The increasing number of accidents in Austin is related to the number of construction sites now actively expanding various highways, such as the project to add an express lane on MoPac. Ever since construction began, car crashes started to happen with alarming regularity.

The Austin Police Department (APD) is warning people that travel in a construction zone is at 55 mph, and not the usually posted speed, 65 mph. Be aware of any construction zones before leaving for work and watch the traffic ahead on the road. If it is moving slowly, there is usually a good reason.

MoPac is generally the one highway where people tend to put on an extra burst of cruise speed, over and above the posted limit. This tendency has resulted in a number of relatively serious crashes. Any interstate traffic is slowed down by construction reasons: There is no shoulder in a construction zone, and the speed limit is substantially lower. No shoulder means drivers have no place to go when they find themselves needing to slam on the brakes at the last minute to attempt to avoid a collision.

The $200 million expansion project, while a welcome change for harried drivers, has resulted in more people not paying attention to posted warnings relating to the construction. Drivers who do not pay attention to what they are doing while driving, whether that relates to texting while driving, or driving while distracted in other ways, are negligent. It is their duty to drive with due care and attention to everything going on around them. The minute their attention lapses, the chances of a serious or fatal accident goes up exponentially.

Even though police are stationed on MoPac, speeding is still an issue. At some point, the department plans to stop giving out warnings and start handing out tickets.

If you have been involved in a traffic accident as the result of another driver’s negligence, you may be able to obtain compensation for your injuries and losses. To initiate a personal injury lawsuit, you need to consult with an experienced Austin injury lawyer.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a auto accident attorney by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

Edward Acclis, Jr. is employed by Newpark Resources Incorporated in Texas. In August 2013, he was involved in a workplace accident. While on the Texas Industrial Box Company and Transportation worksite, a trucker, backing his rig up to the loading docks, pinned Acclis’ legs up against the dock. The trucker, Edward Shaw, apparently did not see Acclis as he maneuvered the vehicle.

Evidence of negligence is central to a personal injury lawsuit of this nature. In this suit, the statement of claim has suggested that the truck driver, Shaw, was negligent in his work duties: he did not pay attention to his surroundings, and, in doing so, failed to maintain proper caution. The lawsuit seeks damages of up to $200,000.

Shaw’s distracted driving may have seriously injured Acclis, but such cases are not always clear-cut. Acclis himself may have played a part, failing to maintain the proper caution in watching for the truck. Given the circumstances, the court may find that Acclis played a contributory role in his accident, and any award may be reduced accordingly.

If the court finds that he was 10 percent responsible for his accident and that the trucker was 90 percent responsible, the trucker will pay 90 percent of the total award. Acclis would then pay 10 percent in return (or, more accurately, his compensation would be reduced by 10 percent).

Perlmutter and Schuelke actually handled a very similar case several years ago. In our tragic case, the trucker backed up toward the loading dock and crushed a worker on it, killing him. We were able to show that the truck did not have required safety features that were designed to prevent this type of accident. The case quickly settled after our expert provided a deposition explaining everything that the trucking company did wrong.

Texas workplace injury law is complex. Depending on the details of the case, a worker may pursue a variety of options. Do not guess what they may be. Only a competent Austin injury lawyer ia able to get you the compensation you deserve.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a auto accident lawyer by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

Five Houston workers were seriously harmed in an on-the-job accident involving a fire caused by an electrical malfunction. Eyewitness reported that they witnessed an electrical arc which caused a flash fire while five utility workers were in a building in the downtown core.

The vault the CenterPoint Energy workers were in was in the basement of the Southwestern Bell building. The vault was a repository for stored equipment to maintain underground power lines in the downtown area. The men were there to carry out routine maintenance.
In the middle of their work, something happened to cause an electrical accident, which triggered a flash fire in the underground room. The one-two combination of electrical shock and a fire critically injured one man. The other four were deemed in stable condition when they arrived at the hospital. All the men were expected to remain in the hospital for an extended period of time to be treated for their burn and smoke inhalation injuries.

There are a number of questions inherent in this scenario, not the least of which is whether or not a safety protocol was breached while the five were underground in a small, enclosed vault, working with electricity. An investigation would provide details on what caused the precursor electrical accident, which started the flash fire. Whether or not the lines were improperly maintained in the first place, or a worker was careless will be of importance in determining fault in this accident.

On-the-job injuries caused by the conduct of others, either by another worker or the employer, should be discussed with a competent Austin injury lawyer. Not all Texas companies offer workers’ compensation and how the case may proceed to obtain compensation is affected by the facts.

Injuries that occur on-the-job that were the result of negligence, either by another worker or the employer, should be discussed with a competent Austin injury lawyer. Not all Texas companies offer workers’ compensation and how the case may proceed to obtain compensation is affected by the facts.

If you have been injured on the job, make it a point to discuss your situation with an experienced injury lawyer. You may need long-term care and face enormous medical bills. It is the lawyer’s job to assist you in obtaining fair and equitable compensation to assist you in moving forward with your life and deal with your financial obligations.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a wrongful death attorney by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

The collision happened at the intersection of two rural roads. An SUV and a gas tanker collided in a ball of flames, scorching the earth around the two vehicles. None of the five teens in the SUV lived to see another day and the tanker driver was critically injured.

In the course of reconstructing the accident to determine how it happened, investigators found that the SUV driver had run a stop sign. It was a fatal error in judgement, one that put the SUV right in the path of the gas tanker. The truck slammed into the passenger’s side and the subsequent explosion and fire incinerated everyone in the SUV. The trucker, still alive when first responders arrived, was flown to the nearest burn unit.

Police at the scene and first responders noted with grim realization that yet another accident had claimed several young adults that had their whole lives yet to live. In Texas, the crash statistics show that accidents were responsible for almost one quarter of the deaths for those in the 15- to 24-year-old age range in 2010. The figures, compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show vehicle accidents lead the parade of teenage deaths, outstripping suicides, homicides, gunfire and accidental poisonings.

Despite the serious nature of this particular accident, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims traffic fatalities have been declining since 2005. Their figures indicate there were 43,510 deaths in 2005, and 32,367 in 2011. While the numbers are still high, they are apparently lower each year than they have been since 1949. In 2009, traffic accidents were deemed to be the eleventh leading cause of death in the nation.

Numbers do not reveal the faces and lives behind the accidents, nor the families left behind as a result of someone’s negligence. In this case, the driver of the SUV was negligent by running a stop sign. Five people died and one was seriously injured as a result of that decision. It would not be surprising if there were several wrongful death lawsuits and a personal injury lawsuit filed in the wake of this terrible crash.

The families of those who died need to move forward and would likely wish to send a message to other teens about the necessity of driving with due care and attention to the rules of the road. Life can change in an instant. Life can come to an end in an instant. A wrongful death lawsuit can become an effective vehicle to send that message to others. A skilled Austin injury lawyer is the voice those in grief need to deliver their concerns to others.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a auto accident lawyer by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

The accident scene in this case was a collection of torn and twisted metal, busted glass, torn off vehicle parts and incensed drivers. The man who caused the collision ran a red light at an intersection. Police determined later he had been going so fast, even if he had applied the brakes, the accident would have still happened.

A 2012 BMW and a Jeep Cherokee met in a clash of metal and screaming tires in the middle of the road. The Cherokee driver was incensed to the point of inarticulate rage and let police know the BMW driver went right through the red light at a high rate of speed. Other eyewitnesses saw the BMW driver weave all over the road.

It turned out that the driver of the BMW, and his passenger had both been drinking, and the driver did not have a license on him. Both car occupants refused to take a field sobriety test and the agitated, aggressive passenger was restrained to permit the police to conduct their investigation. Although the driver said he only had one Scotch with his lunch, he blew a blood alcohol level of .17 percent. Police charged him with running a red light, speeding and DWI, as they were instructing a tow truck driver to remove his car.

For those who have been involved in a car accident with a drunk driver, do not waste time trying to deal with insurance companies or the police. If you want the case resolved and need compensation to pay your medical bills and make up for lost wages, as a result of injuries, then speak to a competent and experienced Austin injury lawyer. Insurance companies only want a case settled cheaply and quickly, which is not in the best interests of an injured victim.

Lee, Gober and Reyna – If you need a personal injury lawyer or help with an auto accident, motorcycle accident, wrongful death, or burn injury case, contact Lee, Gober and Reyna by visiting http://www.rwleelaw.com or calling 512.478.8080

The day of the explosion, at least 14 people lost their lives, and part of a small Texas town was obliterated. From media reports to date, it appears the plant’s owners were relying on a decades old exemption allowing them to avoid targeted workplace safety requirements and various inspections, and kept them from participating in a prevention program involving environmental officials.

The owner relied on an exemption that was nearly twenty years old, a claim the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vowed to investigate. By shielding the plant in the name of the stated exemption, the company was then only required to adhere to more lenient rules and regulations and ultimately, also be able to steer clear of various OSHA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.

The implications of the company’s claim may have an impact on other businesses that store large amounts of dangerous chemicals. If what West Fertilizer states is true — that they may sell primarily to end users and thus avoid stricter regulations —- the chemical storage industry may become a horrific time bomb looking for a place to explode.

In the case of West Fertilizer, they had been sitting on 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that should have flagged them for inspection. Oversights, or legislative flaws such as this one, need to be addressed, as workers’ lives are at stake.

As it stands, the retail exemption works to allow a company an exemption from more strict regulations, provided that more than half of their sales were to end users —- such a farmers. Apparently, the OSHA does not check such claims out, unless the site is inspected.

In the meantime, thanks to loopholes build into legislation that should protect employees in workplaces such as this, people are dying. The West Fertilizer plant has not been inspected since 1985. Certainly something is wrong with that picture.

This explosion is a clear example of why workplaces should not self-designate their status to avoid government rules intended to protect workers. Workers who lost their lives in this blast or were seriously injured should speak to a skilled Austin injury lawyer to find out what their rights are and how they may obtain compensation.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a personal injury lawyer by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

A recently released report showed that Americans, as a nation, talk, text and drive much more than Europeans. This is not a contest. However, it does show that texting, talking and webbing are serious issues worldwide. It’s not much to be proud of when you then look at the number of deaths caused by this behavior. As chilling as this may be, technology is nice to stay in touch, but if you’re doing that while you’re driving and it kills you, what does that say about human behavior? Make no mistake, the technology does not kill —- the inattention of the driver using it does.

The statistics about texting and driving tell a horrific story. Just about 69 percent of surveyed drivers indicated they talked on a cell while driving. Thirty-one percent said it was something they did regularly and 31 percent admitted they had sent texts while driving. The highest number of drivers that text while driving are young adults, which is no surprise, as they seem to think they are immortal. The fact is that two tons of metal hurtling down the road with a distracted driver can result in an enormous amount of damage, seriously injure or kill someone. Is that text conversation important enough to lose your life over?

If you consider everything that can be done in the car, or other vehicle, everything that takes your eyes off the road is a distraction —- from fiddling with the heater to searching for a radio station and from webbing the Net on and iPad to texting on a smartphone. Sending and receiving a text means the driver is not looking at the road for at least 4.6 seconds. If the driver is traveling at 55 mph, in 4.6 seconds, they have gone more than the length of a football field. Check out this website for the full story: distraction.gov

For a further eye-opening read, over 3,331 Americans lost their lives in car wrecks involving a distracted driver. Nearly 400,000 were injured. It’s estimated that one in every five crashes is the result of someone driving while distracted. The numbers speak for themselves.

If you have been in an accident with a distracted driver, reach out for competent legal advice and assistance to an Austin injury lawyer. If you want justice, compensation for your injuries and other losses, only an Austin injury lawyer can take your case to court and ensure you get what you deserve.

Lee, Gober and Reyna – If you need a personal injury attorney or help with an auto accident, motorcycle accident, wrongful death, or burn injury case, contact Lee, Gober and Reyna by visiting http://www.rwleelaw.com or calling 512.478.8080

The Department of Transportation (DOT) recently issued a notice that stated emphatically that federal law prohibits the use of marijuana by truckers and that the prohibition also applies in states that allow people to use it for recreational purposes. The fact that they had to issue the notice in the first place is depressing. This should be a no-brainer. However, legally speaking, there appears to be wiggle room due to conflicting laws. In short, many states are beginning to contemplate the passage of laws allowing the use of medical marijuana. However, federal statutes against the drug’s use are still in place.

The very idea that a trucker would even contemplate smoking up and driving is distressing, but human nature being what it is, there is a likelihood of it happening, if it has not already, and chances are that it has. Contemplating an 80,000-pound semi barreling down the road being driven by an individual under the influence of marijuana is a frightening thought.

More frightening still is the need for the DOT to point blank spell out that such behavior is prohibited. In my law practice, I see the results of big rig crashes, and they are horrendous. Opening a Pandora’s Box by legally allowing smoking marijuana while driving a semi would defy all logic. Common sense may have just left the building should anyone attempt to mount such a defense.

As the DOT pointed out, state initiatives do not impact on their regulated drug testing program and they do not give permission to use Schedule I drugs, including marijuana, for any reason, which means medically recommended use will not cut the mustard as an excuse. How would this kind of a situation impact on a personal injury lawsuit or wrongful death suit? Negligence is the main factor in most lawsuits and it would be absolutely beyond the pale of negligence, if a trucker smoked marijuana and then hit the road. Despite the conflicting laws, there has to be common sense at play here.

Driving while under the influence is still driving under the influence and it is an act of supreme negligence in that it may seriously maim or kill someone. If you have been in a situation like this, you need to discuss the circumstances of the case with an experience Austin injury lawyer. The buck stops in his office and if you want justice after being involved in a crash where the trucker may have been smoking up before driving, you need an Austin injury lawyer to take the case to court and obtain the proper compensation you deserve.

Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP is one of the premier trial firms in Austin Texas. Contact a auto accident lawyer by calling 512-476-4944 or learn more at http://www.civtrial.com/.

The highway was touch and go, with limited visibility, swirling snow, drifting snow and icy patches. Those traveling on the road were moving slower than the posted speed limit, because it was the smart thing to do. And then, out of seemingly nowhere, emerging from a wall of blinding, driven snow, a 64-year-old man, driving the wrong way on the road, slammed head-on into another car.

The police asked him what he thought he was doing, to which he replied he had no idea how he even got on the highway in the first place, never mind driving the wrong way as well. The man was taken into custody and charged with operating a vehicle while under the influence, driving on the wrong way on the highway and recklessly endangering the safety of others. This collection of charges could net the drunk driver up to ten years in prison.
In this day and age, it is stunning to see people that ought to know better still drinking and driving. But to drink and then attempt to drive home in a blinding snow storm is the height of stupidity. If nothing else, this case is an object lesson for others who would think they could attempt the same thing. If you drink and drive in poor weather conditions, you end up paying the price.

The driver with the broken arm may well want to sue the drunk for compensation for his medical bills, time off work and other expenses related to the accident. While it is very fortunate he is alive, he will still face a setback in terms of being mobile for a period of time. Additionally, if there are any complications with the arm, he may face surgery and potentially rehabilitation. E.R. services for a broken arm run around $30,000 and no one has that kind of money on hand to pay bills.

To get the justice you deserve if you have been in an accident such as this one, contact a competent and skilled Austin injury lawyer. Don’t wait and think the insurance company will look after you. The only thing an insurance company looks after is themselves and trying to reduce your claim. An Austin injury lawyer knows how to deal with insurance companies looking to take advantage of accident victims.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This particular case took seven years to finally offer the family some sense of closure over the death of their 13-year-old son. The young boy was killed in a car wreck, as the drunken driver of the vehicle lost control and slammed into a tree. The car was full of teens that had been partying and everyone was inebriated. In fact, the group of friends had been going back and forth to a local convenience store that fateful night, buying booze.
They didn’t buy booze just once. They ultimately came to the gas bar and convenience store three times that night, stocking up on more alcohol each time. In short, the gas bar was selling liquor to underage minors. However, it wasn’t until the last few years that they finally admitted they had sold the kids booze. For years they denied the sales had ever happened.

When the case got to trial, the jury was angry that the former owners of the store had blatantly lied about the role they played in the deadly accident. It appeared they did not want to admit they had illegally sold alcohol to minors and that in doing so had precipitated the death of a young boy and created the perfect storm of events that would seriously injure three other teens. The jury handed down a $15 million verdict.

Although the young boy’s family was relieved to have the case finally resolved, they didn’t care that much about the jury award. The main reason they went to court was to try and ensure that others would get the message that it is dangerous to sell alcohol to minors. Nothing would bring the young boy back, but perhaps the fact that the former owners were held responsible for his death would demonstrate that such actions are illegal, immoral and unethical, and that eventually, those who sell to minors or over-serve those already drunk will be held responsible for their negligence.

Wrongful death lawsuits are usually not about revenge. They are a vehicle to make a point and get a message heard. They are one way for a grieving family to achieve some form of closure. If you have been in a situation similar to this one, make contact with an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer. You need to know what your legal rights are and what to expect should your case go to trial.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This is one of those cases that make waves — not so much for the case itself, but for the presence of and use of social media during a trial by the jury foreman.

The case itself related to the wrongful death of a woman at the hands of a medical practitioner. The statement of claim filed on behalf of the plaintiffs in 2009, alleged careless and negligent treatment of their mother in 2008. The sons were under the age of 18 at the time the lawsuit was filed, and therefore the father filed on their behalf. They also asked the court for damages in excess of $25,000.

The case did go to trial in Oct 2012, and the jury found in favor of the defendants, and further awarding court costs to the plaintiffs. Many thought that would be the end of the case. It wasn’t. About a month later, the plaintiff’s attorney filed a motion for a new trial. Evidently one member of the jury did not reveal, despite being questioned, that she and her deceased husband had arterial stents. There was also the matter of the court possibly erring by denying the plaintiffs five challenges to ineligible and unqualified jurors from the pool.

Those issues aside, the biggest objection, and leading reason to call for a new, fair trial, was the jury foreman’s use of social media during the course of the trial. He regularly posted on Facebook about being on the jury, made jokes about wanting booze and about how he was instrumental in getting a verdict delivered in under an hour.

On review by a judge, who commented the actions of the jury foreman were not pleasing to the court, the finding for the defendant was allowed to stand. It was allowed to stand because despite the man openly using social media to tell the whole world about his part in the trial, he did not reveal any case details, discuss any of the evidence presented in court and did not express an opinion on the case. This case may yet move forward to a higher court to determine the role of social media use in court cases and what is or is not acceptable for jurors while on duty during a trial.

While this might seem like a minor issue, because everyone uses social media these days and thinks nothing of it, it has ramifications beyond the obvious. Court cases are not to be discussed in public. Evidence is not to be openly talked about in social media settings. Opinions or thoughts relating to the trial, the facts, the deceased or the defendant are not public fodder. Talking about a trial in progress could prejudice the outcome and drastically affect the course of justice. Because those instructions, to not speak about the deliberations are so important, this case is contrary to a number of cases around the country that have resulted in new trials due to jurors’ use of social media.

Social media is far too prevalent in this day and age, and there are just some places it should not be allowed.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

First trials, particularly when they involve class action lawsuits, are always watched closely. They are the bellwethers of things to come for other jurisdictions. While a decision in one case may result in a similar decision in another state, precedents are considered to be particularly compelling when a similar case is tried elsewhere, based on the same information.

The New Jersey lawsuit involves a 47-year-old former nurse and recipient of a vaginal mesh sling. Since the implantation, she has required 18 further surgeries and lives with non-stop pain every day. Her life has been turned inside out, she cannot work and her days are a living hell on earth. Her lawsuit seeks compensation for pain and suffering based on the fact that the mesh implant was defective and what warnings there were on the market were not adequate given the high risks of this device.

In New Jersey, close to 1,800 cases have been filed. The first one will give trial lawyers an idea of how the rest of them may go. If the first case is a success, there is the possibility that no further trials will follow. The mesh maker may choose to settle out of court for the remainder of the suits, or they may choose to battle to the bitter end. Often, if they wish to save face and money, a defendant will settle out of court, rather than risk the possibility of much higher jury awards, and with the 1,800 cases in New Jersey alone, plus others across the nation, the company could be facing a huge payout.

This particular surgery is promoted as an effective treatment for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. The mesh implants were touted as a wonderful solution for these issues. While the concept was likely a good one, the execution of the concept turned out to be the stuff nightmares are made of. Thousands of women have experienced mesh erosion, punctured organs, infections and unrelenting pain. The fact is the body just does not like mesh inside, due to its chemical makeup, and tries to get rid of it. The results are never-ending complications that, in some instances, may be life-altering.

 If you have had a transvaginal mesh implantation, and your story is not a happy one, reach out and call an experienced Austin injury lawyer. This treatment turned out to be worse than the condition that prompted the sling’s creation. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration says they have received over 1,000 reports of adverse reactions to the sling, which is interesting, since the warning that goes with the sling says complications are rare. Looks like reality took a bite out of that supposition.

If you are living in pain, facing more surgeries, are off work and worse now than before your operation, an Austin injury lawyer will speak for you in court to obtain compensation. Don’t wait until the statute of limitations has run out. Act now.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

No one goes out of their way to get anywhere near a big rig on the highway as many drivers realize the dangers of traveling too close. It is always best to give them lots of room and respect. That being said, what if the shoe is on the other foot, and the trucker is driving like a fool, is texting while driving, under the influence of something or falls asleep at the wheel? The consequences are always devastating.

Consider the case of one American family tooling down the highway on the way to see friends. They could see for miles and were enjoying the scenery. Suddenly, the rear-view mirror offered a glimpse of a nightmare on wheels; an enormous semi barreling down the road and seemingly inches from their bumper. Just before impact, the car driver saw the trucker slumped over the wheel. Then, the world went black. The car driver woke up in hospital later that day, his wife and three kids had died at the scene.

Too often truckers get involved in accidents because they are not watching what they are doing. It’s incredibly easy to get distracted while in the cab of a large commercial vehicle. If they take their eyes off the road for just a split second, that second could result in a monumental wreck, as a vehicle that size, going highway speeds, travels the distance of a large football field. Anything in front of a trucker is doomed to be in a path of great destruction.

The most common causes of big rig wrecks are driving while distracted using a cell phone, GPS system, lap top, smartphone, iPad, portable TV, surfing the web on their mobile devices or dropping something on the floor. There is also driving while fatigued, as in being over the legal number of hours they are supposed to be driving, being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, poor weather and visibility conditions, aggressive driving and mechanical failures.

In short, no one can really predict when an accident will happen, and many times, it may not happen, at least not that particular day or year. Chances are though, that the more the trucker is not paying attention to his job, driving safely, the risk of having an accident goes up exponentially. When accidents happen involving large commercial vehicles, do not take the chance that an insurance company will offer you a decent settlement. The only decent settlement would be to their advantage, not yours.

