Virginia Beach Personal Injury Lawyer - Wrongful Death

Virginia toddler killed after mauling by family dog

Rick Shapiro — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:03:12 GMT

An Orange County, Virginia (VA) toddler was tragically killed earlier this week when she was mauled by her family’s pit bull.

The 23-month-old girl has not yet been identified by authorities, according to the Charlottesville Daily Progress.

No one has been charged in connection with this innocent girl’s death. Someone needs to speak for the victims in cases like this, and I am outraged that innocent children can be killed without consequence.

The girl apparently wandered out of the house unseen Sunday evening, Orange County sheriff’s officials told the Daily Progress. The girl’s mother was “preoccupied and did not notice the child leave the house.”

Relatives began looking for the girl, and later discovered her “gravely injured.”

The dog that killed the girl was a pit bull that was with the family for 10 years. After the killing, it was euthanized. Authorities said the dog had never given the family any other problems.

The death took place in the Mountain Track Road area of Orange County, about 35 miles northeast of Charlottesville.

The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg reported that the sheriff was called at 6:40 p.m. Sunday when a relative found the girl. Deputies found her unconscious and with multiple injuries throughout her body.

The girl was taken to the University of Virginia hospital, where efforts to save her continued until 9:11 p.m., when she was pronounced dead.

I hope this needless death reminds owners of pit bulls and other dangerous animals that careless ownership can have dangerous – and fatal – consequences.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers.

(MM)

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Runaway Trailers Kill: Safety Advocate Pushes For New Trailer Safety Laws

Rick Shapiro — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:52:56 GMT

After my colleague Wayne Parsons posted a blog article touching on a runaway trailer death case and then I posted a story on a trailer injury case, I received a phone call from Ron Melancon, a Richmond, Virginia area man who has a strong interest in the lack of appropriate safety for vehicle trailers on highways and interstates-www.Dangeroustrailers.org including regular state inspection, reflectorization and adequate safety chains or connecting devices. Have you ever witnessed a runaway trailer, or seen a trailer fall off a vehicle? They injure and kill innocent drivers every week around the nation and can shoot across traffic lanes like a missile. Melancon has made trailer safety regulation his passion after a personal incident he was involved in with a poorly illuminated trailer.

A group of my Injuryboard attorney colleagues are also interested in improved safety on vehicle trailers, and will be addressing runaway trailers and general trailer safety issues in a series of trailer safety articles: Michael Bryant of Bradshaw & Bryant PLLC in Waite Park, Minnesota, David Mittleman and Devon Glass of Church Wyble, PC in Lansing, Michigan, Pierce Egerton of Egerton & Associates P.A. in North Carolina, Steve Lombardi of The Lombardi Law Firm in Des Moines Iowa, Wayne Parsons of The Parsons Law Firm in Hawaii, Rick Shapiro of Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton, P.C. from Virginia and Northeast North Carolina (the author).

One big problem according to Melancon is that trailers that weigh less than 3,000 in gross weight are barely regulated by the Federal Government Department of Transportation. Individual states, such as Virginia, North Carolina and others, must decide whether to regulate trailers that weigh less than 3,000. And therein lies the problem: many of the trailer manufacturers around the country don't want regulations. They argue that it will take away jobs and cost a certain number of dollars per trailer. Melancon feels like this is a minimal issue because very small safety changes on trailers that weigh less than 3,000 pounds can make huge differences in health and safety of persons traveling on our nation's highways and interstates. And, he cites tragic injuries and deaths to prove it-like a recent Dinwiddie, Virginia (Va) runaway trailer that killed a young mother-a senseless death easily preventable with some basic trailer towing regulations and laws.

What got Melancon interested in this issue? Well, according to his injury blog on trailer safety, he actually was in an accident where he rear ended a person who had a trailer of the kind you see with lawn maintenance trucks or just other utility companies - it has the wire mesh or steel edges and is sort of a low profile trailer.

According to Melancon many of these smaller trailers towed behind cars and trucks have reflectors and safety lights, which are normally hooked to the car's brake light system-but often are not working. Further, these lights/reflectors often are not mounted close to the back edge of low profile trailers. In other words, at dusk or at night a driver approaching one of these trailers can be confused about where the rear of the trailer actually is-even if the taillights are working. One of the solutions Melancon lobbied for in the Commonwealth of Virginia was to require that reflectorized safety tape or actual reflectors be placed along the back edge of a trailer. VA's then Governor Warner (now U.S. Senator) signed the bill into law in 2004. That VA law reads:

There shall be affixed to the rear end of every trailer that has an unloaded weight of 3,000 pounds or less either two or more reflectors of a type approved by the Superintendent or at least 100 square inches of solid reflectorized material. The reflectors or reflective material shall be applied so as to outline the rear end of the trailer.

