Oklahoma Injury Lawyer Blog

The Cars Blog on ConsumerReports.org has an excellent video and article on How to stop a runaway car: Don't pump the brakes.

The video, with Jake Fisher driving a Toyota Venza and a Volkswagen Jetta, simulates what happens when a car has sudden runaway acceleration. Mr. Fisher mentions some "do's and don'ts":

Don't:
1) Don't pump your brakes. This will cause your power brakes to go out.
2) Don't try to turn off your car. You risk locking up your steering wheel.

Do:
1) Put your foot on the brake hard, and continue pressing it.
2) Put your car in neutral
3) Once stopped, turn off your car.

Mr. Fisher also recommends first trying the braking procedure in an empty parking lot or other safe location. The Volkswagen Jetta is interesting because it can actually override the gas pedal.

Here's the video:

Today's Oklahoman has some startling statistics:

Nearly one in four (24 percent) Oklahoma motorists drove without insurance during the period of 2005 to 2007, the council's study estimated. Only three states had worse rates: New Mexico (29 percent), Mississippi (28 percent), and Alabama (26 percent).

The article mentions that our state's current percentage of uninsured drivers may be even higher.

So what can you do to protect yourself against a deadbeat driver? Make sure you have uninsured motorists on your car insurance policy.

"My back was killing me for over 3 months. Why isn't my case worth more?"

I had a client recently ask this. For simplicity's sake, I'll call him Bob. Bob was rear ended last year and was rushed to the hospital immediately after a car accident.

The seat he was in snapped back and Bob thought that he had been knocked out. His neck and back were both hurting quite a bit. The emergency room ran up a pretty good bill because they did a CT scan (Bob thought he had a concussion and was dazed; "So, they scanned my cat.").

Bob checked out of the ER with soft tissue injuries, some prescriptions for a muscle relaxer, and some pain medicine. He was also instructed to go to a follow up doctor if he was still having neck and back pain.

After missing work for a few days, Bob decided he could "tough it out," and went back to work. This is great, but his neck and back still gave him trouble. He was in a lot of pain at work and around the house. Two months later, Bob's back is still bothering him. He's tough though, so he doesn't bother to go to a doctor.

Bob called me about six months after the accident. His neck and back had finally healed and he was curious as to why the insurance company hadn't called him and offered to settle his personal injury claim.

The case has since settled for a reasonable amount. At the time though, Bob was a little frustrated because he wasn't able to get compensated for any pain and suffering for the 3 months that his back was bothering.

So, moral of the story: Go to a doctor if you are hurt. An insurance company, understandably looks at personal injury victim's medical records for proof of an injury.

Nearly all of the car accident cases we handle are on a "contingency fee" basis. This means that you, the client, do not owe any legal fees up front. We only get paid if we recover a settlement or damages at trial. Our attorney's fee is contingent on winning something.

The contingency fee is typically a percentage of the total amount awarded. Thus, the higher the settlement or trial verdict, the higher the attorney's fee.

Note that most of the time, all expenses associated with pursing your legal claim are fronted by our firm. If we can't get a settlement or trial verdict in your favor, you still owe us nothing. In that situation, we would have lost both time and the money spent on working the case.

According to 7News (Lawton, OK area), some auto accident insurance companies are now offering additional coverage for your pets:

Auto insurance is needed to protect you from injuries in a car accident, but now injury coverage is being offered for your pets. Not many companies offer the unique coverage, but for those that do, it is pretty inexpensive.

The article states that the additional cost is usually around $10/month and that coverage amounts can range from $500 to $1000 for injuries to the pet.  

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is reminding Oklahomans of our seat belt laws:

"Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a 'no tolerance' policy for seat belt and child restraint violations and we do not issue warnings. Every operator and front seat passenger along with anyone under the age of 13, is required to be in a safety seat belt system," said Captain Chris West, Department of Public Safety spokesperson.

It seems like several times a week I meet with someone that was just in a car accident that owes more on their car than it's worth.  Under Oklahoma law, the person that caused the accident does not have to pay what you owe on the car, but the fair market value of the car (assuming it was totaled).  How can you help protect against this scenario (and be stuck with car payments and no car!)?

Check out GAP Insurance.

Guaranteed Auto Protection (GAP) insurance pays the difference between the actual value of the car and the remaining balance on the loan.  Assuming the premium isn't too high, it's worth considering adding to your policy.

