Louisville Personal Injury Lawyer - General Personal Injury

Vehicle Fire Investigation: Critical Part of Your Case

Jennifer Moore — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:12:14 GMT

Vehicle fire investigation is an expertise that requires specialized training. Among the challenges in a vehicle fire investigation is determining cause and origin from the remaining evidence in a devastating car, motorcycle or tractor trailer fire. Often, evidence has been destroyed and it is incumbent on the trained fire investigator to make determinations based on circumstantial evidence that remains in the case. The vehicle fire expert can determine cause and origin from the "footprints" that remain of a charred vehicle. Analyzing the pattern and signature of the fire, experts can determine hot spots and the likely origin. Finding an expert in the area of vehicle fires is critical to proving your case.

Qualified experts should be thoroughly familiar with NFPA 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations and with texts such as Kirk's Fire Investigation and Lee S. Cole's Investigation of Motor Vehicle Fires.

Proper vehicle inspection requires thorough review of all of the systems that pose fire safety hazards. The vehicle and the scene must be thoroughly documented. Primary and secondary incendiary sources must be determined. Attorneys investigating vehicle fires can obtain information of the same make, model and year from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or
from the Center for Auto Safety.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Jefferson County Jury Awards $3.25 Million in Vehicle Fire Case

Jennifer Moore — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:03:14 GMT

The Courier-Journal reported that a Louisville jury awarded more than $3.25 million in damages to the family of a man who died from burns sustained in a vehicle fire. Attorneys at Grossman & Moore represented the family.

For more information about the jury verdict and the facts of the vehicle fire, read the story in the Louisville paper.

Bernard Mulligan was sitting in his 1995 Buick Riviera on Nov. 6, 2004, when the engine burst into flames, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in April 2006.

The jury on Thursday found Don's Auto Clinic and its owner, Samuel T. Barrett, negligent in repairing and inspecting Mulligan's vehicle. Mulligan, 67, twice had his vehicle towed to Don's because of overheating problems and a rebuilt engine was installed, according to attorneys for Mulligan's estate.

Two days later, the engine caught fire while the car was idling. It was unclear why Mulligan did not get out of the car, though he suffered from diabetes, according to his attorneys.

Mulligan suffered burns to more than 45 percent of his body and died three days later.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Have you waived your right to a trial?

Jennifer Moore — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:16:37 GMT

Do you read the fine print in contracts? Do you read the fine print when you sign up for a credit card? What about when you sign up for a cell phone? If you don't, you may have just waived your right to trial. The fine print may contain a mandatory arbitration provision. In other words, if your rights have been violated or you are wronged by the company, you won't be able to bring suit in court. Your only option may be to file a claim with an arbitration panel. Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer interest group, studied mandatory arbitration extensively over an eight-month period and recently released a reporton the effects of these waivers and mandatory arbitration provisions. The results show that mandatory arbitration provisions favor business and not the consumer.

Stunning Results that Disfavor Consumers: In the more than 19,000 cases in which an NAF-appointed arbitrator was involved, 94 percent of decisions were for business.
...
Today, just about every American who has a credit card, builds a house, has a cell phone, gets a job or buys a computer has likely unknowingly agreed to settle any dispute through binding mandatory arbitration (BMA), a for-profit backroom process of settling disputes. This report takes a close look at the credit card industry's abuse of BMA and provides a chilling account of a stealth campaign by big business to undermine the ability of ordinary Americans to seek justice in court.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Maps Showing Traffic Problems and Accidents

Jennifer Moore — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:39:58 GMT

Go to www.metromapper.org and click on traffic cams to get up-to-date information on traffic flow in Louisville, Kentucky. This can be helpful when determining the quickest route in order to avoid major collisions. Metromapper has Interstate traffic cameras, traffic speed, and sign messages updated continuously! You can also see how safe our bridges are in Kentucky.

This map shows the status of every bridge or overpass in Kentucky and includes when it was inspected, year built, and daily vehicle traffic. The status can be Structurally Deficient, Functionally Obsolete, Not Deficient or Not Applicable, and each bridge is also given an overall rating by FHWA from 1-100%, with 100 being the best.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Microwave Popcorn Linked to Lung Disease

Jennifer Moore — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:52:37 GMT

Microwave popcorn companies, such as Act II and Orville Redenbacher, add the chemical, Diacetyl, to their popcorn for "buttery" flavor. The manufacturer of these popcorns, ConAgra Foods, announced it would remove diacetyl from its popcorn because of the risk to workers being exposed to diacetyl. In addition to workers suffering from lung ailments due to exposure, Denver doctors believe that diacetyl could be the cause of lung problems for a consumer, who ate microwave popcorn regularly.

