Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog

NC Highway Patrol Warns Drivers To Watch For Those On Roadsides :: Car Wreck Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

January 17, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

It’s tragic that data shows more than 150 police officers have died since 1999 after being hit by passing vehicles on roadways across the United States. The numbers, recently released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, serves as a painful reminder of how much police officers sacrifice to keep others safe.

WBTV reports that the North Carolina Highway Patrol is taking this opportunity to impress upon residents of the state how important it is to abide by the Move Over law, especially when emergency vehicles are stopped on the side of the road.

North Carolina is one of 43 states to enact such legislation. North Carolina implemented its version of the law in 2002. Though the law is now more than a decade old, many drivers remain unaware of it. According to recent polling, some 71% of Americans have never heard of “Move Over” laws. This despite the fact that 86% of those responding to the survey say they support enacting such legislation.

North Carolina’s law was designed to help curb the numbers of deaths suffered not only by police officers, but by other emergency responders and even civilians who were stranded on the side of the interstate. North Carolina’s law requires drivers to slow down and approach cautiously when an emergency vehicle is stopped on the shoulder of the roadway with its lights flashing. Motorists are required to move over to another lane away from the emergency vehicle on a multi-lane highway or slow down on a two-lane highway assuming they can do so safely.

North Carolina Train Derailment Leads to Chemical Spill and Evacuation :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, NC

January 15, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to a recent Associated Press report, a terrible train crash in eastern North Carolina led to an entire town being evacuated as toxic chemicals were released into the surrounding area.

Authorities say that an evacuation order was issue for between 300 and 400 residents of Bladen County, NC after a CSX train derailed around 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday. The train was carrying several chemicals, including some cars that were full of ammonia. As the CSX train was crossing a small bridge above a creek the structure gave way and at least 10 train cars fell into the stream.

Emergency responders realized that the overturned train was carrying toxic chemicals and that one of the derailed cars contained ammonia. Ammonia is a potentially explosive substance that can cause serious respiratory problems to those exposed. Given the risks associated with the chemicals, police evacuated hundreds of residents in close proximity to the crash site.

The evacuation order has since been lifted after CSX’s hazardous materials team determined the area was safe. The transport company says it intends to pump out the ammonia from the damaged car over the coming days and that residents in the area will be safe.

Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC :: Chemical Spill Leaves One Worker Dead and Two Others Injured in Paper Plant

January 10, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Sad news out of York County today after it was revealed that one person is dead and another two were injured at a paper plant just south of the Charlotte metro area.

The terrible workplace accident took place around 1:30 in the morning on Tuesday of this week at the Resolute Forest Products plant in Catawba. The plant is located along Highway 5 near the Lancaster County, border.

Emergency Management officials in the county told WBTV that three contractors were doing maintenance on a decommissioned tank outside the main production area when an accident happened. The official said he believes that some type of chemical leaked into the tank while the men were still inside of it.

Two of the men were able to escape the tank but the third man was not so lucky and died. One of the two who escaped suffered serious injuries and had to be taken to a local hospital to receive treatment.

An investigation of the plant and the accident have been turned over to the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Department. Local law enforcement officials will help in the Department of Labor’s investigation and in piecing together what exactly went wrong.

The same plant saw a serious injury back in May of last year when a worker was severely burned and three others were injured after a chemical leak in a different part of the paper plant. The chemical, known as white liquor, was used to process wood chips and ended up burning the four employees after it leaked out of its holding area.

Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, NC :: NASCAR May Be Next Organization to Worry About The Risks of Concussions

January 8, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Despite reports that NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered a serious concussion last year, the organization has said it will not require that cognitive testing be done for drivers in 2013. However, the group did not rule out baseline cognitive tests for 2014 as it said it would continue to evaluate its procedures.

The famous driver suffered a concussion after a crash that took place at the end of August last year at the Kansas Speedway. Earnhardt suffered from some concussion symptoms after the crash but it has been revealed that he never had any follow-up exams. Perhaps worst of all, Earnhardt immediately returned to the regularly scheduled season and continued racing despite the brain trauma. He was then injured again and suffered a second concussion in a wreck that took place during the final lap of an early October race at Talladega Superspeedway.

This risk of re-injury is what can compound the effects of a concussion and lead to severe problems down the road. The doctors were sufficiently concerned after his second concussion and ordered him to sit out of races over the next two weeks. NASCAR officials claim they never knew about either concussion until Earnhardt revealed them after his second injury.

An official with NASCAR says the organization is still gathering information about concussions and is not yet prepared to release a policy regarding any new procedures. Rather than require baseline testing now, NASCAR intends to start by educating drivers about the dangers of brain injuries. Whether this will be enough to prevent other drivers from suffering the same injuries that have occurred in those who play professional football remains to be seen.

