Posts Tagged ‘ Car Accident ’

Best Lawyer Lead Gen Yet: Advertise Next to your Mugshot!

March 22nd, 2013. By AbiK

Why try to brush that bad rap under the carpet when you can capitalize on it—by serving ads for your law firm up to it!

Well, it probably wasn’t the intent of Florida attorney Thomas Lewis Edwards. Heck, he had nothing to do with it really—just a matter of whatever ad company he’s using serving up ads based on web searches for his name.

See, Edwards had the misfortune of being criminally charged with drunk driving and allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident. Not usually good PR for an attorney. (Note: Edwards is criminal defense attorney.) And, after he posed for the in-house photographer—styled in emerald green stripes (a look that not everyone can pull off, mind you), his mugshot made it online.

From there, thanks to the logic built into the ad server, voila—the ad for his law firm appeared right next to his mugshot. Needless to say, once picked up by Gawker, Reddit and ABA Journal, it went viral. Talk about an endorsement!

The one who’s not mentioned in this but who sort of reaps some collateral damage out of it is Edwards’ partner, Geoffrey Mason. Guessing there were a couple of awkward moments and closed-door sessions at the firm once the screenshot went viral.

According to the Gainesville Sun, upon being asked about the irony of the situation, Mason took in stride and replied, “It is what it is.”

Yeah, it is.

Tags: Car Accident, Criminal Defense, Drunk Driving, DUI, DWI, Lawyer Lawsuit, Thomas Lewis Edwards
Posted in Automotive, Lawyers | No Comments »

Is Your Car’s ‘Black Box’ Data Fair Game In An Accident?

July 16th, 2012. By AbiK

Bet you didn’t even realize your car might have a ‘black box’—one of those event data recorders (EDR) that you usually hear in reference to rescue workers mining through some airplane wreckage after a flight’s gone down. Well, while it’s not required by law, if your car has airbags, there’s a very good chance it also has an EDR in it (you can check your owner’s manual to find out, though the NHTSA states 91.6 percent of light vehicles already had them as of 2011).

And, depending on what state you live in, the information that could be recorded on your EDR in the event of a car accident could virtually be fair game for police or insurance companies.

The name ‘EDR’ comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) where a car EDR is defined as:

“A function or device installed in a motor vehicle to record technical vehicle and occupant information for a brief period of time (seconds, not minutes) before, during and after a crash for the purpose of monitoring and assessing vehicle safety system performance. For instance, EDRs may record (1) pre-crash vehicle dynamics and system status, (2) driver inputs, (3) vehicle crash signature, (4) restraint usage/deployment status, and (5) post-crash data such as the activation of an automatic collision notification (ACN) system.”

While a lot of folks refer to the EDR as the more  commonly heard ‘black box’ from airplanes, trains and ships—there is a difference.  A black box data recorder records information continuously during the entire time the airplane or train is in operation. By contrast, a car’s EDR only records the brief period of time just before an accident would occur.

So speaking of a possible car crash, who exactly has access to that EDR data if you should have a car accident? Currently, 13 states have privacy laws in place that protect EDR data. However, according to the NHTSA, “Courts can subpoena EDR data through court orders, and some States collect data under their existing State laws governing crash investigations. Some insurance policies may have contract terms related to data collection from EDRs.”

And EDR data has been used in some court cases as evidence.

But car accident lawyer Rex Parris, of R. Rex Parris Law Firm in Lancaster, CA doesn’t think EDR’s are a bad thing. Parris, who’s also the mayor of Lancaster, CA, was recently interviewed by KTVU Channel 2 News on the subject. According to the KTVU interview, Parris says, “It gives us a lot of information that would shorten trials, and—in many, many cases—remove the necessity of a trial.”

“It has the effect of keeping people honest,” said Parris. ” You know, you’re not gonna lie about your speed. You’re not gonna lie about what happened, because there’s evidence saying what happened.”

California, the state in which Parris practices law, is one of the 13 states with laws protecting EDR data privacy. California law prohibits any download of that data without the owner’s permission or a court order. Aside from California, the other states with such privacy laws are: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

But state laws vary and there is currently no standard for car manufacturers regarding which event data the EDRs should record. As such, there is a bill winding its way through Congress right now—Senate Bill 1813 (Section 31406)—aka MAP-21—that seeks to not only mandate installation of EDRs in all new cars starting in 2015, but also standardize which events the EDRs can capture. The bill already passed the Senate in March.

