Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP » Auto Accidents

After A Car Wreck, Am I Entitled To Compensation For The Reduced Value Of My Car?

brooks — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:27:08 +0000

Back to the property damage video series today. Today I answer the question, “After a car wreck, am I entitled to compensation for the reduced value of my car?” (And just a little disclaimer: all of these are based on Texas law. If you’re out of state, talk to a lawyer in your own state. If you don’t know anyone, feel free to give me a call, and I’ll try to get you a recommendation for someone in your area.)

After A Car Wreck, Am I Entitled To Compensation For The Reduced Value Of My Car? from brooks schuelke on Vimeo.

If you want to know more about the companies discussed in the answer, feel free to call or email me, and I’ll pass along that information.

What Can You Learn About Brain Injuries And Concussions From The NFL?

brooks — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:56:59 +0000

Joe Smith, a client, was injured in a wreck. He came to me much later, and we were talking about the changes in his life after his car wreck. He mentioned several things, including the fact that he felt like he was upset with his wife and kids all the time. I asked if he had seen a neurologist, and when he said, “no,” I suggested he see one.

A couple of weeks later, Joe called me back and told me that the neurologist had diagnosed him with a head injury.

This isn’t unusual. In my experience, a head injury is the most often over-looked injury resulting from car wreck cases.

And now we can learn something about it from the NFL. With football season fast approaching (this is game week, after all, for all of us Texas fans), the NFL is waging a campaign against head injuries, and their poster is one of the best aids I’ve seen to help players (and other people) protect themselves by making sure that brain injuries are diagnosed and treated.

For those of us in the personal injury business, the key part of the poster may the portion that describes symptoms. The poster says:

Different symptoms can occur and may not show up for several hours. Common symptoms include:

Confusion

Headache

Amnesia/difficulty remembering

Balance problems

Irritability

Dizziness

Difficulty concentrating

Feeling sluggish, foggy or groggy

Nausea

Sensitivity to noise

Sensitivity to light

Double/fuzzy vision

Slowed reaction time

Feeling more emotional

Sleep disturbance

Loss of consciousness

It’s important that people injured in car wrecks also look for those symptoms. And if you find those symptoms, even if they appear mild, tell your doctor. You can never be too careful when it comes to your brain.

What Is My Car Worth?

brooks — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:53:13 +0000

Today is the second part of our video series related to car wreck property damage claims.

When negotiating with the insurance company, it’s important to know the value of your car. In today’s short video, I discuss how you can learn what your car is worth.

What Is My Car Worth? from brooks schuelke on Vimeo.

Why Won’t The Insurance Company Pay For My Car Damage?

brooks — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:47:14 +0000

We’re starting something new today because car wreck property damage claims seem to be an increasing problem and concern. Generally, the property damage claims — the claims relating to your car damage — are easy to resolve. But recently, I’ve had to file lawsuits in a couple of cases over property damage, and I’ve also received an increasing number of calls from potential clients worried about how they’re being treated in their property damage claims.

Because of this, I’m starting a new series of blog posts trying to answer basic questions about property damage claims. I’m also going to be doing it a little differently because I’m going to do them as short videos. I hope you find the series helpful. (And please be forgiving. I’m not Martin Scorsese; this is new to me.) If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for the series, please let me know.

So, here’s the first in the series: Why Won’t The Insurance Company Pay My Property Damage Claim? (and depending on your set-up, you might need to give it a few seconds to buffer).

Why Won’t The Insurance Company Pay My Property Damage Claim? from brooks schuelke on Vimeo.

What State Is Succeeding In Reducing Trucking Accidents?

brooks — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:55:30 +0000

Kudos to public safety officials in Massachusetts for their hard work in reducing trucking accidents.

Three of the biggest safety hazards presented by the trucking industry are (1) too heavy of loads — which makes it more difficult to safely control the trucks; (2) improperly maintained vehicles; and (3) truckers driving beyond the allowed number of hours.

Police officers have long known that face inherent problems in trying to remedy these issues.

