MAY 2010

In this Issue — May 2010

  • Homeowner Insurance Cases

Did you know you can make a claim for money under someone’s homeowner’s insurance even if your injury didn’t happen in the person’s home? For example, your child and a classmate are playing at school and the classmate pulls out the chair when your child is about to sit down. Your son or daughter is admitted to the hospital for a concussion. Can you bring a claim under the parents’ homeowner policy? Yes, even though the incident happened at school and not the child’s house, as long as the action of pulling out the chair was not intentional, but rather was merely careless or negligent. Call us today to discuss any serious injury you or a family member received that may be covered by the careless person’s homeowner’s insurance.

  • $30 Million For Brain-Damaged Teenager Due To Overloaded Truck

A jury awarded $30 million to Ethan Bryant, 19, and his parents after the teenager was severely injured following a deadly truck accident in August, 2006. Bryant was 16 when he and his friend Patrick Taylor drove through an intersection. A gravel truck driver was unable to stop at the intersection’s red light, and plowed into Bryant’s vehicle. The force of the impact caused the teens’ Dodge Dakota to careen about 100 feet away from the intersection. Taylor was dead at the scene and Bryant lapsed into an eight-month coma. After awakening from the coma, he developed a severe disorder limiting oxygen to the brain. He now suffers from quadriplegia and episodic seizures. The accident occurred because the truck was overloaded past the level allowed under state vehicle regulations by nearly 20,000 pounds. As a result, the truck was unable to come to a stop at the intersection. The weight of the truck pushed him through so hard that there was no way for the driver to stop the collision.

  • CELL PHONE USE BY TRUCK DRIVERS

Remember CB radios? Today when you are driving, if you look up at the tractor trailer next to you, the driver may be talking on a cell phone while driving an 18 wheeler!! This is not so much the trucker’s fault as it is the trucking companies that require them to drive long, long hours. What is even worse is that a lot of times the tractor trailer that sideswipes or rear-ends you is using a cell phone that distracted him, but the trucking company won’t admit it because no one “caught” him using it. That is really another reason why its crucial to call an attorney immediately after the accident. Cell phone records are only kept for a short period of time and then are deleted forever. If you do not act quickly to get the cell phone records, it can make your “slam dunk” case against the trucking company much harder to prove. We can subpoena the phone company records but only if the subpoena is sent out quickly. Call us today at 800-518-0050 concerning any tractor trailer injury cases you want help on!!

  • LESBIAN DENIED VISITATION WITH EX-PARTNER’S CHILD

A lesbian cannot invoke the doctrine of “de facto parenthood” to demand visitation with her former partner’s biological child, a court has ruled. The lesbian woman lived with her partner for five years, during which time her partner had a child through artificial insemination. The woman cared for her partner during her pregnancy and shared parenting and financial responsibilities, but did not adopt the child. Therefore, the Court said no to any visitation rights for the woman.

  • MEDICAL MALPRACTICE SUITS IN PENNSYLVANIA CONTINUE TO DECLINE

Medical malpractice case filings and verdicts for 2009 show a drop in the number of lawsuits filed against health care providers statewide for a fifth consecutive year, according to figures from the state Supreme Court. In 2009, there were 1,533 filings, representing a 43.9 percent decline from the “base years” 2000-2002. In Philadelphia, the state’s judicial district with the largest caseload, the decline has been by nearly 60% during the same period.