In terms of data privacy, should the bill go through, it specifies that the vehicle’s owner would have access to the data on collected on it—here are the Limitations on Information Retrieval from the bill:

(1) OWNERSHIP OF DATA- Any data in an event data recorder required under part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, regardless of when the passenger motor vehicle in which it is installed was manufactured, is the property of the owner, or in the case of a leased vehicle, the lessee of the passenger motor vehicle in which the data recorder is installed.

(2) PRIVACY- Data recorded or transmitted by such a data recorder may not be retrieved by a person other than the owner or lessee of the motor vehicle in which the recorder is installed unless–

(A) a court authorizes retrieval of the information in furtherance of a legal proceeding;

(B) the owner or lessee consents to the retrieval of the information for any purpose, including the purpose of diagnosing, servicing, or repairing the motor vehicle;

(C) the information is retrieved pursuant to an investigation or inspection authorized under section 1131(a) or 30166 of title 49, United States Code, and the personally identifiable information of the owner, lessee, or driver of the vehicle and the vehicle identification number is not disclosed in connection with the retrieved information; or

(D) the information is retrieved for the purpose of determining the need for, or facilitating, emergency medical response in response to a motor vehicle crash.

The bill, however, still needs to get through the House. So stay tuned.

 

Tags: Car Accident, Car Accident Fault, Consumer Privacy, EDR, Event Data Recorder, Insurance Company, KTVU Channel 2, R Rex Parris Law Firm
Posted in Automotive, Lawyers | No Comments »

What Exactly does Insurance Cover? Maybe More than you Think

November 24th, 2010. By janem

Understanding the intricacies of vehicle insurance puts my brain into a fog. Fortunately, James Bedard, someone I recently interviewed regarding his legal malpractice complaint, shares some insight. “I wonder how many people suffer financially because they are not aware of what coverage they have,” says James, “and the insurance company sure isn’t telling them.” (Unfortunately, James lost his case but he isn’t giving up.)

James Bedard: Insurance can be very confusing and I think that most people do not understand what they do have in coverage.

Under many state laws, there are two types of insurance coverage.

• Uninsured (UM) means the other party has no insurance so you have to carry that UM insurance yourself.
• Underinsured (UIM) means you don’t have enough insurance.

For instance, if someone hits me and they only have minimum insurance (that the state requires), but my injuries exceed that amount, I can claim my own coverage for the difference. In 2001, someone ran a red light and I was injured. He only had $50,000 coverage but I had $1 million coverage on my truck; I was able to collect $50,000 from his insurance company and my attorney filed a claim with my employer’s insurance company for $950,000.

UM and UIM Coverage

Most every state makes it mandatory for everyone to have UM and UIM coverage. So every driver is covered if they are in an accident caused by a driver who is either not insured or doesn’t have enough insurance.

As well, most states require that you have to have the minimum coverage of $25,000/50,000/10,000, which means $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 for two or more people and $10,000 for property damage, e.g., car, house, etc.

When you take out your coverage it is automatic that your coverage for uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) is the same. So if a person who hits you has no insurance, you are covered for the $25,000/50,000/10,000.

Say your coverage is $100,000/300,000/100,000 and you are hit by a person who only has the 25,000/50,000/10,000; your car was totaled and it was worth 50,000 dollars. You could collect the $10,000 for property damage from the other party’s insurance and fall back on your insurance for up to $90,000, which is the difference. And your car would be totally covered.

On the other hand, say you had the same coverage as the party that caused the accident. All you would receive is their $10,000 because there is no difference from your insurance policy and their policy.

It seems complicated but it really is quite simple. Most States allow a person to reject the higher UM and UIM coverage and lower it to the minimum coverage.

For example, the 100,000/300,000/100,000 coverage I had meant that the UM and UIM coverage was the same. But you could save a few dollars and reject that coverage and reduce it to 25,000/50,000/10,000. So if you hit someone they would be covered for the higher amount but if they hit you and were not insured, you could only fall back on the 25,000/50,000/10,000.

Why anyone would want to insure themselves and their family for less then the general public makes no sense–because you don’t save that much.

Insurance Incidents

My friend asked me how she was going to get her car fixed, because the person who hit her had no insurance and did not have anything to sue for. I told her to call her agent and file a UM claim. She said her coverage was $25,000/50,000/10,000 and I told her the last figure of $10,000 was for property damage–the maximum she could recover for her car. She called me later and thanked me.

