Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog

"Only" 33,963 people died driving on U.S. roads in 2009, the government reported yesterday. This is down from the 37,261 killed driving in 2008. That is the population of the cities of Benbrook and Azle combined!

And here in Texas, "only" 2,984 people were killed in collisions.

Whoopee!

In my opinion, one person dying on our roads is one too many.

Even the U.S. Transportation Department admits that the numbers are too high, but tries to take credit because (1) more people are wearing seat belts, (2) vehicles are safer, and (3) police are enforcing drunk driving laws more vigorously.

It doesn't mention that peoople drove less last year due to the recession,

Continue reading "Texas and U.S. Accident Deaths Decrease" »

I am investigating whether this horrific crash that nearly killed my wonderful young client was caused by a faulty Toyota accelerator.

Here are the latest developments in what I believe may be the biggest and most deadly corporate cover up of all time:

1. Yesterday Toyota finally added the Prius to its limited list of defective cars that needed to be recalled -- only after one suddenly sped up to more than 90 m.p.h. in San Diego. Note that Prius drivers had already complained 406 times of these sudden and potentially fatal accelerations!

2. Last week the family of Mark Sayles filed suit. I previously wrote about this tragic case when Mark's 2009 Lexus suddenly accelerated to 120 miles per hour on a San Diego interstate last August before tragically crashing and killing the 45 year old police officer, his wife, daughter, and his wife's brother.

It was not until their terrifying 911 tape was posted to UTube that Toyota finally began recalling its defective vehicles in September. Toyota has blamed the floor mats for getting ensnared with the gas pedal.

At least 52 people have died and hundreds have been seriously injured in these sudden accelerator crashes.

Continue reading "Toyota Sudden Acceleration Problems Mount" »

Sonia Baker was tragically killed early on the morning of December 15, 2009 when an intoxicated off duty Fort Worth police officer traveling twice the speed limit crashed into her PT Cruiser. I previously wrote about this horrible case.

HERE

and HERE

Yesterday, her family filed a lawsuit against the Pour House bar and grill restaurant which just moved from downtown to West Seventh Street. It served the already drunk Officer Jesus Cisneros four beers and four shots of alcohol. He had already had about six beers before he arrived to meet 30 other police officers to celebrate a birthday.

Officer Cisneros, who has been charged with intoxication manslaughter, is free on a $25,000.00 bail and quit the police force.

Continue reading "Death in Fort Worth DWI Case Leads to Dram Shop Lawsuit" »

President Obama just announced this morning that he may require ALL vehicles to be sold iwith brake override systems that willl prevent these horrific sudden accelerations.

This safety feature -- that is already sold in many other countries but not here for some reason -- will prevent the throttle from sticking in an open position.

Yesterday, the U. S. government finally released records showing that 12,700 owners previously complained about defective Camrys that were built before the recalled 2007-2010 models but which were never recalled. The 2002 Camry, for example, had 175 speed-control defects which were never repaired, even though a shocking 50% of those resulted in collisions -- double the number in 2007 Camrys, where 25% of the sudden accelerations caused crashes.

Don't think this is a problem that affects us? Just this Sunday night in Southlake, a poor woman named Waynoka Ricord, age 77, who was driving home from her job at DFW Airport, died when her 2004 Corolla veered out of control and crashed into a tree.

Continue reading "Toyota Acceleration Nightmare to Lead to Change?" »

Shame on you, Toyota.

It was not until August of 2009, when an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and three members of his family were killed did Toyota finally have to take notice - and only then due to the release of this horrifying video on the Internet:

So what did Toyota do? Did it immediately recall ALL of the defective cars it had sold and repair them? No, it blamed the floor mats! But when 4 people in Southlake were killed in a terrifying sudden acceleration collision the day after Christmas and the mats were found in the trunk, clearly the gas pedal or the engine were the problems. Click here to read the latest on this case

Continue reading "Toyota Lawsuits" »

Questions for Mr. Toyoda

In the weeks since Toyota's safety problems have become international news, Akio Toyoda, the company's president, has apologized repeatedly.

When he testifies on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, he is expected to apologize again and, according to a prepared statement, admit that his company's "priorities became confused" in its quest for growth over the last decade. It isn't enough.

