Personal Injury Lawyers in Tennessee
Road Rage and Car Accidents
On March 26th, 2010, the news website wkrn.com posted a disturbing tale of road rage. Mark Duren, a resident of Nashville, was driving with his ten-year old daughter, sporting a bumper sticker in support of Barack Obama. Another driver, Harry Weisiger, who disagreed with the political implications of the sticker, made an obscene gesture at Duren, honked his horn, and rammed into the back of the Duren car. When Duren got out of his vehicle to inspect the damage, Weisigner began pushing his SUV against the car. He is charged with felony reckless endangerment. Read more
Reporting Medical Malpractice Cases in Tennessee
A recent statement by the Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) illustrates important changes regarding medical reporting that took effect on April 9th, 2009. Known as Public Chapter 48, this is a TMA-initiated act involving medical malpractice by a physician where judgments or settlements total seventy-five thousand dollars or more. The act requires the Department of Health (DOH) to accept information on such judgments or settlements from the insurance carrier of the provider within thirty days of the final payment. The information must be accepted before the profile of the physician can be updated by the DOH. The responsibility to assure that the profile is updated in an accurate and timely matter still remains with the physician. Read more
More Truck Drivers Using Safety Belts
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), more commercial truck and bus drivers were found to be using their safety belts in 2009 than in previous years. The report estimates that seventy-four percent of commercial truck and bus drivers are now using safety belts, as opposed to sixty-five percent of drivers who were taking the same safety precaution in 2007. Read more
Ban on Texting for Commercial Truck Drivers
A rule was recently proposed by United States Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that would prohibit texting by interstate commercial truck and bus drivers. According to a press release by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the proposed rule would permanently implement an already-existing interim ban on texting that is currently being applied under existing safety rules. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that there were nearly six thousand fatalities in the United States in 2008 due to crashes involving a distracted driver, as well as over half a million injuries. Read more
Trucking Safety: Electronic On-Board Recorders for Hours-of-Service Violations
There is good news for all those concerned with making the trucking industry safer. According to a press release from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (part of the United States Department of Transportation), an important regulation affecting interstate commercial truck and bus companies goes into effect June 1st, 2012. This regulation will require that those agencies having significant patterns of hours-of-service (HOS) violations must install electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) in their vehicles. Read more
I40 Tractor Trailer Accidents: Necessities of Early Investigation
The Cumberland Plateau is 1,000 to 2,000 feet higher in elevation than Nashville or Knoxville. For this reason, as a result of weather conditions, the roads tend to ice quicker, have more snow and are extremely hazardous during the winter months. As a result of these conditions, there are many tractor-trailer accidents where the operator of the tractor-trailer simply does not have his vehicle under proper control. Read more.
Commercial Truck Drivers Need Retesting
The Associated Press reports that the State of Tennessee is notifying more than 1,000 commercial truck drivers licensed in Tennessee that they must be retested on their driving skills. The testing is required because the drivers were not tested and graded by an unnamed consulting company under contract with the Tennessee Department of Safety. The company’s failure to administer the tests, and the truck drivers’ failure to take the tests, are violations of state and federal trucking regulations. Read more.
FDA Reports Company Knowingly Shipped Tainted Peanut Products
The Washington Post and other major papers report that Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipped peanut butter and other products contaminated with salmonella at least 12 times in 2007 and 2008. The company's Blakely, Georgia plant produces peanut butter, paste, and meal used in products such as ice cream, snack crackers and even dog biscuits. The strain of bacteria appearing most often in the Peanut Corporation of America foods is salmonella enterica, but other strains may exist in the products. The outbreak of salmonella illness which began last summer has been linked to eight deaths, and approximately 500 people in 43 states have become ill. About 22 percent were hospitalized, and about half of those affected are children. Read more.
$2 Million Verdict for Wrongful Death of Tractor-Trailer Truck Driver
Gilreath & Associates, together with Sevierville-based attorney Charmaine Nichols and lead counsel Bo Bruner with the Alabama firm of Lanny Vines & Associates, obtained a $2 million jury verdict for the wrongful death of truck driver Reginald Smith. After a five day trial, the Knoxville, Knox County jury returned their verdict on January 21, 2009, against defendants Blalock Construction Company and the State of Tennessee. Read more.
Gilreath & Associates Investigates TVA Toxic Ash Spill and Property Owner Claims
The Tennessee law firm of Gilreath & Associates, which has significant experience in regional environmental and toxic tort litigation, is currently investigating potential claims of property owners affected by the December 22, 2008, toxic coal ash spill at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant. Gilreath & Associates will be carefully reviewing potential claims in conjunction with one or more national environmental law firms including the firm of Beasley Allen which is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. Read more.
Many of Tennessee's Nursing Homes Among The Worst in the Nation
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, under its new five star rating system for nursing homes, has awarded 30% percent of Tennessee's nursing homes the worst possible rating in its inaugural five star report. Of the 319 nursing homes evaualted, most were rated below average. The overall findings confirm what nursing home patients, patient families, consumer advocates and consumer attorneys have known and decried for years: Tennessee nursing homes need significant improvement in the areas of quality of care, staffing, health inspections and facility safety. These changes are needed to improve the quality of life for nursing home patients and to prevent injury to or untimely deaths of nursing home patients. Read more.
