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Archive for News – Page 45

Preparation Was Key to This Train Derailment

Posted by David Brown 
· December 24, 2020 

Oil spilling from a derailed train in the northwest area of Washington was contained on Wednesday, a day after the derailment. No injuries or wildlife impacts have been reported so far, but there is a containment area blocked off around the crash site; this is to ensure the safety of the public and particularly the on-scene officials responsible for cleaning the site.

An investigation has revealed no causes for the derailment of the BNSF Railway 108-car train that was transporting Bakken crude oil. As it derailed, it sparked a fire that resulted in the evacuation of areas throughout Custer, and parts of Interstate 5 were also shut down.

The extent of the damage caused by the accident caught the attention of the FBI as well as state ecology responders. The railway’s contractors were expected to safely remove all railcars from the site within 24 to 48 hours. They were expected to do the same with any oil found in any of the tanker cars.

It will likely take complete cleanup of the site several months or longer. However, according to state ecology experts, there has yet to be any oil found in the waterways. Investigations of the site also show no harmful levels of pollutants in the air.

Information released to the public shows there was a total of seven tank cars that derailed on December 22, 2020 during the morning time crash, with two of them igniting about 11:40 a.m. The oil tank cars (DOT-117Rs involved in the crash were recently retrofitted to comply with updated federal safety standards. All oil found in these older-style tank cars was removed and then scheduled for delivery to its final destination.

Many officials connected to the situation gave much praise for the recent simulated training sessions in emergency management that took place in Custer. It is believed that the site was contained as much as it was because of this training and the preparation that it gave for such an event.

To ensure the safety and health of citizens and workers, the crash site and areas surrounding it will be monitored for the next several months.

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Electric Pressure Cooker Injury Lawsuits Are Rising in Numbers

Posted by David Brown 
· December 22, 2020 

Electric pressure cooker injury lawsuits are on the rise. The popularity of the kitchen gadget has increased the amount of defective products circulating in the marketplace. In fact, Sunbeam Products, Inc. announced a recall of over 900,000 pressure cookers towards the end of November 2020 after receiving over 100 complaints of pressure cooker lids blowing off during normal use. The injuries and property damaged caused by the electric pressure cooker has caused many people to seek out legal help from the personal injury lawyers in hopes of recovering money to pay for the injuries and damage.

The electric pressure cooker has become a must-have kitchen appliance due to their ability to slow cook meals in less time and help ingredients retain more of their nutrients. What users may not realize is the electric pressure cooker relies on the use of heat and high pressure to cook the contents inside.The most common point of failure is the lid. When the lid seal or valve fails, the cooker releases the contents or explodes, causing the contents to be sprayed on anyone standing near the unit. Common injuries include burns on the face, head, torso and arms. Cuts and bruises from shrapnel are also common.

Manufacturers of pressure cookers are alleged to have knowingly put faulty pressure cookers on the market that had poor safety seals and valves due to bad design. Another alleged problem is a failure to place adequate or visible warnings about proper operation of an electric pressure cooker. Manufacturers also failed to pull defective models off the market and sold them alongside “new and improved” models

Currently, counsel is taking legal action in a consolidated product liability lawsuit against Tristar Product’s Power Pressure Cooker XL in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. This is a Federal class action lawsuit against Sunbeam products and Newell for alleged defects in multiple models of the Crock-Pot Multicooker pressure cookers. The lids of the Crock-Pot Multicooker pressure cooker has an alleged defect that allows the lid to open while the contents are pressurized and cause severe injury. The manufacturer of the Crock-Pot Multicooker failed to recall their units which resulted in a class action lawsuit.

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A Detailed Guide To Understanding Attorney Fees: Will You Have To Pay Your Lawyer?

Posted by David Brown 
· December 15, 2020 

Most people have heard that hiring a good lawyer expensive. At the same time, those who have been involved in a motor vehicle accident might be wondering if they can hire an attorney to help them pursue a car accident settlement. Will they be able to hire an attorney in this situation?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. The good news is that most attorneys in this situation are going to work on something called a contingency fee. This means that the attorney will only get paid if they win the case for his or her client. The client will not need to pay the attorney anything in order to get started on the case. The attorney will do all of the legwork, taking a look at the case to figure out if there is a good chance of earning a fair settlement. If so, the case will move forward.

