Month: January 2011

At Young and Young, we pay special attention to brain injury and the science of diagnosing the injury. As your Indiana Brain Injury lawyers, we want to bring to your attention new studies about the effect of hits to the head.  If you are a football fan, and have been following the National Football League, you know that the NFL recognizes that players are in danger from significant blows to the head.  Philadelphia Eagles fans remember Harold Carmichael, the six foot nine receiver who had to quit the league because of too many concussions.  San Francisco 49ers fans remember losing their quarterback to concussions.  Indianapolis Colts fans watched in horror as Austin Collie lay helpless  on the field with his arms drawn up like he was paralyzed.  The NFL has instituted new rules to try and minimize the danger associated with hits to the head.  We think going back to leather helmets would encourage players to not lead with their head or to enter contact so violently.

In this month’s copy of National Geographic Magazine further evidence is discussed that places even more emphasis on protecting the brain. A study being conducted at the University of North Carolina is pointing out that a lot of small hits may be just as bad as a few large hits.  The scientist are quick to point out that it is too early to draw conclusions from the study, but some theories are emerging. It has long been known that repeated blows to the head causes brain injury.  In boxers it was called being punch drunk. Now we know this as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The study is attempting to determine the effect of repeated smaller blows to the head with the idea of trying to prevent injury to future athletes.  For now, we encourage all athletes to wear their helmets, including when skiing and biking. Be careful, the best way to treat brain injury is to prevent brain injury.

As you know from our recent talks, we have been taking this time to defend the civil justice system against those who would rather strip the American public of their rights than have to make up for the harm they do.  We, as Americans, have done a poor job defending our right to jury trial.  Our founding fathers thought enough of this right to specifically place it in our constitution.  We should be defending it more vigorously than the gun lobby works to defend the right to bear arms.  We have let the insurance companies and the moneyed interests chip away at our rights over the last 40 years.  These interests have been very effective with ad campaigns and smear tactics to redirect our attention away from our rights so they be taken away from us without us really know or understanding why it is happening.  Imagine, if you are involve in a serious automobile accident or seriously injured in a drunk driving accident, not being able to demand, yes I say demand that the person whose negligence caused your serious injury be required to make up for the harm they cause, to fully make up for the harm they caused.   You may think this is impossible but we are sliding ever closer to this reality.  In Indiana, hundreds of immunities now exist in our law to protect those who cause injury from having to fairly make up for the harm they cause.  We see stories in the papers and on TV telling us another out of control jury has awarded outrageous damages for no injury.  These stories are believed despite the fact that the jury heard all the facts, were controlled by the judge and strict rules of evidence and made their decision based on those facts rather than the inflammatory accusations made by those who stand most to lose by a fair jury, the Insurance companies, and vested interests.  We are barraged by false stories about lawsuits, such as the Stella Awards, and instead of checking the facts, we believe the hype and condemn the system, the very system designed by our founding fathers to protect us.  If guns were assaulted as heavily as our right to a jury trial America would be howling.

For this reason, I want to recommend you watch a new documentary entitled “Hot Coffee.”  It tells the story the jury heard about the McDonalds Hot Coffee case from 20 years ago, and then goes into other examples of “Tort Reform.”  Most important, it explains why the lies have been told for over 20 years about our Tort system, and the corporate interests behind the public relations nightmare.  The documentary is so good that it’s been accepted at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.  Here’s a link to the first official critique of the film:  Sundance Review:  Hot Coffee

I do not ask you to swallow whole what you see in this documentary.  I ask you to think about what you see.  Check the facts and make your decision.  After doing so, I am confident that you will have a renewed respect for jury trials, the civil justice system and your rights.  Pass on what you learn.

At Young and Young we are serious injury lawyers representing seriously injured Hoosiers all over the State of Indiana from our Indianapolis Offices.  We defend the civil justice system from unfair and unfounded attacks by people of corporations who want to attack the system for their own benefit.  The benefit they seek in attacking the civil justice system is to close the Court House doors to deserving Hoosiers who have been injured by others negligence.  These people will say that they do not want to close the doors to legitimately injured Hoosiers, but their actions speak louder than their words.  These people want to give immunity to all sorts of businesses so even if these businesses are negligent and their negligence  results in serious injuries to deserving Hoosiers, the business will not be responsible for making up for the harm they cause.  Honestly, most of these businesses are insured against such claims, so it is really the insurance industry that benefits.  These same people want to cap the damages a person can recover.  Say this injured person has a million dollars in medical care costs caused by the malpractice. This injured Hoosier cannot recover more than $1,250,000.00  Thus, this injured Hoosier will have to apply for Medicare and Medicaid, and instead of the doctor making up for the harm he/she caused, you and I will be taking care of this unfortunate seriously injured Hoosier for the rest of his life.

Another way these people attack the civil justice system is by making up outrageous stories that make the system look like it is the problem.  Of course, by and large these stories are false.

