Getting injured can cause an array of different complications. For one, whoever is injured more than likely can't work whch means medical bills are mounting and you have other bills to pay. The insurance company is not responding favorably or not responding at all. You need a lawyer on your side, but lawyers are expensive and you certainly can’t afford one right now.
Question: What do you do?
Answer: Pick up the phone and call an experienced personal injury lawyer
Not all personal injury lawyers are the same. There are lawyers who can handle personal injury cases, and there are experienced personal injury lawyers.
Experienced personal injury lawyers generally have FREE initial consultations. Then, if they decide to accept your case, they will handle it on a “contingency fee”, which means you pay nothing, but rather agree to give them a percentage of your settlement at the end.
In the meantime, they perform all of the investigation, they maintain awareness of your injuries and treatment and give advice when needed and they will pay out costs of the case until settlement.
When the case settles, you give them a percentage and reimburse their out of pocket costs, and you get money for yourself. If the case is not won or no recovery occurs, then you owe the attorney NOTHING.
Zachar Law Firm handles ALL of its cases with FREE consultations and contingency fees only.
Zachar Law Firm only gets paid if there is a settlement or a winning verdict.
Knowing this information, you now also know that there is no reason not to make a free call to find out if you have a good case.
Insurance companies say you need to watch out because the next time you get
in a wreck, it may all be a part of a scam. According to insurance
companies, it's all a part of a new rising trend of staged auto
accidents.
Supposedly, these kinds of accidents are when the car in
front of you unexpectedly slams on their brakes, just to the point where you
can't stop without hitting them. The scammer then claims fake injuries and car
damage against your insurance company.
Is this real? Likely, no.
I am not suggesting that is does not happen, however, the
chances of this being the causes of any accident you see or hear of? Less
than 1%. In fact, far less than 1%.
Why then do insurance companies tell us otherwise? Answer: Pure
profit.
In order to make the public question claims, even valid, true claims, the
insurance companies need to get people thinking skeptically. They need
you to believe thus is a big problem. In fact, it is not. Not even
close. But people believe it. They are conditioned, and with your
mind on it, the next accident you see or hear about ready has you thinking
"fraud". The end result? The true victims cannot get
fair trials because of the adverse conditioning. The awards at trial are
less--sometimes not even enough to pay medical bills.
Who wins? You guessed it: The insurance companies. Period.
Suggestion: If you are ever called upon to serve on a jury, leave any
preconceived notions at home, and give BOTH sides a fair assessment. No
one asks for any more than that--except for insurance companies. They try
to stack the deck. Don't let this happen.
Remember, the next person it could happen to is you.
Though there is a stigma about older drivers being
"unsafe" on roads, studies actually show that older drivers are some
of the safest drivers on the road today. By 2030, 1 out of 5 drivers will be 65
years of age or older.
“Though the natural changes that occur with age can have an adverse impact
on one’s driving ability, decades of road experience makes older drivers’
statistically one of the safest groups on the road,” said Linda Gorman,
director of communications and public affairs for AAA Arizona. “As an advocate
for the motoring public, AAA believes it is important for senior drivers to
learn how to compensate for those changes so that they can stay on the road
longer and safer.”
Below
are myths that are commonly associated with “old” drivers.
MYTH:
The fewer older drivers, the safer the roadways
FACT: While there’s no such
thing as the perfect driver, senior drivers tend to be safer drivers. In
fact, ages 64 to 69 are statistically the safest drivers on the road,
according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. With
their experience, seniors are less likely to drive distracted or impaired;
tend to drive when conditions are safest; and don’t take as many risks,
such as not driving at night.
MYTH:
Older drivers are resistant to changes in driving laws.
FACT: Though such laws as
seat-belt use weren’t enacted for decades after many older drivers
received their licenses, seniors are the most likely to buckle up – and
therefore model safe driving habits to their passengers. In fact, 77 percent
of older motor vehicle occupants (drivers and passengers) involved in
fatal crashes were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, compared
to 63 percent for adult occupants (18 to 64 years of age).