Melancon explained that several large trailer companies then lobbied for an amendment to the new law, to water down the safety regulation. The amendment removed reference to trailers 3,000 lbs or less and added:

For the purposes of this section, "utility trailer" means a trailer whose body and tailgate consist largely or exclusively of a metal mesh and whose end extends 18 inches or more beyond its taillights.

Melancon was astounded that Virginia legislators went along with this "legislative fix" which completely diluted trailer safety-it exempted all trailers that were equipped with “taillights” (that often may not work) within 18 inches of the rear. Also, taillights may not work may not be as effective as the reflective tape requirement. The new amendment excluded hundreds if not thousands of trailers. But its not just reflectorization involved, even more injuries and deaths are caused by inadequate or improper safety connections/safety chains between the trailer and the car or truck.

Runaway Trailers Injure and Kill Innocent Drivers

There is a picture in the link that follows of a car tragically crushed by a runaway trailer, the runaway trailer barrelling into the opposite lane ended the life of 20 year old Dinwiddie, Virginia (Va) mom named Caitlyn Johnson, who was simply driving her car lawfully down a Virginia highway.

Currently, Melancon is urging Virginia legislators to restore some reflectorized tape requirement, but also to require that a suitable strength safety chain or similar reliable device always accompany a trailer being pulled by a car or truck, even if weighing less than 3,000 pounds. Runaway trailers are instruments of interstate death and often kill innocent drivers, like the young mother in Dinwiddie Virginia who just recently suffered a preventable wrongful death due to a runaway trailer in Virginia.

Melancon explained to me that if a person in North Carolina or Virginia takes a fishing trip up to Canada that the Canadian police or sheriffs will pull over the vehicle and impound it if it does not have a safety chain connecting the car or truck and the trailer. He says its plain absurd that we don't have a requirement in Virginia (or many other states) that meets the same standard that Canada or the US government requires of trailers over 3,000 lbs!

A runaway 2,900 lb trailer going the wrong way on an interstate can and will cause death and airbags may not prevent you from being killed-especially by an oncoming missile like trailer heading the wrong way on an interstate. Trailer safety pointman Melancon is enlisting the support of every Virginia State delegate or Senator he can for new legislative remedies on regular, meaningful state inspections, on reflectorization, and probably most importantly: new safety chain connector laws. I note that Melancon is not a lawyer and is not in any official paid position on his trailer safety mission. He is simply an advocate speaking logic. These are the best safety people out there because they don't come to the table with any obvious bias one way or the other. Maybe not pure as driven snow, but about as strong a safety advocate as exists.

My take: visit the trailer safety blog that Melancon has been writing and blogging on for years at www.dangeroustrailers.org and send him a message if you would like more information about promoting trailer safety in Virginia or your state along the lines of the logical measures that Melancon has been backing.

Check out a new article on runaway trailers and simple solutions that need to be implemented.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Surgical Errors in the OR: Preventable Mistakes by Tired or Distracted Doctors

John Cooper — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:04:38 GMT

It’s the bane of every kindergartner’s existence. They’ve mastered their ABC’s, conquered their 123's, and figured out how to color inside the lines. But one thing remains: learning to tell left from right.

A much loved poster among school teachers makes the claim, “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." While this statement may not be entirely valid, it’s much closer to the truth than you might believe. What kind of world would it be if everyone got their left mixed up with their right? Well, just ask Willie King, a patient at a Florida hospital who, in 1995, woke up to find doctors had amputated the incorrect leg during his surgery.

Try as you might to come up with a legitimate reason for such a tragic error, there really is none. Did the surgeon make an unintentional error? Yes. Despite the outcome, was the intent to help the patient? Yes. Does that justify the terrible consequences Mr. King has now had to live with after losing not one, but both of his legs? Absolutely not.

We trust medical professionals to perform to the best of their abilities and to do everything in their power to help us when we are sick or injured. We trust them with our lives. While no one will argue that doctors mean to do more harm than good, the fact of the matter is that surgeons simply do not have the luxury of making silly mistakes in the operating room. The simple, fundamental matter of knowing which leg to amputate should never have been a problem for doctors who clearly have much more than a kindergarten education.