Workers’ Comp Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC :: Workplace Fatalities in North Carolina Fall 35%

January 3, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to preliminary figures released by the state’s Department of Labor, workplace fatalities dropped by 34% in 2012. This translates to 35 workplace fatalities in 2012 versus the 53 that were seen in 2011. Though the recent drop is certainly good news, it’s being measured against the 2011 number which represented a five-year peak in workplace deaths.

The North Carolina Department of Labor is crediting a recent enforcement push for the reduction in deaths. They say that by policing employers more carefully they have helped contribute to greater workplace safety in the state. The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Division has taken what it calls a “proactive approach” to help avoid injuries and fatalities in workplaces across the state, specifically by partnering with employers in especially hazardous industries.

The agency has reached out to employers and employees and used a system of hazard alerts, publishing safety guides and printing posters to help alert workers to possible dangers in their place of business. The latest injury and illness rate information points to an all time low of 3.1 per 100 full-time workers. Given the latest information, North Carolina is expected to rank in the top 10 safest states to work this year.

Problems with workers being hit by various objects, most often trees, vehicles and other heavy equipment, continued despite the Department of Labor’s efforts. Fourteen people died from being struck by various things, amounting to the leading cause of death among people at work in the state. Other major causes of death among workers in North Carolina were falls and electrocution.

Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina :: New Medicare Reimbursement Regulations May Result in Better Care For Hospital Patients

January 1, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

In a bit of good news for hospital patients in North Carolina, the federal government’s new reimbursement procedures may help to force doctors to provide better care. New Medicare regulations that began at the end of last year are designed to reduce payments to those hospitals with higher-than-expected readmission rates for heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia. The penalties could be big enough to cost some hospitals millions of dollars and will likely send a clear message to physicians that caring for patients properly the first time around is of the utmost importance.

Though the penalties only apply to a limited set of conditions, this is expected to change to include several other serious health conditions. Hospitals will then have a real incentive to work hard to reduce the number of patients who have to return soon after a discharge, a widespread problem that has yet to be properly addressed.

Experts in the medical field suggest a lack of coordination among healthcare providers is to blame for the high rate of readmissions. Hospitals often fail to identify which patients are at a high risk for complications, which leads to large numbers returning for further medical treatment. Minimal help for patients who have to make the transition from hospital to home is also to blame.

These hospital readmissions are not only costly in terms of unnecessary pain and even death for innocent patients, but financially costly as well. The Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates that such readmissions cost the government nearly $26 billion a year. The CMS has said that hospitals need to implement better discharge planning, more home-based follow-up procedures and provide quality patient education.

Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina :: Injured Workers in North Carolina Sometimes Left Destitute Thanks to Uninsured Bosses

December 27, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

The Charlotte Observer recently told the story of a man who was injured at work and left to eke out a living on government benefits due to the failure of the state’s workers’ compensation system to compensate him.

The worker, John Ashworth, shattered both his feet back in 2008 after falling off a roof. His employer lacked the insurance required by state law and owes him tens of thousands in back pay. State officials have been pressuring the company to pay, but so far Ashworth has received a total of $75. He survives on food stamps and Medicaid given the lack of a safety net for workers just like him.

The problem in North Carolina is a big one. One investigation found that there are at least 30,000 employers across the state that are required to carry insurance but do not. More shocking is that little or nothing has been done by regulators to ensure compliance with the state law. The state’s Industrial Commission hears complaints from between 300 and 500 workers each year who were injured while working for an uninsured company. Even though the Commission typically rules in favor of the injured workers, it can takes months or years (if ever) before the Commission is able to force the employers to pay the money they rightfully owe.

One way of fixing the problem is to haul the bosses off to jail. In another case this year, an injured worker was owed $120,000 in back pay by his boss. After months of ignoring the commission’s letters and requests for a meeting, officials finally arrested the employer. The arrest provoked the desired response and the employer has already begun making $1,000 per month payments to the worker in hopes of a settlement.

Advocates for such vulnerable employees say the state should create a fund to pay the back pay owed to such injured workers quickly so they are not left destitute while their former employers dispute the claims. Because workers that are never compensated end up on Medicaid or food stamp programs, advocates explain the taxpayers end up footing the bill either way.

Car Accident Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina :: The Reason Behind Low Insurance Rates in North Carolina

December 25, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

There’s been discussion among industry insiders about the low auto insurance rates paid by consumers in North Carolina and whether a raise in the rates might actually be a good thing in the long run. This might come as a surprise to drivers in the state given that North Carolinians currently enjoy some of the lowest car insurance rights in the country.

According to a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, drivers in the state pay the eighth lowest amount in the country behind Maine, Idaho and five states in the Midwest. Another survey, from Insure.com, says that the state is doing in even better, coming in at the fifth lowest auto premiums in 2012.

