Waterbury Personal Injury Lawyer

Triple A Releases 2006 Auto Crash Data

James Sabatini — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:09:13 GMT

According to the Triple A, 42,642 people died in car crashes in 2006. This equates to about 117 deaths per day and almost 5 per hour. This is the equivalent of two jumbo jets crashing every week. The AAA attributes many of the fatalities to excessive speed, drunk driving and the failure to wear a seat belt. Triple A also reports that the costs arising from car accidents have gone up with the largest cost increase being hospital costs.

Truck Driver Arrested In School Bus Accident

James Sabatini — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:48:53 GMT

The driver of a Poland Spring delivery truck that collided with a school bus Monday afternoon was criminally charged this morning with speeding and running a red light. Accoprding to police, Christopher Speedling, 24, was going 42 mph in a 30mph zone. Witnesses also told police that he ran a red light before the crash. He is charged with failure to obey a traffic signal and traveling at an unreasonable speed. It is unclear from press reports if the driver was also charged with reckless driviing. Five students at Plainville High School who were on the bus suffered a variety of non life-threatening injuries and were taken to area hospitals.

Waterbury Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

James Sabatini — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:21:29 GMT

If you have been injured by a drunk driver, it is vital that you contact a Connecticut drunk driving accident lawyer as soon as possible. Why? - because not only is the drunk driver liable for your injuries and losses, but the establishment that served the alcohol to the drunk driver. You have 120 days to put the dram shop on written notice of your intention of filing a claim against it. If written notice is not given within the 120 days, you will be prohibited from bringing a dram shop claim against the establishment. The dram shop is strictly liable for up to $250,000.00 for injuries and losses caused by the intoxicated individual.

Emergency Room Patients Waiting Longer

James Sabatini — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:05:23 GMT

Patients seeking urgent care in U.S. emergency rooms are waiting longer than in the 1990s, especially people with heart attacks, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. The longer waits affect insureds and uninsureds equally. They found a quarter of heart attack victims waited 50 minutes or more before seeing a doctor in 2004. Waits for all types of emergency department visits became 36 percent longer between 1997 and 2004, the team at Harvard Medical School reported. The longer waits are being attributed to the fact that emergency room patients are not money makers for the hospitals, thus emergency rooms are being shut down or scaled down.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Avoiding Car Accidents During Bad Winter Weather

James Sabatini — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:43:58 GMT

Bad winter weather is all too common for drivers in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast. Obviously, the best safety tip in avoiding a car accident in bad winter weather is to stay off the roads. But, this is not always a viable option. Many of us need to get to work or reach an important destination such as a pharmacy or hospital, so if you are out driving in winter weather keep these practical safety tips in mind.

1. Watch out for shaded areas on the road. Due to the lack of sun exposure, these shaded areas typically will have snow and ice where the rest of the sunlight roadway is clear of snow and ice.
2. For older cars, check your battery, cable connections, alternator and drive belts. Check your cooling system to make sure that you have the right mix of fresh antifreeze and water. Check hoses for cracks or leaky connections. These checks can prevent an engine from dying on the roadway leaving you stranded in bad weather.
3. Make sure the tires on the car are winter tires or all-season tires. Furthermore, make sure the tires still have good tread. Worn tires will not grip the roadway causing the car to slip and slide.
4. Keep a half a tank of gas in the tank. If you get caught in traffic or in a snowbank, you want sufficient gas to keep the car running and heated.
5. Keep a safety kit in your car that includes a bottle of water, candy bar, flashlight, gloves, jumper cables, and flares.
6. Keep a bag of sand and shovel in the trunk. If you get stuck in snow, you can use the shovel for the snow and then lay down the sand to give your tires traction when getting out of the snow.
Following these safety tips will hopefully prevent a car accident or car breakdown during bad winter weather, but if a car accident does happen, these tips will make the accident a lot more manageable.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Negligence Lawsuits Filed Against St. Francis Hospital - Failure To Supervise Dr. Reardon

James Sabatini — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:38:37 GMT

Two men who say they were sexually molested by Dr. George Reardon filed lawsuits Thursday against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, claiming the hospital was negligent in its supervision of the doctor during the 30 years he practiced there. In the latest suits, the men say Reardon fondled and photographed them in his private St. Francis office during the 1970s or early 1980s. One suit claims Reardon took as many as 1,000 "sexualized" pictures of the plaintiff, both alone and posed with his three brothers. The lawsuits assert that St. Francis bears responsibility for the abuse because it failed to properly supervise Dr. Reardon, who was an employee of the hospital. At least 80 people so far have come forward with allegations of sexual molestation by Dr. Reardon during the time that he was employed by St. Francis Hospital.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Numerous Injuries In Train Crash

James Sabatini — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:52:51 GMT

At least five Amtrak crew members were critically or seriously injured Friday when their train collided with a freight train traveling on the same track. About 100 or 150 passengers have been injured in this train collision in Chicago. The cause of the collision is under investigation.

Chicago Bishop Advocates Return Of Charitable Immunity For The Church

James Sabatini — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:57:36 GMT

A prominent Chicago bishop is suggesting legal changes that would shield Roman Catholic institutions from paying excessive damages in sex abuse lawsuits. The bishop claims that the civil lawsuits are jeopardizing the church.

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a civil and canon lawyer and one of Cardinal Francis George's six active deputies, recently suggested in a homily to Catholic lawyers and judges that decisions to award large sums to victims of clergy abuse place an excessive burden on the free exercise of religion for American Catholics.

"This burden needs to be lifted," Paprocki said and to accomplish this he seeks the protection of charitable immunity. All states have removed charitable immunity as a shield for chruches in the wake of widespread sex abuse cases involving priests.

What this Bishop seems to have forgotten is that many of these lawsuits would not have been filed if the Church did its job and policed their own. To read more about the Bishop's thoughts, click here.

Two Teens And Police Officer Injured In Car Accident

James Sabatini — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:42:53 GMT

Two teenagers and a police officer were transported to the hospital Saturday morning after a crash in Waterbury. The crash happened near the intersection of Highland Avenue and Vail Street around 3 a.m.
Both vehicles sustained heavy damage. According to news reports, there appears to be a dispute between the police office and the teens as to how and why this car accident happened. In addition, the parents of one of the injured teens claim that they were not allowed to see their injured son for about 3 hours while at the hospital as the police were questioning him. The teen was not arrested.

Man Sues After Fall in St. Louis

Shannon Weidemann — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:55:12 GMT

A man fell in a stairwell in St. Louis and was injured. He is now suing the owner of the property in a premises liability lawsuit. He claims that the stairwell was unlit and was not properly marked off with a partition. The fall happened in March.

According to the complaint filed Nov. 1 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, the defendants carelessly and negligently permitted the sidewalk at the entrance of the premises to become and remain in a dangerous condition.

The man is asking for damages over $100,000 to compensate for his injuries, medical expenses and time off work.

If you would like to learn more about premises liability, please visit InjuryBoard's Property Owner's Liability information page.