When you are drunk, you do not always realize what color the traffic lights are, or just do not care. With recklessness like that, often death ensues.

And death came calling in this case when a drunk driver sped right through a red light, slamming into a 2004 silver Pontiac. The drunk was driving a 2011 black Hyundai that looked amazingly small and insignificant in the aftermath of the wreck. It was almost hard to believe that it caused the damage it did, although at the speed the driver was doing, perhaps it was not so unusual.

The force of the impact caved in the driver’s side of the Pontiac; an impact that shoved both vehicles at least 150 feet or more from the center of the intersection. The Pontiac driver was dead at the scene. The Hyundai driver would be charged with speeding and driving while under the influence. Wrongful death? Yes. Criminal charges? Yes.

In this instance, the criminal charges would take precedence over the civil suit, which is not to say that a civil suit could not be filed and go to court after the criminal case. You just need to keep in mind that the way a case is proved in civil court is different than in a criminal court. In criminal cases, proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt, in civil cases it is judged on a balance of probabilities.

It is highly likely that the victim’s family would want to discuss the situation with a competent personal injury lawyer. No one should face something like this wreck alone and wondering how they will carry on with their lives.

If you have been in a collision like this, involving a drunk driver or a reckless one, and have sustained serious injuries, you will want to make contact with an Austin personal injury lawyer. Find out right away what your legal rights are, how to file a case, what to expect when you move forward and what your Austin personal injury lawyer does to protect your rights. It is a call well worth making.

Do not wait to contact an experienced lawyer, as there is something called the statue of limitations that, if you miss filing your claim in time, means that you no longer have the right to file a case against the defendant. If you have suffered serious, debilitating injuries, you will need compensation to care for yourself for the rest of your life.

Do not rely on insurance companies to help you settle a claim. Their only reason for talking to you is to get you to settle quickly and cheaply. More often than not, your injuries are worth more than an insurance company will admit. When an experienced lawyer handles the insurance company you do not get worked over.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

When a vehicle turns in front of a biker, the results are usually deadly. This case is no exception to that rule.

This reported case was incredibly heartbreaking for the biker’s family. A young 43-year-old father was out for an early morning ride on his motorcycle when a big rig made an illegal U-turn right in front of him. With nowhere else to go, the biker swerved to avoid hitting the truck, smacked into a curb and slammed into the side of the truck.

If you can believe this, the trucker, aware of what happened, climbed out of his vehicle, looked at the accident scene, then left. He was later tracked down and arrested on suspicion of hit and run and vehicular manslaughter. Can you imagine anyone standing there in the road looking at a serious, and as it turned out, fatally injured person, and instead of helping, runs away? There are no words to describe this type of person.

Does the family of the biker have a wrongful death case? Yes, they do. Not only do they have a wrongful death case, they have grounds for punitive damages given the egregious nature of the trucker’s negligence. What made the trucker take off? This is a question that investigators will be trying to answer. It may have been because he was under the influence, texting while driving, on the phone while driving, inattention or that he had been smoking marijuana. Whatever the reasons, the outcome was the death of a man, who could have still been alive today but for the trucker’s ill advised left U-turn.

There are two components to this case: the first is the criminal charge, which would be dealt with first. Subsequent to that, a civil lawsuit (the wrongful death case) could be filed. The criminal charge would relate to leaving the scene of a crash, which is not only horrifically inhumane, but illegal. In relation to the wrongful death lawsuit that the family may file, they should be able to claim compensation not only from the at-fault trucker, but his employer as well. To get the right kind of legal representation in cases like this, you will need an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer – one who knows the true meaning of justice for victims.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Some days, you just have to shake your head at the crazy things people do. This case has its hilarious moments, but it could have turned out a lot worse.

Imagine this – a semi truck barrels down the highway, makes a stop at an interstate highway weigh station, as per regulation, and gets into a conversation with a commercial vehicle officer. This seems normal enough on the surface, but something did not add up for the officer. The conversation about the trucker’s load, where he was headed, weight and other details rang a little bell in the back of the officer’s head.

Doing his job, the officer asked permission to search the truck and found 213 pounds of marijuana. You might be wondering why the trucker gave the officer permission to search his vehicle if he was hauling drugs, but really, what other choices did he have? The driver was immediately arrested and faced drug trafficking charges. The arrest report did not indicate whether or not the driver was under the influence when he was arrested.

This immediately brings to mind stories of other big rigs involved in accidents that maim and kill and the further revelation that semi truck drivers driving under the influence of marijuana is on the rise. In fact, this grim news was recently revealed in a study done by the Insurance Institute for Traffic Safety. They found that more than 15 percent of 18-wheeler drivers that participated in the research for the report tested positive for marijuana. A companion study, authored by the NTSB, showed 12.5 percent of all fatal truck accidents involved marijuana.

