Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog

Tis the season for parties, so please be on the alert for drunk drivers, as this joyous holiday season is one of the most dangerous times of the year to be in your vehicle.

The National Transportation Safety Board listed Texas among the 10 states that have done the least to prevent alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Last year, 11,000 people died nationwide in drunken driving accidents -- more than 1,000 of them between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve.

This holiday season, drivers need to plan ahead and use every other option to avoid drinking and driving. Call a cab, have a designated driver, but please do not contribute to the drunk driving fatality statistics. The cost of a taxi is very little in comparison to the cost and damage that a drunk driver can cause.

Driving drunk is an inexcusable offense. Many of my clients have been hurt by drunk drivers and it angers me.

If you have been hurt by a drunk driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and punish the offending driver.

A Springtown woman was tragically killed Monday after the motorcycle on which she was riding was struck in Palo Pinto County by a truck.

Linda White, 55, was a passenger on a 2001 Harley Davidson traveling east on FM 1148 near Graham.The motorcycle's driver, who was speeding, lost control at a curve, slid into the other lane and was hit by a 2005 Dodge traveling in the opposite direction.

My prayers go out to the surviving family.

I am only repeating what was published in the newspaper to remind motorcyclists to slow down and exercise caution when they are riding. One momentary lapse of concentration is sometimes all it takes.

Unfortunately, over the last 30 years, I have had to represent many people who have either been seriously injured or have had a family member pass away in a one vehicle collision just like this one. And I have handled my share of motorcycle crashes - and am now afraid to ride my bike on the road when I want to get some exercise.

This story reminded me of a case I just concluded where a wonderful young woman, Bethany, was a passenger in a car that crashed head-on into a tree. I was able to obtain all of the insurance proceeds that were available from several policies, then reduce the outstanding medical bill lien held by her family's insurance company to zero Please click here to see video, read about Bethany's story - especially what an amazing job our JPS Hospital did to save her life..

Continue reading "Parker County Woman Dies In Motorcycle Crash " »

Officer Clinton Weil and some fellow Arlington officers were getting coffee at a gas station near Cowboys Stadium around 1:15 a.m. Aug. 1 when they heard a car crash. A Chevy Tahoe squealed its tires as it sped away from the accident east on Division Street. When Weil caught up with the fleeing driver, he had already been handcuffed and was sitting by his vehicle, drenched in blood.

Weil ran to another officer's patrol car looking for something to slow the blood and found a yellow ShamWow cloth. He said he propped the man up against his leg and held the cloth tightly to the wound for several minutes until paramedics arrived.

The injured man, Julio Garnica, 27, of Arlington, was taken by ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Arlington police arrested Garnica after he was released from the hospital and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for striking the man in the parking lot.

Weil, who said Garnica thanked him, received the Arlington Police Department's lifesaving award this month for his action and said he was surprised by the recognition from his department.

Thank you and congratulations to this officer who went above and beyond the call of duty to save a life even though he was a suspect in a hit and run accident.

Hit and run accidents are an outrageous and punishable offense! Defendant drivers are often never found and this is why it is more important than ever to maintain UM/UIM insurance on your policy. For more information about UM/UIM insurance please see my previous blog (click here). If you are injured in a hit and run accident and have UM/UIM insurance please contact my office so I can get you the money you deserve!

Ex-FW Police Officer Jesus Cisneros suddenly plead guilty yesterday during his DWI trial and received the maximum 20 year sentence. Tragically, Sonja Baker, wife and mother of two, was killed in December of last year just before Christmas.

Shocking new details have emerged in this tragic story. Mr. Cisneros traveled from bar to bar with a partner while they were undercover, posing as drug and gun dealers. After leaving the final bar, Mr. Cisneros' blood-alcohol level was 0.17 -- more than twice the legal limit . He was driving 76 mph westbound on Columbus Trail when he hit Ms. Baker's car as she turned onto Columbus, just blocks from Mrs. Bakers' home.

Another motorist testified that Cisneros nearly crashed into him and that he had run two red lights and was weaving across lanes as Patino called 911.

And worse, the FWPD knew that Cisneros was an habitual drunk and possibly narcotics user, but allowed him to stay on the force. One night he even shot holes in his squad car with his rifle.