Last week's Oklahoman ran the story, "Against tough odds, Oklahoma seeks uninsured solution."  It details the account of an Oklahoma woman who was injured by an uninsured driver.  She still suffers from the medical bills and scars left from the car accident. The article also includes some startling statistics:

"A study released in January by the Insurance Research Council ranked Oklahoma as the fourth-worst state in the nation for uninsured motorists."

About one in four Oklahoma state drivers don't have insurance.

The article mentions that measures are being discussed to help solve the problem, and that Rep. Faught of Muskogee is introducing a bill to help address this issue.  The bill limits the awards given to uninsured motorists involved in traffic accidents.  The uninsured accident victims would be limited to property and medical loss reimbursements and excluded from pain and suffering damages. 

I doubt this would have any positive influence on uninsured drivers though. 


So what can you do if you are in a car accident with an uninsured motorist (who was at fault)?

Call the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Financial Responsibility Division at 425-2098 and fill out the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle Collision Report.  The DPS can suspend the uninsured's driver's license. 

This is almost always a non-issue.  With I-35 running through our great state, accidents with out-of-staters do happen.

Example:  Someone from Texas rear-ends you here in Oklahoma City.  So, where can you bring a case against someone that doesn't reside in Oklahoma that caused the car accident?

In Oklahoma, "venue" in car accident cases is in the county where any defendant may be served or the accident (damages) occurred.  This means, that in our example, suit could be brought where the accident/injury occurred or where we can get service on the defendant. 

I didn't realize the bullying that goes on with insurance companies until I started handling Oklahoma personal injury cases.  We'll have several people call in to our office each week asking "why is the insurance company refusing to pay anything on my car (or medical treatment) when their insured was the one who caused the accident?" 

The American Association of Justice has a photo along the same lines as the Allstate "good hands" approach: 

I just got off the phone with a current client.  She was hit head on by another driver last week here in Oklahoma City.  Luckily, the impact was not too severe and the injuries are minor.  But, even though her current medical bills are relatively small right now she is still having back trouble. 

She needs to see a doctor but she does not want to miss any work.   Damages related to missed work are generally recoverable in injury cases.  But, day to day, she still needs the income. 

DFW's Star-Telegram reported yesterday that the personal injury law firm, Trey Allen, P.C., was placed on probation and ordered to pay close to a million dollars in restitution for its part in scheming to stage car accidents.  The paper got its information from the U.S. Attorney's office. 

This seems like something that would be dreamed up and reported at The Onion.  Maybe I'm naive, but it just seems astounding that someone would even try to do this.  Hopefully, the Department of Justice will stick the people involved. 

I did a little research on the story.  The USDOJ, back in September, released a more detailed report at their website.  See: Law Firm Admits Role In Staged Accident Scheme.  It doesn't appear the attorneys were actually invovled:

According to the Trey Allen, P.C. factual resume, both legal assistants informed the government that they did not disclose their fraudulent activities to the officers of Trey Allen, P.C. They admitted, however, they had an arrangement with numerous chiropractors in the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) area in which they would refer business to the chiropractors and, in return, the chiropractors would pay the legal assistants a cash kickback out of the settlement proceeds. The cash kickback was 30% - 40% of the amount paid to the coconspirator chiropractors by Trey Allen, P.C., which resulted in inflated medical bills being presented to the insurance companies.

I heard this on NPR today on my way to the office: 

Nearly a million children worldwide die every year as a result of unintentional injuries, and the biggest killer is traffic accidents, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

This is startling.  The nearly 4 minute radio piece also included the top five causes of unintentional injury:

1. Road crashes: 260,000 children a year are killed and 10 million are injured. This is the leading cause of death among 10 to 19 year-olds.

2. Drowning: 175,000 killed a year while up to 3 million children survive each year.  But due to the brain damage invovled in some of the surviviors, nonfatal drowning has the highest average lifetime health and economic impact of any type of injury.
 
3. Burns: Burns kill nearly 96,000 children a year.
  
4. Falls: Nearly 47,000 children die due to falls each year.
  
5. Poisoning: Over 45,000 children die each year from unintended poisoning.

The Oklahoman reported good news on the 21st that traffic fatalities are down for the year.  While this is good news, the article goes on to state that, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, 485 people have died on Oklahoma state roads so far this year. 

This seems to be following an overall trend for the year.  The Insurance Journal posted an AP article back in March fewer people are dying in traffic accidents on Oklahoma roadways this year compared to 2007. 

The Huntsville Times, based in Alabama, also mentions texting while driving and car accidents. 

The article has an interesting statistic:

A 2006 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institution found that 78 percent of accidents occurred when a driver had been distracted in the previous three seconds.