Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog

This is an update to the story I wrote about last week involving the man who drove into a house.

It turns out, he was an off-duty Fort Worth Police officer, and he was drunk. His blood alcohol level was more than two times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

Officer Michael Buchanan, turned in his letter of resignation yesterday in light of the accident.

This is the second high-profile crash caused by drunk Fort Worth cops in the last 6 months. In December, Officer Jesus Cisneros, caused a wreck that killed local resident Sonia Baker. I previously posted about that wreck HERE and HERE

These officers need to be punished. They are entrusted with the responsibility of protecting our city's residents and they're driving around drunk and injuring and killing innocent people. This needs to stop.

That is why I support the efforts of MADD and other organizations who work to prevent this terrible accidents and help the victims and their families get the medical and legal care they need.

I file for PIP benefits so my clients will have $2,500.00 or more asap.

Many of my clients have purchased PIP (Personal Injury Protection) benefits but they don't know it and they would never receive money they are entitled to. Their own agents tell them not to file -- if my clients even think to call their agents. And virtually none of my clients understand what PIP is and how it can help them immeasurably.

PIP is a part of the auto insurance policy which can be used to help pay medical bills and most lost wages. Some of my clients are uneasy about filing a claim on their own policy, believing their rates will increase. However, by state law, insurance companies cannot raise rates for filing PIP.

Further, iIt is payable without regard to the fault or non-fault of the policy holder or the recipient in causing the accident. And unlike Medical Payments coverage, PIP does not have to be paid back from the recovery from the third party's coverage.

PIP covers every insured no matter what vehicle they are in. It also covers everyone in the insured vehicle. So if you and your three family members are injured, you may be entitled to receive $10,000,00 or more. We set up and process these claims quickly.

The PIP statute requires that a signed rejection of the coverage be provided, or PIP has to be paid. I immediately write a letter to my client's carrier when I am hired, and always force the insurance carrier to provide a signed rejection for my clients, even when they try to evade my request. There have been at least 10 cases -- two already this year -- when I made companies pay my clients $2,500.00 each, even though my clients had never even purchased PIP! Needless to say, they were ecstatic to receive this additional money.

Every insurance company that sells policies in Texas is required by law to offer PIP coverage with every policy. Texas insurance companies offer a minimum of $2,500.00 and up to $100,000.00 worth of PIP coverage. I strongly encourage you to purchase coverage in the amount of $2,500.00. The average cost is only about $6,00 a month.

If you've been in a wreck, please contact my office by phone at 817-885-8000 or fill out this contact form for a free case evaluation. I will take the time to personally meet with you and explain the whole process including all the ways I can get you money, many of which you may not have even known were available to you.

I was thrilled to run Boston on Monday and I wanted to share my race report with you.

Boston is the oldest marathon in the world and is the only one (other than the Olympics) that requires its runners to qualify first, which has created an incredible aura.The odds of getting in by running a fast qualifying race are only about 10% -- comparable to Harvard's admission rate. And I was proud that I had somehow qualified not one time, but 10 times in 10 states as I try to run a marathon in every state. And this would be my third one in the last three months.

By comparison, I had only run two marathons in 2008. My first one was just in 2005 in San Diego as I was turning 50, so I am pretty new to this. Here's a little background about how I started running and why I run. Read this.

Last Saturday afternoon, I went to to pick up my race number first thing and shop at the enormous Expo. The convention center was packed with runners and it was buzzing with excitement. That evening I enjoyed eating pasta (what else?) at an Italian restaurant with a group of talented and supportive marathoners from a Runners World Magazine forum. Here's a picture of our group. I'm the second on the left, back row.

The next morning, after watching some short distance races on the rainy course, I met my nephew Joshua, a Ph.D. student at Harvard, and his wife Helen, who graduated from Harvard Law School last year. We drove to central Massachusetts to visit my 98 year old aunt Sarah and took her to Amherst College for lunch, Later, Josh and Helen very nicely cooked pasta in their apartment overlooking downtown Boston. Then, after carefully laying out everything I would need for the race, I crashed at 11:00 o'clock.

Race day began way too early at 4:30 a.m. (3:30 CST). I drank a little coffee and a lot of water (see below) and ate oatmeal, a banana, and some of my wife's delicious granola to make sure I had more than enough fuel for the long day ahead.

