Category Archives: Personal Injury Law

Personal Injury Law by Houston Personal Injury Lawyers.

Social Host Liability Basics: Wrongful Death

Some of the most important societal concerns today revolve around the dangers of adolescent and teen alcohol and substance abuse such as wrongful death, violent auto collisions, and family violence. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), an organization founded in 1980 that has been committed to combating the dangers of driving drunk, early alcohol consumption can have detrimental effects to one’s future. People reporting first use of alcohol before age 15 were more than five times more likely to have past year alcohol dependence or abuse compared with people who first used alcohol at age 21 or older. And a 2007 study conducted by the U.S. Surgeon General found that 5,000 people under the age of 21 died from alcohol-related injuries. Many of these young people were also involved in serious auto collisions, or other tragic accidents that resulted in personal injuries or death.

Texas alone has experienced its share of automobile crashes that resulted in alcohol-related injuries or Wrongful Death. In the past five years alone, there have been over 6,000 DUI fatalities in Texas with a state subsidy of these fatalities amounting to $29.7 billion.

In order to curb the growing tide of drunk driving deaths and devastating injuries, addressing the overarching issue of substance abuse is critical. Adults, especially parents and guardians, must be cognizant of the dangers related to alcohol consumption. How parents respond to these issues can strongly influence not only their own childrens’ actions, but those of their friends’ as well.

While the federal government has implemented some measures to combat drunk driving and other substance abuse issues, most of this has been done at the state and local levels.

One way states have decided to take on this issue is through social host legislation. With most teens, the preferred setting for drinking and partying is within the confines of someone’s home. Here, they feel relaxed and can do what they want with ease. Procuring alcohol is also simple for kids. According to a study done by the American Medical Association (AMA), 1 in 3 teens said it was easy to get alcohol from their own consenting parents and 2 out of 5 said it was easy to get alcoholic beverages from a friends’ parents. These statistics are not meant to demonize parents or make them out to be careless, but even parents with good intentions host parties under the presumption that they can control the amount of alcohol present. Some may even believe that their sheer presence can avert any potential danger. These notions are simply not true.

With these issues becoming more and more common, state legislators have felt the need to step in. Under a state’s social host law, adults can be held responsible for underage drinking, regardless of who provides the alcohol.

In order to better understand how the laws operate, one needs to understand that a social host refers to adults who knowingly or unknowingly host underage drinking parties on property they own, lease, or otherwise control. The laws typically include the following:

  1. Parents away from home when their teens host a party
  2. Parents who are present but deny knowledge of drinking on their property
  3. Owners and/or tenants of rural property
  4. Owners of vacant property

Many parents may question the effectiveness of these measures. Why not simply go after those who distributed the alcohol? The answer to this lies in the difficulty of determining who provided the alcohol. Law enforcement officials are often caught up with other activity when they arrive at the scene of a party, making it difficult to enforce laws that prohibit the furnishing of alcohol to minors. Social host ensures that someone be made liable by focusing on where the drinking takes place, rather than who provided the alcohol.

With this in mind, parents must always be aware of what is going on in their home when it comes to protecting their kids and other minors. Simply having knowledge of minor consumption of alcohol is crucial to the safety for all.

Despite the emphasis of this blog post being on teenage matters, social host laws often contain provisions that include accountability measures for adult parties. While the same level of host responsibility does not apply to adult guests, a host can still be held liable if one supplied car keys to an intoxicated adult who ended up hurting another person.

Here are some key measures to take into account when you decide to host an event with alcohol:

Recommend in advance that your guests use a designated driver to drive them home to avoid Wrongful Death cases.

  1. As a host, limit your drinking so you can judge your guests’ sobriety
  2. Serve food with the alcohol and make non-alcoholic drinks available
  3. Remove the alcohol before the party ends and switch to coffee and soda
  4. Call a taxi for anyone who appears to be intoxicated

If you would like to review the current Texas social host law, refer to this link: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/AL/htm/AL.2.htm

Things to Consider if You Have Been Injured in an Accident

In many instances, people refer to falls, harmful impacts, and collisions of any type as an accident. Football players collide with each other and MMA fighters intend to physically torture each other.   These violent interactions are not referred to as “accidents.”  It is also hardly an accident if someone intentionally uses substandard equipment to perform a job or utilizes equipment in a way that most common people would understand to be dangerous. Thus, you must protect yourself if you have been Injured in an accident, become the victim of a harmful collision or event that has caused you injury.

1) Choose the words you say after your injury very carefully

People tend to record or remember almost every word you say after you are injured.   Do not comment on fault or responsibility for the impact or event.  Some people often discuss liability or want to be apologetic for the outcome of a serious event even if they are not at fault. Your caring statements at the impact site will be turned into statements of truth about the event in later circumstances. There is almost no situation where you should admit fault for the accident―not to the other party, your passengers, the police, witnesses, or your auto insurance agent.  More importantly, even if you have some worry that you may have been at least partially to blame for the accident, do not discuss your thoughts about wrongdoing on your part.  You will have opportunities to discuss you participation in the events on many occasions. You need full and complete information before speaking out.

We have been imprinted for years about how to respond to various sudden situations.  Your understanding of what happened and perception of the event could easily be clouded by your emotional state.  Many people are defensive or over apologetic as a defense mechanism or a nervous response.  Do your best to set aside determining how to resolve the matter or comment on the matter until you have had the time to settle down from the events of the moment.  Start training yourself now and envision yourself working on getting the proper medical attention for yourself and others.  Let your insurance company or a trusted family member or attorney handle the other details.

