Wrongful Death

November 5, 2018

What Is Causing Fatal Motorcycle Crash Surge?

Fort Worth Fatal Motorcycle Crash Controversial

A 30-year-old man was riding his bike when he hit another vehicle at an intersection last week. Tragically, Da’Ron Miller was the victim of another fatal motorcycle crash here. We have far too many of these deadly crashes. Sadly, 501 people drivers and passengers lost their lives last year according to statistics from the Texas Department of Transportation. The police found that Mr. Miller was to blame. But according to this article in the Star Telegram, there is a heated dispute about whether another driver was at fault.

According to witnesses, Mr. Miller had just left a charity car wash by himself when a woman cut in front of him. The police officers did not interview these people.

Based on the woman’s account, the police said that Mr. Miller was speeding in a group of cyclists and that the crash was 100% his fault.

The investigating officers obviously did not witness the collision (although they were down the street investigating another motorcycle crash). And people sometimes have preconceived ideas about who is at liable, especially when a young man is riding a motorcycle.

The police are now saying that they want to talk to these eyewitnesses. A lawsuit for the wrongful death of Mr. Miller will presumably have to be filed to find out what really happened.

There was a similar motorcycle crash yesterday in Arlington. A 23-year-old man riding his motorcycle on New York Avenue died after a woman in a SUV suddenly cut in front of him.

And on Thursday there was another death arising out of a car accident in Fort Worth that was either caused by road rage or a suicide.

Sometimes it is clear who caused a motorcycle, car, or truck collision, but other times it is not. Crashes happen in the blink of an eye. Legal questions about fault, damages, and payment of damages are common. Continue reading

October 17, 2018

New York Limo Crash Was Avoidable

by William K. Berenson

Glaring lapses in public safety were revealed by a horrific New York limo crash last week. The New York governor said that the vehicle and its driver were not legally allowed to even be on the road. As a result, 20 people lost their lives. The crash marks the deadliest transportation collision in our country since 2009. We must take stronger action to prevent disasters like this from happening in the future. Continue reading

October 10, 2018

Who is Liable in a School Bus Crash and How Are Damages Paid?

by William K. Berenson

School Bus Crash Takes Life of Girl Near Dallas

A bus taking 42 students home last week ran off of the road in Mesquite and slammed into an electric pole. The school bus crash caused it to flip over and burst into flames from the impact with the power line. A 12-year-old girl was trapped inside and tragically died.

Three children, three police officers, and the 67-year-old bus driver were rushed to local hospitals, fortunately with non serious injuries according to the Mesquite Police Department. A young man on the bus heroically saved many of the students. It is truly a miracle that more children did not perish. Adding to the heart-breaking story, the sister of the girl was also on the bus.

September 14, 2018

What To Do After A Commercial Truck Accident

by William K. Berenson

It was a typical Thursday two weeks ago when a horrific crash on I-40 in New Mexico reminded drivers across the country the very real dangers from commercial truck accidents. In a disaster scene straight out of Hollywood, a tractor-trailer swerved over the median and crashed into a Greyhound bus head-on.

Eight people tragically died and more than two dozen, including three children, were rushed to area hospitals with serious injuries.

How could such a disaster happen? News reports reveal that the truck lost the tread on a tire. The truck driver’s and his California company’s inspection and maintenance of the truck are being scrutinized. The front tires have been sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, D.C. to be examined. Two lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the victims and their families to learn more about what caused this avoidable crash — and hopefully prevent future ones.

August 2, 2018

Car Crashes Cause Far Too Many Deaths. Here’s How To Stop Them.

by William K. Berenson

When Is the Deadliest Day To Drive Your Car? Today

We hope you are having a good summer. But June through August is the most dangerous time of the year to drive. So please be extra cautious on our roads this month.

And today, August 2nd, is the worst day to drive in America according to a new report.

Why is that? You might think it would be a traditional night of heavy drinking, say Super Bowl Sunday or New Year’s Eve, right?

The answer is that more people are rushing to or from their beach vacations, are more in a hurry and more careless, according to the report.

Dallas-Fort Worth is a very dangerous place to drive

We assume that when we start driving to a destination, we will arrive there safely.

But we have a shocking number of car wrecks here — 80,000 each year in Dallas and Tarrant Counties.

And just in the past two days, the press has chosen to report these two tragedies:

two people died in Keller late last night; and
an 18-year-old passed away on Tuesday after being in a crash in Grand Prairie last week. And as bad as that news was, the city has reached an all-time high record for the number of fatalities to date for a single year.

We extend out sincerest condolences to the families of the deceased.

And Texas in the deadliest state in the U.S.

It is horrible to think that almost 4,000 Texans perished in vehicle collisions in 2016. That’s a shocking one death every two hours.

Here are more sobering details.