I walked down the eeriely quiet final stretch of Boylston Street at 6:00 that would look like this photo later that day. I hiked over to the Public Gardens to catch a school bus for the long 26 mile drive out to Hopkinton. The weather was great: chilly (at least to a Texan), dry, and although there was a 10-15 mph wind, at least it would be coming from our sides, not off the Atlantic Ocean into our faces.

I struck up a conversation with Kate, a perky senior on the track team at the University of Pennsylvania, who was running even though she had suffered a stress fracture to her foot, very impressive. The lines moved quickly and we were on the bus before we knew it. Kate and I rattled on to relieve the pre race anxiety. But an hour later, she and I bolted from the c r e e p i n g bus to (sorry) relieve our bursting bladders in the woods. Then I hiked to the Athletes Village to wait and continue to hydrate and carbo load before joining the river of excited runners marching through the quaint village to the starting line.

I looked for Mark (a friend from the forum), not that's he's hard to see with that beard (see the photo; that's me behind him). We chatted and compared race strategies. I had only run one 18 mile long run since my last race in Tampa and my main goal was to requalify for next year's Boston Marathon by finishing in a time under 3:45, which I felt that I could do.

After the National Athem and F16 fly over, the gun was fired at 10:00. The runners and the crowd roared and we were off. Well, not immediately, since Mark and I were in Corral 12 (of 25). After we finally inched up to the starting line about 10 minutes later, we dashed off in a thick crowd on a bucolic two lane road. It was a gorgeous spring morning in New England.

The first four miles have a lot of down hill stretches and we ran quickly, spurred on by the electric atmosphere. Over 500,000 fans lined the roads screaming at the top of their lungs, banging drums, and playing loud music. "Run!" "You're looking great!" Many carried signs and handed out food. It was like being in the middle of a rock concert, except we were the performers up on the stage.

The miles flew by. People helped me on by screaming out "Go Bill" and "Go Texas" in response to a sign on my shirt and my UT cap. Mark and I continued to click off almost even 8:00 mile splits. I high fived (and low fived) kids, flashed the hook 'em horns sign, and was having a great time.

We got to the half in 1:44:09, a minute faster than Mark's aggressive goal pace, and faster than I had planned. So far, so good. But I knew that the hardest part of the race loomed and that there were some tough hills ahead of us.

After I helped some attractive young women at the famous Wellesley College graduate (the rumor is has it that have to kiss a runner first!), Mark unfortunately started to get cramps in his chest. I slowed down to make sure that he was okay and was not having a heart attack. Mark said he was okay and told me to go on without him.

At mile 17 and continuing through 21, I trudged up and flew down the legendary Heartbreak Hill and three others. But the hills didn't seem as hard as I remembered from my last trip in 2005 since I had trained a few times on the hills around TCU and Hulen to prepare. And the (already drunk) Boston College students were screaming for us, which helped propel me forward.

At mile 25, I passed Fenway Park where the Red Sox were playing. I forced myself up another hill which seemed to last forever. I kept pushing as hard as I could. One more hill up Hereford and I took the famous left turn onto the home stretch on Boylston. The noise from the crowd was deafening. "Go!" "You're almost there!" I could see the finish line about a quarter mile away, but I could have stopped at that spot and been very happy.

I crossed the line in 3:31:30, somehow faster than my last two races in Tampa and Phoenix that were were virtually flat. Later I saw that, although I was one of the oldest runners in the race, I finished 7,556th of 23,126 people. And I finished 185th of the 1,147 in my age group (in the top 16%) in the most competitive field any where.

This was my favorite race of the 20 I have run. My ears are still ringing from the chanting of the awesome crowds and I enjoyed competing against the top runners in the U.S. and other countries. It was fun visiting with family and friends. I can't wait for next year.

Before then, I've picked out some wonderful destinations to take my wife and maybe even my daughter to.

My next marathon is on June 6th on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula west of Seattle, much of which is on the ocean overlooking Victoria, British Columbia.

Then I'll run a marathon in Anchorage, Alaska in August, in the mountains of Utah in September, in the gorgeous Acadia National Park, Maine in October, historic Philadelphia in November, and in Charlotte in December only a few hours from my brother in Durham (he went to Duke and still lives in there).

