Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

A 38 year old driver from Fort Worth died this morning when his pickup rolled over in Arlington on I-20 near highway 287. The Arlington Police spokesman said he was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown from the truck. He was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital where he died. A passenger was also taken to JPS where he was treated for minor injuries.

This unfortunate wreck highlights the danger of driving without a seatbelt. Airbags do indeed help in certain collisions, but they do nothing for rollover accidents. Who knows, if the driver had been using his seatbelt, he might have been treated for minor injuries.

For questions regarding injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision, feel free to contact Fort Worth Injury Attorney Mark Anderson online or by calling 817-294-1900

Ice on a bridge may have been the cause of a tragic accident this morning as two people died when a truck and a sport utility vehicle collided on Highway 287 at Lonestar in Mansfield, Texas. Both of the fatalities were passengers of the SUV. There were three other passengers of the SUV who were transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. The accident is still under investigation.

As we all know, icy roads and especially bridges are very dangerous and hard to navigate. It is sometimes even tougher when there is not ice or snow all around, as the ice on the bridge is not expected. I did not encounter any ice today and it was not even on my mind to be careful. After getting to work, I noticed where the news were reporting about all of the iced over bridges. This tragic accident is just one more reminder.

If you have questions about an automobile accident, feel free to contact Tarrant County Injury Attorney Mark A. Anderson online or call him at 817-294-1900.

A 44-year-old woman was killed early this morning on Highway 175 and Malloy Bridge Road in Seagoville, Texas when her car flipped and ejected her. She died at the scene. Fortunately, the passengers in the car accident—the woman's daughter and two grandchildren, ages 6 and 2, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries and are expected to be released later today.

A Dallas County Sheriff's spokeswoman said that water from nearby sprinklers may have been the cause for the slick road, which in turn caused the rollover, resulting in death.

So that raises the question of whether or not it is negligent to allow your sprinklers to hit the road when it's below freezing. In my opinion, I don't think you should be running your sprinklers in the winter when temperatures might drop below 32 degrees. But what's potentially negligent is allowing water to fall onto the road. It is my understanding that most cities have ordinances which prevent excess water on the streets. If that's true, then there is definitely a possibility that someone was negligent in breaking a city ordinance which, not only resulted in an injury to a child, but also in the wrongful death of an innocent person.

If you have questions regarding an injury claim, feel free to contact Fort Worth Injury Attorney Mark A. Anderson online, or by calling 817-294-1900.

Yesterday during the morning rush hour, local news stations were reporting over 200 car accidents which were all causing problems around the DFW Metroplex at the same time. Luckily for me, I don't have to take an interstate or major highway to get to work, but hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the weather-related wrecks.

Most Texans, including myself, don't really know how to drive when the roads get icy or snow packs the ground. But with the always unpredictable and ever-changing climate, it seems to me all of us should jump on the bandwagon and learn how to safely maneuver slick roads and poor weather conditions while driving.

On the Fort Worth National Weather Service Forecast Web site, every major snow or ice storm has been documented, amazingly since as far back as 1879. Not only is the site helpful for forecasting inclement weather and offering predictions for the upcoming winter's climate, but it also gives information on bad weather awareness and how to prepare for when it strikes North Texas.

While searching through the site, I couldn't help but notice a pattern amongst all the major storms. It seems that every year as far back as anyone can remember, North Texas has experienced a snowfall or poor weather event about twice a winter season. Each winter we have experienced a storm once between late November and December and then another one in either January or February. The record shows at least two storms a year for the last 50 years, so why aren't we prepared when bad weather hits?

I'm not saying we all need to go out and buy chains to put on our tires, but we could learn not to follow too closely and to pump our brakes instead of slam on them if we need to stop on ice. And maybe stay off the roads completely unless it's absolutely necessary to go somewhere (as all meteorologists tell us).

If you are injured as the result of someone else's negligence (ice or not), then please call Fort Worth Injury Attorney Mark A. Anderson at 817-294-1900 for a free consultation.

Yesterday, Senator Grassley issues a letter to Wyeth, the large pharmaceutical company, requesting information on its role in ghostwriting articles later published in medical journals supporting the safety of one of its drugs. One of the articles in issue was published in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and supported the safety of the best selling drug Prempro. Through litigation, Plaintiffs' lawyers had discovered the trail of the long suspected ghostwriting theory. What they had found were documents which showed that Wyeth came up with the ideas for the medical articles, drafted outlines (even came up with the titles), recruited authors, picked the eventual publications to use---all without ever disclosing to the public that they had a role in the articles.

