Yearly Archives 2012

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On Two Wheels in Traffic

Bicyclists and motorcyclists both face unique hazards in traffic. The most significant hazard that they face is the negligence of other drivers. Simply stated, some other drivers do not understand how traffic laws work, even though they have a valid license. The valid license means that they are fully expected to understand how those laws work, to obey them and to keep other drivers safe and, when they do not; they may be liable for being sued for negligence.

Injuries to Bicyclists

Bicyclists, even though people generally think of these vehicles as safer than motorcycles, are at a lot of risk in traffic. Even though bicycles do have to conform to the same traffic laws as any other vehicle, and while sometimes they also have special lanes and, as any experienced bicyclist will tell you, sometimes you have to ride out in traffic and that is dangerous.

Other motorists are required to respect your rights to the road when you’re on a bicycle. Some of the most common injuries that people end up getting into involving bicycles and cars are ones that occur when drivers fail to realize that there’s a bike on their right and they crowd the bicyclist out of the lane or run them over. Another common wreck occurs when vehicles run into bicycles from behind simply because of not paying attention. Either type of accident, and many others, are oftentimes the direct result of negligence. If you have been injured while rising your bicycle, you have to contact a personal injury lawyer to protect your rights.

Injuries to Motorcyclists

An experienced motorcyclist will let you know that, far more than any danger specific to being on a motorcycle, you’re more likely to be injured by another motorist in a car. There are a couple of things that tend to cause a lot of accidents involving vehicles and motorcycles. First, the small size of motorcycles tends to make them seem like they’re moving slower than is actually the case. Second, when drivers check for vehicles, they’re looking for cars, not for motorcycles. It’s been demonstrated over and over again that people can actually look directly at something and, if they’re not expecting to see it, their brain completely disregards it. Unfortunately, this gets plenty of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured.

If you’re in an accident involving a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle, be sure to talk to an attorney about the matter. It may not seem obvious to you, but an attorney, given the amount of experience they have dealing with these cases, may immediately identify negligence on the part of the motorist that struck you.

Not only do bicyclists and motorcyclists have every right to the road, they also have the right to seek damages if somebody’s negligence injures them. Don’t sit back and deal with the expenses caused to you by a negligent motorist on your own. Talk to an experienced injury attorney and they very well may be able to help you prepare a lawsuit that could win you damages for what you’ve been put through. Between medical expenses, pain and suffering and the loss of property, you may be owed a lot of money by a negligent driver.

The Law offices of Blaine Tucker provides FREE initial consultation for victims of bicycle and motorcycle accidents in the Houston and surrounding areas. Contact his office at 713-771-5453 today.

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When to Consider Filing a Malpractice Claim

The first thing to remember about considering a malpractice claim is that it’s not a decision you should make completely on your own. What you really need to decide is whether there was an actual breach of duty that a physician or other healthcare provider – or healthcare facility – committed against you. A Medical Negligence Lawyer can help you evaluate your personal situation and advise you whether or not you can a valid case.

Injury Due to Failing to Diagnose a Condition

Sometimes, the worst thing that a physician can do is fail to diagnose a condition that they should’ve noticed. The reason for this is that some conditions can become markedly worse in a short amount of time if they’re not treated quickly. Consider for instance, the potential consequence of untreated diabetes, untreated cancer or other conditions that may become downright deadly if the physician doesn’t notice them in time.

If a physician had every opportunity to diagnose a condition that ended up bringing you to harm and they failed in that regard, you’ll want to speak with an attorney about the matter. Almost half of the malpractice cases brought against physicians every year have to do with a physician failing to diagnose a condition.

Injury Due to Wrong Treatments

Being giving incorrect treatments is one of the most common reasons that people decide to file lawsuits for medical malpractice. When people are treated incorrectly, the consequences can be nearly as bad as whatever condition was being treated itself.

