MOTORCYCLE INJURIES

SORRY SON, NO MOTORCYCLE

As an injury lawyer who handles accidents involving motorcycles, cars and trucks, I am often asked about the crashes I investigate. If you see what I see every week, you would buy a big, heavy SUV, carry a ton of uninsured motorists insurance and never ever let your children ride a motorcycle on the road.

Why am I picking on motorcycles? 

Well, per vehicle mile traveled, motorcyclists' risk of a fatal crash is a whopping 35 times greater than a car, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Usually the wreck happens one of two main ways:  First, the rider simply loses control in a turn, or secondly, the rider strikes the side of a car that pulls out without seeing the bike.

In the first case, a loss of control, the bike is often laid down and then the rider and bike usually separate.  Often, the knee or lower leg is broken up badly as the bike and the leg head in different directions. Once the rider is off the bike, usually already injuring a leg, shoulder and elbow, they also can hit other things like fences, wires, lampposts, signs, cars, embankments and ditches. Sometimes they are run over by other cars.  “Road rash” can be expected as the body slides across the rough surface of the road.

The second kind of crash involves the at-fault car driver just pulling out to make a left turn and just not seeing the bike until it is too late. 62% of motorcycle accidents in the U.S. are frontal collisions. The rider in these cases is usually either thrown over the front of the car or goes somewhat under it, which will sometimes crush them. In either event, about 35% of all crashes show major impact to the chin or jaw area. Again, road rash is expected. The impact of the head on the side or the hood of the offending car, or on the pavement beyond the scene of the collision, will cause head injuries, regardless of helmet use. Unfortunately, being run over by others is a real possibility. Amputations often result from bike wrecks.

The injury rate might be reduced with air bags.  Yes, air bags for motorcycles. Fuel tank mounted airbags helps stop the person from traveling into the vehicle. This significantly reduced the head trauma by 83% that otherwise would have occurred according to the data from the crash test dummy in one test.

The bottom line, if you have any wreck at all on a bike, you have a 96% or better chance of some kind of injury and almost half are quite serious. They turn small accidents into life changing moments. So, no Son, no motorcycle for you!

TXTNG & DRVNG

TEXTING AND DRIVING

As an injury attorney, I see the effects of in catastrophic injuries that are caused by car accidents every day. Texting while driving is adding to that carnage.

The problem is widespread. Almost half of all Americans now own smartphones that support texting. And, most of us have texted without any harm at times. That reinforces our bad behavior.  Texting is much worse than most us ever realized.

Texting while driving makes one 23 times more likely to be in an accident. It is like being a drunk driver.

On average, you take your eyes off the road for five (5) full seconds to text. At just 60 miles per hour, that is 88 feet per second or 440 feet!  That is the length of a football field and a half! Certainly, that is more than enough time for a car, a deer or even a little child to “appear out of nowhere.”

Texting is much more dangerous than merely talking on a cell phone while driving. To Text requires three discrete processes: Cognitive (thinking), Manual (finger use) and Visual (seeing).  Contrast that with Cell phone use, especially hands-free calling, which is Cognitive and Auditory (hearing). Because hands remain on the wheel and eyes can remain on the road, it is safer, though still not recommended. 

This is why many States, including Tennessee, now ban texting and driving, but do allow cell phone use.

T.C.A. § 55–8–199 provides: “No person while driving a motor vehicle on any public road or highway shall use a hand-held mobile telephone or a hand-held personal digital assistant to transmit or read a written message; provided, that a driver does not transmit or read a written message for the purpose of this subsection (b) if the driver reads, selects or enters a telephone number or name in a hand-held mobile telephone or a personal digital assistant for the purpose of making or receiving a telephone call.”

It is becoming common in my cases for both sides to seek the phone records of the other driver in car accident cases. Since the phone company usually preserves texts, every word (or abbreviation) will one day be discussed in court. 

Imagine looking across the courtroom at a family devastated by loss, and an injury lawyer like me displays on power point your last text before the impact: “LOL.”

Car accidents can happen to even careful drivers.

I commend to you the website set up by AT&T called www.ItCanWait.com for more information.

Please talk to your teens about this important subject!  

Stay safer in a broken world

As a Christian and an injury lawyer, I see the effects everyday of this broken world that the Bible variously characterizes as “corrupt” and “under a curse.”  

I was confronted recently with a surprising new example of how the corrupt world is changing our lives.  I was visiting someone in Germantown, one of our most affluent areas, when I noticed a security car sitting in a driveway.  I asked a neighbor why the fellow was sitting in the car. The neighbor causally replied, “They have a funeral today.”