MYTH:
Aging makes most older adults high-risk drivers.
FACT: While specific abilities
needed to drive safely, such as vision, memory, strength, reaction time
and flexibility, decline as we age, the rate of change varies greatly.
Many older drivers do not differ significantly from middle-age drivers in
their driving skills. However, it’s important that senior drivers
recognize changes as they age and take advantage of resources to help
combat them.
“A lot of misconceptions remain about older drivers,” Gorman said. “Through
workshops, such as Safe Driving for Mature Drivers, AAA is working to educate
motorists on the strengths and weaknesses of drivers of any age.”
Some of the most common injuries that are sustained by many
are slip and fall accidents. Many don’t think about a slip and fall accident as
being dangerous, but nearly 1 million emergency room visits are because of a
slip and fall injury.
When someone suffers a slip and fall accident, an attorney
will usually evaluate the situation to determine causation and establish
liability.
Since premises liability and slip and fall claims involve
complicated laws and legal issues, the first and most important step is to
contact an experienced premises liability attorney. A thorough and quick
investigation must be conducted and eyewitnesses must be contacted prior to any
alteration or modification of the dangerous area. It is imperative that the
owner be placed on notice to preserve
all evidence. You should contact a lawyer as soon
as is possible.
Also, there may be deadlines and statutes of limitations
that may significantly affect your slip and fall case. You should not wait
until the statute of limitations period is running out because your attorney
may not have enough time to complete his investigation.
If you or someone you know has been injured in a
slip-and-fall accident, you need to contact and experienced slip and fall lawyer
in Arizona—as soon as possible. Evidence of the cause of the incident can be
lost forever if it is not investigated soon after an accident. Whether its a defect on the floor or a liquid
spill, an experienced slip and fall lawyer in Arizona can obtain the evidence
of such condition. This is critical to proving that a landowner or occupier was
negligent in preventing the injuries suffered.
Slip-and-fall
accidents often result in serious injuries. The probability of
having a slip-and-fall accident in a public place is far greater than at home.
For one, a person is more likely to be distracted, and, more importantly, he or
she may not be aware of the existing floor defects or surface liquid spills.
The duty of businesses to exercise reasonable care to prevent exposing their
customers to an unreasonable risk of injury is critical to reducing the number
of slip-and-fall
accidents.
Whether an owner or occupier of a land owes visitors a duty
to protect them against dangers found on the land depends on the status of the
visitor at the time. Generally speaking there are three (3) categories of
visitors: 1) trespasser, 2) licensee or 3) invitee.
A trespasser is a person who enters a premises without
permission.
A licensee is a person that enters on the land, with the
landowners permission, for his or her own purpose or business. (A social guest
is considered a licensee).
An invitee is someone that enters onto the premises in
response to an invitation of the landowner.
There are two types of invitees:
(i) those who enter as members of the public for a purpose for which the land
is held open to the public (e.g., museums, airports), and (ii) those who enter
for a purpose connected with the business or other interests of the landowner
or occupier (e.g., store customers and people accompanying them, employees,
persons making deliveries). It is always important to know your rights and options if you have been injured in a slip and fall accident.
A teenager survived the
Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco only to be struck and killed by a fire
vehicle rushing to fight a blaze that broke out on the plane, authorities said.
As the wreckage of Asiana Flight 214 burned, Ye Meng
Yuan was lying on the ground just 30 feet (9 meters) away, buried by the
firefighting foam rescue workers were spraying to douse the flames
No one knows exactly how the 16-year-old Chinese
student got to that spot, but officials say one thing is clear now: She somehow
survived the crash.
And in the chaotic moments that followed — flames
devouring the fuselage, those aboard escaping by emergency slides, flight
attendants frantically cutting away seat belts to free passengers — a fire
truck ran over Yuan, killing her.
The new details — released Friday by the coroner’s
office — compounded the tragedy for her family and confirmed the growing
suspicions that emergency workers have had since soon after the July 6 crash:
One of the three who died did so by rescuers’ actions.
“There’s not a lot of words to describe how badly we
feel, how sorry we feel,” said San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.
