A Leesville man is in the Beauregard Parish Jail because he was allegedly intoxicated when he rammed into a woman and two children on U.S. Highway 171.
According to Louisiana State Police, 48-year-old Brian Hayes was southbound 171’s right lane near the Louisiana 112 intersection when he illegally changed lanes and sideswiped a vehicle waiting in the turn lane. The impact seriously injured 29-year-old Erica Fowler, of DeRidder, and two children whose names were not released. All three were rushed to a nearby hospital, while authorities took Mr. Hayes into custody at the scene.
Investigators suspect that Mr. Hayes, who had three prior DUI convictions on his record, was once again driving while impaired. [Read more…] about Driver Charged With Fourth DUI After Injury Collision
Motor Vehicle Accident
More Details Emerge In Fatal Bus Crash
The events leading up to a serious bus crash that killed two people and injured dozens are coming into sharper focus, and as a result, some victims are turning to workers’ compensation to obtain money that will help them recover from their injuries.
Several St. John’s Parish Fire Services Operations officers were injured, and 37-year-old Firefighter Spencer Chauvin was killed, when a runaway bus collided with a disabled vehicle. That bus was filled with flood relief workers, and about a half dozen of them plan to file workers’ compensation claims as well.
Although the employer’s identity is clear as far as the firefighters are concerned, investigators are still working on identifying the relief workers’ employer. Apparently, these individuals may or may not have been in the country legally. It seems that Wallace Rush Schmidt Inc. recruited local day laborers to work for Servpro and perform flood restoration work. Kristina’s Transportation owned the bus, but it is unclear what professional relationship, if any, the company had with the bus driver.
That driver was an undocumented immigrant from Honduras who had no commercial drivers’ license. Denis Amaya Rodriguez had evidently been involved in bus crashes before, and some state lawmakers are asking questions about the entire affair.
Workers’ Compensation
About a hundred years ago, labor groups negotiated with management representatives to devise a plan to address the rising number of workplace injuries brought on by the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Essentially, workers agreed to trade time for money. They gave up their right to sue in negligence court and obtain compensation for noneconomic damages, like pain and suffering, in exchange for a no-fault insurance system that compensates injured victims for their economic losses, like medical bills.
In many jurisdictions, the so-called “Grand Bargain” is no longer an even exchange, because workers’ compensation benefits have been reduced so dramatically in recent years. As a matter of fact, workers in several states – including Florida and Oklahoma – have challenged the system in court, claiming that it is no longer a legitimate alternative to a tort system.
However, that is not the case in Louisiana, where benefits are usually a bit more generous. For example, the average workers’ compensation payment for medical bills in the Bayou State is 430 percent higher than the comparable Medicare rate. However, victims must act fast to claim their share of benefits, because there are very strict time deadlines in these cases and administrative law judges almost never grant extensions or mulligans.
Benefits exist to help those injured on the job get back to work and back to life. For a free consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney in Lake Charles, contact Lee Hoffoss Injury Lawyers. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these cases.
Bankruptcy Court Confiscates Personal Injury Settlement
A federal judge recently ruled that people in bankruptcy cannot receive any personal injury settlement money until their creditors are paid in full.
Three years after his Chapter 13 creditor repayment plan was confirmed, Clyde Wilson sustained serious injuries in a car crash and received a $197,000 settlement. In determining that the money belonged to the bankruptcy trustee for the benefit of the creditors and not Mr. Wilson personally, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Kolwe, in the Western District of Louisiana, applied the “estate-replenishment test” and ordered Mr. Wilson to turn over the money. [Read more…] about Bankruptcy Court Confiscates Personal Injury Settlement
More Football-Related Serious Injuries
The number of tour buses on American roads has roughly doubled since 1975, greatly increasing the odds of bus wrecks like one that occurred recently in the remote desert at the Arizona-Nevada border.
In that collision, a Dallas Cowboys’ bus that was taking non-player personnel and between fifty and seventy-five fans to a promotional event in Las Vegas, and then onto the team’s training camp facility in California, crashed into a passenger van; four occupants in the van, who were all foreign tourists, were killed. Investigators determined that the van failed to yield the right-of-way to the bus. [Read more…] about More Football-Related Serious Injuries
Third Party Liability In Car Crashes
An estimated 14 percent of Louisiana drivers are uninsured, and this figure is well above the national average. On top of that, there are a significant number of under-insured drivers, because the state minimum is only $15,000 per person in bodily injury coverage and $25,000 in property damage coverage.
Fortunately, in many such cases, there may be a responsible third party in addition to the tortfeasor (negligent driver), so victims can more easily obtain fair compensation for their injuries.
[Read more…] about Third Party Liability In Car Crashes
Feds Launch Probe Following Driverless Car Crashes
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is demanding answers from Tesla after its vehicles’ auto pilot feature allegedly failed in two separate incidents.
In May, 40-year-old Joshua Brown was killed when his Tesla Model S sedan apparently failed to distinguish a beige-colored tractor-trailer from the bright sky and did not apply the brakes. After the car passed under the trailer at full speed and its roof sheared off, it drove off the road, crashed through at least two fences, and finally slammed into a pole. Apparently, the air bag never deployed. The manufacturer has until August 28 to produce data concerning its vehicles’ Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems. [Read more…] about Feds Launch Probe Following Driverless Car Crashes