Author: plumwd

What is my Duty to Shovel Snow?

Posted on by plumwd

Snow is beautiful.  I love to watch it fall.  I takes me back to my childhood, when a snowman, a snow angel, sledding and hot chocolate were what snow meant.  As an adult I know about the dangers associated with snow.  My father’s cold turned into pneumonia while he was shoveling snow.  Every year you hear about someone having a heart attack while out shoveling their front walk.  The more common injury, though, is a back injury.  When the snow warms up, melts and then the temperatures drop we get the ice and the danger becomes real for us all.  Slipping on the ice can cause all sorts of very serious injuries.  I have represented people who have ruptured discs,  hit their heads and had a brain injury, been in car wrecks and have been paralyzed with a spinal cord injury.  But we are not here to talk about traffic accidents.  We are here to discuss the duty to remove snow and ice from sidewalks.  

 Homeowners and business owners have a duty to keep their property in a reasonably safe condition for their guests and business patrons.  So if you are a homeowner, and you have no one coming over, you probably don’t have to worry about shoveling your walks.  If you invite someone over, though, a reasonable person would want to make sure that that person  can get into their home without falling.  In this circumstance, shoveling the walk, or putting down ice melt is a reasonable thing to do to make your walk safe.  If your property is in a city or town, and your property is boardered by a public walk, what is your duty?  Most Cities and towns have ordinances which require people who have a public walk next to their property to shovel that walk.  If you do not shovel that walk, and the city or town is up to the task, they can write you a ticket, and you may have to pay a fine.  However, this duty to shovel the public walk does not make the homeowner responsible for a persons injuries if they do not shovel the walk and that someone falls.  We do not owe a duty to other people to shovel snow on other people’s property, including public property.  The duty is to the City, and you can be fined (though this rarely happens) but you are not liable if you were to get sued. 

Business owners have essentially the same duties as homeowners.  The major difference is that the whole point of the business is to get people into your store to buy what you have to sell.  Usually the store owner puts up catchy signs and lights to catch the attention of the consumer to lure them into the store.  Because the store owners know that people will be coming and their attention will be diverted, it is important, that once they know there is snow and or ice on the ground, they must make the walks and parking lots safe for those customers.  A reasonable business owner does this by contracting with a snow removal business.  The property owner is still responsible to make sure the snow removal business does a good job making their property safe for their customers.

In conclusion, if you are worried about what to do, it is probably safest to remove the snow and ice.  This helps us all get along and allows all to get things done.

Brain Injury and Phineas Gage

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Phineas Gage worked for the railroad at the end of the 19th century.  His job was to fill holes with blasting material to allow the railroad to blast out material to level its new rail bed.  He did this by using a five or six foot rod to tamp the explosives into the hole.  Phineas was described as a model employee, kind, courteous and a good family man.  One day, while tamping down the explosives, the material exploded.  This shot the tamping rod out of Phineas’ hands upward through his skull.  Looking that the pictures you can see that the rod entered Phineas’ face just below the eye, and shot through his skull, brain and all, and out the top of his skull.  Although Phineas lost his eye, the rod did not kill him.  Amazingly, the rod going through his head did not even cause him to lose consciousness.

Phineas Gage suffered a severe brain injury in a time when physicians’ knowledge of neurology, and how the brain works was in its infancy.  This construction accident would have far reaching impact on what we now know about injury of the brain, both physical and psychological.  Phineas eventually recovered physically recovered from the event.  However, his family began to notice almost immediately that Phineas was a changed man.  He began to cuss like a sailor.  He started drinking like the stills were going to run out.  He lost interest in what, before the construction accident, made him happy.  He started to make mistakes at work.  He started to miss work and eventually lost his job.

Scientists studying Phineas’ case came to realize that an injury to the brain has adverse consequences far beyond simply the physical injury.  They began to realize that an injury to the brain causes changes in cognitive function (how we think), in personality, in control, and in many other functions that we take for granted.  It turns out that the rod injured Phineas’ frontal lobe.  This is the part of the brain that controls our cognitive ability known as executive function. (Executive function is similar to RAM memory in a computer, it is what lets us do many different things at the same time).  Pineas’ injury impaired his ability to do many things at the same time and thus interfered with his ability to do his job.

The frontal lobe also controls disinhibition.  This is what stops us from doing socially inappropriate things such as cussing inappropriately.  Phineas’ brain injury interfered with his disinhibition and he began to act socially inappropriately.  We have learned that some brain injury enhances underlying personality traits.  Phineas reportedly drank socially prior to the construction accident, but after he could not control his drinking.  This may well be caused by enhancement of this personality trait combined with impaired disinhibition.

Brain injury can be caused by  car accidents, highway accidents, truck accidents, slip and fall, motorcycle accidents and the drunk driver.  John P. Young is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Indiana, serving as its Chair for two years.  Mr. Young has twenty years of experience helping Hoosiers and their families deal with brain injury.  Call him and let him help you and your family.

What Do You Do If You Have a Shoulder Injury

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Last night I was watching the BCS Championship game.  I thought it was really exciting, did you?  I felt bad for University of Texas quarterback, Colt McCoy.  For those of you who missed it, the University of Alabama had, for some really strange reason, attempted a fake punt while on their own twenty yard line after three horrible plays that left them with a fourth and twenty three.  It went badly and Texas had the ball deep in Alabama territory and were driving.  Colt McCoy took the ball and attempted to run off left tackle. He hesitated and took a ferocious hit to his shoulder.  He initially looked like he was okay.  Then he was trying to shake his arm, to get it to work.  Next thing you know the arm is hanging limply at his side and he is out of the game.  Next we see him going to the locker room and them we see him going to the x-ray area of the Rose Bowl.

