Tennessee Injury Law Center

July 30, 2013

Pedestrian Deaths and Injuries Increasing, Nationwide and in Tennessee

Pedestrian deaths in traffic accidents nationally increased from 4109 in 2009 to 4432 in 2011, according to the United States Department of Transportation.

Deaths to men numbered deaths to women (3086 versus 1345) and 19% of the deaths were a result of hit and run accidents.

In Tennessee, 1221 pedestrians (including skateboarders, people on roller skates, etc.) were injured or killed in traffic accidents in 2010. Davidson County, Tennessee had 275 of those injuries and deaths. There were 83 pedestrian deaths in Tennessee in 2011; the number actually dropped to 68 deaths in 2012. Unfortunately, the 2013 death rate for Tennessee pedestrians in increasing. As of the date of this blog post, 46 pedestrian deaths have occurred. At this same time in 2012, only 35 deaths had occurred.

July 30, 2013

What Do I Do If A Tow Truck Operator Tries to Send Me to a Personal Injury Lawyer?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Rumor has it that some lawyers have "relationships" with tow truck operators. These tow truck operators encourage people involved in Tennessee car or truck accidents to hire their lawyer friend.

The ethics of these type of relationships are questionable and, depending on the circumstances, are just plain wrong. However, from your standpoint as a consumer who needs an experienced Tennessee personal injury lawyer, you have to give serious consideration to whether or not you want to accept a recommendation of a lawyer made under these circumstances.

All lawyers are not equal. Any lawyer who would push ethical boundaries to gain a client is a lawyer to be very concerned about.

July 29, 2013

Tennessee’s Deadline for Filing A Health Care Liability (Medical Malpractice) Case

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Tennessee law requires that appropriate action must be taken to initiate a Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit (now known as a health care liability action) within one year of the date of the incident that causes an injury. Cases are initiated by serving a formal notice on the persons or entities that may be sued in the case. Filing the notice is a complicated endeavor, and it is recommended that you seek legal advice and a lawyer’s help in giving notice. I strongly discourage a patient from attempting to comply with the notice law without the assistance of a lawyer.

Under certain circumstances, you may have additional time to file suit. That is, the date the one-year period for taking legal action may begin on a date later than the date of the error that caused the injury or death. However, determining whether one of these exceptions applies to your claim is a complicated, risky endeavor, and you are advised to never assume that the deadline for taking legal action will expire after the one-year anniversary date of the incident which caused the injury or death. Seek the advice of an experienced Tennessee medical malpractice lawyer for help identifying whether any exception to the general rule applies under the facts of your situation.

Usually, a lawyer will need to review your medical records to determine when the deadline for taking legal action. It can take six weeks or more to obtain the appropriate records from the health care providers. Do not – I repeat, do not – wait eight or nine months after an injury has occurred to seek the advice of a lawyer. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer needs time to obtain and evaluate the medical records.

July 18, 2013

Tennesseans Have the Means to Check the Safety Records of Trucking Companies

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminsitration (FMCSA) maintains several websites that permit residents of Tennessee and indeed the world to determine the safety record of trucking companies.

Here is a list of the available sites and what information can be gathered from each site:

The Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System: This website offers company safety data and related services to industry and the public. Some information can be found about a carrier’s liability insurance on this website.
The Company Snapshot: The Snapshot is a concise electronic record of a company’s identification, size, commodity information, and safety record, including the safety rating (if any), a roadside out-of-service inspection summary, and crash information.
The Analysis and Information site: This site helps those interested in moving passengers select the right vehicle and find the safest companies to assist in that effort.

Each of these services are free.

July 17, 2013

Train Accidents in Tennessee

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The recent train derailment in Quebec, Canada caused me to investigate how many train accidents we have had recently in Tennessee.

In the first four months of 2013, there have been twelve incidents involving trains in Tennessee. Seven of those incidents involved derailments, the largest of which occurred in Lawrence County shortly after the first of the year. Fortunately, no personal injury occurred, but the estimate of property damage was $175,000. Only one locomotive and four cars derailed in that incident, which occurred at a relatively low rate of speed.

