Bakersfield and LA Traffic Safety Study Los Angeles News Update

A new study, however, indicates that teenage girls are engaging in risky driving habits. Young women, in fact, were around twice as likely as young men to use electronic devices while driving, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The study also determined that females were 10 percent more likely to be observed engaging in other distracted driver behaviors, such as reaching for an object in the vehicle or eating or drinking.

Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Mickey Fine, of the Law Offices of Mickey Fine, (Directions : Law Offices of Mickey Fine has represented seriously injured accident victims. An experienced car accident attorney, Fine has seen first-hand how devastating injuries can be to victims and their families.

Distracted driving has become an epidemic as more people use cell phones and other electronic devices. More than 3,000 highway deaths in 2010 were linked to distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It’s important for parents to talk with their teenagers about the dangers of using cell phones while driving or texting while driving.

Another study looking at gender and car accidents revealed that the number of young female drunk drivers is on the rise. In 2007, the risk of being involved in a drunk driving car accident was about the same for young female drinkers as it was for young male drinkers, according to the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. In 1996, a male under 21 was four times as likely as an underage female to get into a fatal drunk driving car accident with a blood alcohol concentration of .1 percent, according to the study.

It’s not entirely clear why more young women are getting into drunk driving accidents, but they may be taking more chances on the road than they had in the past, according to researchers.

While teenagers may cause accidents due to their inexperience as drivers or because they have engaged in risky behavior behind the wheel, some young people can become injury victims through no fault of their own. If you were injured, or a loved one was injured or killed due to someone’s negligence, it’s important to speak with an experienced attorney who can protect your rights.

Funny-Springfield police arrest 41-year-old Eric Northrop after he allegedly used sledgehammer to break down ex-girlfriends door 1217

SPRINGFIELD Mass Live – A 41-year-old city man, who apparently named the sledgehammer that he uses for work after a prominent personal injury lawyer, allegedly used it to break down the door of an ex-girlfriend’s Windsor Street home early Wednesday and threaten her, police said.

The woman and another occupant of the home escaped injury after they barricaded a hallway door with a refrigerator, Sgt. John M. Delaney said.

The incident began about 1:40 a.m. when the suspect, Eric Turhan Northrop, approached the woman’s home and threatened to use the sledgehammer which he referred to as ” Mark E. Salomone” to break down the door if she didn’t let him in, Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said. Salomone is a well-known Massachusetts lawyer who airs commercials on television.

Delaney, quoting from the arresting officer’s report, said that Northrop “broke through the front door wildly swinging Mark E. Salomone'” and yelled “I am going to get medieval on you like Thor.” A

Responding police officers found the sledgehammer on a table inside the home and arrested Northrop, of 40 Windsor St.

He was charged with home invasion, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, threat to commit a crime and assault with a dangerous weapon, police documents state.

NC News Groups Support Proposed Legislation to Overhaul System Used to Review Workers Compensation Settlements for Medicare

The American Insurance Association and the Coalition for Medicare Secondary Payer reform both announced their support for the Medicare Secondary Payer and Workers’ Compensation Settlement Agreements Act of 2012, introduced last week by Representatives Dave Reichart (R-Wa.) and Mike Thompson (D-Ca.).

The legislation is aimed at resolving the delays in the review of workers’ compensation set-asides for Medicare.

A Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (MSA) is an account that is created when a workers’ compensation case is settled to protect Medicare from paying for expenses that are related to the worker’s injuries. Therefore, if a worker has to receive surgery, the MSA would be used to pay for it, rather than Medicare benefits.

“(The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) takes too long to review proposed set-asides, fails to provide appropriate and consistent standards for determining amounts to be set aside, and provides no avenue to appeal CMS determinations,” Douglas Holmes, the coordinator of the Coalition for Medicare Secondary Payer Reform, said in a press release. “The process results in injured workers not receiving funds, additional costs for states and workers’ compensation payers, and additional liability for employers, insurance carriers, and attorneys. A legislative solution to this problem is needed.”

The coalition, which includes representatives for injured workers and insurance carriers, has been pushing for reform of this system for some time, and the Government Accountability Office released a report in March that included recommendations for improving these processes.

“In case after case, we hear of delays in approval, uncertainty of the amount to be reimbursed by injured workers, and changes in amounts to be set-aside after settlements have already been approved,” J.R. Boyd, the president of the Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group, said in a press release.