A doctor is expected to be able to deliver competent care for any conditions that you suffer with, within realistic limits. For example, some conditions are always fatal and many conditions go in that direction, despite the best efforts of physicians and other healthcare professionals. If you are injured, however, because a physician ordered what turned out to be the wrong treatment for your condition, you may want to consider contacting an attorney about the matter. They may be able to prepare a successful lawsuit for you.

Injury Due to Unsafe Supplies

Medical supplies, obviously, have to be manufactured to the highest standards of safety and sterility. In some cases, medical supplies end up becoming contaminated. When this happens, it may be the fault of the supplier, the healthcare facility or the physician themselves. If contaminated supplies have caused your suffering you should contact an attorney about the matter. There have been successful lawsuits filed over instances where medical supplies were not stored, prepared or used properly and where infections and other negative consequences resulted.

It’s always best to speak with an attorney right away. Texas has very strict limitations on how long you have to file a lawsuit. If you wait too long, you may end up missing your chance to file a lawsuit at all. You can contact an attorney to discuss filing a lawsuit without any obligations. They should be able to tell you whether your case seems like it would be worth pursuing.

The Law offices of Blaine Tucker provides FREE initial consultation for victims of medical negligence in the Houston and surrounding areas. Contact his office at 713-771-5453 today.

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Harsh Drunk Driving Laws Don’t Always Help Victims

According to Time.com, a Texas man was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison for repeat drunk driving offenses. By the time this individual was slapped with a harsh sentence, he had already been convicted of drunken driving four times, the 45 year prison sentence marking the punishment for his fifth conviction. When he was pulled over, the driver had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, according to the same report.

While Texas does have harsh penalties for drunk driving, particularly for repeat offenders, these sensational punishments and eye-catching headlines do little for the families who are victimized by drunk drivers. What they do mean, however, is that society is not patient with drunken drivers and has little sympathy for them. This can play into your odds of winning a civil case against an intoxicated driver that injured you or caused you property damage.

Lawsuits and DWI

If you happen to be injured by a drunk driver, you generally do have the option of filing a lawsuit for negligence. You have to have been injured or suffered some sort of property damage to file one of these lawsuits. The entire point of people being able to file these lawsuits if so that they can get compensated for the damage, pain and suffering and other hardships that they were caused by the negligence of another individual. If you were so injured, contacting an attorney is advisable.

What Can a Drunk Driving Injury Attorney Do?

The parts of the law that provide for the punishment of drunken drivers are criminal. Civil law is what personal injury attorneys deal in. Prosecutors will go after the drunken driver that injured you for whatever legal punishments they can assess. What your personal injury attorney will do is take a look at the case and see if it would be worth your while to file a lawsuit against the driver.

The lawsuit that the attorney helps you to prepare will take into account things such as any injuries you suffered, any property damage caused by the drunken driver, your pain and suffering, your lost wages and the other expenses that were the direct results of the drunken driver’s negligence. Drunken driving can often times be construed as negligence, as the driver did not take the reasonable measure of refraining from driving when they were intoxicated and, therefore, they brought harm to others unnecessarily.

When you speak with an attorney, remember that the first meeting is simply to determine whether or not the attorney thinks that they can help you. A good Houston personal injury attorney will not take the claim if they don’t think they can win. If they feel that they’re the right attorney to represent you against the driver that injured you, they may want to take your claim and start doing the work of reconstructing what happened and determining where negligence played a part. If they don’t want to take your claim, personal injury attorneys will generally tell you right away, saving you time and preventing you from accruing any legal fees.

The Law offices of Blaine Tucker provides FREE initial consultation for injury victims in the Houston and surrounding areas. Contact his office at 713-771-5453 today.

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Understanding Workplace Injuries and Safety

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) provides regulatory structures that businesses need to follow to safeguard their employees. There are other agencies involved, as well and, in some cases, they are specialized, such as the special branch of OSHA that deals with mine safety. If you’re injured in the workplace, remember the following information.

