Dallas Personal Injury Lawyer

Fatal Dallas Bus Crash Puts Focus on Bus Safety

Bryan Pope — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:09:00 GMT

Tragically, a charter tour bus crashed this morning just outside of Dallas resulting in two deaths and numerous serious injuries. The tour bus was packed with senior citizens on their way from Fort Worth to a casino in Oklahoma when, according to a witness on the bus, a tire may have blown out causing the bus to lose control, cross the highway and roll on its side.

The company that owns the bus, Cardinal Coach Line, out of Mansfield, Texas, provides tour and charter service from Dallas-Fort Worth to all over the United States and Canada. The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched investigators to the accident scene. The investigation will focus not only on the cause of the crash, but the maintenance and safety records of the oompany.

Already, speculation about the cause of the deaths and the severity of the injuries, has focused on the lack of seat belts on ths bus. The former chief counsel for the US Department of Transportation, Brigham McCown, says that "although buses are pretty safe, and although 750 million people travel on buses every year, seat belts could reduce injuries and deaths by 77 percent, according to government statistics. That's a huge number."

What happened today, McCown said, "is tragic, and these things can and should be prevented. In this day and age there's no reason not to have a seat belt on a bus."

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

Will Texas Continue to Look The Other Way to The Danger of Distracted Driving?

Bryan Pope — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:40:20 GMT

A bill was filed in the Texas House this week aimed at creating criminal penalties for people who choose to text and drive. Former Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick (R) from Midland called this the "bipartisan bill of the session" as he laid the bill out in the Transportation Committee. The Committee heard emotional testimony from victims of distracted driving, including the sister of a cyclist who was run over and killed by a driver looking at his phone that was so distracted that "he never even applied the brakes."

Texting and driving has been banned in 39 states, including the District of Columbia, according to the Institute of Highway Safety. The bill would not ban hands-free devices or GPS.

About 11,400 crashes in Texas, including 82 fatalities, were caused by texts in 2011, said John Ulczycki of the National Safety Council, citing statistical estimates based on projections by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Not only does driving and texting cause a tremendous human toll, it also costs the State's tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars. According to Ulczycki, texting-related crashes cost Texas $684 million in 2011.

The same bill was passed by the Texas House and Senate in 2011, but was vetoed by Governor Rick Perry who called it "government overreach."

At the time that Perry vetoed the bill in 2011, he said:

"I support measures that make our roads safer for everyone, but House Bill 242 is a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults. Current law already prohibits drivers under the age of 18 from texting or using a cell phone while driving. I believe there is a distinction between the overreach of House Bill 242 and the government's legitimate role in establishing laws for teenage drivers who are more easily distracted and laws providing further protection to children in school zones,"

Craddick said that the bill creates an incentive for people to "put the phone down"

“You’re infringing on my rights, to be truthful, when you’re texting and driving, You’re infringing on my right to be safe on the road.”

Unfortunately, Perry has already indicated that his opposition to the bill has not changed in the last 2 years.

Sadly, it seems that Governor Perry continues to be more concerned about pleasing the anti-government Tea Party crowd than making sure that Texas drivers are safe from distracted drivers.

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

Recent Tour Bus Crashes Show Urgent Need for Seatbelts to Provide Passenger Safety

Bryan Pope — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:40:59 GMT

Tragically, there was another tour bus crash last night outside of Los Angeles, which left 8 people dead and another 38 seriously injured. The bus was returning to Tijuana, Mexico from a California ski resort with a group, including a number of Mexican medical students and their guests, when the bus driver lost control resulting in the bus overturning and slamming into oncoming traffic. A number of passengers were ejected from the bus as it flipped and slid down the hilly highway. According to witnesses, body parts and debris were scattered all over the highway.

Investigators from the California Highway Patrol indicated that it was unclear whether a mechanical issue or driver error caused the crash. The bus driver, who survived, said that the brakes on the bus had failed, causing him to lose control. The lead investigator said ,"it appeared speed was a factor." The owner of the 1996 bus, Scapadas Magicas, LLC, had been placed on alert status by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for vehicle maintenance violations, including many related to brake problems. The company had a 75.2% rating with the FMCSA, which meant it fared worse than 75% of similar motor carriers for safety violations.

Although the company and/or driver may be found to be grossly negligent in causing this crash, the survival rate most certainly have been much higher had the passengers not been ejected from the bus as it rolled over and smashed into oncoming traffic. If the passenger had been seat belted into their seats, the chances of ejection and other blunt force trauma would have been much lower.