If you are seriously injured and need extensive medical care, contact an experienced Austin injury lawyer. If you want compensation for your injuries, medical bills and the like, the only way to get a fair settlement or jury verdict is by having an Austin injury lawyer represent you.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Consider the case of one American family tooling down the highway on the way to see friends. They could see for miles and were enjoying the scenery. Suddenly, the rear-view mirror offered a glimpse of a nightmare on wheels; an enormous semi barreling down the road and seemingly inches from their bumper. Just before impact, the car driver saw the trucker slumped over the wheel. Then, the world went black. The car driver woke up in hospital later that day, his wife and three kids had died at the scene.

Too often truckers get involved in accidents because they are not watching what they are doing. It’s incredibly easy to get distracted while in the cab of a large commercial vehicle. If they take their eyes off the road for just a split second, that second could result in a monumental wreck, as a vehicle that size, going highway speeds, travels the distance of a large football field. Anything in front of a trucker is doomed to be in a path of great destruction.

The most common causes of big rig wrecks are driving while distracted using a cell phone, GPS system, lap top, smartphone, iPad, portable TV, surfing the web on their mobile devices or dropping something on the floor. There is also driving while fatigued, as in being over the legal number of hours they are supposed to be driving, being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding, poor weather and visibility conditions, aggressive driving and mechanical failures.

In short, no one can really predict when an accident will happen, and many times, it may not happen, at least not that particular day or year. Chances are though, that the more the trucker is not paying attention to his job, driving safely, the risk of having an accident goes up exponentially. When accidents happen involving large commercial vehicles, do not take the chance that an insurance company will offer you a decent settlement. The only decent settlement would be to their advantage, not yours.

If you are seriously injured and need extensive medical care, contact an experienced Austin injury lawyer. If you want compensation for your injuries, medical bills and the like, the only way to get a fair settlement or jury verdict is by having an Austin injury lawyer represent you.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Seau took his own life in May 2012 and shocked a nation already reeling over other similar sports deaths. He was a former National Football League (NFL) linebacker, who took punishing blows to the head during game play. It is not unusual for athletes who participate in contact sports to end up with head trauma.

What is discouraging is that so many good athletes are taking their own lives as a result of playing a sport they love. Were they playing without enough knowledge to make an informed decision about the risks? You may recall various lawsuits launched by current and former NFL players against the League for withholding information that they could suffer brain damage, as a result of sustaining numerous concussions on the playing field. Coaches and the League had apparently known for years of the risks involved, but nothing was done about it.

Samples of Seau’s brain tissue showed he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy; a progressive disease that may only be diagnosed after death. He was a 12-time Pro Bowl champion, who played in 20 NFL seasons. Seau was only 43 when he shot himself in the chest. His frequent head-on-head collisions over the years with other teammates had caused his brain to deteriorate, drastically affecting his ability to think in a logical manner.

Sadly, many suggest that Seau knew that his injuries had caused problems with his brain. People have speculated that Seau shot himself in the chest to preserve his brain for future research.

The brain damage found in Seau’s tissue samples was similar to that found in the brains of Andre Waters, Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling. Waters was a defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles; Duerson, a defensive back for the Chicago Bears and Easterling, a safety for the Atlanta Falcons. This is a serious issue, and millions have been committed for more research to address the long-term health and safety of players who participate in contact sports.

While the news of more research to come thanks to an infusion of $100 million from the NFL Players Association is welcome, one wonders why, if many in the NFL and other sports venues already knew about the issue, that no one did anything. Has the world come to the point where playing a dangerous game and winning, at any expense, is more important than the players? Research could have been started a long time ago. Instead, scientists are playing catch up while players still hit the field and hope for the best.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

If you have been injured on the job in Texas, or become ill as a result of conditions in your workplace, your employer is obligated to file an OSHA 300 Log. The log must offer a complete picture of the accident and contain the identity of the worker involved, complete details of the incident, where it happened, what kind of injury was sustained and how many days the worker missed due to the injury.

This section, relating to how many days are missed, is where things get a bit complicated. Although the method of calculation is laid out in 29 Code of Federal Regulations, section 1904.7(b)(2), trying to decipher what it means usually requires the services of an experienced Austin injury lawyer. The guidelines basically cover how to take into account holidays, temporary plant closures, layoffs and weekends. There are often difficulties in assessing the number of days a worker misses, due to how the employer may interpret the regulations. If your injury keeps you off the job for over 180 days, your employer does not need to keep any further records.

Keep in mind that an injury or illness needs to meet certain criteria before it may be filed. For a log to be kept, the injury/illness must be related to work, must be new, not a re-injury, and it must be classified as significant, on the basis of a doctor’s diagnosis. Furthermore, the injury must result in loss of consciousness, medical intervention greater than just first aid, time off work, job restrictions, or a transfer to another job and/or death.

When it comes to significant workplace injuries, medical expenses can be staggering, and any injured worker would likely be looking for a way to obtain compensation. In Texas, there are a number of ways to get compensation, and discussing what those routes are is vital when you reach out to talk to an Austin injury lawyer.

Unfortunately, workers’ compensation does not always provide you with the amount that you deserve, according to the severity of your injury. Additionally, if your injury is the result of someone’s intentional negligence or the result of some form of misconduct by your employer, full financial recovery is possible through filing a personal injury lawsuit.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

There are three kinds of distracted driving: taking your hands off the wheel; letting your mind wander off what you are doing; and taking your eyes off the road. No matter which distraction you indulge in, and some people do all three at once, the potential to wind up seriously injured or dead looms each time you text, or go webbing while driving.

The leading cause of death on the highways these days is texting while driving; a fact which is not much of a surprise given the huge media coverage of every death by texting news story. It’s not just the media that are warning the public about the dangers of distracted driving; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are also sounding alarm bells with a recent report that shows texting causing 25 percent of all accidents, injures 330,000 a year, increases your chances of a wreck by 23 times and is six times more dangerous than drunken driving.

Shocking news, isn’t it? Or perhaps not, as any right thinking American citizen realizes that taking their eyes off the road is asking for trouble. Or do they? If the CDC’s number indicate anything, they show people are not thinking about the consequences of their actions. And so, hundreds have been maimed and killed because they were texting or webbing. What is wrong with that picture? What is so important that it cannot wait and save a life?

Despite campaigns to make people aware of how dangerous texting/webbing is, year-after-year the accident statistics climb. Being perpetually connected is not necessarily a good thing, as the number of deaths and serious injuries so clearly point out. Consider this: if you take your eyes off the road for about 4.6 seconds, the time it takes to read a text message, and you’re driving at 55 mph, you have travelled the full length of a football field, of 100 yards, without seeing where you are going. Any wonder why accidents that kill happen when you drive blind?

The bottom line is that texting/webbing accidents are the second largest cause of preventable deaths today. They also cost the economy, meaning you, the taxpayers, over $100 billion yearly. If you have been in an accident where the other driver was texting or webbing, get in touch with a competent and knowledgeable Austin personal injury lawyer. You may wish to file a lawsuit to recover compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, medications and so forth.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This case was about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A 52-year-old man was out riding his bicycle early in the evening in September 2008, when he was struck by a van being driven by an employee of one of the local hotels. At trial, the van driver and the hotel corporation were found equally liable in a civil suit filed by the family of the deceased bike rider.

The bike rider was not wearing a helmet at the time of impact, and he was ejected from his bike, slamming into the pavement, sustaining serious traumatic brain injuries. Although he made it to the hospital alive, and survived emergency surgery, he died three days later. He left behind a wife and three sons.

The jury ruled that the bike rider and the van driver were both at fault for the accident. However, the van driver and therefore the driver’s hotel employer were responsible for 58 percent of the negligence in the accident. The cyclist was deemed to be 42 percent responsible, as no one could ascertain for sure if he had obeyed a stop sign prior to the collision. It was determined that the van driver did not have a stop sign, but also revealed that he was traveling 40 mph in a 25 mph zone.

Other evidence that came to light during the trial determined that the van driver may also have been using a cell phone just prior to the impact; a violation of state law. The driver denied that he was on his phone. In assessing the case, the jury awarded $1,709,840 in damages to the estate of the deceased cyclist and $580,000 in damages to the widow, who had asked the court to award expenses for medical bills, funeral and burial costs, lost wages and the permanent loss of her husband’s earning ability, companionship and moral support. The deceased had been a doctor in his native homeland.

Most wrongful death lawsuits are not about exacting revenge. They are about making sure something horrible does not happen to someone else’s family. They are about seeking compensation in order to be able to move forward with their lives. They are about trying to heal and deal with the sudden loss of income provided by the deceased who died a wrongful death.

None of these cases are easy, and many of them take a number of months, if not years to get through court. This is why a family who has lost someone in such a manner needs to seek compassionate and experienced legal counsel from an Austin personal injury lawyer. Assessing damages in cases like this is part of the experience counsel needs to help a family get the compensation they deserve. A seasoned personal Austin injury lawyer will get the family through their ordeal with as little anxiety and grief as possible.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

There are a number of factors at play during a car accident — anything from texting while driving to mechanical failure. And yet, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is indicating that fatal accidents are down 1.9 percent since 2010. This is good news. The bad news is that on the other side of the statistics column is an increase in truck accident deaths.

A closer look at the car collision numbers indicates that for the first time since 1949, when these types of figures were first recorded, U.S. car accidents are at an all-time low. In 2011, there were 32,367 deaths, and while this sounds on the high side, it is much lower that previous years, sparking hope that drivers are getting the message to drive with due care and attention.

As for tractor trailer units, or big rigs, between 2010 and 2011, the number of fatal accidents jumped by 20 percent— from 530 in 2010 to 635 in 2011. Anytime figures like this take a jump, it is not a good sign. Although these numbers relate to fatal accidents, the number of injury accidents involving trucks also shot up by 15 percent. The cause is a mystery. However there are many industry pundits, and those in law enforcement, that speculate when speed limits for trucks were raised, more accidents followed. Add in the fact that there are now more trucks on the road than ever, and the results may be self-explanatory.

It’s not just speed that kills. Drivers on the highways need to be aware that truckersare human. This opens the door for things like speeding, texting while driving, falling asleep while behind the wheel, distracted driving, improperly lashed down loads, or the driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The causes are many. The results, should something go wrong, are a disaster.

It’s a fact that when a passenger vehicle gets into an accident with a large transport truck, that the truck wins. There are very few survivors in an accident such as this, and those who do make it out alive, are seriously injured to the extent that their lives may never be the same again – ever. They face years of medical care, pain, suffering, depression and rehabilitation— an expensive proposition to say the least.

If you have been involved in an accident with a big rig, reach out and contact an experienced Austin injury lawyer. If you want compensation for your injuries, medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and so on, an Austin injury lawyer is the one to take your case to court— your voice seeking justice when you need it the most.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Trials for transvaginal mesh lawsuits started in December 2012. This whole process will likely take years to litigate, but justice is well worth waiting for in these cases, based on the number of women’s lives that have been drastically affected by this defective product.

The first of the big three consolidated lawsuits are: In re: American Medical Systems, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2325), followed by In re: Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair Systems Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2327) and then In re: Boston Scientific Corp., Pelvic Repair Systems Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2326). While it is good news that these trials are currently underway, it’s a sad commentary on the greed and callous attitudes of big name Pharma, that they would knowingly make and sell a product that harmed consumers; some so badly, they will never be the same again. The beginning of these trials means justice is one step closer.

Evidence at these trials is proving to the court that since 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew about reported issues with the transvaginal meshes and bladder slings. The device was designed to treat pelvic organ prolapse — the result of weakened pelvic muscles that allow the pelvic organs to drop into the vagina. Ideally, the synthetic mesh/sling, implanted through the vagina, support those organs, pushing them back into place.

The FDA received multiple adverse reports about the mesh device detailing organ perforations, mesh erosion, severe pain, infections, bleeding and even death. The less severe problems included urinary incontinence, which it was supposed to help and constipation. The FDA was heard to say that serious complications with the use of this medical device were not rare. At that point, a huge red flag should have gone up for everyone, including surgeons using this product.

What is most disturbing in the extreme is the fact that transvaginal mesh kits have been an issue since at least 1999, when Boston Scientific recalled their ProteGen Sling after thousands of complaints. Then in 2006, another similar product, the ObTape, was discontinued by Mentor Corporation. For the whole sordid story, you might want to read the information here: http://www.bladderslingrecall.us.

Despite the overwhelming historical evidence that transvaginal mesh/slings were harmful and even deadly, they are still on the market today. In fact, GyneCare TVT and the Avaulta System are still on the market and still implanted on a daily basis; a fact that should concern millions of women in the U.S. today.

If you have been implanted with a mesh kit, and are experiencing problems, reach out and call a veteran Austin personal injury lawyer. There is no need to suffer and wonder how you will pay for your medical expenses, which may include more than one surgery. Consulting with an Austin personal injury lawyer will give you the information you need to make an informed decision about moving forward with a lawsuit.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

In yet another case, filed in Florida, a couple is alleging that Danish medical device manufacturer, Coloplast, deliberately misrepresented the dangers of the mesh to women. By the looks of things, the cases involve allegations of permanent and severe injuries, with many of the hundreds of victims to date, seeking punitive damages, in addition to compensation for their pain and suffering.

These products are not new, and have been around since the 1990s, and were designed to treat various conditions that women experienced as a result of childbirth, menopause or a hysterectomy. The most common condition the transvaginal mesh was used to treat was pelvic organ prolapse, a condition where the pelvic organs drop into the vagina. The mesh is supposed to support the out-of-place organs. Instead, the side effects have caused seemingly never ending anguish for women, who often experience urinary incontinence, constipation and a much more serious issue, vaginal mesh erosion.

Mesh erosion happens when the product shifts, and/or punctures the vaginal tissue. This causes pain on intercourse, bleeding and other organ punctures, resulting in scarring, neuromuscular difficulties and a possible recurrence of the prolapse.

It wasn’t until 2008 that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public health warning about this product, listing the risks associated with it, but adding serious complications were rare.  By 2011, the story changed, and the FDA stated mesh erosion was not uncommon, ordering mesh manufacturers to carry out post-market safety reviews. Why this was not done in the first place, before the product got to market and wrecked havoc with women’s lives and health, is unfathomable.

The long and short of this sordid story is that transvaginal mesh products do not improve a women’s health, and may not even support the organs they are supposedly designed to support. Instead, they are being internally scarred, sustaining organ punctures and experiencing serious pain. It’s no wonder they are filing lawsuits in large numbers to recover compensation for their injuries.

Have you had a transvaginal mesh product implanted? Are you having problems with it? Call an experienced Austin injury lawyer and find out how the law can help you find justice.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This story had one of the worst endings possible, the death of a toddler. A three-year-old boy was run over by a truck backing up through a parking lot. For some reason, like most small children do, the boy bolted away from his mother and ran off. A short time later, a truck ran him over. Although the boy was only pinned under the truck for a short period of time, it was enough for him to sustain life-threatening injuries. He died at the hospital later that day.

Stories like this bring home the very real safety issues that we all need to be concerned about. Small children simply do not understand why they can’t run free in places like parking lots, and drivers in those lots, and other locations need to be on constant alert to avoid accidents like this one. Drivers need to be even more cautious during holiday seasons, as there are far too many distractions for everyone.

Although many people condemn the use of child leashes as being inhumane and humiliating, a restraint such as that would have saved this boy’s life. Perhaps the most important thing to consider in keeping a child safe is not what looks odd or punitive, but what will keep them alive when they are out in dangerous situations, even if they are with a parent.

Being with his mother in the parking lot did not help this three-year-old, and once he had broken free from his mother, there was no way she could catch up to him before the accident. It’s a devastating blow to watch a child get run over, not only for the parents, but for the driver that struck the boy.

In this instance, there will be more questions to answer before the police get a clear picture of how this misfortune happened. For instance, was the driver under the influence of drugs or alcohol? Was the driver texting while driving? Or otherwise distracted and not paying attention? Not to mention the biggest question of why was the truck driving backwards through a crowded parking lot? It is not clear whether charges will be laid, but should law enforcement discover the truck driver could have avoided the accident, but for a negligent action, there may be charges pending.

In a wrongful death case such as this, parents may wish to speak with an Austin injury lawyer. They need to know what their rights are and how to move forward with a lawsuit seeking compensation for the sudden death of their loved one. Avoid dealing directly with insurance companies, as their main goal is to settle quickly and cheaply. They do not consider the agony of the parents. They are more interested in their fiscal bottom line. Take any questions about personal injury accidents to an Austin injury lawyer, particularly if you want justice.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

It’s easy to commute inexpensively from one point to another when using a motorcycle. Certainly they handle well and go places that regular vehicles cannot. However, that same versatility is often the reason for the serious injury, or death, of a biker when hit by a car.

Consider an accident that involved an SUV heading south on the freeway, and a biker, heading north. The SUV went to make a left turn, and the biker had no place else to go. He hit the side of the SUV, and due to the force of the impact, the bike kept moving, slamming into another car, before coming to a stop on a side avenue. The biker was ejected onto the sidewalk, and pronounced dead at the scene.

From the evidence, it looks like failing to yield the right of way may have been an issue in this crash. However, further investigation is needed to determine if anything else was going on at the time of the accident. For instance, was the SUV driver texting while attempting to make a left hand turn? Driving under the influence? Driving while distracted? While any of these factors may have caused the collision, knowing that will not bring the man back, but it may be enough knowledge for the family of the deceased to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

In accidents like this, even with a helmet, often the bodily injuries incurred are fatal, simply because the rider and/or passenger have no other protection, such as the frame of a car to protect them. Bone fractures, traumatic brain injuries, a crushed pelvis, and amputations are common. If a biker survives, they may need medical care for the rest of their lives. They certainly are entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation for lost wages, medical expenses, rehabilitation and drugs, if not their permanent medical care for the future.

In cases like this, the family needs to speak to competent Austin injury counsel, to find out what their legal rights are, and what to expect, should they file a wrongful death lawsuit. Never take the word of an insurance company for anything is someone you loved has been killed in a motorcycle crash. They only want to reduce or deny your claim and despite what they say about wanting to help you and your family, their real agenda is to minimize their losses. Stick to your guns and call an Austin injury lawyer for help.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It’s easy to commute inexpensively from one point to another when using a motorcycle. Certainly they handle well and go places that regular vehicles cannot. However, that same versatility is often the reason for the serious injury, or death, of a biker when hit by a car.

Consider an accident that involved an SUV heading south on the freeway, and a biker, heading north. The SUV went to make a left turn, and the biker had no place else to go. He hit the side of the SUV, and due to the force of the impact, the bike kept moving, slamming into another car, before coming to a stop on a side avenue. The biker was ejected onto the sidewalk, and pronounced dead at the scene.

From the evidence, it looks like failing to yield the right of way may have been an issue in this crash. However, further investigation is needed to determine if anything else was going on at the time of the accident. For instance, was the SUV driver texting while attempting to make a left hand turn? Driving under the influence? Driving while distracted? While any of these factors may have caused the collision, knowing that will not bring the man back, but it may be enough knowledge for the family of the deceased to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

In accidents like this, even with a helmet, often the bodily injuries incurred are fatal, simply because the rider and/or passenger have no other protection, such as the frame of a car to protect them. Bone fractures, traumatic brain injuries, a crushed pelvis, and amputations are common. If a biker survives, they may need medical care for the rest of their lives. They certainly are entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation for lost wages, medical expenses, rehabilitation and drugs, if not their permanent medical care for the future.

In cases like this, the family needs to speak to competent Austin injury counsel, to find out what their legal rights are, and what to expect, should they file a wrongful death lawsuit. Never take the word of an insurance company for anything is someone you loved has been killed in a motorcycle crash. They only want to reduce or deny your claim and despite what they say about wanting to help you and your family, their real agenda is to minimize their losses. Stick to your guns and call an Austin injury lawyer for help.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

In a hurry to get to where you’re going? Slow down when you’re on the highway. This man didn’t and ended up dead underneath a semi-truck.

The two vehicles involved in this fatal collision were heading east on the highway. One vehicle was a fully loaded semi, weighing about 80,000 pounds. The other vehicle was a Toyota, weighing about 4,000 pounds or less. According to eye witness reports garnered by the police after the wreck, the semi driver was taking his time, and almost dawdling along in the commuter lane.

The Toyota driver was in a tear to get to where he was going, perhaps unimpressed by the speed of the truck. In order to try and get ahead and get around the semi, the Toyota merged behind it in the commuter lane. Seriously underestimating his speed and the amount of room in which to accelerate, the driver drove his car under the semi. When accidents like that happen, the occupants of the car are lucky if they survive without life-threatening injuries. In many cases, underriders are decapitated.

The Toyota driver did make it out of the crash alive and was taken to the hospital with an extremely serious head laceration and a broken clavicle. The front seat passenger sustained hip and chest injuries. The backseat passenger was pronounced dead at the scene.

There are a number of other questions that need to be answered in this case. For instance, was the Toyota driver also driving while distracted? Texting? Horsing around with his passengers? Speeding? Talking on a cell phone? It appears that he was not driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but was still driving negligently given the circumstances. You just don’t mess with a semi. You follow the rules of the road and drive with due care and attention.

The passengers in the Toyota would definitely be able to file injury lawsuits. In the case of the front seat passenger, it would be a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation for medical expenses. In the case of the deceased backseat passenger, the family would most likely file a wrongful death lawsuit. In both lawsuits, negligence needs to be present. Without a doubt the Toyota driver was negligent in driving in such a manner as to end up under a semi.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It was a typical day on duty for the officer, riding a police cycle in the downtown area: The leather-clad officer on the motorcycle was riding along beside a 27-year-old driver in a car, heading east in the left lane of the road. Without looking, and without seeing the officer, the driver changed lanes. He slammed the officer with such force that he knocked him over and sent him into an almost 50-foot slide, into a curb and light pole. Not a good scene.

Luckily, several other witnesses to the crash rushed to help the cop, and give him first aid, while using his police radio to call in the accident. When EMS crews arrived, they immediately took the injured man to the nearest hospital. He was later transferred to another facility in order to treat his head and neck injuries. The man was lucky to be alive. He was alert and responsive, and had been wearing a helmet, which was credited with preventing more serious and possibly fatal injuries.

It’s not usual for a motorcycle cop on patrol to get hit by another vehicle; luckily, their years of experience have taught them how to handle their rides with a high degree of safety. Nonetheless, no one can always anticipate what another vehicle is going to do. In fact, this was the second time this officer had been hit by a car and sent to hospital. The first time, a vehicle blew into an intersection without looking, and broadsided his bike. The officer sustained right leg injuries, but was quickly able to return to work.