It is my goal to run a marathon in all 50 states and achieve my goal of "50 by 60." I'm 55 1/2 now so this won't be particularly easy, especially with my late start. But hey, I've got 18 states down so there are only 32 to go!

I also would like to run London and Berlin and go "5 for 5" in the world's major marathons.

A Fort Worth man and his wife were injured early this morning when a Ford F-150 failed to turn at a T-intersection and crashed through the front of their home!

The couple inside was asleep when the truck came barreling in. The front bumper hit the headboard of their bed against the window.

The impact knocked the man across the room. The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment of her injuries. What a terrible way to get out of bed!

Of course the driver of the truck was not injured, and police have not released the results of his intoxication screening. Suing drunk drivers is one of my primary focuses.

This crazy case reminded me of another I handled last year for an Arlington teenager who was inside a 7-Eleven store when a driver who was parking his car in front hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, crashed through the glass windows, and hit my client. I was able to obtain a copy of the surveillance tape (see below) and use it to negotiate a favorable recovery with the driver's attorney and insurance company.

A 2008 crash caused by an 18-wheeler that left three people dead, led to a guilty plea from the driver facing second-degree manslaughter. The truck driver admitted that he was reaching for cell phone when he slammed into several cars in front of him.

As a result of the plea bargain the truck driver, Jeffrey Knight, will not spend additional time in jail. The truck driver was given one year in jail but was given credit for time served prior to the plea bargain and therefore will not serve any additional time.

In Texas and across the county, people are rightfully becoming more demanding of commercial drivers and less tolerant of their dangerous behavior.

Not only are criminal sanctions being sought but in a truck collision when conduct endangers others, punitive damages are appropriate. When some one takes control of an 80,000 pound vehicle, he needs to be paying complete attention to the small defenseless vehicles around him. I have seen the tragic results of distracted 18-wheeler drivers all too often.

Many people believe that if a driver is charged criminally, it will hurt their chances for civil recoveries. This is not the case. In fact, convictions or guilty pleas like this can strengthen your injury case against the driver and the company that hired them.

If you or a loved one has been in a wreck involving an 18-wheeler, please call me at 817-885-8000 to discuss your case. My firm only handles car and truck wrecks, and I know how to handle these difficult cases. The sooner you call, the sooner I can start helping you get the help and the money you deserve. I have recovered millions of dollars for my clients hurt in wrecks caused by 18-wheeler drivers. Click here to read about the $5.5 million dollar recovery I got for two of my clients.

The best way to make sure you get the maximum recovery when you are injured in a wreck is to hire an experienced lawyer to represent you. I've been practicing injury law for over 30 years and I know how to get you the most money possible. Without a lawyer, insurance companies have no reason to be afraid of you. They know you won't file a lawsuit alone so they won't make you the kinds of offers they would make if you had my muscle behind you. Insurance companies know I will file lawsuits and win at trial.

Beyond that, there are several things you can do to help increase your recovery even further. I will be writing several blog posts about these strategies in the coming weeks.

My first suggestion is to always file your bills on health insurance.

If you have it, filing your accident related bills on your health insurance will help you make more money. A lot of my clients are afraid to file bills on health insurance because they think it will affect their rates or risk their coverage. This is not true. Insurance is designed to pay for your medical treatment when you are injured, and after a wreck is a perfect time to use it. 45 million people in the U.S. do not have insurance coverage. I always tell my clients that if you are lucky enough to have it, you should use it to your advantage.

If your health insurance pays your bills, you will get to keep more of your settlement.

Many people think that the auto-insurance company for the at-fault driver in a wreck will just pay off all of the victim's medical bills directly. This is generally not the case. When you hire an attorney to represent you, when the case is settled, the auto insurance company will issue a single check which covers the entire settlement. From that money, the outstanding medical bills need to be paid.

Obviously, the lower your outstanding medical bills are, the less that will need to be paid out of the settlement and the more you will get to keep.

Continue reading "If you have health insurance, file on it" »

I was just hired to represent a wonderful woman who was run into as she crossed a street in the TCU area in broad daylight. She was in the cross walk and had the "walk" sign. Unfortunately, she has been seriously injured due to the negligence of a driver who should have seen her had he been paying attention and had to spend many days in the ICU at a local hospital.

