Oklahoma City Personal Injury Lawyer - Wrongful Death

Swimming Pool Deaths in Oklahoma

Jeremy Thurman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:55:00 GMT

If you own a pool it should be fenced. If it is not already, you should be thinking seriously about getting it done. Why? Well, an important reason might be to prevent tragic instances such as this one, in which a four year old Tulsa boy died after being found in a neighbor's swimming pool.

This incident is made all the more tragic by how often incidents like this occur, and how easily they might have been prevented. According to the Oklahoma Child Death Review Board, in 2007, the most recent year for which they have complete data, twenty-seven Oklahoma children died by drowning. Ten of these deaths occurred in residential pools. We don’t know, at this time, the exact circumstances surrounding this most recent tragedy. What we can safely reiterate however, is the overwhelming importance of pool safety.

Many jurisdictions, including Tulsa, now have city ordinances requiring that newly constructed pools have safety barriers, but have been hesitant to require that pools already in existence retrofit barriers. However, a pool owner can be held financially liable for a wrongful death, even in jurisdictions that do not require existing pools to be fenced.

Generally, owners of a potentially dangerous feature, such as a pool have some duty to minimize the dangers of that feature. In some instances, this legal duty can extend even to those the owner did not invite onto the property. When children are involved this duty is heightened. This is known in legal circles as “attractive nuisance” liability. While it has not yet been formally applied to swimming pools by the Oklahoma courts, other jurisdictions have applied it.

For the attractive nuisance doctrine to apply, traditionally the following five conditions must be met. The area of the pool has to be attractive to children. Pools must be dangerous to children. The child injured must have been too young to appreciate the danger of the pool. The burden of fencing the pool must be outweighed by the risk to children. The owner of the pool must have failed to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger of drowning. If you are a parent, or even know any children, then you know how much they love pools. We are all familiar with the dangers of unattended pools, and the child has yet to be born who has any real appreciation of his or her own personal safety.

If you are the owner of a pool, and tragedy strikes, imagine how that alone will make you feel. Now imagine having to go into a court and try to convince a jury that it would have been too burdensome to install fencing; as that jury looks across the courtroom at a set of grieving parents. If you are a pool owner you should want to do the right thing for the right reason. If that isn’t quite enough, do the right thing because you don’t want to have to stand in that courtroom making awkward explanations to a judge and jury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Tulsa Infant Killed by a Puppy

Jeremy Thurman — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:07:39 GMT

One of the most tragic dog bite accidents I have every heard of recently happened in Tulsa Oklahoma. Newsok.com is reporting that 2-month-old infant was attacked and killed after being mauled by a Labrador puppy, Authorities believe the infant was left unattended in a swing with the dog attacked.

I have seen and litigated several dog bite accidents. I have seen children hurt and mauled as well as grown adults. Usually these accidents seem to be the result of what most of us would consider more dangerous breeds such as pitbulls. That said, our prayers are with this family and this little child. We should all take a look and remember the dangers of leaving any child unattended with any animal no matter how unassuming the animal is.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Oklahoma's Wrongful Death Statute - Damages

Jeremy Thurman — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:10:00 GMT

I am preparing to go to trial in a couple of weeks on a wrongful death action. In doing so I have written whats called a Trial Brief where you essentially let the Court know that basic issues of the case. In doing so I cited Oklahoma's wrongful death statute. I thought I would share Oklahoma's wrongful death statute with you in my cliff notes form. Specifically, I want to briefly discuss what the statute allows the family of the deceased to recover for damages.

Under Oklahoma's Wrongful Death Statute, 12 O.S. §1053, the Plaintiff in a wrongful death action is entitled to recover the following damages: Medical bills, burial and funeral expenses, pain and suffering of the decedent and grief and loss of companionship of the decedent's children and/or spouse.

This is important to know in any wrongful death action. Whether is a nursing home case, medical malpractice, car wreck, trucking accident et al., this statute in varying forms applies. You as surviving family members should keep track of all the above listed expenses as well as document your loss of companionship.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Follow-up to Trucking Fatality Accident

Jeremy Thurman — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:08:07 GMT

I wanted to follow up on the trucking accident that killed a family of 4 from Joplin, Missouri. Azcentral.com is reporting that police are recommending that the truck driver be charged with 4 counts of negligent homicide.

If you recall, the accident happened in Pryor Oklahoma where the truck driver negligently rear-ended the family of 4 at a stop light.

This sad story once again reiterates the seriousness of trucking accidents. If you or a family member are involved in any such accident, seek counsel immediatly. These semi's have ECM (black box) and other important data that needs to be preserved. Further, they can destroy the trucking logs per Federal Law after 6 months. Don't trust the insurance companies as they have no desire to resolve trucking claims for what they are worth.

Once again our prayers go out to this family.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Crashes in Tulsa Area Claim 7 Lives

Jeremy Thurman — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:13:36 GMT

In a very sad story, the Tulsa World is reporting that over seven people have been killed in crashes in the Tulsa area.

Per the article, five people ages 18 and younger are among those killed.

Seven people -- including two Catoosa teenagers and a Missouri family -- were killed in crashes Sunday in Green Country, and a Pawhuska teenager died Monday after a single-vehicle crash in Delaware County.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Study Finds Cancer Diagnosis Linked to Insurance

Jeremy Thurman — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:24:40 GMT

I just saw the following article from the New York Times discussing a new study by the American Cancer Society which has found that the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid are more likely than those with private insurance to receive a diagnosis of cancer in late stages, often diminishing their chances of survival.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jeremy Thurman

Police Kill 5 Year-Old Boy While Shooting at Snake

Jenny Albano — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:30:49 GMT

A police officer that was trying to kill a snake fired a stray bullet that hit and killed a 5 year-old boy who was fishing in a nearby pond.

Austin Haley was fishing with his grandfather, Jack Tracy, on Friday, August 3 when the accident occurred. Tracy stated that he heard and saw a bullet fall into the water only a few feet away from the boat they were fishing in and then seconds later there was another shot that hit the boy in the head.

Tracy first thought that they were under attack so he put the boy in his vehicle and drove him to his mother's house only a few hundred yards away. The boy was pronounced dead at an Oklahoma hospital later that night.

Investigators think that a police officer, who was trying to kill a snake in a resident's tree, fired the deadly shots. The City Manager, Bob Wade, would not identify the name of the officer who is suspected of firing the shots. Wade states that the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Officials say they are almost certain that the police officer's bullet was the one that killed Haley, but they will still have a full investigation.

The grandfather is sure that the bullet came from the police officer's gun.

"I'm not saying the cop shot him on purpose," Tracy said. "It was an accident. But let me tell you -- if I had a kid and put him in this car and didn't put him in a car seat and he got killed on the way to town, they'd charge me with murder ... and what this cop did is a lot worse than that."

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Wrongful Death.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Kite Tube Recall Initiated

Staff Writer — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:06:12 GMT

Approximately 19,000 kite tubes are being recalled by Sportstuff, Inc. after the company received reports of two deaths and many serious injuries linked to the product's use. The kite tube is pulled behind a boat, and the rider polls on the tubes handles to become airborne. Riders have been killed and injured while being towed at high speeds and falling off the tube from several feet in the air.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer