If you’re planning on filing a lawsuit, you probably have what you believe to be evidence that you were wronged in some regard. Understanding evidence, however, does take some real legal knowledge. In fact, you may find that, upon meeting with your attorney, they don’t really believe that the things you consider to be evidence […]
Featured
Police Sued Over Privacy Violations
CNN reported that a police department in Washington is facing a lawsuit over violating the rights of inmates. The reporting details that 11 women and 1 man are suing a police department over alleged instances where the inmates—who were all arrested on suspicion of drunk driving—were recorded while they were undressing and using the toilet. […]
Frivolous Lawsuits Get too Much Publicity
The idea behind a lawsuit is to give a person who was wronged because of another person’s negligence away to get compensated. This can include suing manufacturers for putting dangerous products out on the market when they should’ve known better, suing motorists who are prone to driving dangerously and end up hurting or killing someone […]
Dog Bites and Liability
Unfortunately, many dog owners are not responsible with their animals. In fact, it’s quite reasonable to argue that the biggest cause of dog bites has nothing to do with dogs, but with the people who are in charge of taking care of those dogs. There are differences on a state-by-state basis as to how much […]
Daycare Worker Arrested for Raping Children
For parents with children in daycare, a nightmare scenario seems to be unfolding in Ohio. According to NewsOK, a daycare worker has been arrested on two counts of rape. The woman, according to the article, had engaged in sexual conduct with an infant and made a video of herself doing it. Police claim that they […]
Class Action Against LinkedIn Reveals Importance of TOS
If you’ve gotten emails that appear to be from a friend of yours but that were actually from LinkedIn giving a pitch for the website, you’re not alone. In fact, a lawsuit has been filed against the business social networking website alleging that the company breaks into email accounts, uses the contact list to send […]
Can You Sue a Company for Mishandling Your Information?
Today, it’s not uncommon for companies with whom people do very casual business – cellular phone companies, Internet service providers, etc. – to have some very sensitive information about their clients. For example, Social Security numbers are routinely used as forms of identification and many companies require that information in order to open an account. […]
Why Do Personal Injury Attorneys Turn Down Cases?
There are instances when a personal injury attorney may turn down your claim. This may leave you wondering if there is any hope for justice but, keep in mind the fact that civil lawsuits are not really about justice; they’re about compensation. If you’ve been turned down as a client by an attorney, some or […]
How Do You Sue on Behalf of a Child
Some of the largest jury awards are actually handed out to children. These occur in cases involving medical malpractice during birth, car accidents that permanently damage a child and in other cases. Obviously, a child cannot enter into a contract or take any other legal action of their own accord. Parents are the ones who […]
Why Do Personal Injury Attorneys Turn Down Cases?
There are instances when a personal injury attorney may turn down your claim. This may leave you wondering if there is any hope for justice but, keep in mind the fact that civil lawsuits are not really about justice; they’re about compensation. If you’ve been turned down as a client by an attorney, some or […]
Suing Your Landlord Over Bedbugs
A lawsuit over a bedbug infestation has won a Maryland woman $800,000 in a lawsuit against her landlord, according to reporting in the Huffington Post. This is not the only such lawsuit that has been filed. According to the same reporting, 300 people who dwell in the same apartment building filed a class action lawsuit […]
What to Keep in Mind About Documenting Personal Injury Accidents
Believe it or not, you have tools on you – in all likelihood -that can make it a lot easier to ensure that a personal injury lawsuit wins if you end up being injured. Here are some of the common tools and how you can use them. Your Phone Your phone probably has a camera […]
Some Common Misconceptions About Slip and Fall Injuries
Imagine that you walk into a store and end up tripping over a pallet of goods that was left sitting in the middle of the sales floor. This is obviously negligence on the part of the store owner and you should have a good chance of winning a lawsuit against them, correct? Think again. There […]
Suing a School District
Sometimes, people who file lawsuits end up filing them against entities rather than against individual people. Some of these cases are filed against school districts for various reasons. For instance, Dallas News recently ran a story about a woman who sued her former employer, which was a school district located in New York. Her lawsuit […]
Speed Matters When Getting Representation for a Personal Injury Claim
If you’re considering filing a personal injury claim, there are many different reasons why you want to get representation quickly. While the law is designed to reach a logical conclusion about a given situation, that doesn’t mean that the law is always easily understood. There are a lot of technicalities involved that you’re probably not […]
Understanding Contingency Fees and Agreements
Personal injury attorneys typically work on a contingency agreement. This type of agreement is not usually used in criminal cases or in family law cases. It is, essentially, an arrangement that makes the civil courts more accessible to people who might not be able to afford to pay fees to an attorney up front and […]
Do Criminal Charges Interfere with Civil Lawsuits?
