Kids Injured Around School Buses and Texas Law
In the past, we've discussed liability for bus drivers who hit children that are loading or unloading from school buses. In reviewing that article, it became apparent that we missed one important area of discussion. While it should be fairly obviously that people who run stops signs are liable for the damage they cause when...
Austin PD Miss The Point By Blaming Reflectors Instead of Drunk Driver
For all their purported benefits to the environment and individual health, bicycles retain something of a bad rap as a means of transportation. Some of that may stem from their slightly-ambiguous status as a vehicle (should they stay on the sidewalk? Should they be in the road? In places without bike lanes, how much of...
It’s Not the Devices–It’s the Batteries
I am optimistic about the progress of technology and its increasing usefulness for modern living. I'm not blind to its more sinister applications, of course, but generally, when I think of the future I try to see less Blade Runner and more Jetsons. Of course, part of the Jetsons future is a world that is...
Recognizing The Very Human Victims of Texas Drunk Driving Accidents
I wish I wasn't able to say this, but Texas endures far too many drunk driving accidents for us to be able to write about them all. In 2015, TxDOT reported 960 fatalities related to driving while intoxicated (almost 3 every single day), which unfortunately is too many to fully chronicle and examine. Furthermore, that...
When an Accident Implies Negligence: The Principle of Res Ipsa Loquitur
One can't look at any controversy in the courts without hearing someone getting worked up about "judges making laws." While judges shouldn't rewrite laws from the bench in the face of a clearly defined statute, our common law legal system actually encourages them to speak on issues where the law is silent. These well-established principles...
Are “Not Responsible for Broken Windshield” Signs Legally Enforceable? Not a Chance
As long as the law has existed, there have been the twin impulses to find legal ways to get around it and to use the protections of law as a shield against other legal actions. This could rightly be termed a quest for technicalities. A great example of this is that it is well-known that...
Keep Austin Weird, Not Dangerous!: Texas Dram Shop Law and Travis County
The city of Austin, Texas is host to a wide variety of interesting sights and activities. Considered by many as the state's major artistic hub, "ATX" is a cultural center famous for unique cuisine and live music concerts. The city actually ranks first in Texas for number of artists and musicians per capita, which will...
There is No Such Thing as an Accident Caused by Fog
It may be fashionable to criticize the media at this particular moment, and I loathe jumping on that bandwagon, but contrary to popular belief a lot of bad reporting isn't the result of the reporter's ideological bias. From what I can tell, a large swath of bad reporting is because the reporter who has no...
Do Southlake and Grapevine, TX Have a Drunk Driving Problem?
A law-abiding bar won't serve a patron past a certain point, but it doesn't require stumbling and blackouts to reach the legal point of impairment. After reaching .08 blood-alcohol content (BAC), Texans can't get behind the wheel without breaking the law, and yet the statistics gathered by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA)...
How The Reasonably Prudent Professional Standard of Care Works
In the vast majority of personal injury cases, whether a defendant was negligent is determined by whether they acted as a reasonably prudent person would have in a similar situation. The perfect example of this would be your typical car accident, where one passenger car strikes another. Neither of the drivers has commercial license, or...
The 1st-Rate Intelligence of Truck Accident Defense Attorneys
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." -F. Scott Fitzgerald In this line, the renowned author makes a point that modern life requires us to keep contradictory ideas straight in our heads while at the...
Texas Dram Shop Law Helps the Victims of Drunk Driving
For many people, an understanding of dram shop law begins and ends with the phrase "person sues bar." Many people have made it a point to object to this idea, considering it unfair that an establishment that serves alcohol should be held accountable for doing what they're paid to do--serving a patron. Without looking any...
Mystery Driver Strikes Again: I-410 San Antonio Truck Accident
While most people would assume that the biggest challenge to the trucking industry are fuel prices, fewer drivers interested in doing the job, or competition from other forms of cargo transport, a more immediate threat stalks the highways of our nation. This danger strikes without warning, upends lives, and like a stealth tsunami, leaves tragedy...
What Elements Make a Commercial Loading Dock Dangerous?
It hardly needs noting that one of the most dangerous areas on any commercial property is the loading dock. The combination of large machines, heavy cargo, and all-too-fragile human beings often proves calamitous. Leaving aside these obvious dangers, we wondered whether or not there are factors that lead to some loading docks being more dangerous...
What Can Be Done to Protect People from Going Under Tractor-Trailers During a Crash?
Many people suffer from anxiety when driving in close proximity to tractor-trailers and while they may not realize it, there's a good reason for this fear. The space under an 18-wheeler's trailer actually has a dangerous, even lethal, legacy. This problem is illustrated by a recent crash in Houston between a motorcycle and an 18-wheeler,...
A Quick Refresher on Temporal Proximity and Dram Shop Law
Few articles that we write are more contentious than those that touch on the topic of dram shop law, or liquor liability. These provisions of Texas law hold bars accountable for their role in drunk-driving accidents. Rather than spend time getting into the merits of such laws, I'll simply say that dram shop is the...
How Drunk is a .32 BAC and How Dangerous Is It?
The news is often full of people who seem to have disregarded the maximum legal blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .08, drinking so much they violate not just the law, but common sense itself. Their tox-screen results suggest that many people arrested for intoxication have a BAC in the range of .15 to .30--well over the...
Commercial Truck Accidents Caused by Falling Cargo
While most commercial truck accidents involve a truck colliding with another vehicle, there is a small, but not insignificant number of accidents that are caused when cargo form the trailer falls off and obstructs the roadway. While some may be tempted to look at these accidents as "just another truck accident," the fact is that...
How Does a Texas Jury Apportion Responsibility Between a Bar and a Drunk Driver?
I talk a lot about Texas dram shop law, wherein an establishment that serves alcohol may be held liable if a drunk person causes injury to himself or others, but it's definitely important to keep individual accountability in the equation. Dram shop laws don't excuse the drivers themselves; it only acknowledges that the bars who...
Whodunnit: Evaluating An Accident With Several Possible Causes
There's a common misconception that accident attorneys will often sue anyone even tangentially related to a wreck--especially if those distantly-involved parties have deep pockets. The idea of course is that profit, not prudence, guides the attorneys' decision-making. It's a deeply cynical stance that is perpetuated by pop culture's insistence on portraying attorneys as vultures and...
