Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog

A 21 year old TCU student, Catherine Ratelle, was arrested on Friday night after she had been drinking and texting while driving. She crashed into a tree near the TCU Library up the street from my office.

Ratelle had a blood alcohol content of .15 -- almost two times the legal limit of .08.

She flipped her Jeep Liberty over and it landed on its side. It is lucky she - or other drivers -- were not seriously injured.

Ratelle was arrested and booked. She posted a $2,500 bond.

I often talk about the dangers of driving while intoxicated -- and driving while texting - and this is a good reminder of the danger of doing both.

I am representing a young woman and her brother who were injured when a drunk driver, going the wrong-direction on Interstate 35 near Alvarado, crashed into their car head-on at over 70 miles per hour. The car was destroyed.

The young woman, a college student, required surgery to repair her broken ankle and sustained other injuries, including head trauma. Her brother was fortunately not hurt as badly. It is a blessing that they were not killed or more seriously injured.

I sent my investigator to photograph her injuries. I investigated the case and quickly submitted photographs and medical bills and records to the Defendant's high risk insurance company. Even with these facts, the adjuster tried to delay paying on the claim, requesting unnecessary extra documentation. I got on the phone and screamed at him and his claims manager, then sent the company a copy of the lawsuit I was about to file. The claims manager finally agreed to pay the full policy limits of the defendant's policy without further expense or delay to my client.

In more good news, I forced my client's family's insurance company to pay the full policy limits because it could not prove that he had officially rejected Underinsured Motorists coverage in writing. Even though it had not paid for this coverage, I got $30,000.00 more for this wonderful family.

My clients were obviously very pleased with the results of their case.

Officer Daniel B. Gonzalez, 35, who was fortunately off duty, was arrested Monday at 4:30 a.m. at a restaurant on Loop 820 at North Beach on charges of DWI. Oh, and giving a gun to a felon.

Gonzalez has been on the force since 2002.

His friend, Bobby Joe Newton, 26, faces a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon and discharging a firearm within city limits.

The two were spotted shooting their guns at a street light by a constable who followed them to the restaurant.

This is hardly the first time that a Fort Worth police officer has been DWI. See Here and Here

It is frightening that those who "serve and protect" us -- from drunk drivers, among others -- choose to act like this. The FWPD must do a better job policing the police.

A drunken driving suspect, 18 year old Joshua Reyes, crashed into a poor guy riding his motorcycle in University Park early Sunday morning.

Danny Ray Viola, 56, of Dallas was southbound on Preston Road at 12:40 a.m. when he collided with a speeding Honda Civic that ran the light at University Boulevard.

Viola was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Reyes (see photo) was taken into custody on a charge of intoxication manslaughter.

This story really makes me angry.

I hate drunk drivers. And don't drink much alcohol. And sympathize with law abiding motorcyclists and bicyclists. And my only child goes to SMU and lived in a dorm a block from the scene for two years. And I spent three years studying at SMU Law School a block in the other direction.

There has to be a way to crack down on the wide spread culture of drinking and driving, especially when it kills innocent drivers. I have had to handle far too many DWI cases over the last 31 years.

His 8th DWI conviction???

Michael Smth, a 54 year old resident of Arlington, was convicted Friday and sentenced to 55 years in jail on Friday.

Hopefully this will keep him off our streets. For the rest of his life.

Smith was pulled over in Arlington in January when he was spotted weaving in traffic. A beer can fell out of his car when he was asked to exit his car.

His blood alcohol content was a staggering .24% -- three times the legal limit.

Tarrant County jurors were told that Smith had 12 prior convinctions, including the 7 for drunken driving.

His longest jail sentence to date has been 3 years.

Think there's something wrong with our system of dealing with DWIs?

A Parker County jury sentenced Steven Knight to life in prison -- and more -- after convicting him of driving drunk for the sixth time.

Knight, 45, of Poolville, was already on parole on a 25 year drunken-driving conviction in Tarrant County for being a repeat drunken driver in 1999.

A restaurant owner in Springtown alerted police that Knight appeared to be intoxicated when he left her restaurant about noon on Mother's Day.

Police stopped him just a few minutes later and obtained a blood test, which determined that his blood-alcohol level was 0.32 -- four times the legal limit of 0.08.

Get this: Knight came into the restaurant for lunch, didn't drink anything intoxicating, then stumbled out to his vehicle.