Training Matters, and Is Required

For some tasks, laws require that employees are adequately trained. For example, if your employer tells you to work in a confined space and you haven’t any confined space entry training, that may be contrary to the law, depending upon your situation. Equipment operators have to be trained and people who work on some types of machinery are required to have special training. The reasons for these regulations and requirements is that people are in real danger to life and limb when training requirements aren’t met. If you’ve been injured at work because an employer told you to take on a job for which you were not trained, talk to an attorney.

Intimidation By Your Employer

Your employer holds your whole livelihood in their hands. They can take away your paycheck or otherwise make your life miserable. If you’re being intimidated out of taking action by your employer, you should speak with a personal injury lawyer. You may be looking at more than a lawsuit over the injury alone. There are specific responsibilities that employers have to their employees and, when they do not uphold them and an employee is injured, the employer may be held to have been negligent in causing that injury.

Talking to an Attorney

Talking to an attorney is always confidential. In fact, client/attorney privilege is one of the most ancient protected relationships in the world. Your employer is not going to find out about you talking to an attorney from that attorney themselves, so be sure you don’t let that intimidate you out of taking action to protect and promote your own interests.

Injuries and Negligence

When someone is negligent in a way that causes you an injury, they are sometimes vulnerable to being sued. When an employer doesn’t live up to the reasonable expectations placed upon them under the law, they are sometimes vulnerable to these types of lawsuits. If you’ve been injured and you’ve been caused pain and suffering, medical expenses and other harm, you should talk to an attorney.

Suing Your Employer

Filing a lawsuit against an employer is a big decision. Make sure you have an attorney at your side that is up to the challenge. Depending upon what company you’re suing, they may have tremendous legal resources with which to defend themselves. To maximize your chances of winning, you need an attorney who will be able to take them on in front of a jury.

If you’re injured in the workplace and end up being offered a settlement by your employer, be sure to contact an attorney right away. Taking the money without asking an attorney first is always a bad idea.

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Premises Liability and Event Venues

Summer always means that a lot of big events will be held around the Houston area. Music concerts, fairs and other activities can sometimes draw thousands – or even much larger crowds – to get in on the fun. Premises liability law sometimes becomes relevant because of how people are injured at these activities. Here are some things to consider if you were injured at a venue where an event was being held.

Negligent Security

When you go to certain types of concerts, you are taking risks. For example, some concerts traditionally have what are called “mosh pits” in the audience area where people routinely slam into each other, throw each other on the floor and engage in other rather extreme forms of dancing.

When you’re at such a venue, however, and when you’re injured by somebody who should have been stopped by security, you may want to speak with a personal injury attorney. There are obviously situations at certain concerts where you’re going to be more likely to be injured than you would be at other types of concerts. The security, however, still does have an obligation to provide a safe environment and a good lawyer may be able to help you go after the venue owner if they did not provide adequate security for the safety of their guests. If you were seriously injured – such as in a trampling incident – be sure to speak with an attorney right away.

Dangerous Venues

Even though there may be an event going on, the venue is still responsible for providing a safe environment. If you suffer a slip and fall injury, tumbled down a flight of stairs or were otherwise injured because the venue owner did not pay adequate attention to providing a safe environment, you should speak with an attorney right away. There may be nothing you can do about it but, then again, the attorney may find that you have a lawsuit that is very much worth your while to pursue.

Keep Safety In Mind At All Times

If you’re going to attend concerts and other large events this summer, be sure to be safe. Filing a lawsuit against a venue owner who was negligent is generally the best option in the very worst possible situation. Make sure you choose venues wisely, stay out of crowd presses, and pay attention so that you’re aware if something bad is about to happen at the concert or other event or if things are generally going to get out of control for whatever reason.

If you are injured and you believe that there was negligence on the part of the venue owner, it’s best to speak with an attorney right away. There are limitations on how long you have to file a personal injury claim and, because of that, a good attorney will want to speak with you as soon as possible. The meeting is generally without any obligation on your part and provides a way for the attorney to hear your story and to determine whether they want to represent you in court.

