The Media Is Missing Serious Accidents: What Is to Be Done?
In the course of litigating cases over the last few years, my staff and I have incidentally come across more and more crashes that the news media isn't reporting on. These aren't just minor fender benders, but major crashes where people died or suffered serious injuries due to commercial vehicles or drunk drivers. That's not...
Are Authorities Jumping the Gun in the Fort Worth 18-Wheeler Crash that Killed 4 People?
By now most people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have heard about the I-35W crash that occurred Monday, September 11, which claimed the lives of Susana Longoria, Kiara Barker, Jasmine Jones, and Chase Mapes. The crash also left two people hospitalized. If you missed the story, here's what officials say happened: At around 9:00 p.m....
We’re Relieved Someone is Trying to Hold Fuzzy’s Taco Accountable
Late last week, when we heard the news that the family of Alex Cervantes filed a lawsuit against Fuzzy's Taco for their alleged role in the officer's death, we were all relieved. I thought I'd take a moment to discuss why we're relieved and how this lawsuit is a win for the community. Before getting...
Violations Found During the Roadside Inspection Blitzes Are Nothing to Brag About
Admittedly, truck safety inspections are one of those topics (like tax law, insurance coverage, and federal regulation) that doesn't stir up a lot of excitement. Enforcing truck safety regulations is something that largely takes place outside of the general public's consciousness, but that doesn't make it unimportant. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is a...
How Concerned Should I Be about News Reports of Electric Bicycles Catching on Fire?
I first heard about electric bicycles (aka e-bikes) catching fire when a writer for the United Kingdom-based newspaper The Guardian wrote a piece stating that in 2022 there were "about 200 fires and six deaths" in New York alone due to e-bike fires and that, in November 2022, an e-bike fire in an apartment "became...
A Look Back at How Spectacularly Wrong a 1982 Truck Accident Study Predicted the Future
New data bombards us, regardless of what we do. Given what I do for a living, I see a constant stream of truck accident data and studies. While I read, digest, and comment on this data, federal regulators make new laws based on the same studies, and responsible trucking companies use them to devise new...
Why Is a Trucking Magazine Bragging About Poor Out-of-Service Rates?
Perhaps there isn't a stranger sight than someone bragging about mediocrity. That's what an author in Land Line Magazine did recently when discussing the results of International Roadcheck 2021. For those unfamiliar with International Roadcheck, it's a coordinated enforcement effort between officials in the United States, Mexico, and Canada to ensure that the commercial trucks...
Can We Retire the Myth of the Truck Driver Shortage?
Have you heard that a shortage of truck drivers exists and it's only getting worse? According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), the American trucking industry finds itself in need of 61,000 drivers. To make matters worse, within 7 years, that number could balloon into hundreds of thousands of truck drivers short of what the...
What’s the Difference Between an Injury Attorney and a Truck Accident Injury Attorney?
An accident injured you or perhaps killed a loved one. Initially, your focus is on your recovery or remembering your loved one, as it should be. Then you have to manage the hospital expenses and piles of bills. If the accident involves a commercial vehicle, you're in for another shock; The insurance company for the...
The Chamber of Commerce Is Lying About Our Legal System (Again)
Last fall, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform (the organization's tort reform propaganda arm) released a shocking report, Tort Liability Costs for Small Businesses, claiming that our court system costs the average person upwards of $3,000 annually, due to injury and other damages claims. The report also claims that these costs fall...
FMCSA Rule Suspension Doesn’t Mean that Hours of Service Rules Are Pointless
A couple of years ago, attorney Michael Grossman wrote about the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate implementation. As you can imagine, there were heated comments from a diverse group of truck drivers, with a range of opinions about the ELD mandate, and ELDs in general. