wrongful death

July 27, 2020

DWI Crash Takes Life of Dallas Appeals Judge

In a blow to the Texas legal community, Justice David L. Bridges was tragically killed in a horrific collision on Saturday night. Justice Bridges was driving on Interstate 30 when a 32-year-old woman, Megan Smith of Royse City, was driving the wrong way and hit his and another vehicle head-on.

Smith was driving while intoxicated and was arrested for intoxication manslaughter.

Justice Bridges, 65, was elected in 1996 to the 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas. He was born in Fort Worth, according to his biography on the Texas Judicial Branch website. After graduating from Texas Tech law school, he served as an assistant District Attorney and as the Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State Bar of Texas.

July 13, 2020

10 Ways to Stop Drunk Driving Crashes

by William K. Berenson

Walk-Like-MADD-victims-board

Drunk driving is a huge problem here, even during the pandemic

Drunk driving wrecks are the number one cause of fatalities on our Texas roads. They are usually high speed collisions often caused by immature men driving huge pickup trucks. Like almost every vehicle collision, they are 100% preventable.

As a personal injury lawyer who has specialized in motor vehicle collisions for over 40 years, Bill Berenson has represented far too many victims of drunk driving wrecks, including the horrific “affluenza teen” case where his client was tragically paralyzed for life and four people tragically died.

July 1, 2020

Child Deaths From Hot Cars – Why Is Texas #1?

by William K. Berenson

child-car-seat-and-dog

Child deaths are incredibly devastating. Why is Texas number one in this horrible statistic and why aren’t we doing more to stop them?

Today the Star Telegram sadly reported that Texas has ranked #1 in the country over the past 30 years for child deaths in hot cars and trucks. We have lost 135 of our youngest Texans during that time and the country has lost almost 1,000 small children due to the criminal negligence of their drivers.

Here’s another terrible fact: Texas somehow suffers twice as many of these tragedies as California, but they have 10 million more people than we do.

June 26, 2020

Deadly Crashes in North Texas Continue

by William K. Berenson

Ambulance-injured-client With people staying home and driving less, you would hope that an unexpected benefit of the terrible pandemic is that car accidents decreased. They have — but not as much as you would have expected.

That’s because drunk and reckless drivers never take a break. They even seem to be out in even greater numbers, possibly now that the roads are emptier and they can drive faster.

Vehicle crashes are 100% preventable. If drivers followed basic traffic laws, they wouldn’t happen and people wouldn’t be rushed to ERs.

June 12, 2020

Latest Hit-and-Run in DFW Heart-Breaking

by William K. Berenson

Dial 911

Burleson tragedy is the latest in a surge of fatal hit-and-runs

A driver hit a car on Monday night in Burleson, then fled the scene. The life of Tre Allison, a popular 16-year-old, was taken away. He was a top student at Burleson High School, a devout Christian, and found time to be start on its football, basketball, and track teams.

Monday had been an exciting day for the Burleson football team. It was the first day that the quarantined players had been able to practice with their new football coach, the former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna.

June 8, 2020

Burleson Drunk Driving Crash Takes Life of Woman

by William K. Berenson

Late Saturday night a man struck an Alvarado woman with his vehicle in the 3300 block of Interstate 35 in Burleson. She tragically suffered fatal injuries. The driver failed field sobriety tests and was charged with intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle, according to news sources. We offer our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased victim and hope that the driver gets the maximum punishment allowed by Texas law.

I35-Burleson-site-of-fatal-crash

Fatal Driving While Intoxicated Crashes in North Texas are a serious problem

A shocking 10,000 Texans lost their lives in DWI collisions in Texas from 2010 to 2017. This number increases each year. About 100 of the victims each year live in the DFW area.

June 3, 2020

Fort Worth Woman Killed After Truck Crashes Into Hotel

by William K. Berenson

House-hit-bytruck
We are living through unprecedented chaos. Violent protests against racism and injustice coupled with the grim pandemic have rocked our country. Our hearts go out to everyone who is hurting and frightened, especially in the minority communities that are the disproportionately the victims of these two disastrous plagues that have beset the world. So the last thing we needed to see happen this weekend was this horrific crash that took the life of a woman of color.

A 16-year-old male stole a truck and was driving recklessly in a parking lot in north Fort Worth when his truck hit a car. He kept driving and crashed the truck into the wall of the HomeTowne Suites.

Hotel
An employee who was inside a room named Maria Mancha tragically died. The teen hit-and-ran, was chased to a nearby hotel, and was arrested. We extend our sincere condolences to the family of Ms. Mancha.

May 26, 2020

Holiday? Not From Deadly Car Accidents

by William K. Berenson

Memorial Day is the most dangerous weekend of the year

Yesterday marked Memorial Day when we honored those who died on battlefields to give us our precious freedom. But there is little remembrance of those who lose their lives on roads every day due to drunk or reckless drivers.

These victims need to be remembered. And the drunk and reckless drivers need to be stopped.

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:

March 11, 2020

Deadly Texas Drunk Driving Accident Caused By Restaurant

by William K. Berenson

Drinking and Driving Several weeks ago, three teenagers tragically died when their speeding car crashed in Plano at 4:00 a.m. We all suspected that this was just another Texas drunk driving accident. After all, we are always #1 in the country for the number of DWI fatalities, with 820 Texans losing their lives in 2018. It was shocking that an investigation found that an employee of a nearby barbecue restaurant was responsible for selling alcohol to the minors.

While the employee faces criminal charges of up to one year in jail, you may be wondering

(1) how the civil aspect of a DWI crash case works; and