Car Accidents

May 16, 2020

Quarantine Has Not Stopped DFW’s Drunk and Reckless Drivers

MedStar-ambulance The COVID-19 virus has forced most people to stay home. So you would assume that our North Texas roads, with less traffic than in decades, would be safer, right? Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Many innocent drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians have recently been injured in scores of collisions. And expect a return to the 80,000 crashes we have in the Metroplex each year once the restrictions are lifted and normal traffic resumes.

DFW crashes this week

Here are a few of the local crashes that were reported online in the past week:

In Dallas, a drunk driver crashed into a stopped Dallas Police Department patrol car and injured four people, including the two officers assisting people in a collision;
In Fort Worth, a man who was DWI crashed his truck into a restaurant in Lake Worth;
In Arlington, a man standing in front of his house was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver; and
In Plano, a man who was DWI ran a stop sign and crashed into a minivan, seriously injuring three people including a child.

May 1, 2020

Keep Safe While Driving As Stay-At-Home Order Is Lifted In Texas

by William K. Berenson

You need to be extra careful on the roads starting today

We are all glad that Governor Abbott has relaxed the quarantine and that many people are returning to jobs, stores, and restaurants. But we Texans have not driven much for the past few months, are antsy, and maybe even a little rusty. There were many more vehicles on the road this morning as Mr. Berenson drove to the office and saw many vehicles driving way too fast — almost like they wanted to be on the track of the Texas Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, we can unfortunately expect an increase in car and truck wrecks in the coming weeks. Statistics from Austin were just revealed that show that serious injuries from vehicle crashes actually increased during the last two months when driving was curtailed. So we wanted to give you ways to keep safe while driving to prevent you from being the victim of a Fort Worth car accident.

April 6, 2020

Fort Worth Car and Truck Crashes Continue During Shut-Down

by William K. Berenson

Health Insurance Here we are in the middle of a terrifying global epidemic. The death rate is spiraling. We have been ordered to stay home, for the most part. Yes, it’s frustrating. But some people somehow continue to drive around like normal.

It’s not just that they are probably spreading the coronavirus. They keep speeding, running red lights and stop signs, and texting while driving — and causing car and truck wrecks, engaging in road rage, and hitting pedestrians.

So even though many less people are allowed to be driving on DFW roads, personal injuries and wrongful deaths continue to happen. And we wonder if the quarantine is making some people drive even more recklessly than usual, as if nothing had changed.

For example, here are just a few of the crashes that happened here in the past week:

April 3, 2020

Funny Friday: Doggone It!

by William K. Berenson

dog-driving-car
We know that we are operating in scary times, so we at Berenson Injury Law thought we would try to brighten things up a little at the end of the week. This is funny, at least in our world of car and truck wrecks.

Man causes road mayhem when he teaches his best friend to drive

This week, police in Seattle gave chase to a car that was driving over 100 MPH and had crashed into several vehicles.

March 31, 2020

Useful Tips for Texas Car Wrecks During the Pandemic

by William K. Berenson

covid-19-symptoms-v03
We are unfortunately in the grip of one of the greatest threats to humanity in our lifetimes. The death total from the coronavirus passed the number of casualties from 9/11 yesterday. We are all frightened.

If you are a client of our law firm or someone who has been in a recent car or truck crash and are seeking to hire a personal injury lawyer, you may be wondering if you should proceed with your case. This post will attempt to answer your questions and observe how the personal injury landscape has changed.

How is a car accident case affected?

March 16, 2020

Will Coronavirus Affect Texas Car Accidents?

by William K. Berenson

I have been asked by several clients if the coronavirus will affect their car wreck cases. No one knows as we are in uncharted territory. On top of the anxiety we are all living through, as a Fort Worth personal lawyer, I am very concerned how the virus could affect injured people’s medical treatment and personal and financial outcomes.

Here are some specific questions I have.

1. Will fewer police respond to crashes?

It is essential that the police come to the scene of a crash and determine which driver was at fault. Without a favorable police report and officers who can testify in court, a car accident can become a “he said/she said” dispute. These are often denied by the other driver’s insurance representatives so a lawsuit must be filed. Juries may not know which driver to side with.

Furthermore, the police report contains important information that the car accident lawyer can use to help his client win the case. This includes the names and identifying information about all drivers, insurance policies, date, time, location, speed limit, weather, vehicle damage, witness’s observations, admissions of fault made, injuries reported, alcohol use, etc.

My office obtains the police report for our clients at no charge. The sooner we get the report, the sooner we can get to work.