He also had several misdemeanor arrests and an aggravated assault conviction in 1994 in Tarrant County, in addition to a drunken-driving conviction in Johnson County and two hot-check convictions in Parker County.

Knight will be required to serve his 25-year sentence, then at least 15 years of the life sentence before becoming eligible for parole again.

Let's hope he never gets out.

This story is just too hard to believe.

In Arlington at 1:40 yesterday afternoon, a 27 year old man, Thomas Harper, crashed his Tahoe into two cars on North Collins.

Harper then rear-ended a truck so hard he tragically killed the driver, Najee Nasir, who was 42 years old.

As if that weren't bad enough, Harper then peeled out and fled the scene at a speed estimated at 100 miles per hour. with his twin toddlers in the back seat.

Witnesses chased the Tahoe to get a license plate.

Harper then rammed his SUV into the rear of a Dodge pickup stopped at the intersection of Collins and Brown Boulevard so hard that he killed its driver too.

Witnesses rushed to the Tahoe to render aid and found Harper "ranting and raving, half laughing."

Harper started firing a gun out of his window and shot and killed Clarence "C.J." Robinson, 19, of Arlington, who was on his way to work at the nearby Potbelly's Restaurant. He did not own a car.

An eyewitness heard Harper say as he was being pulled out of his Tahoe by Arlington police that "I'll shoot somebody again."

Harper was obviously high.

He is being held in the Arlington jail on charges on murder and intoxication manslaughter. Bail is set at $550,000.00.

And just four days earlier, Robinson's older brother died the same way -- with a gunshot wound to the head -- in a New Orleans-area shooting.

Robinson had left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina with his siblings and was trying to make money to help out his sister and his nephew.

As I often have to ask, what is going on out there?

A Fort Worth woman faces intoxication manslaughter charges in the death of an 18-year-old Fort Worth man.

Althea Voynn Wilson, 28, was arrested Thursday after the pickup she was driving late Wednesday ran a stop sign and struck another truck in the intersection of East 2nd Street and Pecan Street in downtown Fort Worth,

Sean Michael Satterfield was thrown from a 1996 Chevrolet truck when it was hit by a 1998 Dodge truck that was southbound on Pecan Street.

Satterfield died at the scene from blunt trauma of the chest.

The driver of the Chevrolet, Arnold Razon, 19, of Fort Worth, also was arrested and faces charges of driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana

The Dallas County Sheriff's Department has agreed to move 20 of its 100 deputies to north Interstate 35 starting in January.

It's about time. That section of highway sees a high level of speeding, reckless driving and crashes. In 2007 the section between Northwest Highway and LBJ Freeway had the city's second-highest number of alcohol-related crashes for years. Think that's because it's next to all of those strip clubs, liquor stores and nightclubs?

Sheriff's deputies, not Dallas police, will now patrol I-35 from Interstate 30 to LBJ Freeway, pull over drunk drivers (we hope), and clear accidents.

In one recent 12-month stretch, the Dallas Sheriff's Department investigated 5,024 crashes and averaged 25 minutes to clear freeway accidents, compared with the city of Dallas' average of 2.5 hours.

Even so, its funding was slashed due to budgetary constraints.

The unit has cost the county $12 million a year, but traffic ticket revenue offset only about half that amount.

I guess the city of Dallas doesn't care about the millions of dollars it spends on its police officer's and ambulances, not to mention the property damage, medical bills incurred at Parkland Hospital and other facilities and loss of life and injuries sustained by innocent drivers.

Here's a horrible story: an Arlington woman caused a fatal collision when she was driving while intoxicated on Interstate 35W -- the wrong way -- late Friday. Her blood alcohol content was .24% -- THREE TIMES THE LEGAL LIMIT.

And she was seen by a police officer driving into heavy traffic with her hands behind her head.

As I often say, what is going on out there?

Brittany D. Burton, 25, was charged with first degree murder -- not just intoxication manslaughter - under a new law that allows criminal prosecution if a person performs an act that is "clearly dangerous to human life and causes the death of another person ( her six month old daughter) while committing a felony.

Police say a Fort Worth DWI officer spotted Burton driving her Jeep Liberty north in the southbound lanes of the 2700 block of I-35W around Berry Street shortly before midnight Friday.

With emergency lights on and his siren blaring, Officer C. Norman traveled in the northbound lanes beside the wrong-way driver, trying unsuccessfully to get the driver to stop.