Was the driver in this second accident under the influence of drugs or alcohol? Evidently not, as he had both tests and was cleared. It looks like he may be charged with making an unsafe turn, which raises the question of why he did not see the biker in the lane, right next to him. Did the driver look before he whipped into the right lane? If he had looked, it would be hard to miss something as large as a police motorcycle with a rider.

In cases like this, the key element is the presence of negligence: was the driver negligent in changing lanes? On the face of the evidence, he was negligent, and because he was, he harmed another person. Could the officer file a personal injury lawsuit to recover compensation to pay his medical bills? Yes, he could, and he would most likely be successful in his suit.

Have you been in a wreck caused by someone else while riding your bike? Don’t waste time trying to deal with the situation on your own. The insurance company will hound you into trying to settle for just about nothing. Take your case to an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer and get the straight goods. You need to know your rights. Don’t hand them over to someone else.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

For many areas of the U.S., football is the social stitching that holds the fabric of a community together. Playoffs are a time of intensity, hard-hitting action, and a stand jammed pack with locals watching for those rough-and-tumble plays. More often than not, many in the stands are even secretly anticipating the sound of helmets crunching against each other, as one player takes another down. The crowd figures “seeing stars” is a normal part of the game. It is not.

This most recent off-season brought news of two National Football League (NFL) players taking their own lives. Along with that also came news that former NFL players were suing the League for keeping critical information from them relating to brain trauma and how it could affect them in the long-term. The time to do something about brain injuries is long past, and there is a lot of catching up to do, much of it by small-townfootball coaches.

Witness the case of a small rural high school, with a football team of go-getters, raring to make a name for themselves. During their practice scrimmages, several players get their “bells rung.” They keep on playing. One cannot recall what happened on the field of a most recent game. He was hit so hard, his memories only include being carried off the field, but he does not know why.

He did get hit. Hard. He is still trying to recover some semblance of normalcy in his daily life, but after four concussions in a short period of time, his doctor has banned him from sports for the foreseeable future. He may face up to two years down time before he can play again, if ever. He played through four concussions and his coach let him.

In small town America, football is a religion. Changing any of the rules about playing, or pulling players out because they got shaken up is frowned upon. However, even though many coaches are resistant to change, the awareness about concussions spreading to every corner of the nation. Small football venues with a coach for the local team are being forced into the mainstream of media awareness about traumatic brain injury.

The tide of media coverage is the harbinger of change. Between 2009 and 2011, the District of Columbia and 33 states passed laws, taking direct aim at preventing concussions in sports involving youth. Another 15 states have legislation on the table this year. Only Arkansas and Montana have done nothing. It’s time for change.

If your child has been involved in a sport that involves a high risk of brain injury, and the coaching staff did not advise them of the risks, or provide them with proper equipment, and they were injured you need to talk to an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Over the last few years, a significant number of sports celebrities, and other not-so-famous players, have taken their own lives due to traumatic brain injury. Over time, repeated impacts can destroy the brain and create the idealenvironment for degenerative brain disease, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Children in large football or hockey outfits are cute, but their head health is a serious concern. Traumatic brain injury is not a pillow fight. It kills.

In step with the public’s demands for more information about traumatic brain injury and how to prevent it, the movie “Head Games,” directed by Steve James, was filmed with Little People. The movie is starkly moving and uses graphic images to show what concussions really do. These pictures are interspersed with parents relating personal stories of how their young athlete is valiantly struggling with head injuries, and how devastating the long-term effects are for the whole family. For families facing this life changing event, they may obtain the 90-minute film, on demand, at Amazon and iTunes, and it may also be available from some cable and satellite providers. It is well worth watching if you think playing football is a piece of cake. In fact, the issue is more complex and goes far deeper than anyone can imagine. Football and other contact sports have the potential to lead to irreparable brain damage. Too many people think of how cute the players look and pay scant attention to the seriousness of a concussion. Clearly, kids are being exposed to needless risks, and no one seems to get it.

This is a huge public health issue that people try to sweep under the carpet, because they do not grasp the ramifications of repeated concussions, until their son or daughter becomes a victim. Media reports about this issue are not sensationalized. They are the truth, and it is time parents woke up and started dealing with it.

It’s been scientifically proven that multiple blows to the head lead to brain trauma. If you don’t think that is true, consider that the National Football League is dealing with 140 lawsuits from about 3,500 former players, alleging the League hid the truth about concussions from them.

Little football players grow into big ones, and likely continue their love of sports over a lifetime. How does that affect their brain health? This is something we need to be upset about. Something we need to deal with before it gets completely out of hand. Ignoring head trauma does not mean it will go away.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

If you don’t think that texting and driving in America is a serious issue, then you seriously need to visit the National Safety Council website, and check out their information on distracted driving. It tells a horrendous story about 930,000 car wrecks as a result of drivers using cell phones or texting while driving, just this year alone. That figure bears repeating – 930,000 deaths just this year, and counting, as a result of using mobile technology while driving. What is wrong with that picture? How can we, as a responsible nation of people, countenance a death every 24 seconds, because someone thinks texting while driving or talking on a cellphone won’t hurt anyone?

Who hasn’t seen a distracted driver, weaving from lane to lane, drifting to one side or the other while trying to text, use a mobile map app, a smartphone or talking on a mobile device? Ever had to get out of the way of an erratic driver and cursed them for being inattentive and thought how dangerous it was? Were you holding a cellphone in your hand at the time? It’s one thing to frown on those who drive while distracted, and quite another to also do the same thing, while disapproving of doing it. The simple fact is no one should be doing it. Distracted driving kills – period.

Driving while texting is not safe. It is a real problem. Even awareness campaigns are not making enough headway to prevent texting deaths. The solution? Remove technology from vehicles. It really is just that simple. The problem isn’t so much the technology, as it is people using it inappropriately. It is a disturbing commentary on human behavior that so many seem to feel that texting and driving is a right, and nothing will happen to them. Think again.

There aren’t many teens or younger adults that have not lost a friend to a distracted driver, or have been in a wreck involving one. They may even have caused the car crash themselves, while texting about a prom date, a pizza or what a teacher said. It has to stop. Injury lawyers across the U.S. are in the position of picking up the pieces when these accidents happen. Stop. Think. Do not text and drive. It’s your life, stay alive to live it by being responsible. Stash the phone someplace and pay attention to the road.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

In the first case of hundreds, or more, to go to trial over a trans-vaginal mesh implant that went wrong, a doctor, and the company that makes these products, C.R. Bard Inc., must pay out $5.5 million. The woman plaintiff was left in constant pain and incontinent. Although the case is in California, there are many more across the nation pending litigation.

The jury was horrified by what they heard in the Scott case, about the injuries the woman had been left with after the implantation of the Avaulta Plus. They found Bard to be negligent in handling their trans-vaginal devices, designed to deal with incontinence and bulging or prolapsed pelvic organs. The company evidently did not properly test their product prior to rushing it to market. At trial, the plaintiff’s lawyer asked for up to $11 million in damages for the couple suing the doctor and medical device manufacturer.

The jury found Bard to be 60 percent at fault, and the surgeon who performed the operation in 2008, 40 percent liable. Defendant Bard was not happy with the court’s decision, and they plan on an appeal, suggesting the injuries sustained by the plaintiff Scott, were not the fault of any conduct by the company. They pointed to an approval of their product by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as evidence that their product was effective and safe. Interestingly, an FDA 2011 report stated trans-vaginal mesh products should be classified as high-risk, based on adverse side-effect reports they received between 2008 and 2010.

In the Scott case, the plaintiff was subjected to nine surgeries to try and deal with the medical issues the mesh implant caused. Evidence reviewed at trial showed the implant had eroded, causing chronic pelvic pain and incontinence. The case is well worth reading, as it is the tip of the iceberg for the many more cases to be litigated across the U.S. The case is: Scott v. Kannappan, S-1500-CV-266034-WDE, Superior Court for Kern County, California (Bakersfield).

Have you had trans-vaginal mesh implantation surgery? Are you having medical problems as a result of the device? You are not alone. Do not wait until it is too late to take action. Locate an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer and find out what your rights are.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Athletes with traumatic brain injury who are still alive may well be wishing they had known more about the cumulative effect of concussions during their days playing their sport of choice – be that hockey, football, soccer or volleyball. Many professional athletes now estimate that they have sustained eight or more known concussions throughout the course of their career. While that seems like a small number, the brain doesn’t count. Traumatic brain injury seriously affects those who suffer from its effects. Many parents wonder if they should sign their children up for school sports like football, when concussions are a common occurrence.

It has only been very recently that more educational institutions have started to pay attention to what concussions mean in the long-term for its athletes. Since the spate of hockey deaths over the last few years, many state colleges have begun to implement programs specifically focusing on traumatic brain injury. With some luck, perhaps a recent study underway in Nebraska will help others across the nation treat concussions.

The CDC recently released evidence that concussions for kids and adolescents have jumped sixty percent in the last decade. That number has frightened doctors into looking more closely into how brain injuries happen and what can be done to help victims. One doctor in particular, at the University of Nebraska, wanted to drive a project looking for more answers about traumatic brain injury.

The Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior was launched two years ago, by Dr. Dennis Molfese, whose main goal is to try and determine what people were like “before” they sustained a head injury. Often that vital piece of information is missing after the fact. Identifying the missing pieces of the puzzle, Molfese partnered with the Ivy League and the Big 10 conference to closely examine the brain, before and after concussion, with one burning question in mind: “Did people really recover from concussions and if so, to what extent?”

The initial research begins with baseline tests on the brains of athletes at the start of their season. The baseline is then used as a benchmark to compare with subsequent tests taken later, after the participant has sustained a concussion. The doctor hopes to determine how the brain has changed, how that affects behavior and how do they recover (or do they) over the long-term.

Although football seems to be the sport in the spotlight most often, the risk of concussion exists in many other sports. Perhaps this type of research may benefit all players in sports where the risk of brain injury is a very real one, every time they play.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

The government has been saying for some time now that they do not have enough funds to treat the enormous number of psychologically and physically damaged troops returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. To throw their hands up in the air and cry defeat would be inexcusable. Sourcing funds to help veterans, the government partnered with the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (Fund), an entrepreneurial and dynamic group busy raising $100 million to erect clinics on military bases.

The purpose of the new buildings is to treat and research traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, the main and extremely devastating results of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Fund is blessed with the ability to bypass government bureaucracy when dealing with construction projects, and is able and willing to fund medical advances to help returning vets.

A brainchild of 9/11, the Fund has been credited with building a burn-victim and amputee rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas and a stellar brain injury center in Bethesda, Md. Both facilities are considered to be among the nation’s top medical facilities that specialize in treating injured troops. They offer very targeted and specific treatment, and provide the opportunity for all doctors treating a patient to meet with them at once, so they are all on the same song sheet, treatment wise.

Vets treated in these facilities are not rushed from one doctor to the next. They do not bounce around to different physicians, and unlike other hospitals, there are a number of other alternative treatments for patients. For instance, the injured may be helped by service dogs or art therapy.

The plan is to build seven to ten more clinics at the largest military bases in the U.S., based on the unique hub and spoke model. Military officials hope to streamline treatments by sending patient information up to the research section and subsequently making use of treatment modalities suggested, based on the initial information.

Already underway is a clinic in Virginia at Fort Belvoir and in North Carolina at Camp Lejeune. More facilities are in the works for Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Hood, Texas; and Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. Although the clinics are built and funded by private enterprise, once they have been completed, the base takes over control, operating the clinic, staffing it, and making sure their services are second to none. Things are looking a great deal brighter from veterans returning home from deployment overseas, and it’s about time.  With any luck, these models and research will lead to successes that can be extended to the private sector to help private individuals too.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

It is no surprise to Americans that the number of deaths on the road are on the rise due to texting while driving. Personal injury lawyers across the national are seeing more of these cases every day. There is no need for it. It makes no sense to text yourself to death, when what you have to say to someone, or what they have to say to you, can wait for another time. We never used to have mobile devices in vehicles that distract the driver, and we are still alive. We never used to have phones in vehicles either, and things worked out just fine.

Mobile technology is terrific, but it has its place, and that is not in a vehicle, being used by the driver, while the car or truck is in motion. What is the response to these unnecessary deaths? Many communities are passing laws making it illegal to text and drive. The problem is, even with the law, people think it does not apply to them, and they drive while distracted in spite of the law.

Just about 20 percent of all accidents in 2009 were the end result of someone texting while driving. It is now becoming even more lethal than visual and cognitive distractions, because it involves all three deadly diversions at once – visual, cognitive and manual.

By 2010, the beginnings of a fatal trend involving texting were starting to emerge. The National Safety Council estimated that 28 percent of all accidents each year were the result of people using cell phones or texting while behind the wheel of their vehicle. That amounts to just about 1.6 million people. The most common users of cell phones that are guilty of the highest texting records in the nation? Teens. Just about 50 percent of them admit they text while driving — an accident looking for a place to happen, made even worse by their lack of experience driving in the first place.

Here is another non-surprise: using a cell phone while driving messes up the driver’s reaction time, in much the same manner as someone that has a blood alcohol content of 0.08. They are impaired: their brain is not processing information effectively. Cell phone usage reduces the brain’s ability to focus on driving by up to a whopping 37 percent.

There’s a wakeup call in those numbers, but too many people are not listening, arguing that it is their right to use their phones in their cars. These people often find that argument doesn’t hold much water when they kill someone else, or kill themselves because they were texting about what to wear to a party. Be safe out there. Your life depends on it.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This wreck between a motorcycle and a truck sent two men to the hospital with serious injuries, which was not a complete surprise, as both were completely exposed to other vehicles, should they get into an accident. Perhaps the two, ages 22 and 25, thought they were invincible as they roared through a grass field, bouncing into a parking lot, before shooting out into the street, without yielding to other traffic heading their way.

The end result? The bikers were hit by a Dodge pickup truck that was heading south on the street and about to turn left into the parking lot. The force of the collision ejected both bikers from the motorcycle, tossing them onto the ground. One rider was wearing a helmet. The other was not. The driver was operating the bike with a suspended license.

This is one of those personal injury cases where the passenger on the bike could sue for damages for his injuries, whether or not he was aware of the driver having a suspended license, because operating a motorcycle without a valid license is negligence to begin with, not to mention failing to yield the right of way to oncoming vehicles and knowingly taking a passenger for a ride when not licensed to do so.

This would be a tough case, as the two men on the cycle were related, and it is always difficult to sue family members. However, it some instances, it has to be done if the victim requires extensive medical care and has no way to pay for it. The one thing to remember is that most vehicles and drivers have insurance and those that don’t may still be able to file a claim. This is something that needs to be discussed with an Austin personal injury lawyer, to find out if you have a case, what your legal rights are, what you may claim for compensation and what to expect should you file a lawsuit.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This case made headlines due to the horrendously, brutal facts that came out after a young woman was killed in a devastating wreck. She had just graduated from high school, and had her whole life in front of her, when one day, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, when death came calling in the guise of 31-year-old Michael Grasing.

The young woman was on her way home from her part-time job and was excited by the anticipation of attending her graduation party that night. Prior to the gut-wrenching wreck, eyewitnesses had seen a supremely intoxicated Grasing staggering towards his vehicle. They told him not to drive. He chose not to listen, as he thought he could handle driving his car.

His decision led him to run two red lights, weave in and out of traffic doing at least 100 mph and ultimately slam into the young woman’s car. He never even hit the brakes before he hit her vehicle. The only reason he did come to an abrupt halt was because he hit a pole. His blood alcohol reading was four times the legal limit. Never had the police seen such reckless disregard and indifference for the lives of others. The district attorney agreed, based on the facts of the case, and the man was charged with murder in a drunken driving case – a rare occurrence in legal circles.

The accused, Grasing, chose to plead not guilty to his indictment. During arraignment he did not speak and was ordered held on $1 million bail. His attorney did not speak to the media and neither did the accused. However, the district attorney indicated that the young woman never had a chance, and for that reason, he had chosen to attempt to obtain a murder conviction.

There were multiple charges laid against Grasing, including manslaughter, reckless driving, running two red lights, speeding reckless endangerment, aggravated vehicular homicide, DWI as a felony and a misdemeanor and leaving the scene of the accident. This guy had the book thrown at him. If he is successfully convicted of murder, he could face a maximum of 25 years to life behind bars.

None of the things that happen in court to Grasing will ever bring the family’s daughter back, but in seeking a murder conviction, it may serve as a serious warning to others who choose to be dumb enough to drink, drive, speed and flee, once they have been involved in a virtually inevitable wreck. Will the drunk driver learn a lesson? Hard to say, but spending a possible 25 years to life behind bars may hit home – and then again, depending on his attitude it may not.

Drunk driving cases are not always this spectacularly horrific, but they are certainly some of the worse cases attorneys handle. There is never any relief for the family of a victim. The loss stays with them for life. An Austin injury lawyer can help them get their case to court, and help them to achieve some form of closure, and ensure the compensation they receive allows them to move forward with their lives, as best they can.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There are some things in life that parents never recover from, and losing their child is one of them. In this case, an 18-year-old young student died in a car wreck. The driver was drunk, and fled the scene. The story is one that is likely a common event among young adults. The number of kids packed into one car, one designed to hold five passengers, was eight. Reportedly, most of the passengers and the driver had been drinking.

The group of teens, all jammed into the small vehicle, had been to an off-campus party, and were heading home. The young woman that died in the accident was sitting on the front passenger’s lap, when the drunk driver, who was speeding, lost control of the vehicle and crashed just off the road. When the police got there, they discovered the driver had fled the scene. By the time they apprehended him, and had him tested with the breathalyzer, he blew an alcohol content reading of two and a half times the legal limit.

This case is now in court and the driver pled guilty to a felony charge of drunk driving, resulting in death, and entered no contest to fleeing the scene of the crash. The family of the deceased 18-year-old freshman was in court to hear the proceedings. Her father, a state Trooper, reports that he barely functions from day-to-day, but hangs on, because he had two other children at home. His major focus in life since his daughter’s death, he says, has been ensuring she gets justice.

The wrongful death lawsuit the family is expected to file will not be about revenge, but it will be about being held responsible for one’s actions. As things stand, the man’s guilty plea is intended, as a result of a bargain to plead guilty, to end up with him spending two and a half years in prison. On release, he is to undertake a series of school tours and speak on the dangers of driving while inebriated. From the state Trooper’s point of view, the man should be behind bars for at least four years, based on the nature of the accident.

Interestingly enough, the suggestion of an upped sentence may yet happen, despite a deal, as in the final analysis, the length of time he is to spend in jail is up to the judge. This case is also unusual given the fact that just about all the people in the car were drinking; which goes to the matter of consent to knowingly getting into a vehicle with a drunk driver. Should the judge think a longer sentence is more appropriate, the man will be allowed to withdraw his plea, and the case starts all over – again.

Not every case is like this one, but most car wrecks that involve a drunk driver do involve three things a court needs to consider, the negligence of the driver in drinking, the negligence of the driver in driving and the negligence of the passenger who chooses to ride with a drunk, knowing they are risking their lives.

To find justice in these instances, reach out to an experienced Austin injury lawyer. If you need answers about your case and what to expect, an Austin injury attorney, has those answers and the information you need to make an informed decision about moving forward with your case.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There are some things in life that parents never recover from, and losing their child is one of them. In this case, an 18-year-old young student died in a car wreck. The driver was drunk, and fled the scene. The story is one that is likely a common event among young adults. The number of kids packed into one car, one designed to hold five passengers, was eight. Reportedly, most of the passengers and the driver had been drinking.

The group of teens, all jammed into the small vehicle, had been to an off-campus party, and were heading home. The young woman that died in the accident was sitting on the front passenger’s lap, when the drunk driver, who was speeding, lost control of the vehicle and crashed just off the road. When the police got there, they discovered the driver had fled the scene. By the time they apprehended him, and had him tested with the breathalyzer, he blew an alcohol content reading of two and a half times the legal limit.

This case is now in court and the driver pled guilty to a felony charge of drunk driving, resulting in death, and entered no contest to fleeing the scene of the crash. The family of the deceased 18-year-old freshman was in court to hear the proceedings. Her father, a state Trooper, reports that he barely functions from day-to-day, but hangs on, because he had two other children at home. His major focus in life since his daughter’s death, he says, has been ensuring she gets justice.

The wrongful death lawsuit the family is expected to file will not be about revenge, but it will be about being held responsible for one’s actions. As things stand, the man’s guilty plea is intended, as a result of a bargain to plead guilty, to end up with him spending two and a half years in prison. On release, he is to undertake a series of school tours and speak on the dangers of driving while inebriated. From the state Trooper’s point of view, the man should be behind bars for at least four years, based on the nature of the accident.

Interestingly enough, the suggestion of an upped sentence may yet happen, despite a deal, as in the final analysis, the length of time he is to spend in jail is up to the judge. This case is also unusual given the fact that just about all the people in the car were drinking; which goes to the matter of consent to knowingly getting into a vehicle with a drunk driver. Should the judge think a longer sentence is more appropriate, the man will be allowed to withdraw his plea, and the case starts all over – again.

Not every case is like this one, but most car wrecks that involve a drunk driver do involve three things a court needs to consider, the negligence of the driver in drinking, the negligence of the driver in driving and the negligence of the passenger who chooses to ride with a drunk, knowing they are risking their lives.

To find justice in these instances, reach out to an experienced Austin injury lawyer. If you need answers about your case and what to expect, an Austin injury attorney, has those answers and the information you need to make an informed decision about moving forward with your case.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There are some things in life that parents never recover from; losing their child is one of them. In this case, an 18-year-old female student died in a car wreck. A group of eight teens, all jammed into a small vehicle designed to hold five, had been to an off-campus party and were heading home. The young woman was sitting on the front passenger’s lap when the driver, who was drunk and speeding, lost control of the vehicle and crashed. When the police arrived, they discovered the driver had fled the scene. By the time they apprehended him and administered a breathalyzer, he blew an alcohol content reading of two and a half times the legal limit.

The driver pled guilty to a felony charge of drunk driving, resulting in death, and entered no contest to fleeing the scene of the crash. The victim’s family attended the court hearing. Her dad, a state trooper, barely functions from day-to-day but hangs on because he has two other children at home. His major focus in life since his daughter’s death has been ensuring she gets justice.

The wrongful death lawsuit the victim’s family is likely to file will not be about revenge, but it will be about being held responsible for one’s actions. As things stand, the man’s guilty plea is intended, as a result of a bargain to plead guilty, to end up with him spending two and a half years in prison. On release, he is to undertake a series of school tours and speak on the dangers of driving while inebriated. From the state trooper’s point of view, the man should be behind bars for at least four years, based on the nature of the accident.