The Food & Drug Administration is evaluating whether the chemical could affect consumers' health.

Diacetyl has been linked to an ailment called bronchiolitis obliterans, or "popcorn workers lung." It's a life-threatening form of obstructive lung disease whose only cure is a lung transplant. Sufferers can breathe in deeply but have difficulty exhaling.

Numerous studies in recent year have shown links between the disease and diacetyl. One flavouring manufacturer worker has died of the disease. Flavouring manufacturers in the U.S. have paid out more than US$100 million to settle lawsuits by people sick with popcorn workers lung over the past five years.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Insurance Companies Favor Profits Over People

Jennifer Moore — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:25:11 GMT

The American Association for Justice has published a report that shows that insurance companies have placed profits over people when responding to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. It has been over two years since Hurricane Katrina and many victims have not been compensated for their damage. This is despicable. The report shows that some insurance companies have denied claims and argued that the damage was not caused by hurricane wind, but by floodwater, which is usually not covered.

http://www.justice.org/pog2007.pdfSome companies have been caught committing the following offenses:

forging signatures on earthquake waivers after an earthquake, to claiming termites were responsible for tornado damage.

Yet, insurance companies consistently report record profits. They made more than $40 billion in 2005 -- the same year as Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Rita. Check out the report for more details of how the insurance industry has handled and continues to handle claims from Hurricane Katrina.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Ban on Class Arbitration Struck Down by Court

Jennifer Moore — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:15:25 GMT

Cingular wireless required its customers to waive their right to be part of a class action before an arbitration panel. In other words, if a customer had a claim worth $100, he or she would have to file an individual claim instead of pooling resources as part of a class action. This, in effect, insulates the company from all liability. Very few customers would pursue a small claim alone. More and more companies are requiring customers to waive their rights to bring a class action in order to receive the companies' service or products. Thankfully, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down Cingular's ban and held it to be unconscionable. This is a great victory for consumers across the country.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Map a Kentucky Bridge

Jennifer Moore — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:29:28 GMT

A website owned by a local Louisvillian focuses on map technology to provide the public with vital information. The Minneapolis bridge collapse has brought bridge safety to the forefront. No one wants to see another bridge collapse, but what are we doing about it? A new map has been added to metromapper.org that shows the current safety rating of all bridges and overpasses in Kentucky. As more people recognize the need to make our bridges safe, this site will be an invaluable tool. Check it out.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

Are Kentucky's Bridges Safe?

Jennifer Moore — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 10:00:12 GMT

In light of the recent fatalities and injuries resulting from the Minneapolis bridge collapse, it is important to make sure Kentucky's bridges are safe. Unfortunately, according to federal records, bridge safety has deteriorated under Governor Fletcher's administration. In December 2003, Kentucky's 13,523 bridges showed 1,175 classified as SD (structurally deficient) and another 2,872 designated FO (functionally obsolete) -- total of 4,047, or 29.9% of all KY bridges, had serious problems. Since Fletcher took office, Kentucky's 13,637 bridges showed 1,362 classified as SD and 2,927 as FO in December 2006. That means that in Fletcher's three years another 242 bridges have been added to the SD or FO category, 4,289 total bridges having serious problems, or 31.5%.

What is this administration doing to ensure that a bridge tragedy like the one in Minneapolis does not occur in Kentucky?

In 2004 Kentucky ranked 18th among the 50 states for most unsound bridges. We should demand higher safety standards for Kentucky's bridges to prevent travelers from being injured.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jennifer Moore

6 Miners Trapped in Cave-In

Courtney Mills — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:48:41 GMT

Six miners were trapped Monday four miles from the entrance of the Genwal mine in central Utah. The cave-in was so forceful that nearby authorities had initiallty surmised that an earthquake had caused the Genwal mine to collapse, trapping the six miners down below.

Authorities now recognize that the cave-in was of a magnitude so severe that it resembled a 4.0 earthquake on the Richter scale.

Unfortunately, very little is known about the condition of the miners. Rescuers are several thousand feet from exact location that the party was trapped, and are working around the clock to reach the men.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills