Driving while drunk is illegal. It is just that simple. And yet, the number of drunk driving deaths continues to creep up every year.

“There are a number of states that have zero tolerance laws when it comes to drinking and driving. That may involve staggering fines, suspended licenses, jail and perhaps community time. And yet, people keep drinking and driving, largely because they think the law does not apply to them, that they don’t have a drinking problem and that they can handle whatever they do drink. Wrong,” said Robert W. Lee, a personal injury attorney of The Lee Law Firm in Austin, Texas.

Drunk driving deaths are not to be dismissed, as they are an aberration that do not need to happen. For those that survive a collision with a DUI driver, they typically face significant medical difficulties and financial hardship. While there is no real way to measure what a victim has lost, they may face life-altering injuries that will never heal and leave them they way they were prior to an accident.

“Victims may be paralyzed, suffer from traumatic brain injuries, skull fractures, crushed bones, multiple fractures, internal organ damage, amputations, severe air bag burns, severe whiplash and/or death. Hardly something that anyone would want to have happen to their life, but, people still insist on drinking and driving, and the damages and wrecked lives still continue to mount, each and every year,” Lee said.

For those who have been involved in a crash with a drunk driver, there is a way to ensure compensation: hire a competent Austin personal injury lawyer. “Most people who have been in a horrendous collision face long roads to recovery that may include months or years of therapy to regain even a modicum of normal movement. They may be on pain medications for the rest of their lives and for certain, they face grave financial difficulties as well. For instance, mounting medical and therapy bills, loss of future income and the potential to earn and lost wages,” Lee said.

For drunk driving cases that go to court, the defendant may find himself or herself facing punitive damages; damages handed out to punish the drunk responsible for the accident. Punitive damages, if they are awarded, are added on top of any compensatory damages the victim may recover.

“The bottom line is this: people still drink and drive and there is not much you can do to control that or avoid it if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you have been seriously hurt, call my office and we will review the circumstances of your accident. That’s what I do; help you get compensation to continue on with your life,” Lee said.
To learn more, visit http://www.rwleelaw.com.

When medical devices are defective and fail, the patient suffers. In this instance, defective hip implants seriously affect seniors.

With all the medical products on the market, including various appliances such as a hip implants, there are bound to be problems over time with the manufacturing process. Sometimes, companies rush to get a new product on the market before sufficient testing has been done to determine if the product will perform as intended.

“This can happen when a company puts profits over safety. The Johnson & Johnson DePuy Orthopaedics division recall of two of their hip replacement systems appears to be a prime example,” said Robert W. Lee, a personal injury attorney of The Lee Law Firm in Austin, Texas. “Our firm is currently taking cases related to this recall, and we’d be pleased to discuss your circumstances with you, should you be considering filing a lawsuit – either a medical malpractice or defective product suit.”

The two products recalled were the ASR XL Acetabular Hip Replacement System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System. “The recall was initiated as the result of a study that revealed a five year failure rate for these products in one out of every eight cases. In other words, they had a failure rate of 13 percent,” Lee said. “What are the symptoms? These tend to vary, but most often are severe pain to the implant actually loosening and some will even become dislocated, meaning a second surgery to replace the defective DePuy implant.”

Even if patients with this hip implant are not having symptoms yet, there is a good chance that they will. “You may experience difficulty walking, loss of bone cells, hip joint damage and difficulty walking. This usually means you will need another surgery,” Lee said.

For people who have had hip replacement surgery during or after 2005 and the operation involved a DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System or ASR Hip Resurfacing System or there is not a clear understanding of what was used for the procedure, make a call to a qualified and skilled Austin personal injury attorney.

“You may very well be entitled to compensation. Give me a call and let’s discuss your case. I am here to help you and if you choose to hire me to represent you in your hip replacement lawsuit, I will do so aggressively and with only your best interests in mind,” Lee said.
To learn more, visit http://www.rwleelaw.com.

Big rig drivers have a duty to drive safely on public roads and all drivers have a duty not to drive when intoxicated. In this case, the driver was under the influence of alcohol and badly injured an innocent victim as a result.

“But for the fact that this grossly negligent truck driver was intoxicated behind the wheel, this collision could have been avoided and the victim would not have been seriously injured in this senseless accident,” said Robert W. Lee, a personal injury attorney of The Lee Law Firm in Austin, Texas. “This big rig slammed into a center divider, shattered truck parts all over the road in the process of disintegrating and flinging, and managed to nail a minivan, seriously injuring the driver.”

The trucker was headed east on a busy highway when he lost control, careening into the center divider and smashing into a minivan. The van driver and the rig driver were rushed to hospital as fast as possible. The trucker was not as seriously injured as the van driver, a fact that may not surprise too many, given the fact the semi was a lot bigger than the minivan and would not have taken the pounding the van did.

