Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog

North Carolina Lawyers Settle Blackwater Suit

January 10, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

The Washington Post reports that the security company formerly known as Blackwater, now known as Academi, has settled with the survivors and estates of victims of the 2007 shooting incident in Baghdad, Iraq. This was the last in a series of lawsuits brought by Iraqis for the deaths and injuries of other Iraqi citizens. The incident sparked a nationwide debate about the war in Iraq and the implications of armed American personnel in that country.

According to the suit, Blackwater guards were protecting several U.S. diplomats while they were in Iraq. The guards suddenly opened fire in a crowded square. The incident resulted in the death of 17 Iraqis, some of whom were women and children. Iraqi distaste for America and American involvement in their country only increased following the shooting. A North Carolina attorney, Jim Roberts, represented the families of three individuals killed in the shooting, one of them, a nine-year-old child.

The suit charged Blackwater and its contractors with wrongful death and negligence in the death of three individuals. Initially, Blackwater’s lawyers vigorously denied that their client was liable for the death of these people. They argued that because the Blackwater guards were protecting United States diplomats, they were agents of the federal government. Therefore, if anyone was liable it would be the federal government. They also argued that Blackwater could not be sued in the United States by foreign citizens for something that happened abroad.

Academi also settled a suit filed back in 2005 by the families of several Blackwater employees who were killed in an ambush back in 2004. That suit also alleged that Blackwater was liable for the wrongful death of the contractors.

It’s unclear what sparked the change in strategy at the company, why they decided to settle after so long a fight, but it is likely that the new company wants to move on without the stigma of these lawsuits hanging over its head.

Charlotte EMS Leaves Biohazard After Car Accident

January 5, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to a recent report by WBTV, a controversy has erupted over who is responsible for cleaning up hazardous waste left after an accident involving injuries.

After the injured had been treated at the scene and sent off to receive additional medical care, what was left behind at the scene was a slew of bloody gauze and soiled latex gloves used by EMS to stabilize and treat the injured passengers. The law currently does not provide any guidance about who is supposed to clean up the scene of an accident. Mark Fagala, a biohazard specialist, said, “EMS takes ’em in, Highway Patrol clears, and it’s just left for the property owner to clean up.”

The homeowner with bloody gauze strewn around his yard was not satisfied with being responsible for having to clean up a mess for which he was not responsible. He called the City of Charlotte and complained. Someone was immediately sent out to properly dispose of the hazardous waste. There are guidelines for proper disposal of biological waste and the fact that there are not clear provisions regarding the clean-up after an accident means that someone has dropped the ball.

Only two states in the country have specific rules for disposal of biological waste, Florida and California. North Carolina has no such laws and Fagala thinks that it is time for that to change. The risk of infection and injury is high in this situation. The owners of the property where an accident has occurred has no way of knowing if any of the injured people carried life threatening diseases and whether they are putting their own health at risk if they attempt to dispose of the material.

The best and most efficient thing to do is to lobby lawmakers to draft a bill addressing this issue. There are several possibilities. EMS could be required to come back and clean the scene. EMS could be required to notify an accident and crime scene clean-up agency prior to leaving the scene. The police department could also be required to do the same. Whatever the avenue taken by lawmakers, it will be better than leaving an innocent property owner with the responsibility of clearing their property of hazardous material.

Paralyzed North Carolina Woman Hopes to Walk

January 3, 2012 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to an article by the Charlotte Observer, on May 23, 2010, Rachelle Chapman walked to her bachelorette pool party and left paralyzed from the chest down. It was a normal day for her, but it ended with a life-changing event. Chapman and her friends were horsing around when one of her friends pushed her into the pool. She landed in an awkward position in the shallow end and injured her vertebra. Chapman immediately felt nothing from her chest down and had no feeling on the outside of her arms. Chapman and her fiancé were supposed to be married just weeks after the accident, but for obvious reasons, the wedding was postponed for more than a year.

Chapman has never revealed the name of the friend who pushed her into the pool. The woman was also a bridesmaid at Chapman’s wedding and she does not hold her friend responsible for her injuries. It was an unfortunate accident that led to tragic consequences.

As part of her recovery, Chapman trained at Project Walk, a facility that treats spinal cord injuries in California. During her stay there, she was able to gain a tremendous amount of strength. When she first got to Project Walk, she was weak and suffering from bone loss. At the end of her treatment she had increased her strength and was able to sit upright without passing out from low blood pressure.