Suing Someone Who has Been Charged Criminally
If you’re like many people every year, you may find yourself in this situation or something very similar to it. You end up getting in a car crash with a driver who was over the legal limit for blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash. After the crash, the driver ends up getting arrested for drunken driving and faces 
criminal charges. They may be facing their first drunken-driving charge or they may be facing their fifth, it really makes no difference.
You might be wondering whether you can sue someone if they’ve already gotten thrown in jail for drunken driving. The answer is yes. Lawsuits are civil actions, not criminal actions. The state takes care of the criminal part of the law but somebody being convicted of a crime – or acquitted – has no bearing on whether or not you can bring them to court for damages. It may increase your chances of winning if the person actually is convicted of a crime that was directly related to you coming to harm or suffering damage to your property.
The Effects
While you can sue someone who has been convicted of a crime, it’s important to be realistic about these matters. If a person is convicted of a crime and ends up getting sent to jail, they obviously have no way of earning income. If they don’t already have money, property or some other asset that could be used as a means of paying off a judgment against them, suing them may do you very little good at all. The entire point of filing a lawsuit is to get financial compensation for property or personal damages that you have suffered. If that person has no property and no financial assets, there’s really nothing to sue them for.
This is one of the reasons why personal injury attorneys generally do offer a free consultation. These
attorneys usually work on a contingency agreement, which means they have to win your claim in order to get paid. If there’s no way for the person you are suing to actually pay you the money that a jury awards you, that attorney isn’t going to get any money, unless you pay it off yourself. One of the things you have to take into account when you sue someone who is convicted of a crime is whether they actually have the financial means to pay you and, if they don’t, it may not even be worth suing.
Still Too Many Fatalities on America’s Roads
Accidents on America’s Roads
The number of people killed or injured in road traffic crashes in Texas has seen a welcome fall in the past 
few years, but the figures still remain alarmingly high, meaning that too many families are having their lives ripped apart by these tragic and often easily preventable accidents.
Numbers of vehicle accidents in Texas
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the total number of traffic-related fatalities in Texas has fallen from 3,739 in 2001 to 3,198 in 2012.
The figures also show that in 2011 the fatality rate on Texas roadways amounted to 1.28 deaths per hundred million vehicle miles traveled, which represents a drop of 1.54% from 2010. A further 79,573 people suffered a serious injury as a result of being involved in a vehicle accident.
Based on these figures, the Department of Transportation calculates that on Texas roads in 2011:
- one person died every two hours 54 minutes
- one person suffered an injury every two minutes 29 seconds
- one reportable crash took place every 83 seconds
These figures are very disturbing because every death or serious injury on our roads is a tragedy, not only for the injured party but also for their family and friends. If you have been the innocent victim of an 
automobile accident that has been caused by a driver acting carelessly or negligently, you are likely to be entitled to compensation from the responsible driver’s insurance company. Many states in the US require drivers to have at least a minimum level of auto liability insurance to ensure that accident victims are able to claim the appropriate level of compensation for their injuries. Insurance is also available for taxi drivers or other professional drivers, so if you are travelling by cab it is advisable to check that the driver belongs to a licensed company as they are more likely to have the appropriate level of liability insurance.
Driver negligence
Some crashes are genuine accidents and are not the fault of either driver. Unfortunately however, too many automobile accidents are the result of drivers making mistakes or driving irresponsibly, and result in innocent victims needlessly suffering serious injury or even losing their lives.
