Law Alerts
TEXAS LAW ALERT — FALL 2003 ISSUE
MOTORCYCLE CRASHES CAN BE DEADLY
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The vision of driving down a country road with the wind in your hair atop a large motorcycle is an attractive one for many people, and the number of motorcycles on America’s highways is growing. Although motorcycles share the road with cars and trucks, collisions involving a motorcycle are different and often more serious than automobile accidents.
Collision Prone Motorcycles (on average) are involved in more collisions than other vehicles. In addition to all of the usual things that cause accidents (speeding, bad weather, driving under the influence), motorcyclists face certain other hazards. Motorcycles are smaller than cars and trucks and they are sometimes harder to see. In over half of the cases studied, the drivers of cars involved in a collision with a motorcycle said that they did not see the motorcyclist coming. The smaller size of a motorcycle also makes it more vulnerable to road hazards. And, because motorcycles are more maneuverable than cars, they are sometimes put into unsafe positions.
Motorcyclists are also much more likely to be injured or killed in an accident than someone riding in a car or truck. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, a motorcycle rider is 18 times more likely to die in a collision than someone in a car. Motorcycle riders also are far more likely to suffer serious injuries in a collision.
Head Injuries A common kind of serious injury associated with motorcycle accidents is a head injury. Because a motorcyclist is often thrown off of the bike in a collision, traumatic brain injuries are 10 times more common in motorcycle accidents than in other vehicle accidents. Studies have shown that the number one way to prevent these serious injuries is the most obvious one–WEAR A HELMET! Heavy riding boots, gloves, vests, and long pants can also protect riders if they do crash.
Take Extra Care Because of the added danger a motorcycle presents, motorcyclists need to take extra care when driving. They should drive safely (as should all drivers), and they should wear the appropriate protective gear. Motorcyclists need to understand the special problems that their vehicles present for other drivers, and drive very defensively. However, motorcycle safety is a two-way street. Drivers of other vehicles need to “drive aware” and should keep a careful eye out for motorcycles. Although motorcycles are more maneuverable than other vehicles, motorcyclists have the same right to use the road that cars do, and this right should be respected. Other vehicles should give motorcycles a wide berth–a small tap with the bumper likely will not hurt an SUV, but it can be fatal to a motorcyclist.
If everyone obeys these simple rules, they can make riding motorcycles less dangerous and more like the “open-road” ideal.
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* Call the police and an ambulance, if necessary.
* Get the name, address, and insurance information of the parties involved and any witnesses.
* Write down the make, model, year, and license number of the vehicles involved.
* Take pictures of the damage to your motorcycle before it is repaired.
* Do not make any statement about the accident to anyone but the police.
* Do not apologize or admit fault.
* Do not argue with the other driver.
* Call our office to discuss your case.
NATIONAL “DO NOT CALL” REGISTRY
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Recently, the Federal Trade Commission has begun registering telephone numbers for a national “do not call” list. This list creates a central, national registry of telephone numbers whose owners do not want to receive calls from telemarketers.
Registration is easy.
You may either call the FTC at 1-888-382-1222 or visit its website at www.ftc.gov/donotcall. You can register up to three personal telephone numbers (including cell-phone numbers but not including business numbers) at one time, and the numbers stay registered for five years. The day after you register, the numbers are made available to telemarketers, who then have 90 days to remove your numbers from their call list.
Not all people who might call you are affected by this list. For example, political organizations, charities, and pollsters are all exempt from complying with the do not call list. Additionally, companies from which you have bought goods or services within the past 18 months may call you and try to sell you something else, unless you ask them to stop.
Enforcement of these no-call provisions will be done by the FTC. If you receive a call from a telemarketer more than 90 days after you have registered your telephone number, get either the name of the company or its telephone number and note the date of the call. With this information, you can file a complaint with the FTC, either by telephone or through its website. Companies that call restricted numbers can be fined by the FTC up to $11,000 per call for violations.
Finally, we can eat dinner in peace.
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Despite this modern age of marketing and advertising, the best source of our new business is word of mouth. We are grateful that many of our clients and friends feel confident in recommending our firm.
Unfortunately, when people need a good lawyer, they often do not know where to turn. If you or someone you know has been injured and needs legal help, call us.
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We have all heard that “haste makes waste,” but this may not be true when you have been injured. Whether your injury was caused by a car accident, a slip and fall, or a products liability claim, you should contact our firm as soon as possible. One reason for this is that your injury starts the ticking of a legal clock, known as the “statute of limitations.”