A story in yesterday’s Boston Globe talked about the problems and some of the measures that Massachusetts is taking to improve safety.

When talking about the problem, the story noted:

When a station is operating — we’ve all seen those illuminated open and closed signs — vehicles that meet the criteria must pull over or face a $500 fine. Theoretically, police just open shop and let violators come to them.

In reality, it doesn’t work that way. The moment a weigh station opens, truckers are on their CB radios spreading the news. Drivers with no alternative may pull over until the “closed’’ sign lights up. A company might even delay shipments to avoid inspections.

“It becomes a game of cat and mouse,’’ says Sergeant Peter Littlefield, head of truck enforcement at the State Police barracks in Concord. “A lot of the guys you get are the good guys. The bad guys go around you.’’

The story also pointed out:

Federal law prohibits truckers from driving more than 11 straight hours, but drivers frequently lie about shifts in order to make more money, police say.

But Massachusetts is fighting back. Instead of the standard weigh stations, the state police have started using portable weigh stations that they can set up at known problem areas or at random points along the road. And when they do it, they take the enforcement seriously.

The program seems to be working. The number of fatal trucking accidents has decreased by 20 percent in recent years so that Massachusetts now has the lowest fatality rate in the country for accidents involving commercial vehicles.

Maybe we could use a little of that program in Texas?

Weary Truckers Create A Risk For I35 Trucking Accidents

brooks — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:23:02 +0000

IH 35 is a bit unique in that it spans from the southern border with Mexico to the northern border with Canada. But no matter where you are along the highway, you face a grave danger of being involved in a trucking accident. And yesterday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune had a good article, based in large part on an I35 truck wreck, about one of those risks — tired truck drivers.

For the most part, truck drivers are supposed to be limited in the number of hours they can drive. In 2005, the hours-of-service rules were amended to require a little more rest for drivers. Since that time, the number of fatal trucking accidents has decreased. But it’s still a problem. From the article:

While things are headed in the right direction nationally, annual fatalities in big truck wrecks are still the equivalent of a jetliner crashing once a week, said Steve Keppler of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

“If that many plane crashes were happening,” Keppler said, “people would be up in arms and the air traffic system would be shut down.”

And a lot of these trucking accident fatalities are caused by fatigue. You need look no further than the 2005 legislation to see how fatigue contributes to trucking accidents. While the 2005 legislation lowered hours-of-service for most drivers, it also exempted a number of drivers, including those in the agricultural, utility and construction fields. While the rate of fatalities have gone down since the new rules, the accidents involving utility trucks are up 57 percent since their drivers were exempted.

And much of the trucking industry continues to put its head in the sand and say that weary drivers aren’t a problem. In the article, the spokesman for the American Trucking Association called wrecks caused by fatigue “a very small problem.” The trucking industry also sued the Minnesota State Patrol in 2009 to stop police from using a “fatigued driver checklist” to keep truckers off the road.

It’s this attitude that makes trucking cases so interesting. Because of regulations, drivers are required to keep a log of their driving time. But in many cases, the log is altered or the drivers maintain two or more logs to help hide the amount of time that they’re really driving.

Maybe the problem was best summed up by an unidentified driver in the article:

I don’t get paid while I’m sitting waiting to load and unload. My fixed costs doesn’t allow me to run legal…I sleep four hours a night. It isn’t out of choice. It’s finances.

I beg to differ. It is a choice. And it’s a choice that’s putting all of us at risk.

A Lesson Learned From A Capital Metro Bus Wreck

brooks — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:08:06 +0000

Both KXAN and Fox7 reported last night on a collision between a Capital Metro driver and a pedestrian. The story caught my attention because I’ve been on both ends of that. I’ve represented a number of people, including one pedestrian, that have been hurt in wrecks with Capital Metro. And I’ve also had the pleasure of representing a number of Capital Metro drivers, and I know that it’s a hard job.

