Philadelphia Injury Lawyer Blog

According to Philadelphia personal injury attorney, Edith Pearce, despite advances in safety in automobiles and trucks, truck accidents continue to be a problem on Philadelphia and Pennsylvania roadways causing serious and sometimes fatal injuries. A Pennsylvania couple from Finleyville was killed Sunday while driving through Utah. Russell and Emelda Welsh, both in their 60s, died at the scene when a tractor-trailer driver lost control of his rig in a construction zone on I-15 near Pintura, Utah. Reportedly traveling at a high speed, the truck driver swerved into oncoming traffic lanes, crashing into the Welsh's Kia SUV head-on. Just two hours earlier, a Utah woman had been critically injured at the same construction zone. In that accident, the woman lost control of her vehicle after hitting a bump in the road and crashed into nearby construction equipment, injuring construction workers. A sign saying "Bump ahead" was posted immediately ahead of where both vehicles lost control. Utah police are investigating.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), highway work zone accidents killed 1,149 roadway workers in 2009, representing 9% of all deaths in the construction industries. Between 1995 and 2002, the latest figures available, 44 workers were killed at Pennsylvania road construction sites. And those figures do not include the thousands of motorists and truckers who die or are seriously injured every year in motor vehicle accidents that occur in roadway construction zones.

The increase in construction zone accidents has caused Pennsylvania and most other states to double traffic fines in construction zones as a deterrent to speeding and unsafe driving practices. Despite such precautions, the proximity of speeding cars to construction vehicles and workers creates the potential for dangerous accidents. Uneven road beds, poorly graded berm lanes, confusing markings, unmarked hazards and the distraction of construction activity can catch drivers unawares, resulting in tragedy as it did for a Pennsylvania couple in Utah this week.

Experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorneys can assist both injured construction workers and motorists who are involved in serious personal injury accidents in Pennsylvania construction zones.

Former Melrose Place actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer was charged this week in a drunken driving motor vehicle accident that killed a New Jersey woman. The 39-year-old former star rammed her car into the side of a car driven by Fred Seeman, 60, as he was pulling into the driveway of his Princeton, New Jersey home. Seeman's wife, noted art historian Helene Seeman, died at the scene from catastrophic injuries. Seeman was airlifted to the hospital for treatment of incapacitating personal injuries. Just minutes before the accident, Locane-Bovenizer had rear-ended another vehicle.

The actress admitted to police investigators that she had drunk several glasses of wine that evening. Police charged Locane-Bovenizer with vehicular homicide and second- and third-degree assault by auto. If convicted, the mother of two could spend 5 to 10 years in state prison.

The tragic car accident that occurred in New Jersey this week earned national headlines due to the celebrity of the driver involved. But Philadelphia personal injury attorneys point out that it is a scenario played out on the streets of Philadelphia every day. Every 45 minutes someone in America dies at the hands of an alcohol-impaired driver. Last year, drunk drivers killed nearly 12,000 people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A third of all U.S. traffic deaths are caused by drunk drivers. In Pennsylvania, drunk drivers killed nearly 600 people in 2008, accounting for 39% of all traffic-related fatalities.

As we move into the holiday weekend, Philadelphia personal injury attorneys remind Philadelphia revelers to stay safe and designate a driver. If you suffer serious personal injuries in a car accident, consult an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation.

On the day he was scheduled to appear in court to face a DUI charge, an off-duty Pennsylvania state trooper was killed in a head-on auto accident while driving the wrong way on the Schuylkill Expressway. Police investigators said Cpl. John Quigg of Wyndmoor in Montgomery County drove his Honda Accord the wrong way up the Spring Garden exit ramp onto I-76 shortly after 1 a.m. early Wednesday morning. Driving into oncoming eastbound traffic, he crashed head-on into a Mercury Marquis driven by 23-year-old Philadelphia resident Chantelle Harper. Severely injured, Quigg, a father of four, died at Hahnemann University Hospital shortly after the accident. Harper, who also suffered serious personal injuries in the crash, was transported to the University of Pennsylvania hospital where she was reported to be in good condition after surgery to repair several broken bones.

In one of those odd twists of fate, the 24-year Pennsylvania State Police veteran was an accident reconstructionist and drug-recognition expert. Quigg routinely supervised State Police sobriety checkpoints. The officer had been on desk duty since running his car into a guardrail last December. At the time of that accident, Quigg was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.30, well over Pennsylvania's legal limit of 0.08. Quigg's attorney in that DUI case, Timothy Woodward, Sr. has previously reported to the court that Quigg completed alcohol rehabilitation following his DUI arrest.

Police investigators are not yet certain whether Quigg drove onto the freeway in the wrong direction inadvertently or intentionally. Investigators have stated that neither driver showed obvious signs of impairment. Toxicology tests have been ordered and the motor vehicle accident is still under investigation.

When people are seriously injured or die in car accidents, experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyers conduct their own, independent investigations to verify the circumstances surrounding the accident and protect the rights of the injured victims and their families.

A group of budding pre-teen scientists has come up with an idea that deserves recognition -- the TEXTerminator. The brain child of a team of Bucks County middle school students from the Council Rock School District, the TEXTerminator shuts down a cell phone's texting capabilities. Despite local laws banning texting while driving and its extreme dangers, 60% of teens and 50% of drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 admit to texting while driving. Distracted driving kills more than 6,000 Americans every year, accounting for nearly 80% of serious personal injury car accidents in Philadelphia and across the country, according to the National Safety Council.