Assuming, then, that highly educated individuals can tell left from right, why do doctors face medical malpractice suits like this one? Medical professionals occasionally face repercussions for taking the wrong limbs, leaving medical instruments inside patients, authorizing incorrect drug dosages, or making other careless errors. There are reasons for this. In the competitive medical field, especially if one aspires to become a surgeon, the demands are heavy. Doctors are sometimes on call at all hours, many work 24 hour shifts, and those scenes in Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs that show doctors napping in the on call room aren’t entirely fictional.

Practitioners are pressured to take more cases, surgeries, and consults than a normal schedule should allow. When the workload is stretched past its limits, several factors combine to create disasterous circumstances. Medical professionals become overtired because of the amount of work they do. Meanwhile, the many cases and tasks they juggle make it hard to keep patients’ information in order. As caseloads increase, doctors also have less time to spend with each individual patient. These factors all may threaten a physician’s ability to properly perform procedures, and the health of patients may be threatened.

Hospitals and surgeons can develop systems to cut down on erros. Marking the body part to be cut is one procedure to prevent amputating the wrong limb.

When a patient's life is ruined because a doctor made a basic error in surgery, whether by operating on the wrong body part or leaving a piece of equipment inside that body part, something is wrong. Doctors have patients' best interests in mind, but the demands that are placed upon them may jeopardize their good intentions. If you have suffered as a result of a botched operation, contact a personal injury attorney who can advise you of your rights and help you get the justice you deserve.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Michael Jackson's Doctors- Potential Liability For Prescribing Controlled Substances/Drugs-Analysis of California State Board of Medicine Regulations

Rick Shapiro — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:05:50 GMT

Michael Jackson's name is all over the headlines as the public is not only mourning the great, late singer/performer, but is virtually obsessed with the cause of his sudden death. One of the things police are clearly investigating is whether there was any wrongdoing by one of his personal California physicians. Now, rumors are circulating of Jackson using an alias to secure medications, and if any doctor facilitated such prescription, this could be a criminal law violation. Since Michael Jackson was in California, the issue of whether controlled substances or non-controlled medications were improperly or illegally administered by a doctor would be governed by the Medical Board of California as well as California State criminal law.

One of the Business and Professions Code sections in California states that

"No physician and surgeon shall be subject to disciplinary action by the Board for prescribing or administering controlled substances in the course of treatment of a person for intractable pain."

(Business and Professions Code Sec. 2241.5(c). Clearly, the State Board of Medicine allows a physician, such as Michael Jackson's physician, to administer controlled substances if the late singer suffered from intractable pain, but based on many first person reports of his last several weeks, it is dubious whether he suffered intractable pain. Diprivan is a medication/drug supposedly provided to Jackson and there are allegations that he may have been injected with this potent drug the day he died. Actually, no one knows what the toxicology results will show of Jackson's autopsy-everything right now is hearsay. [Update: I have been advised that this drug may not be a controlled substance, but more on that is discussed in a related article-see below].

Based on a position paper of the Medical Board of California in effect in 1994 and revised in 2007, it would be difficult to charge a physician for a violation of the Code of California based on prescribing a controlled substance for pain (autopsy results are pending) based on this provision also:

"A physician and surgeon may prescribe for, or dispense or administer to, a person under his or her treatment for a medical condition dangerous drugs or prescription controlled substances for the treatment of pain or a condition causing pain, including, but not limited to, intractable pain. (b) No physician and surgeon shall be subject to disciplinary action for prescribing, dispensing or administering dangerous drugs or prescription controlled substances in accordance with this section." Another portion of the State Board pain guidelines states that the above section "does not affect the power of the Board to discipline a physician and surgeon for any act that violates the law, including gross negligence, repeated negligent acts, or incompetence … prescribing on the internet; failure to keep complete and accurate records of purchases and disposals of controlled substances; writing false or fictitious prescriptions for controlled substances, or prescribing, administering or dispensing in violation of the pertinent sections of the Health and Safety Code.

My take is that an accidental overdose of a prescription medication in California (not commenting on North Carolina or Virginia) would not likely be a violation of the State Medical regulations/code, and especially given the position statements of the State Board of Medicine, it would take much more than an accidental overdose to charge one of Jackson's doctors with a state board regulation violation.