Yuan’s family was upset after learning the details
of their daughter’s death and wants her body returned to China, County Coroner
Robert Foucrault said.
“It was a difficult conversation,” he said.
Hayes-White said she was trying to arrange a meeting
with them and that the “tragic accident” would prompt a review of how the fire
department uses the foam and responds to emergencies at the airport.
“There’s always room for us to evaluate and improve
our response,” she said. “(There’s) very unfortunate news today. However, many,
many lives were saved and we made a valiant effort to do so on July 6.”
In a statement, the Chinese Consulate called on
authorities to determine responsibility for Yuan’s death. Hayes-White said she
did not immediately foresee any disciplinary action. San Francisco police and
the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
In all, 304 of the 307 people aboard the Boeing 777
survived the crash at San Francisco International Airport.
Yuan and her close friend, 16-year-old Wang Linjia,
who also died, were students at Jiangshan Middle School in Zhejiang, an
affluent coastal province in eastern China, Chinese state media has reported.
They were part of a group of students and teachers
from the school who were heading to summer camp in Southern California.
Yuan and Linjia were seated at the back of the
plane. Authorities say the jetliner came in too low and too slow, clipping its
landing gear and then its tail on a rocky seawall just short of the runway.
Linjia’s body was found near the seawall at the edge
of the runway.
It was unclear how Yuan got from the airplane to the
spot where she died. Investigators believe she was down on the ground and not
standing up during the “volatile” and “dangerous” aftermath of the plane crash,
the fire chief said.
Foucrault declined to go into detail on how he
determined the teenager was alive before she was struck, but said there was
internal hemorrhaging that indicated her heart was still beating at the time.
Authorities confirmed last week that Yuan was hit by
a vehicle racing to extinguish the flames in the plane. Police said she was on
the ground and covered in the foam that rescuers had sprayed on the wreckage.
The other victim, 15-year-old Liu Yipeng, died at a
hospital on July 12.
Who is responsible?
More likely than not, Asiana is 100% responsible for this
young girl's death. From all reports,
the crash appears to have been pilot error.
Sad. In causing the crash, Asiana
is responsible for all injuries and damages that result.
Now, as a result of the crash, it is foreseeable that
emergency response vehicles will rush to the scene at the same time that
passengers are fleeing from the plane.
Through the smoke, chaos and foam---not a shock that this could
happen. Sad, but not a shock.
Car accidents are a very real
concern for everyone in today’s fast pace society. Everyone will probably
encounter at least one, probably more, in their lifetime. However, when
you think of being in an accident, do you honestly ever think that it will be caused
by road debris? That indeed is the fact for about 25,000 people, and
approximately 90 deaths, every year. This is according to the AAA
Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Road debris can be very difficult
to control, especially on highways and freeways with heavy and fast moving
traffic. For instance, how does a driver who loses a piece of metal off
the back of his/her truck retrieve it when there is constant, steady, and fast
moving traffic? We see this happen frequently, but it is probably far more
dangerous to go back and pick it up than merely to leave it to the road
crews. Certainly, if the object creates a hazard, a quick call to 9-1-1
to alert the authorities is entirely appropriate.
In Arizona, Arizona Revised Statute, §28-1098 states:
A. A person shall not drive or move a vehicle on a highway unless the
vehicle is constructed or loaded in a manner to prevent any of its
load from dropping, sifting, leaking or otherwise escaping from the vehicle.
B. A person shall not operate a vehicle on a highway with a load unless
the load and any covering on the load are securely fastened in a manner to
prevent the covering or load from becoming loose, detached or in any manners a
hazard to other users of the highway.
A person injured due to road
debris will have to first prove the object came from a specific truck (this is
often denied by the responsible driver). In some circumstances, it may be
necessary to prove also that the responsible party was negligent in securing
the load. Assuming the identity of the vehicle or driver from which the
debris came cannot be discovered, an injured party may be able to state a claim
with their own insurance company, under their Uninsured Motorist
coverage. This will require that they prove that the falling object or
roadway debris actually came from another vehicle. (This is not always as
easy as it sounds, and insurance companies routinely make up all types of
different scenarios to suggest otherwise.)