Obviously if a trucker has been smoking marijuana and then trying to drive an 80,000 pound vehicle, something bad is going to happen, sooner if not later. It significantly impairs the user’s ability to drive and makes them unsafe at any speed. Many know that this drug acts on the user’s central nervous system and causes difficulty concentrating, temporary loss of memory and a slower reaction time. If the trucker cannot control his/her vehicle because they have been toking up, the end results may be catastrophic.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Tort reform is not what it is cracked up to be. Big insurance and big government do not want to get this concept, and victims continue to be abused by the system.

There is so much campaign rhetoric polluting the airwaves that it is hard to get the straight facts. Tort reform, otherwise known as medical malpractice caps, is a definite heated issue with injured victims and personal injury lawyers. Lawyers have continued to point out that putting medical malpractice caps in place only hurts the victim twice and leaves them struggling to deal with their ruined lives and unable to pay their medical bills.

Finally, a national report, which just came out, reveals that the 2003 Texas law responsible for capping medical malpractice damage awards has prompted a significant hike in health care spending, and has not seen an increase in physicians in the state; contrary to what Governor Perry has said on the campaign trail. Perry has stated on several occasions that the medical malpractice law added 21,000 physicians to the state. It has not.

The report, authored by Public Citizen, is called “A Failed Experiment”, and it clearly says that using the model Texas passed as law would only benefit insurers and doctors, not injured victims. This is not shocking news to personal injury lawyers, wrongful death lawyers or medical malpractice lawyers. The instant a damage cap was mentioned as being a way to cut the high costs of insurance premiums, cut health care costs and save money, attorneys have been insisting that would not happen. They are right.

What happens is that medical malpractice victims get worked over twice. Once by their physician or another medical professional, by sustaining a serious or deadly injury, and the second time by a law drafted to help insurance companies make more money, while politicians keep votes from the medical profession. Make no mistake, the medical malpractice caps are not about justice for innocent medical negligence victims.

What politician or doctor in their right mind would be against taking responsibility for a serious medical error that forever changed the life of a patient who trusted their doctor to care for them? Apparently, there are a great number of politicians and doctors, not to mention insurance companies that think it is perfectly acceptable to limit the damage award to a victim, so they may save money. What that says about the concept of justice is frightening.

Just what is a victim whose life has been so drastically altered by medical negligence supposed to do when faced with enormous medical bills incurred through no fault of their own? Someone needs to take responsibility, and that someone needs to be the doctor and the insurance companies.

The Texas Medical Association and Texas Alliance for Patient Access are not happy with the report, and dispute its conclusions about the number of doctors who came to the state. In fact, the Alliance insists doctors left the state like lemmings and malpractice insurance rates were just about double what they are today before the tort reform law was passed. However, they assert that that since 2007, Texas has licensed about 60 percent more new doctors every year than it did before tort reform.

Obviously, there are two sides to every story, just as there are two sides to a medical malpractice victim’s lawsuit. Ultimately, the jury is out on tort reform and it will likely continue to be until someone gets it that once an innocent victim has been harmed, someone must take responsibility for the damage. If not doctors, insurance companies or politicians, then whom? Think about that if you are ever involved in a medical malpractice case and need a significant jury award to pay for your care for the rest of your life.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

How many deaths does it take before people get the message not to text while driving?

You would think that there have been more than enough texting while driving deaths reported in the news for people to get the message. Apparently not, as this case demonstrates how a trucker died as he slammed into an Amtrak train. How did that happen? It happened because he was texting while driving and not paying attention to where he was going.

The trucker was still moving forward at highway speeds when the train was crossing the tracks in front of him, even while the gate was down and the lights were flashing. The collision resulted in a massive fire as the tractor-trailer hit the side of the train.

An accident reconstructionist was able to mark out more than 200 feet of skid marks made, just prior to the impact. While holding his cell phone and texting, the trucker realized that he was about to hit the train. The locomotive burst into flames and was separated from the passenger cars it was hauling. Four passengers and two train crew members were hurt.

At least six people were injured from the collision, including two Amtrak crew members and four passengers. If the accident had been the result of a mechanical failure, the dead man’s family would also have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit. However, because the direct proximate cause of the accident was the trucker texting on his cell phone, it is the passengers and crew that will have a course of legal action open to them.

For those who have been involved in an accident with a big rig, it is vitally important to seek experienced legal counsel in the form of an Austin personal injury lawyer. With years of experience under his belt, an Austin personal injury attorney will deal with the case from start to finish, and put the insurance companies in their place to make sure you get the settlement you deserve.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

It is about time that a move was made to determine if big rig truckers are using drugs. The idea is to reduce the number of fatalities on the road.