My son’s friend got his hand caught in another friend’s car door and he could not use his hand for work. He worried how he was going to pay his bills. I told him to call his agent and tell him he wanted to file a Personal Injury Protection (PIP) claim, which is mandatory in most states. He called me later and thanked me–he was getting $900

a month for lost wages and up to $4500 for medical expenses.

A little girl and her mother were recently in a car accident. She was worried that her personal insurance wouldn’t cover the accident and pay her bills. Again, I told her to contact her agent and file a liability claim for their injuries and the PIP for her lost wages. Her little girl would suffer permanent facial scars and I told her not to settle for less then her maximum coverage, which was $25,000. She received all of it.

Truck vs Automobile and State vs Federal Claim

Most states also have statutes that define the words used in the statutes. For example, Kansas statute 40-284 establishes what your ” Automobile Liability ” insurance will be for the UM and UIM

State statute 40-298 and statute 8-126(x) define an ” Automobile ” as a passenger vehicle designed primarily to carry 10 or fewer passengers, which is not used as a truck.

Statute 40-284 also mentions a ” Motor Vehicle ” State statute 40-276 defines ” Motor Vehicle ” as in statute 40-284 to mean a vehicle of a passenger or station wagon type, that is not used as a public livery conveyance for passengers, not rented to others and any four wheel motor vehicle with a load capacity of one thousand five hundred pounds (1,500) or less, which is not used in the occupation or business of the named insured.

This makes it very clear that statute 40-284(c), which is used to reject and reduce the UM and UIM coverage, is not meant for trucks or any vehicle or truck used in the occupation or business of the person, who is insured. This statute is for cars driven by the citizens of the State of Kansas.

But insurance companies use this statute to reject and reduce the coverage on large trucks, used in the business of the named insured. As you can clearly read, that is not allowed. The definitions I have given you above are the exact definition of those statutes and every State has a similar statute.

You would not believe how many cases are lost to the insurance companies, simply because attorneys do not know the regulations/laws of the FMCSA and the PHMSA.

In my research I found a case where a driver had his little girl with him and a pickup caused the truck to crash. The little girl had injuries over $200,000 and their attorney filed a State UIM claim because the pickup did not have enough insurance coverage.

When they filed on the truck insurance, the insurance company came up with a rejection to the coverage and reducing it to $50,000. So they got nothing.

I researched the case and could find no rejection besides the form the insurance company submitted. I also found that the little girl was covered under the public liability of the truck. I even confirmed it with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). So she should have been covered for up to $1million coverage.

But because their attorney did not know the FMCSA regulations that the truck was under and then filed a State UIM claim (it should have been a federal claim), they lost the case. Unfortunately, when I checked it out, the statute of limitations had run out on their case. So it was all over, insurance company wins.

What You Can Do

Clearly, it is up to you, the insurer, to be pro-active. Not all insurance companies are created equally and not all insurance companies act in your best interest. It’s worth the time to study your insurance coverage and get good legal advice before you file a claim. And please take James’s advice: ” Always ask your attorney why he does or doesn’t do this or that…”

Tags: Car Accident, Car Insurance, Insurance
Posted in Pleading Ignorance | 3 Comments »

Can I Get a Witness? (for a Car Accident, that is)

January 11th, 2010. By AbiK

Looking for a car crash witness-on-demand? You just might be able to find one, but it’ll cost you….read on…

True story. I was on I-287 in NJ heading toward Morristown a few years back. Doing about 65. Middle lane. A highway-sized street cleaning truck merged onto the highway, hit the car in the right (slow) lane, which then hit me. I spun into the left (fast) lane, and through some miracle was able to maneuver to the right-hand shoulder. No injuries (thankfully) but no witnesses either. 

So I found myself standing alone in the shoulder—no other car from the accident had pulled over. No witnesses. No help. No involved parties. Nada. Translation: no one for my insurance company to possibly collect from. 

Fast forward to last week. John here at LawyersAndSettlements.com shoots me a link to this website: WreckWitness.com. It’s an interesting and highly simple concept. If you’ve witnessed an accident, you can send in an email—free—about it and you might get paid; or, if you’ve been in an accident, you can search for a witness to your car accident and pay only if you find the right witness. 

At first, I’m thinking back to a recent post I did about commenters who post “eye witness” accounts of accidents Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Car Accident, Car Crash, Witness
Posted in Accidents | 5 Comments »