Sure does make you wonder about the accuracy of the articles. Clearly the drug companies want favorable articles published so they can sell their drugs. The worst part is the articles are relied on by the prescribing doctors in making their decisions.

I wrote a few months ago about the “seeding” or marketing studies done by Merck with regards to Vioxx. Yesterday's news is just another example of what can happen when companies put profits first above safety. Stay tuned as for the result of this Congressional inquiry.

If you have a question regarding a dangerous prescription drug, please call Fort Worth, Texas Injury Attorney Mark A. Anderson. His firm is currently accepting cases regarding Heparin, Avandia and Chantix and reviewing the safety of other prescription drugs. Please call the Firm at 817-294-1900 or Contact Mark A. Anderson Online.

This morning in Carrollton, Texas, an elementary school crossing guard was hit by a passing car. The car accident happened around 8 a.m. at L.F. Blanton Elementary School on Scott Mill Road. Since it happened just three hours ago, no more information has been released on the people involved or their injuries.

I recently just settled a pedestrian injury case exactly like this. My client in that case was working as a crossing guard at a local Fort Worth, Texas elementary school. It was a cold morning and there was a small layer of ice on the windshields of the cars. Unfortunately, one idiot didn't take time to scrape the ice off his windshield and chose to drive with an obscured view. He didn't see my client and ran him over. We were able to obtain the full insurance policy limits for my client on that case.

Injuries happen every day in Fort Worth and many people don't immediately think to make personal injury claims on pedestrian accidents or other types of accidents that are not car wrecks, truck accidents or accidents that are work-related like oil field injuries, for example. Sometimes in automobile wrecks or truck accidents, a “he said, she said” debate arises over who was at fault—especially if there is no police report to show who was at fault. But the truth is, accidents like a crossing guard struck by a car make the most compelling cases. A man or woman helping children cross the street at a school is just doing his or her job in a school zone where the speed limit is only 20 miles per hour. There is no disputed liability if they are hit by a car. The driver of the car is clearly at fault.

If you or someone you know has suffered personal bodily injuries as the result of someone else's negligence, even in the strangest of ways—car accident, pedestrian accident, ATV accident or other type of accident which may not even be classified, please call me to discuss your rights at 817-294-1900 or feel free to Contact Mark Anderson Online.

Remember when I wrote about the helicopter that crashed into the roof of a residential home in Wisconsin while a family slept inside? Well a similar thing happened yesterday in San Diego, California and unfortunately, some residents were just as unlucky.

Several people were injured and three people were killed when a military jet crashed into a home in a residential area of San Diego and at least two homes burnt to the ground. Twenty more homes were evacuated Monday due to the dangerous fumes the explosion emitted. The aircraft was a F/A-18D Hornet fighter jet and it crashed into the University City neighborhood which sits just about two miles from the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Early accident investigations have not revealed the cause of the crash but apparently, jets like this one have been recently grounded by the military for repair. The pilot ejected safely before the crash and did not appear to be injured. He was found hanging by his parachute in a tree nearby.

The three people who were killed included a baby, its mother and a grandmother—all of which were in the house the jet crashed into.

Yesterday, when I wrote about a girl killed in a Beaumont, Texas parade over the weekend, I mentioned that the viability of a wrongful death claim in that case will depend on the accident investigation. In this case, however, the people in the home who were innocently killed by the jet crash were most definitely wronged. By no fault of their own, an accident took their lives. Their families will most likely make wrongful death claims against the military or the jet manufacturer for the deaths of their loved ones.

If a loved one has been killed wrongfully or personally injured as the result of someone else's negligence, please call me to discuss your rights at 817-294-1900 or Contact Me Online.

Just days after a Cub Scout troop was hit by a reckless driver in an Overton, Texas parade, another freak parade accident over the weekend left a 10-year-old girl dead. The girl was riding in the back of a pickup truck and had been hopping on and off the slow-moving vehicle during the parade. At one point, she was scolded and told not to hop around for safety reasons. Then, in front of the Beaumont, Texas crowd of a couple hundred people, the girl jumped off the truck and hit her head just before a trailer full of children ran her over. The girl was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Ironically, the annual parade was put on to bring the community together in a positive way after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike in September.

As I view each wrongful death and tragic incident I read about through the eyes of an injury lawyer, I always wonder if a claim will be pursued. While I don't know many of the facts of this case except what I have written above, I do not know whether an accident investigation will reveal that anyone, other than the young girl, was responsible for her tragic death. That is what investigations are for. I would look at the reasonableness of the actions of the event organizers and whether the adults on the truck in which the girl was riding took reasonable precautions to prevent her from jumping out. I would also look at the distance between the truck and the trailer vehicle that ran over her to make sure that a safe distance was between the two vehicles. And like I have said before, investigations are key and sometimes unveil surprising results in personal injury cases.

