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Do you know which Tennessee lake has the most boating accidents?   Do you know the most common cause of boating accidents?  Or when boating accidents are most likely to occur?  Or, how many personal watercraft accidents (Jet-Ski, Sea-Doo, etc.) there were last year? Well, the 2022 Tennessee statistics have been released by the Boating and Law Enforcement Division of the The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), and we have the answers to these questions and more including when Tennessee law requires you to report a boating accident. Continue reading

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The period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is often referred to as the 100 Deadliest Days for teen drivers.  In fact, according to AAA, more than 2,000 teen drivers will be killed nationwide during that period.  Car crashes involving teen drivers spike during this period in large part because teens are out of school and so they have more time to be out on the roads.  Do you know the risks for your teen driver?  Read on to learn about the dangers and safety tips for preventing the most common killer of teens. Continue reading

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The National Traffic Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the federal agency charged with overseeing the safety of vehicles on the country’s roadways.  After an eight-year investigation, the Knoxville company, ARC Automotive of Knoxville, Inc., has been told to recall roughly 67 million inflators in the United States because they could explode and hurl shrapnel. According to the NHTSA, two people have been killed and seven have been injured in the United States and Canada.  Here is what you need to know and some legal thoughts on this issue. Continue reading

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May is National Walking Month.  Walking is a fabulous form of exercise.  It also helps reduce carbon emissions, allows you to see a city or area more closely,  decreases road congestion and saves money.   But, walking can also be dangerous. Pedestrian fatalities have increased every year for more than a decade and pedestrians now account for 17% of all fatalities involving cars and trucks.  In 2021 (which is the most recent data-analyzed year) there were 1,512 pedestrian involved crashes in the State of Tennessee.  In the country as a whole, a pedestrian is killed every 81 minutes.  Nashville’s data has been released for 2022 and the city saw a record high 49 pedestrians killed.  Read on to refresh yourself on Tennessee pedestrian law and some things you can do to help reverse this trend. Continue reading

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Donald J. Trump is currently the defendant in a civil case involving allegations of sexual assault.  Perhaps not surprisingly, he has been tweeting his thoughts about the trial.   The judge has warned him about doing so and has also admonished Trump’s lawyer about “having a conversation with [his] client” and the implications of obstruction of justice statutes.   After reading the news about this issue, we thought it might be a good time to write about how social media use can affect your case and a trial.   There are lots of questions that often come about the intersection of these two issues including: (1) Is social media hearsay?  (2) Can social media be used as evidence/ Can social media be used in court?  (3) Can lawyers look at social media during a case or at trial?   Let’s take each one of these questions separately. Continue reading

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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

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Have you ever wondered if a pedestrian can ever be at fault for a car accident?   The short answer is yes.  The longer answer is that a pedestrian can have zero fault, partial fault or total fault for an accident involving a car.  It all comes down to the facts of the accident.  Let us explain in a little bit more detail. Continue reading

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Perhaps, too many of us watched an excessive number of Smoky & The Bandit reruns or thought Ricky Bobby of Talladega Nights should be used for driving inspiration.  We don’t know the cause, but we do know this: the South is a dangerous place to drive.  In fact, according to recently released federal statistics, 8 of the top 11 most dangerous places to drive are “southern states”, as that term is defined by the U.S. Census as opposed to the teams currently comprising The SEC.  Read on to learn where Tennessee is ranked and our number one piece of advice on protecting yourself.  Continue reading

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Our award-winning lawyers see a steady flow of dog bite and dog attack cases.  Unfortunately, sometimes man’s best friend is a menace. While we have a lot of information on our website (links to pages below), here are some quick answers to other common questions:

  1. Can dog bites be stitched?  

This depends upon the damage done by the dog bite.  If it is a deep puncture wound, medical professionals may decide to leave the wound unstitched.  Placement of drain and antibiotics may be the preferred course of treatment.  Other wounds will need to be stitched.  The best course of action for anyone who has sustained a dog bite is to seek medical attention and follow the advice of medical professionals.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released its report on accidents involving cars, trucks, pedestrians and cyclists for 2021 (the most recently analyzed data) and the numbers are alarming.  So, let’s just get right to them.  More Americans were killed on our roadways in 2021 than any year since 2005 – 42,915 people lost their lives.  Another 4.5 million people were injured and 23 million vehicles were damaged.  7,342 pedestrians were killed in 2021, the biggest number since 1981.  985 cyclists were killed, the biggest number since 1980.   What is causing this increase in car, pedestrian and bicyclists accidents?  What are the financial costs?  And how can you protect yourself from this growing trend? Continue reading

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