This is actually good news for all vehicle drivers who spend a fair amount of time on America’s highways. Let’s hope this practice gets implemented across the country quickly. One well known and reliable trucking firm in Washington is implementing drug screening on their new hires by using hair samples. They want to ensure the drivers do not get into accidents during their first few months of employment. The hair testing will be a companion test to the mandated Department of Transportation urine testing for drugs.

Statistically speaking, new truck drivers that start with a firm tend to have an accident within their first three to four months on the job. After that time frame, the risk of being in a crash drops. Hoping to avoid big rig accidents, and the possibility of large payouts if their corporation is sued, the company is planning to combine the urine test with a hair test, largely because the hair holds onto drugs far longer than the body does when it eliminates drugs out via urination. The net result they hope to achieve is hiring safer drivers.

Apparently this program was started in July 2011 and by all reports, it has shown beneficial results. To date, more than 170 drivers have already been screened using both tests. Out of that 170, the hair testing caught 10 potential drivers that tested positive for drugs. If it were not for the hair testing, they would have been hired.

Of interest is that many truck driving candidates voluntarily drop out of the hiring process once they find out they need to submit a hair sample for drug testing. When one looks at the bigger picture of keeping the roads safe, this can only be a good thing.

It is also good news to hear that there are even further tests being implemented by U.S. motor carrier companies, which include running drug tests for extended opiates and sleep apnea screening. Many carriers are also starting to add electronic onboard data recorders to track what their employees are doing while they are on the road in the company truck.

Should car drivers be less worried about being on the road with 18-wheelers? Perhaps so, but that is not to say they should not still take great care when in the presence of big rigs. Any accidents with a big rig and a smaller vehicle will still not have a good outcome, so sharing the road is still an important concept.

If you have been in an accident with an 18-wheeler, you need to contact a skilled Austin personal injury lawyer right away. Do not wait. The accident scene needs to be preserved and the plaintiff needs to know how to move forward and recover compensation for their injuries. An Austin personal injury lawyer with experience dealing with trucking accidents will know what to do immediately.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

Did you know that there are roughly 500,000 big rig accidents every year? At least 5,000 of them are fatal.

There is a silent partner helping 18-wheeler crash attorneys – the Semi Truck Accident Victims Center. Not many victims or their families know about the center, but they should. It is on call 24/7 for anyone who needs them, whether it is a victim or family member that has been in a wreck with a big rig. They are not lawyers and do not pretend they are, but they have unparalleled resources a victim can use when they need them.

Anyone that calls the nationwide Semi Truck Accident Victims Center will find that the organization assists in coordinating investigators, legal resources, and whatever else is needed in these types of accidents. This is not to say that you do not need to consult with competent legal counsel such as an Austin personal injury attorney. Qualified attorneys ultimately coordinate your case and take it to court to get you the justice you deserve.

The center advises people who have been involved in wrecks with big rigs regarding what they need to do to handle the situation. Their advice is to seek medical help right away, do not leave the scene of the accident and never, ever admit fault. This is something that is only discussed with legal counsel. They also encourage people in 18-wheeler crashes to try and take pictures, even if it is with a cell phone. This is valuable evidence for later on.

They also strongly suggest that as a victim you sign nothing that is offered to you, and do not make any statements of any kind to the other party or their insurance company without the presence of an Austin personal injury attorney. Cases like this are never easy to litigate, and typically involve more than just two parties. The trucker, his employer, a broker, an insurance company and possibly even a third party and multiple lawyers can be involved in these types of lawsuits.
When it comes to being in an accident with a big rig, you need all the help you can get to make it through one day at a time. Just remember that the person licensed to get you justice is an Austin personal injury attorney.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

There are some accidents that offer up very little in the way of clues as to what happened. This looks to be a case like that.

It was an ordinary day when a 52-year-old man hopped on his Harley-Davidson and hit the road. The sun was shining, the roads were clear and life was good. At least it was good until the man rear-ended a truck. The semi had slowed for a construction barrel that was blocking traffic on the highway.

No one knows quite what happened, but the one thing they do know for sure is that the biker lost control of his ride. There was no place else to go but into and under the semi. The man was dead on impact.

In this reported case, there are many unanswered questions. How did the biker lose control? Was he driving under the influence? Driving while texting (stranger things have happened in past accidents)? Were the roads covered with slick oil as a result of the construction in the area? Did his Harley suffer a mechanical failure, and if so what? Did the man try to stop and his brakes were not working? Or was he just not paying attention to what was going on around and in front of him?