In a rapidly sped up time frame most shoulder injuries happen like this.  First you have a trauma.  You are in a car wreck with a drunk driver, or you are in a highway wreck with a semi tractor trailer or you are riding a motorcycle and someone turns in front of you or any kind of traffic accident or road accident.  You feel a twinge in your shoulder.  It is not exactly painful, but you know something is wrong.  It is very important, tell the investigating officer, or if the injury is from a construction accident tell your employer or whoever is investigating the accident, that you are having pain in your shoulder.  You may not need to go to the hospital in ambulance, but you should go to the hospital as soon as you can, as soon as you leave the accident scene.  It is inconvenient, but  your health is priority number one.  Don’t worry, these injuries are very treatable. 

At the hospital they should take x-rays.  X-rays are good at seeing the bone.  If there is a bony injury, like a break, immediate care will be given.  If there is no fracture, the emergency room people will likely give you pain medication and recommend that if you are still having pain in the next week, you go to your primary care physician for a checkup.  If you are still having pain in that first week, it may be general pain, but if it is a rotator cuff injury, it will only hurt with certain injuries.  Do what the ER people told you to do go see your doctor.  The doctor will likely recommend physical therapy, usually two to three weeks worth.  If the doctor recommends PT, do it, go to all the sessions.

If the PT does not work, the doctor will likely ask you to have a CT scan or and MRI.  These are tests that show the soft tissue surrounding the shoulder, called the rotator cuff.  The rotator cuff is a combination of muscles, tendons and ligaments which hold the arm bone to the shoulder bones.  This miraculous mechanism allows the arm to rotate nearly 365 degrees, the most rotation of any joint in the body.  I have provided a drawing of the shoulder to help you understand these wonderful structures.

If you have a tear in one of these structures, your doctor will likely refer you to an orthopedic specialist.  An orthopedic specialist is a doctor with more training.  Orthopedists work on the bony and muscle structures of the body, and generally they specialize on certain parts of the body.  In your case your doctor will send you to a shoulder specialist.  The specialist will reexamine you, review your test results and make a treatment recommendation, possibly surgery.  Remember it is very important to follow your doctor’s recommendations for treatment.

At Young and Young, we have represented thousands of Hoosiers with shoulder injuries.  We would be happy to sit with you and your family to advise you as to how the law can help you be compensated for the injuries you sustain when another’s negligence causes you injury.

Lead Poisoning

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Lead is a neurotoxin.  This means it causes brain injury and other neurological injury.  Children are most susceptible to the harms of lead.  So how does this lead get into our children’s bodies?  There are several sources.  The first is lead paint.  Paint used to have lead added as an ingredient.  The lead stays in the paint.  As that paint begins to peal and chip, the flakes can be, and are, eaten by children.  When a wall with lead paint on it is sanded, in preparation for repainting, the dust created by the sanding contains lead.  If this dust is inhaled, lead is introduced into the body.

Lead is also contained in the paint on many toys.  In the last few years, toys imported from China have been found to have a shockingly high level of lead.  Our children hold these toys close to their bodies, or put the toys in their mouths and they are poisoned.  A friend of mine mentioned today that maybe China is putting the lead in the paint and sending it to us, as a way to get rid of their lead.  It sounds a little far fetched, but it is a devilishly simple way to rid themselves of a big problem at our expense.  If they ever wanted to dominate us, it certainly would be in their best interests to poison our children, in their own homes.  The effect of the poison is to injure the cognitive processes of the brain.   This makes it more difficult for the child to process information and to think.  It would be easy to dominate a nation of impaired people.

Another source of the lead is plates and dishware.  Another friend noticed strange symptoms being exhibited by her child.  For months she sought medical advice.  One doctor suggested that the child might have lead poisoning.   The mother said she knew of no way the child could be exposed to lead.  The doctor suggested she have her plates and dishware tested for lead.  Much to her surprise her dishware tested positive for high levels of lead.  Her dishes included Wedgewood and Spode.  They were wedding presents and Christmas gifts she received from well meaning friends and families.  To her dismay, the dishes were harming her child.

Lead poisoning can be just as devastating as other types of personal injury.  Become familiar with the signs and symptoms of lead poisoning.  If you have any doubt about your child’s toys, or your dishware, have them tested.

Driving in Ice and Snow

Posted on by plumwd

The weather conditions this morning reminded me of  watching Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts play in the driving snow of Buffalo, New York, against the Bills. I noticed that all the players were missing plays.  They were missing tackles, missing holes to run through and missing coverages.  It was all due to the snow on the ground.  I watched all this from the comfort of my living room thinking how nice it was that it was not snowing here, and I did not have to worry about driving to work on snowy icy roads.

On days like today, I see a lot of problems that could be avoided, if people would just slow down and use the techniques they learned in drivers education.  The first thing I recommend on such days is a two hour delay for all schools in the affected area.  If the children are allowed to go to school two hours late, they will not be on the roads.  This gives two distinct advantages.  First, there is less traffic on the road and therefore less opportunity for traffic jams.  The second is that our children will be out of harm’s way during rush hour.  Good accident attorneys and good accident lawyers know that any car accident, highway accident, or truck accident can result in severe injuries.  These injuries include brain injury, back injury, spinal cord injury, paralysis, amputation, and wrongful death.  If the children are not on the roads, they cannot be hurt and everyone is better off.