Two other recent tour bus crashes similar to the one outside of Los Angeles reinforce the need for seatbelts on buses. A tour bus with high school students from Pennsylvania who had been visiting Harvard crashed into when the top of the tour bus smashed into the bottom of a highway overpass. The driver, who had been looking at his GPS and ignored warning signs regarding the clearance height, was unfamiliar with the area and did not realize that the clearance of the overpass was under 10 feet. Numerous students were seriously injured as their bodies were thrown around in the bus. Once again, had these passengers been belted, the likelihood of serious injuries would have been greatly diminished.

Finally, there was a horrific tour bus crash in ice and snow in eastern Oregon in December 2012 which killed 9 and injured 39 passengers as a tour bus was carrying a group back to British Columbia from a trip to Las Vegas. The speeding bus crashed through a guardrail and down a steep mountain slope with many passengers being ejected onto the rocky hill. The bus driver and his company, Mi Joo Tour and Travel out of Coquitlam, BC has since been banned by the NTSB from operating in the United States. The NTSB spokesman addressed the issue of seatbelts on tour buses in reaction to this crash:

"A spokesman for the NTSB, Peter Knudson, said seatbelts aren't required on such buses. "We have been concerned about this for some time," Knudson said.

I have previously blogged on this topic back in July 2011 about the proposed Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act to mandate seatbelts on tour buses. That Act was passed and is to go into effect in July 2013. But it doesn't require that tour buses be retrofitted with seatbelts, although the majority of tour buses, including the tour bus in the California crash yesterday, are at least 10 years old.

The concern expressed by the NTSB about these tour buses that are not going to be required to be retrofitted with seatbelts is disturbing. These recent crashes and the many deaths and serious injuries once again raise the question:

How many more lives and broken bodies will it take before seatbelts are required on ALL tour buses??? Not just the new tour buses...but all tour buses that are in service and transporting passengers today.

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

The Chamber - Denying Access to the Courthouse for Citizens, but Not Corporations

Mary Alice McLarty — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:46:58 GMT

Last month. the U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) held its annual summit - a strategy session on eliminating Americans' access to the civil justice system. In its typical self-serving fashion, ILR seized on the hardships of millions of unemployed Americans, claiming that this country needs "jobs, not lawsuits," despite no actual evidence to bolster its nonsensical claims.

ILR's board members run the gamut of industries - from chemical makers and drug companies to Wall Street banks. And they have more in common than just their commitment to closing the courthouse door on injured Americans. The corporations that finance ILR have long, storied histories of using the courts for their own agendas - to gain the upper hand against their competitors, customers and even each other. The Chamber is totally hypocritical trying to deny consumers access to the courthouse - robbing them of their 7th Amendment rights, but using those same rights for their own "frivolous lawssuits".

To coincide with the event, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) also released a report, "Do As I Say, Not As I Sue", which exposes the hypocrisy of 10 ILR board members that regularly use the civil justice system to advance their own agendas, while at the same time advocating legislation that would close the courthouse doors to anyone who would hold them accountable for their own wrongdoing. This report has an astounding number of "frivolous" lawsuits brought by corporate America.

One ILR board member highlighted in the report is Honeywell International, which has regularly taken competitors to court, but would prefer not to be held accountable for distributing defective body armor to law enforcement personnel across the country, or downplaying the dangers of asbestos exposure.

In return for its financial contributions to ILR, Honeywell has received policy and public relations help when its negligence has been uncovered. Four days after an Illinois jury delivered a multi-million dollar verdict against Honeywell for conspiring to hide the dangers of asbestos, ILR issued a press release stating that the decision "confirms a troubling trend in the State of Illinois where there is a hostile ligation environment." Additionally, the Madison County Record, an Illinois-based propaganda-as-news outlet fully owned by ILR, featured an article headlined, "McLean County Continues Inching Closer to Becoming a 'Judicial Hellhole.'"

The irony does not stop with Honeywell - AAJ's report also highlights the litigation hypocrisy of ILR board members FedEx, Dow Chemical Company, General Motors Corporation, Caterpillar, State Farm, Koch Industries, Abbott Laboratories, Prudential and Johnson & Johnson.

Learn more about the U.S. Chamber, ILR and AAJ's report here: www.justice.org/USChamber .