This is OUTRAGEOUS! As I often have to ask, what is going on out there? You would think that of all people, a police officer wouldn't drink and drive, disobey our traffic laws that he is paid to enforce, and act like a lunatic.

This has got to stop! Driving drunk is an inexcusable offense. More than 1,400 people die in Texas each year due to DWIs and I call on our police -- who are hopefully not drunk -- to crack down on drunk drivers before they crash into you and me. Many of my clients have been hurt by drunk drivers and it infuriates me.

If you have been hurt by a drunk driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and punish the offending driver.

Federal safety officials want states to require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets due to a surge in deaths since the late 1990s.

Motorcycle deaths have increased over the last decade, even as other traffic fatalities have declined. There were 4,400 motorcycle deaths in the U.S. just last year -- more than in all aviation, rail, marine, and pipeline accidents combined!

Twenty states already require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets. The the rest have limited helmet requirements, except Iowa, Illinois and New Hampshire, which have no requirements.

Texas state law requires a helmet to be worn if the rider is under 21. Those over 21 are exempt if they complete training or $10,000 of medical insurance. That figure is too low, considering how high medical bills from a crash can be, and why riders would not want to protect their heads from injury is beyond me.

I have unfortunately represented my share of riders, often severely injured. I am working on a lawsuit now where a very nice man in his 50s was killed.

If you or a loved one is involved in a motorcycle accident, please contact my office.

John Barton was sentenced to dual life sentences yesterday for killing a wonderful mother and her daughter in April.

Barton had the nerve to tell the jury that he never meant to hurt anyone that night as he darted in and out of traffic at a speed of 134 m.p.h. with a BAC of three times the legal limit. Unbelievable.

He had already been convicted three times for DWI and was not allowed to drink or drive his 2010 Mazda unless it had an ignition interlock as conditions of his parole. But this scum bag revealed that he had never even bought the locking device because "I didn't want to spend the money." Unbelievable.

But he could afford to drink a lot of booze. Bar receipts showed that he may have consumed 34 alcoholic beverages that night. Unbelievable.

No one from his parole office knew any of this. Unbelievable.

Barton killed Kandall Hull, who had just moved to our area and was about to take her medical school entrance exams, and her beautiful 13 year old daughter, Autumn Caudle.

Hull's husband, Tony, and their two other children, 16 year old Dominique and 12 year old Jacob, were also injured in this horrific crash.

Barton was also sentenced to 20 years on each of the three intoxication assault with a vehicle charges. He will be eligible for parole after 30 years. I hope he never gets back on our highways.

I support Mothers Against Drunk Driving and sue drunk drivers. I hope that this tragedy leads to our state legislature increasing penalties, beefing up probation offices, and cracking down on bars that get these drunks so drunk in the first place.

Repeat DWI offender John Patrick Barton, 30, unexpectedly plead guilty at the start of his double felony murder -- the first in Denton County for repeat DWI offenders - and triple intoxication assault trial on Monday. I previously wrote about this heinous case.

Poor Kandace Hull, 33, and her 13-year-old daughter, Autumn Caudle, died Easter morning after their car was rammed as they drove on Interstate 35E near State Highway 121. Hull's husband and two other children were also severely injured in the wreck. What a catastrophe for this fine family who had just moved here from Colorado.

Barton, who had three prior DWI convictions and was not even allowed to drink as a condition of being out of jail on parole, had been drinking all night before the Easter early morning collision. His BAC was estimated to be three times the legal limit!

Drunk and driving? With three previous convictions? On Easter morning? In his wife's car, because his had an ignition lock?

A jury is hearing evidence to determine the punishment for Barton. He faces up to life in prison. I hope he gets it.

Many of my clients have been hurt by drunk drivers and it infuriates me.

Just yesterday, I settled a case for a substantial sum of money for a young man who was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his intoxicated friend. My client sustained various injuries, including burns to his face. This is what he said about my legal service:

I really appreciate how hard you fought to get me all that money.
It is way more than I ever thought I would get. Now I can buy a car,
go back to college, and have money to live on for a long time. You
are awesome! Thanks!

If you have been hurt by a drunk driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and get you the settlement you deserve.

Driving while distracted is a leading cause of crashes. I have handled a lot of these cases. Hopefully our legislature may finally do something to ban cell phone use while driving when it begins its biennual session in January in Austin.