Never ride a motorcycle when it is snowing or there is even a possibility of ice on the road.  A two wheel vehicle has no lateral stability.  If the motorcycle starts to slide, or the wheels lock up, the bike is going down.  The rider will be hurt from the fall, but may also slide into a car or another object, and it may be a fatal accident.

If you are driving a rear wheel drive vehicle, know you have less traction than a front wheel drive vehicle.  It helps to put weight over the rear axle to help with stability.  Sand bags are very good.  Bags of road salt can serve two purpose.  The first is to put weight over the rear axle.  The second is to provide snow melt if you become stuck.  If you are driving a rear wheel vehicle, it is essential to press on the gas pedal gently with a smooth fluid motion.  If you press too hard on the gas, the tires will begin to spin and you will lose traction.  The back end of the vehicle will start to move left or right.  This is called fishtailing.  If you feel the back end of the vehicle begin to fishtail, let off the gas.  This will allow the tires to spin less and reduce or eliminate the fishtail action.  Never slam on the brakes when you begin to fishtail, this may cause a loss of control and further exaggerate the fishtail.

Chains on your tires can be very helpful, as can studded tires.  Some jurisdictions do not allow either, and if they do, they may be limited to certain times of the year.  The most helpful winter driving hint is to take your time and leave a lot of space between you and the driver in front of you.

Good luck and be safe out there.

Accident Lawyers and Social Security Disability

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Good accident lawyers know that full compensation for their clients is not always possible.  There are a number of reasons for this if a person is hurt in an auto accident, construction accident, highway accident, truck accident, or hit by a drunk driver.  This often times results in terrible injuries, including back injuries, brain injury, spinal cord injury, and paralysis.  More often than not, if the injuries are caused by a car accident, the  person who caused the accident does not have enough liability insurance to fully compensate the victim of these terrible injuries.  If the injured person does not have adequate underinsured motorist coverage,  he cannot be fully compensated for the lost wages and medical bills that will be in the his future.

A good accident attorney will recommend that his client file an application for benefits with the Social Security administration.  This can be done online.  The applicant can also go to his local Social Security office to fill out an application.  We have spoken of this in other blogs, but it bears repeating.  Take with you a list of your doctors, with addresses and telephone numbers.  Take with you a list of your medications, with dosages and side effects.  Take with you a list of your employers for the last 15 years, with addresses and a short description of what you did in that employment.  It will make the process go a lot smoother.

If you have a back injury or disease, which includes disc herniations, degenerative disc disease, osteoporosis, osteopenia, spinal cord injury, compression fractures and a whole host of other back problems there is a reasonable chance that you may be entitled to benefits.  It makes no difference that the condition was from a disease, or from a car accident, or construction accident.  What is important is that the condition prevents you from working and is expected to last more than a year.

You must be able to show the Social Security Administration medical documentation confirming the presence of the medical problem.  That medical documentation must also demonstrate the severity of the condition.  Without documentation, you have little to no chance of successfully obtaining benefits, even if the condition is real and disabling.

If you have a back injury or disease, your claim will be analyzed under the first section of the listings of impairments.   The Listing of Impairments is exactly what it sounds like, a list of injuries, illnesses and diseases.  If you have one of the listed conditions, and it is severe enough, you are entitled to benefits.  The first section of the listings deals with the musculoskeletal system.  If your back injury is a neurological problem, your condition will also be analyzed under Section 11, Neurological.  This section is for someone with a spinal cord injury and paralysis, like Christopher Reeve, who once played Superman.

A good accident lawyer will help guide you through this process.  All fees for this work are contingent, meaning there is no fee unless you are granted benefits.  The Social Security Administration must approve all fees before they are charged.

Car Wreck Black Box

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We have all heard about the black box in an airplane.  The black box (it’s not really black, but brightly colored to stand out among crash wreckage) is the cockpit voice recorder.  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) always searches for this voice recorder to try to piece together  the facts about a jet crash or helicopter crash.  The recorder gives a good insight into the thoughts and actions of the pilots before and during a midair emergency.

Did you know that every modern automobile and truck is equipped with a version of the black box?  Why?  Car crashes cause hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and personal injury every year.

Injuries are often quite severe.  They include brain injury, back injury, paralysis, spinal cord injury and wrongful death.  In fact, car accidents and highway accidents are a leading cause of lost wages and lost productivity in the USA.  Accident lawyers, like Young and Young, have known that the primary purpose of the tort law (the law allowing compensation for injury caused by negligent acts) is accident and injury prevention.  It is only when we fail in the initial purpose that we turn to the secondary purpose of the law, compensation for the injured people and their families.  The car black box is designed and used in an attempt to prevent future collisions.

The black box is a computer device that records several sources of information during the operation of a vehicle.  The black box records, among other things, the speed of a car just before and at the time of the collision, and whether the brakes were applied and when.  The information recorded is objective, meaning that it is not likely to be influenced by the people in the collision.  As we are coming to understand, eyewitness testimony is generally not a reliable source of information in a complex collision involving high speeds and multiple cars or events.  Without intending to, in most cases, the position of the witness, his/her relationship to the people in the car crash and other factors influence what they recall and to what they can testify.   Another problem with eyewitness testimony is generally it can take a couple of years for a trial to be held after a collision, and memories can fade.  The black box is not subject to these complications.

