September 2008
- From Robert’s Desk
- Potential Automobile Defects
- Time to Say Goodbye...
- Nursing Home Neglect
- Automobile Accident claims - Documenting Lost Wages
From Robert's Desk
As we approach the November election (Nov. 5th) to select a new President, we challenge each of you to stop and ponder for a moment:
The last eight years have been simply awful. We have gone from $1.50 per gallon gasoline to $4 per gallon gasoline. We have gone from minimal inflation (2-3%) to back breaking price increases, which are at a 25-year high (8-10%).
Wages have not kept up. We are much poorer as a nation and a people. People are losing their homes. Social security disability claims take two years or more to process. Employers are closing their doors and moving to India or Mexico. Life for many West Tennesseans is very difficult.
If you are not registered to vote, we urge you to get registered. If you don’t care, you should. Who you vote for is important. The last eight years should make that clear to all of us.
We want change and we want it now. The lawyers at Hill-Boren recommend Barack Obama for President (www.barackobama.com). We believe a clear change in leadership is necessary in order for things to improve.
At the state level, the lawyers at Hill-Boren know Randy Camp and recommend him for the Tennessee Senate District 26 (Wayne, Hardin, McNairy, Hardeman, Fayette, Chester, Haywood and Crockett counties).We endorse our friend Jim Ryal for State Representative District 27 (Gibson and Carroll counties). We also endorse Roy Herron, Senate District 24, Representative John Tarner, U.S. Congress and Democrat Bob Tuke for U.S. Senate.
Potential Automobile Defects
There are many automotive defects that cause people to be killed or seriously injured. The vehicle may be defective because it did not include safety features that were available. The vehicle may also be defective because certain component parts of the vehicle failed to perform safely in an accident. We have recovered substantial settlements for victims injured or killed because of defective vehicles.
Unstable Vehicles
“Stability” is the likelihood that a car will or will not rollover in a crash. Vehicles that are flat and low to the ground are more stable and less prone to rolling over than an SUV that has a 3-inch lift added to it. The stability of SUVs, trucks and vans is more often an issue than with passenger cars. If you have been involved in a rollover, your vehicle may be defective because it is not stable.
Electronic Stability Control
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is a generic term for systems designed to improve a vehicle’s handling. ESC ensures a car does not lose control and maintains the path the driver intends. Stud-ies have confirmed that the accident rates among vehicles with ESC are significantly less that those without the system. Your vehicle may be defective if it does not incorporate an ESC system.
Roof Crush
Roof crush creates many problems for occupants in the vehicle. Because it rapidly reduces the space in the vehicle, it increases the risk that the occupant will receive a spinal cord compression injury. It also significantly increases the likelihood that a properly belted occupant will be partially ejected out of the vehicle window during the rollover. Some newer vehicles have side-curtains that are designed to keep people in the vehicle during a rollover. If you were involved in a rollover and the roof has col-lapsed, your vehicle may be defective for having a weak roof or failing to have a proper air bag for a rollover.
Fuel Tanks
One of the most well-known automotive product defects that made its way into the living rooms and minds of Americans was the exploding Ford Pinto gas tank. While the Pinto cases centered in the 1970s, post-collision fuel-fed fires still occur and are still, sometimes, the result of defectively designed automobiles.Fuel tank fires are caused by an excess amount of gasoline being released from the tank, or where the filler neck enters the tank, as a result of a collision. This can occur because the gas tank is not properly guarded and is punctured as a result of a collision. It can also occur when a collision causes the filler neck to be pulled out of the tank, releasing an excess amount of gasoline. If your vehicle caught on fire after an accident, it may be defective.
Seatback Failures
Unless it is a high speed accident, a seatback should maintain its rigidity throughout an accident se-quence. Failure to do so is a defect. Seatback cases typically are associated with rear-end or front-end collisions. Seatback failures happen when a force causes the seat to collapse rearward. Injuries commonly associated with seatback failure include paraplegia, quadriplegia, and death as a result of a broken neck. If you were involved in a crash and your seatback failed, your vehicle may be defective.