Talking on a cell phone is the equivalent of driving drunk. Texting is like shutting your eyes while driving drunk! When drivers talk or text on their cell phones, their attention is not focused on traffic and the road ahead. Distracted driving causes the reflexes of young drivers to slow to those of 70-year-olds. According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, people who talk or text on their cell phones while driving are at least four times more likely to be involved in a serious persional injury accident. Texters, however, are 23 times more likely to crash, a recent Virginia Tech study revealed. Philadelphia banned cell phone driving and texting in December 2008 and added a hefty $75 fine in May 2009, but many Philadelphia residents, particularly those under 30, continue to ignore the dangers of driving and texting.

Pennsylvania middle schoolers are hoping to put a halt to that hazardous practice. Their TEXTerminator earned them a finalist spot in the national Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation competition, a government-sponsored contest that seeks to unite community service with scientific problem solving. The winning team will receive $25,000 to help turn their invention into reality. Over the contest's 14-year span, five winning teams have earned patents for their ideas. Here's hoping these innovative Bucks County students are next!

A Philadelphia woman was killed in a bizarre three-car crash in southwest Philadelphia recently. The 40-year-old woman was stopped at a red light when she was forcibly rear-ended by another car. The force of the collision propelled the woman's car into the intersection of 61st and Passyunk and into the path of a third car. The oncoming car was unable to stop; the resulting collision ejecting the woman from her car and killing her. The drivers of the two other cars involved in this tragic Philadelphia car accident and a passenger in one of those cars were transported to the hospital in critical condition with serious personal injuries. The twice-hit car was demolished.

Serious Philadelphia auto accidents like this one cause catastrophic changes in the people's lives. When severe Philadelphia traffic accidents are fatal, families can be left without the love and support of a spouse and parent. Serious personal injuries can result in overwhelming medical bills, expensive prescription drug charges and lengthy loss of income during recovery and rehabilitation. Job loss can occur when personal injuries are disabling, further impacting a family's income and well-being.

Families struggling to put their lives back together and care for injured family members can find dealing with insurance companies exhausting. Deluged by mountains of confusing paperwork and besieged by insurance representatives pressuring them to make a quick settlement, injured Philadelphia motorists and their families can be easy targets for insurance companies committed to paying out as little as possible. A Philadelphia personal injury lawyer experienced in litigating auto accident personal injury claims can insure that car accident victims and their families recover medical expenses and are adequately compensated for lost income, personal injuries, property damage and suffering.

As a Philadelphia accident and injury lawyer, I often receive questions about who may be at fault or sued in certain accidents. In other words, can someone be found negligent once an injury has happened in a car accident, slip and fall, construction, or other accident or injury? In the case Mendez v. City of Philadelphia, a Philadelphia jury awarded $61 million for injuries Natalia Mendez suffered when a tree fell on her car while she was driving down Cheltenham Avenue in Philadelphia. Ms. Mendez was rendered a paraplegic as a result of the severe car accident. The property owner where the tree was located had hired a cement contractor to repair the sidewalk along the property line. Apparently, the cement contractor cut the roots of the tree while performing their work. The tree later fell on Mendez’s car on a rainy and wind day in July 2006.

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In a new case the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upheld the Philadelphia trial court in finding that a Philadelphia man injured in an automobile accident was entitled to “full tort” and not “limited tort” even if he owned an uninsured vehicle. Two types of insurance coverage can be purchased in Pennsylvania, which are known as "limited tort option" and "full tort option." Under Pennsylvania law, those who select the limited tort option may not bring suit for non-economic damages or "pain and suffering," unless they have suffered a "serious injury."

In Progressive Halcyon Ins. Co. v. Kennedy, 908 A.2d 911 (Pa. Super. 2006) the Court ruled that Anthony Kennedy was entitled to bring an uninsured claim against his automobile insurance company and was entitled to "full tort" or recovery of pain and suffering. Mr. Kennedy was involved in a car accident when an unknown vehicle swerved into his lane. Because he did not know the identity of the other automobile, he brought an uninsured motorist claim against his own insurance policy. Mr. Kennedy owned three automobiles, a 1997 Ford, 1989 Toyota, and a 1986 Nissan. He had automobile insurance on the Ford and Toyota automobiles, and he had selected the full tort option as provided under the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL). However, he did not insure his 1986 Nissan. Mr. Kennedy was involved in a car accident while driving the Ford. He suffered injuries and made a claim for benefits to his automobile insurance company. When they would not pay on his claim for his injuries, he hired a Philadelphia lawyer.

The automobile insurance company argued that Mr. Kennedy was subject to limited tort (not able to recover pain and suffering) because one of the automobiles he owned was not insured. The Philadelphia trial court disagreed and stated that Mr. Kennedy was entitled to “full tort” in his claim. The Pennsylvania Superior Court has now just affirmed the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, explaining that because Mr. Kennedy was injured in the car that was insured and for which he had chosen full tort, the insurance company was bound by his selection of full tort. Thus, Mr. Kennedy was permitted to recover pain and suffering damages. In this writer’s view, this only makes sense as Mr. Kennedy bought insurance for the car that was involved in the accident and chose “full tort.” However, this case shows how insurance companies will try to find any loophole in a policy to deny claims. Also, this case illustrates the importance of checking your auto policy to make sure you have chosen "full tort" and uninsurance coverage.