If a highway accident or car accident occurs and fault for the collision is disputed obtaining the information from the black box can determine who was really at fault.  This means that initially after the collision both cars should be preserved until the information on the black box can be retrieved.  In some cases the cars will be a total loss and storage fees will build up.  In other cases the cars can be fixed and driven off.  Therefore, it is very important to hire a good accident attorney.  A good accident lawyer will have the resources and contacts to hire an engineer with the know how to get the black box information.  Getting the information does not take a long time, but it does require specialized equipment and know how, so a qualified engineer or expert is essential.

If you, or your family or friends, are in a highway accident or a car collision, call Young and Young right away.  We have the experience (55 years)  and the contacts and the resources to immediately get the information from the car black box that can be the difference between proving who was the cause of a car accident and who was not.  Please call.

Government Immunity

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If you are in a car accident, or highway accident with a car or truck owned by the government you get hurt just as bad as if the car or truck is owned by a private person.  You can have a back injury, a brain  injury, paralysis, or even wrongful death.  But, what you did not know is that if the car or truck is owned by the government, you may get no compensation for your injuries.

In Indiana, the government gave itself a lot of protections that the little guy is not entitled to.  To do this, the government  created the Tort Claims Act.  This Act, which is a legislative creation, limits the amount of money the government owes in compensation.  So, take for example a person who is in a car accident with a car owned by the government.  Let’s also say the person has a brain injury and is paralyzed.  Let’s also say that the medical bills for this injury total $1,000,000.00.  In that case, the government is only responsible to pay $750,000.00.  This means that the person will owe out of his own pocket $250,000.00 for medical bills even though the accident was not his fault.  He will not be able to send his kids to college because he can’t work, but that makes no difference, the Government protected itself by limiting how much it has to pay.

In addition to this protection the Government gave itself a bunch of other protections.  They are called immunities.  These immunities make it so the government does not owe a dime to the person it is responsible for hurting, even if the government was the sole cause of the car accident or highway accident.  The Tort Claims Act gives the government 16 different immunities.  The little guy gets no immunities.

If you are in a car accident with a government owned car, call Young and Young.   We have represented hurt Hoosiers for more than 55 years.  We know how the government works to protect itself.  We are accident attorneys who know how to protect you.

Trial Driving Statutes

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If you have a car accident or a highway accident, resulting in severe injury such as brain injury, back injury, paralysis, spinal cord injury or wrongful death, you may have to have a trial to sort out who caused the car accident or highway accident.  If this happens, it pays to have experienced accident lawyers on your side.  How do you know if a lawyer is a skilled accident attorney?   Well there are a couple of ways.  Usually an advertisement is not the way to find out.  Most lawyers who advertise cannot get work any other way.  It often means they do not have experience and other lawyers or former clients will not recommend them.  Those lawyers who invade the privacy of a car accident or construction injury victim  appear to be chasing the ambulance. It doesn’t take much to advertise. Experience in the Court room is the key issue.

Go to the website for the National Board of Trial Advocacy.  This group certifies lawyers, in the same way doctors become board certified.  To be board Certified, a lawyer must have a minimum number of trials.  They must also pass a test.  To remain certified, the lawyer must complete a minimum number of trials in the last five years.  A certification from the National Board of Trial Advocacy is good evidence that the accident lawyer you select has the know how to properly represent you if you are injured by a drunk driver, or hurt in a construction accident, or any other type of injury.

Another way to find a good lawyer is to ask a friend who they recommend.  If the first friend does not know, ask a second.  If your friend or family member has gotten good results with a particular lawyer, chances are good the lawyer is able to properly handle your case.  Just because a lawyer says he means business, or its just that easy to recover, does not mean they have the know how to represent you.  Ask the lawyer questions.  Ask about his experience, not the people who work for him, but his experience.  How many trials has he had in the last 10 years?  His experience, not the experience of the people who work for him.  Ask if he will personally handle your case.  Ask if he is board certified.  If he’s not board certified, or promises to handle the case and then doesn’t, or you can’t get him on the phone, then you probably do not have a lawyer who will be able to handle your case.

I spoke about trial experience because a good accident attorney knows from experience what to expect at trial.  In a car accident case, whether against a drunk driver or a sober driver, statutes controlling the use of the road are extremely important to who will win the case at trial.  The rules of the road are there to keep us all safe.  We all have to work together to make the roads safe, and rules of the road do just that.  Good accident attorneys will use the rules of the road to show who was the cause of the accident.  If a driver violates the rules of the road, the law says that violation can be used as evidence as to who caused the collision.  Take for example a person who is driving 45 miles per hour in a thirty mile per hour zone.  Travelling that much faster than the speed limit  is evidence that that driver was negligent.   There are many different rules that are effective at showing who is negligent.

If you are a juror, and you hear that someone violated the rules of the road, know that you are being told that driver was negligent and likely was a cause of the collision.  This is good evidence upon which to base your verdict.

At Young and Young, both John P. Young and Fredrick W. Crow have been board certified trial lawyers for more than ten years.  John and Fred are accident attorneys who have the knowledge and experience to win at trial. Give us a call.

