Articles Posted in Truck Accidents

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The Texas Wrongful Death statutes fail to compensate many legitimate injuries while preserving the right to make a claim of many who have no damages. One example is the case of Syleta Harkins. In July of 2013 Syleta Harkins, an autistic, nonverbal, disabled adult, was left in a group home van and died. Harkins had never married and had no children. Her parents predeceased her. Under Texas law only parents, spouses and children may bring a wrongful death claim. Harkins’ siblings loved and cared for her but siblings have no wrongful death rights under Texas law. Texas law fails to recognized the traumatic effect of the loss of a sibling.

Texas law likewise fails to protect partners in long term, family-like relationships. The couple who lives together for decades and raises a family together has absolutely no wrongful death rights if one of the partners is killed by the negligence of a drunk truck driver.

Another equally unjust situation arises when a child who is being raised by grandparents is killed in an auto accident. The grandparents, who have a close, parent-like, familial relationship with their grandchild and will suffer until their dying breathes, have absolutely no wrongful death rights while the biological father, who oftentimes may never have laid eyes on the child and is nothing more than a sperm donor, has a right under Texas law to wrongful death damages.

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Underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage is coverage which you have the option of buying in order to provide you additional coverage in the event you are injured by a motorist who has insufficient or no coverage. The Texas Financial Responsibility Law only requires that Texas drivers carry the minimum required insurance coverage which provides $30,000 per person and a total of $60,000 per accident in liability coverage. Because it is common for Texas hospitals to charge in excess of $30,000 for an emergency room visit even in cases involving relatively insignificant injuries it is not uncommon for a motorist in even a modest accident to need more than the minimum limits. Furthermore, Texas unfortunately has a large number of people who violate the Financial Responsibility Law and drive uninsured. In both of these situations the victims’ UM insurance kicks in and provides additional coverage. At the point that the victim makes a UM claim then the victims own insurance company in effect becomes the additional insurer of the at-fault driver thus providing additional insurance coverage available to the victim.

UM insurance has a number of characteristics which are different from first party liability insurance. UM insurance does not pay punitive damages. If you are injured by a drunk driver you would and should normally collect punitive damages from the drunk. However, it would serve no social policy purpose to collect punitive damages from your own insurance company and thus punitive damages are uncollectable under a UM policy.

When you make a UM claim you are, in effect, assigning a portion of your claim against the underinsured or uninsured driver. Thus, before you settle with and release the UM driver you must obtain the permission of your UM carrier because by releasing the at-fault driver you destroy the ability of your UM carrier to collect their UM payments from the at-fault driver. If the at-fault driver is solvent and you release them without the permission of your UM carrier then you may be waiving your right to make a UM claim.

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Tractor-Trailer Accidents Caused By Tire Failures Due To Excessive Speeds

Tractor-trailer tires being operated at speeds that exceed their design limitations is causing an increasing number of catastrophic accidents. The increase in the allowable highway speed limits has resulted in many heavy truck tires being operated at speeds that are unsafe. Many truck tires were designed at a time when speed limits were much lower and the tires had a maximum sustained design limitation of around 75 miles per hour. Now many states, including Texas, have posted speed limits of 75, 80 and even 85 miles an hour. Operating truck tires at excessive speeds for an extended period of time caused excessive heat which degrades the tire more susceptible to blowouts, road hazards, a separation.

From 2009 through 2013 there were in excess of 14,000 fatal heavy truck and bus crashes in the United States which took 16,000 lives. The major truck tire manufacturers include Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Yokohama and Firestone with Michelin selling the most tires. The tire manufacturers blame the truck operators. The truck operators blame the tires as defective products. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) thus far has concluded that operating the tires in excess of the intended speeds is the culprit. No doubt both bear some portion of the responsibility.

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The current oilfield fracking boom in Texas is causing a rash of auto accidents and trucking accidents that result in multiple wrongful death cases. The hurried pace, long hours and huge equipment that comes with any oilfield boom produces oilfield accidents that put not only the oil and gas workers but also the rural residents at risk.

When an 80,000 oilfield tank truck driven by a weary driver goes around a curve in the middle of a rural road and meets the family station wagon multiple people die and that’s just what is happening. Accidents in which more than three people are killed have become so common that they have been given their own name … “Triple Trajedies”. Triple Trajedies increased in Texas from 72 in 2010 to 148 in 013 … an increase of more than 100%.

For more information contact www.earldrottlaw.com.

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A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas, alleges that thousands of highway guardrail end caps are defectively designed  with the result that when a vehicle runs off the road and collides with the end of the guardrail instead of cushioning the impact the guardrail spears the vehicle.  At issue is the Trinity Industries’ ET-Plus guardrail manufactured by a division of Dallas-based manufacturer Trinity Industries .   The Center for Auto Safety recently filed a motion requesting federal judge Rodney Gilstrap to unseal many of the documents in order to determine whether a recall of the  guardrails was necessary.