Mr. Toyoda owes consumers a complete explanation of why his company failed -- for years -- to fully respond to complaints about its cars' sudden and uncontrolled acceleration, a problem that may have caused 34 deaths since 2001.

Continue reading "Toyota and Lexus Crashes" »

A 23 year old Fort Worth man was sadly killed early Sunday morning on East Rendon Crowley Road when he was thrown from his car after collided with a tractor-trailer

Police have not said whether speed, failure to yield right of way, alcohol or drug use, or seat belt use were contributing factors.

In cases where the injured party may possibly be at fault, an immediate and thorough investigation by an accident reconstruction expert is needed to determine liability.

If you have been hurt in a wreck with an 18-wheeler, you need an experienced and aggressive attorney who only handles collision cases. Trucking companies and their insurance carriers may repair the vehicles and dispose of incriminating driver logs, bills of lading, receipts, beer bottles and prescription bottles.

I spoke on the topic of "How to Obtain Critical Documents in Commercial Trucking Cases" to fellow members of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and have handled many of these cases. Click here to read about the case I successfully handled on behalf of the family of poor Robert Walters who was tragically killed in a crash (see photo from the scene above) with a an 18-wheeler on I35 in Gainesville.

Police are saying that a Fort Worth fire fighter was drunk when he crashed his Dodge Ram pickup truck into a stopped Volkswagen on Airport Freeway on Tuesday.

Shea Oneill, 37, of Benbrook was released from a Bedford jail Wednesday morning after posting a $1,500 bail.

According to reports, an officer smelled alcohol on Oneill after the crash. The fire fighter refused a breath test and a field sobriety test and was arrested.

Continue reading "Fort Worth car wreck caused by drunk driver - this time a fire fighter" »

Three people were injured in Mineral Wells yesterday when a teenage driver drove into their lane of traffic.

18 year old Meagin Reaves was driving northbound on Highway 281 when she veered left into oncoming southbound traffic, failing to yield and causing Wednesday morning's wreck.

Reaves' vehicle collided with a pickup truck driven by Bob Dempsey, 61, of Mineral Wells. Dempsey's brother, Bill Dempsey, 63, of Huckabay, Texas was a passenger. His injuries included a severe head laceration from the rearview mirror mount.

Reaves and Bill Dempsey were rushed by helicopter to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth due to their serious injuries.

I handled a similar case last year where my client was driving during a rain storm and another driver drove into her lane, causing a massive crash. She broke her leg, was hospitalized, then bed ridden for weeks. I fought to get her a huge settlement.

If you have been hurt in a wreck caused by the negligent driving of another driver, please contact my office at 817-885-8000 for a free no-obligation consultation to discuss your case.

Good news for those seriously injured in the Fort Worth area: John Peter Smith Hospital has just received official approval to be a Level 1 trauma center, the highest level possible.

Previously, since JPS was only a Level 2 center, critically injured victims, including people with severed digits, had to be transferred to other hospitals, including Harris Methodist or Parkland Hospital in Dallas (nationally known for its burns unit).

I have handled serious personal injury cases where urgent medical care was delayed when JPS was not able to treat my injured client.

On at least two ocasions, the patient died as a result One young man had been tragically struck by an 18 wheeler as he stood on the inside median of Interstate 35 helping his driver change a flat tire, but he died the next day at a different hospital, when JPS was only a few minutes from the scene.

Another problem I have heard about from my clients on numerous occasions is the lengthy wait times to see doctors in the ER. I have heard that people have to wait five or six hours in the waiting room, and even longer.

JPS has promised to work on this situation by increasing the hours available at its urgent care clinic in the neighborhood.

According to its Chief Operating Officer, the percentage of ER patients who left without being treated by a physician had decreased from 20 percent in 2008 to 2 percent last year.

Especially since Fort Worth's population is now 720,000, it is hard to believe that it took so long for our county hospital to become a Level 1 trauma center.

On Tuesday morning at 8:00 o'clock a.m., tour teenagers, an adult, and an 11 year old were involved in a three car collision on West Bailey Boswell Road in Fort Worth near Boswell High School.

One teen had to be CareFlighted to Harris Hospital. Another teen in that vehicle was rushed to John Peter Smith by MedStar ambulance.