Good Health

Posted on by plumwd

Urban Meyer, coach of the Florida Gators Football team, winner of two national championships in five years, is stepping down.  Urban Meyer is giving up millions of dollars in salary.  He is giving up millions of dollars in endorsements. Urban Meyer is at the top of his game.  Good accident and injury lawyers know why.  His health is the most important thing in life.  If you have your health you have it all.  If you have a fortune, but suffer ill health, you really have very little.

Injury lawyers know that injuries from car accidents, highway accidents, or construction accidents can have devastating impact on the injured person, and her loved ones.  Three significant reasons account for this.  Medical care for injuries, such as brain injury, back injury, spine injury, paralysis, and for injuries which may lead to wrongful death is very expensive.  However, a person who is injured, through the negligence of another (with little or no fault of his own) is entitled to be put back in the physical condition he was in before the car accident or truck accident.  Although we cannot always put a person back the way he was, he is entitled to the best medical care available.  Just like a child knows that she is responsible to make up for the messes she makes, a person who causes these injuries is responsible to make up for it by paying for the best medical care.  (See my previous post about Insurance at trial if you are worried about the negligent person losing all he has worked for- it normally does not happen that way).

If you are injured in a motorcycle accident , car crash, highway crash or construction accident, chances are you will not be able to work at least in the short term.  In the worst cases you can’t work for the rest of your life.  I ask you, who should be responsible for making up for this loss, the person who caused it through her insurance, or taxpayers through social security?  I say it is the responsibility of the person who made the mess, just like the child who makes a mess.

Finally, the third reason is the most important.  Ask Urban Meyer why he gave it all up.  He did it to preserve his health.  He knows that his health is the key to enjoying life.  If a person is hurt in a car accident, motorcycle accident, truck accident and the injury is so severe that they cannot enjoy life because of the constant pain or lack of movement the person who caused that hurt is responsible for making up for all of it.  It is not right to say, well we can never make the pain go away, so we won’t help.  You tell your child to do whatever is necessary to make up for the harm.  So must the negligent cause of the injuries.

Young and Young has more than fifty five years of experience in ensuring that Hoosiers who are hurt by the drunk driver, negligent car accident or construction accident are fully compensated.  Call us now.

Crossing the Street

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We do it everyday.  When we are children, it is so dangerous that our parents will not let us  do it on our own.  Schools hire guards to make sure we are safe crossing the street.  Cars are so much bigger and heavier than we are that a car wreck between a car and a pedestrian almost always results in serious injuries to the pedestrian.  These injuries include paralysis, spine injury, spinal cord injury, brain injury and wrongful death.  In traffic accidents between pedestrians and cars, the cars always win.  Therefore, the pedestrian has to be careful.

The first rule of good street crossing is to always cross in a cross walk.  You may have heard that you should always cross at an intersection.  While this is a good rule of thumb, it is not hard and fast.  Some crosswalks are in the middle of a street.  These are marked with heavy white stripes (like those on the album cover of the Beatles Abbey Road).  Many times these cross walks are also accompanied by a flashing light.  Nine times out of ten, if a pedestrian is hit while fully in a cross walk, the fault for the car accident is the driver of the car not paying attention.  In fact, there are a series of statutes in the Indiana Statutory code which give pedestrians in cross walks special privileges.  One statute requires all cars to stop at a cross walk if another car is already stopped.  This is true even if the light is green for those cars.

Simply because you are in a crosswalk does not guarantee your safety.  Always be on the lookout for your best interest.  A drunk driver is not going to honor the rules of the crosswalk or your right of way, and because the car is bigger than you, you will lose the battle.  So, do not walk out into traffic unless you are certain you can make it across without being hit.  Be especially careful for the good Samaratin who stops and waives you across.  Although all other cars are supposed to stop, most won’t.  So do not step out from behind that car until you can confirm you will not be hit.  Always cross with the light at an intersection, but keep an eye up the road to make sure that everybody sees you and the red light.  Some won’t and you will have to act fast.  Also keep an eye out for the turning driver, especially if you are walking in the direction opposite travel on a one way street.  The turning driver on the one way street will always look for cars coming at them, but rarely looks for the pedestrian coming from the opposite direction.  In those cases, always wait for the car to pass unless you make eye contact with the driver and they acknowledge your presence.

Pedestrian collisions are a common road accident.  Injuries from these traffic accidents can be severe.  If you or a loved one is injured, we have more than fifty five years of experience waiting to help.  Please call or email.

Insurance at Trial

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Did you know that in most every trial in Indiana which involves a car accident, or a highway accident, the defendant (the person who the hurt person believes caused the collision) has insurance.  This insurance pays for the defendant’s attorney — every bit of it.  This insurance pays for all the costs the defendant has in going to trial — every bit of it.  If the defendant caused the hurt person’s injuries, such as a brain injury, back injury, paralysis, or even wrongful death, the insurance will pay for the compensation the jury tells the defendant he must pay the hurt person to make up for the injuries he caused.

The insurance companies have convinced Judges that to tell the jury the truth about the insurance is not fair to the insurance companies.  The insurance companies do not think Hoosier Jurors are either smart enough or honest enough to know the truth.  They think that if the jurors know that the defendant has insurance they will overcompensate the hurt person.  So, the jurors are not told the defendant has insurance.  I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT IF YOU ARE A JUROR IN INDIANA AND YOU ARE ASKED TO DETERMINE WHAT IS FAIR COMPENSATION FOR THE BRAIN INJURY, PARALYSIS, BACK INJURY, OR EVEN WRONGFUL DEATH, THE DEFENDANT HAS INSURANCE.  INSURANCE IS PAYING ALL THE EXPENSES AND WILL PAY THE JUDGEMENT. This is also true in most medical malpractice cases, product liability cases, and construction injury cases.  In fact in almost every case where the jury is trying top determine fair compensation, there is insurance.  At Young and Young 55 years of trial experience tell us these things are true.  As accident and injury attorneys, we know these things from experience.