I stood there, trying to understand how the fact of a funeralthat day had anything to do with a security guard. They explained, as if I was from a foreign land, that in Germantown when a funeral, or even a wedding announcement, is made in the paper, security is posted at the families addresses as criminals know no one will be home.

I was surprised. Turns out, I should not have been. Funeral announcements, I have since learned, are a treasure trove for thieves. They get the address of the deceased that will be vacant now, and the names of local close family members that will be at the funeral at a given time!  

It gets worse. They can steal from you without even being in your state.  Any internet-connected computer or phone can look up any obituary anywhere, and obtain details likethe mother’s maiden name of the deceased. Then, these criminals can open credit and spend money online in the deceased name for the week or two it takes to be notified of the death.

So what to do? Some people have stopped listing much in the way of detail in obituaries, while others even invite people to attend the service online. Some post family or friends at the house, hire house sitters, or at least park lots of cars in the driveway. When we travel, we always have missionary families or others stay at our home, so it’s never empty.

Thieves online can gain all kinds of information about your location from you. Most of us have location services on our phones. Also, many folks’ postings on Facebook,Foursquare and Twitter list their location or post photographs ("I'm on a two-week cruise! Be back on the 28th"). This is an announcement to the world that their home is unoccupied and an easy mark for a burglar.

Newspapers being put on hold for a week is another thing people to do protect themselves so their home looks occupied. However, that can even backfire if the employees use that information to know you are gone. Cruise line employees have arranged to have folks break into the vacant home of those sailing with their line.

It’s a broken world with a lot of broken people. Being aware of the problem is the first step to staying safer.

Veterans Are a Treasure

LOST TREASURE


As an injury attorney, I have been blessed to represent many veterans. Today, while you read this paper and go about your day, more than 700 World War II veterans will die. This happens every single day. The youngest are now in their mid-80s, and some have never talked about their experiences at all. This "Greatest Generation" that we are losing constitute a lost treasure of stories, life and bravery.

Just sixty (60) years ago, this heroic generation stood agains the Germans and the Japanese, invaded the Philippines and Normandy, and they are the only reason you live in this free country.

The people in Germany, somewhat like the U.S. now, never thought that a regime that promised peace, promoted education and peace through gun control would end in the Nazi's extermination of six (6) million Jews. The empire of Japan thought they could take out our entire Pacific fleet in one well-coordinated strike, and almost succeeded.

Children of the Great Depression, this WWII Generation manned the the tank and airplane factories, the atomic research facilities, the powder plants and the had the work ethic, duty and commitment to supply an army that was ranked low in capability in the world to be the sole superpower. Many of our veterans have never told about their experiences.

I just helped take a group of Boy Scouts on a private tour of the Battleship USS Alabama in Mobile. There, we saw the inner workings of the immense guns that fired a 2700 shell over 21 miles, propelled with 500 pounds of powder.  That would be like shooting a Volkswagen bug from around Millington to Covington!  We were able to sleep on the bunks overnight, and see the massive boilers, huge turbines and the anti-aircraft guns. We were abel to talk with veterans who served in World War II.

Many of the Scout Dads had fathers who had fought in the War, and a majority had not talked much about the War before they died.

I encourage you strongly to talk with them and get their histories before they become one the 700 that will pass away each day. They are a treasure that we are losing all too fast.

What about you? Do you know an aging veteran? Would you go this week and just sit and ask to listen. We are all busy, but we are often busy doing "good" things, and not the "best" things. If I told you there was lost treasure in your yard, you would make the time to start digging. There is lost treasure in our communities, they are there and many will be happy to talk with you about what occurred from 1941-1945. One mor ething, bring your kids to hear, too.

From our home to yours, thank you Veterans!

Lawyer Logic

As a Christian Injury Lawyer, I look at issues quite differently than most people do. There are many examples of logical-sounding statements that are actually “fallacies.” 

Argument: “Guns only kill people, killing people is wrong, so guns should be banned.” Sound familiar?  This is the “Fallacy of Generalization.” It sounds logical, but is it inaccurate and flatly untrue. (If you shot a gun, and did not kill a human, then you know the truth. Further, killing some people is regretfully necessary.)

Argument: “You are against gun control, so your statistics cannot be trusted.” This is an attack on the person, not the argument itself. In Latin, its called “Argumentum Ad Hominem.” If you think of a cartoon strip, when the comment attacks the speaker and not the idea in the white balloon above him showing what he is saying, you have it. (The statistics are accurate or not no matter who states them.) Another example is: “Fred argues that gun control works, but he is a communist, so he cannot be right. (His political affiliation doesn't pertain to the truth of his claim).