Take for instance the Stella Awards. About this time every year we start getting the “Stella Awards” email (thestellaawards.com) from friends who think the examples cited are outrageous and somehow want us to comment or justify  the attack on civil justice that these “Awards” put forth. If you get the “Stella Awards” in your email, please, before giving it any credibility or passing it along to your contacts click onto www.snopes.com and learn how this is totally false and untruthful. The only thing worse than making up false damnation’s about our civil justice system is to pass that untruth onto your contacts as if it were true. The truth is that we are blessed with the best system in the world to determine the truth and protect parties in either our civil or criminal justice system. Many people have sacrificed ,which has included giving  up their lives, to obtain and preserve our right to trial by jury.  Our state and federal constitutions recognize this rights importance and are  written to preserve our basic rights including our  right to trial by jury.  We also have a freedom of speech which those same people sacrificed and died to obtain and preserve. It is not the freedom of truthful speech.  Unfortunately that freedom allows and often protects untruths and distortions to be spread just as easily as the truth. It is our duty to look with a critical eye when we read things like the “Stella Awards”, because while our freedom of speech protects its dissemination it does not guarantee it truthfulness… Thanks for your consideration in stopping this outrageous attack on our precious right to trial by jury which so many sacrificed to preserve.

Albert Einstein once said that the world is a dangerous place because people do not do anything about it.  We, as children learned something from our mothers that is as true today as it was when she said it.  If you make a mess, you are responsible to clean it up.  You are responsible to clean it up fully.  We, as trial lawyers know that this means if you harm someone through your negligence, you are responsible for making up for that harm by fairly compensating the person you hurt.  This rule has two good effects.  The first is that the person who is harmed is taken care of by the person who hurt them.  The responsibility for this harm, and taking care of it, is not shifted to Medicare to pay the bills and Social Security to pay for the lost wages.  We as a society do not have to make up for the harm because the responsible party is doing that.  Second, it causes people to be more careful, so that they do not hurt people and do not have to make up for the harm they cause.  As social animals it is our goal to live a happy and fulfilling life.  If no one injures us, we can do that.  If we do not injure another, everyone is free to do that.  This is not a concept of socialism or communism, it is a pillar of the free market society.  Capitalism is best served by happy healthy workers contributing to their own welfare and pursuit of the dream of living the better life.

So, we ask you, why would a system that promotes these values be under constant attack?  Why are our legislatures so intent on stripping the people of the protections offered by the tort system?  A logical response is that our legislative bodies are controlled by the moneyed interests.  Lobbyists, corporations with huge amounts of money,influence lawmakers to do their bidding. Why would corporations spend money to attack the tort system?  Said another way, why would corporations spend money to restrict your right to be fairly compensated if you are injured by another’s negligence? Behind every car accident there are two insurance companies, one for each car.  One of those companies now has the legal obligation to pay the injured party to make up the harm caused by their insured.  Every dollar the insurance company pays out in fair compensation is one less dollar of profit.  The profits for these companies are huge.  These huge profits justify the obscene amount of money these companies spend to influence lawmakers to restrict your rights and as a consequence increase their profits.  Remember, the good hands people, despite their warm and fuzzy commercials, are a for profit corporation and if they do not have to compensate you fairly they make more money.  Said another way, if they do not have to compensate the bread winner who can no longer work, you and I will have to take care of the injured person through Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

You might say it can’t be that bad, but it can be.  Our world will become a more dangerous place unless we the people stand up and tell our lawmakers that what our mothers taught is is right and we are not going to let it go.  We have the right to be fairly compensated if we are hurt.  It is a matter of honor to make up for the harm we cause.  Corporate self interest cannot warp mother’s words.

We welcome you back to your work week.  As part of our ongoing series of blogs from the perspective of our college age associates, we are proud to present the thoughts of Joseph M. Young, Junior, Indiana University.  Joe is majoring in Religious studies and Psychology.

Drunk driving has a negative connotation in America, for good reason. It can lead to all kinds of accidents driving into a ditch, to a massive multiple car pile-ups. Drunk driving can lead to motorcycle accidents, highway accidents, large truck accidents , semi tractor-trailer accidents, and other trucking accidents.  In any drunk driving accident, serious injuries can occur. These injuries include back injuries, paralysis, brain injury, and permanent impairment. All  these injuries can lead to lost wages, future medical bills, unemployment, disability, and hours and hours of painful physical therapy. Larger bills, bigger fines, and a greater loss of life and limb can result from major collisions caused by drunk driving.

Like any bad habit though, drunk driving is preventable. If a person knows that he or she is prone to drive after they have been drinking, the responsible and right thing to do is for that person to give the keys to a friend. If a friend is not around a responsible person will have to choose not to drink or to stay home all together. There is always a cab, which is possibly one of the best options, provided money is available. Having a sober friend or designated driver is also always a good preventative option.

Unfortunately all of the preventative ideas in the world will not stop some people from drinking and driving. Hopefully, some people can recognize their fault and stop when they realize their error in judgment. If you ever find yourself drunk and need to get somewhere call a friend immediately.