A statute of limitations is nothing more than a legal rule that limits how long you may wait before bringing a claim against another person. If you do not make your claim before the statute of limitations passes, the law may prevent you from ever doing so.
Statutes of limitations are followed strictly by Texas courts. If you are even a single day late, your claim may be dismissed–”close enough” does not help with the statute of limitations. In a recent Texas case, an injured woman had her claim kicked out of court, simply because she brought her claim a few days after the statute of limitations had expired.
So how long is the statute of limitations for an injury claim? In Texas, the general answer is two years from the date you were injured. However, the time may be more or less than that, depending on the facts of the case and the way in which you were injured. To avoid any problems, call us as soon as possible after an accident or injury so that we can evaluate your case. We’ll make sure that the statute of limitations’ clock doesn’t run out on you.
TO ERR IS HUMAN: PRESCRIPTION ERRORS
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Medical errors occur when a doctor or a nurse makes a mistake in treating a patient. Some medical errors are “hands-on” mistakes, such as a botched surgery. However, those are not the only kinds of mistakes made while treating patients. With the increase in the amount of drugs available to treat every conceivable illness, a problem that is becoming more common is prescription errors.
Errors in a patient’s prescription, vaguely referred to as “adverse drug events,” are more common than you might think. Studies have shown that doctors, on average, make 4 mistakes for every 1,000 prescriptions written. Although 250 to 1 odds might sound like a longshot, those odds mean that many of us will be victims of prescription errors at some time during our lives.
Many prescription errors cause no lasting harm, but some such errors lead to a serious illness or death. The injuries caused by incorrect prescriptions result in patients having to stay in the hospital for a longer period of time and also cause thousands of dollars of unnecessary medical bills, not to mention the pain and suffering inflicted on a patient.
Although the stereotype is that doctors have terrible handwriting, the most common cause of prescription errors is the doctors’ failure to educate themselves about the medicines being prescribed. Common prescription errors include: (1) failing to adjust the medication dosage to reflect changes in the patient’s condition; (2) prescribing a drug that the patient’s medical history shows he or she is allergic to; (3) prescribing a dosage that is too large or too small; or (4) writing the name of the wrong drug down on the prescription pad (believe it or not).
Doctors aren’t the only culprits; pharmacists can also commit prescription errors by providing the patient with the wrong drug, the wrong dosage, or the wrong instructions for taking the drug, even if the doctor’s prescription was correct.
If you suspect that you or someone you know has been a victim of a prescription error, contact us. We will look into the circumstances, help you determine what your options are, and assist you in making a claim for the compensation you may be due.
SLIP-AND-FALL ACCIDENTS: NO LAUGHING MATTER
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When a cartoon character slips and falls on a banana peel, we laugh. When you slip and fall, it is no laughing matter. In fact, injuries caused by slipping and falling are the second leading cause of accidental deaths, ranking behind only car accidents. Although we can lose traction and fall down almost anywhere, slips and falls often happen in public locations where a lot of people are coming and going.
Generally, a property owner has a legal obligation to keep the property in a reasonable state of repair and to warn invitees of, and protect invitees from, known dangers. This obligation may mean that the owner must rope off the cracked tile on the floor until it can be fixed, mop up the puddles that form around the front door when it rains, or clean up the spill on aisle six as soon as it is discovered. This sounds like common sense, but it is surprising how often property owners do not do this, causing unnecessary injuries.
If you do slip and injure yourself, try to keep your wits about you. Although it is often hard to remember to do so after being injured, record the exact location and get the names of people who witnessed what happened. If possible, take pictures. If you do not do this, when you go back later the accident scene will be cleaned up, making your claim harder to prove. Do not give a statement about what happened, and DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING until you have spoken with a lawyer. Remember, in real life a slip and fall is no laughing matter.
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Medication Error Leads to Large Verdict As the prior story about medication and prescription errors shows, it is very important to get a patient the right medication. But a recent case reminds us that it is equally important to insure that a correctly prescribed medication is administered correctly.
In this case, a wrongful death suit arose out of the death of a nursing home resident. The resident suffered from severe arthritis and was prescribed a powerful pain medicine that was given to her through a patch. However, the untrained staff of the nursing home–apparently not realizing how powerful the patches were–did not remove the old patch when applying a new one. Ultimately, the patient unwittingly overdosed on her pain medicine and died of heart failure. The resident’s family argued that the failure to administer the medicine properly was not quality care, and the jury agreed, returning a verdict against the nursing home for $1 million.