Memphis Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

In June 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that the use of Actos over an extended period of time may cause bladder cancer. Use of the dangerous & defective drug was discontinued in France and Germany, but not in the United States.

The warning followed a 2010 study that revealed an increased likelihood of developing bladder cancer in those who had taken Actos for a year or more. With the warning, Actos joins a growing list of known dangerous & defective drugs once thought to help patients, but later found to harm them.

Actos was intended to help people with type II diabetes control blood sugar levels. According to actos.com, the drug helps your body use insulin more efficiently and stops the production of excess sugar by the liver.

For only the third time in almost 50 years, Tennessee motor vehicle accidents resulted in less than 1000 fatalities, according to preliminary statistics from the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) Colonel Tracy Trott said of the 2011 stats, "One life lost is one too many, but we are encouraged by last year's fatality results and will continue to make every effort to ensure the public's safety on Tennessee roadways."

Memphis fatal car accident attorneys agree with Colonel Trott's statement that even one person's death in a motor vehicle accident is too many. But, the statistics do offer hope that Tennessee is becoming a safer place for drivers and passengers traveling our interstates and highways.

Earlier this week, a hearing-impaired Memphis student was involved in a motor vehicle accident on his way to school. After a Memphis school bus driver turned on the bus' red lights and put out the stop arm, the 13-year-old student walked over to board the bus. Before getting safely aboard, the student was struck by the distracted driver of a Jeep Cherokee, resulting in head injuries that sent the student to the hospital for treatment.

The Memphis bus accident led to charges against the driver for Failure to Maintain Control and Safe Lookout and Overtaking a School Bus. But is that enough? Are stricter penalties needed in order to keep Memphis school-age children safe when riding the school bus?

Fifty passengers on board a Greyhound bus traveling through Oklahoma City en route to Memphis were surprised when the bus they were riding on collided with a street sweeper. Twelve of the Greyhound passengers were taken to the hospital for treatment as well as the bus and street sweeper drivers. A second Greyhound driver took over the remaining route, driving through the night to get the remaining travelers back to Memphis.

The remainder of the trip was less than enjoyable for many riders, who were shaken up by the crash and unable to sleep during the overnight ride. The cause of the crash is under investigation and Greyhound reports that it has every intention of cooperating with authorities. It's been confirmed that the driver was awake at the time of the I-40 bus crash, but whether or not he or she was paying attention to the road ahead or distracted by a phone or something else has not been determined.

Drowsy or fatigued driving leads to over 100,000 motor vehicle accidents each year, killing 1,550 people and causing over 40,000 injuries according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA). Both NHTSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) are working to prevent fatal car accidents and other motor vehicle crashes that result in injury by focusing on preventing fatigued driving.

The FMCSA recently announced new rules related to hours of service for truck drivers, aimed specifically at curbing drowsy driving of semi- and other cargo-trucks. The current 11-hour daily limitation on truck drivers will remain, but limits on hours worked per week as well as mandatory rest breaks are part of the new rules that take effect in late February of 2012.

The specific number of Memphis truck accidents, as well as truck crashes elsewhere throughout the country, directly attributable to fatigued driving is unknown. However, it is known that a fatigued driver, whether behind the wheel of a car or truck, usually has a slower reaction time, impaired judgment while behind the wheel and his or her ability to otherwise drive safely is directly interfered with by lack of sleep.

An overturned semi-truck on I-40 led to a ticket for failing to maintain control of a vehicle being issued to the truck's driver. The truck first rolled onto the driver's side before sliding 150 yards, causing traffic headaches for others on eastbound Interstate 40.

The cause of the crash is unknown, but the driver reported hearing a strange noise in the semi-truck's front end just prior to the rollover crash, raising questions of whether there was some kind of mechanical failure while the truck was in motion. Although the driver was given a citation for the Tennessee truck crash, it is quite possible that the trucking company that maintains the rig maybe at least partially to blame as well.

Memphis faulty truck maintenance accident attorneys have seen truck accidents caused by a variety of mechanical issues, including defective brakes, defective steering components and faulty wiring. Truck drivers should inspect their rigs and any cargo they are hauling each time the get in their truck. Trucking companies must also do their part to make sure that their fleet vehicles are in proper working order.

Did you receive an offer from your insurance company to settle a claim for auto or other property damage that you felt was too low and did not accept? Did it seem like that resulted in delay after delay of paying out what you believed to be a fair amount? Well, you are not alone and it wasn't you. It may have been your insurance company and its attempt to grow profits at your expense.

Dubbed 'Good Hands or Boxing Gloves,' the practice of giving prompt service to insureds who accepted a payout that was really a low-ball amount for their claim while fighting -- putting on the boxing gloves -- an insured to delay payment when they do not accept the low offer has been a common business practice since the 1990s among insurers.

The duty of good faith and fair dealing aside, insurers were intentionally making it easier for clients who accepted a lower payment for their claim and harder for those who fought for the full value of the insurance policies that they'd been paying for. Insurance dispute lawyers in Memphis, Tennessee and elsewhere throughout the country were needed if a consumer had any hope of getting a fair payout for their insurance claim.

The American Trucking Association (ATA) doesn't believe that truck driver fatigue is a major contributor to the number of truck accidents that occur on Tennessee highways and other U.S. roadways. Citing data from the Large Truck Crash Causation Study conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and more recent reports, missteps by the driver rather than his or her own alertness, contribute to 9 out of 10 accidents.

As the FMCSA has increasingly focused on driver fatigue through new restrictions on hours of service, it has neglected more frequent causes of truck accidents, such as excessive speed, weather or road conditions and distracted driving, according to the ATA. But, regardless of why these accidents are happening, the point is that they are happening and can have devastating consequences. The FMSCA reports that in Tennessee and throughout the United States 3,215 large trucks were involved in fatal truck accidents in 2009.