Local reports indicate a man was driving the wrong-way along Interstate 35 near State Highway 114 and involved in a fatal accident. The incident occurred around 3:55 a.m. Sunday August 28 when 21-year-old Michael Devon Napper was traveling the wrong-way along the freeway when he struck a Ford van carrying 6 passengers. Nappers pickup then struck a Nissan Altima carrying 2 passengers. Nappers passenger identified as 21-year-old Brandi Blue was pronounced dead at the scene. Napper was hospitalized at John Peter Smith with undetermined injuries. The Ford driver and its passengers and the Atima driver with its passengers were all taken to the local hospital.
Approximate Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
The epidemic that is wrong-way driving has reared its ugly head again in North Texas. As Ive mentioned in other posts I will leave stopping the effect (the actual driving) to the engineers and will continue to battle the cause of many of these accidents. First an independent investigation aside from the police report is needed to determine all liability in this accident. Obviously if all the reports are accurate and Napper was driving the wrong-way along I-35 he may incur fault in this accident. Back to my allusion to the cause of these incidents over the years my firm has litigated a number of wrong-way accident cases and many involved a driver who had been drinking before the wreck. The investigation would need to examine this but if Napper was found to be over-served at a bar or restaurant prior to the incident that establishment could be found partially liable under Texas dram shop laws. The dram shop laws seek to enforce the guidelines set forth by the liquor licensing authority in the state the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Being licensed means knowing to stop serving a patron when they become knowingly intoxicated. If a patron gets to or beyond this point of impairment the bar or restaurant could be faced with a third party claim if an accident occurs.
Denton Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports two Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies were injured when their vehicle was struck from behind by a suspected drunk driver Saturday August 27. The accident occurred around 12:45 a.m. when a gray BMW driven by 44-year-old Mark Liebrecht hit the parked car in the 19400 block of Pacific Coast Highway pushing the patrol car down an embankment and onto the Malibu shore. The two deputies 51-year-old Jeffrey Miner and 47-year-old James Millage were taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with serious injuries.
Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
I hope the deputies turn out to be alright. This is a very scary situation that could have been compounded into something worse if high tide were happening. A third party investigation beyond that of the police report is needed to determine liability. If the man was indeed found to be drinking and driving he could assume vast liability in multiple personal injury claims. This is because when a motorist chooses to imbibe and then operate a vehicle he not only endangers himself but also every other vehicle on the road. This type of reckless behavior typically translates into fault in personal injury claims.
Texas Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports a 2-year-old girl was injured following an entertainment center collapse in Hillsboro Oregon. The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Sunday August 28 when the girl was climbing on an oak entertainment center when the entire system collapse on the child. The unidentified girl was knocked unconscious for roughly 5 minutes before being taken to OHSU Hospital in Portland Oregon.
Approximate Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
This is a terrible accident no matter how young the age. Rather than jumping into theories of liability against the parents or whomever was watching the child I would rather discuss the failed product. If the family believes the product was faulty there should be a third party investigation conducted to examine manufacturing and design flaws. I realize many of you will test me because the child was climbing on the center. This is where the necessity of the investigation extols itself. Many manufacturers advertise and design for pounds of weight not specific devices. In other words they may make a unit that holds 50 pounds of weight not a 40 inch television. Product liability claims are very fact-specific but may be the only answer for restitution in a personal injury accident.
Texas Product Liability Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports a construction worker was struck by a car Saturday August 27. The accident occurred around 8 a.m. on the IH-35 service road by the new Firestone building at Stone Creek Crossing. The worker was taken to University Medical Center at Brackenridge in Austin with what are considered non-life-threatening injuries.
Commentary
It is amazing this accident only resulted in injuries and not a fatality. Workers in construction zones particularly along highways are put in danger on a daily basis. A third party investigation is needed to determine liability in this matter once the driver of the vehicle is found (and rest assured he will be found). When drivers operate in a construction zone they have a duty to be mindful of workers and typically adhere to a lowered speed zone. Certainly details are minimal at the moment but I wonder if this duty was breached by a speeding driver. To answer my own question it does not have to be speeding. Simple driver inattentiveness can place liability upon the driver and allow for a personal injury claim. We should all be thankful it is not a wrongful death claim.