We were #1 in the country in this dismal category, even though California has 10 million more people than we do so they should be first.

And an additional 265,000 Texans were injured in crashes.

Care to guess where the most dangerous highway is? Here in Fort Worth, the two-mile section of Interstate 30 between I-35 and Oakland.

Dallas also had many of the most dangerous roads on the list of the most dangerous roads. Of course.

June 14, 2018

$10.9 Million Verdict Upheld In Fatal Bus Crash

by William K. Berenson

The jury verdict arising out of the tragic collision in 2013 that took the lives of three women and injured 42 people was affirmed by the Dallas Court of Appeals.

A charter bus was taking a group of senior citizens from DFW to the casino owned by the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.

Lloyd Rieve, who worked for Cardinal Coach, lost control of the bus in Irving. It flipped over and landed on its side. Sue Taylor, who had organized the trip, and two women, Alice Stanley and Paula Hahn, sustained fatal injuries.

Family representatives filed a lawsuit for the wrongful deaths of Ms. Stanley and Ms. Hahn. The plaintiffs settled with Mr. Rieve and Cardinal before trial and proceeded against the Choctow Nation, which denied any liability. It blamed Rieve and Cardinal for the crash.

The plaintiffs argued that the casino derived most of its income from bus trips like this, with most of them from here in North Texans. Cardinal had apparently failed to perform the required safety background check on its employee, Mr. Rieve, who had a bad driving record.

The trial took two weeks. The jury deliberated for four days.

The verdict awarded the Hahn family approximately $6 million and the Stanley family $5 million.

April 25, 2018

Your Airbags in Your Car Could Kill You

by William K. Berenson

It’s way too dangerous to drive. There are over 80,000 car accidents each year here in Dallas and Tarrant Counties.

But ironically the very safety devices you count on to protect you if you are in a car wreck can be lethal.

A whopping 42 million vehicles in the United States and 100 million around the world have had to be recalled due to deadly problems with the Takata airbags.

There are still over 60,000 of these dangerous cars, trucks, and SUVs on American roads.

Are you driving one of these so-called “time bombs?”

Jewel Brangman unfortunately was. The 26-year old rear-ended a minivan while driving a Honda rental car in California. Although the impact was minimal, the airbag exploded and Ms. Brangman tragically bled to death from a neck artery severed by metal shards.

February 21, 2018

Car Wreck Deaths Up Huge 10% in Texas Last Year

by William K. Berenson

The latest roadway statistics were just released. They are not good.

Texans experienced a startling 10 percent increase in traffic fatalities from the year before.

Since 2010, the toll has shot up a whopping 34 percent.

It’s possible that our highways could be safer.

As this chart shows, from 2003 to 2010 the annual Texas traffic fatality rate decreased from 3,371 to 2,781.

Then the trend reversed and the number shot up to 3,720.

What happened? Continue reading

January 8, 2018

Will 2018 Be a Better Year for Car Crashes in Dallas-Fort Worth?

by William K. Berenson

Based on our first week, unfortunately no.

After an extremely dangerous New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day caused by icy roads and the drunks driving on them, the first week in North Texas started on a sad note with four people dying in car accidents Six people tragically were killed here since that time.

And on Friday police announced the cause of the crash that killed former Dallas Cowboys receiver Terry Glenn in Irving several months ago.

The causes of this weekend’s fatal Dallas-Fort Worth auto accidents were the usual suspects:

Rear-end collision at intersection. A mother and her seven year-old daughter were killed when their passenger van was struck from behind while making a left turn. The driver of the pickup truck that rear-ended the van claimed not to have seen the vehicle at the Johnson County intersection. In other words, he wasn’t paying attention.
Drunk driver heading wrong way. A wrong-way driver on Texas 121 in Grapevine killed a Fort Worth man when he crashed head-on into his vehicle. The wrong-way driver was drunk at the time, and he survived with only minor injuries, of course. He’s been charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and intoxication assault with a vehicle.

October 11, 2017

Our Roads Are Most Deadly In Years: New Report

by William K. Berenson

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration released its highly anticipated 2016 crash report this week. The results are very discouraging.

More people died in traffic crashes last year than in any year in the past decade.

And what’s more, there were increases in every means of transit. Death rates increased for those driving cars, trucks, SUVs, vans, motorcycles, pedestrians and bicycles.

Overall traffic deaths increased by almost 2,000 people — an enormous 5.6 rate of increase from 2015. Since 2008, traffic fatalities had been on a downward trajectory but began to climb in 2012. We’ve now surpassed the 2008 numbers with no apparent end in sight.

I’ve been riding my bicycle long distances to stay in shape as I turn 63 next month (yikes!) and this picture of a “ghost bike” memorializing the death of a cyclist is especially disturbing to me.