Chapman was only at Project Walk for three weeks, but she hopes to go back again this year. She is now working out at home to continue her progress. Her fiancée and father-in-law built her a table to work out with while she is at home. She uses a home gym and does weight-bearing exercises to continue to build her strength. She has confidence that she will eventually be able to walk again and her nurses at Project Walk feel just as confident. Kimberly Davis, one Chapman’s instructors at Project Walk, says that it is possible that Chapman will be able to walk again. Davis concedes that this kind of spinal injury is unpredictable, but that unpredictability works in Chapman’s favor.

Sneakers Cause Chaos at North Carolina Mall

December 29, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

The scene was akin to Black Friday chaos when Michael Jordan re-released his Air Jordan XI Concord sneakers. Shoppers lined up in droves to purchase the shoes and the police were called to several locations to keep the crowd in check. The Charlotte Observer reported that police were called to three malls in North Carolina to quell the riotous masses.

People began arriving at the stores early in the morning on Friday, December 23. The stores were allowed to sell the shoes starting at 5:00 AM, but several customers were lining up hours ahead of time. “There were people crying, screaming. People were running around, pushing. … Unbelievable. A lot of cursing,” said Numar Betris who was fortunate enough to purchase a pair at SouthPark Mall.

At Carolina Place Mall, shoppers reported that the crowd began getting extremely aggressive. There were three stores in the mall that were selling the shoes and the eager shoppers went charging through the store like bulls when the doors were finally opened. At least one person lost her shoe in the mêlée. The malls weren’t the only places slammed with crowds. Police were called to several shoe stores around North Carolina where shoppers reported being pushed and shoved attempting to buy the new Jordans.

If anyone suffered injuries from the chaos in the lines, those injuries could be the foundation for a personal injury lawsuit. One potential problem is that the plaintiff filing the suit may have a difficult time proving causation. The theory of liability would be negligence, but the plaintiff would have a hard time pinpointing which one of the hundreds of shoppers caused the plaintiff’s injuries.

CATS Bus and Truck Collide, Injuring Twelve

December 27, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and emergency crews were called to the scene of a troubling bus accident on North Tryon Street in Charlotte on Thursday morning. A CATS bus and a pickup truck collided at an intersection. The end result was that 12 people suffered injuries. At the time of the crash, the bus was carrying twenty passengers. Twelve of those passengers were injured. One passenger had life-threatening injuries, while the others only suffered minor issues. Seven passengers were taken to Carolinas Medical Center and the other five were taken to Presbyterian Hospital. The driver of the truck escaped injury entirely.

The CATS bus was coming up a hill when the pickup truck pulled out in front of the bus. The driver of the truck was trying to make a left turn onto Tryon Street, but collided with the bus. Police have made the determination that the driver of the pickup truck is at fault because he pulled out in front of the bus. WSOC TV spoke with the pickup driver’s supervisor at Kip Construction where he worked. His supervisor admitted that the turn onto North Tryon can be difficult to navigate and drivers should be cautious when making that turn. “I’ve been hit coming out of there,” said Bryan Rosenhauer with Kip Corporation, another of the driver’s colleagues. “I’ve been hit turning in there. It’s just a bad spot coming over the crest of a hill. People move through here pretty good.”

This type of accident should prompt drivers to be more careful when driving. Had the pickup truck driver waited for a few more seconds before making that turn, he could have avoided the damage to his car, the damage to the CATS bus, and the 12 injuries. He is now potentially responsible for all the damage and the injuries that resulted from his failure to yield the right of way to the CATS bus.

The police’s determination that the driver of the pickup truck was at fault will go a long way in proving in court by a preponderance of the evidence that the driver is civilly liable for the damage. However, if the driver can demonstrate that the CATS bus driver was driving too fast or if there was something that the bus driver could have done to avoid the accident, then CATS may potentially be barred from recovery due to North Carolina’s pure contributory negligence rule. Pure contributory negligence bars the plaintiff from recovering anything if the plaintiff was in any way at fault.

There are, however, some exceptions to this harsh rule, one of them being something called “The Last Clear Chance” rule. This doctrine provides that if the defendant had the last clear chance to avoid the accident but did not, then the plaintiff may make a full recovery regardless of the amount of the plaintiff’s fault.

Tired Truck Drivers Lead to Disaster in North Carolina

December 22, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to a recent report by the Charlotte Observer, a factor often forgotten in discussions of the increasing number of trucking deaths is sleep apnea.

