Car Accidents

July 19, 2019

$200,000 Recovered for Car Crash Victim

If you are researching a Fort Worth car accident lawyer, here is an example of how we can help you get the compensation you deserve for your collision case.

The crash

Our client was driving her car through an intersection when a truck ran the light and caused a pile-up.

Our firm immediately went to the scene with our expert and conducted an investigation. We got recorded statements from several eyewitnesses, spoke with Fort Worth Police Department officers and traffic camera technicians, and secured video footage of the collision.

However the other driver adamantly claimed that our driver was at fault and his liability insurance company denied the claim.

Mr. Berenson strongly argued that the other driver was liable but his insurance company refused to budge, claiming its witnesses including the passenger supported its policyholder. So Mr. Berenson drafted a lawsuit, emailed it the adjuster and its attorney, and alerted his process server.

The settlement

The next day in a final attempt to avoid litigation, Mr. Berenson called the the adjuster and was able to make him pay the truck driver’s entire insurance policy amount of $100,000.

Other people had been injured, one person seriously, and he wanted to make sure his client recovered the maximum available. Going to court reduced the likelihood of that happening with multiple claimants and the usual conflicting accounts. In addition our client had already been out of work for a month and needed money quickly.

We then obtained the entire amount available under our client’s underinsured motorist policy in the amount of $100,000.

Our client received $120,021.00 after we negotiated a huge reduction in her health insurance reimbursement claim. Most people have never heard about this, so here is more information on this topic: How subrogation affects car accident claims

July 10, 2019

Lawsuit Filed For Couple Crashed Into By Commercial Vehicle

by William K. Berenson

…. and who shot J.R.?

Berenson Injury Law has filed suit on behalf of a husband and wife who were seriously injured when they were rear ended by a commercial vehicle on Interstate 35. Both could have died. They suffered multiple fractures, had to undergo surgeries and extensive physical therapy, and have a very difficult time recovering from their massive injuries.

The young commercial driver admitted that he looked away and didn’t notice the traffic in front of him slowing down. We intend to prove that he was texting while driving in violation of state and federal laws.

July 9, 2019

Rollover Accidents More Common In These Types of Vehicles

by William K. Berenson

BLOG-W-FT-W-CRASH-FRI Deadly car and truck accidents happen across the DFW area almost every day. One happened near our office last week when an SUV rolled over on I-30 which critically injured several people and took the life of a 22-year-old woman. Here’s a photograph from the scene. And on Sunday night, two people were ejected from a truck in a rollover accident east of Dallas. Since rollovers accidents have the highest fatality rate of any collision, this is an important public safety topic for all of us.

Causes of rollover accidents

Rollovers happen for a number of reasons and are more complex from a liability viewpoint than other vehicle accidents.

July 3, 2019

How To Stay Safe Over July 4th Weekend

by William K. Berenson

On Independence Day we celebrate the birth of our great nation and the best form of government that has even been invented — democracy. The holiday is a highlight of the summer and can be a lot of fun. But July 4th is also the most dangerous day of the year according to the National Safety Council. There are so many ways people can get injured. This blog and our commercial truck blog are always trying to keep people from being injured, so here are some useful tips about how to stay safe this weekend.

1. Cars, trucks, and motorcycles

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Let’s start with the only cases we handle. There are more crashes over the July 4th weekend that at other times of the year. Sadly, 42 Texans lost their lives on July 4th or the day before last year in motor vehicle collisions. Here’s why.

June 27, 2019

Speeding Causes Death of Dallas Girl

by William K. Berenson

When three drivers are speeding at 100 mph, a deadly crash is inevitable

There is no excuse for driving too fast. Anytime you do, you put yourself, your passengers, and every one else on the road at tremendous risk. People who speed will crash into other vehicles at a much higher rate of speed, set off violent chain reactions, and cause injuries and even deaths. These become heart-breaking stories, like what happened recently in a Dallas crash that tragically ended the life of a 9-year-old girl.

Olivia Mendez was in a car that was making a left turn at Lake June Road in Dallas. She had just graduated from her school that evening and was almost home. But three muscle cars were speeding down the road from the other direction. The driver of a Dodge Challenger couldn’t stop in time and slammed into the girl’s car, throwing her from it. Her parents and her 3-year-old sister were also seriously injured. The police arrested the three racers and I hope they get long sentences. But nothing can replace the life of this sweet young child. We made a donation to the family’s GoFundMe site and hope you can as well.

June 20, 2019

Texas Lane-Change Crashes Taking a Toll

by William K. Berenson

car-crash-woman-with-pain
You may have seen that crazy show called “1,000 Ways to Die.” You can guess that its sequel, “1,000 Ways to Crash on Texas Roads,” is being filmed now. News stories often report the countless ways that over 250,000 of us — yes that’s one-fourth of a million people – get injured each year in car accidents. They have one thing in common: someone didn’t use the basic level of caution required of anyone behind the wheel, especially in Texas lane-change crashes.

Most recently, a Garland teen was a passenger in a sports car north of Austin when she met a tragic ending due to an unsafe lane change. The 17-year-old driver of his car was going too fast and when she caught up to a slower moving vehicle, swerved to get around it. The car flew off the road and flipped multiple times and the young man sadly lost his life.

