Posted on December 02, 2015 in Uncategorized

A worker at a nursing home in Converse is in custody facing charges related to nursing home abuse because of video obtained from a surveillance camera hidden in the resident’s room.

Police stated that the 77-year-old victim’s daughter installed the motion-activated “granny cam” in her room after the elderly woman, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, had injuries on her body that she could not explain. The camera later recorded footage of the 51-year-old worker slapping the victim on her face, striking her body, and flinging her onto the bed. In a subsequent written report, the female worker claimed that the victim fell.

In a statement, the nursing home manager insisted that the abuse was an isolated incident and that the facility was cooperating with investigators.

Granny Cams

Texas is one of only four states (the others are Washington, Oklahoma, and New Mexico) that allows the use of hidden cameras in care facilities; the Lone Star State enacted an enabling law in 2001. These devices must comply with very specific conditions, such as:

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 Posted on November 27, 2015 in Uncategorized

Federal prosecutors in Dallas charged 28 federal employees and private doctors with over $8.7 million in a workers’ compensation fraud case.

According to court documents, the workers claimed they were injured on the job, the doctors fraudulently diagnosed the injuries, and claims officials received bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the approval of the disputed claims. Under the law, these workers would have been entitled to as much as 75 percent of their wages, in addition to reimbursement for medical expenses, prescription drugs, and other out-of-pocket costs. Prosecutors claim that an additional $11 million in claims might have been paid had the “sprawling corruption scheme” not been exposed.

Each of the defendants has agreed to plead guilty and each may receive up to 15 years in prison.

Employer Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Cases such as this one nearly always receive widespread media attention, fueling the myth that cheating workers routinely defraud the system. But the reality is actually far different.

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 Posted on November 25, 2015 in Uncategorized

Two people are dead following a head-on crash in eastern Bexar County that involved five vehicles, including a school bus.

Investigators state that a Toyota was initially seen weaving on Loop 1604 just north of Highway 87, not far from Adkins. The vehicle then clipped an East Central I.S.D. bus before slamming head-on into a Honda. Both drivers were killed almost instantly; a passenger in the Toyota survived for several days before succumbing to his injuries. All the victims were described as teenagers.

Two other passenger vehicles were involved in the pile-up crash as well, but none of the occupants were seriously injured.

Head-On Crashes

Statistically, these incidents are extremely rare (about 3 percent of vehicle crashes) but they have a fatality rate 12 times greater than other freeway wrecks. That is primarily due to the massive force involved. If two vehicles collide that are each traveling 60 mph, the occupants are subjected to a sudden force of 120 mph.

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 Posted on November 20, 2015 in Uncategorized

There are a number of rented vehicles, especially self-service moving trucks, on the streets and highways of South Central Texas. These trucks are often involved in car crashes, because the drivers are inexperienced and the vehicles would normally require a commercial drivers’ license. In these instances, federal law makes it difficult, but not impossible, for the victim to sue the vehicle’s owner, in addition to the negligent driver.

The Graves Amendment

In the 1990s and early 2000s, a number of states passed vicarious liability laws that applied to vehicle lessors. These laws essentially mirrored the elements of respondeat superior, by declaring that the vehicle owner was legally liable for damages caused by a vehicle lessee, at least in some cases.

Rather predictably, the vehicle rental industry strongly opposed these laws. Resistance stiffened after a Connecticut jury returned a multi-milliondollar verdict against a leasing company which then announced plans to cease doing business in the state. So, in 2005, Congress included 49 U.S.C. 30106, the “Graves Amendment,” as a last-minute attachment to an omnibus bill. There is almost no legislative history backing up the Amendment: no hearings were ever conducted and there was less than a half- hour of floor debate.

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 Posted on November 18, 2015 in Uncategorized

Local residents claim a serious car crash would not have taken place had Bexar County followed through on its commitment to erect a traffic signal at a dangerous intersection on the Northwest Side.

The latest crash at the intersection of Blanco Road (F.M. 2696) and Slumber Pass killed one person and sent two others to the hospital. The male driver of one car was killed and two female passengers in the other car were injured. About a year ago, the county earmarked nearly $145,000 to put up a signal and hired a contractor to do so, but construction has yet to begin. The Bexar County Director of Public Works stated that “a year doesn’t sound like it’s quick, but it takes that long to get equipment sometimes.” The DPW added that the driver was allegedly speeding and serving and so a traffic signal would not have prevented the crash.