Our investigation has determined that the driver was negligent under the Texas Transportation Code. However, we may have to file suit to protect our client's rights.

I urge drivers to slow down when they are approaching intersections and look out for pedestrians who may be crossing the street in front of them.

Toyota routinely deceives the court and opposing counsel when it has been sued in connection with sudden acceleration and other defect cases, according to a detailed investigation by the Associated Press that was released yesterday.

Toyota has withheld requested documents, hidden test results, and refused to release data that is stored electronically in its vehicles.

"Toyota has no peer" in disclosing this required information, according to Texas attorney Ernest Cannon, who represented the family of a 35 year old woman, Lisa Evans, who died in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land in 2002.

Another Texas woman was killed when her Land Cruiser suddenly went into reverse and pinned her against her garage wall. However, Toyota claimed in court documents that it knew of no other such incidents, when it had recently settled a nearly identical case.

Continue reading "Toyota Uses Deceptive Legal Tactics to Defend Lawsuits" »

Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) is sponsoring its annual three mile walk on Saturday, April 24th. It will start at the Meyerson Symphony Center in downtown Dallas at 8:30 a.m. and will be a fun way to raise money for this great cause.

Also, students at KD Studio, an acting school in Dallas, are performing in an original multi-media production called "Beyond the Shock - Working Through Tragedy" that they wrote to help them deal with the death of two of their classmates nearly killed in a wreck caused by a drunk driver and to raise public awareness of this critical problem. The performances are on April 15-17 and April 22-24. Call 214-638-0484 for ticket information. All proceeds are being donated to MADD.

I believe strongly in what MADD is doing to combat drunk driving.

I am also a big believer in the value of physical exercise and just got back from the Victory Against Violence 5K in Fort Worth, which I helped sponsor, to cheer for the children from the school I adopted, Rufino Mendoza Elementary.

To support both causes, if you are walking or would like to attend the performance, please call my office and I will contribute to your fund rasing for MADD or pay for your ticket to the show .

It is horrifying that 1,269 people were killed in Texas in alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2008, with 245 dying here in North Texas.

At a press conference today, Dallas Police Chief David Kunklesaid that people who drink and drive are a major risk to other motorists. "For most of us, the greatest danger we face is from the DWI threat," he said.

Registration information and other details about the April 24 walk are at www.walklikemadd.org.

FACT: Texas leads the U.S. in the number of people killed in wrecks caused by drunk drivers - 1,473 in 2008 alone.

FACT: Texas has one of the highest number of people serving time for DWI - 6,200.

FACT: Ralph Lynn Foltz Jr. was arrested for his 11th DWI after leading police on a dangerous high-speed chase through the streets of Galveston and Brazoria counties several months ago.

FACT: John Barton killed two people and injured three other family members in the DFW area Sunday night. He should have been locked up in the state penitentary serving his jail sentence and treated for his alcoholism after being convicted of his third DWI.

FACT: Barton was driving his wife's car which did not have the required engine interlock.
Even so, Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told the Dallas Morning News that "he couldn't operate a motor vehicle unless it had it had an ignition interlock."

FACT: Barton had a valid driver's license.

FACT: The governor has ordered the Department of Criminal Justice to cut five percent from its budget, including $7.8 million from its treatment programs, which will eliminate help for 1,346 DWI offenders.

FACT: The state, knowing that we have a serious DWI problem, recently almost tripled spending on state prison treatment for DWI offenders from $36 million in 2007 to $97 million in 2010.

According to the TDCJ spokeswoman, the extra money has been worth it, with 6,000 new treatment slots being created with the money, including a 500 bed DWI treatment ward in East Texas.

"We've seen it have a positive impact not just on the individuals, but overall on the inmate population, Lyons said. Furthermore, the treatment has treatment has greatly reduced the number of offenders who return to prison.

However, the treatment programs are apparently not working. "We've had him (Barton) in prison twice and done nothing to treat his alcoholism. And now we have a tragedy," said State Senator John Whitmire, the chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

While I understand that our state is facing an enormous potential budget deficit of $18 billion and must cut back services, this is clearly not the place to do so.

"DWI will kill you, just like a gun will. It's one of our most serious crimes," Senator Whitmire said.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is working hard to get more car ignition locks, police sobriety checkpoints, and treatment to stop these tragedies from reoccurring.