At the Anderson Law Firm, we investigate all of our clients' claims to make sure that all possible evidence is found and used to support each claim. If you have questions regarding a personal injury claim or would like to set up a free consultation with Board Certified Personal Injury Attorney Mark A. Anderson, please call 817-294-1900.

A tragic and bizarre pedestrian-truck accident has spiked my interest. An 82-year-old Troup, Texas man was released on bail from the Rusk County Jail yesterday after he drove his pickup around a barricade and crashed into a Cub Scout troop at a Christmas parade in downtown Overton, Texas Monday night. It's hard to tell whether the man intended to hit the troop or if the Cub Scouts were just collateral damage. Either way, ten children and two women suffered injuries. The injured scouts were 7 to 11 years old and all but two were treated and released.

Unfortunately, two of the kids were not so lucky. One was taken to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas and is in good condition while another child—a 7-year-old boy from New London, Texas, is in serious condition and being treated at Mother Frances Hospital.

The 82-year-old, Charles George, lost his license and has been charged with reckless driving. Overton, Texas is located about two hours southeast of Dallas.

As a parent, I would be outraged if this happened to my child. Maybe some sort of injury to a child charge would be more appropriate. The man should have never driven around a barricade. I sure hope this man had sufficient insurance to cover all the medical bills being incurred by these unfortunate families.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, contact me at 817-294-1900 or Contact Me Online to discuss your rights.

A teenage boy whose name and age are still unknown is at John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS) this morning after he was hit by a truck last night in east Fort Worth, Texas. Witnesses say the boy appeared to be frightened by some dogs being walked on the same sidewalk he was on and jumped in to the street to avoid them. That's when a passing truck struck the boy and stopped to help him.

The teen had no form of identification on him but was rushed to JPS with critical injuries. As of this morning, the only clue in his identification is that he may attend Eastern Hills High School. An update on his condition cannot be made without knowing his name.

The accident occurred on Meadowbrook Drive just after sunset.

If you or a loved one has suffered personal injuries from a pedestrian, truck, car or other vehicle-related accident, contact Attorney Mark A. Anderson at 817-294-1900 to learn your rights.

New information has been released regarding the investigation of a Euless, Texas woman who injured eight teenagers in a car accident back on October 25th. I wrote about this accident when it happened—the lady was the mother of twin daughters who were out at the movies with six of their friends. At 10 p.m., the woman was called to go pick the teens up in her 2002 Trailblazer. On the way home she hit a curb and flipped the vehicle several times. All of the kids were taken to hospitals in nearby Irving and Grapevine and luckily none of them suffered life-threatening injuries. On a subsequent blog, I wrote that evidence was released revealing that the woman's blood-alcohol level was .13, which is .05 over the legal limit.

After having been arrested Nov. 6, the woman has since posted $20,000 bail but is being indicted on charges of driving while intoxicated (DWI) with a child, endangering a child and injury to a child. DWI with a child carries a larger penalty than a normal DWI.

A new article out today gives more detail on what happened, including witness accounts. Apparently, the woman told the kids she only had three beers and when the accident occurred, she said she swerved so as not to hit a dog. However, witnesses told police it was a parked car she swerved to miss just before hitting the curb and flipping. Also, a trailblazer has at most, 5 to 8 seats. The woman, plus the eight kids makes nine people riding in that car and none of the kids in the back seat were wearing seatbelts when the car flipped several times.

Apparently, during the drive home, the woman drove up to 95 miles per hour on an interstate.

Reports also allege that the woman asked her daughter to lie to police as well as the passengers and their parents about her drinking and driving. The sad thing about it is that the group of teens had gone to the movies to celebrate the twin daughters' 15th birthday.

From a legal perspective, this case presents many issues. Clearly, the mother was negligent in driving while intoxicated. Did she have liability insurance? If so, does she have enough insurance to cover all of the teenagers' personal injuries? In an injury case, the parents of the teenagers can recover for the medical bills and pain and suffering of their children. If the total amount of all those claims exceeds the limits of the mother's policy, then each person must take a reduced settlement. The parents could then look to their own insurance policies, and if they had underinsured motorists coverage, that could help recover compensation for their children's injuries.

When an accident occurs, there are many different ways to make a claim. If you were injured in an accident and would like to find out more about your rights, please call me at 817-294-1900 or feel free to Contact Me Online.

Photo courtesy of www.star-telegram.com