One top sleep expert said that drowsy driving kills more people each year on the road than distracted driving. Dr. Charles Czeisler of Harvard University Medical School says that while sleep apnea gets little attention in the media it is actually responsible for one in five crashes.

Sleep apnea occurs when a person ceases breathing during sleep. These interruptions disrupt deep sleep and lead to prolonged periods of sleepiness during the day. While treatment is easy with a breathing machine, the problem is that nearly 85% of cases go undiagnosed. Some commercial drivers are afraid of losing their jobs if they identify themselves as suffering from the disorder while others want to avoid paying for expensive diagnostic tests.

The results of this failure to treat weary drivers can be devastating. The number of people who died in commercial truck crashes saw another year of increases, now at nearly 4,000 last year, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator.

Just this summer in Anderson, South Carolina a semi jackknifed and crossed the median on I-85, killing the driver and two others, 38-year-old truck driver Clay LeShawn Johnson of Charlotte and attorney Jeremy Scott Wilson, 33. In that crash the coroner found that the truck driver, Eddie Wyatt, 69, suffered from sleep apnea and had only recently returned to work.

Again on October 13, 2011, along I-85 in Gastonia, one tractor-trailer slammed into the back of another, killing one driver. Gastonia Police released the accident report just this week, saying the surviving driver was travelling only 32 mph in the left lane when he was struck at 1:47 am, killing the oncoming driver. The company that operated the slow-moving truck, Saga Freight Logistics of Brownsville, Texas, received 64 fatigue-related violations in the last two years alone.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has tried to reduce driver fatigue by limiting hours of service to 11 hours each day. They have proposed that this decrease even further to 10 per day to allow the opportunity for more rest. The problem is that those with sleep apnea, due to the nature of the disorder, can spend a full eight hours in bed and get back behind the wheel as sleepy as if they got only a few hours of sleep.

North Carolina Exotic Dancer Injured By Fake Butt Injection

December 20, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

WFMY News reports that a Greensboro woman has been charged with performing medical procedures without a proper medical license. Police say that Lauretta Cheek became the subject of an investigation when one of her “patients” filed a complaint against her. The “patient” claimed that a friend took her to see Cheek so that she could receive enhancement injections in her buttocks. After the procedure, she began to have severe complications and visited the emergency room in Charlotte, North Carolina on two separate occasions.

The patient filed a complaint with the health department and that is when the police launched their investigation into Cheek’s practices. The patient told investigators that she found out about Cheek’s cheap butt injections through the grapevine at her job as an exotic dancer. Apparently these enhancements were important for her career, but not important enough that she would go through the proper procedures to procure them. Police say that the procedure took place inside a hotel room and cost the patient a total of $500.00.

Cheek faces criminal penalties for her actions. She has been charged with a misdemeanor count of Practicing Medicine without a license. This, however, is not Cheek’s first rodeo. Back in 2008, she was charged with one count of Practicing Medicine without a license and one count of Obtaining a Controlled Substance by Fraud/Forgery. At the time of the new misdemeanor charge filed against her, she was still on probation for the 2008 charges. It is likely that these new charges amount to a violation of her probation, so it possible that Cheek may be serving out the remainder of her sentence inside a cell.

In addition to these criminal charges, Cheek faces potential civil liability from this patient and any other person who received her injections and suffered injury. However, there’s a problem. North Carolina is one of the few states that follow the doctrine of pure contributory negligence. Pure contributory negligence prevents the plaintiff from recovering from the defendant in a negligence action if the plaintiff is even 1% at fault for his or her injuries.

North Carolina is also unique in that its contributory negligence law is statutory. Thus, the patient is going to have a difficult time establishing that she was not negligent in attempting to receive a bargain butt injection in the back room of a cheap hotel. It is likely that a jury would find that she was equally at fault for her injuries. Further, given North Carolina’s pure contributory negligence position, even if the jury found that her failure to exercise reasonable care for her own safety amounted to only 1% fault, she would still be barred from recovery.

North Carolina Accident leads to Tragic Consequences

December 15, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A Charlotte, North Carolina man has been charged with murder and with driving while intoxicated after a horrific accident on Sugar Creek Road. According to the Charlotte Observer, Eric Cox, the driver of an SUV ran a red light and struck another vehicle, a white Nissan Altima. The driver of the other vehicle, H’Luon Sin, was pronounced dead at the scene, suffering fatal injuries from the accident. Also in the car with her was her 4-year old son. He was rushed to a local hospital and is currently listed in critical condition. Cox, however, was not injured in the crash at all.