The county says the signal is expected to be installed in the next two weeks and to be functional by mid-December.

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 Posted on November 13, 2015 in Uncategorized

A runaway ambulance rear-ended a woman sitting at a stoplight in the Northeast Side, sending her to the hospital with serious injuries.

The crash took place at the intersection of Sunshadow and Perrin Beitel Road. After it slammed into her car, the ambulance continued going forward until it smacked into a traffic light pole. Meanwhile, the force of the collision propelled the woman’s vehicle into the intersection and into the path of an SUV making a left turn. The SUV driver was unable to avoid a collision, and the vehicle spun several times before eventually coming to rest against a utility pole.

Aside from the woman, no other injuries were reported.

Third Party Liability

Normally, when a commercial vehicle like a tractor-trailer, delivery truck, or taxicab is involved in a crash, the employer is liable for damages under the theory of respondeat superior. However, when an emergency vehicle is involved, the plaintiff may need to prove additional facts.

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 Posted on November 11, 2015 in Uncategorized

In one of the more notorious trials of the 1990s, a popular actor and former football star was tried for a double murder that occurred not far from his home in California. While a criminal jury found the man not guilty of murder, a civil jury ordered him to pay $25 million following a subsequent wrongful death lawsuit. The man’s moral guilt or innocence is not really relevant to the discussion at hand: the point is that the burden of proof is much lower in a civil proceeding like a car crash case than in a criminal or family law case.

Civil Case

In nearly all negligence cases, the plaintiff must prove liability by a preponderance of the evidence, which means “more likely than not.” Some people use the analogy of the scales of justice that tip in one direction or the other. But a more accurate image is to picture two equally-full glasses of water sitting side by side. If a person adds one drop to the glass on the right, it contains more water than the glass on the left.

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 Posted on November 06, 2015 in Uncategorized

Whether they realize it or not, most people are familiar with the concept of comparative fault. How does this idea play out in car crash cases?

Almost inevitably, when two siblings, two workers, two schoolchildren, or two athletes get into a fight, they will give markedly different answers to the question of “who started it?” Although premeditated sneak attacks are not unheard of, at least when children are involved, the truth is that both parties are almost always somewhat at fault. In these situations, the parent, supervisor, teacher, referee, or coach must apportion blame according to the applicable rules and assess the proper punishment.

The Rule

The same thing is true in many negligence cases, particularly intersection collisions and freeway wrecks. Each driver blames the other one for the crash. The applicable rule is found in Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Essentially, the plaintiff’s recovery is reduced by the percentage of his or her fault. Moreover, if the defendant is not at least 51 percent negligent, the plaintiff recovers nothing.

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 Posted on November 02, 2015 in Uncategorized

Without an effective attorney, the jury may never hear what may be the most compelling evidence in a car crash case. Worse yet, the evidence may not even be available to begin with.

Event Data Recorders

Many people are familiar with the “black boxes,” or flight data recorders, that are standard in commercial airplanes. But many people are unaware that there is probably a similar device in the cars, trucks, and vans that they drive every day. What makes this evidence so valuable is that, unlike eyewitness testimony, it basically cannot be challenged and its reliability cannot reasonably be questioned.

Almost ten years ago, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration issues a rule concerning event data recorders, or EDRs. In addition to making them mandatory for all new cars sold in the United States, the regulation set forth a number of metrics that these devices must capture and record. This data includes:

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 Posted on October 30, 2015 in Uncategorized

Generally speaking, Texas laws regarding alcohol provider liability when it pertains to alcohol-related car crashes is slanted in favor of defendants. The Lone Star State did not even have a dram shop liability law until the 1980s while many other states have had similar laws on the books for nearly a century. The same is true for social host liability. Since 1993, Texas courts have consistently refused to impose liability on social hosts. But a case from the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston may have opened a back door in these matters.

The Case

The dispute in Plunkett v. Nall began at a New Years’ Eve party in 2007. The defendants had a plan in place to discourage drunken driving: they set a rule that all guests remaining at midnight who had consumed alcohol must stay the night at their home. But they did not enforce this rule by confiscating keys or taking any similar measures. So, an “inebriated” guest and his “female friend” tried to leave the party at about 2:00 a.m. While the plaintiff stood on the running board and tried to remove the keys from the ignition, the driver suddenly accelerated; the plaintiff was thrown off of the SUV and injured.

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