However, the issue of other possible criminal law violations, and medical malpractice causing a wrongful death, are wholly different issues. A doctor may be civilly liable for medical negligence, if this caused Jackson's sudden death. A doctor providing or injecting a drug that is not properly prescribed for the conditions Jackson suffered may have all kinds of liability. Also, rumors are circulating about Jackson using aliases to obtain drugs, but these rumors have not been attributed to any named source. Any doctor who knowingly facilitated that type of a scheme has potential criminal liability.

Critic Raises Questions over Crash and Death Rates of Cirrus Aircraft In “Dead Pilots Don’t Lie”--Surprising Fatality Safety Analysis of Cirrus “Parachute” Planes vs. Cessna Small Planes

Rick Shapiro — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:00:17 GMT

I just returned from the Buffalo, NY funeral of my good friend, Michael Doran, a successful personal injury lawyer from Buffalo, New York, who last week died in a Cirrus SR20 plane he was piloting, that crashed just after take-off near Cleveland. Michael, age 51, of Doran & Murphy law firm was an avid pilot and had recently purchased a Cirrus aircraft, the new breed of small plane which features safety parachute technology. Michael and a young promising attorney named Mathew J. Shnirel who had recently joined his law firm had just taken off from a small airport near Cleveland when (apparent) engine trouble forced him to immediately circle back toward the airport, before the plane crashed just outside a residential area according to news reports-it appears Mike purposefully and heroically barely cleared a residential area, crashing beside a church.

Was it mechanical failure? Why couldn't Michael have deployed the parachute-was the altitude and speed too low or did an engine failure prevent parachute deployment? Even my law partner, Jim Lewis, himself a pilot of small planes who blogs on aircraft accidents, did not have any answers though we all suspect engine failure. Following the emotional funeral and moving eulogies by family and friends, I still was looking for answers to difficult questions on my return home. Also, I recalled Michael telling me (we snow skied together) that he bought the Cirrus aircraft partly because of the safety parachute feature and I knew he was a safe pilot just from him explaining how very careful he was with weather conditions before ever flying his small plane. As of the drafting of this article, there has been no NTSB preliminary accident report, but this article deals with safety issues of the Cirrus and its main competitor, the Cessna aircraft, two of the most commonly piloted small planes. Note: I am not a pilot, but this article mainly deals with safety statistics surrounding popular small aircraft.

Cirrus aircraft are equipped with proprietary technology which can employ a special parachute and Cirrus planes also have an anti--spin feature incorporated in the wing design that is marketed as a feature that can prevent the plane from going into a deadly spin potentially saving the life of those on a Cirrus plane. As a prolific U.S. inventor myself, there is no question that Cirrus should be applauded for bringing the parachute safety feature to the small aircraft market. No other small aircraft has this safety feature. However, there are very troubling statistics relating to the Cirrus aircraft crash and death rates for the just 10 years since the Cirrus have been in use.

It’s been over a decade now since Cessna resumed small airplane production in 1997 and Cirrus delivered the first SR20 composite body plane in 1999. Together by year-end 2008, both companies delivered nearly 13,000 new aircraft, accumulating over 12 million hours flown.

Cessna aircraft are one of the most popular competitors to Cirrus planes, especially since the late 1990s. Cirrus planes go faster and feature proprietary parachute and anti-spin technology, Cessna’s metal body aircraft cost less generally. If one compares the government statistics relating to safety of the Cessna versus the Cirrus since the late 1990s, the rates show that the Cirrus aircraft has been in 2.8 times more crash deaths than the Cessna, per aircraft, per hour flown, according a long analysis called “Dead Pilots Don’t Lie” by Stephen Wilson on his aircraft/piloting blog.

Wilson is a mechanic, pilot, and operates a Cessna aircraft sales business and it is no a secret that he favors the Cessna aircraft and the Cessna safety record over the Cirrus's safety record hands down-and essentially backs up his claims on his aviation blog that he has authored since at least 2002. He is an aircraft mechanic, aircraft owner, and flight instructor; a full-time aircraft professional in the single engine aircraft business for 23 years and also was an NTSB-trained Air Safety Investigator, who represented the Cessna Aircraft Company in field accident investigations. NO question he comes to the discussion with a bias, but he may have good reason to be biased. According to his analysis of NTSB records, although always equipped with an emergency parachute, Cirrus occupants were killed three times more frequently than those in Cessna planes with no parachutes to save them. The data contained in one hundred forty-one NTSB reports to date confirm what Wilson shows in tables on his website blog, and some are shown below.