Austin Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports a 74-year-old woman was struck by a 35-year-old woman who then fled the scene in Oak Creek Wisconsin. The accident occurred around 1:15 p.m. Thursday August 25 when the woman was hit attempting to cross Howell Avenue. The driver who fled the scene was later found and arrested roughly 20 minutes after the incident. Read Full Post ‹ 74-Year-Old Pedestrian Woman Struck Crossing Road in Oak Creek, WI
According to local reports 20-year-old Jovana Vasic was killed and 43-year-old Milan Vasic was injured when their vehicle was struck by an 18-wheeler traveling the wrong-way along Interstate 40 in Wheeler County outside of Amarillo Texas. The accident occurred Wednesday August 24 around 11:10 a.m. when police state the 2006 Freighliner driven by Laurentiu Jeler veered into oncoming traffic and struck the Vasics BMW sedan.
Commentary
I really feel for the Vasic family just driving along and an 18-wheeler turns into your lane. While an independent investigation is needed aside from the police report if the reports are accurate and the truck driver did indeed swerve into oncoming traffic they could face great liability in a wrongful death and personal injury claim. Truck drivers have a heightened responsibility on the roadways than non-commercial vehicles because of the enormous potential for damage. Driving erratically breaches that responsibility. I am speculating here but I would not be surprised to see the company the trucker works for with questionable practices. In my experience over the years drivers who display a lack of respect for safety typically work for a company that shares that same mentality. These umbrellas of unsafe companies are why investigations are needed in the hope of catching these entities before someone else is hurt.
Amarillo Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports a truck driver was injured when a motorist swerved into oncoming traffic and struck his vehicle. 49-year-old Ruben Ybarra was injured when 23-year-old Evan T. Drew veered into oncoming traffic and struck the rig. His pickup then struck another vehicle driven by Susie Bieze on the correct side of the road. Drew was pronounced dead at the scene. Ybarra was taken to St. Davids Round Rock emergency room. Bieze was uninjured and released from the scene.
Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
What a terrible accident that appears to be unavoidable by the truck driver. While I do say appears a third party investigation is needed to determine liability and recreate the accident scene. My firm has litigated hundreds of accidents involving a commercial vehicle and rarely are they just an accident. Now I am not implicating the truck driver in any way here but rather I would like to show my readers that often trucking accidents involve mechanical failure instead of driver error. Perhaps the pickup motorist did simply lose control and swerve into the truck but how difficult is it to imagine a scenario where the truck driver attempted to stop and his brakes did not respond? Certainly the most likely result of this accident is the personal injury claim against the pickup truck driver but my aim here is to highlight how involved each one of these accidents really are. Rarely are they just an accident.
Texas Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports a 41-year-old man was struck by an alleged drunk driver in Livermore California. The accident occurred around 11 p.m. Tuesday August 23 when 34-year-old Joseph Munoz apparently ran a red light and struck the mans Camry. Police state Munoz then fled the scene on foot but was later found and arrested. The unidentified victim was taken to Eden Trauma Center with what are thought to be non-life threatening injuries.
Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
I just recently wrote about the nature of hit-and-run accidents and how there is almost always more to the story than is presented in the news. Sometimes those that flee are hiding possession or maybe warrants or often like in this case alleged drinking. These types of incidents require a specialized independent investigation to determine liability as there very well may be more than one party at fault. For example in many states if the driver who is at fault in an accident was found to be imbibing at a bar or residence that bar or homeowner could be held partially liable. Unfortunately the state of California holds neither dram shop laws (laws many states use to hold alcohol-serving establishments liable) or Social Host laws (laws that hold a homeowner partially accountable for their guests) that could identify and hold accountable a third party.
Texas Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
According to local reports a Metro contractor was killed and two Metro workers were injured when the contractor drove his car the wrong way on US 59 in Houston Texas. The accident occurred around 9:50 p.m. Monday August 22 when the contractor struck a vehicle operated by the two Metro workers. The two injured workers were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital with was were considered to be non life-threatening injuries. Names of the victims have not been published pending investigation.
Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
I believe I speak for many in saying I just do not understand wrong-way driving. A third party investigation is needed to determine liability in this matter. While I do not want to speculate one has to wonder if some form of intoxicant was the cause of this accident. Unfortunately the genesis of so many of these accidents is alcohol. It would not be outside the realm of reality if the investigation pointed towards this man at a bar or restaurant prior the wreck. If this were found to be true there is potential for a third party to be introduced into a claim. Texas has in place what are known as dram shop laws which seek to deter the aforementioned scenario from occurring. To serve alcohol legally in the state of Texas an establishment and their servers must become TABC-certified. In other words these entities agree to follow the rules of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission or face sanctions including losing their license. Breaking those rules typically over-serving a patron opens the company up to liability in an accident. While these laws do not seek to remove fault from a driver they rather aim to identify and hold accountable other liable parties namely alcohol-serving institutions.
I realize I am guessing at the cause or causes of this accident but in my experience these wrong-way accidents are rarely the effect of a wrong-turn. In many of the instances my firm has litigated these wrecks have begun because of some type of intoxicant within the driver.
Houston Wrongful Death Attorney Michael Grossman
Local reports indicate a man was killed and two others were injured in a wrong-way driving collision in Killeen Texas. The accident occurred early Saturday morning August 20 along U.S. Highway 195 when the 36-year-old man was traveling north in his Dodge Stratus in southbound lanes. The Dodge then struck a Nissan Maxima severely injuring the driver of that vehicle and the wrong-way drivers passenger. The driver of the Maxima was taken to Scott & White Hospital and was awaiting surgery as of Saturday morning. The passenger in the Stratus was taken to Metroplex Hospital in Killeen with minor injuries. The wrong-way driver was flown to Scott & White where he was pronounced dead about 3:40 a.m.
Approximate Site of the Accident
View Larger Map
Commentary
With what is becoming an epidemic in Texas solutions to wrong-way driving have been banded about for a while now. Rather than developing technology in the roadways or implementing some system in vehicles I prefer to address the typical cause of this massive problem. More on that in a second.
To begin a third party investigation is needed to determine all theories of liability. Though the news feed does not explicitly state an intoxicant was involved over the years Id say it is a safe bet alcohol may have been the culprit here. Certainly if the investigation determines that the man had been drinking prior to the incident his estate could be liable in a personal injury claim by the two other victims. But here is where we come back to the cause of these accidents.
If indeed alcohol is found to have played a role in the wreck I would not be surprised to see the investigation point back to a bar or restaurant. If an alcohol-serving establishment was found to over-serve the man prior to the accident they could assume partial-liability under Texas dram shop laws. These laws are in place to attempt to balance the interests of patrons with the bars interest in making money off them. They do not take away fault from the driver but rather identify causes and third parties involved.
Something must be done about wrong-way driving and I definitely encourage any advancement in this field I just choose to address what I believe to be one of the causes of these devastating accidents.
Waco Personal Injury Attorney Michael Grossman
*We appreciate your feedback and welcome anyone to comment on our blog entries, however all visitor blog comments must be approved by the site moderator prior to showing live on the site. By submitting a blog comment you acknowledge that your post may appear live on the site for any visitors to see, pending moderator approval. The operators of this site are not responsible for the accuracy or content of the comments made by site visitors. By submitting a comment, blog post, or email to this site you acknowledge that you may receive a response with regard to your questions or concerns. If you contact Grossman Law Offices using this online form, your message will not create an attorney-client relationship and will not necessarily be treated as privileged or confidential! You should not send sensitive or confidential information via the Internet. Since the Internet is not necessarily a secure environment, it is not possible to ensure that your message sent via the Internet might be kept secure and confidential. When you fill out a contact or comment form, send us an email directly, initiate a chat session or call us, you acknowledge we may use your contact information to communicate with you in the future for marketing purposes, but such marketing will always be done consistent with the advertising ethics rules established by the State Bar of Texas and you will have the option to opt out of future communications.