Interestingly enough, the suggestion of an upped sentence may yet happen, despite a deal, as the length of jail time is up to the judge. This case is also unusual given the fact that just about all the people in the car were drinking, which speaks to the matter of consent to knowingly getting into a vehicle with a drunk driver. If the judge thinks a longer sentence is more appropriate, the man will be allowed to withdraw his plea, and the case will start all over again.

Not every case is like this one, but most car wrecks that involve a drunk driver do involve three things a court needs to consider: the negligence of the driver in drinking, the negligence of the driver in driving and the negligence of the passenger who chooses to ride with a drunk, knowing they are risking their lives.

To find justice in these instances, reach out to an experienced Austin injury lawyer. If you need answers about your case and what to expect, an Austin injury attorney has those answers and the information you need to make an informed decision about moving forward with your case.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This case made headlines due to the horrendously, brutal facts that came out after a young woman was killed in a devastating wreck. She had just graduated from high school and had her whole life in front of her. The young woman was on her way home from her part-time job, excited about attending her graduation party that night, when she was struck by a 31-year-old Michael Grasing.

Eyewitnesses said they had seen an intoxicated Grasing staggering towards his vehicle earlier in the evening. They told him not to drive, and he chose not to listen. His decision led him to run two red lights, weaving in and out of traffic doing at least 100 mph. He never even had time to hit the brakes before he hit the victim’s vehicle. The only reason he did come to an abrupt halt was because he hit a pole.

His blood alcohol reading was four times the legal limit. Never had the police seen such reckless disregard and indifference for the lives of others. The district attorney agreed, based on the facts of the case, and the man was charged with murder in a drunken driving case, a rare occurrence in legal circles.

Grasing chose to plead not guilty to his indictment. During arraignment, he did not speak and was ordered held on $1 million bail. His attorney did not speak to the media and neither did the accused. However, the district attorney indicated that the young woman never had a chance, and for that reason, he had chosen to attempt to obtain a murder conviction.

There were multiple charges filed against Grasing, including manslaughter, reckless driving, running two red lights, speeding reckless endangerment, aggravated vehicular homicide, DWI as a felony and a misdemeanor and leaving the scene of the accident. If he is successfully convicted of murder, he could face a maximum of 25 years to life behind bars.

None of the things that happen in court to Grasing will ever bring the family’s daughter back, but in seeking a murder conviction, it may serve as a serious warning to others who choose to be dumb enough to drink, drive, speed and flee the scene of an accident they’ve caused. Will the drunk driver learn a lesson? It’s hard to say, but spending a possible 25 years to life behind bars may hit home – and then again, depending on his attitude, it may not.

Drunk driving cases are not always this spectacularly horrific, but they are certainly some of the worse cases attorneys handle. There is never any relief for the family of a victim. The loss stays with them for life. An Austin injury lawyer can help them get their case to court and help them to achieve some form of closure and compensation to allow them to move forward with their lives as best they can.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

San Antonio recently witnessed one of the worst accidents it had seen in years. Booze was the precipitating factor, and the man at the wheel of the car was driving at a reckless speed. It was 12:30 am, and Larry Demers was driving his Honda Civic along the road, intent on being someplace in a hurry. Not being completely with it, thanks to being drunk, he lost control of the car, skidded sideways into a construction zone and slammed into a bulldozer.

The fatal crash happened at a time that is traditionally regarded by Texans to be the most dangerous time to be on the roads: between May and August. Statistics have shown that approximately 30 percent of fatal DWI crashes happen during this period. In fact, in just 2011 alone, there were 321 DWI fatalities, killing 362 people in the state.

When the police arrived, three were dead at the scene, the man’s wife and two of his youngest children. Two of the other kids made it to the hospital alive, but the 5-year-old later died. One remains on life support. The wife was 31-years-old, and the boys were ages 2, 3, 5 and 12. The next step would have been to try and identify all those involved in the wreck. Demers refused to cooperate with the police. Can you imagine a man not wanting to tell police the names of the people he just killed?

As it turned out, Demers had at least three other names and was arrested on a probation violation charge from 2011, relating to a charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. His lengthy record includes drug possession charges, unauthorized use of a vehicle and resisting arrest. Even without the probation violation charge, he would have been arrested for this horrendous accident. In fact, the man was initially booked by proxy on three counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault. Since his 5-year-old son died later in the hospital, his charges would be upgraded to four counts of intoxication manslaughter.

The woman’s family will no doubt want to discuss this accident with a personal injury lawyer with experience in handling DWI cases. The crass and wanton negligence involved in this case is horrific, and it is likely the man will spend a long time in prison. However, that would not stop a civil lawsuit from being filed on behalf of the dead woman and her children.

If you have been in a similar situation, reach out to an Austin personal injury lawyer. If you want justice and compensation for your injuries, an Austin personal injury lawyer is able to do that for you. Each case is different. Each case is assessed on its merits. Each case is personal and not a number.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

An exciting development in science is the increasing use of innovative technology in the medical health field. The latest new research, being conducted by the Department of Defense, deals with using nanotechnology to treat a wide range of injuries from infections to traumatic brain injury and treat them more rapidly than is possible now.

The project, referred to as In Vivo Nanoplatforms for Therapeutics, hopes to create a vehicle to deliver various forms of medications and other treatments. This is the stuff science fiction is made of, but it has the potential to become reality. The idea behind this project is to use new classes of nanoparticles, capable of sensing a patient’s physiological well-being, to treat abnormalities and other conditions. Even though this may be reminiscent of the best stories in the world of fiction, the potential is mind-blowing.

A particle, when referring to this kind of technology, is a small object considered to be and to act like a whole unit as it relates to its properties and transport capabilities. A nanoparticle is the smallest of the small particles and has a wide variety of potential for use within not only the human body to deliver various payloads but in the optical field.

The most exciting potential is the possibility that these nanoparticles may help revolutionize the treatment protocol for traumatic brain injury, especially for soldiers returning from war. There is talk of coating these particles with a type of ribonucleic acid (RNA) because the smaller molecules are capable of binding to other messenger RNA molecules to deliver what they are carrying internally to its end destination.

The key to the effectiveness of this technology is that the payload injected into an individual’s body targets the disease process and halts it by delivering therapeutic but passive ultrafine particles that reduce side effects and prevent an immune system response. While this idea itself is not new, it is going beyond the original nanoscale systems created to monitor soldiers’ health and body systems. The hope is to move forward into diagnosing and treating.

This future-looking technology may be an important partner to those who have been exposed to improvised explosive devices during the course of their tour of duty overseas. The military does have a blast gauge attached to helmets, a vehicle or personal gear that is capable of measuring the amount of exposure a solider gets in the vicinity of an explosion; this helps in diagnosing brain injuries more accurately. However, if the nanoparticle technology is as successful as hoped, the lives of soldiers who sustain brain trauma may improve significantly.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

You really have to shake your head at this one. The driver of the vehicle involved in this fatal incident started a high speed chase. That was the second dumbest thing she did. The first was drinking too much and then getting behind the wheel of her 2005 Toyota Camry.

It all started when the police spotted a female driver weaving all over the place on the freeway. It was late at night, and police activated their sirens and lights while ordering her to pull over. She wasn’t in the frame of mind to obey, and instead, took off at high speed and pulled onto another freeway in the area. On the freeway, the chase was wild and relatively unencumbered, but there was still a risk of a head-on collision.

With police still in pursuit, the female driver careened off at an exit into a suburb, ran a red light, hit a dip in the road, ended up airborne and slammed into a crowd of people at a taco truck. Two women will killed instantly, and two others sustained minor injuries. It could have been worse, but it was bad enough, and the scene of the accident was complete mayhem.

The female Toyota driver was arrested and cited with multiple felonies, which included two counts of murder, driving under the influence causing injury and evading police. With a $2 million bail hanging over her head, she was held in the local jail until she was arraigned in court the following day. Her journey through the justice system will likely be a rocky road. The families of the two women killed will want to see justice done, and the community learned once again that drinking and driving kills.

Did the driver of the Camry learn anything? That is hard to say, but given the nature of her charges, she may have gotten the message that her choices in those final moments of her freedom were the worst thing she could have done. For her folly of driving while looped, she killed two people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, two people who were minding their own business, socializing and enjoying a late night taco. Nothing will bring them back.

Drunk driving is an epidemic. It is just that simple. Despite what statistics say, there are more and more people hitting the road under the influence of one thing or another. If it is not alcohol, it is street or prescription drugs. Are all drunk drivers caught? No. Some drive for years before they get caught. Some don’t get caught until they kill someone. Many think they can get away with it and no one will know the difference. Those are the ticking time bombs. Others think the laws do not apply to them.

If you have been in an accident with a drunk driver, you need to speak to a seasoned Austin personal injury lawyer. It is your right to file a lawsuit to recover compensation for any injuries sustained in the accident. To file a personal injury lawsuit, there must be negligence present. Drinking and driving is negligent. Reach out to an Austin personal injury lawyer and find out how to proceed.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for Lee, Gober and Reyna. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from Lee, Gober and Reyna. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There is good news and bad news on the horizon for child victims of brain trauma. The bad news is recent studies suggest it is difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy how well the children will do in the long term, despite a higher survival rate.

Over the years, medical technology has improved so that children who sustain brain trauma now have a higher survival rate. The difficulty is no one is able to predict how they will fare in later years. Brain injuries in kids are very complex to monitor, as their brains are still in the process of growing and forming. Protecting them from further accidents and infections is a major priority.

The latest research, published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal, suggests the age of the child when injured may play a major role in recovery and that the common belief that younger brains are more elastic does not appear to be the case. What is painfully evident is that there is not enough information to formulate any solid theories about how to care for children with brain trauma or how to determine when and if to stop medical care.

The major issue when dealing with traumatic brain injuries in children appears to be what psychological issues they may sustain that do not manifest until later. When their motor skills recuperate, it may mask their psychological issues, largely because an injury at an early age may radically alter how the brain develops. While the recovery of motor skills is a cause for celebration, no one may notice the cognitive difficulties until further down the road.

The ongoing research into traumatic brain injury is encouraging in that it has the potential to open doors for adults and children. The good news is that there is more research into how head trauma affects children, as they are among the growing numbers of victims with brain injuries. Most children play a number of sports, such as hockey, football, soccer and volleyball. Each one of those sports has the potential for injury to occur.

One only has to look at the most recent lawsuits against the National Football League to know how playing football results in brain trauma or read about the suicides of sports figures whose constant exposure to concussions affected their ability to think normally. The world is not what it once was, and we need to look out for the younger crowd, as well as continue to make advances in medical science to treat head traumas in adults.

Head injuries are not just caused by playing sports. Many times a fall or an accident will result in brain damage. If that is the case, and you have been injured in an accident, seek the skills of an Austin personal injury lawyer who is familiar with handling head injury cases. He or she will know about the long-term effects of such an injury. Damages may be higher in traumatic brain injury cases. Speak to an Austin personal injury lawyer to find out what your rights are, and what to expect if you file a lawsuit.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

There are a number of ways to serve time for drunk driving and killing someone. Most involve various periods of time in jail, a suspended license, community service, court ordered AA programs and the like. Few involve ordering a convicted man to wear a handmade sign spelling out his crime, that he killed a man, whose name is to also appear on the sign.

The 39-year-old offender just got out of prison after serving what appears to many to be too short a sentence – 90 days for DUI and killing someone. He ran a red light at a Houston intersection and slammed into another car, killing the driver. The offender has a two-year probation period to complete, and as part of that process, the sentencing justice ordered him to wear a sign, in public, saying he killed a man while driving under the influence. He is to wear it for four consecutive Saturdays, wear an ankle bracelet to monitor his movements, and have a framed picture of the dead man on display in his home.

Whether or not this kind of in your face probation will work, is questionable with this individual, as the offender evidently has a long history of DWI. Witnesses at the scene of the fatal wreck told the court that the man was wandering around trying to find more to drink, even though he had just killed someone. With that kind of behavior, it does not bode well for the man’s successful rehabilitation. However, the court was willing to try something different, in the hopes that it might work.

The convicted drunk driver will sport the sign from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the very location where the accident took place; the spot where the dead man’s mother had created a temporary memorial for her son. While the mother and friend’s of the family think it will force the felon to show more accountability, if he is a dedicated drinker, as the court suspects, this novel sentence will not faze him. Chances are he will reoffend.

The issue here is not so much the sentence, but the fact that the man was negligent in drinking to excess, and then driving in such a manner as to kill someone in the wrong place at the wrong time. The negligence is a vital element when pursuing a civil case for wrongful death, against such an individual. You will need to talk to an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer to get the full scope of your rights in a situation like this one. If you want justice and a fair settlement or trial, you need an Austin personal injury lawyer by your side. Someone needs to stand up for your rights.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw..

This is a twisted tale of a doctor, convicted of a bombing that nearly killed the head of the state medical board. That alone would be incredible enough, but there is more to this story. The doctor also was in court dealing with a wrongful death lawsuit. He lost and had to pay $300,000 to the family of a former patient who died in his care. The patient had been prescribed at least ten different drugs before her death in 2003. Her autopsy revealed she died of multiple drug intoxication.

The doctor in question had his license to prescribe narcotics suspended by his state board after several of his patients died from fatal drug overdoses. That is the back story for the rest of this case. Once suspended, the physician then decided to bomb the home of the state medical board chairman, responsible for the sanction. It was retaliation in the extreme and nearly caused the chairman’s death.

The suspension of the doctor’s license to prescribe narcotics was not the first sanction he had received. The man had a history of walking on the wrong side of the state’s medical practices law. There were two further instances in 2003 and 2006, when the state board issued sanctions. The latest out-of-control bombing behavior landed the rogue physician in prison for life on a conviction of a weapon of mass destruction count, among other charges.

Not all wrongful death cases have stories such as this one, but one should be aware that wrongful death does come in many forms, such as a drug overdose or bombing. The way the wrongful death transpires is typically not the issue when a victim’s family speaks to an Austin personal injury lawyer. The issue is whether or not there was negligence involved in the death of the victim. If there was, someone must take the responsibility for that negligence and its consequences.

For someone who has been involved in a situation where they lost a loved one, suddenly and as the result of another’s negligence, don’t second guess the legal outcome. Reach out to an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer and talk about your situation. There are many things you will need to know to make an informed decision about moving forward.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

You would think the last thing the family of a drunk driving victim would want to do is talk to the individual who killed their loved one. While it does seem strange, it has happened a few times. In this instance, a Florida woman not only forgave the man who killed her 20-year-old daughter and her friend, but partnered up with him to tell others not to drink and drive.

It is said that politics makes strange bedfellows, but perhaps not as strange as a convicted drunk driver and the mother of the victim he killed. The woman openly admitted that the horrible pain of her daughter’s senseless death nearly brought her to her knees when she was told about the death by police. The man driving the vehicle that slammed into her daughter’s car was three sheets to the wind, and lost control of his vehicle. The two young women in the vehicle were killed instantly, a fact that attests to the speed of the other car and the force of the impact.

Faced with having to move on and cope with her daughter’s loss, the bereaved mother launched a foundation in her daughter’s name, with the goal to teach others about DUI awareness. Above all else, she wanted to prevent any more senseless deaths like her daughter’s. She started speaking locally, organizing various events and telling others about her daughter and how she died. She focused on the dangers of DUI and how the consequences can be brutally horrific, not just for the victim’s family, but for the offender.

As the years passed, she began to feel that there was a component of her presentation missing. She reasoned having the convicted offender with her during her presentations, the message she carried would be even more powerful. She began to lobby the justice system to have the killer join her, and since 2010, they have partnered as a team to tell their story to others. It stuns many audiences into silence and tears, as the man on stage, dressed in prison garb and still serving his sentence, tells them he always thought he was Mr. Big and bulletproof. The chains and shackles tell the true story.

The message this duo carry is to never drink and drive; a message that far too many individuals seem to ignore on a regular basis, until they are caught after maiming or killing someone else. At some point, the mayhem needs to stop. People need to take responsibility for their actions, and realize drinking and driving is the deadliest of all self indulgences, virtually guaranteed to seriously injure or kill others.

If you have been involved in an accident with a drunk driver, do not hesitate to reach out to a skilled and compassionate Austin personal injury attorney. They have your back. They understand justice and grieving and can ensure a fair and equitable settlement or jury verdict. An Austin personal injury attorney’s job is helping those harmed or killed by a drunk driver.

Bobby Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.

The difficulty with traumatic brain injury is that many in the sports world still laugh about having their ‘bell rung.’ Many also pick up and get on with their game, not wanting to look less than macho on the field or ice. While macho might be fine for them, they are taking a huge risk with their mental and physical health. If you want to get up close and personal with a hockey player’s long journey to recovery from traumatic brain injury, search for information on Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Traumatic brain injury doesn’t just happen in hockey, as the story about Ray Easterling points out.

Just recently, defensive back Ray Easterling, best known for playing with the Atlanta Falcons in the late 70s, took his own life at the age of 62. On the field he took no prisoners and played hard; a real football hero with the right mix of aggression and intuition to make his sport seem effortless to others. He was watched with awe and envy by others wanting to be him when they grew up and went to college.

Easterling got banged up during his football years and suffered consecutive concussions that eventually led to mental difficulties for him. In 2011, he and six other former National Football League players filed a class-action lawsuit, suggesting the league withheld their knowledge of what frequent concussions would do to players.

Easterling, diagnosed with dementia last year, could not live with the changes he faced on a daily basis. He had struggled to deal with it, made changes to his life to work with it, and did the best he could to just be. He lost that battle one day, but his memory and his legacy lives on.

If anyone does not believe in the dramatic effect that serial concussions has on a person playing sports, you only have to read the stories of those dealing with the side effects now. While many currently involved in sports think that nothing like this could happen to them, they are wrong. It can happen to anyone, and the most frightening thing is that some concussions do not produce symptoms, but that does not mean internal brain damage has not been done.

If you suspect that you have been the victim of traumatic brain injury while playing sports, discuss your case with a qualified Austin personal injury lawyer. You need to know what options you have available, and how to move forward with your life. Be aware that traumatic brain injury happens in many other ways as well, such as motorcycle, bicycle, slip and fall accidents and exposure to concussive shock waves from explosions. If you are not sure if you have a case, contact a seasoned Austin personal injury lawyer and find out the lay of the land.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Big rig accidents are possibly the worst types of wrecks, largely because of the devastation they cause. Very few people survive a crash, and those that do are never the same again. Many face living the rest of their lives in pain, disabled and in some instances, not even cognizant of their circumstances, requiring 24/7 care. This is one of the main reasons you need to speak to an Austin personal injury lawyer about obtaining sufficient damages to care for yourself for the rest of your life.

When accidents like this happen, it is crucial to conduct a post-crash investigation. Seeing the scene, examining the debris, searching for skid marks or defective parts is a large part of mounting an effective personal injury case. You need your attorney to get to the scene as fast as possible. This is because the insurance carrier for the trucking company will already have someone on the way to the crash scene; sometimes within an hour.

They have someone on the scene that fast because truckers who have been in an accident know to call their employers immediately. The employer in turn calls their insurance company, who dispatches an agent quickly. Sometimes they arrive so fast, the victims wonder how on earth they could have done that, and not only that, they usually bring an accident reconstructionist with them.

On scene, the lawyer immediately tells the trucker to keep his mouth shut and say absolutely nothing. In the background, the accident specialist starts measuring the site and constructing a back story. This typically happens before the seriously injured victim has a chance to get a grip on what happened to them. They may not even have come to grips with having been involved in an 18-wheeler wreck and are stunned into shock with their injuries. They usually don’t think about the fact they will need a lawyer to defend their rights, and obtain compensation for their injuries.

Obviously, in the above scenario, the defense has an enormous jump start on the case. When your own Austin personal injury lawyer asks for an account of what happened, they get a well rehearsed story. When they demand the log books for the truck, or the onboard black box, it has sometimes magically gone missing. All of these things are serious disadvantages for the plaintiff. The injured needs protection because the trucking company, their lawyers and its insurance company will not help them, even if they were in the wrong.

While it is true that there are rules and regulations in place for truckers to follow that does not mean that they do follow the rules. It’s well known that many will bend the rules to get their load to their destination fast, even if that means driving overtime. Trucking companies often look the other way when this happens, or conversely, quietly encourage it to be done. Why? It affects their bottom line, and money is what makes the world go around. Thus, they will fight any lawsuit that has the potential to cost them money.

An Austin personal injury lawyer knows where to look for the information they need to prove the trucker and/or the trucking company was negligent. That may involve the driver being on the road too many hours, driving while distracted or driving a poorly maintained vehicle. No matter what the reason for the accident, your lawyer will find a way to ensure justice is done in your case.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This case happened during a world championship for powerboats, and resulted in the drowning death of a well known, long time racer, who was experienced when it came to this kind of sport. The man was at the helm of his race boat with the boat’s owner when it overturned during the final lap of the second race. The owner was able to climb through an escape hatch in the cockpit, but the race driver was trapped in his seat.

The driver was alive and not injured immediately after the accident, and tried desperately to free himself from his safety harness. He was able to breathe using an emergency air tank. Overhead, there was a crew of certified dive paramedics waiting to deploy. However, for some strange reason they were not given the okay signal to go ahead. Instead, the Association’s president designated two other untrained individuals as rescuers. He evidently wanted to save money and not use the trained rescue team.

The delay in appointing two other inexperienced people to perform a rescue resulted in the boat starting to ship and sink, shutting the hatch. The race driver ran out of air and drowned. The wrongful death lawsuit filed stated if the defendants had followed the specified rules, regulations and protocols for a situation like this, the driver would have still been alive. The suit further suggests that the president would not allow rescue personnel to perform pre-race safety checks to get to know the features on the race boats.

This is likely to be a complex case, fraught with he said/they said moments. In situations like this, that is virtually inevitable when so many people are involved and have so much at stake. Will this case win? It may. That will, in large part, depend on the kind of proof there is relating to the president choosing to use inexperienced people to attempt a rescue. This is where there may be a credibility issue that the court will have to weigh.

If you have lost someone you cared about and need information about filing a wrongful death lawsuit, do not hesitate to call an Austin personal injury lawyer. It is their job to assess the case and explain how a wrongful death lawsuit differs from criminal charges, and what to expect should a case go to court. For justice and equity, hire an Austin personal injury lawyer. It’s the best investment you could make.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This case is disturbing as the drunk that killed another person was a 32-year-old son of a cop. He was totally drunk and driving his Jeep Cherokee down the highway at 73 miles per hour. Inevitably, he lost control, swerved across several lanes of traffic, careened off a guardrail and rammed into a 1996 Dodge Ram pickup. The force of the impact flipped the pickup over the guardrail, where it burst into flames. The driver was partially ejected and killed instantly.

