Charlottesville Car Crash and Cell Phone Use

Recent reports from Charlottesville news providers indicate that cell phone use, whether for a phone call or for text messaging, were a cause in a recent fatal car accident. This growing problem has been addressed by the Virginia legislature and texting while driving is not permitted. However, it is still a common to see drivers using their cell phones to read text messages and reply. As an experienced personal injury lawyer, I always obtain the cell phone records of a defendant driver to see if they were distracted at the time of the accident. Many car wrecks and truck accidents are caused by inattention because of the use of a cell phone. So getting the records is the primary way of proving that the driver was using the phone at the time of the accident. Once confronted with such proof, many defendants admit their fault. The Virginia legal system provides several different ways to obtain these records and I use them all.

Charlottesville Bicyclist Killed

Recently in Charlottesville, Virginia, a bicyclist was struck and killed by a city truck. The local newspaper, the Daily Progress followed up with an analysis of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries as a result of being hit by a car or a truck. The picture that is painted is depressing for an area that is considered to be bike-friendly and that has a good number of bike lanes. There a significant number of accidents between vehicles and bicyclists, as well as pedestrians. Unfortunately, the co-existence of cars and bikes on the road sometimes has fatal results and it is usually the bicyclist who suffers the injury. Hopefully, the publicity will increase the need for motorists to be aware of bicyclists and the need for bicyclists to be cautious, particularly when there is no bike lane for travel. With a little luck and increased vigilance, maybe we can avoid having such a tragedy repeated.

Burn Injuries

A news report this morning commented on a lawsuit filed against Starbucks, the coffee shop, for serving tea that caused second degree burn injuries. Among other other claims, the lawsuit alleged that the container was unsafe and that the tea was unreasonably hot. I recently had a client with a similar claim against McDonalds involving hot coffee. It is amazing that these types of claims continue to spill in to law offices. As a starting point, it is helpful to know that skin begins to burn when exposed to fluid with a temperature above 115 degrees. In fact, at 120 degrees, a child's skin will be burnt severely enough to require surgery after just 3 seconds of exposure. The temperature at which water boils is 212 degrees. So how warm should hot drinks be when served to the customer? It is recommended that coffee be brewed at temperature between 190-200 degrees. It should then be kept on the burner at a temperature between 180-185 degrees. McDonalds used to serve its coffee at 180 degrees. Home brewed coffee is usually around 135-145 degrees. Reports indicate that Starbucks serves its coffee around 185 degrees. Obviously, people like their coffee hot. So who is to blame when a spill occurs?

Lawyers Compete in Class Action

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal described the competition among plaintiff's personal injury lawyers to become the lead counsel in the class action filed against Toyota for unintended acceleration defects in Toyota cars. The judge in the case is going to decide who gets that position and the monetary rewards which will accompany it. The interested lawyers, hundreds of them, have filed applications reciting their achievements. One application is over a hundred pages and describes every positive moment in the lawyer's life. Another mentions the lawyer's donation of his kidney to help someone. They are all designed to convince a judge to appoint them to head up the multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Toyota. Should we have this type of lawyer lottery where the winner stands to earn legal fees of hundreds of millions of dollars? Does a legal system that encourages this type of lottery need change?

Personal Injury Cases and Facebook

Have you been injured in a car accident and are you thinking of making a personal injury claim? Do you also have a page on Facebook or some other social networking site? These questions are not unrelated. Social networking sites such as Facebook can provide a great deal of information about someone. If you are like me, you may have posted pictures of yourself and your friends or family. You may have written about things you have done, whether work or pleasure. These entries and pictures are proving to be useful for lawyers and insurance adjusters who are defending personal injury claims. A lot has been written about how prospective employers and schools have used Facebook or other sites to screen people. We are now seeing that use extended to the defense of a personal injury claim. It is becoming more common to see an Interrogatory (question) asking for a list of all social networking sites to which the injured party belonged. The question is also asked in depositions. My advice to clients who have been in an injury is to either shut down your personal page or, after I have reviewed the content, to limit future posts and never to discuss your injury case. This advice is on top of a standard admonition never to discuss your case with anyone except your lawyer. So remember, what you post today, will be looked at by everyone tomorrow. If you don't want the world to know something, don't post it on Facebook or some other social networking site!

Air Bags vs. Accelerators

Toyota has been in the spotlight of late for problems with unintended acceleration of its cars. However, statistics show that the most commonly claimed automobile product defect is a car's airbags. The vast majority of claims involve either the failure of an airbag to deploy or an excessively violent deployment of the airbag. Acceleration issues account for only around one percent of product liability claims. Just last year, Honda recalled over 400,000 cars for airbag problems linked to over six deaths. You can find out about all recalls by going to www.nhtsa.gov. The official website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides a lot of useful information to the consumer in addition to recall issues

Virginia Ranks High on List Of Unfriendly Places to File a Lawsuit

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranks Virginia as one of the friendliest places for businesses because it is perceived to have a tort liability system that is not favorable for plaintiffs. Coming in at number 6, Virginia is in stark contrast to its neighbor. West Virginia is at the bottom of the list, just below Louisiana, as the state with the least friendly laws and courts for business. Are these perceptions and rankings based in reality? Having tried many cases in both states and being a licensed lawyer in both states, I think the answer is a qualified yes. I qualify my answer because there are a few cities in Virginia where the juries are not going to side automatically with business. But, Virginia's laws favor business and are very tough on individuals. The shining example of the bias against the individual is Virginia's adherence to the bar of contributory negligence. A Virginia plaintiff who is one percent contributorily negligent as a matter of law, is barred from a recovery. Most people who learn of this have trouble believing that this is the law in Virginia. Only two other states have not adopted the principles of comparative negligence. So while Virginia might rank more highly, it may not be the more admirable state.