Louisville Personal Injury Law Blog

The federal Department of Transportation has enacted a regulation whcih would ban use of mobile telephone use by drivers of comercial vehicles invovled in interstate commerce.  The reason for the regulation is to prevent personal injuries and property damage on the nation's highways.

According to the DOT, driver distraction poses a high safety risk and that hand held telephone use has a higher safety risk than other distractions such as eating while operating a motor vehicle. Even reaching for a telephone creates a risk three times higher than not reaching for an object.  The DOT researched the risks over a period of years and conducted a Distracted Driving Summit in 2009 prior to enacting the regulation.

In instances of personal injury litigation involving trucks and tractor trailors, it will be essential to obtain the cell records prior to filing a suit and or settling a claim

There is much bad news about lawyers reported in the mainstream media. However, for printed article of scandal, there are untold stories of lawyers doing good things for clients and for the community.  From time to time, we hope to highlight leaders that are lawyers doing the right thing.

One such lawyer is Chris Harrell who is fighting for the rights of Occupy Louisville. There is no glamor in fighting this fight and certainly no large paycheck.  Harrell is doing this because he believes in the cause.  While others may not believe in the agenda of this group, the right to free speech is important to all of us.

One reason that injured persons need lawyers is due to the fact that insurance companies do not fight fair.  In years past, the insurance companies attempted to meet their obligations to their policy holders, a.k.a. their customers, by settling claims quickly and fairly.  Independent researchers have show that these policies have changed.  The information is must reading for anyone who wants to know how and why the industry really works.

The new game is to delay as long as possible in order to increase their own bottom line.  This is used in every type of case from personal injury to property cases.

We see this tactic every day.  However, the proof of this has now been exposed in litigation where the insurance companies' own consultants have proven that it is a deliberate tactic to wear down the policy holders and force them to have lawyers in order to keep the bargaining fair.

The solution is not "tort reform" but enacting legislation to protect consumers and the injured from the heartless tactics of the insurance industry.

The law on Facebook and other social media and their relationship to personal injury cases continues to evolve.  As with all advances in technology, the law moves slowly and is difficult to predict.

The most recent decision states that the injured party did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in information published on social networking sites, and therefore, disclosure of private information was warranted to the defendants.  The turning point in the court's decision was the the account settings when the accounts were created.  The case is Romano v. Steelcase, Inc. and is from New York state.

Once again, it is essential for all persons to be careful with personal information. One never knows if an injury is in his/her future.  Many personal injury case are being determined based on Facebook content.