Too many Texas lane-change crashes result from “the 3 I’s”

June 14, 2019

Wrong-Way Crash in North Fort Worth Causes Fatality

by William K. Berenson

Near Same Location as Deadly Wrong-Way Crash Last Year

Texas leads the country in many ways. But not all of them are good, like being #1 in the number of times a wrong-way cr ash happens. Sadly, 237 Texans die in these collisions each year and one of these easily preventable collisions just happened again. This time a driver sped down the wrong side of Jacksboro Highway near Lakeside and slammed head-on into another vehicle. The other driver was hospitalized and was lucky to survive.

There are several reasons why these idiotic wrong-way crashes happen. Usually of course it’s alcohol and/or drugs. But sometimes a driver is on medications, drowsy, easily confused, or elderly. And in crazy cases, these crashes happen when the driver is fleeing the police, as was the case earlier this year at almost the same location.

In all cases, we must do more to stop innocent motorists from being hurt.

Using Modern Technology to Reduce Their Frequency

Texas transportation authorities are taking steps reduce the number of wrong-way crashes. These techniques include sensors and related technological devices that notify law enforcement officers when a driver has entered a highway going the wrong way.

June 11, 2019

Common Causes of Car Accidents in Dallas-Fort Worth

by William K. Berenson

Hundreds of thousands of new residents are adding to the high rate of car crashes

Our DFW area was the fastest-growing area in the U.S. last year. Fort Worth almost added the most people in the country. Cowtown is suddenly the 13th largest city in the U.S., with our population almost doubling to about 900,000 people in less than 20 years. And other cities in North Texas, including Frisco, McKinney, and Rowlett, were among the top 10 fastest-growing cities last year. But that’s not all good news. With this rapid population growth comes a serious problem that I see on a daily basis: more car accidents in Dallas-Fort Worth and sadly, more injuries and deaths.

The word has clearly gotten out about how great it is to live in Texas. Millions of people have found out this is the one of the best places to live on the planet. Texas adds almost 400,000 new residents a year, the most of any state in the U.S.

But Texas highways were already among the country’s most dangerous. Here in North Texas parts of I-35 and I-20 are on the top 10 worst roads lists in the U.S. An estimated 3,600 people tragically lose their lives in car and truck wrecks each year, one every two hours. A fellow Texan is injured in a vehicle ever two minutes.

I’ve lived here most of my life since I found out about the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin and transferred from a small liberal arts college in the East back in 1974. I wasn’t born here but I got here as fast as I could.

June 6, 2019

Why So Many Road Fatalities in Fort Worth and Dallas?

by William K. Berenson

12 road fatalities in Fort Worth and Dallas area in just the last 5 days! (Edited)

It is shocking that over 3,500 people die on Texas roads each year — many of them here in North Texas. These stories are heart-breaking:

1. Yesterday a crash between an 18-wheeler and a Corvette sadly claimed the life of a 26-year-old man in Fort Worth. Two others were injured, one critically. The crash shut down Loop 820 in the eastbound direction near the I-35 interchange for hours. It is not known what caused the crash.

I send my condolences and prayers to the man’s family and to the victims. I was chilled to read about this crash since I filed a lawsuit several years ago against the large company responsible for the death of a man at almost that same location and went there several times to investigate the scene.

2. Last night in south Dallas, a pick up truck driver ran a light, crashed into a SUV making a left turn at an intersection, and took the lives of a mother and her 6-year-old son. The young man driving the truck was DWI. He faces intoxication manslaughter charges.

3. Earlier yesterday a traffic wreck in south Grand Prairie caused another fatality when a driver lost control of his car on a wet road and collided head-on onto an oncoming car.

4. On Sunday two people lost their lives in a Glen Rose crash.

5. And I am helping the family of a woman who was killed in Dallas several weeks ago and two other people who were injured, one seriously. A man who was DWI — at only 4:00 in the afternoon — crashed into the three women as they were getting out of their car. The drunk fled the scene. Fortunately he was apprehended and is in the Dallas County jail. Since he only has the standard liability policy and there is only a standard underinsured policy, I am representing the family and victims at no charge. I hope that he is given a long prison sentence.

Updated Friday:

6. Yesterday afternoon, two young men died in Dallas when one of them was drag racing with another car and lost control, causing him to hit a guard rail and bounce off into oncoming traffic.

7. And last light a violent crash on I-20 in Arlington was caused by an intoxicated driver who ran off the road and hit two people — a young woman and her father who had come to rescue her — who were standing outside her car. They and another person inside the car lost their lives. The cars exploded and a fire storm erupted that could have caused more deaths. As if this tragedy were not devastating enough, a police officer rushing to the scene was involved in a collision and seriously injured.

8. Today a Grand Prairie Police officer was standing outside of his patrol vehicle with his radar gun out when he was tragically struck and killed by a 17-year-old kid racing a sports car on the George Bush Turnpike in broad daylight.

What in the world is going on out there? The wrongful death count on DFW roads is out of control.

May 23, 2019

Two More Ways Car Wreck Lawyer Can Help You

by William K. Berenson

The average settlement of a car accident in Texas was about $15,000 a few years ago. That may seem like a lot of money. But on the other hand, if may be far less than the case value. If you have been in a car wreck, how do you know what your auto accident case is worth? How do you know if you should file a lawsuit to get the compensation you deserve?

The only way to know is to have a good car accident attorney on your side. When you are facing the pain and stress of being injured on top of mounting medical bills and lost income, it may be tempting to take whatever amount the adjuster offers. He or she is counting on that. It’s a mistake to try to negotiate the case yourself. You can cost yourself a lot of money. An experienced attorney can protect you.

1. Settling versus litigating