As it happened, there was a police car on patrol in the vicinity of the wreck, and it made it to the scene within minutes. The police captain driving the cruiser was stunned to see the Cherokee driver trying to yank the truck driver out of his vehicle. The man was a family friend. His father was a cop too. On closer inspection of the scene, the captain noticed the Cherokee driver had difficulty talking, his eyes were bloodshot and he could not keep his balance.

The man failed a field sobriety test with a blood-alcohol content of .197, just about 2.5 times the state’s legal limit. The man admitted he had been drinking beer before he got behind the wheel of his Cherokee and killed someone. The driver eventually pled guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, and was handed a four year sentence along with a license suspension for three years to life. In court, the man offered sincere apologies to the dead man’s family.

While this was a gesture of contrition, it does not bring back the dead man to his family. His death will always leave a gaping hole in their lives. But for the stupidity of drinking enough beers to be 2 .5 times over the legal drinking limit, the deceased would still be alive. If the man could not talk, walk or see very well, what on earth possessed him to drive? Many others in the same condition think they are invincible and invulnerable, when in reality they are mobile accidents, looking for a place to happen.

If you have been involved in a collision with a drunk driver, do not second guess what your legal rights are. Find out by immediately calling an Austin personal injury lawyer that is trained in dealing with egregious accidents like this one. They know how to get you justice. An Austin personal injury lawyer will protect your rights.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This case did not have to happen, but for a trucker who ran a red light because he was in a hurry. That decision cost four women their lives. They were on their way home from a birthday party, when they were broadsided in the middle of an intersection – despite the fact they had the right of way and the green light. Four families were left in shock. Relatives of one of the deceased women chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the trucker and his employer.

The statement of claim alleged that the trucker showed a wanton and willful disregard for the safety of others on the road. But more than that, the lawsuit outlines the trucking company had a history of leaky brakes on their rigs and a whole host of other mechanical issues that indicated poor and slipshod maintenance. In fact, the trucking company’s record for unsafe driving was cited as being far worse than 64.1 percent of all federally authorized trucking companies between 2009 and 2011, and its vehicle maintenance violations were worse than 71.4 percent.

The rig being driven that day was an accident looking for a place to happen. Whether or not the trucker did not stop because he wanted to get to where he was going sooner, or whether he elected not to stop because his brakes were not working, is a moot point. The decision to run the red light was negligent. The lawsuit seeks damages for pain and suffering, medical bills, loss of guidance, affection, support and companionship.

Will this case be successful? Chances are it will. The evidence is clear and compelling. The man ran a red light and was driving a poorly maintained truck with questionable brakes. He knew the rig was in poor shape, yet still drove it. His employer was also aware their semis were not properly maintained, and yet let them out on the road. It doesn’t much matter what the reasons were for why the trucker ran the red light. The fact is he did and that the resulting crash killed four innocent people.

Cases like this one are as near as one can get to being open and shut. The evidence speaks for itself and the Austin personal injury lawyer that handles this case knows precisely how to ensure the family gets justice. They have lost someone they loved and they don’t need to lose anything more, or be left in economic desperation by that loss. If you have been in a similar situation, do not hesitate to call a veteran Austin personal injury lawyer. That is their job, to help victims find some sense of closure and justice.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This case is pretty controversial, largely for the reason that a Massachusetts court has decided that people who play host for bring your own booze partiers are not liable if underage drinkers get drunk and drive. To many that is unconscionable not to make the hosts responsible to watch their guests’ consumption while on their property. Someone needs to step up and be responsible if the kids are not being smart enough. That’s what adults are for.

The Massachusetts high court handed down a ruling that said social hosts cannot be expected to be the booze police if they are not supplying the alcohol for the gathering. However, should they hold a party or get together and supply the liquor they can be held liable for damages caused by drunk guests. Many parents find this ruling an abomination, wondering whatever happened to the concept of social responsibility.

Underage drinkers should not be drinking in the first place, and if they are bringing alcohol to a party that would be considered to be illegal, not to mention the issue of how they obtained it in the first place and how it is acceptable for someone to host a party where there is illegal drinking going on. The world is a strange place, and it’s not made any better by a court suggesting parents may abdicate their moral ethics, parental responsibility, and allow underage drinking on their premises.

The court indicated a social host may be liable for injuries to third parties caused by a drunk guest only in situations where they served alcohol or made it available. In other words, they would only be liable if they have effective control over the booze. Just because an underage drinker brings alcohol to a party does not mean the social hosts should just leave things be and let them get drunk right under their noses. While there may be prior court cases like this, the decision just does not sit right.

What started this lawsuit was an injury accident that happened when two partygoers left the hosts’ home. The male and his 16-year-old girlfriend slammed into a utility pole, resulting in serious injuries for the female. The 18-year-old host was the named defendant. The male driver supplied all the booze at the party and consumed two mixed drinks and up to seven beers. He had hauled in a 30-pack of beer and a bottle of rum, and it is doubtful he would have expected to drink the whole cache.

The lawsuit suggested the host should be considered negligent for letting the male drink on her property. The court said no, the host is not responsible for their guests’ consumption when they do not control the supply of booze. That clearly begs the question that if the male brought all the alcohol to the party, then why couldn’t the host control the supply of booze? It was on her property for others, including the host, to drink. Who’s to say the male did not pick the booze up for the host?

On the whole, this case has too many holes in it to make good social sense. It is plain as day that drinking and driving, especially by underage individuals, is a serious problem and society has a duty to limit or prevent this happening in any way they can. A hands off attitude just does not cut it.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Just when you thought you had heard all there was about traumatic brain injury in football and hockey, you then find out this type of injury is prevalent in soccer. Players perform a move referred to as heading, which refers to using their head (sans protection), to redirect or stop a soccer ball. Soccer balls travel at very high speeds, and the force of impact on the skull tosses the brain around. The result? Concussion, also called traumatic brain injury.

While the cognitive impairment may be mild in the case of athletes heading the ball, if a string of these incidents were sustained over a period of time, the cumulative effect could be detrimental. Given the number of soccer players worldwide, this is an issue that bears investigation. Like football, the long-term effects of continually heading may not be known until later in a player’s career or if they donate their brains to science for study. For instance, renowned British footballer Jeffrey Astle, noted for his slamming headers, died of degenerative brain disease in 2002. His damaged brain showed the trademark signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

In a smart move to be proactive, rather than reactive, researchers have published an article about heading in the January 2012 issue of Neurosurgery, indicating caution is the better part of valor. Since many young children play this sport, it would make sense to urge them to refrain from heading the ball until they develop the correct neck strength and proper body control to head a ball properly. Despite knowing the right technique, this is not to say accidents will not happen, because they do.

In anticipation of the debate growing even more strident, many soccer clubs are considering headgear of some sort to absorb the shock of the ball aS it connects with the skull. Soccer balls today are not made of leather, which may lighten their impact as leather is noted to absorb water that creates a deadlier head hit.

Even though those who play sports are playing with the knowledge that they may be injured, there is a line that should not be crossed. That line is the teams fully informing all players of the potential risks of playing the game, including the chance they may suffer cognitive impairment and death from cumulative head hits. You may recall that 21 former National Football League players filed a class action lawsuit against the league for not telling them that they knew about the risks of repeated traumatic brain injuries.

Generally speaking, if negligence is involved in a sport, such as not informing players of all the risks, there may be a good case for filing a lawsuit with the assistance of an Austin personal injury lawyer. Not all cases are the same, and each one has its own set of facts that will determine how a lawsuit may proceed. It is the Austin personal injury lawyer’s job to advise you if you have a case, if it stands a chance of winning and how you may expect your case to develop as it heads toward a settlement or a jury verdict.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Those big rigs you see on the highways across the nation carry anything ¨C literally ¨C and in this case the truck involved in this accident was packing ammunition. The trucker had to be hoping he would not get into an accident. One needs to be careful what they wish for, as sure enough, the driver was involved in a wreck.

The UPS 18-wheeler actually jack-knifed and burst into flames in the northbound lane of the highway. How did this happen? The driver was distracted just moments before the accident. Whether distracted meant he was on the cell phone, texting, using his computer, playing a computer game, picking something up off the floor or drifting off to sleep will be the subject of an intense investigation.

EMS crews and other support emergency workers, such as fire trucks and police cars were on the scene in minutes. They were marshaling to get maximum access to get the driver out of the wreck when the worst thing you could think of happened; a bullet exploded and streaked towards a fire truck, ricocheting off its side. After everyone picked themselves up off the ground, rescue efforts continued unabated. Luckily, there were no serious injuries and the trucker was listed in good condition with minor injuries.

This accident would have been a lot worse than it was and could have involved an explosion. The point of this case is that truckers are handling big rigs while driving negligently and the results are not always as fortunate as in this case. Driving while distracted is dangerous and in other cases, innocent people have paid with their lives for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It goes without saying that the trucker needs to have some common sense and not only follow the rules, but drive with safety in mind. In this instance, whatever he was doing before he jack-knifed his rig was utterly irresponsible. The on board black box will tell its story when it is recovered, and the police will take the matter from there.

But for the fate of being on the road in the early hours of the morning when traffic was light, this truck with its load of ammunition could have caused a whole other serious problem by erupting into a deadly fireball filled with projectiles that could maim or kill. Think what might have happened had the truck been hauling dynamite, gelignite or other highly volatile chemicals.

Being involved in an accident with a tractor trailer is something few people survive, and those that do often find their lives a mere shadow of what they once were. They typically require ongoing and extensive medical care for the rest of their lives. If you have been in a road wreck with one of these big rigs, do not hesitate to call an Austin personal injury lawyer with experience in resolving these kinds of cases. You will need compensation to survive and someone to stand up for your rights. An Austin personal injury lawyer is the answer.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

A lot of strange cases cross the police blotter. Some are bizarre. Some are perplexing and others gut-wrenchingly stupid. This case is one of those. What this woman was thinking, and it is clear that she was not, is beyond comprehension.

The 41-year-old woman, arrested by police for drunk driving and causing an accident, was so dead-set on getting and staying drunk that she left her 3-year-old daughter home by herself at night. Three years old and her mother goes out on the town. Life is stranger than fiction. While mom was out kicking a few back and being sociable, she also decided she was able to drive. Why not? She left her 3-year-old at home alone, thinking that was ok. Why not drink and drive as well?

Predictably, the woman nailed another car that had been trying to turn left onto an avenue. Did she stay at the scene? No, she fled. The police found her later, sitting in her parked car, with the airbag deployed and serious front end damage from the accident, silently regarding her steering wheel like it was an alien object. This is likely since she was so loaded. It was not rocket science to ascertain the woman was drunk. What rocked the police officer taking her statement was the admission her 3-year-old was alone at home, and sure enough she was, crying because she was afraid to be alone without her mom.

The cop promptly called social services, and the youngster was taken to a family member’s home until her mother sobered up. That may turn out to be a long time, as she was charged with DWI, neglect and cruelty to a child, was cited for fleeing the scene of an accident, refusing a breathalyzer test, and careless driving.

The other person involved in this accident was thankfully not badly injured, but their car was heavily damaged. Nonetheless, the other driver did head to the hospital to get checked over. What rights does that other driver have? They have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against the woman to recover damages for personal injuries and damage to their vehicle. Will the case go to court? It may, but if insurance is involved, an Austin personal injury lawyer may be able to negotiate a reasonable settlement with the insurance company. Don’t try this on your own. The insurance company would rather make you take their first low ball offer, than help you.

Any time you are faced with a mess like this accident, call an Austin personal injury lawyer and find out if you have a case. Never assume you have nothing, or conversely, have something without talking to qualified legal counsel. Knowledge is power and offers you the right information on which to proceed.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This is one of those cases where you wonder where people left their brains. The driver of the pickup that caused this fatal wreck was more than drunk when he attempted to drive home at 3 a.m. He wasn’t doing a very good job of staying between the lines or staying on the road at all. In fact, his driving was so erratic that he slammed into a car carrying three younger men who happened to be heading in the same direction the 28-year-old pick-up driver was going.

But for a night out on the town, three men would still be alive today. The pickup driver survived but was in critical condition. The other three victims never had a chance. The hospitalized survivor was charged with driving with a blood alcohol content over .08, impaired driving causing death and manslaughter. While it is unusual to also lay a manslaughter charge in a case like this, there were several factors the police considered: the aggressively high rate of speed the drunk was maintaining and the level of impairment, which was objectively dangerous enough to kill someone.

Whatever happened to common sense? It appears to have gone out the window when the pickup driver made the assumption, or glaringly bad judgment, to attempt to drive when he was totally drunk. The families of the three dead young men have sought legal counsel in this matter, and it is safe to say that all three will likely file wrongful death lawsuits. The families are left with nothing but memories. The survivor is left with memories, but one imagines they won’t make him quit drinking. Somehow, that never happens. Instead, the deaths become another reason to continue getting drunk.

Death by drunk driver is one of the toughest types of accidents to understand and for good reason. The accident just never should have happened in the first place. Those who drive are responsible for the safety of others on the road. That is just the way it is. Those who speed, drive recklessly, drive under the influence of something or drive negligently are responsible for their actions and for their negligence that maimed or killed others.

If you have been involved in an accident with a drunk driver, call an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer to understand what your rights are and how to pursue a lawsuit to recover compensation for your injuries. While cases like this may take some time to go through the court system or be settled, with a seasoned Austin personal injury lawyer handling the case, justice will be done.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This on-the-job injury case involved a railroad worker. John Doe (whose name has been changed to protect the victim) had worked for the Kansas City Southern Railway Company for a number of years when he was involved in an accident.

The fateful event happened in 2009 when Doe, a section foreman, and his crew were removing broken rail of a section of track. Suddenly, the boom of the crane struck the ball of the rail still loaded in the rack of a railway section truck. The impact rolled it over the forks on the rack and the rail dropped like a stone to the ground. On its way down, Doe was hit and sustained severe back, neck and head injuries.

From that day forward, Doe suffered unbelievable physical pain and suffering, lost wages, mental anguish, loss of current and future earnings, diminished earning capacity and enormous medical bills that he was unable to pay. Doe hopes that his case will be successful, and that he will be able to recover enough money to take care of himself for the future.

Cases like this are tricky and may also involve worker’s compensation. In some states, a worker is not able to sue his employer because he is being paid workers’ compensation. Since this varies state by state, it is something that needs to be checked with an Austin personal injury lawyer if an accident like this takes place in Texas.

Workers’ compensation is always an issue when workers are injured on the job, but each case is different, so never assume you do not have a case or that you cannot get compensation. The details of the case need to be discussed in depth with an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer. As things currently stand, Texas private employers may choose whether or not they will offer workers’ compensation insurance to their employees. Typically, the employer is mandated to tell the worker if they have coverage or not.

Workers’ compensation pays the medical bills and covers a portion of a worker’s lost wages if they are injured on the job or are affected by a work-related illness and the employer has coverage under the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act, Title 5, Subtitle A, Labor Code. It can also cover for vocational rehabilitation and retraining when an injury prevents a worker from going back to their normal job, and they need to learn a new position to be able to work with a longer-term injury or disability.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Sometimes, fate plays a hand in someone’s life, or in the lives of many. That is what happened in this case. Forty-three year old John Doe (name changed to protect the kids), was going down the road when he was pulled over by state troopers. They initially noted he was not wearing a seatbelt.

When they were talking to him, they caught the very strong smell of alcohol from inside the truck and noticed that there were two kids in the truck with him, ages 13 and 10. The driver miserably failed the field sobriety test and was arrested, bundled into a police car and taken to state police barracks. His blood alcohol content was .17, which is more than twice the legal limit. The man was promptly charged with felony driving while intoxicated, because he had children in his vehicle.

What possesses people to drive while drunk? What makes them think they are immortal and invisible to law enforcement while they are trying to pretend they can drive? What on earth propels them to take children along for the ride, when there is the very real possibility the kids could be killed in an accident? There is an old saying, “You can’t fix stupid.”
Stupid decisions aside, this man could have wrecked a lot of havoc on someone, including himself, had the police not stopped him for what they thought might be a seat belt infraction. Somewhere those children’s guardian angels were working overtime.

If this man had been involved in an accident and harmed or killed someone, including the two children, he could be sued for wrongful death or personal injuries. To prove a personal injury case or a wrongful death case, there needs to be negligence involved. In this instance, the negligence is two-fold: drinking excessively and choosing to drive. The link to prove the case is made between the negligence being the direct cause of the accident and thus the cause of the injuries or death.

When someone is killed due to the negligence of another, the surviving relatives may file a wrongful death lawsuit. This suit would seek compensation from the person responsible for the death or injuries. Damages may include medical bills, lost wages, loss of future earnings, loss of companionship, funeral and burial expenses and may also include punitive damages that are often awarded for egregious, intentional acts.

When you speak to an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer about a wrongful death case, one of the things discussed is limits on damages in a personal injury case. Some states place limits on compensatory or punitive damages. You need to know how that may work in your situation and how your Austin personal injury lawyer can help you find justice.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

The 26-year-old man killed in this accident was out riding his bicycle on a nice day. He was an experienced rider, but that did not help him on that fateful day. The man had nowhere else to go but under a fuel tanker to try and avoid an accident. He would have made it, had the tanker not run over him.

How did something like that happen? The man was riding his bike south in the northbound lanes on a busy avenue. Alongside him was an 18-wheeler from a local fuel company, also traveling south, just about parallel to the bike rider. The trucker suddenly turned into the man’s path as he went to enter a parking lot.

There was nothing the biker could do but try and stop. He did not succeed, and his bike slammed into the tanker, sliding under the truck. A wrongful death? Yes and the young man’s family filed a lawsuit asking for compensation for medical and funeral expenses, pain, suffering and the loss of companionship of their son.

Was there negligence involved in this case? Yes, the trucker turned into the man’s path without taking due care to check his mirrors. After all, he had just been riding side by side with the cyclist minutes before he was killed. Was there something going on in the truck’s cab? There may have been, and only an investigation will tell. The trucker may have been texting, talking on a cell phone or leaning over to pick up papers on the floor of the cab.

What is painfully clear is that the family left behind is beside themselves with grief. Their son just went for a bike ride. They did not expect that they would never see him alive again. Filing a wrongful death lawsuit is one way to bring closure and move forward with their lives. Often people think wrongful death lawsuits are about revenge. They are not. They are more often than not about a family wanting to make sure a similar incident does not happen to someone else.

The family’s pain and shock often translates into concern for the welfare of others, not their own financial gain. In many cases such as this, though, there is often insurance money on the table, and the trucking company would be insured. Working in partnership with an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer would assist the family in facing the challenges to come as their case makes its way through the courts.

Never hesitate to contact an Austin personal injury lawyer if you find yourself involved in a situation like this. You need to know your legal rights, what constitutes a wrongful death, how compensation is awarded, and what to expect while you are waiting for a judgment.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

And death came calling in this case when a drunk driver sped right through a red light, slamming into a 2004 silver Pontiac. The drunk was driving a 2011 black Hyundai that looked amazingly small and insignificant in the aftermath of the wreck. It was almost hard to believe that it caused the damage it did, although at the speed the driver was doing, perhaps it was not so unusual.

The force of the impact caved in the driver’s side of the Pontiac; an impact that shoved both vehicles at least 150 feet or more from the center of the intersection. The Pontiac driver was dead at the scene. The Hyundai driver would be charged with speeding and driving while under the influence. Wrongful death? Yes. Criminal charges? Yes.

In this instance, the criminal charges would take precedence over the civil suit, which is not to say that a civil suit could not be filed and go to court after the criminal case. You just need to keep in mind that the way a case is proved in civil court is different than in a criminal court. In criminal cases, proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt, in civil cases it is judged on a balance of probabilities.

It is highly likely that the victim’s family would want to discuss the situation with a competent personal injury lawyer. No one should face something like this wreck alone and wondering how they will carry on with their lives.

If you have been in a collision like this, involving a drunk driver or a reckless one, and have sustained serious injuries, you will want to make contact with an Austin personal injury lawyer. Find out right away what your legal rights are, how to file a case, what to expect when you move forward and what your Austin personal injury lawyer does to protect your rights. It is a call well worth making.

Do not wait to contact an experienced lawyer, as there is something called the statue of limitations that, if you miss filing your claim in time, means that you no longer have the right to file a case against the defendant. If you have suffered serious, debilitating injuries, you will need compensation to care for yourself for the rest of your life.

Do not rely on insurance companies to help you settle a claim. Their only reason for talking to you is to get you to settle quickly and cheaply. More often than not, your injuries are worth more than an insurance company will admit. When an experienced lawyer handles the insurance company you do not get worked over.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It is bad enough out there on the highways when you are traveling at high speeds, and your travel companions on the roadways are 18-wheelers as those larger than life monsters can cause horrific accidents. More often than not, the cause of a wreck with a big rig is driver error. This is not to say that mechanical failure cannot be a cause, because that happens as well. It is just that human error is more likely the cause of a wreck.

Take the case of the trucker who bent down to pick some papers up off the floor of the cab, while he was driving, and slammed into a line of cars waiting at a construction stop. The wreckage in that fiasco was strewn more 100 yards. There were three deaths and at least seven other people seriously injured.

Or consider the case of the man who drove himself to complete exhaustion to get his routes done on time and earn more money. One day while on the way to deliver a load of metal, he fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into the oncoming lane of traffic. The Jeep Cherokee he hit was completely obliterated, killing all four occupants in the vehicle.

Then there was the case that was just about a wreck, but not completely. The reason why the accident almost happened will shock you, but it should almost not come as a surprise as truckers seem to be taking more and more stupid risks these days while behind the wheel. In this case, police charged a trucker with watching TV while he was driving on one of the nation’s busiest highways.

Another driver on the same highway called police to let them know he was sure he had seen a TV mounted on the dashboard of a tractor-trailer barrelling down the highway. Sure enough, when the police caught up with the trucker, he had a portable DVD player on the dash. Can you just imagine what would have happened, if not on that trip, but on another one? You can be sure that driving while distracted will result in a collision. When you are piloting a big rig, paying attention to the road and everything else around you is important.

Why truckers seem to think they can drive a deadly machine while on booze, high on pills, or texting, watching TV or while sleep deprived is the million dollar question of the year. Sure, it is a job for them and they need to make money. However, while trying to make money, they may end up losing everything, including their lives, by driving while distracted or under the influence.

Have you been in an accident with a big rig? Don’t know what to do? Call an Austin personal injury lawyer right away. In these kinds of cases, time is of the essence to preserve vital evidence. These cases are never easy for anyone, and your Austin personal injury lawyer will get on it right away, assess the situation and discuss his recommendations with you.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Unfortunately, even with the latest push to improve big rig safety, there are still far too many devastating accidents taking lives, and often taking them in a grisly fashion. The difficulty is that many passenger vehicles do not seem to understand or appreciate that driving a huge commercial truck is not like driving a smaller car. They are far more difficult to maneuver, do not stop quickly, and cannot see you in certain blind spots.