So, what does the contingency fee mean? The client and attorney will need to talk about this before the case gets started. In some cases, personal injury attorneys may take 30 percent of the settlement amount as a fee. In other cases, the attorneys may take 40 percent. This is something that the client and attorneys will discuss before the case gets started. In some cases, the attorney may take a smaller percentage if the payout is smaller to ensure the client has enough to cover his or her medical bills. Of note, any court costs that the attorneys have to pay will also come out of the settlement amount.

Ultimately, if someone is involved in a motor vehicle accident and suffers a serious injury, it is important to talk to a lawyer as quickly as possible. Without talking to a lawyer, the individual will not know how much his or her injury is worth. The insurance company might offer the individual an extremely low offer that will not come anywhere close to covering the totality of the medical expenses. Instead, individuals need to stand up for their rights following a motor vehicle accident. To do so, they need to speak with an attorney who will stand in his or her corner no matter what.

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What Is Negligence And Neglect In The Law?

Posted by David Brown 
· December 10, 2020 

In legal terms, the words negligence and neglect are related but do have differences. Neglect to an extent falls under the larger umbrella of negligence when it comes to definition.

Neglect

This is failure or omission to do something required of you. It can also be described as a type of abuse where a person fails to care for someone who cannot care for him or herself.

Types of neglect are categorized under medical, educational and physical.

Negligence

Negligence is defined as the failure to exercise a degree of care that, in normal circumstances, the law requires for the protection of other persons and/or their interests.

Negligence may further be broken down into civil and criminal negligence.

Civil Negligence

This is the failure to use reasonable care (care which a reasonable person would exercise), which results in damage or injury in a person. To establish civil negligence, one must prove all four elements of the case. They are duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Criminal Negligence

This is when a person ignores an obvious risk or disregards the life and safety of those around him. To prove criminal negligence an attorney must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the accused acted recklessly and given the same situation, a reasonable person would not act in the same manner.

The Difference between Criminal and Civil Negligence

Both civil and criminal negligence describes the failure to exercise ‘reasonable standards of care’ in certain circumstances as ‘reasonable persons’ would. Still, there are some clear differences.

Criminal negligence requires someone to fail to know of a substantial and unjustifiable risk to be convicted, civil negligence does not.

If an act can be termed as ‘gross’ deviation from a reasonable standard of care, then it is criminal negligence. Alternately, ‘any’ deviation from a reasonable standard of care is termed as civil negligence.

These differences make proving criminal negligence much harder as opposed to civil negligence.

Criminal Intent?

To find someone guilty of a crime, it has to be proven that the person who committed the criminal act had the appropriate criminal intent. This is the willingness and desire to commit the act.

The different levels of criminal intent include intentional behavior, criminal negligent behavior, and reckless behavior.

In conclusion, neglect falls under the wider term of negligence. There are still facets therein that distinguish the two terms from one another, but the similarities will always exist. If faced with a legal situation needing further assistance, do not hesitate to get in touch with an attorney.

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Kids $19,000 Bike Crash Bill Gets Resolved Through Legal Action

Posted by David Brown 
· December 8, 2020 

On July 19, 2020, Adam Woodrum was out for a bike ride with his wife and kids, when his 9-year-old son Robert got into a bike riding accident. He needed medical attention and stitches immediately because of his dangerous cuts. Since the family had been on bikes, Robert referred to the health division in Carson City, Nevada. The boy was taken to Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center and got stitches under anesthesia. Robert has since recovered well.

Soon after the accident, Adam Woodrum received the denial letter from his health insurance company. The insurance company denied their medical claim and the family was charged the entire bill of $18,933. Being a lawyer himself, Adam Woodrum recognized that their insurance company was trying to subrogate the medical bill. Subrogation is a term describing a process that allows insurance companies to recover the amount of the claim the company paid to the insured for the loss. In this case, Woodrum’s insurance company was trying to save money by passing the buck to other insurance companies. However, insurers could not agree who would pay the bill, and finally, it was sent to the patient.

Adam Woodrum decided not to panic and not to ignore the bill. He returned the documents, including the accident questionnaire, explaining that there was no liable third party for the bike crash. Due to Woodrum’s quick action, two months later the insurance company reconsidered the initial bill. As a result, the Woodrums ended up owing $1,852.45 (including the share of their copays and deductibles) instead of $18,933.

