Oklahoma City Personal Injury Lawyer

NY Times Article on the Tort War

Jeremy Thurman — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:20:20 GMT

Sunday's New York Times business section carried the following story below: "To the Trenches: The Tort War Is Raging On" by Jonathan Glater.

There is a good and balanced article on the war to change our civil laws state by state by these nations' biggest businesses including insurance, oil companies and mega pharmaceutical corporations and their lobbying group, the National Chamber.

The one thing that struck me, and is glaringly absent in the public perception is the vast difference in expenditures of the National Chamber vs. The National Trial lawyer group (AAJ). Here is a quote from the article: "The national chamber itself, which represents millions of businesses of all sizes, is the biggest spender on the lobbying. In 2006, it spent $72.7 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group that tracks money in politics. On the trial lawyers' side, the American Association for Justice spent $8.3 million that year."

In Oklahoma you would find the same thing with the Oklahoma Chamber funded by Chesapeake, Devon and doctors with the same disparity in lobbying monies. I think this effectively breaks the old adage about the rich trial lawyers currying favor which you so often hear by some of this state's republican loud mouths.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

DUI in a Wheelchair?

Jeremy Thurman — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:10:34 GMT

Okay, I don't know if this has much to do with personal injury, but I felt inclined to post this after reading it on the drudgereport.com. Apparently, drudge picked up on a daily telegraph story where motorists had to swerve to miss a 64-year-old man asleep at the helm of his wheelchair. The police did a breath test and found him to be six times the legal blood alcohol limit.

This is a first for me. I've heard of DUI in car wrecks, trucking accidents and even motorcycle accidents, but never in a wheelchair. Everyone enjoy this article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

IME - Defendants Dirty Little Secret

Jeremy Thurman — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:43:29 GMT

Anyone who has practiced in the personal injury area know that so called "independent medical exams" often ordered in car wreck cases are anything but independent. The proper term should be "defendant medical exam." This is to be expected by third party insurance companies, but what do you do when your UM requests that you attend a so called IME.

The answer is you go, but the uninsured motorist carrier should be aware that it risks bad faith if they hire, rely and base their evaluation on these doctors who testify soley for the defense and knowingly render opinions to help defendants, not the injured person. So beware and have counsel present if your UM carrier asks you to attend an IME.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Uninsured/Underinsured Subrogation Rights - Don't Destroy Your UM Claim

Internal Administrator — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:56:33 GMT

Today we are going to talk about an important subject. The subject is how to not destroy your uninsured/underinsured motorist claim by quickly settling with a third party (person who caused the car wreck, trucking accident and/or motorcycle accident).

Cases in Oklahoma state that the insured who settles with the tort-feasor and releases him

destroys his UM claim. This is so because the insurance company has been deprived of its subrogation right against the tort-feasor. Oklahoma has evolved to further state that the insured may force the UM insurance company to either waive subrogation or substitute its payment for the person who caused the accident and offers to pay his or her liability limits. The effect of a substitution is that the insured remains entitled to the total of the tort-feasor's liability limits and the insured's UM limits.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Internal Administrator

Trucking Accident Near Purcell Claims Life of 30 Year Old Oklahoma City Woman

Jeremy Thurman — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:50:22 GMT

The Purcell Register is reporting that a 30 year old Oklahoma City woman has tragically died when a 2000 Freightliner Semi Truck ran on top of the 2007 Nissan Altima she was driving. Apparently, the accident occurred where the near I-35 roadway near Purcell narrowed due to construction and traffic was stopped ahead of the 30 year old Oklahoma City woman. The semi not only ran over her in her Altima but also caused her to strike a Suburban, which in turn struck a Dodge.

This is a sad example of what can happen with a speedy trailer tractor and roadway construction. This is not the first accident of this type we have seen or heard of. So what do you do if you or a loved one is harmed or killed in an accident such as this. You need to immediately contact an attorney to protect your rights. Federal Transportation laws only require that the Trucking Company keep logs and other important information for six months and then they are allowed to destroy them unless put on notice to preserve them. Typically, we began a semi crash investigation such as the case described above by putting the Trucking Company on notice to preserve the semi, logs and all available information. A semi such as this 2000 Freightliner most likely has an ECM Device, often called a black box that can give invaluable information as to the speed of the tractor trailer prior to the accident. The logs can tell if a driver had been pushed by his company to drive too many hours and was fatigued or tired at the time of the accident.

With all that said, my condolences and prayers go out to this young lady and her family.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Uninsured/Underinsured Subrogation Rights - Don't Destroy Your UM Claim

Jeremy Thurman — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:37:00 GMT

Cases in Oklahoma state that the insured who settles with the tort-feasor and releases him

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Failing to Negotiate a Turn - Motorcycle Accidents

Jeremy Thurman — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:20:59 GMT

All too often I see reports of motorcycle accidents listed in the local paper. An alarmingly majority of those accidents seem to involve people driving at a high rate of speed and failing to negotiate the turn properly. Just this morning, newsok.com is reporting that a young man tragically lost his life in a motorcycle accident because he was driving too fast and failed to negotiate a turn.

Instead of stating the obvious as to why you must be careful on these deadly machines, I want to simply want to remind you motorcycle riders that death usually results from a motorcycle crash. I believe that there are more and more motorcycles on the road today so please for all you novice riders, be careful.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Who Is Entitled to Collect Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Jeremy Thurman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:36:51 GMT

I've decided to write a series of articles on Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage in Oklahoma. I'm going to touch on various topics and simply wanted to start off the discussion by telling you whom is entitled to recover UM..

Title 36 O.S. §3636B requires UM coverage "for the protection of persons insured

thereunder." Remember when addressing this you have to read your insurance policy. There are various positions found throughout different insurance companies and to some degree, insurance companies are allowed to exclude people we traditionally would have thought would have been insured. But rather than go too in-depth, I want to talk in generalities. The UM policies are generally written in such a way as to cover: (1) the named insured, and the named insured's family residing in his or her household and (2) other persons while occupying an insured vehicle. They may be pedestrians or riding in another vehicle - they are covered if they were injured by an uninsured vehicle.

So remember, if your in a car crash, trucking accident or motorcycle incident, make sure you understand your rights under your uninsured motorist coverage. Tomorrow I will touch upon an important topic about how you can destroy your right to collect UM.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Oklahoma Paxil Case

Jeremy Thurman — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:55:46 GMT

News9.com is reporting that the first court case involving the controversial anti-depressant Paxil and birth defects has been filed in Oklahoma.

The mother ofa Bartlesville toddler allegedly affected by the medication is suing the maker of the drug.

Jennifer Hayes says her two-year-old son, Kade, is not well enough to even play outside with his brothers. She said her full-time job is now to care for her young son.

This is a good read on the devastating effects of Paxil on pregnant women.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

French Plastic Surgeon - Dozens of Mutilizations

Jeremy Thurman — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:06:13 GMT

Breitbart.com is reporting that a French Plastic Surgeon is currently on trial for dozens of mutilizations. This story is truly amazing. It sounds like something you might watch on a horror flick, but for the many people who suffered from his medical malpractice, its all too real.

According to the report, French Doctor Michel Maure is facing 97 charges of misleading advertising, aggravated deceit, endangering lives, and involuntary injury between 2000 and 2004.

Most of his business involved cosmetic liposuctions and breast implants. Its truly amazing that someone could have gotten away with this many malpractice instances. If you want to know why you don' t hear about things like this very often in the U.S., its quite simple. Its called trial lawyers who hold doctors to account when their medical associations and states will not.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman