How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? Every year, most of us make resolutions about how to improve our minds, health and lives. And each year, around this time, most of us tend to lose steam. Lasting change is hard, but we have some easy things you can do to substantially protect your financial well-being in 2025. Read on for 3 easy resolutions. Continue reading
Car accidents are still significantly higher than pre-pandemic numbers. In fact, the United States performs poorly compared to other developed nations because our traffic injuries and deaths are increasing instead of decreasing. The United States Department of Transportation estimates 18,720 people died in traffic-related deaths in the first 6 months of 2024. Nearly 72 million people are driving for the Thanksgiving holiday, so now is the time to do some safety preparation and planning that includes vehicle maintenance as well as an insurance check-up amongst other things. Continue reading
This image shows what happens if you are involved in a car accident and your front airbag deploys with your feet on the dash. Ouch! The result is ugly: two femoral hip fractures which are serious and painful and will require surgery to repair followed by a 4 to 6 month recovery period. The owner’s manual of every vehicle with airbags warns of this danger. Assuming the accident was the fault of someone else, can you still recover compensation for your injuries in such an accident if you failed to heed the airbag warnings and that failure caused your injuries in the accident to be worse? Continue reading
Part of our job is to attempt to keep up with what our opponents (the insurance industry and their lawyers) are thinking and doing. One of the many ways we try to do that is by reading insurance industry publications such as Claims Journal. In a recent Claims Journal article, the author interviewed Harish Kapur, CEO of Across America Insurance Services. Mr. Kapur’s comments are nothing new to us, but they are a good reminder to anyone who is considering filing a personal injury or wrongful death claim. Here are three key take-aways:
Mr. Kapur bragged about his “crack team of in-house adjusters” and how they “have to know everything about the file.” The insurance adjusters know what information is critical. They know how to ask questions and frame the narrative during a recorded statement. They are trained how to interview witnesses and scour the internet for information on you.
In the past several years, car accidents have been on the rise. In fact, according to the most current data, deadly car accidents have increased by 16% throughout the United States. Automakers and safety regulators at The National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) are keen to use new technology to try and help reverse that trend with the implementation self-driving tractor-trailers and automatic emergency braking systems. But others are concerned about the safety of the technology and its overall effectiveness. Continue reading
For Valentine’s Day, I received a gift card for a spa. When I began to book an appointment online for the massage, I was asked to electronically sign a Release of All Claims. Among other things, the Release of All Claims for a massage at this spa stated that if death resulted from the massage, then the spa was not responsible. There were also other excessive provisions. I declined to sign the Release of All Claims, and the spa was kind enough to refund the purchased gift card, but the outrageousness of their request is not particularly isolated. Every day, businesses ask their prospective customers to sign releases before providing services or allowing participation in activities. As such, we thought it would be good to review what exactly is a release of all claims. Continue reading
The most common cause of a bike accident is collision with a car or truck. Not surprisingly, given the disparity in weight and protection between a bicycle and car, the bicyclist typically suffers serious injuries. Most bicycle accidents occur in urban areas and are caused by a car or truck driver failing to yield. According to the Department of Safety, there were 370 bicycle accidents in Tennessee in the most recent data year. So, if you are a bicyclist, do you know what to do after a bike accident? Do you know what insurance covers a bicycle accident? Do you know how to make a claim for a bike accident? And do you know how long it is going to take to recover from a bike accident? Continue reading
Last week, we told you that Tennessee ranked as the 7th worst in the nation for car accidents and how to protect yourself with uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Unfortunately, Tennessee also ranks 7th worse in the nation for accidents involving trucks, so this week we have advice for you in the event you are injured by a large truck. Continue reading
Litigation is fighting with rules, confrontation with a referee. Most people do not enjoy confrontation, and for others, it brings out their worst. If you are involved in litigation or have a claim that may result in litigation, please take our advice: don’t get cute. A few news articles lately have shown what happens when people try to get cute during litigation. Continue reading
Drivers are using their cellphones during 58% of trips taken, an 8% increase from just 3 years ago. Just as alarming, the amount of time drivers are interacting with their phones while driving increase by 23% during that same time period. In 2020, drivers would interact with their phone while driving for 1 minute and 47 seconds. A recent report indicates that has now increased to 2 minutes and 12 seconds. Not surprisingly, all of this distracted driving is literally killing people. Accidents involving cars, bicycles and pedestrians are all up because distracted drivers are 2.4 times more likely to cause a crash. Read on for more scary statistics and tips to protect yourself. Continue reading
Tennessee Injury Law Center