A look at some of the key statistics according to Wilson from a review of the pertinent NTSB records:

Cessna (Single Engines Mfg 1997 and Newer vs. Cirrus)

The Serious Accident Tally

1997-2009	Total Serious Accidents	Fatalities
Cirrus	59	97
New-Production Cessna (Skylanes and Stationairs Only)	36	53

1997-2009	Total fleet hours	Hours Flown per Serious Accident	Hours Flown per Death
Cirrus	2,650,000	44,900	27,300
New-Production Cessna (Skylanes and Stationairs Only)	3,590,000	99,700	67,700

Wilson's charts indicate that serious accidents occurred 2.2 times more frequently in Cirrus aircraft than in Cessna’s. 2.5 times as many people were killed in Cirrus’s than in Cessna’s given the same number of hours flown-basically an apples to apples comparison.

He also took a look back from the date of accident in either aircraft in that timeframe to analyze safety statistics in a different way as follows:

Comparing Total Hours on Aircraft at the Accident Site
Consider how many hours (total aircraft time) accident aircraft accumulated from date of manufacture until the day they crashed. The NTSB recorded aircraft total time on 41 Cirrus and 72 Cessna accident investigations where there was serious injury or death in the last 10 years.

Hours on Accident Aircraft before the Serious Accident Occurred

1997-2009	Number Reports That NTSB Reported Total Time	Hours Flown	Number of Fatalities	Average Aircraft Total Time at the Accident	Number of Aircraft Hours per Fatality
Cirrus	41 reports	17,835	61	435	292
Cessna	72 reports	76,680	95	1,065	807

Cirrus serious accidents were 2.8 times more fatal than Cessna in the same number of fateful hours flown, Wilson says, based on the NTSB statistics. To see the underlying statistics, click here:

Cirrus NTSB Serious Accident Reports
Cessna (Single Engines Mfg 1997 and Newer) NTSB Serious Accident Reports

As an injury lawyer representing victims of injury, I don't have any personal bias between Cirrus and Cessna airplanes, but I have a strong interest in personal injury/wrongful death safety in the United States, whether it be in the workplace or in airplanes-and my good friend died piloting a Cirrus. It is striking that the aircraft with the most advanced safety features (parachute and anti-spin technology), has a clearly higher rate of serious accidents or death per hour flown, compared to a more standard aircraft such as the Cessna. What is causing this as it seems counter-intuitive? Could Cirrus argue that “inexperienced” pilots fly the Cirrus vs. the Cessna? Doubtful this would skew the statistics so violently.

As of March 2009, there were 18 reported deployments of a Cirrus parachutes with at least 30 survivors. BRS, the parachute manufacturer for the Cirrus, has been installing parachutes on small ultralight and experimental planes since 1983. To date, the company claims 228 “lives saved” (assuming the plane’s occupants would have suffered death in the event). A three-year-old report from BRS shows that nearly half the “lives saved” in the most recent 50 incidents were Cirrus occupants. Obviously, there is merit to the safety feature of the parachute, but something is going on with the overall control issues on the Cirrus to make the fatality statistics so skewed in favor of the Cessna aircraft record over the last ten years.

More comparison details from Wilson: in a Cirrus, the passenger must shut off power to the engine, and follow the instructions on the emergency placard to activate the parachute. A passenger in a Cessna can also shut off power by pulling a big red knob, then turning the elevator trim wheel full up to attain best glide speed. With a Cessna, there's remains an opportunity to steer the plane to avoid injury to people on the ground as much as possible. With over 20 knots greater stalling speed, greater landing distance required and other factors, the Cirrus may be less crashworthy than the Cessna, according to pilot Wilson (not covered in this analysis). All of this is food for thought if you are pilot ready to either purchase one of these aircraft, or planning to just fly one regularly. Sometimes a safety improvement must be considered with all other available safety data. In the Cirrus crash that killed my comrade, I do not know the answers yet. And, unfortunately, none of this analysis will bring my friend and pilot Mike Doran back. God bless him, his family and the Schnirel family.

Note: If you have an important safety comment or thought on these issues, please write a comment on my blog!

May 10, 2009 Update Alert: National News Desk Reporter Jane Akre, with Lisa Brown did a national followup story on the Cirrus safety debate. Click here to read "Cirrus Fatalities Have Critics Questioning Safety."