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What Makes Truck Accident Cases so Tough?

There are plenty of personal injury attorneys out there but not all of them can handle cases involving big rig wrecks well. These are some of the toughest cases to handle. When you consider the situation, it’s not hard to understand why this is the case.

Many Trucking Companies Have Deep Pockets

Going up against a trucking company is not easy. They have plenty of money and they can certainly pay for their legal defense. In fact, they usually have people available to them who can make sure that people injured by their drivers feel intimidated out of suing. They don’t do this by threatening anyone; they’re just very good at making victims feel like it’s all the victim’s fault and that there’s no point in even suing.

The first thing you need out of an attorney is the ability to see through this smokescreen!

Don’t Accept Just Any Settlement

Some of the trucking companies will offer you a settlement and make it sound like they’re doing you a favor. This is almost never the case. When they offer you a settlement, it’s simply because they don’t want you to take them to court. They offer these settlements, in most cases, because they don’t want to end up paying far more to satisfy a jury award.

Realize that these companies have enough money to make it seem like they’re being very generous. When you’re injured, out of work, desperate for money and don’t know what to do, it can be tempting to take whatever the trucking company is offering you as a settlement. Don’t settle for that. Talk to an attorney. Your truck accident attorney represents you interests. He’ll be able to tell you whether or not it’s worth it to take the settlement.

Trucking Companies Have Tough lawyers

Trucking companies can certainly afford to hire good attorneys and any attorney arguing against a trucking company is not going to be going up against amateurs. An experienced attorney on your side, however, is not intimidated by this. If you were injured and the reason for those injuries was the negligence of the trucking company, your attorney can make sure that you’re represented effectively.

What Does Negligence Mean?

With lawsuits against a trucking company, negligence can occur in many different scenarios. The mechanics that work for the company may not have maintained the equipment correctly and that negligence may have caused your injury. The driver may have been overworked and that may have been the origin of the negligence. There are many different ways in which a trucking company may have been negligent but an experienced big rig accident lawyer will find out and will go after them if they were negligent.

Do not take a settlement check without talking to an attorney. If a trucking company was negligent and caused you to come to harm, there is no reason that they should be able to get away with it without being held accountable. A good Houston truck accident attorney can sit down with you and discuss your situation, see if you might have a good case on your hands and may take you on as a client if you do.

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The Law Offices of Blaine A Tucker offers FREE consultations to injury victims involving trucks. Call us at 713-771-5453 to protect your rights.

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Suing for Defamation on the Internet

Defamation of character can be a serious issue. It was once famously said that a lie can make it around the world before the truth can get its boots on. On the Internet, a lie can make it around the world in a fraction of a second. There are real consequences when someone disparages you and a lawyer may be able to help.

Texas Justice – A recent case

A couple in Texas who were the victims of Internet defamation recently won over $13 million in jury awards from a lawsuit they filed. The misinformation about them that was posted on a popular website was particularly vile. They were able to demonstrate that they had suffered because of it and the jury found in their favor. If someone is doing you wrong online, they can be held responsible in real life.

Understanding Libel and Defamation

Defamation is essentially communicating with third parties in a way that causes harm to their reputation or that dissuades other people from associating with them. There are statements that really don’t ascend to this level that you could likely not sue over but which are commonly thrown about online. Here’s a way to understand the difference between defamation and just a nasty fight.

If someone is defaming you, they’re talking to other people about you in a way that does you real harm. If someone simply calls you a name or says something bad about you in the context of expressing their opinion, that really isn’t defamation. If they’re communicating with people and saying awful things – you’re a murderer, a thief, a liar, etc. – and they’re doing so in a way that makes it hard for you to do business, to maintain associations with people or that otherwise harms you, it may be defamation and you may be able to sue.

Can All Lawyers Handle This?