It is important to understand though that Woodrum’s case was an automatic process – their claim was denied based on the medical code indicating a possible accident. Therefore, if your insurance company denies all payment for the medical care, there might be some type of subrogation. It is important not to panic and act quickly as possible. The very first thing that you need to do is to fill out the accident questionnaire and be honest about what exactly happened. Do not ignore the bill and do not procrastinate because time and delay can become your enemies.

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Senior Living Centers Are Being Held Accountable for COVID Violations

Posted by David Brown 
· December 1, 2020 

The coronavirus pandemic has had an adverse impact on just about everyone; however, some populations have been hit harder than others. One population that has been hit particularly hard is those who are of advanced age. In particular, individuals living in senior living centers have been particularly vulnerable to developing severe complications for the virus. As a result, strict health and safety protocols have been put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus in these specific populations. Unfortunately, some senior living centers are still falling fall short of these recommendations. Now, they are paying the price.

Recently, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that senior living providers have been fined more than $3.4 million due to violations. In particular, some senior living centers, such as the Friendship Senior Options in IL, have been fined a significant amount of money due to severe violations. For example, some senior living centers have been fined due to violations of strict respirator policies, which are used to help people breathe. Another senior living center located in Arlington, Texas, was fined close to $2,000 for not keeping appropriate records related to illnesses, injuries, and fatalities.

Even if these violations were not intentional, they are examples of negligence. Many families would prefer to take care of their loved ones on their own; however, they may not be able to do so due to the medical requirements of their elderly family members. Therefore, they trust nursing homes to take care of their family members instead. When nursing homes are not able to follow these policies, they place people at risk unnecessarily.

Even though it is good that a vaccine has been released, there is a difference between developing a vaccine and getting people vaccinated. Until enough people have been vaccinated, people with weakened immune systems, such as elderly individuals, are still going to be at risk of catching this virus and developing severe complication does a result. Without a doubt, regular inspections are going to continue. It is incumbent upon nursing homes and senior living centers to take care very well of their residents and employees. That way, we can prevent unnecessary deaths from taking place.

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What Is Personal Injury Protection Coverage?

Posted by David Brown 
· November 24, 2020 

An accident can happen at any time and it is important for everyone to make sure they are prepared. Even the smallest accident can lead to serious injuries that could end up with someone going to the hospital. If this involves an overnight stay, an emergency surgical procedure, or a stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), this is going to lead to significant bills. Even though many people do not want to think about the financial cost of recovery, it is a reality of the situation. That is why it is important for everyone to be familiar with personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. This type of coverage is used to pay for people’s medical treatment, allowing individuals to focus on their recovery instead of the financial aspect of their accident.

One of the major advantages of this type of coverage is that this is no fault covered. This means that the insurance company responsible for the bills does not care about whose fault it is. Regardless of who is blamed for the accident, the type of coverage will cover the cost of medical bills, lost income, and other expenses without considering who might have caused the collision. Instead of one insurance company demanding reimbursement from the other insurance company, personal injury protection coverage is much more straightforward. Everyone has coverage regardless of whose fault the accident might have been.

Another major advantage of this type of coverage is that it makes the tort system much more straightforward. Tort is the legal term that is used to describe a civil wrong or negligent act that one person might have committed against another individual. For example, if one driver collides with another, this accent is usually referred to as a tort. No matter how small the injury might have been, the person who has been injured usually has the right to file a lawsuit against the other person involved to recover damages.

Lawsuits are never easy. Instead of having to worry about a lawsuit, it is better to go with personal injury protection coverage. That way, individuals do not have to worry about whose fault the accident was or the financial status of the other individual. Everyone should consider personal injury protection coverage.

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Amazon’s Workers’ Compensation Premiums Might Increase in the Near Future: Why Is This Happening?

Posted by David Brown 
· November 19, 2020 

During the past few years, online sales have risen steadily and are poised to pass brick and mortar sales in the near future. As a result, many companies, such as Amazon, are relying on warehouses to help them fulfill orders. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Amazon is pushing its workers harder to fulfill orders and keep customers happy. Unfortunately, this might also be leading to more workplace injuries. Recently, it was reported that local governments are thinking about charging Amazon more money in worker’s compensation premiums to reflect this higher risk.