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY, who handle car, truck, railroad, aviation and medical negligence cases and more.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Significant Medical Malpractice Risks Associated With Gastric Bypass Surgery

Emily Mapp Brannon — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:05:23 GMT

The summer sun is almost upon the North Carolina and Virginia coast and so is bathing suit season. Many of those battling with obesity and trying to get slimmer have also opted for gastric bypass surgery, also known as stomach stapling, when they have exhausted all other options. Gastric bypass is a procedure where the stomach size may be reduced by over 90%.

Success with gastric bypass surgery results in the loss of weight and requires following a healthy diet regime. However, for some, gastric bypass surgery results in major medical problems or even death. The problem has been so widespread that these problems have been commonly referred to by many nurses as a “gastric bypass gone bad”.

When the desire to lose the excess weight is so passionate that a major surgery is chosen the desired result is to live the new life with a new healthy body. When something goes wrong that result is not only lost physically bad, but emotionally bad. In 2008, two sons of a New York woman were awarded $16.8 Million in damages for the loss of their mother. The 36 year-old woman had her intestines rerouted and her stomach stapled down to where it would hold two tablespoons of food. She later died of malnutrition and liver failure. Her lawyer stated that he considered her case predatory medicine as she wasn’t even a good candidate for the surgery.

In a similar situation a woman from Virginia Beach, VA had the surgery which was done improperly and then underwent two more surgeries to correct the problems.The key in her case was to prove that the doctor had committed medical malpractice and had not met applicable medical standards. The mediation resulted in the Elizabeth City resident being awarded $500,000, in her claim against the Naval Hospital and its doctors.

Our injury law firm maintains a NE NC office in Elizabeth City, and our main law office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Four of our law firm's injury lawyers are licensed to practice law in North Carolina, Virginia, and beyond. For over a decade we have been helping North Carolina residents, including those suffering injuries or wrongful death in VA/NC.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia, with offices in northeast NC and Virginia Beach (VA), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm's website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits three injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Emily Mapp Brannon

What is Statute of Limitation for A Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, or Wrongful Death Claim/Case/Suit in Virginia (VA) Or North Carolina (NC)?

Jim Lewis — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:59:52 GMT

Our Virginia/Carolina injury law firm, based in Norfolk/Virginia Beach is often called by potential clients with questions about what the personal injury statute of limitations is for personal injury/medical malpractice (and wrongful death) suits filed either in Virginia (VA) or North Carolina (NC). The answers depend on a number of circumstances and there are some fairly complicated analyses that need to be done, often by an experienced injury trial lawyer based in VirginiaCarolina

What prompted my law partner, Rick Shapiro, to write an in depth analysis was the actual case of a North Carolina resident injured in a Northern Virginia restaurant chain. The restaurant's claims adjuster told the NC resident that her injury claim was dead, because two years and a few days had passed, and she then consulted with our injury law firm. We accepted her case because North Carolina has a three year statute of limitations for general personal injuries filed in NC and we believe it applies to this client, assuming we file her injury suit in North Carolina.

Our law firm practices out of Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (the border cities of Elizabeth City, NC and Chesapeake, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Portsmouth, VA all straddle the border) but of course Virginia and North Carolina do have completely different statutes of limitations. Folks commute into Virginia from North Carolina (and vice-versa). There are many daily commuters from the Outer Banks (Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Corolla, Manteo) as well as from Elizabeth City/Edenton, into Virginia and we are often asked to represent these commuters.

For the complete Virginia/Carolina personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongul death statute of limitations legal discussion article, please click here.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm's website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits two injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jim Lewis

Virginia/Carolina Personal Injury Lawyers Discuss Personal Injury Claims/Settlements For Children, Minors, & Teenagers

Randy Appleton — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:29:11 GMT

Personal Injury Settlements involving children/minors or infants involve a large spectrum of situations. Our personal injury law firm is typically involved in claims on behalf of children and minors who are injured while passengers in car or truck accidents or wrongful deaths, but many other types of cases can arise. While the laws governing infant settlements may seem to be burdensome, the one constant we have encountered is that courts and guardians at litem are concerned about the welfare and future of injured children/minors and these rules work well to maximize the benefits of personal injury and wrongful death settlements for children.

