Source: Hixon v. Highsmith, 147 F.Supp. 801 (E.D.Tenn. 1957).

Although authorities have not been able to determine the cause of the accident, their eventual findings will be critical to the victims of the case. The party responsible for the accident will potentially be facing personal injury and product liability claims from ten different parties, which more than likely will consist of a couple of wrongful death suits and numerous claims for medical expenses and damages depending on the circumstances. If the automakers are found liable for a mechanical defect in the vehicle, the victims will have a greater chance of recovering the full amounts of the damages and medical expenses that would potentially be awarded since automakers generally have a greater capacity to compensate victims than does your average seventy year-old man.

Source: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_b2eca4b2-108b-11df-9d4a-001cc4c03286.html

At trial, she maintained that these injuries would prevent her from pursuing her profession in the future. She claimed that the club had recklessly disregarded its own safety rules, including limiting dancers to two drinks per night and taking the keys from drunken employees or arranging transportation to escort them safely home, and that such disregard for the rules led to her accident and injuries. The jury agreed with her side of the story and awarded her the six-figure compensatory damage amount.

This story illustrates an important aspect of which plaintiffs in personal injury suits should be aware, which is that establishments who sell, distribute, or otherwise encourage the consumption of alcohol may be held liable for accidents caused by letting drivers leave the premises when they are too intoxicated to drive. It is noteworthy that in this case the club was held liable for the accident despite the club’s policy and procedures designed to prevent drunk employees from driving home, because they failed to actually prevent her from getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. This principle can apply not only in this type of situation but also to a restaurant or other establishment that allows a customer to continue drinking when it is clear he or she has had enough or when a business allows a customer to leave in his or her vehicle despite the fact that the business knows the customer is intoxicated. This principle is even more significant in Tennessee, because Tennessee is a contributory negligence state, which would allow the restaurant or business to be held liable for the portion of the damages that stems from its own negligence, no matter how great or small that may be.

Source: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/02/former_stripper_gets_100000_in.html

Previous blog articles have shown that DUI is a very common source of negligence that causes roadway accidents and imposes liability upon the driver at fault for the damages sustained by victims of the accident. Although huffing is a less common method of ingesting an intoxicant than is drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana, it still comprises the use of an intoxicant and can lead to driving under the influence.

The survey asked the drivers to rate how well they could drive in a number of different driving conditions, including adverse weather and heavy traffic. It also asked the drivers to indicate how they matched up against other drivers that were the same age, younger, older, or the opposite gender. The results were not terribly surprising, with young men being the most confident in their driving abilities and, as mentioned previously, everyone rating their own driving prowess at least above-average.

The most obvious safe-driving tip in snowy and icy conditions is to drive at a reduced rate of speed. Driving too fast in adverse conditions is a recipe for disaster, and in conditions such as those expected over the weekend, driving at the posted speed limit is often far too fast for the road conditions and can be considered negligent driving. Driving too fast also puts the driver at the risk of having to come to a sudden stop or slam on the brakes. Such maneuvers are unadvisable in wintry conditions, and can cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Another overlooked but important concern is making sure that all of the windows and mirrors are free from ice and snow before driving. Snow can obviously obstruct one’s vision, which may lead to an auto accident if the obstruction is not fixed quickly.

The press release notes that drivers who text while driving take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, meaning that at a speed of 55 miles per hour they travel more than the length of a football field without looking at the road. The press release also notes that more regulations are likely forthcoming in this area.

The unfortunate truth is that making one poor decision in an automobile can affect an untold number of lives. As the incident above will show, the decision to drink and drive endangers the lives of everyone else on the roadway. In situations like this, where the victims have suffered serious injuries that require multiple operations, the medical expenses alone can reach the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Accidents caused by the negligence of the automobile manufacturer typically fall into the realm of product liability suits. These suits basically seek to impose liability on the manufacturer of the vehicle for negligently designing or manufacturing a product or part of a product which was responsible for causing injury to one or more victims.

Failure to yield is increasingly becoming a problem as drivers get busier and more distracted every day. This blog has discussed the causes and effects of distracted driving, which may be a major factor in why drivers are unaware of pedestrians. After all, it is hard to notice that a human being is in the road in front of you if you aren’t actually looking at the road. This phenomenon has increased in scope and potential effect since the advent of text messaging, which causes many drivers to completely divert their attention away from the road in front of them, even if only for a second, to immediately answer such pressing questions as “Wut r u doin 2day?.” Another potential reason for the failure to yield violations may simply be that the drivers are driving too fast to stop for the pedestrians, whether it be because they are in a hurry or because they do not care about the presence of pedestrians.

Perhaps most notable about the story is how extremely lucky the man was that day. It is not every day one can manage to get randomly shot, be involved in a head-on collision, and be charged with DWI. Most notable from a personal injury standpoint, however, is that the man committed three different forms of negligent (and potentially reckless) driving that could potentially subject him to liability for the collision. The most obvious forms would probably be a toss-up between DWI and driving on the wrong side of the street. DWI has been discussed at length in our personal injury blog, and such conduct is automatically considered negligent in Tennessee and has the potential to be considered reckless and warrant the imposition of punitive damages. Victims of DWI-related accidents in Tennessee may thus be able to recover a substantial amount from the party or parties at fault, far in excess of the actual medical expenses. Driving on the wrong side of the street is also negligent, as reasonable drivers are generally aware of the correct side of the street on which to drive and do not continue to drive down a street where dozens of other cars are coming at them head-on. However, such driving does occur and has a tendency to result in the offending party being held liable for the expenses and damages caused by that decision.

There is something especially terrifying about being surprised by an unexpected noise, occurrence, or living creature. The reactions to such scary surprises are often spontaneous and uncontrollable and can lead the terrified victims of such surprises to act in an irrational manner. Such was the case with a twenty-eight year-old man in California whose terror recently caused him to drive through a guardrail and into a creek after being ambushed by the unexpected activation of his hands-free communications device. Luckily for the man, he is an armed security officer at a California casino and was able to use his gun to shoot out the windows of his SUV and escape the situation unharmed although his pride may have suffered fatal injury.