If you or someone you know has
been injured in a circumstance involving falling or roadway debris, call a Certified Specialist in Personal Injury/Wrongful Death
law to see if you might have legal recourse. Almost all of these
attorneys work on a percentage arrangement, so it costs you nothing to see if
you might have a claim. The attorney
will have the people needed to perform a much deeper investigation, one which
may be needed if you do not know or cannot prove where the debris came
from.
Without a witness, the possible
causes of road debris are so vast in many cases even the Police Department or
Highway Patrol investigators cannot find its origin. Do not give up hope,
feeling that you will never find who is at fault or be reimbursed for your
damages; this is why a good attorney is so
vital.
Example: Claudia Avila died
after being struck in the head by a metal plate which crashed thru the
windshield of the car she was driving. The Florida Highway Patrol closed
the case without finding the origin of the metal plate. The attorney for
Avila’s family conducted an investigation, which revealed the company which
packaged the plate for shipment. This company then divulged the identity
of the company which purchased the plates, which in turn divulged the trucking
company that transported the plates. All three companies were sued and
the Avila family eventually received a $6.9 million verdict.
Road debris is a real hazard and
one that, as stated above, is very hard to control. If you are hauling
something and it becomes lose and dislodges, retrieve it only if it is safe to
do so. If it is not safe but poses an immediate danger, call 9-1-1.
If it does not pose a danger and you cannot retrieve it yourself you can call
the Department of Transportation for your
state, in Arizona that number is 602-712-7355. I would also suggest
calling the Department of transportation if you see debris come from someone
else’s vehicle in hopes of preventing any foreseeable accidents.
An average of 390 children drown each year in the United States, most
younger than 5, according to two new reports. "We are talking
about 15 preschool classes lost in a pool or spa every year. This is a national
health and safety problem that we must work to get fixed," said Inez
Tenenbaum, chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Approximately 5,100 pool or spa-related injuries occur each year involving
children younger than 15. Some of those injured require life-long medical care,
resulting in millions of dollars in medical costs, Tenenbaum said.
The entrapment report also revealed that from 2008 to 2012, there were 39
swimmers caught in drains at the bottom of pools. Two people died as a result
of this "circulation entrapment," in which the force of water rushing
through the drain traps the swimmer. Three-fourths of those trapped were under
16.
Wasserman Schultz sponsored the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act,
which became law in 2007, making it the first federal pool and spa safety law.
The law established a federal swimming pool and spa drain cover standard and
other safety measures for pools nationwide.
Last year, Florida, Texas and California had the highest number of pool and spa
deaths in children up to age 14, according to the U.S. Swimming report.
Organizations such as the Red Cross, YMCA, Abbey's Hope and the Josh Project
provide free or low-cost swimming lessons to parents and children nationwide.
"Our overall goal is to reduce the number of child drowning across the
country by training children to swim and educating parents on the critical
importance of supervising children in and near the water," Wasserman
Schultz said.
The weather is warming up in Arizona. Please, be careful out there.
Remember, two seconds is too long.
The bed of a pickup truck is a very dangerous place to ride,
especially in Arizona because of the high rate of accidents. The beds of
pickup trucks are designed to carry cargo, not people. They are not designed to
provide protection in the event of a crash. Children and adults can
be easily ejected from pickup beds even at relatively low speeds as a result of
a sharp turn or sudden acceleration or braking. In the event of an
accident, individuals riding in the bed of a truck are afforded little to no
safety protection and the chance and severity of injuries increase
significantly. Far too often, pick-up trucks are
involved in rollover accidents, and riding in the bed of a pickup can lead to
serious injury or even death.
Is
it against the law to ride in the back of a pickup truck in Arizona?
No.
