Posts tagged Motor Vehicle Accidents

• Cell Phone Driving Fatalities

  Ken Margolin | August 07, 2007 4:10 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  If the sight of the driver to your right on the interstate, chatting away on his cell phone gets you angry, you've got a right to be. Various studies have shown that driving while talking on a cell phone can be as dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. Estimates of the number of U.S. traffic fatalities caused by cell phone talking while driving are generally in the...

• A Victory Against Trucking Fatalities

  Ken Margolin | July 25, 2007 12:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  The federal Appeals Court of the D.C. Circuit, struck down new rules of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, that would have allowed big rig truckers to drive many more consecutive hours. The case was brought by Public Citizen, a public safety advocacy group, and other groups formed to protect the public against tired truckers. The Appeals Court held that the federal agency had not...

• Liquor Licensee Liability Laws

  Ken Margolin | January 16, 2007 5:00 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Most states in the US have some form of laws imposing liability on liquor licensees that serve liquor to clearly intoxicated persons who then go out to cause injury or wrongful death to a third party, usually by causing a car crash. The laws are known as "dram shop" acts. Organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have been quite successful in campaigning and lobbying to get...

• Real Tort Reform

  Ken Margolin | December 17, 2006 12:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  I grudgingly give credit where it is due. The insurance, big corporate cabal, has run one of the most brilliant public relations campaign in the history of duping the American public. Their first ploy was the one most essential in any media campaign - they captured the linguistic high ground. Everyone believes in reform in the abstract, and the forces who want to eliminate the rights of...

• Liquor Liability for Serving Drinks to Minors

  Ken Margolin | January 11, 2007 9:30 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts just ruled that commercial establishments that serve drinks to underage persons (under 21 in Massachusetts) have a higher level of liability than when they serve to legal age, intoxicated patrons. The case, decided on January 9, 2007, is Nunez v. Carrabba' Italian Grille, Inc. The plaintiff, a 19 year old, spent a night drinking heavily at Carrabba's...

• Winter Driving Accidents

  Ken Margolin | February 14, 2007 1:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  While the northeast of the country experiences nasty winter weather, from 2 feet of snow to frozen precipitation, it's a good time to remember the added responsibility on anyone who drives in the winter. Most serious highway accidents in winter conditions are the direct result of driver negligence. The most frequent cause of fatal car crashes in winter is the same as other times of year - speed;...

• The Voir Dire Debate

  Ken Margolin | November 08, 2006 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Voir dire is the process whereby potential jurors are questioned before they are selected, to probe for biases that might impair their ability to impartially judge the facts. Voir dire has been described in a "Law Day" outline of the American Bar Association, as "one of the most important aspects of any trial." Massachusetts is one of only a few states in the country in which voir dire is not...

• Teen Cell Phone Ban

  Ken Margolin | September 14, 2007 3:35 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  California has banned cell phone use by drivers ages 16 & 17. The ban will include text messaging. Older drivers will be allowed to use hands free phones, but the ban for the teenagers will be total. While the legislation is positive and regrettably, too rare, it is insufficient. A number of studies have shown that even during conversations on hands free cell phones, drivers' reactions times...

• Drunk Driving Accidents

  Ken Margolin | November 13, 2006 10:30 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  The federal Center for Disease Control estimates that alcohol is involved in car crashes that kill someone in the United States every 13 minutes. That equals more than 15,000 deaths per year due to drunk driving accidents. The government has made a number of recommendations to reduce alcohol-related deaths and injuries on the roadway.It pressured states - with the threat of losing federal money...

• Bad Faith Denial of Insurance Claims

  Ken Margolin | June 26, 2007 6:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  There is only one reason to buy insurance - to have the peace of mind of knowing that the financial needs of you or your family will be covered in the event of death, catastrophic injury, or long-term disability or illness. When an insurance company denies payment of a valid claim in bad faith, it is practicing the corporate greed version of "what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine." You...