Most commercial trucks easily weigh more than 80,000 pounds. On the other hand, passenger vehicles may weigh about 3,000 pounds. It does not take too much imagination to realize that 80,000 pounds slamming into 3,000 pounds means a disaster, often one in which someone loses their life. Their enormous weight is why it takes them longer to stop. The forward momentum of that much weigh just keeps going until the brakes kick in.

Another factor that most do not think about is that many truckers are hauling hazardous cargo such as flammable material, making how they drive much more of a safety issue. A truck loaded with gas or other highly flammable materials stands a good chance of exploding if it is involved in an accident. This may mean death in a fire or severe burns and respiratory issues.

But these wrecks are not accidents. Most are caused by decisions made months or years earlier by trucking companies trying to maximize profits. The pressure of an employer breathing down their necks is often another reason why truckers get into accidents. The truth is that many truckers drive for too long, are tired, distracted and not fully alert and aware. So they may drift off behind the wheel.

Truckers are often expected to do their deliveries as fast as they can to make the company money, skip proper maintenance checks to make their trips quicker and falsify log books to show they had the requisite number of sleep breaks, when they did not. Similarly, trucking companies often shirk their responsibility to properly train their drivers or to hire experienced drivers in efforts to save costs. These conditions virtually guarantee an accident waiting to happen.

Even with the latest move in the trucking industry to ban cell phone usage, and calling and texting while on the road, accidents caused by these very actions are still happening. Some truckers, feeling like nothing will happen to them, are still driving while distracted. This is a recipe for an accident.

Trucking accidents may become even more of a problem for residents of Austin and other Central Texas towns. The federal government recently began allowing trucks from Mexico to travel deep into the United States. Many of these trucks, which might pose an even bigger risk than domestic trucks, will be traveling through our area along I-35.

No matter what caused a truck accident that you may have been involved in and no matter where it happened, make the first phone call for legal help to a seasoned Austin personal injury attorney. With their help, you will be able to recover the compensation you need to cope with your injuries. An Austin personal injury attorney’s job is to help protect your rights and help you through the courts to get justice.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This reported case was incredibly heartbreaking for the biker’s family. A young 43-year-old father was out for an early morning ride on his motorcycle when a big rig made an illegal U-turn right in front of him. With nowhere else to go, the biker swerved to avoid hitting the truck, smacked into a curb and slammed into the side of the truck.

If you can believe this, the trucker, aware of what happened, climbed out of his vehicle, looked at the accident scene, then left. He was later tracked down and arrested on suspicion of hit and run and vehicular manslaughter. Can you imagine anyone standing there in the road looking at a serious, and as it turned out, fatally injured person, and instead of helping, runs away? There are no words to describe this type of person.

Does the family of the biker have a wrongful death case? Yes, they do. Not only do they have a wrongful death case, they have grounds for punitive damages given the egregious nature of the trucker’s negligence. What made the trucker take off? This is a question that investigators will be trying to answer. It may have been because he was under the influence, texting while driving, on the phone while driving, inattention or that he had been smoking marijuana. Whatever the reasons, the outcome was the death of a man, who could have still been alive today but for the trucker’s ill advised left U-turn.

There are two components to this case: the first is the criminal charge, which would be dealt with first. Subsequent to that, a civil lawsuit (the wrongful death case) could be filed. The criminal charge would relate to leaving the scene of a crash, which is not only horrifically inhumane, but illegal. In relation to the wrongful death lawsuit that the family may file, they should be able to claim compensation not only from the at-fault trucker, but his employer as well. To get the right kind of legal representation in cases like this, you will need an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer – one who knows the true meaning of justice for victims.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Death comes in many forms, and this bizarre case is no exception. A 14-year-old student at a local high school was unexpectedly killed in an accident when a wall fell on him. He was doing pull-ups on the wall in his locker room that had initially been built in 1990.

Even though emergency response crews got to the scene fast, the young boy’s heart stopped before he could be taken to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead.

The accident report did not indicate what possible reasons there may have been for the interior wall to cave in on the boy. The boys in the room were not fooling around or doing anything else that would have caused a wall to fall. There was one other student in the locker room at the time of the cave-in and several others rushed into the room to start removing the heavy cement blocks from the boy’s body.

The police are going to be asking a lot of questions relating to this incident, not the least of which is whether or not the walls of the locker room were regularly inspected, if there had been any leaking or shifting of the building that may have affected the interior wall, and whether there was other work happening in the building that may have affected the wall.

If any of the answers to those questions comes back that the school was aware of other issues in the building that they should have known about and/or should have known would affect supporting walls on the interior, they may well be cited as an at-fault party for their negligence in maintaining the building’s safety. Another issue the investigation will also cover is whether or not the wall was designed and built correctly in the first place with the right kind of materials, and not slapped together with shoddy cement bricks that were not up to building code requirements.

Although it is an odd case, it is considered to be a wrongful death and as such, the boy’s family may wish to consult with legal counsel about what rights they have. Even though this is a difficult thing to consider, it is a wise move for the family, as it does, in some measure, assist with closure and may serve as a lesson to others to keep their buildings maintained with safety in mind.

If you have been in similar situation, or have been injured because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, take the first step in seeking justice by calling an Austin personal injury lawyer. Accidents like this may look like one thing on the surface, but on closer inspection be something else entirely. An Austin personal injury lawyer knows this and will listen as you recount the details of how you sustained the injuries.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Imagine this – a semi truck barrels down the highway, makes a stop at an interstate highway weigh station, as per regulation, and gets into a conversation with a commercial vehicle officer. This seems normal enough on the surface, but something did not add up for the officer. The conversation about the trucker’s load, where he was headed, weight and other details rang a little bell in the back of the officer’s head.

Doing his job, the officer asked permission to search the truck and found 213 pounds of marijuana. You might be wondering why the trucker gave the officer permission to search his vehicle if he was hauling drugs, but really, what other choices did he have? The driver was immediately arrested and faced drug trafficking charges. The arrest report did not indicate whether or not the driver was under the influence when he was arrested.

This immediately brings to mind stories of other big rigs involved in accidents that maim and kill and the further revelation that semi truck drivers driving under the influence of marijuana is on the rise. In fact, this grim news was recently revealed in a study done by the Insurance Institute for Traffic Safety. They found that more than 15 percent of 18-wheeler drivers that participated in the research for the report tested positive for marijuana. A companion study, authored by the NTSB, showed 12.5 percent of all fatal truck accidents involved marijuana.

Obviously if a trucker has been smoking marijuana and then trying to drive an 80,000 pound vehicle, something bad is going to happen, sooner if not later. It significantly impairs the user’s ability to drive and makes them unsafe at any speed. Many know that this drug acts on the user’s central nervous system and causes difficulty concentrating, temporary loss of memory and a slower reaction time. If the trucker cannot control his/her vehicle because they have been toking up, the end results may be catastrophic.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There is so much campaign rhetoric polluting the airwaves that it is hard to get the straight facts. Tort reform, otherwise known as medical malpractice caps, is a definite heated issue with injured victims and personal injury lawyers. Lawyers have continued to point out that putting medical malpractice caps in place only hurts the victim twice and leaves them struggling to deal with their ruined lives and unable to pay their medical bills.

Finally, a national report, which just came out, reveals that the 2003 Texas law responsible for capping medical malpractice damage awards has prompted a significant hike in health care spending, and has not seen an increase in physicians in the state; contrary to what Governor Perry has said on the campaign trail. Perry has stated on several occasions that the medical malpractice law added 21,000 physicians to the state. It has not.

The report, authored by Public Citizen, is called “A Failed Experiment”, and it clearly says that using the model Texas passed as law would only benefit insurers and doctors, not injured victims. This is not shocking news to personal injury lawyers, wrongful death lawyers or medical malpractice lawyers. The instant a damage cap was mentioned as being a way to cut the high costs of insurance premiums, cut health care costs and save money, attorneys have been insisting that would not happen. They are right.

What happens is that medical malpractice victims get worked over twice. Once by their physician or another medical professional, by sustaining a serious or deadly injury, and the second time by a law drafted to help insurance companies make more money, while politicians keep votes from the medical profession. Make no mistake, the medical malpractice caps are not about justice for innocent medical negligence victims.

What politician or doctor in their right mind would be against taking responsibility for a serious medical error that forever changed the life of a patient who trusted their doctor to care for them? Apparently, there are a great number of politicians and doctors, not to mention insurance companies that think it is perfectly acceptable to limit the damage award to a victim, so they may save money. What that says about the concept of justice is frightening.

Just what is a victim whose life has been so drastically altered by medical negligence supposed to do when faced with enormous medical bills incurred through no fault of their own? Someone needs to take responsibility, and that someone needs to be the doctor and the insurance companies.

The Texas Medical Association and Texas Alliance for Patient Access are not happy with the report, and dispute its conclusions about the number of doctors who came to the state. In fact, the Alliance insists doctors left the state like lemmings and malpractice insurance rates were just about double what they are today before the tort reform law was passed. However, they assert that that since 2007, Texas has licensed about 60 percent more new doctors every year than it did before tort reform.

Obviously, there are two sides to every story, just as there are two sides to a medical malpractice victim’s lawsuit. Ultimately, the jury is out on tort reform and it will likely continue to be until someone gets it that once an innocent victim has been harmed, someone must take responsibility for the damage. If not doctors, insurance companies or politicians, then whom? Think about that if you are ever involved in a medical malpractice case and need a significant jury award to pay for your care for the rest of your life.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

You would think that there have been more than enough texting while driving deaths reported in the news for people to get the message. Apparently not, as this case demonstrates how a trucker died as he slammed into an Amtrak train. How did that happen? It happened because he was texting while driving and not paying attention to where he was going.
The trucker was still moving forward at highway speeds when the train was crossing the tracks in front of him, even while the gate was down and the lights were flashing. The collision resulted in a massive fire as the tractor-trailer hit the side of the train.

An accident reconstructionist was able to mark out more than 200 feet of skid marks made, just prior to the impact. While holding his cell phone and texting, the trucker realized that he was about to hit the train. The locomotive burst into flames and was separated from the passenger cars it was hauling. Four passengers and two train crew members were hurt.

At least six people were injured from the collision, including two Amtrak crew members and four passengers. If the accident had been the result of a mechanical failure, the dead man’s family would also have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit. However, because the direct proximate cause of the accident was the trucker texting on his cell phone, it is the passengers and crew that will have a course of legal action open to them.

For those who have been involved in an accident with a big rig, it is vitally important to seek experienced legal counsel in the form of an Austin personal injury lawyer. With years of experience under his belt, an Austin personal injury attorney will deal with the case from start to finish, and put the insurance companies in their place to make sure you get the settlement you deserve.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

One million head trauma cases in the USA every year is a sign that something needs to be done to reduce the occurrence of this type of injury. Something also needs to be done to speed up the diagnosis of a brain injury, other than by visual signs so the victim does not wind dead.

There is some exciting news out of Cleveland about a new test that could indicate the presence of concussion, and if it lives up to its potential, military personnel may benefit from it too. Far too many of our young men and women are returning from various wars and victims of head traumas and concussions from IEDs. Since it is an unseen injury, cognitive behavior is often attributed to post traumatic stress or other things. If there was a way to confirm what was going on inside their brain, it may help them get the proper treatment faster.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are running blood tests on local college football players for a protein that indicates a concussion. This new test screens samples to find out if they have a protein that is known to leak into the blood after a head injury. Should the study confirm the predictive value of that protein, it could mean just a simple blood test to confirm concussions, instead of a very expensive trip to the ER and an entire battery of tests.

While this test has the potential to revolutionize a traumatic brain injury diagnosis, it does not address how the players got a concussion in the first place. There are certain risks inherent in playing sports, but those risks should be revealed and discussed with players. Although players are becoming more aware of what concussions mean, there is still a long way to go to educate coaches, owners, players and parents about the real risks of multiple blows to the head.

Until the sports world as a whole decides to banish the macho image of athletes, players will continue to get hurt, sustain concussions and end up with cognitive difficulties at some point in their life. They may even commit suicide as recent events in the NHL have shown. Will education win the day? That is a hard question to answer, as there will always be those who think that fighting, tackling and head shots are cool, and that nothing will ever happen to them.

But when it does happen to them, they will need the expert advice of a seasoned Austin personal injury lawyer about how to file a lawsuit. If a player has been hurt and put back into play, it is time to discuss the situation with legal counsel.

Same goes for military veterans who deserve to know about their injuries. It is better to know where you stand before the trauma takes its toll. Making a call to an Austin personal injury lawyer will update you on the latest in this area of personal injury law. It is a call well worth making.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Unfortunately, with the current attitude in many sports that playing through pain is a given, too many players are placed back into risky situations despite the presence of concussions and other brain injuries.

This is a problem that occurs in many sports. It could happen in soccer, football, polo, basketball and volleyball as well as cheerleading. Lately, consistent concussions over a period of time and the consequences for athletes have been making the news, and not in a good way. National Hockey League enforcers Wade Belak, Rick Rypien, and Derek Boogaard died as a result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

CTE causes depression and all three enforcers, not to mention other notable players, have suffered the detrimental effects of CTE. Some are still alive to discuss how they cope with the mental and emotional issues they have. Others, like Belak, Rypien, Boogaard are dead. Their brains were examined for the presence of excess tau protein, a telltale sign of CTE.

Concussions happen all the time when kids and older adults are playing contact sports. It’s the manly thing to do, and they accept that they will get hit hard every now and then, including their head. But this is far more serious than the nonchalant reference to concussions being disorienting. It can kill, and the latest research points out that it may not even take a concussion to trigger a CTE.

It was once thought that continuing to play after sustaining a concussion was the major cause of CTE and other dementias. Now, the latest information from a Purdue University study in the Journal of Neurotrauma is that if a player sustains multiple blows to the head, every game played even without concussion symptoms, can still cause a CTE and long-term brain problems, including progressive dementia.

The word is getting out about this and you can see that in the latest court cases. For example, in July 2010, 75 former NFL players sued the league, suggesting they knew about the long-term effects of many blows to the head for at least 90 years, and it did not warn them or adequately protect them. Furthermore, the suit also suggested that it was not until 2010 that the league indicated that concussions can lead to CTE, memory loss and dementia.

You can expect to see an increase in lawsuits in this area of the law as more information becomes available on the causes and effects of CTE. If you have sustained a head injury or concussion, nothing was done about it, and you were put back into the game, talk to an Austin personal injury lawyer about your options, particularly if you are having cognitive difficulties. It is too important not to take action and find out about your legal rights.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This is actually good news for all vehicle drivers who spend a fair amount of time on America’s highways. Let’s hope this practice gets implemented across the country quickly. One well known and reliable trucking firm in Washington is implementing drug screening on their new hires by using hair samples. They want to ensure the drivers do not get into accidents during their first few months of employment. The hair testing will be a companion test to the mandated Department of Transportation urine testing for drugs.

Statistically speaking, new truck drivers that start with a firm tend to have an accident within their first three to four months on the job. After that time frame, the risk of being in a crash drops. Hoping to avoid big rig accidents, and the possibility of large payouts if their corporation is sued, the company is planning to combine the urine test with a hair test, largely because the hair holds onto drugs far longer than the body does when it eliminates drugs out via urination. The net result they hope to achieve is hiring safer drivers.

Apparently this program was started in July 2011 and by all reports, it has shown beneficial results. To date, more than 170 drivers have already been screened using both tests. Out of that 170, the hair testing caught 10 potential drivers that tested positive for drugs. If it were not for the hair testing, they would have been hired.

Of interest is that many truck driving candidates voluntarily drop out of the hiring process once they find out they need to submit a hair sample for drug testing. When one looks at the bigger picture of keeping the roads safe, this can only be a good thing.

It is also good news to hear that there are even further tests being implemented by U.S. motor carrier companies, which include running drug tests for extended opiates and sleep apnea screening. Many carriers are also starting to add electronic onboard data recorders to track what their employees are doing while they are on the road in the company truck.

Should car drivers be less worried about being on the road with 18-wheelers? Perhaps so, but that is not to say they should not still take great care when in the presence of big rigs. Any accidents with a big rig and a smaller vehicle will still not have a good outcome, so sharing the road is still an important concept.

If you have been in an accident with an 18-wheeler, you need to contact a skilled Austin personal injury lawyer right away. Do not wait. The accident scene needs to be preserved and the plaintiff needs to know how to move forward and recover compensation for their injuries. An Austin personal injury lawyer with experience dealing with trucking accidents will know what to do immediately.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

They say that the truth is far stranger than fiction, and in this case, that is certainly true. It was a normal evening at the home of John and Maria Doe (names have been changed to protect the victims), and Mr. Doe was sitting at the table in his kitchen eating supper. When he looked out the window, he noted that it was raining so it would be a good night to stay in and just watch television.

Without any warning, a grey Nissan Maxima ploughed through the kitchen from the front room, and threw Mr. Doe and the kitchen furniture out into the backyard. The scene was something right out of a movie, with Mr. Doe’s wife and son frantically trying to find him underneath all of the rubble on the lawn.

When the police arrived, they were able to extricate the man and hand him over to emergency medical personnel who checked him over, only to amazingly find lacerations and a broken jaw. Those on the scene were virtually certain the man, when they found him, would have serious injuries. Mr. Doe was giving thanks to whatever was watching over him that evening.

The accident happened at about 7 p.m. when the Maxima clipped a tree in the Doe’s front yard, just before crashing through their front room window and wall, straight through to the kitchen and lounge room and right out to the back patio – taking Mr. Doe with them. The car’s driver also lucked out in terms of injuries and sustained minor lacerations.

The police suggested the driver step out of his vehicle and take a sobriety test, which perhaps not too surprisingly showed he was driving under the influence. Once the complete investigation is completed, there will likely be criminal charges for the driver. As for the personal injuries of the victim, Mr. Doe, he will likely want to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer to find out how he may file a claim for compensation for his injuries. Broken jaws take some time to heal and there will most likely be follow up therapy and perhaps dental surgery, if required.

Would the lawsuit be successful? Quite likely. Anyone that gets behind the wheel of a vehicle while under the influence is negligent for not thinking about the safety of others and themselves. Negligence is what needs to be present and proven in a personal injury accident.

If you have been in a similar situation or hit by a drunk driver, do not hesitate to pick up the phone and call an Austin personal injury lawyer. They will outline what you need to know, what your rights are, how you go about filing a lawsuit to recover damages for medical bills and other things, and let you know what to expect as the lawsuit works its way through the system. Only an experienced Austin personal injury attorney will be able to ensure you get the justice you deserve.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There is a silent partner helping 18-wheeler crash attorneys – the Semi Truck Accident Victims Center. Not many victims or their families know about the center, but they should. It is on call 24/7 for anyone who needs them, whether it is a victim or family member that has been in a wreck with a big rig. They are not lawyers and do not pretend they are, but they have unparalleled resources a victim can use when they need them.

Anyone that calls the nationwide Semi Truck Accident Victims Center will find that the organization assists in coordinating investigators, legal resources, and whatever else is needed in these types of accidents. This is not to say that you do not need to consult with competent legal counsel such as an Austin personal injury attorney. Qualified attorneys ultimately coordinate your case and take it to court to get you the justice you deserve.

The center advises people who have been involved in wrecks with big rigs regarding what they need to do to handle the situation. Their advice is to seek medical help right away, do not leave the scene of the accident and never, ever admit fault. This is something that is only discussed with legal counsel. They also encourage people in 18-wheeler crashes to try and take pictures, even if it is with a cell phone. This is valuable evidence for later on.

They also strongly suggest that as a victim you sign nothing that is offered to you, and do not make any statements of any kind to the other party or their insurance company without the presence of an Austin personal injury attorney. Cases like this are never easy to litigate, and typically involve more than just two parties. The trucker, his employer, a broker, an insurance company and possibly even a third party and multiple lawyers can be involved in these types of lawsuits.
When it comes to being in an accident with a big rig, you need all the help you can get to make it through one day at a time. Just remember that the person licensed to get you justice is an Austin personal injury attorney.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It was an ordinary day when a 52-year-old man hopped on his Harley-Davidson and hit the road. The sun was shining, the roads were clear and life was good. At least it was good until the man rear-ended a truck. The semi had slowed for a construction barrel that was blocking traffic on the highway.

No one knows quite what happened, but the one thing they do know for sure is that the biker lost control of his ride. There was no place else to go but into and under the semi. The man was dead on impact.

In this reported case, there are many unanswered questions. How did the biker lose control? Was he driving under the influence? Driving while texting (stranger things have happened in past accidents)? Were the roads covered with slick oil as a result of the construction in the area? Did his Harley suffer a mechanical failure, and if so what? Did the man try to stop and his brakes were not working? Or was he just not paying attention to what was going on around and in front of him?

Accidents like this may look one way initially, but once someone starts digging deeper, they discover that there was a reason the biker lost control. When families are faced with situations like this one, they should never assume that the wreck was “just an accident” that no one can do anything about. Always take the time to consult with a competent Austin personal injury lawyer and find out where you stand.

You may well have a wrongful death case if the biker lost his life due to a mechanical failure or bad road conditions in the area caused by the negligence of the construction crew. The best thing to do when anyone you love has been seriously injured or killed is to find out everything you can about your legal rights. Many people make the mistake of assuming there is nothing they can do, when reaching out to an Austin personal injury attorney would clarify their legal rights immediately.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

No matter what type of vehicle you are driving, it is your duty to pay attention to where you are going and obey the rules of the road. It is also a good idea to obey posted signs and monitor traffic conditions. Really, these are common sense things to do.

Unfortunately, truckers are human and humans do make mistakes. However, making a mistake when you are driving a massive vehicle that can kill in an instant is something no one can ever undo.

In this reported case, a semi caused a three-car wreck that killed two. The trucker was hauling a flat bed, and was not paying that much attention to what was happening on the road in front of him. The traffic had started to slow directly in front of his rig, and traffic further on had stopped due to construction. At the time of the accident, the highway was down to a single lane for all the work that was underway.

As the trucker rapidly came up behind a box trailer, he did not even slam on the brakes. Instead, he rammed into the other vehicle with such force that he was killed instantly along with his female passenger, who had been in the sleeping berth. On impact, the truck shoved the box trailer forward into two other trailers in front of him, causing a chain of rear-end accidents. The posted speed limit in the area was 45 miles per hour because of the construction. It is safe to say the dead trucker was not going the speed limit when he rear-ended the box trailer.