Yesterday, San Antonio representative Jeff Wentworth prefiled his proposed House Bill 138 which would prohibit using a cell phone while driving, except when using a hands-free device or making an emergency call. Hurray!

Studies have proven that talking on a cell phone, even with a hands free device, is comparable to driving while you are drunk -- and even worse. And various states have already banned texting and/or calling for all drivers/those under 18/those with learners permits, or only bus drivers. I was warned not to use my phone in the past few months in Oregon and Connecticut.

Text messaging alone caused more than 16,000 deaths in car accidents from 2001 to 2007. And the death rate in crashes involving cell phones and texting while driving rose 28 percent in just three years, from 4,572 in 2005 to 5,870 in 2008.

My law office has handled many vehicle crash cases when a texting driver crashed into our client's truck or car. I recently settled a case for a substantial sum after I subpoenaed cell phone records to prove that the defendant driver was texting while she was driving -- despite her denials. Click here to read about her case.

If you or a loved one is involved in an accident where the driver was texting while driving or otherwise distracted please contact my office immediately at 817-885-8000 so I can subpoena their cell phone records and fight the insurance company to get you the settlement you deserve.

Texas has one of the largest populations of uninsured drivers in the country. A whopping 22% of the people driving next to you do not carry liability insurance according to the state -- and I think that number is higher.

This is why it is more important than ever to make sure that you have UM/UIM coverage on your policy.

Many of my clients have purchased UM/UIM (Uninsured/Under Insured) benefits but they don't know it -- and they would never receive money they are entitled to until I got them this money. 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 UM/UIM is and how it can help them immeasurably.

UM/UIM is a part of the auto insurance policy which can be used to help pay medical bills and lost wages if it is discovered that the negligent party does not have insurance or if their insurance is not enough properly compensate you for your injuries. So, for example, if your injuries exceed the amount of the defendant's insurance policy limits, at that point your Underinsured Motorist Coverage would then kick in.

UM/UIM covers every insured no matter what vehicle they are in. It also covers everyone in the insured vehicle. 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 UM/UIM.

The UM/UIM statute requires that a signed rejection of the coverage be provided, or UM/UIM 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 when I made companies pay my clients UM/UIM benefits - including one last week -- even though my clients had never even purchased UM/UIM! Needless to say, they were ecstatic to receive this money.

Every insurance company that sells policies in Texas is required by law to offer UM/UIM coverage with every policy. Texas insurance companies offer a minimum of $25,000.00 and up to your liability limits worth of UM/UIM coverage. I strongly encourage you to purchase this coverage at an average cost of as low as $10 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 delighted that my wife and I could meet my dear clients, Mary and John Reutter, on Saturday for dinner. They had been driving around the country and very graciously came here to see me before returning to their Florida home.

In 2006, Mary sustained very serious injuries to her left shoulder and arm when a 18 wheel gasoline tanker - fortunately empty - crashed into their car while they were stopped in traffic on I-35 south of Fort Worth. John injured his back, but fortunately his injuries resolved.

I immediately launched an investigation, filed suit, obtained a restraining order to prevent the trucking company from moving its tractor-trailer or altering or removing evidence, then fought a large Dallas law firm in court for two years. I flew to several states to take depositions of key witnesses, including Mary's excellent orthopedic surgeon at the University of Michigan, and attended the mediation of another injured driver in Houston.

Just before trial, I was able to make the insurance companies for the trucking company pay the Reutters a generous settlement at an all day mediation in Dallas.

To learn more information about their case, click here.

An early morning chain reaction wreck in Arlington unfortunately caused the death of a young woman in her mid-20s and closed down Interstate 30.

The wreck occurred around 6:30 a.m. on I-30 westbound under the Cooper Street Bridge. It left vehicles and debris scattered across all three lanes of traffic.

The wreck apparently was caused when a disabled car, moving slowly near Cooper Street, was rear ended, starting a wreck involving four vehicles.

The female driver of the first rear-ended vehicle tragically died at the scene. Thankfully, no other major injuries were reported.

I have a daughter who is 20 years old and know that many of you reading this have adult children as well, and the thought of any one losing their child, at any age, is chilling. And one of my law clerks, Jennifer, who is 24, drives this route from Dallas every morning to the office.

If you or a family member has been hurt or tragically killed because of another driver's negligence, please call my office today at 817-885-8000. We are here to help get you the settlement you deserve.