For more informational visit https://www.earldrottlaw.com/.

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The increase in oil and gas exploration and production in Texas is a mixed blessing. Along with an increase in jobs comes a substantial increase in loss of life, limb and property. Commercial auto losses and workers compensation claims are on the rise.

TXDOT data reflect that in 2013 the Eagle Ford Shale region had 236 fatal crashes and a total of 3,430 serious and/or fatal accidents, many involving oilfield trucks, which represents a 7% increase over 2012 statistics.

The Permian Basin area experienced 4,371 serious injury accidents including 358 fatalities representing a 13% increase over 2012.

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The City of Denton recently passed a complete ban of texting while driving. The new law goes into effect on May 20 and carries a fine of $200. The cost of the fine is nominal compared the potential effect that a texting while driving ticket can have on insurance rates. The insurance companies that insure motor vehicles are fully aware that drivers who text while driving are many times more likely to cause a serious injury auto accident than the general motoring public.

The texting driver is operating under a visual distraction, a cognitive distraction and a motor skills distraction. When taken together these distractions have a multiplier effect rather than a mere additive effect and operate to create a total, complete distraction.

Texting is arguably worse a DWI/DUI driver because the intoxicated driver usually has their visual, cognitive and motor skills available to a decreased degree. The texting driver has all three of these critical faculties temporarily distracted from the operation of the motor vehicle. It is likely only a matter of time until texting while driving is banned statewide.

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In a Texas Wrongful Death case a wrongful death claimant is entitled to recover “pecuniary losses”. Pecuniary losses have been held to be the present monetary value of the benefits that the claimant had a reasonable expectation of receiving from the deceased had he not been killed. Pecuniary losses in a wrongful death case include not only money but also things that can be valued in money. They include the loss of care, maintenance, support, services, advice, counsel, and reasonable contributions including loss of inheritance.

Loss of inheritance requires a showing of the decedent’s probable loss of earnings less what would have been consumed during the decedent’s lifetime. The proof of loss of inheritance is often extremely speculative and for this reason this element of recovery is less common.

The most common component of pecuniary loss is loss of support. The jury has considerable discretion in determining loss of support. Establishing loss of support requires that lifetime earnings be determined. This usually involves retaining an economist to review the deceased’s employment and earnings history and calculate the net present value of the after tax earnings. Then the amount of the contribution to the claimant is determined. There is no precise mathematical formula for determining the contribution to the claimant and the jury is given broad discretion. Currently the leading case regarding the recovery of pecuniary damages is Christus Health v. Dorriety, 345 S.W.3d 104(Tex.App.-Hous.(14th Dist.), rev. den. ( Aug. 26, 2011).

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The Texas Supreme Court recently granted the petition in Nabors Well Services, Ltd. v. Romero and agreed to consider whether the non-use of a seatbelt by the Plaintiff in an auto accident case should be admissible to reduce the Plaintiffs’ damages. Many Texans will recall a time when the decision whether to wear a seatbelt was considered to be a personal decision. When the seatbelt laws were first proposed they were vigorously opposed as an unjustified governmental intrusion into individuals’ private lives. One of the compromises made to gain the passage of the laws was the agreement that the failure of an accident victim to wear a seat belt would not be used to reduce the victims’ damages. The concern was that insurance companies would use the failure to wear a seatbelt as an excuse to refuse to pay legitimate claims.

The seatbelt law was repealed in 2003 but until now the Texas Supreme Court has not considered the issue. The Texas Supreme Court is a political body and it is often difficult to predict what politicians will do but it seems likely that the Court will allow insurance companies to admit and argue the failure of an injured party to wear a seatbelt to reduce damages.

For more information contact www.earldrottlaw.com.

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While the Texas oil and gas exploration boom has provide welcome economic relief to many areas of Texas, particularly some of the rural areas who were hit the hardest by the economic downturn, it has also brought record numbers of wrongful death claims. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that between 2007 and 2012 663 workers died in accidents in the drilling and fracking boom. About 40 percent of those deaths occurred in Texas. Texas has more than 100,000 workers employed in oil and gas related jobs. In 2012 this industry experienced a 60 percent increase in work related deaths with a reported 65 deaths.

The drilling and fracking activities often take place in slowing moving rural communities unaccustomed to the high speed truck traffic and heavy equipment that moves with a sense of urgency along formerly quiet, remote roadways. When the two converge the result is often lethal.

For more information contact www.earldrottlaw.com.

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Earl Drott LawTyler, TX Phone: (903) 531-9300

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