Zachar Law Blog

Can any attorney handle a slip and fall case? Get the facts.

Slip and fall cases can be some of the most complex cases to deal with in regard to personal injury law. 

There are many variables that are involved and insurance companies that need to be dealt with. 

When searching for the right law firm, makes sure the lawyer has experience in handling cases that are similar to yours. Experience truly matters in these types of situations. 

It can truly make all the difference in your case. 

An attorney that is a specialist in personal injury law will be your best option for your slip and fall case. Why? Because it's all they do. 

You wouldn't want your plumber doing your taxes, so why would you want a lawyer who handles divorce law handling your slip and fall case? It doesn't make sense. 

Research will help you when finding the right kind of personal injury law firm for you. 

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Uber has Partnered with Breathometer to Release an App to Prevent Drunk Driving

Uber and The Breathometer App have teamed up to keep drunk drivers off the roads. Will it work?

The Breathometer App will allow users to directly order an Uber directly from the App if the user is potentially drunk or they feel they are over the legal limit.

The free to download works with a Bluetooth breathalyzer that will report the findings back to the App in seconds and determine a user’s BAC (blood alcohol content).  

If a person’s level is too high, they have the ability to take the safe route home and order an Uber vehicle.

Will this work? Will people actually use this? It’s too early to tell, but ANYTHING to get a drunk driver off the road is worth the effort.

We enthusiastically APPLAUD both Uber and Breathometer for their efforts here!!!!!

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How to handle a fender bender accident: Follow these tips.

Fender benders can happen without notice.  Indeed, they happen all of the time, all over the City. 

There are many reasons why fender bender accidents occur: 

Distracted driving, following someone on the road too closely, traveling too fast, inattention, etc….  Even mother nature creates unfavorable conditions that can cause fender benders.

Thankfully, most fender bender accidents are minor and serious injury isn’t always the outcome, but injuries can and do occur in these accidents.   

What happens if you are in a fender bender accident--do you know what to do?

We’ve compiled a few simple tips to follow to keep you calm and to protect your rights.

• Make sure you feel okay. If you don’t, or are not sure, seek medical assistance immediately.  See your PCP, and urgent care or emergency room to get checked out.  Better to be safe than sorry.

• Call the police. A record of what happened is needed and can be useful (and sometimes needed) when dealing with insurance companies down the road.

• Take PICTURES. Scenes of accidents change all the time. Make sure you take pictures with your smartphone if possible. Documenting your car accident can help you down the road.

• Call an experienced car accident attorney. You might think it’s not needed, but it most often is.  Dealing with an insurance company can be very tricky and difficult. 

Remember, having the right attorney can and will make all the difference in your claim. Don’t guess. Get the facts and peace of mind you need.  Even the odds, with experience on your side.

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Legislator fights for Arizona texting law, but hits roadblocks

A Tucson state senator saw a glimmer of hope last week in his nearly decade long quest for a state law to ban text messaging while driving.

Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, clashed with Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, over a text-messaging bill since 2007, when both were in the House.

During those nine years, 44 states have passed bans outlawing texting while driving under all circumstances.

Only Arizona and Montana do not restrict texting for all drivers or for novice drivers. Arizona bans texting only for school-bus drivers.  (REALLY??  We need a law telling them not to text and drive?  That’s scary)

Farley is encouraged this year that the Senate Government Committee passed his bill, albeit a watered-down form. It restricts only the act of sending a text; it does not prohibit a driver from receiving or reading a text.

In making his case, Farley cited the May 2013 death of state Department of Public Safety Officer Tim Huffman, 47, as a tragic example of why a texting-while-driving law is needed. Relatives of Huffman have testified for the bill's passage. 

"I don't want more Tim Huffmans, that's the bottom line," Farley said. "We don't want to give any defense attorney an opportunity to get someone off because we haven't done our job here."

He said truck driver Jorge Espinoza's defense attorney recently used the lack of a texting-while-driving law as part of Espinoza's defense. (This must have been cute:  “Well, there is no law against it, so I guess it was okay.”  

I’ll bet that went over well with the judge and jury)  Espinoza, 36, was charged with second-degree murder in Huffman's death, but jurors found him guilty of the lesser charge of negligent homicide.

The minimum prison sentence for negligent homicide, a non-dangerous Class 4 felony, is one year in prison. For second-degree murder, it's at least 10 years.  Espinoza's sentencing is scheduled for March 4.

If Farley's bill were to pass, she said, it would become "Uncle Tim's law."