2) Seek Medical Attention

Many injuries are self-evident. It is important that you seek qualified treatment for all of your injuries. Many people are altered or affected by their body’s response to an accident. People commonly refer to that as an adrenaline response.  That is, our mind temporarily overrides certain parts of our injuries to help us survive in the moment.  That is how many people survive injuries from combat or other situations where they have to move to safety and then receive valuable personnel attention to their injuries. Although you may not feel all of the effects of an impact, have them checked out immediately following any crash, collision or other situation where you have come in contact with extreme force against your body.   You may think you are fine at the moment or think your injuries aren’t very serious, but symptoms such as pain, discomfort, dizziness, or numbness may appear in the days following the accident.  Unfortunately, people attempting to make a business decision about how to resolve your claim may look for ways to associate your pain with things other than your impact and failure to have these injuries timely examined may work against you.

You must be very detailed and specific with the people giving you medical attention. Have them examine every aspect of your injury to make sure that you get the treatment that you need and your records reflect all the areas where you are experience pain or received an impact.

3) Document and Take Pictures

Have someone with you take pictures and note everything they can about the people, location, and details of the event.  Pictures of the location, people involved, the vehicles, equipment, and identifying information are all valuable.  Also, have someone to take pictures of your injuries.  Pictures and videos will be important information for your case. Cuts, swelling, bruises, and scrapes heal over time. It is never easy for anyone other than you to have your exact injuries in mind.  Do not fail to record your healing process.  If you don’t have access to a camera, take pictures on your phone and save them to a safe place.

4) Get bills, records, and take notes

Your bills, treatment papers, prescription records, and notes about where you have been for treatment are critical. Most insurance companies will not reimburse or value any treatment that is not recorded. Record the names and addresses of any emergency medical people (if you can), doctors, clinics, chiropractors, physical therapists, or other professionals you went to after the accident.

5) Get the Police Report

Your local police agency should be able to provide you a copy of your report. Make sure that you obtain the case number from any person making a report at the scene of any injury or car wreck. Get the name of any person at a work site, retail facility, or property who appears to be making a report. Obtain a copy of the police or business report to verify that all information regarding the facts and your situation are correct. Errors or omissions in the report, that are not timely pointed out, can be a problem.

6) Counsel with a Houston based ShawLaw Lawyer

Again, seek appropriate advice before commenting on the facts of your situation.  Many people, such as health care professionals or other people at the scene of the incident, record every word you say.  Your emotional and unaware response could become the “facts of the case.”   Focus on your injuries and the health and welfare of all involved.  The decision about blame can come in time. If you are asked to sign any documents you don’t understand, do not, until you have had proper advice.  Having representation is the best way to make sure your rights are investigated and protected.  Even to the extent you are concerned about some fault that you may have had in the events, get representation that can help you analyze all aspects of the situation and help move you to resolution.

The Use of a Life Care Planner Following an Injury

Using a Life Care Planner sounds like another fancy term for someone taking your money in turn for investing it. They often serve an important role in helping folks who have serious personal injuries understand how much and what type of help they may need for the duration of their recovery or, in some instances, the rest of their lives. In civil litigation, the concept is that someone who is injured has a forum, the Courts, to seek redress for their injuries and damages. Many times, the injuries can last for years following the injury. Assuming that the Plaintiff is entitled to a recovery, one challenge is to determine the scope and size of the recovery. A lifecare planner spends their career working together with doctors, healthcare providers, therapists and accessory providers to create a detailed matrix of care and costs for the remainder of the Plaintiffs life.

In most cases the cost of a lifecare planner is not prudent unless the injuries are serious and long lasting. The example would be someone who needed a knee, eye or body part replacement. Many of those “parts” are expensive to buy, expensive to put in through surgery and require being replaced at various intervals. The treating health care provider and the lifecare planner will have to come up with a scientific formula for the plan and cost of the maintenance and replacement over the Plaintiff’s life. There are so many more aspects involved. The lifecare planner has to look at the cost of assistant devices such as wheelchairs, prosthetic devices, home nursing care and the like. Ultimately,the lifecare planner will produce a report that should be endorsed by one or more physicians and health care service providers. The lifecare planner will be subjected to cross examination by lawyers seeking to determine if the lifecare planner has properly evaluated the “probable” lifetime costs of the Plaintiff. Since personal injury litigation has a certain time frame to be started and completed (either through trial or settlement) litigants will need to have a way to project costs such as lifetime care in cases of serious personal injury. If the question of how to evaluate your injuries come up feel free to contact the staff of SHAWLAW at 713-SHAW-LAW (742-9529) to get started to on finding out about your claim.

The Use of Life Care Planner Following a Personal Injury

Lifecare planner sounds like another fancy term for someone taking your money in turn for investing it. They often serve an important role in helping folks who have a serious personal injury understand how much and what type of help they may need for the duration of their recovery or, in some instances, the rest of their lives. In civil litigation, the concept is that someone who is injured has a forum, the Courts, to seek redress for their injuries and damages. Continue reading →

Trucking Accidents

It is hard not to notice an 18-wheeler on America’s roads and highways. They are giant commercial vehicles amongst all the passenger cars. Eighteen-wheelers are vital to the economy and passenger vehicles have an obligation to share the road with them. At higher speeds, commercial trucks handle and react a lot differently than smaller vehicles. Accordingly, there are safety tips to keep in mind to avoid a possibly fatal trucking accidents. Continue reading →