The fact that there is insurance will not influence the jury.  Hoosiers are smart.  They know the fair value of a serious injury from a car accident, highway accident, construction accident, medical malpractice, and other situations where a person is hurt.  They will compensate the injured person by paying him back for his medical bills, and lost wages .  They will provide him the money he would earn in the future, but cannot because of the injury.  They know that being alone, in pain and not able to do there regular activities has great value and will compensate the hurt person in a fair manner.

Jurors do not protect insurance companies.  They compensate hurt people fairly.  When you are a juror, know there is most likely insurance to pay the bills for the wrong done.

Final Word on Drunk Driver Compensation

Posted on by plumwd

As we have discussed in parts one and two of this topic, thousands of Hoosiers are killed, paralyzed, suffer spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputation, and wrongful death in a car accident with a drunk driver. Traffic accidents with drunk drivers cost injured or killed Hoosiers and their families dearly not only in medical bills and lost income, but also in the loss of the injured or killed persons love, attention and affection.  How can Hoosiers protect themselves against a drunk driver with little or no insurance?  Imagine a parent is heading home from work.  This parent is the bread winner for the family of three, the other parent and two young children.  The working parent earns $80,000.00 dollars per year.  She is hit by a drunk driver.  Her injuries are so severe she is admitted to the hospital.  The hospital bills total over $300,000.00 dollars.  Her future medical bills will be $25,000.00 per year for the rest of her life.  She is only 30 years old, so she is expected to live another 50 or so years.  This makes her future medical bills about $1,250,000.00.  She will have lost wages of about $2,975,000.00.  The drunk driver has no insurance, what happens?

If the wage earner had planned ahead, she will be able to make a claim against her own insurance company under her “Uninsured motorist coverage”.  You may say, “That’s not right, why should she have to make a claim against her own insurance policy when it was the drunks fault?”  You would be right, of course, it’s not fair.  In a perfect world everyone would carry enough insurance to compensate people they hurt in a car crash.  We all know this is not a perfect world.  As such smart drivers protect themselves by buying uninsured motorist coverage.  The smart thing to do is to buy a policy in an amount of say $250,000.00.  Then you buy an “Umbrella policy.”  An umbrella policy will pay after the first policy is exhausted.  Umbrella policies are relatively less expensive than the underlying policy.  You should be able to purchase $1,000,000.00 for as little as $150.00 per year.  The increases for $1,000,000.00 and up are progressively less expensive.

I have been handling cases where the victim has been seriously injured for more than twenty years.  I’ve given seminars for more than ten years on the subject and am coauthor of what many consider to be the definitive book on Unisured Motorist Coverage in Indiana.  If you have been injured by someone else’s negligence, call me. Put my know-how to work for you and your family.

More Drunk Driver Compensation

Posted on by plumwd

In our last discussion about the drunk driver, and forcing them to properly compensate the person they injured or killed, we discussed  that the drunk driver harms their victims in many ways.  The physical injuries, including paralysis, spinal cord injury, back injury, brain injury, amputation, may last for the rest of the victims life.  This impacts not only the injured Hoosier, but his or her family.  If the victim cannot work, the family suffers the loss of support. Children may not eat properly, may not have proper housing and clothes, and may have their education impacted.  If the Hoosier suffers wrongful death, all these things will happen unless the victim and his family is properly compensated.

The good injury attorney starts by preserving evidence as we already discussed.  Another important aspect of such a claim is working with the police and prosecutors to make  sure the best evidence is available at the criminal trial.  There are five different levels of investigation performed by the investigating police agency.  The level of investigation is generally directed by the seriousness of the highway crash or car crash.  If the car crash caused a death, a level five investigation is generally performed.  This includes taking pictures, and in depth witness statements.  The pictures include of the street, for skid marks or other marks on the street.  This investigation usually includes measurements of the skid marks from start of the crash to the end.  If death does not result from the car crash, the police agency may do a lesser investigation.  This is why it is important for the victim and his family to do their own investigation.  This starts with hiring a competent injury attorney.  The competent injury attorney has the resources available to complete the investigation the police do not perform.  This includes finding witnesses, taking additional pictures and other important matters.

Once the investigation is complete, cooperation with the prosecutor is essential.  The reason for this is, a conviction of the drunk driver on charges of driving while intoxicated, or a plea agreement pleading guilty to these charges can be used in the civil claim against the drunk driver to show they are responsible for the harm they caused.  A short review may be helpful.  In any drunk driving crash two separate cases arise, criminal and civil.  The criminal case is handled by the prosecutor and is based on the state’s criminal code.  The result of a conviction in a criminal case is usually jail and probation.  The civil case is brought to compensate the victim, to try to obtain sufficient funds to pay medical bills both past and future, lost wages both past and future, and money for permanent injury and pain. Both types of cases are extremely important.  The criminal case is brought to deter others from drunk driving.  The civil case is brought to compensate the injured person and his family.

In our next installment, we will talk about the sources of money available to compensate the hurt Hoosier, and his family.