Advertisers love “Argumentum Ad Populum” or “Appeal to the Majority.”  Argument: “More sports fans choose Direct TV.” A related one, “Appeal to Authority,” includes: “More doctors smoke Camels: you should too!" (The doctors could still be wrong to do so, and were).

Another fallacy is “Circular Reasoning,” wherein two conclusions are used as premises to support each other. (For instance, some geologists date a layer of sediment by using certain fossils, but then also date those fossils by using that layer in which it is found.)

Then there is the famous “Non Sequitur.” This has given its name to a popular comic strip. It means, “It does not follow.” For example, “All men are humans. Martha is human. Therefore, Martha is a man.”

Another one that kids love to use on their parents is called a “Red Herring." Dog trainers would drag a fish across the path of the animal the dog was to be tracking and throw him off the path. It sounds like this: “Son, you can’t go, till your homework is done.” “But Dad, you did not let me have a friend over last week, and I had done all my homework then. You never let me do anything” (This is trail that leads to last week, and not the current homework, which still remains undone.)

Others create a "False Dilemma" also called the "Either-or Fallacy" in which the situation is oversimplified. Examples you might hear include, “I don’t believe in divorce and I cannot change him, so I guess I am just stuck.”  (It assumes that there are only two choices: divorce or no change. Common efforts like counseling, separation and mediation are all falsely excluded).

Logic has been called the Language of God.  Jesus Himself said, "Come let us reason together."

It should be used more by believers, as we are to be, "innocent as doves, but wise as serpents."

CHRISTIAN COMPANY TO BE FINED MILLIONS

As a Christian Attorney, I find that living out faith sometimes puts you at odds with the world’s systems.  Hobby Lobby, a Christian company, has learned that too. In fact, they might be fined up to 1.3 million a day until they capitulate and compromise what they believe!

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will not stop the Obama Care rules and egregious daily fines that will hit the private company if they do not violate their faith by covering abortion-causing drugs. The Christian owners say this is an unconstitutional mandate that infringes their right to earn a living while remaining true to their faith.

Hobby Lobby is pro-life, and simply refuses to pay for the morning-after pill, an abortion-causing drug. In the Courts’ ruling, they found that the mandate will not "substantially burden" Hobby Lobby’s religious freedom.

This will now go to the U.S. Supreme Court, if they accept the case. There are at least forty others heading that way.  But, they will not rule on the greater issue of the mandate, they will only rule on a temporary reprieve for Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby has over 13,000 full-time employees in more than 500 locations, including Memphis.
They are known for full-page ads proclaiming Jesus’ birth at Christmas and His resurrection at Easter, and being closed on Sunday, as is a similar Christian company, Chic-Fil-A. This is the statement of purpose Hobby Lobby openly publishes on their website:

Statement of Purpose: In order to effectively serve our owners, employees, and customers the Board of Directors is committed to:
Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles.
Offering our customers an exceptional selection and value.
Serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals, and nurture families.
Providing a return on the owners' investment, sharing the Lord's blessings with our employees, and investing in our community.
We believe that it is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured. He has been faithful in the past, and we trust Him for our future.

I hate to see our government, however well intended, run roughshod over sincerely held beliefs of Christian organizations like this. And, it never seems to be against those of other faiths like Islam, but only against Christians.  As for me, I am cheering on Hobby Lobby and Chic-Fil-A—we need more born-again job creators in this country who stand up for what they believe! Lets hope the Supreme Court agrees.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

MTYHS ABOUT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS

MYTH: Even if the number of medical malpractice cases is really going down, the ones that are left are still frivolous cases that cost millions of dollars. 

FACT: According to NCSC the median award in medical malpractice cases is $400,000, as compared with $19,840 in other personal injury cases. But the NCSC also found that “damage awards are generally proportionate to the severity of the injury,” because medical malpractice cases tend to involve severe injuries. For instance, 22 percent of medical malpractice cases involve the death of the patient, as opposed to just three percent in other types of cases.  Nor are these cases, severe injury or not, frivolous. In 2006, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health announced the results of a study showing that most negligence claims involve medical error and serious injury, and concluded “portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown.”  The researchers found that few claims were without merit, and those that were generally did not receive any money. Most negligence claims were meritorious, with 97 percent of claims involving medical injury and 80 percent involving physical injuries resulting in major disability or death. Few claims where there was not error were ever paid. Even Victor Schwartz, one of the biggest proponents of capping damages admitted, “There is no question that it is very rare that frivolous suits are brought against doctors. They are too expensive to bring.” [National Center for State Courts; New England Journal of Medicine; Los Angeles Times]