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• Drunk driver crashes into car at 100 miles per hour

  Brent Adams | September 25, 2007 10:13 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  A drunk driver with a blood alcohol content of .22 -almost three times the legal limit - crashed into the rear of another vehicle on I-95 in Benson, North Carolina, Saturday night, September 22.The drunk driver was was speeding 100 miles per hour at the time of impact.Four people were injured and went to the hospital as a result of the wreck. The collision occurred around 11:00 p.m. during...

• Suspension of Workers' Compensation Benefits

  Robin Martinek | September 20, 2007 4:37 PM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  Oftentimes, injured employees do not fully understand what repercussions they face if they do not cooperate with the workers' compensation carrier or their employer. Without an experience workers' compensation attorney to assist them, they often end up in situations where they find their benefits cut off or temporarily suspended. The most common method employers and carriers use to terminate...

• What Protection do we Have from Slow Drivers?

  Brent Adams | September 19, 2007 9:56 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  We have all seen hazardous situations on the highways caused by exceedingly slow drivers. Slow drivers count for a huge number of traffic collisions and fatalities.The question arises then as to what protection we have from exceedingly slow drivers.The answer, surprisingly, is very little.North Carolina General Statute Section 20-141© provides certain prohibitions against slow driving. It...

• Verdict of Six Million Dollars Returned in Trucking Collision

  Brent Adams | September 18, 2007 9:33 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  A Wake County jury returned a verdict in the amount of $6million for a Massachusetts truck driver who was injured in a collision in Wake County.The injured truck driver will need assistance for the rest of his life after suffering a closed-head injury in a head-on collision.The trial court denied the defendant's motion to set aside the defendant's verdict and held that the verdict was not...

• Are Parents Liable for their Child's Negligent Driving?

  Brent Adams | September 14, 2007 8:52 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  Parents may be held fully liable for their child's negligent driving under several rules of law. The one we will discuss here is known as the family purpose doctrine.Under the family purpose doctrine, a parent who maintains a vehicle for themselves but also lets other family members use it are liable for the negligence of the other family members, including children, if someone is injured as a...

• Who Decides if Car is Totaled?

  Brent Adams | September 12, 2007 8:45 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  When a claim for damages to a car is made, the insurance adjuster often uses the term "totaled." That term means, in the opinion of the insurance adjuster, it would cost more to fix the car than the car was worth immediately before the wreck.Who decides whether a car is totaled in a collision and what is the significance of that determination?Insurance companies like to declare that a car is...

• What if my Collision Occurs Outside the State of North Carolina ?

  Brent Adams | September 10, 2007 11:44 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  If you have been injured in a motor vehicle collision while traveling outside the state of North Carolina, there are several factors you should keep in mind. The law which would generally be applied in a motor vehicle collision is the law of the state in which the collision occurred. If a North Carolina citizen is traveling through Virginia and has a collision, the law of the state of Virginia...

• Workers' Compensation Presumption of Disability

  Robin Martinek | September 07, 2007 1:13 PM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  In previous entries, I have discussed how to establish a permanent disability claim in a workers' compensation case before the North Carolina Industrial Commission by showing: (1) medical evidence of inability to work; (2) No employment available given restrictions to work; (3) Futility of seeking employment due to a number of factors; and (4) Ability to find work but at a lower pay rate than...

• Man Killed by Low-Hanging Telephone Pole Wires

  Brent Adams | September 07, 2007 8:37 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  Two insurance companies for a trucking company paid $2.3 million to settle a wrongful death claim brought by a man who was struck by telephone pole wires in a freak accident that caused his death.The deceased, Ronnie Dyson, had stopped his vehicle on the way home to help someone who had run off the highway and had collided with a telephone pole.The broken pole caused guide wires supporting road...

• Workers' Compensation Awarded When Brother Kills Brother

  Brent Adams | September 06, 2007 8:43 AM | 0 CommentsFayetteville, NC

  The North Carolina Industrial Commission has awarded workers' compensation death benefits to the family of a deceased worker who was shot and killed by his brother. The shooting occurred at a job site where the two men worked together for a logging company.In awarding benefits to the family, the Industrial Commission held that the killing was work-related since it was motivated by a work based...