DWI Category Archives — Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog Published by Fort Worth, Texas Injury Attorney

December 6, 2019

Drunk Fort Worth Driver Takes Life of High School Senior

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 holidays 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, 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 others 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.

November 25, 2019

Unusual Fort Worth DWI Crash Resolved

by William K. Berenson

DWI-hit-house

Maximum insurance policies over $100,000 paid to man asleep in his house

Berenson Injury Law has resolved a crazy Fort Worth DWI crash case where our client got hit by this truck and flying bricks while he was lying in his bed. A drunk driver

hit a sign,
swerved to his left,
jumped the median,
swerved over two more lanes of traffic,
drove across a yard, and
crashed into our client’s bedroom.

The next day, our client went to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured rib and other injuries. He could not work for several weeks. Fortunately, he has fully recovered.

We were able to obtain the DWI motorist’s liability policy amount of $100,000 and our client’s Personal Injury Protection benefits of $2,500. The net amount recovered so far by our client (after repayment of his medical bills – which we were able to reduce by over $20,000) is $51,000. EDITED: Now up to $53,000 with a further reduction of bills.

This number will be higher when we collect additional money from his underinsured motorist policy. The man also obtained additional money from his homeowner’s policy.

Our client was very happy and very nicely wrote this five-star review on Google:

Excellent staff, they worked very hard on our case. We are so lucky to have them on our side. Mr. Berenson is the best attorney you can hire. I am very happy with results of my case. I will do recommend this attorney to anyone who needs an attorney who will fight for you. Thank you very much.

October 30, 2019

Fort Worth DWI Collision Results in $225,000 Recovery

by William K. Berenson

Scared-woman-driving

Happy ending for potentially deadly crash

Berenson Injury Law has successfully resolved a case against the drunk driver and the bar that might have over-served him after a Fort Worth DWI collision in April.

A young woman was driving her car on a Fort Worth interstate late one night. Her boyfriend was a passenger. Suddenly a driver’s worst nightmare happened: a car driving the wrong way crashed into them. And guess what, the young male driver was driving while intoxicated. Without any headlights on.

September 10, 2019

Berenson Injury Law Donates $10,000 to MADD

by William K. Berenson

Walk-Like-MADD-victims-board
I joined several hundred people on Saturday morning at the national headquarters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Las Colinas for its signature event, the Walk and Dash Like MADD.

We were there to pay tribute to those who had lost their lives in driving while intoxicated crashes, increase public awareness of this epidemic, and raise money. The comraderie was strong as families displayed photographs and personal displays, rebuilt motorcycles, and other memories of their loved ones.

Families held hands and walked and ran several miles together. A Dallas City Councilman eulogized a former city councilwoman and her daughter who were recently killed in a DWI crash.

August 8, 2019

DWI Crash in DFW Takes Lives of Six People

by William K. Berenson

Drinking and Driving

Sunday morning in Fort Worth, a one vehicle collision caused six people to die at 2:00 a.m. – when the nearby bars were closing – on Northside Drive. A truck speeding out of control failed to negotiate a turn and crashed into a tree. Even a homeless man died. And this heartbreaking story was not even the only fatal DWI crash in DFW that day.

Later that evening, a 17-year-old passenger in a masssive car wreck went into labor and delivered a stillborn child. Her driver was speeding on Great Southwest Parkway when he blew through a red light and crashed into a pickup truck. That driver and his two passengers who were in their 70s were seriously injured. What makes this story even more maddening is that the car driver, who was only 17, was driving while intoxicated and didn’t even have a driver’s license.

What is going on out there?

July 16, 2019

DWI Crash Takes Life of Ex Dallas Council Member

by William K. Berenson

Drunk Driving Carolyn Davis died and her daughter is in critical condition after a Mazda SUV crashed head-on into their car. The horrific wreck in Oak Cliff is just the latest DWI crash in North Texas.

And here is an even worse part of this story, if that is possible. The drunk driver, a 36-year-old man, had already been arrested at least three times for DWI. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after his most recent conviction. But the sentence was suspended because he agreed to drive a vehicle that had an ignition interlock device. Just last week, he completed his probation and the device was removed from his vehicle. This tragedy was a few days later.

UPDATED 7/18 – This tragedy worsened when Melissa Lashan Davis-Nunn died last night in the hospital. The drunk driver has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter. The drunk told police that he had taken Xanax and claimed he was riding with two others, although no other passengers were found at the scene. and was joking with a nurse that he was there for a penile enhancemenet procedure.

As we are often wondering on this blog, what in the world is going on out there? And how can we keep the same catastrophes from happening again?

July 12, 2019

Fifth Circuit Mocks Insurance Company For Refusing To Pay Punitive Damages

by William K. Berenson

New decision is a rare victory for plaintiffs

If you are injured in a crash caused by someone driving while intoxicated, file a lawsuit, and receive a punitive damages award from a jury, will you be paid? A surprising federal court ruling from the country’s most conservative federal appellate court of the 13 circuits decisively answered that question.

Background: Carlos Sanchez got drunk at a bar in San Antonio, ran a red light, and slammed into this car driven by Richard Frederking in 2004. Sanchez pled guilty to DWI.

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.

May 1, 2019

Why Berenson Injury Law Supports MADD

by William K. Berenson

Last year, 10,876 people died in a drunk driving crash in America. That’s roughly 30 people a day or one person every 48 minutes. Those numbers are staggering and as much as we would like them to improve, the fact is, over the years they haven’t. Families affected by drunk and drugged driving deal with life-long effects from trauma, bodily harm and lost friends and loved ones.

Families of victims and survivors

April 30, 2019

DWI Deaths Devastate DFW Family

by William K. Berenson

The latest DWI deaths in Texas hit home on Saturday night when a Frisco family driving on I-35 south of Austin was crashed into by a Dodge pickup. Two beautiful sisters, Hayden Weissman, who was 18, and Peyton Weissman, who was 16, tragically lost their lives. Their father, his girlfriend, and another sister were also injured.

Payton-Weissman-and-Hayden-Weissman

To make this horrific crash even more maddening, Macario M. Hernandez, 61, ran away from the scene. Fortunately he was apprehended and is in the Hays County jail with a bail set at $250,000. At least he’s not getting back on our highways any time soon. Still worse, if that is possible, Hernandez had been arrested for DWI a shocking three times in the past.

This is infuriating. How does this keep on happening? And how can we stop the never-ending pattern of this never-ending carnage on our highways?