During this fiasco, chunks of the center divider were tossed across the highway. It is a wonder no one else was hurt or killed. As it was, several other cars sustained damages from being hit by flying concrete chunks. The police arrested the truck driver on suspicion of drunk driving and criminal charges are pending.

“While my office was not involved with this particular case, we have seen way too many similar collisions caused by drunk drivers. Big rig accidents rarely, if ever, have a good outcome, even if the victim makes it out alive. There are far too many things that can happen during a wreck this bad. For instance, the victim may suffer from air bag injuries to the face, upper torso, arms and head. Whiplash is a common injury, along with spinal cord injuries, crush injuries, broken bones and traumatic brain injury,” Lee said.

It is a no brainer to assume that when a big rig slams into something that is smaller, the outcome will be grim. Those victims that do survive typically tend to have catastrophic, life-altering injuries that mean they may need care for the rest of their lives.

“This is one of the reasons a truck crash victim needs to have experienced legal counsel on their side when they deal with the insurance company, the trucking company, and when they go to court. Damages for cases like this are often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars up to millions of dollars because the victim often needs the financial support for their long-term medical care. Damage awards in cases like this are not about revenge, they are about getting fair compensation for the victim to be able to live as best as they can. If you have been in an accident like this, please, call my office and we can discuss your case. Should you choose to hire my firm, we will ensure that justice is served,” Lee said.

To learn more, visit http://www.rwleelaw.com.

It is not hard to understand that if one drinks and drives, the chances of being in a fatal collision skyrocket. Unfortunately, people still drink and drive.

“The nasty case I am going to use as an example of what may happen if you drink and drive did not happen in Texas. It happened in Connecticut and took the lives of four promising high school students. The fifth may or may not make it through his recovery,” said Robert W. Lee, a personal injury attorney of The Lee Law Firm in Austin, Texas.

The students were involved in an ugly crash when the driver lost control of the vehicle on a tree-lined road and slammed into a tree. The force of the impact was so great that three of the teens were dead at the scene. A fourth made it to the hospital alive, but died shortly thereafter. The fifth teen’s injuries were listed as critical and his outcome is heartbreakingly uncertain.

Police on the scene of the wreck were unclear as to why the driver lost control of the vehicle, but they suspect that speed and alcohol may be factors. “Alternatively, they will also be searching for any cell phones to check the screens, as the driver may have also been trying to drive while distractedly talking or texting on his cell,” Lee said. But for the bad decision to not pay attention to driving properly and safely, four young lives were lost and one will, if he lives, be haunted for the rest of his life by their deaths.

Four families in this scenario will likely want to file wrongful death lawsuits against either the surviving driver or his estate. “The key in this case will be proving negligence. Quite frankly, the fact that the driver lost control of the car and smacked into a tree at speed that killed three on impact says volumes about what was going on prior to the crash,” Lee said.

Cases like this are never easy for anyone involved. The families of the dead are in shock and devastated. The families of any survivors are also wracked with guilt and what-ifs. The deceased’s families know they have lost someone they loved and will wonder if they are entitled to compensation for that death.

“Yes, they are likely entitled to compensation for that death. Speak to me about your case and we can discuss what negligence means, how a wrongful death lawsuit may benefit you financially and what to expect should your case go to court. It’s my job to prepare you for court, should you choose to hire my services,” Lee said.

To learn more, visit Rwleelaw.com.

Slip and fall accidents may happen literally anywhere. Commonly, they happen on trips or vacations, at hotels and motels.

“While most of us do not think about this, traveling offers its own set of dangers, ranging from lousy drivers in another city to unsafely maintained places where we rest our weary heads at night,” said Robert W. Lee, a personal injury attorney of The Lee Law Firm in Austin, Texas.

Take the case of the Doe’s, who were on their way to a major city in the U.S. After realizing that they were running late at the end of the day, they opted to stay in a hotel close to the city. It looked clean and tidy and had a vacancy, and at 2 a.m., almost anything with a room available looked attractive. What the Doe’s did not count on was the condition of the rooms. The ceiling in the bathroom fell in chunks on Jane Doe while she was having a shower. The sheets on the bed had nasty stains on them and the tile flooring was loose in several locations.

During what was left of the rest of the night, John Doe got up to use the facilities and tripped over a loose tile. He fell, hitting his head on the corner of a desk. He sustained traumatic brain injury, a broken ankle and a sprained knee.

