THE INJURY LAWYER DIRECTORY BLOG

A Metra train was en route to Chicago in late July when it struck and killed a pedestrian. The train was only a quarter of a mile from the Naperville station when the train accident occurred. Metra is responsible for providing commuter railway service throughout Lake, Cook, Will, and other counties in the Chicago area.

Although pedestrian error is sometimes to blame for an accident, it is all too common for transit authorities, defective train parts, or rail employees to be the source of negligence that caused the accident. Operation Lifesaver, an organization that advocates rail safety, states that a person is struck by a moving train every three hours.

Modern trains take longer to stop compared to a car or big rig, and they are also quieter, which makes it easier for unsuspecting pedestrians to be injured or killed. A train’s weight and speed makes them 20 times more likely to kill someone on impact, compared to a regular passenger vehicle. The state of Illinois ranks second in the top 15 states for railway fatalities nationwide.

If you have been injured, or if your loved one has been killed in a Chicago train accident, please contact the experienced train accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm today to schedule your free initial consultation.

Alabama authorities believe texting was the primary contributing factor in a recent car accident that caused the death of a young woman and her ten-month-old son in Chilton County. According to investigators, the 18-year-old mother was texting on her cell phone within the two or three minutes before her car suddenly crossed a highway median on Thursday, crashing headlong into an incoming dump truck.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and her son was taken to a hospital in the area, where he was shortly pronounced dead as well. Officials found the unsent text message on the mother’s phone after they responded to the accident. The Alabama Department of Public Safety revealed that a total of six people have died so far this year in accidents where texting or cell phone use was a factor.

Distracted driving has become an epidemic in the United States; with hand-held technologies taking over our daily lives, accidents related to the use of a cell phone, iPod, GPS, or other device are eclipsing drunk driving as the number one concern for motorists on the road.

If you have been injured, or if a loved one has died in an accident caused by a distracted driver, make sure you are getting the compensation and justice you deserve. Contact the experienced car accident lawyers at Long & Waite today to schedule a free case evaluation.

This week, an Iraq veteran admitted guilt to charges that he was driving drunk on a Wisconsin highway when he slammed into a disabled vehicle, ending the lives of the three University of Minnesota students inside.

One of the surviving passengers reported to investigators that a rear tire had blown out on the vehicle, prompting the group to pull completely over into the median emergency lane. As they were doing this, the 32-year-old drunk driver was driving his vehicle “very fast” toward them. The surviving passenger shouted to caution his friends before jumping over the median barrier.

When the car slammed into the disabled vehicle, it killed three students in their early twenties. The driver claimed that he didn’t see the car of the victims because he had just moved out from behind a tractor-trailer. According to prosecutors, the man registered a 0.158% on a Breathalyzer after the crash – twice above the legal limit for Wisconsin drivers.

If you have been injured, or if your loved one has been killed in a car accident because of a drunk driver, make sure you are getting the justice and compensation you deserve. Contact the experienced Wisconsin car accident attorneys at Boller & Vaughan today for a free consultation.

A Canadian farmer suspected he might be suffering from bacterial meningitis when he sought help at a local emergency department. His neck was stiff, and his skin was covered in the telltale spots caused by the disease. Furthermore, local authorities had recently warned citizens of a local outbreak of meningitis.

Unfortunately, the physician who saw the farmer was not sure what to do, and proceeded to simply conduct a series of tests for over three hours. By the time the man finally received the antibiotics he needed, it was too late: clots formed by the bacteria had already spread widely, choking off the blood flow to his limbs and killing the tissue. Surgeons ended up amputating large portions of both legs and one of his arms.

A full decade later, the farmer has finally won a fair verdict in his medical malpractice suit – a case that highlights the life-and-death context of emergency medicine. Meningitis is a well-known disease that can advance with frightening swiftness. For a doctor not to immediately react with treatment is an unacceptable lapse.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to a medical professional’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact an experienced medical malpractice lawyer today using the Personal Injury Lawyer Directory.

A fiery truck accident on Virginia’s Interstate 81 near Staunton resulted in a damaged bridge and hour-long delays. According to Virginia State Police, the tractor-trailer at the center of the wreck was overloaded and speeding. When a tire blew out, the driver lost control, and the tractor-trailer smashed through a bridge’s concrete guardrail, plunging down a ravine and immediately catching on fire.

Although no one was injured in the accident, the trucker has been charged with reckless driving. Both northbound lanes near Staunton were shut down briefly, causing traffic to back up for eight full miles. The Virginia Department of Transportation is planning to keep the left lane closed until the bridge is successfully repaired.