Accidents like this may look one way initially, but once someone starts digging deeper, they discover that there was a reason the biker lost control. When families are faced with situations like this one, they should never assume that the wreck was “just an accident” that no one can do anything about. Always take the time to consult with a competent Austin personal injury lawyer and find out where you stand.

You may well have a wrongful death case if the biker lost his life due to a mechanical failure or bad road conditions in the area caused by the negligence of the construction crew. The best thing to do when anyone you love has been seriously injured or killed is to find out everything you can about your legal rights. Many people make the mistake of assuming there is nothing they can do, when reaching out to an Austin personal injury attorney would clarify their legal rights immediately.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

If you are driving an 18-wheeler down the highway, it is a good idea to watch where you are going. That did not happen in this crash.

No matter what type of vehicle you are driving, it is your duty to pay attention to where you are going and obey the rules of the road. It is also a good idea to obey posted signs and monitor traffic conditions. Really, these are common sense things to do.

Unfortunately, truckers are human and humans do make mistakes. However, making a mistake when you are driving a massive vehicle that can kill in an instant is something no one can ever undo.

In this reported case, a semi caused a three-car wreck that killed two. The trucker was hauling a flat bed, and was not paying that much attention to what was happening on the road in front of him. The traffic had started to slow directly in front of his rig, and traffic further on had stopped due to construction. At the time of the accident, the highway was down to a single lane for all the work that was underway.

As the trucker rapidly came up behind a box trailer, he did not even slam on the brakes. Instead, he rammed into the other vehicle with such force that he was killed instantly along with his female passenger, who had been in the sleeping berth. On impact, the truck shoved the box trailer forward into two other trailers in front of him, causing a chain of rear-end accidents. The posted speed limit in the area was 45 miles per hour because of the construction. It is safe to say the dead trucker was not going the speed limit when he rear-ended the box trailer.

This messy accident closed the highway down for eight and a half hours while crews tried to free the two dead semi occupants and clean up the debris that had been scattered all over the road. It was one of the worst accident scenes the police had seen. Emergency crews took the driver of the box trailer to the nearest hospital for medical treatment where his condition was listed as serious, but stable.

Who knows what caused this crash, other than it is clear that the trucker was not paying attention to traffic in front of him. Was he on the phone? Under the influence? Texting? Falling asleep? There are lots of unanswered questions, but there is one question with a clear answer. Was this trucker negligent? Yes, no question, and the family of the woman who died in the truck with him may want to discuss this case with an Austin personal injury attorney.

As for the other trucker in hospital, his first call will also likely be to a competent Austin injury lawyer to find out how he can recover costs for his medical bills and other expenses related to the accident. Do not wait to make that call. Time is critical in cases like this.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.

This accident was like a movie with a horrific collision and fire that gutted two railway cars. It was a completely devastating event that killed six and left rescuers trying to locate another five people. A semi slammed into the side of an Amtrak train at a railway crossing. How that happened is the major unanswered question in this story.

Evidently the truck was in the lead of a three-truck convoy, and slid more than 320 feet before ramming into the crossing gates and T-boning the side of the train. The crossing was clearly marked, the gates were down and the lights were flashing. No one could successfully explain why the driver failed to stop and investigators had trouble examining what was left of the truck as it was buried deep in the rail car.

At the time of the accident, there were 200 people on board and 14 crew members. After the wreck when the staff was doing a head count, they indicated they were missing passengers. They may have gotten off before the crash, or may have fled the accident scene without permission. Nonetheless, the carnage from this wreck haunted officials.

The police indicated they wanted to wait for the results of a toxicology report on the trucker, and while their initial impression was drugs or booze was not involved, they did not want to jump to conclusions without proof. Could it have been fatigue? Was he texting while driving and took his eyes off the road? Was he fiddling with something on the dashboard? Some of these questions might not have any answers, but the families of those who died at the scene of this crash will certainly want to know what caused the trucker to ram the train.

Many of the victim’s families may wish to file wrongful death lawsuits, and those who were seriously injured may want to consult an experienced personal injury lawyer about obtaining compensation for their injuries. Accidents like this do not happen very often, but when they do, the fallout is swift.
Cases involving a big rig are very complex and there are more people involved in a lawsuit. In other words, it is not just the trucker being sued. It is also the trucking company, the insurance companies and maybe even a property broker. It’s a given that cases like this cannot be handled without the help of an experienced Austin personal injury lawyer to make sure you get the compensation you deserve.

Robert W. Lee is an Austin personal injury lawyer for The Lee Law Firm. If you need an Austin personal injury lawyer, contact an Austin personal injury attorney from The Lee Law Firm. Visit RWLeelaw.com.