After failing to ban text messaging so many other times, Farley acknowledged the likelihood of getting a text-messaging bill passed is not high, but he finds solace in the thought that media coverage about his quest and the dangers of texting while driving might convince some drivers to put down their smartphones and focus on the road. 

The Arizona Republic, Azcentral.com and five television stations covered the Senate Government Committee hearing. But as of Monday, two committees that would need to pass the bill this week for it to reach the full Senate did not have it on their agendas.  "I still hold out hope, but I know Andy Biggs is a hard man to budge.

He has blocked it every time," Farley said. "When we make that decision to take that electronic device in our hands and do something else than drive, we are creating the possibility that we all could be murderers."

Biggs declined to be interviewed for this story, but he released a statement. He said he has not changed his long-held position that a law banning texting while driving is unnecessary, and that generic traffic laws that can be applied to many different forms of poor driving are more effective.

OK: NEWS FLASH:  ANDY BIGGS IS A MORON.  HE CLEARLY HAS ZERO GRASP ON WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE ARIZONA ROADWAYS OR LAW ENFORCEMENT’S PRACTICE IN INVESTIGATING AND CITING RESPONSIBLE DRIVERS FOR THESE ACCIDENTS.

"There are many laws on the books that are designed to punish poor driving. Each of those laws deters a person who is texting while driving," Biggs said in the statement. "It may seem counterintuitive, but laws specifically prohibiting texting while driving have little effect. (YEP.  CLEARLY A MORON)  Such laws are virtually unenforceable. (EVEN MORE MORONIC)  It is the other driving laws that allow the police to pull a driver over while texting."  (REALLY? WHICH ONES???)

In a videotaped Senate floor debate with Farley in April 2013, Biggs picked up four volumes of Arizona traffic laws to demonstrate his point. The Senate defeated Farley's amendment on a 15-12 vote that year.

"I resent the implication that by opposition to this bill, someone says I am OK with texting while driving. What a false, false, contentious argument," Biggs said in the statement. "If you weave in your own lane, an officer can pull you over for texting while driving. Whether it's texting while driving, whether it's fatigue, an officer can pull you over." 

But Kavanagh, a retired police officer, said during last week's committee hearing that he believes a specific law would be a deterrent as well as help educate people about the dangers of texting behind the wheel.

He is also concerned about forcing officers to "bend the law" by citing drivers for texting under the "speed not reasonable and prudent" law.  (I AGREE WITH THIS 100%)

"One of the purposes of the penal code is to give people fair warning of what is not acceptable," Kavanagh said. "I think we want to send a message that texting while driving is dangerous and kills people and maims people."

During the first 8¹/₂ months of 2014, DPS officers made 309,654 traffic stops, with 19,800 related to distracted-driving behavior, according to a September 2014 news release. DPS attributed 3,642 of those stops to cellphone use, 3,508 to other occupant-related issues and 2,385 to outside distractions, such as "rubbernecking" at accident scenes. 

DPS attributed 2,400 collisions to distracted driving. In cases where contributing factors were listed, common factors included outside distractions (393 instances), reaching for objects (238 instances) cellphone use (167 instances). 

ANDY BIGGS SAYS THERE ARE PLENTY OF LAWS ON THE BOOKS TO COVER THIS, INCLUDING CITING MOTORISTS FOR ‘RECKLESS DRIVING”. 

I HAVE BEEN AN ACCIDENT/INJURY ATTORNEY FOR 22 YEARS, HAVING HANDLED THOUSANDS OF CLAIMS.  I HAVE NOT ONCE SEEN AN AT-FAULT DRIVER RECEIVE A CITATION FOR RECKLESS DRIVING.

ANDY BIGGS WORLD IS NOT THE REAL WORLD.  ARIZONA NEEDS A LAW AGAINST TEXTING AND DRIVING. 

Driving while distracted

In the first 8¹/₂ months of 2014, DPS officers made 19,800 stops related to distratcted driving. The Department of Public Safety said 3,642 were related to cellphone use. It said 2,400 collisions were attributable to distracted driving; cellphones were a factor in 167.

Text ban

Only two states do not restrict texting, either for all drivers or for novice drivers. One of those states is Arizona.  It is time to change this.

Child Restraint Re-use After Minor Crashes. What you need to know.

NHTSA Position

NHTSA recommends that child safety seats be replaced following a moderate or severe crash to ensure a continued high level of crash protection for child passengers.

NHTSA recommendations also state that child safety seats do not automatically need to be replaced following a minor crash.

What is the difference between “minor” and “moderate/severe”? 