“Did the hotel know about the loose tiles? Evidently they did, but had not gotten around to fixing them. Did they frequently inspect their property? In court files, it was revealed the hotel was inspected about once a year and a list of things needing to be done was compiled. Whether or not any of those things actually got done was another question. From the shape of the rest of the premises, the answer was likely not,” Lee said.

Of interest to travelers is that many franchise and chains hotels are required to pass monthly inspections to make sure they are safe and reflect the values of the brand name. While they may be done, it does not mean the potential dangers are always caught. Properties that are not part of a franchise system may not get regular inspections.

“Some of the more common accidents that happen in hotels are burns from scalding water, slips and falls near a swimming pool, chairs or beds collapsing, loose rugs, wet floors that are not clearly marked as being dangerous, loose hand railings and poor lighting,” Lee said.

The results of a slip and fall accident may cause the unfortunate victim to break bones, sprain joints and sustain head injuries. Some of these injuries, while they sound mild, may have the potential to lead to death. For instance, if someone happens to grab a loose handrail or balcony rail and it pulls out, it could send the person plummeting to the floor or down several stories. Would these incidents have been avoidable if the hotel owner had maintained their property in safe condition?

“Without any doubt, the victims would not be victims had the property owners taken care of their property and kept it safe for visitors and taken care of anything wrong immediately,” Lee said. “If you have been hurt in a slip and fall accident at a hotel, you may be entitled to compensation based on the grounds of premises liability, as property owners may be held responsible for negligence for not keeping their property safe.”

“If this has happened to you, please, feel free to call me and let’s talk about your situation. If I can help you in any way, I will. The first consultation is free. If we proceed beyond that first consultation, you have my word you will receive first class representation,” Lee said.

To learn more, visit Rwleelaw.com.

Texans are looking at their auto insurance taking a hike upwards. This is good news for personal injury victims.

“Anytime car insurance goes up, people roll their eyes and check their bank accounts. They’re forgetting that increases in auto insurance for accidents actually has a benefit for them should they get into an accident,” said Robert W. Lee, a personal injury attorney at The Lee Law Firm in Austin, Texas.

Minimum liability coverage for car wrecks went up from $25,000 per person/ $50,000 per accident to $30,000 per person/ $60,000 per accident on Jan. 1. While the premiums will also go up accordingly, for those with policies taken out before this change and with an expiry date in 2011, the policy will be honored as is. “Thus, if you were injured in a collision before midnight on Dec. 31, 2010, the $25,000 limit is applicable to your case,” Lee said.

Why is an increase in the limits a good thing for Texans? “If you are seriously injured in a car wreck after the effective date, the increase in coverage is beneficial to you because hospital bills more often than not are way more than $25,000 per person. Personally, speaking as a personal injury attorney, I feel the limits need to be increased to at least $50,000, but this is a move in the right direction,” Lee said.

It is a fact that medical bills these days are staggeringly high for people unfortunate enough to need hospital care, and many are unable to afford to pay those bills unless they have a good health insurance policy or their insurance company offers a reasonable settlement.

“However, when it comes to insurance companies, reasonable settlement doesn’t generally belong in the same sentence as fair and equitable. They’re noted for racing to close a case as fast and as cheaply as possible. If you have ever had to deal with an insurance company to file a car accident claim, you will know why most plaintiffs give up and hire a lawyer to take the case on their behalf,” Lee said.

To learn more, visit Rwleelaw.com.

There seems to be no end in sight to the number of product recalls faced by American consumers. Dangerous products have virtually taken the marketplace by storm.

In what seems like a several page laundry list of product recalls, yet another one has been announced, involving camping stoves and equipment. This time, the stated hazard is the possibility of fire due to a damaged fuel line and/or O-rings.

The recall will ensnare about 5,300 camping stoves and other equipment in the U.S. and at least another 24,000 in Canada. Katadyn North America is doing the right thing by stepping up and calling back a product with the potential to seriously harm or kill someone. One may wonder why the product got to market before anyone discovered there was this kind of problem with it. This particular product recall deals with more than just the camping stoves; it recalls the stove’s fuel pump and spare parts and repair kits.

“You have to be asking yourself what on earth went wrong in the manufacturing process to affect over 29,000 products. It’s a serious glitch to discover after the fact that the fuel line and/or O ring were damaged and could harm someone. We’d better hope that all those people who bought this stove are informed about the recall, because if they don’t know about it, the manufacturer, despite the recall, may still be liable for any injuries consumers may sustain,” said Robert W. Lee, an Austin personal injury lawyer with The Lee Law Firm.

The Optimus Nova and Nova+ are black and about 6 inches in diameter and 3 ½ inches tall and capable of handling different types of fuel. Serial numbers, located on the side of the stove, are QA000011 through QA007313. Pumps and spare parts kits, sold separately, bear the numbers 80163051, 8520, 80176321 and 8511 right on the package.