However, the reason for the low rates reveals that it’s not all good news. Some of the reasons are great: good roads, good traffic enforcement and low population density are all contributing factors. However, a bigger reason is that North Carolina is one of only a few states with laws on the book that make it harder to win personal injury lawsuits by evaluating whether an injured person had a role to play.

In North Carolina, the law says that if you are even one percent at fault, you might as well be 100% at fault. That’s because unlike most states, North Carolina follows an old common law rule known as contributory negligence. Under this approach, when a person is found to have any responsibility at all for his or her injuries, that person is then barred from recovering damages for those injuries. That means, that if a person is responsible in the smallest way for an accident, the defendant will avoid having to pay anything for the harm they caused. There are a few ways around this strict rule, including if the defendant acted in a willful or wanton manner or if the defendant had the last chance to avoid an accident and failed to do so. Currently only three other states and the District of Columbia follow the contributory negligence approach.

The vast majority of states use some version of a comparative negligence system where the amount a plaintiff can recover is reduced according to the percentage they are found to be at fault. For instance, if a plaintiff is found to be 10% responsible for an accident and the defendant is found to be 90% responsible, the total damage award will be reduced by 10%.

There have been several attempts to change the outdated system used in North Carolina, including last year’s vote in the House in favor of a bill replacing the contributory negligence system with a modified comparative negligence system. Though the House passed the bill, it failed to get the necessary votes in the Senate due to language inserted by legislators friendly to the insurance industry.

Trucking Accident Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, NC :: Court Says Texting Trucker Ultimately Responsible for Damage

December 20, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

An opinion from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week revealed that the Court affirmed a summary judgment ruling issued by a lower court that held a trucking dispatching system manufacturer should be dismissed from a personal injury lawsuit. The court held that the company could not be responsible for a crash that was caused by a texting driver.

The case is important because of the facts it presents. In the case, Durkee v. Geologic Solutions, Inc., the plaintiff sued after a truck crash occurred on Route 40 in North Carolina. The driver of the tractor-trailer rear-ended several cars that were in front of him. The accident was powerful and ultimately deadly, resulting in the tragic death of one of the plaintiffs’ infants.

The plaintiffs consulted North Carolina personal injury attorneys and began filing claims against all the usual suspects. Included in this group of defendants was a surprising addition, the company that made a texting system located inside the cab of the truck. The plaintiffs made two arguments to try and hold the company liable. First, they said that the texting system required the driver of the truck to divert his attention from the road to read the text messages coming from the dispatcher. Second, the system was poorly designed in that it allowed the driver to receive text messages while the vehicle was in motion. The plaintiffs said that both of these things contributed to the deadly wreck and make the company liable.

Charlotte, North Carolina Medical Malpractice Lawyers :: North Carolina Medical Malpractice Case Before U.S. Supreme Court

December 18, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

The tragic case of one North Carolina family was recently deliberated before the U.S. Supreme Court in an important test of how states will handle medical malpractice cases for Medicaid beneficiaries. The case involves a couple, Sandra and William Armstrong, and their 12-year-old daughter who was left blind, deaf, mute and immobile after a botched delivery by, what the parents said, was a negligent doctor. According to an article in the Charlotte Observer:

The case is known as Delia v. E.M.A. and asks the justices on the High Court to decide how much of $2.8 million medical malpractice settlement the Armstrongs are allowed to keep and how much the states, like North Carolina, can be reimbursed for Medicaid expenses.

The young girl, Emily, was born in 2000 in Hickory, NC. The doctor in charge, Dr. James Barnes, Jr., delivered her by cesarean section which did not go well. The girl suffered serious injuries and was eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a result. The parents sued the doctor, the hospital and others. The lawsuit revealed that the doctor had a history of drug abuse and prescription fraud and had voluntarily surrendered his medical license for a period.

The State of North Carolina said that they spent nearly $2 million caring for Emily through the use of the state’s Medicaid funds. After a verdict in 2006 awarded the family $2.8 million, the state tried to get a large chunk of the money. Currently, state officials have a lien for $933,333.33, or exactly one-third of the total award. They say that state law is clear that the government should be reimbursed from Medicaid beneficiaries who ultimately receive money from medical malpractice lawsuits.

The family is challenging the lien based on a federal law which prohibits state governments from placing liens on Medicaid patients’ property. They argue that the medical malpractice payout is property and thus immune. The state claims that the federal law only applies to the portion of the award for pain and suffering. The problem is that in this case the award was never itemized.

The worry of state officials is that if the Armstrongs prevail, future patients will just make sure that the entire settlement amount is categorized as for pain and suffering to avoid having to give the state any portion of the award.