06 December

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Taking Multiple Medications Could Raise Crash Risk for Older Drivers

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Injuries, Insurance

Nearly 50 percent of older adults report using seven or more medications while remaining active drivers, according to new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. An evaluation of the medications people are taking found that nearly 20 percent of older drivers are using medications that generally should be avoided because they have very limited therapeutic benefit, pose excess harm, or both. Drugs like these are called potentially inappropriate medications, or PIMs. Most of these potentially inappropriate medications, such as benzodiazepines and first-generation antihistamines, are known to cause impairing effects such as blurred vision, confusion, fatigue or incoordination, and can...

04 December

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Trial Win in Wrongful Death Case Against Distracted Driver

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Wrongful Death

Distracted drivers caused 54,302 crashes, injuries, and wrongful deaths in North Carolina in 2016. If you travel on the streets or highways, you are at risk for being injured or killed by someone who is more interested in their phone than their driving. On the morning of May 10, 2016, Russell Rutledge was driving his Chevrolet Silverado from a business meeting in Garner to meet a colleague in Durham. As he drove, Rutledge was using his cell phone to text, email, and make and receive phone calls. The evidence showed that Rutledge drifted onto the shoulder of Highway 98 in Durham...

27 November

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Man Ejected From Car During Truck Collision Agrees to $2.1M in Settlements

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Injuries, Insurance

A man who suffered a traumatic brain injury after he was ejected from a sedan during a multivehicle accident has ended his case after agreeing to more than $2.1 million in settlements. Plaintiff Nagesh Roy has settled his claims against trucking company Freymiller for $2.1 million, and accepted a $15,000 insurance policy tender from another driver who was involved in the collision. The case, Roy v. Freymiller, had been filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. It ultimately settled following mediation before retired Judge Annette Rizzo. According to Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck attorney Fredric Eisenberg, who, along with Daniel...

08 November

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Commercial Insurance Prices in U.S. Increase for First Time in 3 Years

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Injuries, Insurance

Commercial insurance prices in the U.S. increased modestly in the first quarter of 2018, according to leading global advisory, broking and solutions company Willis Towers Watson’s Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS). The survey compared prices charged on policies written during the first quarter of 2018 with those charged for the same coverage during the equivalent quarter in 2017. Price changes were in excess of 1 percent for the first time in 11 quarters, breaking the moderating trend in price increases observed since 2013. Data for three standard lines — commercial auto, commercial property and excess/umbrella liability — indicated fairly significant...

16 October

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N.Y. Limo Service Operator Charged in Crash That Killed 20

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Injuries, Wrongful Death

A limousine service operator was charged Wednesday with criminally negligent homicide in a crash that killed 20 people, while police continued investigating what caused the wreck and whether anyone else will face charges. Nauman Hussain, 28, showed little emotion as he was arraigned Wednesday evening in an Albany-area court, and he ignored shouted questions from reporters as he left after posting $150,000 bond. A judge had entered a not guilty plea for him. Earlier, his lawyer said that Hussain wasn’t guilty and that police were rushing to judgment in investigating Saturday’s stretch limo wreck . But State Police Superintendent George Beach said Hussain hired...

09 October

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Jury Awards More Than $242 Million for Seat Defects

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Injuries

A Texas jury has awarded more than $242 million to a Dallas-area family who sued Toyota over what they said were defective front seats in their 2002 Lexus sedan. Attorneys for Benjamin and Kristi Reavis alleged defects in their 2002 Lexus ES 300 caused their front seat backs to collapse backward in a September 2016 rear-end collision on Central Expressway near Downtown Dallas. The Reavises children, 5-year-old Emily and 3-year-old Owen, were in the back seat, in their child safety seats, at the time of the crash. Both children were rushed to the hospital with severe head trauma. "It's a life-long injury," Kristi...

20 September

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Father Lost Infant Son to Drunk Driver Change Could Save Countless Lives

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents, Wrongful Death

Marcus Kowal, a former mixed martial arts fighter, is co-founder of the Liam’s Life Foundation. Sept. 12 marks two years since the funeral of my 15-month-old son, Liam. He had been in a stroller, being pushed through a pedestrian crosswalk in suburban Los Angeles by my sister-in-law, who was 15 years old at the time. She had done everything right: pressed the button, waited for the lights to change and then started walking. Other cars stopped, but one didn’t. Police later estimated that the car was going 35 to 40 mph as it smashed into Liam and my sister-in-law. The car was driven...

19 September

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Ride Sharing vs. Traditional Taxis: How do Injury Insurance Claims Compare?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Injuries

Ridesharing companies like Lyft and Uber are aggressively expanding to new marketsthroughout the United States. These companies are directly competing with traditional taxi companies. The taxi companies, however, are fighting back with a strong public relations campaign painting the ride-sharing companies as a danger to the community as a whole, and the passenger in particular. Incredibly, the taxi companies claim that a passenger injured in a Lyft or Uber car during a car accident may very well find himself or herself without insurance coverage to pay medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. This claim is usually accompanied by a stern “buyer...

12 September

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Two more crashes, four more deaths. Why are churches still using unsafe vans?

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Accidents, Car Accidents

Decades of government advisories weren't enough to save four people from being thrown from a 15-passenger church van that flipped on a Missouri highway this month. Three teenagers died. They were among eleven teens and two adults from Faith Chapel Assembly of God near Kansas City traveling to Arkansas when they crashed in southwestern Missouri. The driver and all other passengers were injured. The tragedy is all too familiar for families mourning the deaths of more than 600 people in 15-passenger van rollovers since 2001. That figure represents deaths in crashes where a van was the only vehicle involved. A Courier Journal investigation of early-model vans published in May found that regulators have largely...

11 September

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More U.S. Kids Dying From Injuries

Posted by orincohenlaw

in Car Accidents, Wrongful Death

Murder, suicide, car crashes, and addiction have all contributed to a spike in deaths among U.S. children and teens in recent years, a government study suggests. The death rate for youth aged 10 to 19 rose 12 percent between 2013 and 2016, eroding a previous decline stretching back to 1999, according to the study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Injuries accounted for 70 percent of deaths in this age group in 2016, far outpacing fatalities from natural causes like cancer and heart disease. “The most surprising result is that the rise cannot be pinpointed to one cause,” said...