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LawWireNew Dozens of Teen Worker Fatalities Thousands of Youth Job Injuries Annually Says Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyer Mark E Salomone

A new study examining the safety of young workers in the United States has yielded startling findings, says Massachusetts personal injury attorney Mark E. Salomone . According to statistics that appeared in HealthDay News, researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health found that approximately 20,000 teen job-related injuries occurred in 2010, including 88 teen deaths due to workplace injuries at privately owned companies. Most businesses with three or more employees carry Worker’s Compensation coverage, which applies to young employees as well as adults.
Teen worker injuries and fatalities can be the due to a number of factors, including dangerous work environments, defective work equipment or poor training. Teenager job injuries have many causes, from construction site accidents and company car accidents to repetitive stress carpal tunnel pain and restaurant worker kitchen burns .
The study found that, out of all the types of work young people are hired to do, farming is the most hazardous. “From a fatality standpoint, farm work is the most dangerous occupation for kids,” said study author Carol Runyan in an University of Colorado news release. “In farm work, youths are working around heavy equipment, digging and cutting with sharp implements. There are deaths almost every year from young people suffocating in grain bins.”
Massachusetts personal injury attorney Mark E. Salomone understands that young workers are typically more vulnerable than adults, across all industries, and that it is vital for teen employees and their families to explore not only Workers’ Compensation rights but other damages they may be able to recover. “Even if your family receives the maximum amount of teen Workers’ compensation benefits,” says Salomone, “it may not be enough to cover all the expenses incurred as a result of your child’s injury. A third party-such as a manufacturer, contractor or someone else whose actions may have been careless-could also be liable for a young worker’s injuries.”
Child labor laws exist across the nation, though in some companies they are not fully implemented or may go unheeded altogether. “We don’t tend to think of child labor as a major issue in the U.S., but we should,” says Runyan. “Laws governing the employment of youth ages 14 to 17 in this country are often very lenient and, in the case of family farms, virtually non-existent.”

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Texas Car Crash Victims Who Develop RSD or Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Have Chronic Pain

Not all injuries are visible, but sometimes the most devastating conditions are only evident to the sufferer. Traumatic brain injury http://www.glennlawfirm.com/personal-injury/brain-and-head-injury-information-attorney-texas, spinal cord injury, broken bones, internal organ injuries-they are all felt by the person suffering, but with little external evidence to others of any extreme pain within. One such injury is a lesser known yet often excruciating condition that goes by two names: complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). It can be the result of motorcycle crashes, semi-truck accidents, car wrecks, slip and fall accidents and workplace injuries, and yet can be a challenge to diagnose.

Accident injury CRPS can be a debilitating condition that impacts its victims’ ability to return to work and to enjoy the quality of life they may have had prior to the accident that caused it. A neurological disorder, CRPS or RSD can affect the skin, muscles, joints and bones, and may begin after an accident in which the victim has an injured leg or arm, such as a motorcycle accident in which the rider sustains a broken leg.

Texas personal injury lawyer http://www.glennlawfirm.com David Glenn, of Glenn Law Firm, understands how devastating a CRPS diagnosis can be, both for victims and their loved ones. “CRPS is a chronic, incurable pain condition,” he explains, “in which high levels of nerve impulses are sent to an affected site. Experts believe that CRPS occurs as a result of dysfunction in the central or peripheral nervous systems and is most common in people aged 20-35. The syndrome also can occur in children and affects women more often than men.”

One of the greatest challenges of CRPS is that it is very difficult condition to prove in car accident lawsuits http://www.glennlawfirm.com/auto-accidents/car-accident-injury-attorney-texas-lawsuit, slip and fall lawsuits or workplace injury lawsuits. CRPS and RSD lawsuit plaintiffs need aggressive, reliable and knowledgeable legal representation, as that gives CRPS sufferers a much stronger chance of recovering damages. Insurance adjusters may challenge the diagnosis, questioning patients who try to collect compensation. It is important, therefore, for CRPS patients to talk to a trusted, tough CRPS injury attorney as soon after the condition begins as possible.

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News New Safety Testing Reveals Women and Children May Be at Greater Risk of Injury or Death in a Car Accident

Women often spend a lot of time driving their children to and from school, extracurricular activities like sports, and family activities.

Because they spend so much time on the road with such precious cargo, women often choose vehicles based on their safety rating and other perceived safety features. Yet new vehicle ratings reveal that safety information had been skewed for men, and that women and children may actually be at greater risk of serious injury from car accidents than previously thought.

Starting with 2011 models, the federal government began using a smaller “female” crash-test dummy for some safety tests, instead of the standard, average-sized “male” dummy. The result has been a lower safety rating for many vehicles – as much as two stars – to reflect the increased risk of serious injury for smaller passengers, such as women and children.

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Don’t Be a Hero on the Job: Report Workplace Injury to Your West Virginia Boss Immediately

It can be hard to admit when you’ve been injured at work, particularly if it’s a slow-developing injury or one that’s not too common. Injuries that are clearly very serious-such as a spinal cord injury or fall from a ladder broken back on a construction site job, brain injury from a company car accident or a bad burn from a restaurant job or working with toxic chemicals-are usually attended to immediately, often requiring an ambulance and sometimes hospitalization.