Arizona law does not currently address the issue of persons riding in the
bed of a motor vehicle. 30 states and the District of Columbia address the
issues by a variety of laws, but Arizona is not among these states. Generally,
a pickup truck driver and the individuals riding in the bed of the truck are
not in violation of any state law and cannot be cited. However, a police
officer is allowed to stop and issue a verbal warning to a person driving a
pickup truck on a highway that is transporting a person in the bed of a pickup
truck. Also, if the police officer determines that an individual in the bed of
the truck is under the age of 18, they are required to issue a written warning.
Why
would you need a personal
injury Arizona attorney in accidents involving passengers riding in the
bed of a pickup truck?
A personal
injury attorney in Arizona is imperative because these types of accidents
are especially complex. If you are riding in the back of a pickup truck and the
truck is involved in an accident, it is likely that the lawyer hired by the
insurance company or defendant will argue that it is your fault that you were
riding in the bed of the pickup truck. Compensation
for personal injury claims is often greatly reduced in settlements and verdicts
as a result of the fault placed upon these victims for failing to wear a
seatbelt or for assuming the risk of riding in a pick-up bed. A personal injury Arizona attorney
that is experienced will be able to ensure that your settlement or verdict is
not reduced and that you receive the compensation you deserve.
Accident
cases involving passengers in the bed of a pickup truck can be especially
complex, so it crucial that you consult with a knowledgeable personal injury Arizona attorney
to discuss your options. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured as a
result of an accident involving passengers in the bed of a pickup truck,
contact an experienced personal
injury Arizona attorney at Zachar Law Firm. (602) 494-4800 or www.zacharassociates.com
Auto Accidents are the number one killer among teens in the
United States. A young person’s risk
of being hurt or killed in an accident increases
after the age of 12. The key to almost every accident?
A combination of distracted driving and inexperience.
It is a fact:Car
crashes end more teen lives every day than cancer, homicide and suicide
combined. Many of the injured teens are
passengers of other teen drivers. So even if you’re not yet driving, you can educate
yourself for safer travels on the road.
Riding with a teen driver can be dangerous. Due to inexperience, most simply don’t know how
to handle a situation where it might require a quick
decision/reaction in order to avoid an
accident. These dangers increase
tremendously at night. Most teen
drivers still have yet to get the needed
practice in driving at night which can lead to serious consequences. The only circumstance more dangerous than teen night
driving? Cell phones. Calls and texts and Instagrams and
emails. These distractions cut a
teen’s attention span nearly in half. Not good for ANYONE, bur especially an inexperienced driver.
It’s important make sure that your teen has experience and
practice before heading out onto the big roads. Though they might have their
license, it doesn’t mean that they won’t learn more while you are in the
vehicle with them. Education and training is paramount to keeping everyone
safe.
Also remember, seat-belts save lives. Make this a requirement for your teen driver (and
yourself).
There are many examples in the media today of dogs attacks,
from the dogs simply nipping at someone to catastrophic injuries caused by
them. Many people don’t think about the costs that can come from a horrific dog
attack and just what kind of damage they can really do.
In 2011 alone, a survey showed that insurance companies paid
nearly $479 million in claims. It is one contributing factor for the costs is
the rising cost of health-care. The majority of dog attacks occur on the face ,
making necessary and a plastic surgeon in order to repair the victim’s
injuries. Nearly 31,000 people had reconstruction surgery due to being
bitten by a dog in 2006.
Certain breeds of dog that are popular amongst the general
public are responsible for most attacks. A study published in the
Annals of Surgery in the spring of 2011 said that “attacks by pit bulls are
associated with higher morbidity rates, higher hospital charges, and a higher
risk of death than are dog attacks by other breeds of dogs.”
While most dogs as domesticated animals are great companions
and friendly, be leery of another's dog which you do not know. Always ask
permission to pet another's dog, and if with your child, stay close and
vigilant. Children are bitten more often. Why? Namely because
of their height. Looking a dog in the eyes can represent a
"challenge", and children are just about the right eye height.
Be careful, but also be educated. Dogs are fun loving animals. They can also be our greatest companions. But just like with anything else, always stay alert and aware of what you are doing and how it could possibly aggravate the animal in anyway.