This messy accident closed the highway down for eight and a half hours while crews tried to free the two dead semi occupants and clean up the debris that had been scattered all over the road. It was one of the worst accident scenes the police had seen. Emergency crews took the driver of the box trailer to the nearest hospital for medical treatment where his condition was listed as serious, but stable.

Who knows what caused this crash, other than it is clear that the trucker was not paying attention to traffic in front of him. Was he on the phone? Under the influence? Texting? Falling asleep? There are lots of unanswered questions, but there is one question with a clear answer. Was this trucker negligent? Yes, no question, and the family of the woman who died in the truck with him may want to discuss this case with an Austin personal injury attorney.

As for the other trucker in hospital, his first call will also likely be to a competent Austin injury lawyer to find out how he can recover costs for his medical bills and other expenses related to the accident. Do not wait to make that call. Time is critical in cases like this.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It goes without saying that playing sports is a big part of going to school. Volleyball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer are some of the most popular sports. Kids risk sustaining serious injuries if they have a concussion while playing sports. A pattern of concussions during youth has an impact on cognitive functions later in life. Those who continue to play sports face the reality of dying if they get hit once too often.

Although head injuries seem to be quite prevalent in just about any sport, there is not a lot being done about it. It is talked about and many people worry; yet, there is not much in the way of training and education about the seriousness of head injuries and prevention.

New Jersey recently introduced a bill into the legislature that would mandate athletic coaches to actively participate in a head injury prevention training program. It is about time. Kids are our future, and we need to not only protect them from serious head injuries, but train and educate them about what traumatic brain injury is, how to recognize it, avoid it if possible and how to deal with it should they get hit. With enough people supporting the bill in New Jersey, the program may start to be utilized in other states, even Texas.

While it is true that anyone may sustain a head injury, athletes are more likely to get thumped in the head because of the nature of the games in which they participate. Most often, head injuries are the result of a blow to the head or even being violently shaken. Any blow to the head has the potential to result in a concussion, which is an injury that alters the way the brain works. Even if the injury is mild, there are still long-lasting repercussions. Moderate to severe injuries have the potential to lead to a vegetative state and death.

Will the New Jersey bill do what it is intended to do? That is a tough question, but so far it looks like it may be off to a good start. However, the bill excluded cheerleaders because what they do is not considered to be a sport, but is classified as an activity. That is odd, given the well-documented fact that cheerleaders many protests.

For instance, many will recall the pyramid stunt and the media frenzy in 2006 when Kristi Yamoaka sustained a fractured vertebra after she fell from a human pyramid and hit her head doing this stunt. She suffered a concussion and badly bruised a lung. Although she eventually recovered, not everyone is as lucky. Thankfully, the protests paid off and cheerleaders were subsequently included in the bill. If every state had a bill like this, head trauma incidents might just decline.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Evidently the truck was in the lead of a three-truck convoy, and slid more than 320 feet before ramming into the crossing gates and T-boning the side of the train. The crossing was clearly marked, the gates were down and the lights were flashing. No one could successfully explain why the driver failed to stop and investigators had trouble examining what was left of the truck as it was buried deep in the rail car.

At the time of the accident, there were 200 people on board and 14 crew members. After the wreck when the staff was doing a head count, they indicated they were missing passengers. They may have gotten off before the crash, or may have fled the accident scene without permission. Nonetheless, the carnage from this wreck haunted officials.

The police indicated they wanted to wait for the results of a toxicology report on the trucker, and while their initial impression was drugs or booze was not involved, they did not want to jump to conclusions without proof. Could it have been fatigue? Was he texting while driving and took his eyes off the road? Was he fiddling with something on the dashboard? Some of these questions might not have any answers, but the families of those who died at the scene of this crash will certainly want to know what caused the trucker to ram the train.

Many of the victim’s families may wish to file wrongful death lawsuits, and those who were seriously injured may want to consult an experienced personal injury lawyer about obtaining compensation for their injuries. Accidents like this do not happen very often, but when they do, the fallout is swift.

Cases involving a big rig are very complex and there are more people involved in a lawsuit. In other words, it is not just the trucker being sued. It is also the trucking company, the insurance companies and maybe even a property broker. It’s a given that cases like this cannot be handled without the help of an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer to make sure you get the compensation you deserve.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Just recently, the state of Alaska conducted an analysis of the number of traumatic brain injuries in that state. It seems the state has a significant record of being the region with the highest hospitalization rates for this kind of injury and that Natives are more likely to suffer brain injury than other Alaskans. This particular study triggered a widespread concern for ensuring that long-term treatment options were in place since traumatic brain injuries do not heal, and victims need to know how to cope with it.

Traumatic brain injuries are not just like other medical conditions, in that you are cured in a hospital and leave with a clean bill of health. That is not the case. Brain injuries are chronic and may haunt a person for the rest of their lives. It takes a lot of work over a long period of time to recover from a brain injury and be able to manage it.

Traumatic brain injuries typically result in higher damage awards in accident cases, largely because the person’s life has been dramatically altered, and in some cases catastrophically altered. Unable to care for themselves and perhaps even cope with daily living tasks, victims of traumatic brain injury have a long and frustrating challenge ahead of them. While they may successfully achieve partial recovery, the fact is that brain damage is permanent.

Head trauma does not just happen in a car accident. It may be the result of riding a snowmobile, ATV or motorcycle. It may come about as the result of a slip and fall, or it may be the result of an injury sustained playing sports. If the injury is the result of someone else’s negligence, that person needs to be held responsible for monetary damages.

Cases like this are tough, largely because they involve a great deal of medical detail. Plaintiffs are often upset and frustrated with their new reality and frightened at the prospect of not being able to care for themselves. For those who have sustained a brain injury, don’t wait to talk to a competent Austin personal injury lawyer. That one phone call will ensure you know your rights, how to proceed to court and what to expect in terms of compensation.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This reported accident was one of the worst scenes the police had seen in a number of years. It involved three vehicles – a tractor trailer, two RVs, and a raging fire. Thankfully, most of the people involved were able to make it out alive, with only one person reporting significant injuries.

It is true that the truth is stranger than fiction, and in this wreck a bizarre chain of events caused a pileup on the highway. The auto accident happened when a big rig rear-ended a RV that was towing a car behind it in the right- hand lane of the highway. The RV in turn rammed into a second camper in front of it, rupturing a fuel tank and setting off a blaze that completely engulfed the two vehicles.

There were at least five people in the two RVs who were able to get out alive safely. The big rig driver needed to be pulled out of his cab before he got burned. Given the horrific nature of the crash, it was amazing that he only sustained a broken arm. The trucker did go into diabetic shock and he had to be revived at the scene of the wreck. He was listed in good condition when he got to hospital.

Negligence? To say the least. If the trucker had been paying attention to where he was going, he would not have rear-ended the first RV and set off a chain reaction of collisions. Given the fact that he subsequently went into diabetic shock, it may be that he was driving under the influence of a medical condition and was struggling to remain conscious.

That aside, he knew he suffered from diabetes and was at risk for something like that to happen. He had no business being behind the wheel of a huge rig with a medical condition that could trigger blackouts or worse. Chances are that his employer would also be aware of his medical history, and they should be held responsible for the actions of their employees. That is the tricky part of a personal injury lawsuit involving a big rig, as there is usually more than just one person or entity involved in the suit.

“Big rig accidents might look one way at the scene, but the truth behind the collision is another story,” explained Austin personal injury lawyer Robert W. Lee. “For instance, what if the RV had pulled out in front of the big rig driver at a slow rate of speed, or suddenly slammed on its brakes? What would the trucker have done? More to the point, what could a trucker do? This is a lesson for everyone that not all rear-end accidents are the fault of the driver who rear-ended someone. It could just as easily have happened the other way.”

If you have been involved in a wreck with a big rig, do not wait to talk to an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer. It is your life and you deserve adequate compensation for any injuries you sustained. These cases are intricately complex and involve many defendants. Do not leave your case to a chance resolution with the trucking insurance company lawyers whose aim is to downplay or diminish your claim. Speak to an Austin personal injury lawyer first before dealing with any insurance company.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Recovery from traumatic brain injury is often a long and exceedingly slow process, if it can be accomplished at all. Time is of the essence in cases like this, but in special cases, like this reported case, the damage is done and the victim is left to wait for medical help later.

The 14-year old boy who needed skull surgery to piece his skull back together was a victim of the EF-5 tornado that ripped through Joplin in May 2011. He had to wait for his surgery and in doing so lived for a while with two sections of his skull. He also needed to have four inches of his brain removed due to severe damage. Doctors were not certain how well he would do, as they estimated his mental acuity as being that of an 8-year-old child.

This child is at a point where surgeons can attempt to reattach the shattered pieces to protect his brain, which swelled after the initial injury. It’s one more step closer to the boy’s dream of being able to ride horses once more and play his favorite sport of soccer. This boy isn’t the only one that sustained severe head trauma as a result of that horrific storm. There are many other children facing similar surgeries.

Surgeries like this one are high risk. That is a virtual given before anything is attempted. But what other options might there be for kids like this one? They need medical help and they need to get on with their lives. If the medical assistance and surgeries go well, the child may have a good prognosis for the duration. If something goes wrong during surgery, such as a wrong medication, too much or too little anesthesia, improper monitoring, a slip of the surgeon’s knife or an operation conducted on the wrong patient, the patient is then the victim of medical malpractice or a wrongful death.

Don’t take the chance that your child may have been harmed or killed by a negligent doctor, nurse or hospital. If you have questions, doubts, fears and need answers, make your first point of contact an Austin personal injury lawyer. Your first meeting is free of charge and you can find out what you need to know by asking the Austin personal injury lawyer what medical malpractice is and how it relates to a wrongful death lawsuit.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This reported case was truly sad, and something that no one could have seen coming. It started when a tow operator was called to assist a break down on the side of the highway. He went to load the car onto his flatbed and was hit by another tow truck and thrown up into the air, landing in a crumpled and broken heap next to his truck.

As a result of hitting the first tow operator while he was loading the disabled car, the second tow truck driver lost control of his rig, side swiped the first tow truck, careened forward, flipping onto its roof, and slid across four lanes of traffic before coming to a halt. Both drivers were declared dead at the scene. The driver of the disabled car saw the second tow operator bearing down on them, and dived for the embankment.

The police report does not indicate what might have caused the second tow driver to clip the one on the side of the highway. There will be an investigation into whether or not he was driving under the influence, driving while distracted, was texting or talking on a cell phone, or suffered a mechanical issue of some type. If losing control and hitting the first tow driver was the result of negligence, the family of the first driver might want to speak to a qualified personal injury lawyer about filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

If the accident was the result of a mechanical failure, the family of the second truck driver might want to find out what their rights are and whether or not they could file a defective product/product liability, wrongful death lawsuit.

Every case is different. Every piece of evidence tells a story. In instances like this, it is vital to gather as much information as possible to fairly and aggressively protect the plaintiff’s rights. A victim with no voice needs an Austin personal injury lawyer to help the family left behind find justice for their death.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

We cannot say this enough – if you love riding your motorcycle, don’t want to stop and want to stay as safe as possible, then do not ride without the proper safety gear. In particular, do not ride and wear a cheapy helmet, because it has a greater potential to kill you. That old saying relating to getting what you pay for is very true when it comes to using cheap motorcycle helmets. Yes, helmets do save lives, but make sure they are safety rated and tested.

Think helmets don’t make a difference? Consider the case of John Doe, an avid biker and one who thought twice about buying a good helmet. He could not make up his mind whether to buy a cheap one, or to put out the cash for a good, sturdy and safety rated helmet. He just about bought the cheap one, but for some reason, he changed his mind at the last minute.

Call it luck or intuition, John was in a nasty car versus motorcycle crash two days later. His helmet saved him from traumatic brain injury. It didn’t save him from paralysis, but it let him keep his mental abilities. A year later, John was back on the road, with another, new safety rated helmet.

Jack Doe, however, was not that lucky. He had a helmet and was wearing it at the time of his accident. He died, because the helmet did not protect his head. It was very poor quality, and he had only bought it because he thought it would stop the police from bugging him about it. The decision to buy a poorly made helmet cost Jack his life, due to severe brain injuries. In other words, the helmet cracked and collapsed like an egg shell, and without proper protection, so did Jack’s head.

Been in a situation like this? Out for a spin and someone cut you off? It happens, and the thing is, more often than not, the accident is not the fault of the biker. Most drivers indicate they just don’t see the biker or the motorcycle, and because they don’t, someone dies or is severely injured and has to live with those injuries for the rest of their lives. You have the right to recover compensation for your injuries, the right to compensation from a negligent driver and a right to live the best life you can, with that compensation.

Is compensation for injuries or a wrongful death important? It most definitely is to the victim, and that is who really counts in accidents that happened as a result of someone else’s negligence. Know your rights. It’s important that you do.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

The death of the motorcyclist in this reported case was completely avoidable, and his family may choose to file a wrongful death lawsuit, in the hopes that it will not happen to someone else. For certain, the witnesses to this wreck hope they never again see something this horrific.

The biker was traveling on a four-lane highway, doing highway speeds. The road he was on was noted for not being that safe, as it did not have turn lanes that allowed access to local businesses. That meant if someone needed to turn across the highway, they had to stop in the traveling lane and wait for a chance to turn. In this case, the biker had no chance to stop when the car ahead of him halted to make a left-hand turn into a local amusement park area.

With nowhere to go to get out of the way of the crash, the biker hit the back of the car and was catapulted over the vehicle, a distance of more than 50 yards. He landed in a driveway, a victim of severe and massive injuries; injuries that killed him. The witness to the deadly crash was with her grandson in another car, and was horrified to see the man flying in the air. From the way he landed, she knew he was badly, if not fatally hurt.

The witness saw the biker come up behind her on the road, pass her on the right, and then she saw the other car in front of her slow down to stop and turn. The biker could not get out of the way. Other eyewitnesses said that particular stretch of highway had a bad reputation because there were no turn lanes for drivers, except at major intersections instead. Law enforcement commented that the only way to make that stretch of highway safe was to divide the highway and add turning lanes, something the country didn’t have money to tackle.

How many deaths does take before someone does something? Fair question, and one that generally has no answer, until someone files a lawsuit. Often lawsuits are the catalyst for change. The family in this case may wish to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county for their poorly designed roadways. If they are able to successfully prove negligence against the county, they would be able to recover compensation for the loss of their loved one. Compensation may include lost wages, loss of future income, pain and suffering, medical bills, funeral and burial costs, etc.

Cases like this are best handled by an experience Austin personal injury lawyer; one who knows what it means to have loyalty to a client, who works hard to represent those who have been injured and/or killed and one that fiercely represents the rights of victims. It’s the best phone call you could ever make.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This case came as a shock to people who relied on buoyancy control devices for their lives. For instance, police divers or commercial divers. This story involves a recall of these devices, because it was discovered that they posed a serious risk for drowning – the exact opposite result of what they were designed and made to do.

This recall, one among hundreds of other recalls for defective products, was launched when it was revealed that the spring in the over pressure valve could corrode and break. This means the device would then not hold air, and has the potential to drown the wearer. This product recall involved the Edge Freedom and Stealth models, as well as the HOG 32 lb Wing model.

Consumers were advised they could return their gear to an Edge dealer and get a free replacement. But honestly, there would be a large number of spooked customers wondering if the replacement gear may not have the same potentially fatal glitch. The other thing is that just because there is a recall on products, does not mean that everyone who actually has this product, or any other recalled item, will even hear about the recall. The fact is that if a product is defective and the maker of that product issues a recall, but someone still gets hurt or killed, the manufacturer is still legally liable for that harm.

Consider the case of a police diver who bought a device like this from a buddy, who said he was getting a new one. The device was sold in good faith that is was OK; used, but still had some life in it. That diver very nearly drowned, when the critical valve failed. But for his quick thinking and reaction, he would have become a victim of the very thing that was supposed to keep him safe.

Wrongful death and defective product lawsuits may be tied together, depending on the circumstances of the case. In both scenarios, the critical element to prove is that the maker of the product was negligent in designing, making and/or distributing the item in question. It is a truly cockeyed world when we have to start questioning whether or not the products we use, and should be able to trust, will harm us. One thing is for sure, they do not make things like they used to make them. Know your legal rights.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

You would think it would be a no brainer, and that a company who made products for babies would not make a product that was ultimately a choking hazard. Unfortunately, there are more dangerous products on the market these days that do just that; pose a threat to small children and toddlers. It is strange that companies do not seem to get it that kids relate to their world by putting everything into their mouths. If that object has small parts that may break off, the risks of a child choking are very high.

The latest product recall is Cheaper Keeper pacifier clips. It was discovered that the clip breaks apart, and a child or baby could swallow the parts. The clip was intended to attach the pacifier to a child’s clothing and was made of clear plastic, to be attached by a pink ribbon with a Velcro closure. Even the ribbon and the Velcro have the potential to cause problems with children if put in the child’s mouth. Really, who tests these things, and why do they wait until the product is on the market to find out there is a problem? Over 6,000 of these clips were recalled with a warning to throw the clip away.

While it is good that the company took the initiative to launch a recall and to advise parents to throw the clip away, what happens if someone still has the clip and is using it, and is not aware of the recall? What happens is that if their child does swallow the clip and chokes, the parents may be able to sue the maker of the defective product. Even if the company also makes an effort to contact known users directly, they may not reach all of them.

Consider the case of a toddler who fell asleep in his stroller, slipped between the rail and the pan and strangled to death. The stroller had been recalled for this very reason, but the parents had purchased it at a garage sale and had no clue about the danger or the recall. Ultimately, the parents chose to file a dangerous product/wrongful death lawsuit, which would not bring their child back, but it would drive home the point that just because a product is recalled, does not mean the maker of that product is not liable for damages if someone is seriously hurt or dies.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It seems no matter where one goes or what one does these days, there is a need to be alert and aware at all times, whether driving or crossing the street. Without that cautious awareness, the ultimate price may be death. That is what happened in this disturbing hit and run case.

Hit and runs are perhaps the most reprehensible of all pedestrian versus car accidents. If the victim dies, the family will have trouble filing a wrongful death lawsuit if the police are not able to track down the guilty driver. Unfortunately, that happens far more often than we would like to think. We would like to think that justice would be done in all cases of a wrong being perpetrated. That does not always happen.

In this case, a 19-year-old woman was crossing the street in a designated crosswalk area when she was hit by a new white or gray SUV. There were two witnesses at the scene who were able to tell the police that the van appeared to be new and either white or gray. They were not 100 percent certain as to the color, as the accident happened at 10:30 p.m.

The van’s driver did not stop and sped away from the area, leaving the young woman to die in the middle of the street. She was dead when the EMS crews arrived. No doubt her family will want to pursue this case with a personal injury lawyer. This wrongful death should never have happened. But for the negligence of the van driver, this young woman would still be alive today.

In wrongful death cases like this, the family will want to know what they need to do to bring their case to justice. They will want to hold someone responsible for the death of their family member so that it will not happen to someone else. Wrongful death lawsuits are rarely about getting even with the defendant. Instead, they are about the family seeking emotional, mental and financial relief to be able to move on with their lives.

Often, insurance money is an issue. Without the help of a skilled Austin personal injury lawyer, a plaintiff may not get the financial award they deserve. Do not wait too long to speak to an Austin personal injury lawyer if you have been in a similar situation. There is a statute of limitations running from the time of the accident. Ask your lawyer what that is during your first free consultation. You will leave knowing exactly what needs to be done to move forward with your life.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

It was a relatively ordinary day, and the school kids on the two buses were coming back from a function they had attended at a local university. The 60 students and their two teachers did not see the accident coming, as it happened without warning.

An 18-wheeler seemingly appeared out of nowhere and sideswiped the first bus, then rammed head-on into the second bus. The debris was all over the highway and EMS crews struggled to get at least 17 students to area hospitals any way they could. Fortunately, at first blush, the students’ injuries didn’t seem to be too serious, but time would tell. Unfortunately, the two teachers and the trucker were killed on impact.

The police reports indicated that they did not know what happened to cause the semi to crash into the two school buses, but they are investigating more to find answers. They want to check the driver’s log books, the on-board computer, whether or not his cell phone was in use at the time of the accident and whether or not he was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

While this particular accident is unique to its locale and in its circumstances, all across the nation, similar accidents happen nearly every day. When a big rig goes out of control, the results are never pretty. Often they are fatal and if by some miracle they are not, the injuries sustained by the victims are so catastrophic that they will never again been the same people they were prior to the accident.

Anyone who has survived a big rig collision and walked away to tell the tale is uncommonly lucky from the standpoint of being alive. Others feel they would rather have died in the crash than to live they way the have to live now because of their debilitating injuries. This is where a skilled and compassionate Austin personal injury lawyer is needed to pick up the pieces and move forward to court and to justice.

Severely injured victims need the skills an Austin personal injury lawyer brings to the table to help them secure a high enough damage award to be able to pay for their ongoing medical care for the rest of their lives. By the time they get to court, they will have also racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, therapy, medications, etc. Very simply, they need the jury verdict to help pay for the financial carnage their lives are in, as a result of their accident.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This particular case caused the man’s family a great deal of grief and anguish, as he was only 21 years old at the time of the incident. He went to work in the morning, thinking about what needed to be done at work. The man’s workplace was at a wood products company.

That fateful day, the young man had been assigned to an auger on the east side of the company’s building and was responsible for grinding up scrap chunks of wood and feeding them into an incinerator. No one knows what happened, as he was working alone, but something got stuck in the auger. The man went to free it up and his clothing got caught in the whirling blades. He died as a result of being mauled by the auger.

His co-workers found him 10 minutes later after they went into the office to get a drink of water. The OHSA inspectors were dispatched to the scene and an investigation was undertaken to find out a number of things, not the least of which is why the young man was working alone with dangerous machinery. They will likely also look into the possibility of the auger being defective.

No one could have guessed that this man would be dead before the end of the day. No one saw the accident coming, but they may have had an inkling something would go wrong if someone had been working with him. A more experienced worker could have stopped him from reaching into a moving auger. The deceased’s family would want legal advice from an Austin personal injury attorney about their rights, about filing a wrongful death lawsuit, about what to expect during the course of a trial and what to expect in terms of damages.

In discussions with a Austin personal injury attorney, the family would want to know what part negligence may have played in the death of their son. The answer may well lie in the fact that he was allowed to work alone with a dangerous piece of equipment. If he had little or no experience operating an auger and the company was aware of that, the jury may find that assigning him to that job and allowing him to work alone was negligent.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It started out as a relatively normal day at work for the man in this personal injury case. He left home thinking about the other things he needed to do when he got home later, wondered about how his kids were doing at school and looked forward to a nice meal upon his return; a typical day in the life of a plant worker.