Here is how the NHTSA defines minor: 

• The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site;
• The vehicle door nearest the safety seat was undamaged;
• There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants;
• The air bags (if present) did not deploy; and
• There is no visible damage to the safety seat

Clarifying the need for child seat replacement will reduce the financial burden of unnecessary replacement.

 Background

• Recent studies demonstrate that child safety seats can withstand minor crash impacts without any documented degradation in subsequent performance.

• The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia ( ICBC ) subjected nine new and used child seats restraining 3-year-old dummies to a series of 50 consecutive 15 km/h sled tests into a 40% offset barrier. Three seats were inspected visually; no damage was apparent as a result of the impacts. Three seats underwent x-ray inspection; no damage was detected. Three seats were tested in accordance with Canadian federal standards (CMVSS 213) and were found to be in compliance with all standards.

• ICBC performed four vehicle crash tests at 48 and 64 km/h, with two child seats restraining 3-year-old dummies in each vehicle. Each seat was subjected to multiple impacts and visually inspected. Defects were noted and the seats were re-tested. Seats always performed as well in subsequent tests as they did in the first test.

• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) performed 30 mph vehicle crash tests with dummies from six months to three years in a variety of child restraint systems (CRSs). Most seats sustained minor damage (e.g., frayed webbing, small cracks in the hard plastic shell, strain-whitening on the plastic shell or chest clip) but all dummies remained well secured by the restraints. Four of the damaged seats were subjected to three additional 30 mph crash tests. Although additional minor damage was observed in subsequent tests, the seats met all federal standards.

• The agency searched for, but was unable to find any cases in which a child safety seats were damaged in a minor crash (as defined in NHTSA Position).

 Note:

If you have been involved in an accident, and you are unsure, ask your attorney.

Experienced personal injury attorneys should be knowledgeable regarding child safety seats and the protection and replacement requirements following a crash.  

For more information regarding car accidents and safety in Arizona, click here.

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Petition to ban texting while driving in Arizona picking up steam

If you were to spend just 4 seconds looking at your phone while driving 55 miles an hour, you would travel more than the length of a football field with your eyes off the road.

Since 2007, every bill introduced that would ban texting while driving in Arizona has failed to pass. Senator Steve Farley is giving it another go this year.

Additionally, there's a new citizen started petition circling the internet, to see it succeed this time around.

It's been just less than two years since firefighter Brendan Lyons and his girlfriend were hit by a vehicle while riding their bikes in Tucson. "I had six fractured vertebrae and a fractured pelvis; I was in a wheelchair for awhile," said Lyons.

Healing, but not yet cleared to go back to work fighting fires, he's turned his attention to fighting something else:  Distracted Driving. 

The push is to get two different laws passed in Arizona. The first would make texting while driving illegal statewide. The second, a 'vulnerable user' law, would make fines more severe for hitting a pedestrian.

"Ultimately, the goal is to prevent distracted driving" said Lyons.  "We want to see lives spared."

Forty-four states have outlawed texting and driving, but Arizona is not one of them. AAA says 98 percent of the Arizonans it surveyed say texting or emailing while driving is unacceptable, yet many still do it.

"Usually I'm pretty good about ignoring it, and then there are times that I pick it up at a red light and take a quick look," said a Tucson resident.

Lyons got back up on his bike last week for the first time since the wreck. 

"There have been milestones throughout this recovery and each one in remarkable in its own right," said Lyons.

His next hurdle is seeing the two bills made into law. "I know that I'm helping a lot of other people who may not be able to utilize their voice, or may not know how."

THE PETITION IS WAITING.  WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THIS ISSUE?  SIGN THE PETITION, OR WAIT TO READ OF THE NEXT ACCIDENT IN THE PAPER?

Texting and driving in Arizona is dangerous. That's obvious. Here are some other scary statistics you didn't know about texting and driving. - http://www.zacharassociates.com/stop-texting-and-driving/

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Efforts underway to enact texting and driving ban in Arizona?? Let’s Hope

Should Arizona ban texting and driving? Lawmakers have tried before and failed; now an effort is underway at the State Capitol to try and get a ban in place.

The effort includes testimony from the family of a Department of Public Safety officer that was hit and killed by a distracted driver.  

Officer Tim Huffman was hit and killed along Interstate 8 while investigating another crash on the interstate, after the driver of a tanker truck crashed into his patrol car while the truck driver was looking at his cell phone.

The driver Jorge Espinoza is on trial for second-degree murder. The jury is deliberating while the Huffman's testified in front of the committee. 