At Young and Young, we are a family firm with a legal presence in Indiana for more than one hundred consecutive years.  We have been focused solely on injury accidents for the last 55 years.  We have the experience and resources to help Hoosier families recover what they need to live fulfilling lives.  Whether you have been injured in a car accident, a traffic accident, a truck accident, a motorcycle accident, or hit by a drunk driver, we stand ready to help.

Drunk Driver Compensation

Posted on by plumwd

Thousands of Hoosiers are killed, paralyzed, suffer spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputation, and wrongful death in a car accident with a drunk driver. Traffic accidents with drunk drivers cost the injured or killed Hoosier and their families dearly not only in medical bills and lost income, but also in the loss of the injured or killed persons love, attention and affection.  The reader might say that the lost wages and the medical bills are the real burden, but I say that loneliness is what we humans fear most.  Isolation from our friends and loved ones is terrifying.  It costs us our support network and our sense of security.  Taking a spouse or a child away from us opens a hole in our lives we may never again be able to fill.  If loneliness is not the worst loss we can suffer, then why are internet match services so popular, why do churches have mixers for singles, why is that when an old person is left alone they die more quickly?  Loneliness is devastating.

When the drunk driver enters our world and causes a fatal accident, or a car wreck that paralyzes, or a traffic accident that result in back injury and brain injury, the law gives the injured a remedy.  Often an accident attorney or accident lawyer will be an important early call.  This is important because the capable accident lawyer will immediately begin an investigation to preserve all the evidence needed to ensure proper compensation for the victim.

Tire marks on the road, such as skid marks, fade quickly on busy streets.  A good accident lawyer will visit the scene within days of being hired to document the scene with pictures and measurements.  You may think, well hey, the police have been at the scene, surely they will document the scene.  While this may be true, often they do not take enough pictures and often will make no measurements at all.  If a thorough documentation of the scene is not made, crucial evidence may be lost, allowing the drunk driver the opportunity to get away with not compensating you or your loved one.

In our next blog, we will continue with how a good accident and injury attorney insures you and your family are protected when a drunk driver causes a traffic accident or a highway accident.  The tips contained in this blog are based on more than fifty five years of experience investigating drunk driver car wrecks.  Fifty five years  of experience from a family law firm helping our fellow Hoosiers.

More on the Danger of Truck Accidents

Posted on by plumwd

This is Part two of a previous blog about Truck accidents.  As we know from our earlier discussion, the difference between the size and weight of a semi v. a passenger car means that truck accidents usually result in catastrophic injury to the passengers in the car.  These injuries include back injury, spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputation, paralysis and wrongful death.  A highway accident is something the government has being working hard to avoid.

As we discussed previously, the government has issued regulations addressed directly to the trucking industry.  These regulations are identified as Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). These regulations cover all areas of highway truck use.  They cover the driver as well as the truck.  As it relates to the driver, a driver must be at least 21 years of age. He/she must be able to sufficiently read and write English.  He/she must be able to operate the truck safely.  He/she must be physically qualified  to drive a truck and meet the requirements of E-Physical Qualifications and the complete the examination of that part. He/she must have a currently valid commercial drivers license (CDL) issued by only one state.  He/she must produce all prior traffic violations.  He /she is not otherwise unqualified to drive a truck. He/she has successfully completed a driver’s road test.  If a driver fails to meet any of these criteria, he/she and their employer will be subject to significant civil consequences and fines.

As tired drivers are a hazard on the road, and cause a lot of the truck accidents, there are strict regulations as to how long they may drive.  The regulations limit a driver to 8 actual driving hours within a 24 hour period.  To ensure compliance with this regulation, a driver is required to maintain an hourly log detailing his activities.  The driver must be no more than eight hours without having recorded his/her activities.  The driver must also be able to present the log immediately upon demand for inspection for any law enforcement officer.  If the log is incomplete, unavailable or otherwise unsatisfactory, the driver’s license can be suspended, subject him/her to fines and subject his/her employer to civil action.

The FMCSR is effective in controlling who can drive a truck for the safety of all users of the road.  This is yet another example of how the focus of the tort law is accident and injury prevention.  We are proud of our legal system here at Young and Young.  Over the more than 55 years of the firm’s work, we have represented thousands of victims of truck accidents, car accidents.  We stand ready to assist you and your family.

Drawbacks of the Interstate Highway System

Posted on by plumwd

Since President Eisenhower created the interstate Highway system in the 1950’s America has enjoyed the ability to move freely across the country in rapid pace.  In addition the trucking industry eclipsed the rail system in the volume of goods moved across the country.  In a real sense, the interstate highway system is a key factor to America becoming  a super power.  A consequence of the high speed roads, passenger cars must travel side by side with semi tractor trailers. This creates the very real potential for car wrecks which result in fatal accidents, back injuries, brain injury, motorcycle accidents, spinal cord injury and wrongful death.  A truck accident is one of the most devastating types of traffic accidents because of the vast difference in size between a truck and a car or motorcycle.  It is kind of like the rule of gross tonnage in shipping.  The ship with the highest gross tonnage usually wins in a collision.

In an effort to minimize the devastating effect of car truck collisions, trucks are highly regulated.  The Federal Motor Safety Carrier Regulations are an attempt to keep us all safe.  These rules and regulations were put into effect by an act of congress, after several statistical studies, included those performed by the Office of Motor Carriers of the Federal Highway Administration.   These studies revealed some startling statistics.  In 2005, 5,212 people died in accidents with trucks.  Those who were not killed, but were injured totaled more than 100,000. Almost 40% of those truck accidents were caused by truck driver error.