Continue reading "Fort Worth DWI Crash Kills Local Resident" »

A Dallas man was critically injured Sunday night when he was struck on his bicycle while riding on West Euless Boulevard by a drunken driving suspect.

Anthony Jamal Miles, 24, remains in very critical condition at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Anthony, my prayers are with you.

Earlier this week, Euless police released a photo of Anthony in his hospital bed in hopes that someone would recognize him, as he was carrying no identification.

The driver was identified as Bryany Ruth Hildreth, 30. She was arrested on a charge of intoxication assault and was released on $10,000 bail.

This absolutely sickens me.

As you know, I hate drunk drivers and go after them with a passion. I am proud to be one of the few approved attorneys on MADD's list in Tarrant County.

I have successfully prosecuted many cycling cases, including finalizing a case a few months ago where a wonderful Fort Worth woman, Donna, was hit while she was riding on the shoulder near Boswelll High School and fractured her hip.

I have ridden my road bicycle to stay in shape and have completed some 100 milers, including the notorious Hotter 'N Hell a few years ago. I have owned a motorcyle. I know how dangerous it is for cyclists out there.

Note to cyclists: Please ride VERY carefully. Please do not ride at night. Please stay off of busy roads. Please do not ride by yourselves. Please wear bright clothing and reflective gear. Please carry ID and notify your family where you are riding.

If you need legal assistance with handling your motorcycle or bicycle injury case in North Texas, please contact me at 817-885-8000 or use the form at the top of the page to e-mail my office for a free case evaluation. Click here to read a client survey from a very satisfied injured in a bicycle collision.

I call on the protesters across America to focus on some of the worse abusers of power: insurance companies.

Legislators do nothing to control them. Yet they routinely rip off thousands of people damaged in motor vehicle collisions --and brazenly pocket billions of dollars they collect from their policyholders when they refuse to pay claims.

The Dallas Morning News investigated this problem in the article on its front page yesterday. Its reporter talked to the leading state official in charge of policing the insurance companies, House Insurance Committee Chairman John Smithee, R-Amarillo. He claimed he had growing concerns about certain insurers who regularly refuse to pay claims in which their policyholders are at fault. "I get calls about this all the time," he admitted.

So why doesn't he/the Legislature do something to stop these rampant abuses?

Why was Old American County Mutual Insurance Company allowed to illegally rescind hundreds of auto policies from 2005 - 2009 after claims were filed and not pay any money to injured drivers, even though hundreds of complaints were filed with TDI?

Continue reading "Occupy Insurance Companies!" »

The city of Arlington is on its way to a historic high in driving-while-intoxicated fatalities.

Arlington police are increasing their commitment to their annual DWI Task Force campaign -- deploying more officers, conducting more checks at bars, and implementing a no-refusal policy.

Under the no-refusal policy, drivers stopped on suspicion of DWI are required to blow into a Breathalyzer or be served with a search warrant to obtain a blood sample.

A staggering number -- 33 people -- have been killed in drunken-driving crashes in Arlington already this year.

As I often have to say here, what is going on out there?

Continue reading "Arlington DWI Rate To Drop? " »

I am delighted that my clients are "very pleased" with my legal services.

In October, 11 clients filled out surveys reporting they were "very pleased" with their results and treatment and would recommend me to others needing legal assistance.

In September, 11 people all had 100% positive comments about their experiences.

In August, 12 clients said they were very glad they had hired my law firm.

We have had well over 100 clients fill out these surveysthis year -- and all had nice things to say.

As I've said it before, I am blessed to have the greatest clients any where.

I believe in the Golden Rule and always ask how I would want to be treated by my attorney -- then do everything I can to make sure my clients are happy. I fight to make sure my clients are well compensated for their injuries.

If you are shopping around for the best attorney to represent you in a collision case, first see what others who have used my services have to say. You will be equally pleased. I guarantee it.

The Dallas Morning News reported today that our Supreme Court justices usually rule in favor of big insurance companies and other major economic concerns and do not give individuals and small businesses a fair hearing. They have already made up their minds ahead of time which side they want to win.

Noone can possibly think this is fair.

So why is this happening?

Here are excerpts from the article:

...What the (nine current appointments to the Supreme Court) have in common, critics say, is a strong enough leaning toward corporate interests that it's nearly impossible for individuals to win cases against large corporations.