No. Some lawyers are criminal lawyers and there have been cases where the things that people have said and done online have resulted in criminal charges being filed. The lawyers that pursue the person accused of the crime are not your lawyers and do not represent you. You need an attorney that specializes in filing lawsuits in civil court to represent you. They’ll be the ones who will go after the person specifically to get you compensated for the damage that the defamation has done.

How Do I Know?

Talk to a lawyer. Remember that simple disputes online are not defamation. Someone saying thing about you that happen to be true is generally not defamation, either. If it were, every newspaper in the country would be getting sued for libel every day. Defamation is not about exposing unflattering truths, it’s about lying in a way that causes real harm. If you believe that you’ve been the victim of such behavior, be sure to contact an attorney. Texas victims of this type of activity have already won lawsuits and, if your case is solid, you may stand to win a lawsuit as well. Remember that direct retaliation is never a good idea; get an attorney.

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Children’s Summer Activities and Liability

Every summer, parents send their children to camps, sporting organizations and give them other opportunities to get outside and enjoy themselves. Unfortunately, some activities and facilities have people who are particularly incompetent at what they do running them. They aren’t always concerned about the children they’re in charge of. In such situations, it’s easy for a child to become injured because of the negligence of the facility or the personnel involved. If this happens to your child, you should speak to a personal injury lawyer right away.

Premises Liability

Premises liability is an area where a personal injury attorney can help you when your child was injured because the facility where they were socializing, working out, participating in sports or attending a camp were not maintained properly and presented a danger. People get injured all the time in seemingly innocuous incidents. For example, people take a tumble quite often without suffering any real injuries. In some situations, however, people end up being severely injured because of a fall. Slip and fall injuries are common reasons that people end up filing a premises liability claim.

Negligent Care

Some facilities take on a lot more responsibility than others where the welfare of children is concerned. For example, some summer camps exist to help children who are overweight to shed extra pounds and get in better shape. If these facilities are run in a competent and intelligent manner, they can really make a difference in a child’s life. If they’re run by people who don’t pay attention to whether or not a child is being pushed too far or too fast, can result in serious injuries and even death.

If your child was injured, and you believe it was because someone in charge of them was specifically negligent, contact a injury attorney right way. Even if there is a wrongful death involved, a personal injury lawyer can help you. You may or may not have a lawsuit worth pursuing but, at least, the attorney can let you know what kind of options you have in front of you.

Bullying and Abuse

Bullying and other forms of physical and psychological abuse can cause serious injuries. If your child was injured because camp counselors, exercise program supervisors or other individuals who were in charge of providing a structured environment, failed to do so, an attorney can help. There may be negligence involved and, particularly if your child was brought to harm, speaking to an attorney may be the best remedy you have.

Remember that the people who provide services for children are taking on a lot of responsibility. When they fail to come through on those responsibilities and when a child is injured or when a family is financially harmed because of that failure, a personal injury attorney may be able to file a lawsuit against them for negligence and to win you compensation for what you’ve been put through.

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The Law Offices of Blaine A Tucker offers FREE consultations to injury victims. Call us at 713-771-5453 to protect your rights.

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Why Personal Injury Cases Matter

In many instances in the media, personal injury claims are cast in a bad light. In fact, they’re blamed for making insurance rates go too high, for bringing up the cost of healthcare for everyone and for myriad other problems. These claims are largely exaggerated. In fact, personal injury cases are vital to the people who file them. When you consider for a moment what these cases are really about, it’s easy to see why this particular part of the law is so vital.

Negligence of Others

To put it in the simplest terms, somebody who was negligent simply failed in every regard. They failed to do whatever a normal person in their situation should have done to have protected the life and limb of another. People are oftentimes victimized by the negligence of others. It may be the drunk driver who slams into you from behind when you’re making a turn on a weekend evening or it may be the shop owner who doesn’t flag a tile floor as being slippery and wet, ending up causing a fall that causes serious injury.

Negligence can end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the victims, sometimes even more. Tallying up the costs of medical expenses, lost wages, ongoing medical treatments, pain and suffering, loss of quality of life and all of the other things that typically go into a personal injury lawsuit quickly racks up quite a number.

