Tennessee Injury Lawyer Blog

For the first-time in four years, traffic fatalities rose in Tennessee as the 2010 mark exceeded the number of traffic-related fatalities in Tennessee in 2009. According to reports, fatalities rose more in rural areas than urban ones, with the increase being attributed to a lower seat-belt usage rate in the rural areas. Law enforcement officials also cited an increase in multiple-fatality wrecks as being a cause for the rise in traffic fatalities this year.

Continue reading "Traffic Fatalities in Tennessee Climb in 2010" »

Police say a Newport woman is to blame for a Tuesday night crash on Alcoa Highway that sent the woman and her passenger to the hospital. According to reports, authorities believe that forty-five year-old Tammy Trentham of Newport was driving her 1999 Ford Explorer southbound on Alcoa Highway when she decided to attempt an illegal u-turn to head northbound. She was reportedly attempting to cross all lanes of southbound traffic when she pulled into the path of thirty-one year-old Melissa Turner of Knoxville who was driving a 2003 Dodge pickup truck belonging to the truck's passenger, off-duty police officer Steven Kaufman. Trentham was taken to UT Medical Center in critical condition and there has been no update on her condition as of yet.

Continue reading "Police Suspect Illegal U-Turn Cause of Alcoa Highway Wreck" »

Rare as it may be, there are hundreds of auto accidents that take place every year for which none of the parties actually involved in the crash can be held responsible. The most common form of this type of accident is one that is weather-related. Tennessee recently experienced a couple of severe winter storm systems that resulted in icing and dangerous driving conditions on many of Tennessee's roads and backroads. Drivers who hit ice, especially black ice, may find themselves in wrecks that involve other vehicles and drivers, but it may be nature that is at fault and there may be nothing any of the drivers involved could have done to avoid the accident.

Continue reading "Third-Party Liability in Auto Accidents" »

Given the high number of people that will be on the roads after midnight tonight and the high likelihood that many of them will be operating under the influence of some form of intoxicant, it is very likely that tonight will be among the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, nights to take to the roadways. This blog has discussed repeatedly the dangers of driving under the influence, and how such conduct is presumed negligent in Tennessee. The unfortunate truth is that many people look forward to this night all year as a night to let loose and enjoy their drink or drug of choice. Even more unfortunate is that many of these individuals have to travel to their party destinations and then make the ill-fated decision to drive back home or to their next destination, thus endangering the lives of anyone else trying to use the roads.

Continue reading "New Years Eve Presents Many Driving Hazards" »

It has been a busy twenty-four hours for tow truck drivers in the area as a major snowstorm has dumped several inches of snow across East Tennessee. Tennesseans who have been forced to brave the roads during the storm have discovered that the low temperatures, dipping down into the teens in most areas, have also caused the roads to become icy and extremely slick in many areas. Not surprisingly, this has lead to a confluence of automobile accidents in Knox County, Sevier County, Blount County, Cocke County, and surrounding areas.

Continue reading "Snowstorm Cripples East Tennessee" »

As America becomes increasingly mobile and more companies are investing in providing services to their clients at their homes, more and more Tennesseans find themselves engaging in an extensive amount of driving as part of their jobs. Unfortunately, this also presents an increased risk to these Tennesseans that they may become injured in a car wreck while driving on the job, either as a result of someone else's negligence, their own bad driving, or something out of the ordinary like a vehicular malfunction. When these wrecks, happen it is important for drivers to know that they have two potential avenues for recovery.

Continue reading "Work-Related Auto Accidents" »

Our blog frequently discusses specific instances of negligent or reckless driving that leads to auto accidents, especially instances that involve large trucks, vehicles driving at excessive speeds, or drivers who attempt to text while driving. Blog entries often focus on how helpful a personal injury attorney can be to victims of these accidents who have lost loved ones in motor vehicle crashes or who have suffered serious injuries and face a mountain of medical bills and lost wages. What our blog rarely focuses on, however, is the necessity of contacting an East Tennessee personal injury attorney as quickly as possible.

Continue reading "Statute of Limitations in Auto Accidents" »

The Pigeon Forge Fire Department, Pigeon Forge Police, Pigeon Forge High School, and AAA East Tennessee all came together recently to teach kids the dangers of texting while driving by inviting them to participate in an experiment in which they and their friends would drive a go-cart around The Track in Pigeon Forge while texting each other. The kids noticed that while texting they drove slower and wrecked much more frequently. Luckily, these collisions occurred in the relative safety of the go-cart track at mere speeds of 14 miles per hour. The organizations who conducted these tests are hoping that the young drivers who participated will now be more aware of what could happen to them at potentially greater speeds and will help get the message across to their friends.