The Federal Rules can be found at Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulation. Indiana adopted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation as part of our state regulatory scheme.   It may seem obvious, but the purpose of these rules is to promote uniform rules, applicable across the country for trucks and trucking.  In this way everyone has the same set of rules to follow so everyone can be safe.  This uniform set of rules also justifies the basic idea that ignorance of the law is no excuse.  This helps avoid truck accidents which might result in bad accidents resulting in paralysis.

In our next blog we will be covering specifics of the act.  Rest assured that Young and Young has the knowledge to fully and aggressively represent Hoosiers, and their families who have been hurt or killed in a truck accident.  We have had a presence in the Indiana Legal community for more than one hundred years.  Our Firm has been operating under the Young and Young name for more than 55 years.  We have represented hundreds of families involved in truck accidents.  We have represented families with serious injury including brain injury, spinal cord injury, paralysis and death.  We stand ready to help you and your family.

How can an injured person know they are being represented by a qualified attorney

Posted on by plumwd

How can an injured person know they are being represented by a qualified attorney. After all being able to buy an ad only means they are able to buy adds. There is nothing in an add that tells you what you need to know. A truly qualified attorney is one who is Certified as a Trial Advocate. The injured person, whether it be a car crash, a semi crash, a construction injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice, spine injury, brain injury or any other kind of injury can go to the following website for vital information. www.nblsc.us

In order to qualify to be a Civil Trial Advocate the attorney must have substantial trial experience, more than 25 jury trials, ongoing experience in the civil litigation area and pass a difficult written examination to qualify. I order to remain certified, the lawyer must continue to represent injured people in Court and stay active in the profession. This includes handling on going trial.

You may have seen or heard of people who claim to be super lawyers. This means nothing, it is a popularity contest and most of the people who are “Super Lawyers” only do it so they can put it in their advertisements to fool the public into thinking they are experienced lawyers. Do not be fooled. Ask your potential lawyer if he or she is certified. You can do this in advance by going to the website referenced above and check it out.

John P. Young and Frederick w. Crow of the Firm of Young and Young are Board Certified Lawyers and have been for almost ten years.

Thousands of Hoosiers suffer brain injury every year

Posted on by plumwd

Thousands of Hoosiers suffer brain injury every year. Brain injury is one of the most common injury in a collision, fall, or traumatic event. Brain injury can occur even if the person is not knocked unconscious.If you have ever been in a collision, a fall, or otherwise have hit your head, and you had the sensation of being knocked goofy, or having your bell rung, you probably have had a brain injury.

Brain injury is categorized as severe, moderate or mild. These categorizations are based on many factors including whether you were knocked unconscious, and if so, how long you were unconscious. Don’t be fooled by the term Mild Brain injury. Even those with mild brain injury can have life long medical problems and even an inability to work. Brian injury is often frustrating to its victims because they often times have no outward signs of the injury. They look normal. This makes people think that the person with a brain injury, who looks normal, is either drunk, or weird or strange. This can be very difficult for the brain injured person.

Prevention is the best way to deal with brain injury. Wear a helmet when riding your bike or are involved in other rigorous activities.

Most States have Brain Injury Associations. In Indiana, the Brain Injury Association is quite active and is a resource for families dealing with Brain Injury and for persons who have been injured. You can contact the BIAI at 356-7722. John P. Young is a long time member of the Association, Member of the Board of Directors, Past Chair of the Board of Directors and current member of the emeritus board. Years of experience result in effective representation with Brain Injury claims.

Protect Your Motorcycle Freedom

Posted on by plumwd

Motorcycles are a great way to see the country side.  Cruising down the road with the wind in your hair and nothing but the open road between you and happiness.  Motorcycles express the American dream in ways we feel deep in our collective souls: independence, rebel, free spirit.

Learning to be safe on a motorcycle should be the first step.  Indiana requires a rider to obtain a special license to ride a cycle.  Riders are encouraged to take a special course to learn the tricks and the dangers in riding.  ABATE offers a great class.

Most collisions or crashes between a cycle and a car occur because the driver of the car does not see the motorcyclist.  This happens when a car makes a turn across a cycle’s path, pulls out in front of the cycle or changes lanes when the cycle is in the car’s blind spot.  To avoid being put in this danger as a motorcyclist, you must always assume that you cannot be seen and ride defensively.  Your headlight must always be on.  Fortunately headlights today automatically come on when the cycle is started.  We are seeing dual headlights and flickering headlights which draw a car driver’s attention to the light.  Even with these aides you must drive within the speed, limit, pass only in passing zones, maintain a safe distance between cars, etc.

Even though a helmet is unpopular with many riders, it is an essential piece of safety equipment. One spill on the bike, with no helmet makes it likely that the old melon ( your head) is going to hit the pavement.  There is only a small piece of bone and a couple shear pieces of tissue between your brain and the pavement.  There is no cure for a brain injury.  The only way to deal with it is to avoid it.  You only have one brain, so protect it.  Protect it, if not for yourself, then for your lover, your child, your mom or dad, but protect it.  Be safe, wear a helmet.

NOTICE: No face-to-face meeting needed. You can remain safely in your home from case signup to settlement.

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