Tires
The Ford/Firestone litigation brought the issue of tire defects into the forefront of public knowledge. Until then, people did not know a tire could just fail in the normal course of use. A tire defect, oftentimes referred to as a tire delamination or tire detread, usually involves the bottom layer of steel belts separating from the second layer of steel belts and outside tread. A large strip of tread, and sometimes accompany-ing smaller pieces, separating from the tire while in use, often identifies tire delaminations. A delamination will significantly decrease a person’s ability to control the vehicle and will sometimes result in an accident. It is common for people to refer to these tire events as blowouts. A blowout is a sudden loss in air pres-sure. A tire delamination does not necessarily entail the loss of air pressure. Sometimes the tire will lose the tread but retain its air pressure through the entire accident sequence. If your tire failed, causing an accident, it may have
been the result of a defective tire. If you have been involved in a crash and have been seriously injured or killed, you may have a potential automotive defect case. Please contact us for a free consultation.
Time to Say Goodbye...
By: Robert Hill
Mona Brown is retiring October 31 after 27 years with Hill-Boren. She has seen 41 attorneys and 264 support staff come-and-go. She has been an integral part of the growth of the firm from four (4) civil justice attorneys to 14.
She has been a part of dozens of births and more birthdays than I can count. She has seen our children grow up and go off to college. She reared a beautiful daughter and has been blessed with a grandchild.
In turn, we have all been blessed with Mona’s loyalty, commitment and friendship. We will all miss her. I will miss her. Thank you Mona, for everything.
Nursing Home Neglect
By: Tamara Hill, R.N. J.D.
Corporate Cost Cutting Can Be the Real Culprit
When you visit the nursing home, do you ever hear the staff complain of being “short” (meaning they don’t have enough people to provide care on that shift)? Have you ever asked for a pillow, blanket, sheets or a towel, only to be told they don’t have any more right now? Have you asked them to move out of bed (or back to bed) only to be told that you’ll have to wait until they can find someone to help?
Most local nursing homes today don’t set their own budgets. They are told by someone up the corporate ladder how many RNs, LPNs and CNAs they are allowed to have. This number does not take into account how sick the residents may be and how much care, time and attention they require. Your loved one is basi-cally reduced to a “head in the bed” to be counted by a corporate “bean counter” somewhere who determines how much time and attention they will get. As a result, residents decline in functional mobility and may develop contractures and pressure ulcers. The corporate cost-saving staff reductions are held in check only by the state minimum requirements (which are a paltry 2 hours per 24 hour period per patient) - and the threat of a lawsuit for neglect.
Local nursing home staff are told how much they will spend per patient per day on meals and snacks, and the numbers are shocking. Some budgets seem too small to provide regular meals and snacks that meet patients’ needs. This cost-saving measure, especially when coupled with low staffing levels may lead to dehydration, weight loss and general dete-rioration of a resident’s health.
Supplies - everything from sheets, pads, pillows, dressings, mattresses and specialty beds right down to medicine cups and thermometer covers are tightly controlled at the cor-porate level. Most area nursing homes will not even provide specialty beds, such as a Clinitron to promote healing of seri-ous pressure ulcers - it’s simply not allowed by corporate. This additional cost-saving measure, combined with staffing cuts and low nutritional budgets make it nearly impossible for the frontline staff to provide adequate care for your loved one.
Of course, corporate America will tell you it is expensive to run a nursing home, and no doubt it is. But oil companies aren’t the only ones seeing healthy profits at the expense of consumers. It is the nursing home’s duty to care for their residents. If you see instances of neglect, give us a call. We’re on your side in ending nursing home neglect.
Automobile Accident claims - Documenting Lost Wages
By: Greg Petrinjak
If you miss time from work due to an automobile accident or other injury, you may be entitled to recover lost wages as a part of your damages. However, you should follow several simple steps to document the time lost from work.
First, if your injury is serious enough to prevent you from going to work, you should see a doctor for an examination. Explain the problems you are having and describe the type of work you do. Then, if the doctor thinks it is necessary for you to stay home from work, make sure you get a doctor’s note.
The doctor’s note should state clearly that you must be “off work” for a specific time period. If the doctor places specific work restrictions, make sure those are clearly listed on the doctor’s note. A note saying merely that you were “seen in the office” that day, or that you are “under a doctor’s care” is not specific enough.
If you have to miss work for extended periods of time, get additional doctor’s excuses to cover each additional time period you are off work. This is extremely important. Without additional documentation, an insurance company may argue that you were not reasonable in missing work for an extended period.
Your employer will probably need copies of any doctor’s notes that you receive, but be sure to keep the original or a copy of each note for your own records. With an injury serious enough for you to miss work, you probably need legal repre-sentation. If you have any questions about your claim, call Hill-Boren. The call and your initial consultation is free.