But watching the KXAN story last night, one thing in particular struck me. As the original story was going, the news camers showed a Capital Metro employee out there taking photos of the bus and the scene. (Unfortunately, the story on the website doesn’t show the entire story so you won’t see this if you’re watching the link.)

In our book HOLDING WRONGDOERS ACCOUNTABLE: AVOIDING MISTAKES THAT CAN RUIN YOUR TEXAS ACCIDENT CLAIM, one of the mistakes we talk about is not documenting the scene. Many times when you’re in a wreck, you’re too hurt to do anything. But in some instances, you’re able to take our your camera or cell phone and snap a few pictures of the cars, skid marks, debris, people standing around, etc. This time of information will almost always help in some way or another as the case proceeds.

This type of investigation is especially important when you’re involved in a wreck with a commercial vehicle, such as a bus or an 18-wheeler. They will have investigators out on the scene as soon as they can. And if they’re the only ones that get to document what’s going on, then it’s a huge advantage for them.

Documenting the scene is also one of the most important reasons why you should talk to an attorney sooner rather than later. If an attorney is hired early, we might be able to get an investigator out there that can find some skid marks, left over debris, etc. that won’t be there as time passes. It’s also sometimes easier to get witnesses to cooperate if we can talk to them shortly after a wreck instead of waiting until months or years later.

UPDATE:

After I finished the post, Steve Lombardi, writing in The Verdict, provided additional insight to his clients involved in accidents and stressed how preserving the evidence at accidents whith photographs is equally vital and important to being able to win your case. In Why Is The Bus Company Photographing The Bus At The Accident? Steve adds to the idea that car-truck-bus-motorcycle accident investigations require you to have your own independent investigation to preserve evidence for you. We’ve been doing that at Perlmutter & Schuelke, LLP for years. And now that it’s easier to make digital presentations to the adjuster, through a demand or at mediation, having that type of evidence in disputed cases is more critical than ever.

Beware The Dangers Of Pulling Over On The Side Of The Road

brooks — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:02:05 +0000

I received a news story of a trucking wreck on IH 35 in Oklahoma where two gentlemen, Phillip Martin and Brian Robertson, were having car troubles. They pulled over to the side of the road, got out of their vehicle, and went to sit against the passenger side of their truck in the shade until help could arrive. Unfortunately, a truck driver came along, hit the disabled truck, and killed Mr. Martin.

This is but the latest example of how dangerous it can be to be parked on the side of the road. Almost all of us have to pull over at some time or another. We may have car trouble, run out of gas (that’s included for my mom), or have a child or passenger that needs you to pull over so they can throw up (as happened to one of my kids recently). Regardless of the cause, many of us have found times when we needed to pull over.

Unfortunately, motorists have a tendency to look at disabled vehicles or other cars pulled over on the side of the road, and when motorists look over in that direction, their cars tend to drift in that direction, creating a significant risk of collision and injury.

Perhaps the best examples of these dangers is from police traffic stops. Police officers have long realized the dangers of being stopped on the side of the road. For example, from 1993-2002, law enforcement officials estimate that 681 officers were killed in accidents involving traffic stops. Police departments across the country are now working on a number of solutions to help minimize these risks. Some of the things discussed include policies on how officers should position vehicles, how cars can be modified to provide the best visibility, to legislative solutions (such as the Texas law requiring motorists to significantly slow down when passing a traffic stop).

For other drivers, technology is helping with the risk. A number of car manufacturers are are investigating or starting to equip their vehicles with lane departure sensors that let drivers know when they might be inadvertently drifting into other lanes. A good summary of these can be found in this Wikipedia article.

But until that technology becomes common, it’s critical that all of us pulling over be cautious and aware of what’s going on around us.

If You’re In A Car Wreck, Does It Matter Who The Other Driver’s Insurance Company Is?

brooks — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:42:39 +0000

We often know whether a car wreck claim has a chance of being resolved without the necessity of a lawsuit simply by knowing what insurance company insures the other driver. Some insurance companies will make reasonable offers, giving cases a chance to settle, but with other insurance companies we know we’re not going to get a fair offer until we file a suit and get the case ready to be tried.

