Archive for the ‘Truck Accidents’ Category

As she was driving to work, a 32-year old woman was hit by a truck on the front driver‘s side. The truck driver was clearly out of his lane. The woman’s injuries were severe and included a severed aorta, which is the largest artery in the body . In life-saving surgery, her aorta was surgically repaired by means of inserting a mesh patch. Her other injuries, including a badly broken leg and broken wrist which made it impossible for her to work. Tragedy struck again as her boyfriend, with whom she had been living, died of brain cancer only a few months after her accident and while she was still recuperating.

Not surprising for cases with insurance companies, the case dragged on as she struggled to find ways to make a living and maintain a roof over her head.  Meanwhile, the attorneys at Hausmann-McNally, S.C. did what they could to keep up her spirits. After a long period, the case was settled with the insurer paying her $1 million for her injuries and losses. She now has a regular income from the structured settlement, which is an option clients can choose when they win a settlement.

Hausmann-McNally Attorney William Smoler knew he had his hands full when he had a client who had suffered a back injury in a truck accident. Smoler heads the firm’s Madison office. The man was injured and required back surgery, but his legal problem was that he had a previous back injury.  The defendant’s  insurance company tried to use this man’s prior injury as a reason to dismiss the claims of the more recent injury. It takes a skilled attorney to present a convincing case that a pre-existing condition does not invalidate someone’s more current injury claim.

Smoler had to demonstrate before a jury in Rock County Circuit Court that the back injury from the most recent accident did cause the man’s injuries, pain and suffering. While the defendant’s insurance company never offered the man more than $200,000 during negotiations, the jury awarded him $518,000.

Smoler points out that it is often difficult, sometimes impossible, to receive a good settlement if there was a pre-existing condition because it is difficult to determine which injury caused the current pain and suffering. Smoler convinced the jury that the injuries—and resulting pain and suffering—resulted from the most recent accident. The  jury awarded him over a half million dollars, $518,000 to be more exact.

At the end of the hard-fought trial, the judge commented to the jury that they had witnessed two of Wisconsin’s attorneys going head-to-head in the trial before them. Fortunately for the client, the Hausmann-McNally attorney came out the winner.

I don’t usually find public annual reports fascinating, but the State of Ohio has produced one of the most thorough and readable documents on highway safety that I have ever seen.

If you want to know anything about traffic safety statistics in Ohio in 2008, take a look at Ohio’s “2008 Crash Facts”.  It is not available in print and when you see the size, you will know why.

As I scanned the document, it occurred to me that traffic accidents are such a significant part of our modern human drama they merit a huge volume to document the damage and loss.  We all know someone who was injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident. Many of us have been in accidents ourselves. Automobile, motorcycle and truck accidents take an enormous toll on individuals, families and communities. The State of Ohio has taken much trouble to document many details to help fill in the details. As a personal injury attorney, my calling is to help repair the lives of the victims…by helping get them the financial settlements that address the loss and pain suffered as the result of someone else’s misdeeds.

A cover letter from the Henry Guzman, Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, reports both good news and bad news in crash statistics:

“In 2008, Ohio continued to make improvements in highway safety. The traffic crash fatality rate continued to go down, to a near-historic low of 1,191 fatalities. Alcohol related fatalities and the number of people who died unbelted on Ohio’s roads also declined.

“One of our biggest concerns is a continuing increase in motorcycle fatalities. Motorcycle fatalities have increased on Ohio’s roads by 35 percent over the past three years. In the past year they jumped dramatically, from 190 in 2007 to 213 in 2008.”

The detailed report highlights many factors that cause and contribute to motor vehicle accidents and goes into granular detail. It even lists which stationary objects were most often hit by cars. (Trees are #1on the list!)
As an attorney who has spent his professional life defending the rights of accident victims, I find the statistics chilling. For Ohio in 2008, they report:

• Approximately 3.0 fatal crashes each day.
• Approximately 3.3 persons were killed each day.
• One person was killed every 7.4 hours.
• There were 307.1 persons injured every day.
• One person was injured every 4.7 minutes.
• Of drivers involved in crashes, 53.7 % are males, 42.2 % are females, and 4.1 % are gender not stated.
• Alcohol impaired drivers were involved in 4.45 % of all crashes.
• Alcohol impaired drivers were involved in 37.70 % of all fatalities.
• 75.9 % of all alcohol impaired drivers involved in crashes were males.
• 63.8 % of all crashes occurred during the daylight.
• Motor vehicle crashes killed 48.0 children and injured 9,025.

This tells me that number of lives lost through wrongful death on the highway is still far too prevalent. Preventative measures like improved highway condition and design, better law enforcement, consistently good driver education and tough drunk driving laws all demand our attention. Motorcycle accidents are now a major concern. One is that in a distressed economy, more people may be riding their motorcycles  for economical reasons. Training and safety programs are sometimes cut when budgets are tight. And, highway drivers need to be constantly reminded to be on the lookout for motorcycles, which can seem to come from nowhere.

The answers for people injured or who have lost loved ones in a highway wrongful death often lie in getting competent legal assistance in order to receive compensation for the pain and loss. While the accidents are a personal tragedy, the personal injury attorney is the person you want in your corner if you were injured in a automobile, truck or motorcycle accident or if you are the survivor of someone who died in a highway-related wrongful death.