There are a number of ways that automobile drivers can act irresponsibly and increase their risk of causing an accident, including driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, or using a mobile phone while driving to call or text. Department of Transportation figures show that 1,039 people in Texas were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes that involved a driver who was under the influence of alcohol. This amounts to 34.5% of the total number of motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities in 2011.
Cell phone use while driving
There is a worrying increase in the incidence of drivers using their cell phones or other electronic devices while at the wheel, even though this can cause their driving to deteriorate and increase the risk of a crash, serious injury or even death.
A recent survey by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that at any given time of the day in America, around 660,000 drivers are using their cell phones or other electronic devices at the same time as driving.
NHTSA data also shows that in 2011, over 3,300 people were killed and a further 387,000 injured in crashes where the driver was distracted.
“Distracted driving is a serious and deadly epidemic on America’s roadways,” commented U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “There is no way to text and drive safely. Powering down your cell phone when you’re behind the wheel can save lives – maybe even your own.”
Texting while driving is a growing problem
NHTSA isn’t the only organization to find evidence of this worrying upward trend in cell phone use while driving. Communications company AT&T recently sponsored its own research, which found that just under half of commuters surveyed admit to texting while driving. Around 43% even acknowledged that this dangerous practice was now a “habit” for them.
Commuters are even worse offenders than teenagers, with 49% admitting to the practice compared to only 43% of teenagers. Even more worrying, 98% of commuters said that they were aware of the dangers of using their cell phone while driving, but this knowledge wasn’t sufficient to make them change their behavior.
If you have been the victim of a car accident, then it is important you speak to a personal injury lawyer with experience in automobile accident claims to help you claim the compensation you are entitled to.
This blog was written by our guest blogger, Melissa Hathaway.
If you are interested in writing a guest blog, please send an email to : webmaster@timesharebrokersales.com for consideration
About the author
Melissa Hathaway feels she has the best jobs in the world, full-time writing and looking after her two daughters. In the few moments each day she is not doing one or the other, she loves to take the dogs for a walk and experiment with new types of cupcakes.
Wrestling Camp Sued Over Alleged Injury
Summer Camp Injuries
According to the Times Free Press, a wrestling camp in Tennessee has been sued over alleged injuries sustained by a participant. According to the story, the camp has been sued
by the father of a buy who attended the camp. The boy’s father is also an attorney and filed the lawsuit himself.
The lawsuit alleges that the lawyer’s sun sustained injuries to his head and to his brain during a match. According to the lawsuit, the boy was not properly supervised and was dropped on his head during the course of the match. The suit further alleges that the incident resulted in substantial medical expenses.
The defendant’s counsel was getting more information regarding the lawsuit at the time the story was published, but said that he doesn’t believe that the lawsuit has any merit. He further claimed that approximately 75% of the lawsuits filed nationwide are without merit and said that he was in the early stages of investigating the lawsuit.
Activities, Children and Injuries
Lawsuits alleging that children were injured due to inadequate supervision at camps, daycares, schools and other venues are not uncommon. In fact, there are many of these lawsuits filed every year. There are some commonalities between what these lawsuits allege and, in some cases, they do end up winning compensation for the families that file them.
The claim that 75% of them are meritless, even though it cites a specific number, is not backed up with any evidence. There are some individuals, however, who do believe that the majority of personal injury claims filed every year are baseless and this has made it easier for those who want to change the law to make it harder to sue to do so. Several states, including Michigan, Florida and Texas, have passed legislation in recent years that have made it harder to file injury claims based on medical malpractice, for instance.
Determining Negligence
These lawsuits generally allege that some sort of negligence – oftentimes inadequate supervision, led to the injuries suffered by the parties who file the lawsuit and seek compensation for whatever medical and other expenses they had to handle because of the injuries. Establishing negligence is sometimes difficult, though there are cases where it is so clear cut that a jury award or settlement is almost a given. In other cases, the lawsuit may well allege negligence when it did not in fact, play any part in an injury.
Call us at 713-771-5453 for a FREE consultation if you or your loved one have been injured in a similar situation.