Two collisions of railroad cars have occurred since January 1, 2013, but each of them occurred in railway yards.

July 16, 2013

Overloaded Tires on Commercial Buses (Motorcoaches)

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Operators of buses, known in the industry as motorcoaches, place their riders at risk of serious injury or death if they operate the vehicles with tires that are overloaded or are overly worn or damaged. Also at risk are other motorists and pedestrians if the motorcoach experiences a tire failure and the driver of the motorcoach loses control of the vehicle.

The risk is increased in the summer, when the tires are operated in warm weather conditions, increasing the risk of overheating and tire failure.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has warned motorcoach operators of the need to consider maximum tire load carrying capacity and tire speed rating, and allow an adequate tire pressure safety margin when carrying maximum passenger and luggage loads. The failure to take appropriate action can lead to the assessment of penalties against the operator.

July 15, 2013

Who Is Reasonable When Negligent Boating Causes Injury or Death in Tennessee?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Tennessee law provides that the negligent operator of a boat is responsible for injuries or deaths caused by the operator’s conduct.

The boat owner is also held responsible for the acts of the operator if the operator had permission of the owner to use the boat and if the boat owner was not in the business of leasing or selling boats. If the boat owner is in the business of selling or leasing boats, the owner is not liable for the negligence of the operator. However, a boat owner in the business of selling and leasing boats can still be held liable for negligently entrusting the boat to an incompetent driver.

Many boat owners have liability insurance on their boats and this insurance is available to provide compensation to those negligently injured by a boat operator.

July 15, 2013

Train Derailments in Tennessee

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The horrible train derailment in Quebec, Canada resulted in the deaths of as many as fifty people and untold property damage.

The Canadian authorities are still investigating the cause of the incident, but several things seem to stand out. First, the 72-car train was parked and unattended at the time the incident began to occur. Apparently, there was only a one-person crew assigned to the train. A supervisor for the railway has accused the employee assigned to the train as failing to set a sufficient number of hand brakes to hold the train in place after the employee left the site and went to a local hotel to sleep.

The parent company of the owner of the train that derailed and set off a series of explosions is Rail World Inc. The actual owner of the train is Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA). MMA, which is headquartered in Chicago, has a long history of accidents in Canada, according to Transportation Safety Board data, which shows 129 accidents, including 77 derailments — some of them minor — since 2003.

July 14, 2013

New Hours of Service for Truck Drivers in Tennessee and the United States

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Federal law limits the amount of time that over-the-road truck drivers can operate a truck. Effective July 1, 2013, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of the United States Department of Transportation changed the hours of service rules in an effort to reduce driver fatigue and deadly accidents involving trucks.

The government expects that the new rules will save 19 lives per year and will prevent 1400 crashes and 560 injuries per year.

The new rules limit the average work week for truckers to 70 hours, down from 82 hours under the law in effect before July 1.

July 7, 2013

Transvaginal Mesh Trials Begin in West Virginia That Will Impact the Transvaginal Mesh Cases of Tennessee Women

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

On July 8, 2013 the first of four back-to-back transvaginal mesh trials begins in a federal courtroom in West Virginia. The results of these trials have implications for Tennessee women who have been injured by transvaginal mesh products inserted in them for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.

What do trials in West Virginia have to do with lawsuits filed by woman in Tennessee? The trials are part of an MDL (multi-district litigation) proceeding that has collected various lawsuit filed against various transvaginal mesh manufacturers in federal courts around the country. The result in these cases will give the manufacturers and the lawyers for the woman who have been injured an opportunity to determine how jurors truly feel about these cases and what value, if any, they assign to the harm suffered by the female patient and her spouse. Indeed, these cases are known as "bellweather" cases – cases that are used to predict the likelihood of success in other similar cases against the mesh manufacturers.

The results of the West Virginia trials do not legally determine the outcome of any case other than the patient and the manufacturer involved in that particular trial. Rather, they simply provide all involved with more data about how a jury evaluates the liability and damage allegations in such cases. Thus, the outcome of these cases will have an impact on any later settlement of some 30,000 cases pending against various manufacturers of these products.