DUI or Don’t We: Drunk Driving in Amarillo is Worse than You Think

A recent drunk driving accident in Amarillo caught my attention and led me to research the relevant accident statistics for the area. As it turns out, Amarillo packs something even more alarming than hubcap-size steaks: an inordinate number of drunk-driving crashes given its overall population. The Accident That Prompted Me to Look Into The Numbers...

Brandon Vezmar’s Lawsuit is Definitely Absurd, But Let’s Not Freak Out Or Anything

If you follow the news, you've probably seen a fluff article or two recently about a guy suing his movie date for texting during a showing of the movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. No matter what you think about the movie, it's well understood that bothering other theater patrons by talking or texting...

Mike’s Law: Does the End Justify the Means?

Like most people, I cringe when attorneys evoke a phony "voice of the people" mentality or preach about their practice as if they're the saving grace to humanity. I can't stand when attorneys preach down upon the people their magical wisdom of ethical truths. That said, I quite seriously believe that the service that my...

Click It Or Ticket 2017 Has Begun, But Just Buckle Up So You Don’t Get Obliterated

Monday, May 22 marks the beginning of the Texas Department of Transportation's two-week "Click It Or Ticket" campaign. Until June 4, Texas law enforcement officers will actively ticket drivers and passengers who are not wearing seatbelts. People whose young children are not riding in appropriate child-safety seats or booster seats will also be subject to...

HoMedics Recalls 400,000 Faulty Massager Units for Fire Hazard

Generally when products aren't what we expect them to be, they're just sort of a cosmetic letdown over what they show in carefully-arranged advertising (the idea of "expectation vs. reality"), but sometimes they are faulty in more serious ways. When that happens people don't just groan and roll their eyes in disappointment--they can actually get...

Backing Crashes Are a Product of Negligence Behind the Wheel.

The dangers of backing crashes are compounded for larger, more unwieldy vehicles. Box trucks and 18-wheelers lumber to and fro in cramped neighborhood streets and pop out from parking lots and alleys--sometimes in reverse--endangering passing traffic and pedestrians. Tragedy can strike when the people driving these trucks neglect their duty to be completely aware of...

How Do I Discover the Other Driver’s Insurance Policy Limits?

I've learned over the years that the quickest way to make people's eyes glaze over is to either discuss evidentiary rules in Texas courts or to talk about insurance. Despite being a topic that doesn't make people scream, "Oh, tell me more," following a fatal accident, knowing how insurance works is crucial to the surviving...

There Are More Daytime Drunk Drivers Than We Realized.

It's widely understood that the hours of midnight to 4 a.m. are a risky time to be on the road. It's not a baseless assumption; in Texas, our roads see an unfortunate number of drunk drivers taking to the streets around the time of last call. Indeed, this phenomenon is so well appreciated that most...

When All Else Fails, Trucking Companies Bluff Their Way to Victory

People often see a truck accident where it appears that the truck driver was obviously at fault. This leads them to believe that the victims are certain to get justice for the damages they've sustained. However, truck accidents are never open-and-shut cases. Our legal system affords everyone the opportunity to defend themselves, even if the...

The Legal Landscape Can Be Murky For Injured Cell Tower Workers

Work-injury law is already more complicated in Texas than in any other state. That's because Texas operates two parallel systems that help those who are injured on the job. The traditional workers' compensation system pays benefits to workers or their families when a worker is injured or killed on the job, regardless of whether or...

Are Passengers “Assuming the Risk” When They Ride with Drunk Drivers?

Everyone can probably agree that riding with a drunk driver is dangerous. However a passenger may have ended up in the vehicle (not knowing that the driver was intoxicated, or maybe even just drunk themselves) there's a significant measure of danger in sharing it with a drunk person behind the wheel. If we were to...

Atlanta Tragedy Shows Why We Have Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

It's no secret that any time a law firm discusses a tragic event in the news, people will invariably accuse that firm of attempting to profit from a tragedy. However, when the reaction of most people is that "the victim's family is going to make a ton of money," it illustrates a lack of knowledge...

Highway Hypnosis and Fatal Truck Accidents

We've written many times, and will write many more, about how alcohol and distractions can cause serious accidents, but sometimes these are not factors in a crash. A dangerous lapse in concentration can be caused by highway hypnosis--the phenomenon when a motorist's brain "checks out" and mindfulness of the present is lost. Put another way,...

Do I Need An Accident Reconstructionist for My Truck Accident?

It's a common misconception that a driver who rear-ends another vehicle is always at fault. The popular belief is that the driver in the back is expected to exercise greater caution, given that they can more easily monitor the activity of the car ahead of them. This idea suggests that a collision shows the rear...

Does Not Wearing a Seatbelt Bar Someone From Getting Compensation?

One of the questions that I get asked all the time by people is, "If someone isn't wearing a seabelt in a crash, can they still recover compensation for their injuries?" I learned of a recent trucking accident in the Texas Panhandle that makes answering this question particularly timely. Deaf Smith County, TX: April 4,...

Texans Fighting Wrong-Way Driving With Smarter Signs

One such set of lines is the ones that divide the lanes of the road. Motor vehicles are obviously extremely dangerous, especially when operated incorrectly. The law does what it can to make sure people more or less understand this fact and keep it in mind when operating a vehicle, but drivers still make bad...

Fellowship of the Drink: The Expensive Travels of the TABC

Recent audits of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), the state regulatory agency that monitors the distribution and service of alcohol in the Lone Star State, have shown that some of the agency's top brass have been boozing and schmoozing with the liquor industry, paid for by the very industry they are meant to oversee...

How “Silver Alert” Bias Could Affect 18-Wheeler Accident Cases

Medicine and technology continue to improve, drastically improving the average citizen's lifespan. That can be something of a mixed blessing, however. On one hand, seeing the world change and one's family grow are likely a positive experience for many. On the other, extending a person's years increases their risk of a variety of disorders, including...

Cherchez La Trucker: Sometimes, It Really Is That Obvious.

Grossman Law has worked hundreds of truck-accident cases, and seen reports of thousands more. While they're not the only kind of case the firm handles, it's still a category in which far too many collisions occur. A runaway truck is a 40-ton, 60-foot projectile, and the laws of physics are very unkind to just about...