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Mary Alice McLarty

Worker Killed in Industrial Workplace Incident at Texas Instruments in Dallas

Bryan Pope — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:23:47 GMT

A worker at a Texas Instruments plant in Dallas, Texas was killed Monday in a major incident. Apparently, there was an explosion at a water purifier which resulted in the worker being impaled by the flying glass. OSHA investigators were on the scene to determine the cause of this industrial fatality accident.

Industrial workplace incidents resulting in serious injuries or fatalities are all too common as companies routinely disregard basic safety procedures with catastrophic results. This is actually the second major industrial workplace incident in the Dallas area in the last few weeks as an explosion and resulting fire at a chemical plant in Waxahachie, Texas created concern for toxic exposure in the area around the plant. The investigation of that incident revealed that the Magnablend plant was mixing combustible chemicals to be used in hydraulic fracturing (or commonly known as "fracking") fluids that is used to extract natural gas and oil from below ground. Recently, a former worker at the Magnablend facility has come forward to confirm that Magnablend was routinely failing to follow basic safety procedures and that the explosion was an accident waiting to happen.

Lately, we have heard Republican politicians claiming that the reason that the economy is in the tank and companies are not hiring workers is due to the burdensome and restrictive regulations which are choking the "job creators." This would be laughable if it were not so serious because safety regulations are absolutely necessary to prevent even more workplace incidents which could kill or maim even more workers. If anything, there need to be more safety regulations that would protect workers in the industrial and construction workplace from the type of incidents which cause far too many severe injuries and deaths.

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

Massive Explosion and Fire at Texas Chemical Plant Causes Public Safety Concerns

Bryan Pope — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:19:35 GMT

A huge explosion this morning at the Magnablend chemical plant in Waxahachie, Texas caused a massive fire which created a potentially dangerous situation for the area around the plant. According to preliminary reports from the Waxahachie fire chief, the explosion was caused by a bad reaction to the mixing of chemicals. The plant is a custom chemical manufacturing and blending plant that also packages chemicals.

Toxic fumes from the clouds of billowing black smoke contained contaminates which were potentially dangerous to inhale or to be exposed to the skin. A nearby elementary school and other buildings and homes were evacuated due to the safety concerns.

There were at least 85 employees working at the plant at the time of the explosion and it is still unknown if there are any injuries, although initial reports indicate that all of the workers may have made it miraculously out of the plant just in time to avoid serious injury or death. OSHA inspectors were on their way to the scene this afternoon.

Big fires and explosions at chemical plants usually do not happen without a violation of some type of workplace safety rule. There have been other similar type explosions in chemical facilities in Texas and all over the country which have resulted in serious injuries and loss of life due to major safety violations.

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

4th of July Special - Thanks to the Founding Lawyers

Mary Alice McLarty — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:40:43 GMT

Happy 4th of July and thank God for our Founding Fathers and their vision which has kept America vital for over 235 years. I read an interesting book recently, The Founding Lawyers and America's Quest for Justice by Stuart M. Speiser, published by the Pound Civil Justice Institute.

The second chapter of Speiser's book takes a fascinating look at the writing and ratifying of the United States Constitution. The delegates met in the late Spring of 1787 in Philadelphia for the Constiutional Convention, although Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, among others, quickly moved to rename it the "Foederal [federal] convention because the federal mandate had been to allow them to "amend" Articles of Confederation. George Washington was name president of the convention by acclamation. James Madison and Governor Edmund Randolph whipped together the "Viriginia Plan."

"So it was that when the Convention began to address its main business on May 29, 1787, the delegates were presented with the Virginia Plan, which in broad outline called for a new national government with three independent branches: a national executive, a national judiciary, and a national legislature of two houses -- the representatives, to be elected by the people, and the senators to be elected by the representatives."

A vigorous debate ensured and the outcome of the Convention was in doubt on July 11, 1787 when Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton "that he despaired of seeing a favorable outcome." A Committee of Detail was appointed to work out the problems and this committee came up with a reformulation of the "23 articles which roughly expressed the sense of the Convention thus far." But they decided to refer "the most vexing problems to a Committee on Postponed matters." This became known as the Committee of Eleven, or the Brearly Committee. This committee included, James Madison, Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, among others. The committee was dominated by lawyers who had done most of the work of creating the Constitution.

Finally the Constitution was ready to be written and this task was entrusted to the "Committee of Style and Arrangement." The five members of this committee were chosen by ballot and they were all lawyers: "Judge William Johnson of Connecticut (the chairman), Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Rufus King and Gouverneur Morris."