Even if the law does end up punishing somebody who was negligent – sometimes the negligence does carry with it the threat of serious legal sanctions – it doesn’t end up helping their victims very much. It may feel good for the victims to know that whoever ended up harming them via their negligence gets punished but, when those bills start rolling in, the good feeling isn’t going to last long.

Lawyers Fight for People’s Rights

Whatever else attorneys are characterized as doing in the media, they do fight for the rights of their clients. That is their primary occupation. Lawyers are typically the types of individuals who are willing to fight the smallest point of the law for as long as it takes to get their clients what they deserve. A good personal injury lawyer can make certain that, no matter how un-even the playing field is between a victim and the negligent party that harmed them, the victim’s right is upheld. This takes a lot of tenacity, it takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of skill.

If you’ve been injured because of the negligence of another person – whether it’s a doctor, a truck driver, another passenger car driver – or anyone else, the civil courts are there to help you overcome the difficulties and the harm that it caused you. Personal injury lawyers are there to make certain that those civil courts do work for you. Personal injury claims do matter. Without them, many of the people in Texas and the rest of the country would have no way to fight back against moneyed, powerful and sometimes otherwise unaccountable agencies that do them harm. Asserting your rights starts with talking to a lawyer.

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The Law Offices of Blaine A Tucker offers FREE consultations to injury victims. Call us at 713-771-5453 to protect your rights.

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Abuse in Nursing Homes

Sorting out the emotional wreckage that follows an instance where you or one of your loved ones was abused in a nursing home can take a long time. Unfortunately, you don’t have a long time to act if you want to go after the nursing home provider for negligence. There are usually quite a few complexities involved with these cases and understanding them might help you to determine whether you want to speak with an attorney about filing a lawsuit.

Criminal Matters in Nursing Home Abuse

If it’s discovered that an employee or another individual who had access to a nursing home facility is guilty of physical, sexual or mental abuse against the patient, there will almost certainly be criminal charges involved. One of the mistakes that some people make when these cases are going on is that they wait for the criminal case to be settled before they engage the services of an attorney to file a civil case. Whether or not anybody goes to jail for the abuse, it doesn’t make any difference to the family of the victim and the victim themselves financially.

If abuse is discovered at a nursing home and you or a loved one was the victim of that abuse, contact a nursing home abuse attorney immediately. They can start working on your claim and make certain that, if you do have a viable lawsuit against the nursing home provider, they can get it filed in time so that you do not miss the limitations on doing so.

Damages in Nursing Home Abuses

While there sometimes is a punitive element to the damages that are assessed against an abusive nursing home facility, they’re mostly to help the family. Consider the fact that, following the abuse, it’s unlikely that your loved one or you are going to want to stay in that same facility. Moving to a new nursing home can cost a great deal of money.

You may also find that you need more medical treatments to deal with the damage from the abuse, counseling to deal with the psychological damage from the abuse or that you rack up other expenses that are the direct result of the abuse. A good personal injury lawyer can assist you and your family get the financial help you deserve to cope with this.

Abuse in a Nursing Home Facility

Most of the time, a personal injury lawsuit will be filed against the nursing home operator. This will be the entity most likely to have been negligent and to have allowed the abuse to go on when it should have been stopped.

Your personal injury attorney will work out the amount you should seek in damages. Generally, these cases include pain and suffering, mental anguish, diminished quality of life, medical expenses, and a host of other expenses that are added to the total.

Nothing can really make up for having been the victim of abuse. There is no amount of money that can completely erase the damage that has been done to somebody who is been put through such a horrible ordeal. Unfortunately, such as in a recent case in Texas, abusers are oftentimes trusted individuals at the nursing home, sometimes they are even nurses. The settlement or jury award money, if you win, may help you to get the resources you need to recover, however.

Don’t wait. Call Houston Nursing Home Abuse lawyer, Blaine A Tucker at 713-771-5453 for a FREE consultation.

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