board of Dental Examiners, the girl went into convulsions after being sedated. Instead of calling for emergency personnel, the dentist allegedly administered Halcion; in fact, it was “several hours” before emergency responders arrived on scene. Doctors believe her injury to be permanent, and according to her mother, the girl can “follow voices sometimes but she can’t look directly at a person anymore.” The girl received treatment in four different hospitals, and is now in a physical rehabilitation center.

The dentist was disciplined in 2005 for failing to meet the “minimum standard of care,” and again in 2012 for falling “below the minimum standard of care in the sedation of a minor.” A license revocation hearing is pending.

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 Posted on March 25, 2016 in Uncategorized

A Dallas jury has ordered DePuy Orthopaedics to pay compensatory and punitive damages to five victims who received defective hip implants.

The jury deliberated for nearly six days before ordering the medical device maker – which is a division of Johnson & Johnson – to pay $142 million in actual and $360 million in punitive damages. Lawyers for the five victims, one of whom is from Boerne, argued that the Metal-on-Metal (MoM) artificial hips were defectively designed, causing premature failure and intense pain. Furthermore, according to court documents, DePuy knew about problems with its Pinnacle and Ultamet implants, yet failed to warn patients or doctors due to the risk of decreased sales. DePuy and other hip implant makers have consistently denied that their products are unsafe. About 8,900 defective hip implant cases have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Dallas, and plaintiffs expect the next trial to begin this fall.

In October 2014, a separate jury determined that DePuy was not negligent under similar facts.

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 Posted on March 23, 2016 in Uncategorized

A motorcyclist desperately tried to avert a serious collision on the East Side, but the incident was probably unavoidable.

The wreck occurred near the intersections of White and Houston Street. Police say that a motorcycle rider was speeding and unable to avoid a vehicle that turned left directly in front of him, resulting in a T-bone collision. An eyewitness added that the motorcycle rider apparently tried to jump off the bike before striking the car, but he was unable to do so. According to the witness, the rider “hit the car as well, then he went tumbling like a receipt in the wind.”

The motorcyclist was declared dead at the scene; a vehicle passenger was transported to a local hospital with various injuries.

Comparative Fault

In many car crashes, both motorists arguably share responsibility for the crash. For example, in the moments leading to the above incident, the vehicle driver apparently made an illegal turn and the motorcycle rider was allegedly speeding.

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 Posted on March 18, 2016 in Uncategorized

Over the last decade, hundreds of people have been killed or seriously injured in a vehicle wreck that involved a rented moving truck or a rented passenger vehicle. In some cases, especially concerning moving trucks, the drivers may be operating large machinery that normally requires a commercial driver’s license. In other cases, such as those involving leased passenger vehicles, the drivers are unfamiliar with the surroundings, meaning that their attention is divided between navigation and operation.

Under a traditional approach to third-party liability, like respondeat superior or dram shop liability, the owner should be responsible for the damages that are caused in a vehicle wreck. But leased and rented vehicles are not in this category.

Graves Amendment

In 2005, lawmakers slipped an obscure provision into an omnibus bill. 49 U.S.C. 30106 became known as the “Graves Amendment,” after its sponsor, Congressman Sam Graves (D-MO). The issue came up because large vehicle leasing companies threatened to stop operating in states like Minnesota, which had vicarious liability statutes. So, in the opinion of many people, the Graves Amendment is yet another example of government siding with big business and sacrificing public safety.

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 Posted on March 16, 2016 in Uncategorized

Alcohol is a primary contributing factor in about a third of the car crashes that occur on South Central Texas roadways. In the vast majority of these incidents, the tortfeasors (negligent drivers) obtained the alcohol outside their homes, from either a commercial provider like a bar or restaurant or at a social gathering with friends and family.

Third-party liability is often an issue in these cases, and such actions are important for at least two reasons. First, they create an additional source of damages, a significant feature given the large number of uninsured and uninsured drivers in Texas. Perhaps more importantly, however, a third-party liability action sends a message to alcohol providers that there are strict rules to observe when serving or providing this potentially dangerous substance. If these rules are not strictly followed, there may be serious consequences.

Commercial Providers

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 Posted on March 11, 2016 in Uncategorized

With slapstick banana-peel slips featured prominently in many comedy television shows and movies, many people assume that a slip-and-fall cannot be a serious injury. But the truth is much different. Each year, falls account for more emergency room visits than any other injury. Similarly, workplace falls account for more missed days and more workers’ compensation claims than any other cause of injury.

Strictly speaking, landowner liability claims are negligence cases: if the defendant breaches a legal duty, and that breach caused injury, the defendant is liable for damages. But slip-and-falls work a bit differently, at least in some respects.

Duty

In landowner liability cases, the nature of the duty typically depends on the reason the victim was on the premises or property:

• Trespassers: Landowners must not intentionally harm people who are on the land without permission, such as hunters who accidentally wander onto the property of another. The duty is enhanced based on certain criteria, including the victim’s age and the number of previous occurrences.

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 Posted on March 09, 2016 in Uncategorized

An alert officer helped police capture a hit-and-run driver after he initially fled the scene of a serious bicycle crash.

The wreck occurred on the West Side, near the intersection of Callaghan Road and Culebra. Witnesses reported seeing an SUV collide with a bicycle. The bicycle rider was thrown from the bike and landed on his head; he was rushed to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. The SUV driver turned out to be a 36-year-old man. After driving away, he returned to the scene and slowly drove around the area. An alert officer noticed the vehicle had a dangling side mirror, which led to a stop and arrest.

The SUV driver was promptly charged with DUI, and additional charges may be forthcoming.

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Around half of hit-and-run drivers are eventually apprehended and prosecuted. In terms of the proportion held liable for the damages they cause, the number might be a little bit higher. In criminal court, the prosecutor must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But in a negligence case, the plaintiff must only prove cause by a preponderance of the evidence. So, evidence that a driver was in an area at a certain time of day and was involved in a collision is enough to establish that, more likely than not, that person was the hit-and-run driver.

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 Posted on March 05, 2016 in Uncategorized

A flatbed 18-wheeler laden with scrap metal jack-knifed across eastbound Loop 1604, spilling debris and causing multiple vehicle crashes.

The wreck took place near the Green Mountain Road exit. The truck driver apparently rounded a corner at a high rate of speed, causing the back of the truck to smash into a concrete median. As the vehicle began to jack-knife, two trailing cars slammed into the out-of-control tractor-trailer; a third car was forced off the highway and careened down a grassy embankment.

At least one driver was rushed to the hospital with multiple injuries, and authorities completely shut down the highway to investigate and clean up the site.

Dangerous Truck Crashes

Large trucks nearly always jack-knife if the trailers exceed a 45-degree angle from the cabs. If that happens, the drivers completely lose control of the vehicles, regardless of their individual experience levels, and the 80,000-pound truck proceeds along the highway horizontally instead of vertically. The government estimates that about 5 percent of large truck crashes involve a jackknifed vehicle.

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