Posts tagged Motor Vehicle Accidents

• Allstate Faces Contempt Charges for Handling of Auto Cases

  Michael Phelan | January 17, 2008 3:33 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  I blogged earlier this year about Allstate's "Delay, Deny, and Defend" policy designed to screw injured victims making claims under Allstate policies. CNN's Anderson Cooper also did an expose on this practice. The courts are now catching on. Allstate is facing contempt charges in Missouri with a $25,000.00 per day fine because it refuses to produce a report from consultant McKinsey & Co....

• Fibromyalgia Drug Approved by FDA

  Michael Phelan | January 14, 2008 10:59 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Fibromyalgia is a disease whose very existence is questioned by some doctors, typically doctors hired by insurance defense lawyers in personal injury cases. However, fibromyalgia must be a real disease, because drug giant, Pfizer, says it is. Pfizer is marketing its drug Lyrica, which is the first drug approved to treat this pain condition. Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic, widespread...

• Federal Regulators Miss Chance to Lower Truck Accidents

  Michael Phelan | December 20, 2007 4:23 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Tractor-Trailer Accidents
  

  Driver fatigue is a leading cause of tractor trailer truck accidents. Consumer advocates sued recently to require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to lower the current 11-hour driving limit to 10 hours. The requested change would have resulted in one less hour behind the wheel each day. The Teamsters union supports the lower limit. Alas, the Bush Administration once again...

• Insurers Cheat Victims-Record Highest Profits Ever

  Michael Phelan | October 17, 2007 6:00 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Anyone who believes the propaganda from the insurance industry and US Chamber of Commerce about trial lawyers driving insurers out of business should read the excellent article posted October 15 on SunHerald.com about home insurers cheating victims while recording record profits. This article shows that the tort reform movement is a fraud. Even in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,...

• Truck Accidents Caused By Driver Fatigue

  Michael Phelan | July 25, 2007 3:08 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Tractor-Trailer Accidents
  

  About 100 people die each week in truck accidents. Despite this alarming statistic, the Bush Administration once again succumbed to pressure from lobbyists (this time the American Trucking Association) and, in 2005, adopted new rules permitting tractor trailer truck drivers to drive 11 hours per day. Safety experts and insurance industry analysts challenged the new rules on grounds that the...

• Parents Guilty for Teen Drunk Driving Crash

  Michael Phelan | July 24, 2007 9:36 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Across the country, parents are pulling jail time for allowing underage drinking in their homes. On Saturday, a suburban Chicago couple was found guilty for allowing their teenage son to have a beer party in their basement. Two 18 year olds who attended the party later died in an alcohol-related car crash. The teen driver had a blood-alcohol level of 0.132. The parents whose son hosted the...

• $21 Million Awarded in Cellphone Auto Crash

  Michael Phelan | July 19, 2007 5:43 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  A woman in Palm Beach, Florida caused a car crash that killed another person because she was distracted by talking on her cell phone. A Palm Beach jury recently ordered the distracted driver to pay $21.6 million to the beneficiaries of the person killed in the crash. We've all seen people driving on the highway while distracted by cell phone conversations or, worse yet, attempting to text...

• CDC Reports Increase in Rate of Hospitalization for Traumatic Brain Injury

  Michael Phelan | March 06, 2007 1:43 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  On March 2, 2007, the Centers for Disease Control published an article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review (MMWR), entitled, Rates of Hospitalization Related to Traumatic Brain Injury---Nine States, 2003. The data reported by the CDC shows a significant increase in the rates of hospitalization for persons with traumatic brain injury. According to the CDC:"Traumatic brain injury (TBI)...

• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin. Has History of Ignoring Safety Warnings

  Michael Phelan | February 23, 2007 9:15 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Tractor-Trailer Accidents
  

  After completing its investigation of the tragic bus fire that killed 23 elderly Hurricane Rita evacuees, the National Transportation Safety Board on February 21st called on the Federal Motor Carrier Motor Safety Administration to promulagate stronger safety regulations for buses and large trucks. The FMCMSA is charged with reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and...

• Allstate's Motto: Delay, Deny and Defend

  Michael Phelan | February 08, 2007 4:35 PM | 2 CommentsRichmond, VA Category: Automobile Accidents
  

  Tonight on CNN's 360 With Anderson Cooper, Mr. Cooper will report on his 18 month investigation into the duplicitous tactics employed by Allstate, which claims "You're in Good Hands With Allstate," State Farm, which claims to be "Like a Good Neighbor," and other major automobile insurers to force unfair settlements on victims of motor vehicle accidents. Cooper interviewed victims, lawyers, and...