Later that day, what started out as being a normal morning turned into a living nightmare for this worker. He sustained severe burns on his arms and face as the result of a flash fire. The fire was caused by methyl ethyl ketone vapors igniting in the paint plant. Methyl ethyl ketone is also referred to as butanone, which is an industrial solvent noted for its flammability.

Emergency response crews rushed the man to hospital for treatment. The plant and the U.S. OSHA will be conducting a further investigation into the incident. The starting point for this investigation will be what triggered the flash fire and why were the butanone vapors so concentrated that something set them off. Unfortunately, butanone is a colorless liquid and may not be seen in time to avoid a flash fire. Its flash point is -7 degrees Celsius.

This particular chemical is highly dangerous and may cause respiratory tract irritation, severe skin and eye inflammation with the added possibility of burns. It may also affect the victim’s central nervous system and cause corneal damage. Butanone can be absorbed through the skin and prolonged exposure causes irritation and dermatitis, inflammation of the digestive tract, central nervous system depression, headaches, sleepiness, dizziness and nausea. Without prompt treatment, the victim may collapse, fall into a coma and die as a result of respiratory failure.

In other words, this chemical is not something to be taken lightly. If the victim did sustain severe injuries as a result of the flash fire or even as a result of working with this dangerous and toxic chemical, he would be well advised to discuss legal strategy with a seasoned Austin personal injury attorney.

If the damage done is severe enough, the victim may need care for the rest of his life. The only way to get the proper kind of legal representation in court to secure a fair and equitable jury award is to hire a reputable and aggressive Austin personal injury attorney. Do not wait to consult legal counsel on something this serious, or you may miss your window of opportunity to file a lawsuit for the compensation you may deserve.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This particular recall involves approximately 1,800 snow blowers in Canada and the U.S. They were recalled when it was discovered that the engine is missing a safety shield that should be present just above the side-mounted electric starter.

The missing shield poses a serious potential for operators to lose fingers or sustain severe lacerations. If you have ever wondered who does safety inspections of products like this before they hit the marketplace, then you are not alone. Consumers that have been injured by this product or one like it may find out legal information about their rights by calling an Austin personal injury lawyer.

The snow blowers affected by the recall come equipped with a Liquid Combustion Technology StormForce engine and have the word Sno-Tek in print across the handlebar plate. Only a certain range in this particular line of snow blowers was affected: model numbers 920402 and 920403 and UPC codes 5105803094 and 5105803095 and engine model numbers PW1HK18650781DE-ABGOQUVE1M with serial numbers ranging from 1065H04008325A through 1065H04012104A. To find out the model number of a snow blower that you may have sitting in your garage, check the UPC code printed on the label on the gear box by the left wheel.

Even though the company, Liquid Combustion Technology, issued a recall promptly once they realized there was a problem and offered a free repair kit with installation instructions, there is a very real possibility that not everyone who bought one of these machines will be aware they have been recalled. That often happens once a product has been sold and ends up in garages across the nation. Unless you are deliberately looking for recall notices or the media makes a big deal about a recall, the chance a buyer will see or hear about the recall notice is slim.

Even though a recall notice may be in effect, if someone did lose fingers or their hand in an accident involving these snow blowers, the makers, designers and distributors may well be liable for any injuries you sustain. They may also be sued for medical bills, time off work, pain and suffering and other incidental expenses related to the accident.

Every personal injury case is different. If you have been in a similar situation and run afoul of a different product, then you need to contact a skilled Austin personal injury lawyer and discuss your case. You need to know what rights you have when it comes to products on the market that may hurt, maim or kill. As a consumer, you trust that what you bought will be safe to use. If it isn’t, someone needs to be held responsible for that.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It had to happen. When teens are bored, they tend to invent things that they think would be fun, perhaps deadly, but fun if nothing happens. Usually, most of their forms of entertainment are not completely thought out, as in, what would the consequences be of doing something like snow surfing behind a commuter train that stopped unexpectedly? This is apparently what happened in this case.

Several teens got together looking for something fun to pass the time, something a bit crazy and risky. Being young, they would think they have the world by the tail and that nothing would happen to them. Sadly, their chosen form of entertainment for their last night on earth was ghost riding on an SUV, which rolled over and burst into flames.

Car surfing or ghost riding is a new fad in which teens will hitch a ride on the exterior of a vehicle. In this case, the two dead teens were surfing on the riding boards of the SUV, when the driver lost control. The vehicle crashed, rolled and went up in flames. One teen almost made it back inside the vehicle, but the other teen, on the opposite running board, was pronounced dead at the scene.

But for the negligence of the driver of the SUV, the two dead teens may have still been alive today and not statistics. You may be thinking they took their own lives in their hands by doing something so stupid. While that may be the case, they trusted the driver of the SUV to be safe and not lose control of the vehicle. Their lives were in his hands.

The families of the two dead boys may wish to hire a wrongful death attorney to recover compensation for their deaths of their loved ones. The driver may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, may have been texting and not paying attention and may have been speeding. Until the accident investigation is complete, the full details of the case will not be known. Suffice to say, any personal injury attorney hired will need to know just what happened the fateful morning.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

No one knows for sure how this worker got stuck in a piece of asphalt equipment. He was apparently doing some maintenance work on the equipment for his employer when he got stuck. Even though emergency responders got there fast, he was dead before they could extricate him.

Deadly accidents like this usually attract the attention of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, who will run their own investigation parallel to that of the police. Once again, this is an example of an accident that resulted in a sudden death, leaving a whole host of unanswered questions. For instance, was the equipment defective? Did someone else start the machinery when he was working on it? Did someone bump into him and knock him into the machinery?

Often, in accident cases such as this, things are not always what they look like on the surface. It is only when the police or an Austin personal injury attorney starts digging into the circumstances that you find out there may have been negligence involved.

Many people when faced with serious injuries or the death of a loved one do not know what to do or where to turn. They are not sure they have a case and are not sure who to contact. For wrongful death cases and personal injury situations, you would need to contact an Austin personal injury attorney; a lawyer who knows what to do to help you get fair compensation for your injuries or economic recovery for the death of your loved one.

Wrongful death cases are never easy for the family. Many feel guilty in pursuing an economic settlement to be able to get on with their lives. The thing to remember about wrongful death lawsuits is that the survivors are entitled to damages for the pain and suffering of losing their loved one, among other things. To fully understand what is involved in filing a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas, contact an Austin personal injury attorney.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It used to be that everyone got to where they were going by just walking there. If they had anything to say to the person when they arrived, that was when the conversation took place. Cell phones had not yet been invented, and no one seemed to miss being out of touch with others. It was just the way life was back then. Now, with the advent of cell phones that do just about everything, staying in touch is not only easy, it may also kill.

Many people do not see the harm in texting while walking. After all, they are safe on the sidewalk, mall or wherever they happen to be headed. But, are they? Consider the case of the young teen who was texting her boyfriend about their planned date, when she walked out between two parked cars, right into the path of an 18-wheeler. The cell phone survived the impact. The young girl did not. Was her life worth texting dangerously?

What about the case of the young man who was walking down the stairs at work and texting his buddy about their weekend plans? Because he was not paying attention to where he was walking, he missed the last two steps, fell hard and hit his head on a cement floor. His cell phone survived the impact. He sustained traumatic brain injury. Was his forever altered life worth texting dangerously?

If you do not think texting and walking is a big deal, because maybe, nothing has ever happened to you, consider the emergency room statistics across the U.S. that show over 1,000 pedestrians have needed emergency medical care because of texting and walking accidents. Each year, the numbers go up, not down. While texting and walking is not a smart thing to do, texting and driving is markedly worse, as you can kill someone else by negligently not paying attention to the road. Be smart and above all, be safe.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

Unfortunately, the world has come to be a place that is not safe for our children, especially at school. The incidents of harassment and bullying are at an all time high in many American schools. It is actually to a point where it has gotten out of hand. It makes you wonder what happened to the time when you went to school and, while you may have had disagreements with other kids in the class, you were rarely harassed or bullied because you might have been different.

Things have changed in the schoolyards of today, and they have not changed for the better. Consider this case of a 9-year-old boy who committed suicide at school because he was being unmercifully harassed and bullied by other kids. When this happened last year, his parents chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the school and the school district.

The foundation of the lawsuit was that the school did not protect their son from the misery he suffered on a daily basis. The young boy had a lisp and a learning disability, and these two things combined made him an easy target for others. He was constantly being taunted about being “gay.” The other kids would not leave him alone. Kids with learning differences (identified and unidentified) are bully magnets.

One day, the Texas-born child hanged himself in the nurse’s bathroom at his school. The parent’s lives have never been the same since that fateful day in 2010. Was the behavior of the other children teasing or bullying? Is there a distinction? This was, in fact, bullying, and there is a distinction between that and teasing. In bullying, the main purpose is to hurt and isolate another, whether physically, emotionally or socially. It is usually directed at an individual and is often excruciatingly relentless to the point of being emotional torture.

When teasing happens, the people involved are having a good time, laughing, trading funny remarks back and forth and it all stops if someone feels hurt or uncomfortable. Usually, if it is teasing, a person who crossed the line with something will stop and apologize, and the world goes on.

Is a wrongful death lawsuit the right way to handle a tragic case such as this? Yes, someone needs to be held accountable for the life of a 9-year-old boy who trusted his school environment would take care of him and support him when he needed help. Instead, he was ignored even while the bullying continued.  He had nowhere to turn, and finally, out of desperation, he took his own life.

Wrongful death lawsuits typically deal with a claim that a victim was killed as a result of the negligence or other unjust action of another person or entity. The victim’s survivors are entitled to compensation as a result of their actions or inaction. A wrongful death claim is not the same as a normal personal injury negligence lawsuit in which a person who is hurt receives damages for their injuries.

At one time, wrongful death claims did not exist, largely because it was felt their death claim died with them and the victim could not be compensated. This meant surviving family members could not claim compensation from the person responsible for their loved one’s death. Eventually, all states passed wrongful death statutes that now provide compensation.

Each state drafted their own versions of a wrongful death statute, and thus, there are often different criteria to be met depending on where your claim is filed. Generally speaking though, there are four elements involved in a wrongful death claim: the death was caused by the conduct of the defendant; the defendant was negligent in causing the death; there is a surviving applicable family member and that monetary damages have been incurred because of the person’s death.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

The two men involved in this serious flash fire did not see it coming. They went to work, just like they usually do, expecting to put in their labor and go home at the end of the day. Both men were maintenance workers who worked for an industrial plant.

For some unknown reason, an electrical short caused a flash fire, which involved some materials in the plant. The men were severely burned. EMC crews transported the men to the hospital for medical treatment. One man unfortunately succumbed to his injuries after he arrived at the hospital. The other was listed as in critical condition.

Any time an accident like this happens in the workplace, the Occupational Health and Safety department also conduct their own investigation, as there a many questions that need to be answered with regard to this case. For instance, how did the fire start? While it is known that a flash fire caused the death and the injury, what started that fire?

Were the wires in the area where the fire started worn out and in poor repair? Had someone previously repaired wires or worked with them and not done a proper job? Was this a pre-existing hazard that plant management knew about but did nothing to remedy it? Had this happened before? These and the answers to other crucial questions about the accident are part and parcel of putting together a solid personal injury case for the one man and a possibly a wrongful death claim for the other.

In both instances there would need to be the element of negligence present – meaning that someone had been negligent in not taking care of the electrical problem prior to this fire, that the short was caused by someone’s negligence or was the result of defective equipment not properly manufactured or maintained.

Flash fires have a habit of happening in workplaces where flammable dust or gas gets mixed with air in a deadly combination that results in a raging conflagration. With this type of fire, the flames spread at what is referred to as subsonic speed. The major part of the damage inflicted on the victims comes from thermal radiation and secondary fires.

Inhaling heated air causes serious lung damage and may result in death by asphyxiation. Fires like this have also been knows to inflict smoke burns. When a flash fire happens in an enclosed area, it eats the oxygen in the air and produces copious quantities of smoke. Those who have been in situations like this and made it out alive are lucky, as they could have perished due to smoke inhalation or asphyxiation.

If you have been in a similar situation, make your first phone call for legal counsel to a skilled Austin personal injury attorney. If you want justice and a fair deal, then you will need the assistance of a seasoned litigator who knows what they are doing and can ensure you get an equitable pay out. Those who try to deal with the legal aspects of cases like this pro se and choose not to use an Austin personal injury attorney will run the risk of missing out on compensation they deserve. Is it worth it to lose thousands for injuries that have altered your life?

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It used to be that everyone got to where they were going by just walking there. If they had anything to say to the person when they arrived, that was when the conversation took place. Cell phones had not yet been invented, and no one seemed to miss being out of touch with others. It was just the way life was back then. Now, with the advent of cell phones that do just about everything, staying in touch is not only easy, it may also kill.

Many people do not see the harm in texting while walking. After all, they are safe on the sidewalk, mall or wherever they happen to be headed. But, are they? Consider the case of the young teen who was texting her boyfriend about their planned date, when she walked out between two parked cars, right into the path of an 18-wheeler. The cell phone survived the impact. The young girl did not. Was her life worth texting dangerously?

What about the case of the young man who was walking down the stairs at work and texting his buddy about their weekend plans? Because he was not paying attention to where he was walking, he missed the last two steps, fell hard and hit his head on a cement floor. His cell phone survived the impact. He sustained traumatic brain injury. Was his forever altered life worth texting dangerously?

If you do not think texting and walking is a big deal, because maybe, nothing has ever happened to you, consider the emergency room statistics across the U.S. that show over 1,000 pedestrians have needed emergency medical care because of texting and walking accidents. Each year, the numbers go up, not down. While texting and walking is not a smart thing to do, texting and driving is markedly worse, as you can kill someone else by negligently not paying attention to the road. Be smart and above all, be safe.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

This in another rather strange case that saw an 18-wheeler slam into two cars, taking two lives and leaving five others badly injured. It appears that an Acura Integra and a Honda Civic, both driven by 18-year-old males, were stopped in the northbound lane of a U.S. highway. No one knows why, but the police suspect that illegal street racing may have something to do with it.

Both the vehicles were parked side by side on the highway, leaving the approaching 18-wheeler with no place to go. A collision was inevitable. The trucker rode the rig into a rear-end collision with both cars. The impact was so devastating that it killed the backseat passengers in the Integra. Both drivers were taken to hospital with critical injuries. The trucker made it out of this wreck in one piece and his passenger suffered minor injuries that were treated at the scene.

While charges were pending in this horrendous double fatality accident, there were still a lot on unanswered questions. For instance, why were the two cars parked side by side right on the highway? What speed was the trucker doing? Did his brakes fail? Did he apply his brakes? Was he paying attention to where he was going or in a situation where he had to react at the last minute due to inattention? In other words, was there the possibly of contributory negligence in this case, despite the fact that the two cars were stopped where they should not be?

Accidents involving 18-wheelers never have a good outcome and there seems to be no in-between on that. The injuries sustained are usually serious to life-altering, or the victim is dead. The size and weight of trucks that large simply means any other smaller vehicle and its occupants are doomed.

If you have been in a wreck with a semi, do not wait to contact an experienced Austin personal injury attorney. Time is of the essence in these cases. If you want the evidence preserved, your Austin personal injury attorney must act fast on your behalf. You will need aggressive and honest representation in court to get the maximum compensation possible for your injuries. Let your voice in court be your Austin personal injury attorney; going to the mat for your rights and a fair damage award.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Apparently a suspect in a robbery was fleeing from police in a high-speed chase traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour. Law enforcement laid down spikes. The fugitive hit them and lost control of his Chevy Impala. Texas has never seen an accident quite as spectacular as this one.

The out of control car drove through a wooden fence delineating a nearby subdivision, rolled a few times and landed in a dense crop of bushes by a golf course. When the police caught up with the car, they discovered one very upset 3-month-old baby girl, hanging upside down in a car seat.

The rear window of the vehicle was busted out to save her. The suspected robber driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The baby was airlifted to the hospital and by all reports was in stable condition and expected to survive her ordeal.

Just prior to this accident, a police officer stopped the Chevrolet Impala when it was flagged for not having a license plate. The man driving it at the time did not have identification and got out of the car as instructed by the officer. At that point, the second man, later killed in the roll over crash, hijacked the car, locked the doors and high-tailed it out of the area. The police think the baby in the car belonged to the first man, stopped for missing a plate. It just does not get any stranger than this.

What are the consequences of this case? Honestly, they are too numerous to list them all. Initially, a wrongful death lawsuit may be filed by the family of the dead driver by an Austin injury lawyer. There may also be a personal injury lawsuit filed against the first driver, once the police sort out whose baby was strapped into the car seat and whether or not the two were accomplices in the robbery that took place earlier that day. That also raises the specter of criminal defense being necessary for the first driver, as no matter what they are suspected of or charged with, they are entitled to a full and vigorous defense.

The main point we would hope to make here is that no matter what the case, if you have been seriously injured or killed, you and/or your family may be entitled to legal compensation for your losses. This is not something that people can do for themselves, as the justice system is too complex. In addition, trying to be your own advocate is a guaranteed recipe for being short changed financially, by missing out on funds you may be eligible for from the insurance company as a settlement or as awarded by the courts at trial.

Without question, you will need an experienced Austin injury lawyer to help you with your case and get you the justice you deserve. It is a phone call you will never regret making.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There is no recovery from traumatic brain injury, at least not in the sense that we know it. While TBI may be diagnosed as mild, it will still mean impairment of various functions for the rest of the person’s life. TBI is generally a matter of degrees; degrees of frustration and degrees of how one’s life has been turned upside down as the result of an accident. Those with brain injuries often need the help of an Austin personal injury lawyer to take their case to trial to get a fair and equitable award.

Just how does a car manage to hit a pedestrian in the first place? Are they not on the sidewalk, up out of harm’s way? Typically, most pedestrians are on the sidewalk, but they may also be in the middle of a crosswalk, standing on a street corner, waiting for a bus, getting off a bus, walking out from behind another vehicle, walking under the influence, walking while texting or talking on the cell phone or walking with headphones on, not able to hear traffic.

Certainly, some of the above mentioned scenarios would be conducive to the likelihood of being hit by a car or other vehicle. In some of those situations, the pedestrian may well be the author of his or her own misfortune. For example: if the pedestrian was wearing dark clothing at night and was jaywalking, chances are any lawsuit filed in a case such as that would either not succeed, or succeed with proportionate liability.

Many times however, an accident involving a car and a pedestrian is not the pedestrian’s fault and comes about as the result of speeding, distracted driving, DUI of alcohol or drugs, failing to obey traffic signs and/or lights, ignoring pedestrian crosswalks or a mechanical defect that causes the driver to lose control of their vehicle.

Consider the case of the 78-year-old woman who was about to step off the curb into the designated crosswalk and was hit by a car driven by an 18-year-old teen who was speeding to get to his track meet at school and texting his buddies at the same time. The woman sustained severe traumatic brain injuries and is now in a wheelchair and reliant on the care of others. A once vibrant and active senior had her life turned into a daily struggle due to the negligence of another.

Traumatic brain injuries are often referred to as catastrophic injuries because they drastically change lives and victims will never be the way they were prior to their accident. This means their compensation tends to be higher when they go to court or negotiate a settlement with the assistance of an Austin personal injury lawyer.

If you have been in an accident like this, take the time to discuss your case with a skilled Austin injury lawyer. It will be the best investment of time you will ever make. Additionally, it will change the way you live your new life, with enough compensation to pay for your care.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

While you might like to think that every other driver on the road is alert and aware and takes great care and caution while driving a deadly vehicle, this is not always the case. In fact, far too often, the news is full of accident reports that list various injuries and deaths as a result of someone not paying attention, texting while driving, driving while drunk or driving recklessly. It does not take much to lose control of a car when you are drunk and/or high on drugs.

Consider the case of a high school teacher, fired from his position for drug use, out on a tear on the highway and driving in the wrong direction. As you might imagine, the end result of that lark, begun under the influence of drugs, resulted in a horrific head-on crash with two vehicles. It was not pretty.

The teacher was treated at the scene and taken to the hospital after he was arrested. EMS crews took the survivors for medical attention. Turns out, the police report detailed that the man was charged with DWI/DUI, criminal possession of a hypothermic needle and criminal possession of a controlled substance. The man was also found to have at least two prior convictions for drunk driving and drugs.

Would the estate of the victim, who did not make it out of that crash alive, have a wrongful death case? Most likely, yes, they would. There would be more than enough evidence to suggest to a jury that there was egregious behavior that cost someone his life. The police report alone would speak volumes about the driver’s state of mind and attitude the night of the crash. An Austin personal injury lawyer could use this report in court on behalf of a victim.

In a case like this, the criminal charges would need to be dealt with before a civil lawsuit may be filed. This would mean a possibly lengthy wait before the wrongful death suit could be launched. Additionally, in the unlikely instance that the driver was found not guilty of the charged offenses, they could still be tried in civil court, as a wrongful death suit is filed under the auspices of a statute and not the criminal code.

If you have been in a similar situation, call an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer and do not wait too long to do it. There is a Statute of Limitations for filing wrongful death actions and it would be wise to know what that is before you lose the right to sue.

Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.

If you had to stop and think about what types of accidents typically happen on worksites, you may have come up with trenches caving in, electrocution, scaffolding coming apart, roofs caving in and heavy equipment toppling. If something bad is going to happen, it will typically happen on a construction site, largely because of the number of high risks jobs involved in building something.

Workers falling from high places is just about the number one injury accident on a jobsite. When you think about it, most of the tasks workers perform are up, high off the ground on a ledge, scaffolding, crane, elevator or hung from a harness. The building isn’t complete and there are a multitude of things that can go wrong, including being nailed by a falling object. High risk jobs call for extra care, but when something does go wrong, those injured need to consult with a skilled Austin personal injury attorney to find out about recovering compensation for their injuries.

Worksites are wondrous collections of all sorts of machines designed to ultimately help the workers build a structure. Most of this equipment is complex, extremely large and has the potential to be deadly if not used correctly or maintained properly. Malfunctions need to be jumped on immediately and not left or the consequences may cost someone their life. While corners shouldn’t be cut to get a job done, that often happens in deference to the budget. Those cut corners may seriously injure someone who may never walk again because someone wanted to save money on repairs.

Another major disaster-in-waiting on a construction worksite is the presence of chemicals. Exterior lubricants, harsh cleaning solutions and other toxic chemicals lurk in their containers waiting for a spill or someone not properly trained to use them. Chemical burns are painful and may be deadly. The presence of chemicals also kicks up the fire and explosion hazard exponentially. If someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time, a chemical leak or explosion may end a promising life.

If any of these scenarios have happened to you, seek the advice and counsel of an Austin personal injury attorney. They are the only ones who will be able to get compensation for your injuries at trial. An experienced Austin personal injury attorney is there to protect your rights.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.