Although all five contributed, it was Gouverneur Morris who did most of the drafting and editing. His artistry appears in the preamble, in which with a stroke of him pen, he wrote:

"We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Morris and the committee boiled the 23 Articles down to just seven. Each article was meant to provide a framework of a workable government with enough "vagueness, generality and flexibility" to allow the Constitution to develop with the country.

As the author Speiser says:

"Its vitality today as the world's oldest functioning constitution confirms the prescience of the lawyers who created it. For reasons explained in the next chapter, we shall call them the Founding Lawyers."

I hope to be blogging more about Stuart Speiser's book, the Founding Lawyers, which can be purchased through the Pound Institute which is a non-profit organization or you can find it on Amazon. Happy 4th of July and please pray for our men and women overseas who help preserve our freedom.

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Mary Alice McLarty

Another Texas Bus Crash Shows Urgent Need for Seat Belts on Tour Buses

Bryan Pope — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:09:05 GMT

In yet another potentially tragic reminder that Congress needs to act NOW to mandate seat belts on motorcoach and school buses, an early morning rollover tour bus crash in San Marcos, Texas, has resulted in at least 21 people being injured, some with head injuries and broken bones. According to preliminary reports from the scene, at 4 am, the bus had started to veer off the interstate and the bus driver overcorrected causing the bus to rollover in a ditch on Northbound I-35. The bus was headed to Dallas and then on to Des Moines. The bus is owned by Mares Tours, a Dallas-based bus line.

The nature of the injuries (head injuries, broken bones, severe lacerations) is consistent with the types of injuries that are seen when these buses roll on their side and the passengers who are unrestrained bounce all over the bus and slam their bodies into the metal interior, the glass and even on top of other bodies. There is no question that if properly restrained with lap/shoulder belts, that lives could be saved and broken bodies could be prevented.

Currently, there is a bill proposed by Ohio US Senator Sherrod Brown (D) and co-sponsored by Texas US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and six other US Senators to mandate restraint systems on motorcoach buses in addition to many other safety improvements involving driver training, qualifications, fatigue, etc.

The Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act would reduce the number of motorcoach crashes and related fatalities. Brown and Hutchison first introduced the legislation following a 2007 crash of a tour bus carrying 33 Bluffton University baseball players that claimed seven lives. Brown and Hutchison have introduced the bill in the previous two Congresses. U.S. Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is introducing a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

In March 2011, Brown testified before the Senate Commerce Committee at a hearing entitled: ‘Ensuring the Safety of Our Nation's Motorcoach Passengers." Brown was joined at the hearing by John and Joy Betts, who lost their son David in the Bluffton University crash. The bill was adopted unanimously by the Commerce Committee on May 5.

The Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act is based on National Transportation Safety Board recommendations-some of which were first proposed in 1968. The bill would require:

• Safety belts and stronger seating systems to ensure occupants stay in their seats in a crash.

• Improved commercial driver training. Currently, minimal training is required by federal regulation.

• Anti-ejection glazing windows to prevent passengers from being easily thrown outside the motorcoach.

• Strong, crush-resistant roofs that can withstand rollovers.

• Improved protection against fires by reducing flammability of the motorcoach interior, and better training for operators in the case of fire.

• A National Commercial Motor Vehicle Medical Registry to ensure that only medically qualified examiners conduct physical examinations of drivers and a medical certificate process to ensure that all certificates are valid and no unqualified operator is allowed to drive.

• Strengthened motorcoach vehicle safety inspections including roadside inspections, safety audits, and state and motor carrier programs for identifying vehicle defects.

• Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs) with real-time capabilities to track precise vehicle location that cannot be tampered with by the driver.

Sen. Brown recently wrote a letter which was published in the USA Today regarding the critical need to pass this piece of legislation immediately. Since the bill was voted unanimously out of the Commerce Committee, it just awaits action in the full Senate before moving over to the House and ultimately, hopefully, onto President Obama's desk for signature. With the Senate in session over the long holiday weekend to try to get a budget deal, why not take action on this legislation and get the ball rolling on making these safety measures into law?

Now is the time to let your US House Representative and Senators hear from you that there can be no more delay on passing these desparately needed safety measures!