The driver of a second car, a 16 year old male and his 17 year old male passenger suffered minor injuries.

The adult female driver of the third vehicle and her 11-year-old daughter were taken to a local hospital.

It is unknown what the extent of the injuries are and who is at fault.

Three teenagers died and three others were injured when their vehicle slammed into a guard rail just before midnight on New Year's Day, police said.

The car they were travelling in was clocked by a patrolman at 78mph prior to the crash, and skid mark calculations have led to estimates of over 100mph immediately before the impact.

Adding to the danger of the speed, alcohol may have played a role as well. Official reports about the driver have not been released but alcohol was found in the car. Texas takes underage drinking and driving very seriously. If a driver is under the age of 21 and are caught driving with any detectable amount of alcohol, they can be charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI). If the blood-alcohol level was above .08, the more serious Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) charge could also be filed.

This crash is an horrible tragedy. Slowing down and paying attention would have easily prevented these three innocent people from losing their lives.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a car wreck that lead to injury or death, you need an experienced attorney fighting for you. I am Board Certified in personal injury law and I can get you the best settlement possible. Call today for a free consultation.

About 11:15 a.m. Saturday, a Toyota Avalon ran a stop sign, crashed through a fence and bounced off a tree before landing upside down in a pond outside a Southlake home. Two people were pronounced dead while being transported to hospitals, and two passengers died early Sunday morning.

Monty Hardy, 56, of Southlake and Hadassah Vance, 35, of Euless both died shortly after the crash. On Sunday, Wendy Akion, 38, of Irving was pronounced dead at the Baylor Regional Medical Center in Grapevine. Sharon Ransom, 56, of Grapevine was later pronounced dead.

Investigators said that they did not see any skid marks around the sight of the crash leading them to suspect vehicle malfunction may have been to blame. Earlier this year, Toyota recalled over 4 million vehicles, including Avalons, to correct a problem with the shape of the accelerator that could cause it to become stuck in the floor mat causing the driver to lose control.

A Los Angeles Times investigation, said problems with Toyota's electronic throttle may be responsible for many vehicles suddenly accelerating uncontrollably.

For the safety of yourself and your passengers, please find out if your car was one those recalled. If it was, please contact Toyota to fix the problems, and immediately remove the driver's floor mat. Please contact me if you have any questions or need legal representation if you have been injured doe to an accelerator problem with your Toyota.

Continue reading "Toyota accelerator may have killed 4 in Southlake wreck " »

The family of William Bond, who was killed in a crash on the Dallas North Tollway on December 20, 2007 has filed a lawsuit seeking damages. Bond died after a piece of cement broke off of the median barrier and flew into his car.

The suit blames both the driver, Christopher Spicer, for losing control of his vehicle and crashing into the median, as well as the North Texas Tollway Authority and other companies who did engineering, construction or maintenance on the tollway, said the Bond family's attorney, Linda Turley.

The driver, Christopher Spicer, 44, was indicted for criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony that carries a maximum penalty of two years. But District Attorney Craig Watkins declined to prosecute the case earlier this year, saying no crime other than speeding was committed and it was better handled in civil court.

Obviously this a a terrible tragedy could have been avoided if the other driver had been more careful. I wish the family and my friend Linda Turley the best of luck in their lawsuit.

Continue reading "Dallas death blamed on faulty median" »

Officer Jesus Cisneros had a blood alcohol content of more than two times the legal limit of .08% when his vehicle ran into a car driven by Sonia Baker and tragically killed her.

It is not clear how long Cisneros had been drinking, whether he had been drinking while he was on the job, why he was still driving a City vehicle, and why no one at the Police Department knew that one of its officers was intoxicated while operating a FWPD cruiser.

You would think that of all people, a police officer would know that it is against the law to drink and drive - especially in a police car.

Poor Ms. Baker was married and had two small children.

This tragic and callous disregard of human life is appalling. I demand that the FWPD appoint an independent OUTSIDE attorney to investigate what happened on the night of December 12th, file vehicular manslaughter charges, and insure that this never happens again here in Tarrant County.

I am also appalled that more than 1,400 people die iin Texas 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.