Sin was finishing her shift at a local greenhouse and had just finished picking up her son when she unknowingly crossed paths with Cox. She crossed the street at the intersection right when Cox’s SUV came barreling toward her. He then slammed into the side of Altima.

The judge in Cox’s case set bail at $350,000 after pleas from Cox’s family brought a reduction. Prosecutors were initially requesting a much higher amount, approximately $2 million. Cox had a previous DWI conviction in 2009 and was ordered by a judge to have no more than a 0.04 blood alcohol level. He also had a history of DWIs and other charges.

This case highlights the dangers of drunk driving and how an accident can have criminal consequences. Cox was a veteran and will now possibly spend a significant portion of his life in prison because he chose to get behind the wheel of his SUV while he was seriously impaired.

Even if you are a safe driver and smart enough to not drink and drive, you may not be safe from the bad decisions of others. According to www.dui.lifetips.com, more than 40% of accidents involving fatalities are alcohol-related. Someone is injured in a drunken driving accident every two minutes. All drivers should be on diligent on the road, looking for the classic sign of impaired driving: swerving and swaying between lanes.

Charlotte NASCAR Team Owner Loses Seat and Suffers Injuries on Flight

December 13, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to ESPN, NASCAR Team Owner Rick Hendrick broke his ribs and his shoulder following a crash aboard his private plane. The injury occurred despite his doing everything he could think to prevent the injury, including wearing his seatbelt. Hendrick and his wife were aboard their Gulfstream 150 when it landed at Key West Airport. The plane experienced some braking problems and ran off of the runway. “My belt was on, and something came loose in the seat itself,” Hendrick said. “I hit the bulkhead and my wife. My chest and head went into the seat in front of me, and that’s where I (broke) my ribs and I had a concussion.” After the accident, Hendrick and his wife were hospitalized, but neither pilot was injured.

Hendrick is the owner of Hendrick Motorsports organization which provides equipment and technical support for Stewart-Haas Racing. Hendrick and star racer Jimmie Johnson co-owned the plane, which was used primarily for Johnson’s family’s travels to and from races. This is not the first time that a plane owned by Hendrick was involved in a crash. In 2004, another one of Hendrick’s planes crashed, killing 10, including Hendrick’s son, brother, and nieces.

It is unlikely that anyone is at fault for Hendrick’s injuries. Regular maintenance would be the only real way to catch such problems before they happen. Following instructions from the flight crew and wearing safety restraints are also critical but here nothing would’ve helped given that the seat itself was the cause of the problems. While there does not appear to have been any negligence on the part of the plane’s owners or flight crew, had anyone else on the plane been injured the owners would’ve potentially been in hot water over the thoroughness of their maintenance. To minimize such potential liability plane owners should hire a well respeted company to regularly inspect their aircraft. As powerful members of the NASCAR community, containing risk is very important and compliance with federal aviation safety regulations is paramount.

FBI Agent Injured in Charlotte Accident with Distracted Driver

December 8, 2011 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to WBTV, an off-duty FBI agent was injured in a car accident when a speeding driver careened off the road and barreled into his SUV parked on the side of Interstate 485. In all, three individuals had to receive treatment for their injuries as a result of the reckless North Carolina driver. The driver responsible for the accident was driving a pickup truck and traveling at speeds in excess of 80 M.P.H. in a 65 M.P.H. zone.

Investigators say the driver was attempting to avoid another vehicle when she crashed into the agent’s SUV as it was parked on the shoulder with its blue lights flashing. The driver suffered life threatening injuries and had to be airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center-Main. The driver was accompanied by a passenger who was also injured, though not seriously. Investigators are still trying to discover the cause of the accident. They are attempting to determine whether texting or alcohol was involved.

It seems that the driver of the pickup truck was likely distracted. This is yet more proof of the dangers associated with distracted driving. Distracted driving has become a huge road hazard, enough that the federal government has gotten involved. It has devoted an entire website to telling the world about the dangers of distracted driving. According to http://www.distraction.gov, in 2009, 20% of the crashes that reported injuries involved distracted driving. Of accidents that involved fatalities that number was 16%.

Although the police are not certain what caused the accident in this case, if the driver of the pickup truck was distracted because of something she was doing in the car at the time of the crash, she will likely be liable for the injuries to the agent and her passenger. The FBI agent and the passenger will have a cause of action against her negligence. She failed to exercise due care in the operation of her vehicle. As a driver, she had a duty to ensure that the operation of her vehicle did not interfere with other drivers. Driving while distracted is a textbook example of negligence on the road.