Click here for the full article entitled: "Information About Personal Injury Claims/Settlements For Children, Minors, Teenagers" on our law firm's home website.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Randy Appleton

Personal Injury/Car Accident Law: What Insurance Companies Must Pay for Car Accident Damage, Rental Cars, Or In Cases of Total Loss of The Car

Rick Shapiro — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:14:26 GMT

Because our Virginia/Carolina personal injury law firm only practices injury law we field weekly phone calls from personal injury victims with questions about how claims adjusters with car insurance companies must compensate you for car property damage or cars totaled in car and truck accident cases, as well as rental car questions. (For answers about what compensation is allowed for personal injuries in a car accident, including a video explaining how a perfectly legal double or triple recovery of certain medical expenses is permissible, click here.)

Some of the common questions about car damage problems are:

How much does the insurance company owe me if my car is a total loss?

What must the claims adjuster pay for major body/property damage to my car?

How do I figure out full value for my totaled car?

Does the claims adjuster have to provide a rental car while my car is being repaired?

For the full and complete article, click here.

The article discusses that if a vehicle is a total loss, you must check the NADA value (www.NADA.com) to determine, at the month and year that your damage occurred, the retail value of your vehicle with its mileage, options and accessories. A second source to check the retail value of your vehicle, if damaged or totaled, is www.Edmunds.com , another site that allows you to enter the appropriate data. Note that the insurance company must pay the retail value, not the trade in or wholesale value.

In summary, our personal injury lawyers will assist any of our personal injury clients with information and guidance as to how to best handle damage to their car, total loss to your car, rental cars, and similar questions that arise while we are representing you for your personal injury claim whether in Virginia (VA), North/South Carolina (NC/SC), West Virginia (WV) or beyond.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The law firm's “main” website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits two injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects on our main law firm website.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Brain Damage Possible From Open Wound or Closed Head Injury

John Cooper — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:43:11 GMT

There are three types of brain injury depending upon how bad the injury is. Lawyers who handle traumatic brain injury cases have to be aware of the medicine and science related to the different categories of brain injury.

The injury lawyer who handles automobile accident cases, slip and fall cases, and all types accidents may encounter either in a person with a closed head injury meaning no open wound or broken skin or in an open head injury where the exterior skin is damaged in addition to the brain inside the skull.

Types of brain injury used in the assessment by rescue personnel are called the Glasgow Coma scale which is looking at the initial apparent severity of the neurological damage to the brain. Where exactly a person falls on this scale may not directly determine the amount of permanent brain function loss or disability suffered by the injured person. Although the term mild is used for the first level, this is a misleading term because all brain injuries are real and serious physical injuries.

Mild traumatic brain injury typically means a brief period of loss of consciousness. The person may just be dazed and confused where this level of brain injury has occurred. The signs of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) include decreased cognition like the ability to focus and remember things. Other signs of mild traumatic brain injury include headaches, nausea and light sensitivity. Problems with fatigue and sleep disturbance are also typical of mild traumatic brain injury. Psychological symptoms include depression, irritability, anxiety, and mood swings. Balance problems may also be present in those having a mild traumatic brain injury. People who suffer moderate traumatic brain injury in an accident typically have longer periods of loss of consciousness up to two hours, confusion lasting up to a period of weeks, and some of the physical, mental and emotional deficits as described above for mild traumatic brain injury lasting for months or sometimes permanently.

Severe brain injury often involves prolonged unconsciousness or coma of a period lasting up to months. The different types of comas are defined based on how damaged the person's function is in terms of body movement, speech, and vision. Brain death can also result from very severe injury to the brain.

Although not all blows to the head will cause traumatic brain injury, the trauma may occur more than a lay person might imagine. The direct application of force from a motor vehicle crash, fall, or being struck with an object can damage the brain inside the skull. You can have traumatic brain injury which is caused not by a direct blow, but simply by the rapid acceleration and deceleration of the head typical in a car accident event wherein the rapid movement pulls apart nerve fibers causing damage to the brain. This mechanism is also the type of brain injury caused in shaken baby syndrome.

If you think that you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident, please contact a competent attorney as soon as possible to discuss what can be done, if anything, through an insurance claim and or the court system. Often it is not the person who suffered the traumatic brain injury, but a close loved one or companion who realizes that something is not right in the person's physical, mental or emotional status after and event like a car crash or fall. Getting in the hands of the correct medical professionals is essential to managing the sometimes long term effects of TBI.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Head and Brain Injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper