Federal Lawyer

Archive for April, 2010

Trucking accident cases are quite a bit different than automobile accident cases. There are a number of reasons, but the primary reason is that trucks are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. These regulations are voluminous and technical. This is for good reason. According to the US Department of Transportation, there are more than 400,000 truck accidents each year in the United States. And of these, approximately 5,000 resulted in fatalities. Of those, almost 80% of the fatalities were occupants in another vehicle. Since a tractor –trailer can weigh upwards of 75,000 lbs., these results are, unfortunately, not unexpected.

All trucking companies must comply with these federal regulations. Often times, the actual wrongdoer is not just the truck driver, but also the trucking company for not properly training the driver. Other causes of trucking accidents include shoddy maintenance, over-loaded trucks or driver fatigue. It is ultimately the trucking company’s responsibility to educate and properly train each driver before putting them on the road. The heart of such a case centers on the truck accident attorney’s investigation of the trucking company’s policies and practices relating to their drivers.

It is important for a truck accident lawyer to get involved early in the case in order to, among other things, preserve evidence. Drivers are required to keep an accurate log of their driving time. In order to make more money, some companies have their drivers driving more hours than permitted under the federal regulations. Some companies have even devised incentive programs for drivers that reward them with bonuses when they drive more hours. As a result, this puts more fatigued drivers on the road which makes it more likely that serious accidents will happen. The federal regulations only require the trucking companies to keep driver log records for six months. It is critical for the attorney to have a chance to send a letter to the trucking company to save all logs and other evidence before they throw it away. Also, the quicker an attorney can start the investigation, the more likely he will be able to examine evidence that is still “fresh”. Early investigation is critical and the evidence collected is extremely beneficial while settling truck accident claims.

In America, injury lawyers have seen a wave of disasters ranging from toxic spills to asbestosis poisoning. Currently, several American businesses have been ordered to pay out compensation to victims who have received personal injuries due to the negligence of the firms.

Toxic spill

One of these firms is Exxon Mobile, which has been ordered to pay more than $150 million for toxic spill damages.

A Baltimore County jury returned over $150 million verdict last week to around 90 residents of Jacksonville. The verdict was based on a personal injury lawsuit filed by injury lawyers on behalf of the residents to recover damages from a massive gasoline spill which occurred at a nearby Exxon Mobile Corp service station in 2006.

Many members of the public were injured in the huge toxic gas spill by Exxon, and claimants filed a suit after more than 26,000 gallons of gasoline seeped into ground water from a pipe leak.

Personal injury lawyers alleged that the company failed to discover the leaking pipe for over a month. The weight of the gas spill amounted to four tanker loads of gasoline which leaked into consumer ground water supplies.

As a result, the circuit Court jury in Towson listened to five months of testimony and found the oil company responsible for property and financial damage, medical injuries including cancer screenings and emotional distress claims.

Toxic pollution

In a similar case a Montana court heard how workers of a vermiculite company and local residents have sued for toxic asbestos pollution which killed 200 and made 1,000 workers ill.

Vermiculite is a substance used to make numerous products including insulation and fertilizers and is contaminated with tremolite asbestos. Direct and secondary exposure to asbestos products typically leads to lifelong breathing illnesses and other diseases such as mesothelioma lung cancer.

Until 1990, W.R. Grace owned and operated a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana which was highly contaminated with tremolite asbestos.

The case, which began last week, is one of the most important environmental cases in U.S history, alleging that over 1,000 people were seriously injured and more than 200 were killed.

A federal grand jury handed down a 10 count indictment against the mining company, which massively exposed it workers and residents to asbestos products for decades.

The lawsuit brought by injury lawyers for the federal government alleged that W.R Grace conspired to “knowing release” asbestos, hid asbestos exposure dangers from town residents and employees, subjected mine workers to mesothelioma cancer causing agents, and failed to provide protective work place breathing equipment.

The federal criminal tort claims the mining managers and company executives violated several federal and state laws including guidelines handed down by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (APA), and in addition charged the company leaders with wire fraud and obstruction to justice.

Los Angeles International Airport is considered as the fifth busiest commercial airport in the world and third busiest in the United States. Every year the airport handles over 80 million and 5 tons of cargo.

Generally, people in Los Angeles considered aircraft as one of the safest form of transportation. Relatively aircrafts accidents are frequent especially those involving private jet but the incident is often unreported.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), air travel is expected to double its number for the next 20 years. As air traffic increases so as the accident connected with it.

Aviation accident often ends with fatal results. Major air carrier and general aviation accidents are covered by the aviation accident law. The General aviation includes all non-commercial aircraft including small plans, large business jet, charter flights, pleasure crafts, helicopters and hang gliders.

Form of Aviation accident

Aviation accidents cause fatal injuries as a result of falling baggage, assaults and other related incident.

The following forms of accidents may result to injury or death among passenger and crew:

•    Engine Failure
•    Collision and crashes
•    Faulty communication
•    Traffic control error
•    Pilot negligence
•    Falling baggage
•    Runway condition

Aviation Accidents Liable parties

Determining the person who is liable during the plane accident needs the skills and logical experience of an Aviation Accident lawyer.

The federal government may held responsible for the faulty error occur during the accident since it is there responsibility to ensure safety measures to be taken during each flight.

Aircraft are considered common carrier meaning they have the responsibility to transport people from one place to another. Negligence on the part of owner and operator will be punishable by law. The manufacturer and maintenance suppliers will also be held liable, if the equipment used by the aircraft is faulty and causes the accident.

Who is more liable the owner or operator?

The cause of airplane accident will determine the liable person. If the aircraft owner and operator negligence has been proven, they can be held reliable for the damages suffered by injured parties such as passengers, people on the ground or even pilot.

The owner could be held reliable even if someone else operated the aircraft. The theory called vicarious liability supported the notion of considering the owner as reliable as its operator.

Both the owner/operator is reliable in an event that the owner, operator and the manufacturer committed the aircraft accident; the jury will decide the distribution of the blame between the two parties. The notion that both operator/owner and manufacturer are reliable is called comparative fault.

In United States, almost all states used the comparative fault or the distribution of blame between the two parties. For example, the pilot may be given a 20 percent fault for carelessness and 80 percent fault for the manufacturer of defective landing equipment.

The manufacturer is reliable if the victim can prove that the landing gear purchase from a manufacturer is the main cause of aircraft accident, the manufacturer can be held reliable.

The notion of holding the manufacturer as the reliable party is called strict liability. Every state has its own version or law regarding it.

Federal government is reliable

FAA under Federal government controls air traffic through Air Traffic Control System (ATC). The ATC will be held accountable, if an aircraft accident involves collision.

Common Carriers Role

Common carrier is the legal classification of commercial airlines. It is governed by strict standards compare to private carriers. FAA imposes standards operating procedure and monitors the aircraft to ensure safety of the commercial airplanes
If common carriers committed mistakes implementing the safety standards, they can be held responsible.

Victims of Aviation accident need a thorough understanding of the complex rules and regulation of the common carriers in finding liability.

The Role of Lawyers in Aviation Accidents

Aviation accident cases involve several issues that could affect the litigation outcome. Personal injuries cases connected to airplanes base its verdict by the defendant’s statements, questions of the venue, aviation engineering, industry standards and federal government rules and regulation. It is complex and often involves analysis of the federal and state law.

You need the help of an experienced aviation accident attorney to facilitate all this complicating issues. Having an attorney is an advantage in pursuing aviation accident case.

Our Aviation Accident Lawyers in Los Angeles are highly trained in handling personal injury claims. For more details on how to avail of our free case evaluation services, just log on to our website.