February 21, 2020

Some Medical Bills Can Now Be Cut

by William K. Berenson

medical-bills-payment-to-doctor

Medical bills payment can be a huge problem after a vehicle collision

After you have been in a car or truck crash, you may have been rushed by ambulance to an emergency room. Expensive medical treatment and tests were performed. Worrying about how these medical bills were going to be paid was probably the last thing on your mind. So you will be shocked to find out later that you owe a huge sum of money for your medical bills. This happens often.

Berenson Injury Law has been representing injured Texans for the past 40 years and this can be one of the biggest hassles of the car/truck crash process.

We see one or more of these happening:

Objections and delays are made by health insurance companies and medical professionals to avoid paying medical bills;
The hospital or medical providers may be out-of-network; or
The deductible, copayment, or coinsurance rate is not paid; or
The patient is required to repay the medical bills later from his settlement or jury verdict.

If this sounds familiar, that is because you were not told any of this at the hospital or by your doctors. You may not find out until months later when you open your mail and see “surprise bills” which can be $10,000 or more. You naturally assumed that the other driver’s insurance company or your health insurance plan would have paid these by now.

The medical bills morass is unfortunately a common problem after a car wreck, especially here in Texas. A recent study showed that we had almost the highest number of these out-of-network charges in the U.S.

If you have health insurance, you probably do not know which hospitals and doctors (other than your PCP) are in-network. You will have no idea what medical procedures cost. Before this happens to you, you should study your plan’s directory and research costs so you will be prepared.

January 3, 2020

Affluenza Teen and the Epidemic of DWI Deaths in DFW

by William K. Berenson

Crashed-truck

New Year, same old results on our roads

New Year’s Eve, the holiday devoted to getting drunk, took its usual deadly toll in North Texas. Here are reports about the holiday’s DWI deaths in DFW and a related story about the poster child of drunk driving in North Texas – if not the country. These add to our dismal December drunk driving crashes.

Ethan Couch, who caused four DWI deaths in DFW and permanent paralysis to another teenager, is jailed

December 18, 2019

Driving While Intoxicated Collisions Spike Over Holidays

by William K. Berenson

Man-drinking-while-driving

We are all busy enjoying the holidays — some people too much. The period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is one of the most dangerous times to be on the road in Texas. With all the Christmas parties and football games, driving while intoxicated collisions increase. Too many people decide to get too drunk, drive too recklessly, and cause too many car crashes.

Latest driving while intoxicated collisions

Consider these heart-breaking stories from the past few days:

Today — a man who was driving his BMW the wrong way on Loop 820 West in Fort Worth was sentenced to 20 years in jail for intoxication manslaughter. This is the maximum sentence under the Texas Penal Code, Section 49.08. The drunk crashed head-on into the car of Moses Elizondo, a kind 21-year-old who was working late to make money to go back to college.
Yesterday morning at 10:30 a.m. — a drunk driver in Dallas veered off Avondale Avenue near Turtle Creek Boulevard in Dallas. He killed a 72 year-old-woman who was getting a little exercise walking on a raised sidewalk. The driver of the black Audi was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. He had a prior DWI conviction in nearby Uptown a few years ago and made no attempt to help the woman he struck. This crash should be the poster child for why we must do more to crack down on DWIs.
Yesterday about 2:30 a.m. — someone drove the wrong way on the Dallas North Tollway near Forest Lane and hit another vehicle. Fortunately only the wrong-way driver was injured. Often these are high-speed crashes that seriously injure or take the lives of one or multiple people.
Last week –a wrong-way driver crashed into other vehicles at 3:30 a.m. on Interstate 30 near Riverside Drive in Fort Worth. That driver died and another motorist was injured.

December 6, 2019

Drunk Fort Worth Driver Takes Life of High School Senior

by William K. Berenson

Drunk Driving This is the most wonderful time of the year, but it’s also the most deadly for vehicle crashes caused by intoxicated drivers. The holiday season began on a heart-breaking note on Thanksgiving morning when a drunk Fort Worth driver crashed her car into a 17-year-old. Benjamin Floran Castaneda, a senior at North Side High School, tragically lost his life. The drunk Fort Worth driver was traveling the wrong way on Loop 820 and crashed into three vehicles. Other drivers were also injured.

It it hard to believe that the woman was driving while intoxicated just so she could go to the Cowboys game to tailgate and drink more — at 5:00 a.m. She was arrested for intoxication manslaughter. We hope she is given a lengthy jail sentence to serve as a deterrent to other people like her.

Benjamin was a fine young man who wanted to go to college so he could devote his life to teaching mariachi music, his passion. He was in the unique mariachi band at North Side High School.