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

Hot Coffee Spills The Secrets of Tort Deform

Bryan Pope — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:00:14 GMT

Tonight on HBO, the documentary movie Hot Coffee by Susan Saladoff, the former president of Public Justice will premier at 9 pm EST. This movie will finally provide a strong and persuasive response to the multi-billion dollar 30 year campaign of misinformation and distortion of the facts against those people who dare to attempt to hold corporate and individual wrongdoers accountable at the Courthouse. If you think you know what "tort reform" really means, then watch this movie tonight for an eye opening experience into the real life impact "tort deform" has had on real people.

The movie contains 3 stories about people or families who have either been the target of misinformation (Stella Liebeck and her McDonald's hot coffee spill injury case) or have been subjected to the tremendous toll that tort deform has taken on individuals in this country. The documentary tells the story of a young woman said she was raped by co-employees while working for KBR in Iraq yet was unable to gain access to the Courtroom due to a mandatory aribtration clause in her employment contract with KBR. Finally, Saladoff tells the story of a Nebraska couple whose infant is born with Cerebral Palsy due to medical malpractice. A jury awards enough money to take care of the impaired child's life care plan, but a state law putting arbitrary caps on medical malpractice caps on damages results in the verdict being slashed and leaving insufficient funds to cover the child's medical needs.

Saladoff makes a persuasive argument that the constant drumbeat of "frivolous" lawsuits are destroying this country's economy and holding back corporations from creating jobs has been carefully manufactured by special interests (big business, petrochemical companies, etc.) to create momentum for federal and state legislation aimed at providing immunity to corporate interests and confusing the public into thinking that the trial lawyer and the victims we represent are the enemies for daring to attempt to hold corporations and individual wrongdoers accountable at the Courthouse.

Tonight...the myth of the runaway McDonald's jury is finally debunked for good and the public is given a lesson on the devastating effects of Tort Deform!

Don't miss Hot Coffee!!

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Bryan Pope

Lawyer held accountable for his bad conduct

Mary Alice McLarty — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:50:02 GMT

Dr. Andrew Gross, who is a physician/lawyer, and I filed a podiatrist malpractice case on behalf of Brandy Cannon in Dallas in 2007. The case was turned into an acrimonious fight by a junkyard dog lawyer, Gary Werley from Ft. Worth. Justice finally came yesterday in an opinon issued by the El Paso Court of Appeals confirming the decision of trial court Judge Marty Lowy to sanction Werley for his bad conduct. See the opinion at the Court of Appeals site.

Brandy Cannon was injured by a podiatrist who did excessive bone removal during her bunionectomies. Due to this condition, her feet did not support her weight and continued to fracture. She has not been pain free or been able walk normally since. When she finally sought a specialist, she was told of the "overaggressive bone removal." She hired my firm to represent her in an action against the podiatrist, Dr. Scott Ashton. After the suit was filed, the doctor called her treating physicians. He complained to one podiatrist about the note he had in his file:

that his X-rays showed “severe over-aggressive bone removal during the bunion surgery.”

Dr. Ashton was quite aggitated when he spoke with his colleagues. The Texas podiatrist community is very close knit and discourages anyone from testifying against a fellow podiatrist. This is known as the "conspiracy of silence" in the legal community. Every podiatrist I questioned under oath said that testifying in a malpractice case was strongly discouraged by their fellow podiatrists. Under the intense peer pressure, this podiatrist changed his opinion about a month after the suit was filed. When we saw the change in the medical records we brought it to the court's attention. We filed a motion for protective order and set it for a hearing. Judge Lowy was disturbed by the conduct and

...granted the motion and prohibited the defendants “from any ex parte contacts with non-party treating physicians of Brandy Cannon.”

The term "Ex parte" contacts means without having us, Brandy's lawyers, present. Mr. Werley ignored the court's order and contacted four of Brandy's subsequent physicians in an attempt to influence their testimoney, without notifying us. We brought a motion for sanctions against Werley and the judge fined him $12,600. He appealed this judgment and the Court of Appeals found in our favor. All of this took four years. In the meantime Dr. Ashton's new lawyers settled his case with Brandy.

You often hear about "frivolous" lawsuits but the general public has no idea the waste of time and money these "Rambo" tactics cost the courts and therefore the taxpayers. The 8th Court of Appeals and Judge Marty Lowy certainly understand the problem. Judge Lowy said in his sanctions order, that he was:

“seriously bothered by [the defense’s] flagrant . . . disobedience” of its order.

We are too.

Originally posted at The Legal Examiner by Mary Alice McLarty