At Recht Law Offices, the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia workers compensation lawyers know it’s all too easy for loyal, hard-working employees to be stoic and not complain about pain, especially when it’s from gradually worsening type of injury. These injuries can be equally debilitating and are often musculoskeletal, requiring longer rehabilitation than more immediately severe injuries, and can mean months of physical therapy or occupational therapy for full recovery.
If you or someone you love was injured at work, or if you lost a loved one, in a wrongful death job accident, you need the aggressive legal representation of Ohio, Pennsylvania or West Virginia personal injury lawyer Recht Law Office. We fight for justice. Call Recht Law Offices at 1-800-HURTLINE or complete the online contact form.

Such injuries include common hospital worker injuries such as muscle strains from heavy lifting, repetitive stress injury and carpal tunnel syndrome, which are well-known office job and assembly-line injuries, and knee injuries from going up and down stairs and ladders, which is a frequent construction worker injury.

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News Texas Dangerous Drugs That Are Generic Make Malpractice Lawsuit Unlikely to Succeed San Antonio

When generic drugs first became available in the 1980s, patients everywhere celebrated due to the drastically lower prices. What consumers didn’t know was that, in choosing generic drugs over brand name versions, they were giving up their right to receive damages should they suffer from injuries due to ingesting generic drugs.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, while patients who became ill after taking brand name dangerous drugs can win a malpractice lawsuit, those who take generic drugs cannot. The reason goes back to a Supreme Court decision which stated that, since generic drugs do not have control over what is listed on their labels, they cannot be sued for medical malpractice. Even cases involving drugs that necessitated amputations due to gangrene and major surgeries to address debilitating gastrointestinal problems, the prescription injury victims who were given generic forms of the drug had their cases dismissed.

San Antonio lawyers at The Herrera Law Firm, Inc. know that some Texas medical malpractice cases involve generic drugs and are working hard to fight for the rights of their dangerous drug lawsuit clients.

In the article, the significant inequity of patients filing medical malpractice lawsuits is evident. “Your pharmacists aren’t telling you, hey, when we fill this with your generic, you are giving up all of your legal remedies,” said Michael Johnson, a lawyer who represented Gladys Mensing, one of the patients who sued generic drug companies in last year’s Supreme Court case, Pliva v. Mensing. “You have a disparate impact between one class of people and another.”

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Video Frank Herrera Attorneys At Law The Herrera Law firm

Categories- Personal Injury Attorneys, Medical Malpractice, Car Accident Lawyer

Herrera Law Firm
111 Soledad Street, San Antonio, TX 78205
(210) 224-1054 ? http://www.herreralaw.com

Legal Feed W Va Woman Fights to Collect $10 Million from Debt Collectors – C

Source : ABC News

It is illegal for debt collectors to make empty threats about serving people with a lawsuit or seizing their home. And it was especially galling to Mey, who says she is debt-free.

“They threatened to take legal action against our property and it wasn’t even our debt,” Mey said.

Millions of Americans are victims of this kind of mistaken debtor identity, partly because of a new breed of collectors called “debt buyers.” They purchase old debts for pennies that the original creditors have given up on and then try to collect them for a big profit. Critics say debt buyers sometimes use outrageous tactics to get the money where others have failed. RFA is a debt buyer.
See: Bankruptcy Lawyer NC

Mey said she immediately called 911 to report that someone had threatened to sexually assault her. She says she was terrified because she believed the call was from a local number. Mey said she then bolted the door and got her husband’s gun out of the dresser and hung it on the bedpost in her bedroom.

When “Nightline” went to RFA’s Orange County, Calif., office to ask about the case, it was abandoned. RFA is actually a fictitious business name for a company called Global AG, LLC. Records show it is just one of several collection companies run by the same people that often change names and move. “Nightline” also visited other offices registered to people named in Mey’s suit, but employees refused to talk and asked us to leave.

RFA’s lawyer later told “Nightline” that RFA made the first collection call to Mey, but denies making the second, obscene call. He said he was speaking on behalf of company principals Thai Han, Jim Phelps and Stewart Phillips.

“My clients say it is not their policy to engage in conduct that violates the law,” he said. He characterized the $10 million judgment as “unfair.”

As for Diana Mey, she says she knows she may never be able to collect the money, but that her lawsuit still serves a purpose.

“I hope that it sends a message to other debt collectors out there that you have to follow the law,” she said. “Because if you don’t, there are going to be people out there that are going to stand up against you.”