Virginia’s mountainous Interstate 81 is one of the most frequently-used trucking routes in America. Unfortunately, it is also notoriously accident-prone. Truckers are well aware of the dangers of this stretch of highway, including dense traffic, narrow lanes, and steep grades. When a truck driver fails to show reasonable care and someone is injured in an accident, he can and should be held responsible for negligence.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Virginia truck accident, contact the experienced truck accident attorneys at Kalfus & Nachman today for a free consultation.

Investigators believe that a recent multi-vehicle truck accident on California’s Interstate 5 was the result of reckless speeding on the part of the truck driver, who was traveling too fast into a construction zone and triggered the fiery crash that killed three people this past Monday. According to California Highway Patrol, 2 adults and one child died in the collision, which sent a total of five vehicles up in flames.

An initial collision report claims that the bobtail truck merged into the left lane of the highway just as traffic began to slow for a lane closure. This caused the truck to strike several vehicles that were either slowing or stopped in the left lane.

While alcohol and drugs are not believed to be factors in this particular collision, the reckless speed the truck was traveling at was confirmed by several witnesses. One witness who almost became involved in the collision stated that she did not see the truck changing its speed at all as it came “flying” at the stopped vehicles.

The immense size and weight of commercial trucks makes them a danger on the road even when the drivers are taking precautions to drive safely. When a reckless truck driver causes an accident of this magnitude, he can and should be held accountable for negligence.

If you or one of your loved ones has been injured in a truck accident in California, please contact the experienced truck accident attorneys at Jacoby & Meyers, LLC today for a free case evaluation.

According to a report from the Herald Tribute, the Florida Board of Medicine recently disciplined two Florida physicians for separate occasions of medical malpractice. One of the doctors, a diagnostic radiologist, must pay nearly $10,000 in board costs and fines for failing to detect a “suspicious mass” in a 2005 patient. The doctor took almost 10 months to find the mass and recommend a biopsy.

The other physician is an anesthesiologist who has been ordered to pay $4,000 for blocking a nerve on the wrong leg of a patient during a knee reconstruction surgery in 2010. Because of this medical error, the surgery had to be rescheduled. In addition to fines, both physicians must also undergo education and perform 25 hours of community service. However, the licenses for both physicians will remain active.

Every physician takes an oath to “do no harm.” We trust that our health is in good hands when we submit to a surgery, test, or diagnosis. If a doctor fails to act according to the medical standard of care and a patient’s health suffers as a result, the doctor can be held accountable for medical negligence.

If you or a loved one has been injured because of medical malpractice, please contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at the Luhrsen Law Group today for a free case evaluation.

A 19-year-old Texas native died on Monday while diligently working on farm equipment in Dyer County, Tennessee. According to authorities, the worker was part of a three-man sub-contracting crew that was performing a job for Mid-Valley Irrigation when the construction accident occurred.

The crew was working in a field on Miss Kelly Loop to repair a 1,435-foot-long irrigation system that a heavy April storm had turned over. As the crew attempted to upright a specific section of the sprinkler system, it began to fall, and the victim was struck by it.

After being rushed to the Dyersburg Regional Medical Center, the man was pronounced dead on arrival. The section of the sprinkler system that struck him weighed approximately 1,100 pounds. Investigators are still looking into the circumstances of the accident to determine the cause.

When workplace accidents like these lead to death, investigations should always seek to determine whether or not the equipment was defective and what can be done in the future to prevent workers from being endangered.

If you have been injured, or if your loved one has been killed in a construction accident in Tennessee, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact experienced personal injury lawyer Gary W. Starnes today for a complimentary case evaluation.

A couple from Ottawa, Canada were boating on Arizona’s Lake Havasu when a mechanical error caused them to be thrown from the boat. Although another couple on the 28-foot-deck boat survived, the Ottawa couple’s bodies were not found until two days after the marine accident.

Witnesses on the shore say that the boat made a quick turn that caused a huge rooster tail, throwing passengers out into the open water. The boat then continued to spin erratically in circles before it rolled four to five times. Investigators are currently trying to determine the exact year and model of the defective Eliminator boat.

When defects in vehicle design and manufacturing lead to deadly accidents like these, the company responsible for placing the boat on the market should be held accountable – not only for the justice of those injured, but to prevent similar accidents from endangering other lives in the future.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a boating accident in Arizona, please contact the experienced marine accident attorneys at Burg Simpson today for a free initial consultation.