There are only two states in America that do not have a texting ban:  Arizona and Montana.  Forty-four states have a total ban and 4 have a partial ban.  Arizona can be added if one family gets their wish.

At the State Capitol, it was an emotional hearing from family members of Officer Huffman.  "Eight seconds is all it took to kill my brother, Officer Timothy Huffman," said Huffman's brother.

Family members of Officer Huffman stood in front of Arizona lawmakers, pleading for them to create a law that would ban texting and driving in the state.

"I can't help to keep thinking that if this law was in effect, maybe, just maybe, my brother would still be here today," said Mary Huffman.

"The key element of defense, that the defense attorney is trying to use to get this murderer off is that we don't have a law," said Senator Steve Farley.  

Farley has introduced nine bills that would ban texting and driving. Arizona lawmakers have rejected his efforts for the past five years, but on Wednesday the government committee approved his bill. The ban would restrict people from sending text messages; it would not ban reading messages or using navigational devices. 

The Huffman's say it is a good step in the right direction.  "We need this law, and I ask you as legislators please, please keep your people safe," said Tammy Huffman.

The bill still has to go through two other committees, the public safety, and transportation committee. If it passes both, it will then go to the full house for a vote. It is expected to meet a lot of resistance along the way, a lot of  lawmakers are against it, some feel we do not need a texting while driving ban, and others say they don't like the language of SB1102. 

The Huffman family says they have made it their mission to make sure this law passes. 

Arizona needs this:  Enough is enough.  After reading the following, ANYONE disagree??

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2 near-drownings in 4 days in the West Valley

A 2-year-old is in unknown condition after a drowning incident in El Mirage.

Another 2-year-old child is in stable condition at a local hospital after nearly drowning in a residential pool at a West Valley home.

Peoria police and fire responded at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to a call in the 8600 block of West Bloomfield Road, which is near 87th Avenue and Cactus Road. 

The child's parents had already pulled the 2 year old from the pool, started CPR and noticed the child had labored breathing. 

The child was inside the home, awake and crying when emergency crews arrived, said Capt. Bob Burkland of the Peoria Fire-Medical Department.

They transported the child in stable condition to Thunderbird Hospital.  The pool did not have a fence and it is unknown how the child got outside or how long they were in the water.

The near-drowning is the second incident in less than week in the West Valley.

On Saturday, a 2-year-old boy nearly drowned in a bathtub at an El Mirage home. The boy is on life support at a local hospital, according to El Mirage police.

Authorities do not suspect foul play in that incident, but the investigation is ongoing. 

Emergency crews responded to a total of four drowning calls in February 2014. Two incidents were fatal. All four involved boys ages three and under. And all four happened in a pool.

There have been a total of three water-related incidents in Maricopa and Pinal counties reported so far this year.

Although the warm weather should not be close, it will hit 80+ degrees in the valley this week. 

365 days a year, we have to think of pool safety in Phoenix. 2 seconds is too long.

For more information on water safety and drowning prevention, visit Children's Safety Zone. 

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How to properly document your car accident: 5 things you need to know

Car accidents can be some of the most complex situations to deal with. Scenes of an accident may change, witnesses may or may not remember what they saw, and other evidence can be overlooked or forgotten altogether.

With that being said, how do you make sure your rights are protected after an accident? How do you document your car accident?

The first simple response? Take pictures. Of the cars. Of the roadway. Even of witnesses.

As few as five years ago, people who could present pictures at an accident scene seemed fishy.  Why did you have a camera there?  Why did you do this?  Oh, you knew right then and there that you would be making a legal claim, huh?

Now---it is as normal as waking up in the morning and breathing.  Why?  Simple:  Everyone has a cell phone and everyone’s cell phone has a camera. 

Photographs are important. Photographs offer more verbal proof of an accident scene.

Below are a few tips you can take in order to make sure you take the right kind of pictures after an accident:

 

• Take a photo of the vehicles involved. Make sure you take the photos at the exact scene of the accident.
• Take photos of the damage to your vehicle, as well as the other vehicles involved.
• Make sure you take close-ups of the damage done to your vehicle. The more detail in the photo, the better.
• If it’s dark outside, make sure you have your flash on while taking the photos
• After you've taken photos of the damage done to your vehicle, make sure you also take photos of the license plates of the vehicles of everyone involved.

 

The tips may not seem complicated.  That is because they are not.  They are simple, but truly can make all of the difference in the world when later documenting how the accident occurred.  

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