The U. S. government announced yesterday that it would seek the maximum fine possible against Toyota because it had failed to promptly disclose its problems with accelerator pedals.

The amount? A whopping $16.3 million.

By comparison,Toyota earned $1.6 BILLION just in its third quarter, in the middle of decreased sales resulting from the recall and negative publicity

And the penalty, which is the largest allowed per recall under the Tread Act, which was enacted after accidents involving Firestone tires on Ford Explorers, pales in comparison with the $2.3 billion settlement last September with Pfizer over fraudulent marketing issues that did not cause countless deaths and bodily injuries.

Toyota has two weeks to contest the fine, which it presumably will.

Also, it was just revealed that just five days before Toyota announced its massive recall on January 21st, one of its top executives wrote that "we need to come clean" about the acceleration problems. Irv Miller, VP of public affairs, wrote in an email that "We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet. The time to hide on this one is over." Miller is now "retired."

And it gets worse: the government has just released documents proving that Toyota knew that floor mats could entrap gas pedals on February 7, 2006 and that those pedals were sticking five months later, even though it did not finally recall its defective vehicles for another 3 1/2 to 4 years.

Regulators have finally decided acknowledged that Toyota deliberately concealed safety information after ignoring the problem for years.

Continue reading "Toyota Defects Only Result in a Fine of $16 Million" »

I am angry that a man withTHREE PREVIOUS DWI CONVICTIONS caused a devasting crash on Interstate 35 in Lewisville early on Easter Sunday morning, killing Kandace Hull, a wonderful 33 year old medical scribe, and her 13 year old daughter Autumn. Tony Hull is still in the Intensive Care Unit at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and his two surviving children, ages 16 and 12, are being treated in Childrens Hospital.

John Barton, 29 will be arrested on two counts of murder when he is released from the county hospital, where he is being treated for some internal injuries.

If you want to feel scared while you are driving on the streets of DFW, this was Barton's fourth DWI ! He had previously been convicted on three different dates but was allowed to be driving on our streets with a valid driver's license!

Barton's first conviction was in 1997, when he was only 17 years old, in Denton. He was convicted again in 2001 in Denton and was sentenced to 300 days in jail. He was convicted of felony DWI in Grapevine in 2006, was sentenced to three years in state prison, but was somehow paroled on Jan. 22, 2009 after serving only 10 months.

 
Barton was speeding and weaving in and out of traffic when he rear ended the Argyle family's Nissan Sentra with his Mazda. The trunk of the Nissan was hit so hard that it ended up in the passenger compartment.

I have some serious questions about what happened: Why was this habitual drunk even allowed to drive wih the "three strikes" against him? Why was he released from jail after serving less than one year of a maximum 10 year sentence? What medical treatment was provided to him while he was in jail so that when he was released, he would not keep drinking? Why did he still have a driver's license? What was his blood alcohol content? Did his car have an interlock device? What is going on with our "criminal justice" system?!

As Mary Kardell, executive director of the North Texas affiliate of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) said, our judges and juries need to give the maximum sentence to drunken drivers. "If these people aren't taken off the road, this will present itself again."

Ms. Kardell pointed out that in the 2009 legislative session, lawmakers rejected proposals to require ignition-lock devices for first-time DWI offenders and to allow sobriety checkpoints.

My sincerest condolences go out to the Hull family.

An 81 year old Hurst man, James Cantrell, was fatally injured Tuesday afternoon on Davis Boulevard in North Richland Hills after the car he a passenger in crashed into another car, North Richland Hills police said.

His wife, driving the couple's Toyota, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

The Toyota was northbound on Davis when it and a southbound BMW collided. The driver of the BMW fortunately only sustained minor injuries.

Any time now that I hear about a crash involving a Toyota, my first thought now is that it might have been caused due to sudden acceleration. As with any wreck involving recalled vehicles, special care must be taken to preserve evidence for a possible lawsuit against the Toyota Corporation. As I discussed in previous blog posts, beginning with this one, I am evaluating Toyota crashes to determine whether defective electronic modules or other vehicle flaws were to blame.

If you have been hurt as a result of a defective vehicle, especially a Toyota or Lexis, please call me immediately at 817-885-8000.

Toyota has top lawyers working for them. Shouldn't you?