“If you have been injured by using this product, give my office a call. I will walk you through what your rights are as they relate to dangerous/defective products. If you have a personal injury claim and chose to hire my services, I would be pleased to work with you. Manufacturers who sell defective products need to be held accountable for their rush to market with a product that has the potential to harm or kill someone,” Lee said.
To learn more, visit http://www.rwleelaw.com.

Texas has once again landed in the top spot for the nation for having the priciest home owner’s insurance premiums.

“This isn’t something I’d think people would want to brag about, but the latest figures put out by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners reveal that Texas is back in the No. 1 spot, nationwide, for having the most expensive premiums for home owner’s insurance. On average, many Texans pay roughly $1,460 for the most common policy sold in the U.S. today,” said Robert W. Lee, an Austin personal injury lawyer with The Lee Law Firm.

While this is not anything to be proud of, it does show a trend in insurance companies happily gouging their customers. “Being number one in the nation because consumers pay outrageous rates for basic, fairly inadequate insurance coverage isn’t exactly something you’d want to proclaim from the rooftops,” Lee said. “It’s more of an embarrassment, as it shows just how far insurance companies will go to charge what they think the market will bear, not what might be fair for customers.”

Many consumer groups in Texas were not so thrilled with the results of the study either, as it only reinforced what most Texans already knew, that for as long as anyone could recall, they have paid out insurance premiums that were way out of line with the national average. On the other side of the fence, the insurance industry insists that the rates are a reflection of the high risks for industry representatives selling polices in the state, meaning severe and unpredictable weather.

While the industry may have a point, as there were two hurricanes in 2008, Ike and Dolly, and hailstorms in North Texas and other locales, there comes a point when consumers wonder just how much more they will need to pay for home owner’s insurance that does not adequately address hurricane damage and never really did in the first place. For the record, Ike was ranked as the third costliest hurricane in the U.S., resulting in millions in property claims.

The rasion d’etre for the insurance industry seems to be that the premiums consumers pay are set to prepare them for future losses based on the weather, construction costs and property values, among other things. “If you were a skeptical consumer when it came to overpriced home owner’s insurance, you might be thinking the future loss figures are still obscenely low and the coverage abysmal and that the insurance company just wants to make and keep its money. You may be right,” Lee said.
To learn more, visit http://www.rwleelaw.com.

All tires are not made equal. If the right tires are not on a big rig, this is a potential recipe for disaster.

“Not a lot of people know that commercial tires, the kind you find on big rigs, are not designed for ordinary vehicles. In other words, a tire is not just a tire. The rubber you find on the big boys are specifically for class 6-8 trucks and are chosen according to their gross vehicle weight rating. These are some of the biggest tires in the industry and they are differentiated by design according to how they’re placed on the truck,” said Robert W. Lee, an Austin personal injury lawyer with The Lee Law Firm.

Knowing what tires to put on a big rig is a start, maintaining them in good working order is another step that is crucial to keeping a safe 18-wheeler on the road. A vehicle’s entire weight rests on the tires and if they are faulty, bald, the wrong kind or are not constantly checked, the potential for a wreck shoots up exponentially.

Part of the knowing what goes where relates to the type of driving a trucker does for a living. There are tires specifically made for driving, trailer hauling and steerage. In other words, whatever the trucker normally does with their rig, what kind of driving they do, will dictate what rubber in on their vehicle.

“Long distance haulers have different tires than those who are constantly starting, stopping and turning and construction sites need yet another type of tire to function in that kind of environment. The bottom line is that, just because there is almost an endless choice of tires, it is the trucker’s responsibility to check them every day. Their life and the lives of others depend on that caution,” Lee said.

It may not come as much of a surprise to know that a large proportion of the big rig wrecks on the roads are the result of tire blow-outs. This can be avoided by regular maintenance like checking the inflation and air pressure, examining the tires for knicks, cuts, punctures and uneven wear.

“It just doesn’t cut it to thump the tire with your hand, as that doesn’t tell you the correct pressure reading inside the tire. Be a hands-on kind of person and put some quality time into making sure those tires are in tip top shape. It’s worth it to someone who may not get hurt or injured, because you did your job properly,” Lee said.

With 14 million miles of roads available for trucks to travel, it only makes good sense to travel safe on tires made for the job and properly maintained. “If you have been in an accident with a big rig, please, call our office and discuss your case with us. We’ve had a whole lot of experience handling trucking cases and we would be happy to help you get justice,” Lee said.
To learn more, visit http://www.rwleelaw.com.