Continue reading "Pigeon Forge Uses Go-Carts to Demonstrate Dangers of Texting While Driving" »

A Nashville trucker was reportedly in critical condition this morning after a crash at about 2 a.m. yesterday morning that halted westbound I-40 traffic for more than seven hours. At 9:35 a.m. all lanes of westbound I-40 were reopened, ending a traffic jam that began about 2 a.m. when two tractor trailer rigs wrecked just west of the Prosser Road overpass.

Continue reading "Trucker in Critical Condition After Accident on I-40" »

Highway 10 in Lafayette, Tennessee played host to a deadly motor vehicle accident late Tuesday afternoon when a van full of migrant workers and a semi-truck crashed head-on. The van was reportedly turning left at the time of the accident, so it seems likely that the van turned into the path of the semi which caused the crash. Two of the van’s occupants died at the scene while five other passengers were taken to the hospital by helicopter. Three were in critical condition Tuesday evening, one was critical but stable and one was stable. The semi-truck driver was not injured. Thoughts go out to everyone involved in this tragic collision as well as their friends and families.

Continue reading "Two Dead and Seven Injured in Head-On Collision" »

A twenty-five year-old Memphis woman is facing reckless driving charges after she was caught with thirteen kids in the back of her Ford Explorer. Police were reportedly responding to a fight at a local skating rink last Saturday when they spotted twenty-five year-old Treshundra Barnes speeding and swerving, almost striking several children near the skating rink. None of the children in the back of the Explorer were wearing a seat belt. In addition to the reckless driving charges, Barnes also faces fourteen seat belt violations and is charges with driving without a license.

Continue reading "Memphis Woman Caught with Thirteen Kids in Vehicle" »

Traffic is back to normal after a chemical spill around 1:45 shut down part of the eastbound interstate near the Western Avenue and 17th Street Exit. The Knoxville Fire Department’s hazardous materials team was reportedly called to respond to the scene of the spill around 1:45 p.m. when a trailer carrying a drain opening chemical to a flea market in North Carolina was pulled loose from the bumper of the vehicle that was towing the trailer, causing a chemical to spill all over the roadway. The substance was originally thought to be cleaning supplies, but workers then noticed that it was eating through the pavement. The trailer reportedly contained no markings of any type that identified what type of chemical the trailer was carrying.

Continue reading "Chemical Spill Closes I-40" »

Twenty-two year-old Rochelle Kay Lee of Plainfield, Indiana was killed yesterday when her vehicle flipped over the guardrail near mile marker 144 at the Stinking Creek exit and was struck by a tractor-trailer. The driver of the tractor-trailer, Paul Jenkins of Madisonville, Tennessee was not injured in the crash. No drugs or alcohol seem to have been a factor in the crash, which was reportedly caused by the fact that Lee lost control of her vehicle due to heavy rainfall. Both drivers were also reportedly wearing their seatbelts.

Continue reading "Indiana Woman Killed in Wreck on I-75" »

Forty-seven year-old Paul Rodgers of Knoxville died a few weeks ago when the van he was driving through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reportedly drifted off of the right edge of the road, struck a tree, and then slid several feet down an embankment. According to reports, Rodgers was found dead at the scene, although he was properly wearing his seat belt and the van’s airbag deployed. There is no evidence that alcohol or drugs were involved, but the investigation into the crash is ongoing.

Continue reading "Knoxville Man Dies in Crash in National Park" »

Forty-Six year-old Louis Michael Haney of Clinton, Tennessee was arrested Sunday afternoon on suspicion of DUI after law enforcement officials spotted him driving his John Deere riding lawnmower along the shoulder of the Tri-County Boulevard in Anderson County heading in the opposite direction of traffic. Haney subsequently failed a sobriety test and was taken into custody and charged with felony DUI, driving on a revoked license, and violation of the implied consent law.

Continue reading "Clinton Man Arrested for Fifth DUI" »

Early this morning, a gas tanker overturned near mile marker 121 on I-75 North, causing the tank to puncture and gasoline to leak all over the interstate. I-75 near Callahan Road in Knoxville was closed for a few hours while crews worked to clean up the spilled gasoline, and one lane of I-75 was reopened at about 10:30 a.m. The accident was reportedly caused when a Pontiac Sunfire blew a tire and was unable to get out of the left lane before coming to a stop. The driver of the Sunfire tried to get the attention of the driver of the gas tanker, now identified as John Stepp of Gate City, Virginia, but was unable to do so before it was too late. The tanker crashed into the Sunfire, causing it to flip and begin leaking gasoline. The driver of the tanker was transported to UT Medical Center and his condition was unknown at the time. The driver of the Sunfire was not injured.

Continue reading "Gas Tanker Overturns, Closes Down Part of I-75" »

A member of the Tennessee Highway Patrol was charged with DUI last Friday after law enforcement officials spotted the pickup truck of Gregory Brown, age 40, driving erratically and weaving in and out of traffic. At one point, officials aw the truck briefly cross into oncoming traffic before swerving back over to the correct side of the road. Brown was stopped on suspicion of DUI and failed a good number of field sobriety tests including balancing, walking heel to toe, and counting backward. Upon making the stop, the officer also noticed that Brown was driving with a cup of beer in the console.