Studies that have been published recently have found that individuals are more likely to get injured working in an Amazon warehouse center than in other high-risk Industries, such as logging operations and meat packing plants. Essentially, if Amazon’s worker’s compensation premiums go up, the company might be in its own category.

There are a number of injuries that people may suffer when working on an Amazon fulfillment center or warehouse. For example, individuals who are asked to lift multiple heavy objects repeatedly during the course of their shift run the risk of suffering serious back injuries. Another injury that people might suffer involves a slip and fall accident. A slip and fall accident could lead to a bone fracture, a head injury, or other types of contusions. In some situations, these injuries might leave individuals out of work for an extended period of time.

Finally, it is also important to note the risk of being struck by a falling object. With so many objects being pulled from shelves on a regular basis, it is not unusual to see objects tumble to the floor. If they strike someone on the way down, this might lead to a serious injury.

It seems that regulatory authorities are finally starting to take note of the risk of injury when it comes to working in an Amazon fulfillment center. Anyone who is hurt on the job, including an Amazon fulfillment center, needs to remember that they are not alone. There are always trained professionals who are willing to help them file a workers’ compensation claim and state the compensation they deserve.

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Tips for Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Washington

Posted by David Brown 
· November 17, 2020 

Suffering from a personal injury can be a very challenging experience. Those that have suffered an injury could find that their medical bills will add up quickly, they may no longer be able to work or earn an income and their quality of life will be affected. Due to this, it is natural to file a claim against another party if their negligence or mistake led to your accident and injury. If you are going to file a personal injury claim in Washington, there are several important parts of the process that you need to understand.

 

Time to File a Claim

A personal injury claim can take some time to file. Normally, you will want to make sure that you fully understand your injuries and what your total related expenses could be. This will ensure that you are able to file a full claim that covers all of your costs. However, you do not want to wait too long. In the state of Washington, you generally will only have three years to file a personal injury claim. If you do not file it in this time, the statute of limitations is up and you could not take the other party to court.

 

Determination fo Damages

A big part of any personal injury claim is to determine what your true costs and damages are. An attorney will work hard to determine what your full costs are, which can include medical bills, future therapy costs, lost wages and even pain and suffering. This claim will likely be contested by the other party and ultimately would need to be reviewed in the courtroom.

 

Pure Comparative Negligence

In Washington, the court of law uses a concept called Pure Comparative Negligence. During a court proceeding, the court will work to determine how much you are owed from your claim. However, they will also determine if you were partially at fault in the case. It is very common for the plaintiff to be assigned a small percentage of the blame in an accident. If this occurs in your case, your total reward will be reduced by the amount of your assigned blame.

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St. Louis Gun Couple Sue over Viral Photo

Posted by David Brown 
· November 10, 2020 

You might have seen the image of the St. Louis couple pointing their guns at Black Lives Matter protestors who were marching outside of their mansion. Their names are Mark and Patricia McCloskey, and they’re personal injury attorneys. The couple decided to file a lawsuit against the United Press International photographer Bill Greenblatt. The court documents claim that Greenblatt and his associates are profiting from masks, t-shirts, and using photographs of the plaintiffs’ likeness without their consent. The suit also mentions an online shop that sells merchandise was using their image with captions that were hurtful. The plaintiffs claim that these postings were causing them mental anguish, severe emotional distress, and humiliation.

UPI said earlier that they were thinking about sending a cease and desist to the couple since the couple was using this image in a personal greeting card despite it being the news service’s photo. This is thanks to the law that allows newspaper photographers to take images from the public rights of way. As you can imagine, this is becoming a tricky situation. The newspaper didn’t use disparaging comments or captions in the original photo, though the plaintiffs are suffering emotional distress from captions that were used elsewhere on the photographer’s snap.

The gun-toting couple also argues that BLM trespassers were trespassing during the incident that was captured. They live on a private street and they believe that they were protecting their property. The couple came to so much fame that they even had a spot in the Republican National Convention to talk about their experience. Since then, they have been indicted on charges that include unlawful use of a weapon as well as tampering with evidence. They plead not guilty and there’s no further update to that case. The couple has asked the court not to use the photo, and actually ban it from the courtroom. They also said that they should get the ownership of the images that were taken and used, along with any other pictures that were taken of them around their property. This is due to the fact that they believe the photographer was trespassing when he took the initial photo of them waving their guns at BLM protestors.

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