A story in today’s Dallas Morning News talks about two of the worst offenders. According to the article, the Morning News analyzed Texas Department of Insurance complaints and found that Fred Loya and Old American County Mutual (which is owned or run in part by Loya) both far exceed other insurance companies under the state’s “complaint index.” And then the article gives some examples showing the shoddy treatment that people in wrecks had received from these two companies.

When you’re hit by another driver, you don’t get to choose what insurance company they have. You’re at their mercy, and the company (and even the individual adjuster signed to your claim) can make a big difference in how the case proceeds.

But you do get to pick your own insurance company, and you should factor in how that company might respond. For example, I recently filed a case against Fred Loya on an underinsured motorist claim (uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is coverage you may purchase on your own policy in case the person that hits you doesn’t have any or enough insurance ). Fred Loya told me that they were denying coverage because the driver of the car was excluded under the policy. But when I requested that they provide copies of the policy or other documents to support that claim, they would never respond. So I filed suit. Surely you’d expect your own insurance company to get back to you, but that wasn’t the case here.

The article was important for another thing — pointing out that the insurance department has little power over the insurance companies. As the article said:

For example, the department cannot force a company to pay a disputed claim if there is no violation of the law. Also, the agency cannot decide who is at fault in an accident.

That means that those of us that are trial lawyers are the last defense you have to help wrong these rights.

Finding Fault in Trucking Accidents

jferris — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:21:32 +0000

In trucking accidents, there is often the question of who was at fault. This may take time to determine.

“If you think it’s bad enough figuring out who is to blame in car accidents, wait until you have been involved in an accident with an 18-wheeler. Apportioning blame in those cases can be very difficult,” remarked Brooks Schuelke, an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP.

In every accident case there tends to be a number of variables that could be blamed for the accident. For instance, the roads, the weather, actions of other drivers, poor mechanical maintenance, defective tires, brakes or other factors could be cited. Of course, there is also the human factor, which many drivers would like to ignore and point their finger at the other guy. Nonetheless, finding out who was directly responsible for a truck crash is often very complex.

In the “usual” car crash scenario, typically each person is responsible for their own actions. That means a car driver who is reckless and causes a collision is usually held responsible and accountable for their actions. Taking this one step further, if an auto maker (like Toyota) sells a car with a defective braking system, they may be (and have been) brought to account.

“In cases involving 18-wheelers, liability often isn’t clear at all because the question becomes whether or not the trucker is the responsible party at fault or whether the trucking “company” acted in such a way that made the collision possible. For example, did the trucking company hire someone that wasn’t qualified or cut corners on safety requirements, such as allowing a driver under the influence to take their truck on the road?” questioned Schuelke.

Questions like this tend to hover about the outside edges of a trucking crash investigation and many of the answers are not that clear unless there is an in-depth investigation – something an Austin personal injury attorney would conduct. Their main goal to serve their client is to get a settlement that reflects the serious nature of the crash, not let the insurance company offer a lowball settlement based on a cursory examination of the crash site.

Many of the reasons for big rig accidents tend to fall into certain categories, ones that many personal injury lawyers see over the years of practicing law. The most common causes of semi accidents are usually related to hours of service violations, negligent hiring, lack of proper training, the trucker DUI, improper cargo loading, driving while fatigued, reckless driving, texting while driving, and truck malfunctions and defects.

In a serious trucking accident, the trucking company will have investigators on the scene within hours, if not earlier. Because of this, victims are always at a disadvantage in investigating the case. And if the victim of the 18-wheeler wreck doesn’t do what he or she can to investigate early, then evidence may be lost forever.

The end results of being involved in an accident with an 18-wheeler are never that good and you may need all the legal help you can get to secure enough compensation for your future. “Don’t delay talking to an experienced lawyer, or you may miss the opportunity to fully investigate your case,” advised Schuelke.

Contact Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP at http://www.civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.