Continue reading "Tennessee Highway Patrol Pilot Charged with DUI" »

It usually doesn’t pay to get excited or even speculate about legislation making its way through Congress. After all, the legislative process seems to usually result in a lot of bickering among opposing politicians with nothing ever really coming to fruition. A new bill, however, is in the works (spurred by the recent series of defects that have plagued Toyota) that may prove to be huge in the field of personal injury law. Since the bill may prove so important, it may be worth discussing even if it never amounts to much.

The new bill proposes to tighten the safety standards applicable to vehicle manufacturers wishing to sell automobiles in the United States. Among other provisions, it contains proposals that would require carmakers to install systems that would give a car's brake priority over its accelerator and record data that could be used in crash or defect investigations. Both of these conventions would be noteworthy from a personal injury context. Giving a car’s brake priority over its gas could make the car drive differently, which would tend to increase the accident risk for drivers who are unfamiliar with how the car drives in such a condition. However, it would also prevent many accidents that are caused by unintended acceleration or negligent driving. Whether the pros of such a system would outweigh the cons could really only be determined after the system was put into practice.

The data recorder that would be placed in vehicles could potentially play a crucial role in many personal injury cases. Many of these cases turn on which version of two different sets of facts the jury believes. If the data recorder can clear up such disputes or support one side of the testimony, personal injury cases may settle with more frequency and may be avoided altogether when the liability of a party is clear. For anyone interested in the realm of personal injury law, this bill will be one worth watching.

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20100720_Fight_looms_in_Washington_over_proposed_auto-safety_rules.html

George Michael made headlines yet again when he apparently mistook a local film developing store for a parking space and drove his car straight into the storefront. Police arrived at the scene and took Michael to the police station on suspicion of DUI. Reports indicate that the vehicle caused extensive damage to the photo shop, which may have to replace its entire storefront.

The first thing any reader should take away from this situation is that there indeed are still people in this world who do not use digital cameras and there are even shops that still develop film. The second is that situations such as the one described above happen daily around the world, including in Tennessee, and it is important to know, both as a victim and as the responsible party, what liability may be placed upon the responsible party when such accidents occur. Assuming Mr. Michael was intoxicated at the time of the accident, Tennessee law would label him as negligent per se. This essentially means that in a personal injury suit there would be no need for the plaintiff to prove anything other than the fact that Mr. Michael was intoxicated in order for him to be held responsible for all of the foreseeable damages that flowed from his actions.

In a situation like this one where an intoxicated driver causes the destruction of someone else’s property, damages can accumulate in a hurry. The driver in a similar situation to this one will be responsible not only for the damage that he caused to the store but also for the cost of repairing the storefront and restoring the shop to the condition it was in before he decided to turn the store into a literal drive-in. He would also be responsible for the destruction of the property of customers that occurred as a result of his actions. In this situation, such damage is likely to be minimal but the possibility for larger damages will exist in different situations. Whether you are the responsible party or the victim in such cases, it is important to know who can be held responsible for what damages. Consulting an experienced personal injury attorney can help parties on either side determine the best course of action.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/07/06/george-michael-arrested-driving-car-storefront/

Foreseeability is a concept that can greatly affect the outcome of any personal injury suit. The basic gist of the concept is that for a person to be found liable to a particular victim for negligence, it must be foreseeable that his or her negligence would impact or harm that victim. For example, assume a bus driver is texting while driving and negligently drives onto the sidewalk, causing a cyclist to swerve into a valuable statue that is sitting in the yard of a homeowner and ruing the statue. Since it was foreseeable that the driver’s negligence would affect persons on the sidewalk and potentially cause them to react to get out of the way, the homeowner will probably be able to recover from the bus driver (and his employer) to recover the amount of the real and personal property damage caused by the driver’s negligent actions. By that same token if the cyclist had swerved into the statue which had then fallen onto a shotgun, causing it to discharge and kill a cat sleeping in the window of the house next door, it is likely the damage caused by the loss of the cat would be recoverable against the bus driver since it is not really foreseeable that the bus driver’s negligence would affect the cat sleeping in the window some distance from where the negligence actually occurred.

Concepts like this one can make a substantial difference in exactly who a party can recover from, which may affect that party’s ability to be fully compensated for his or her injuries. In this situation, knowing that the bus driver and thus the bus company can be held liable will often prove much more favorable to the plaintiff than trying to recover damages from a random cyclist, especially if the amount of damages is large. Such situations show why it is often advantageous to hire an experienced personal injury attorney who can make sure that the plaintiff holds all possible parties responsible and can maximize the plaintiff’s recovery.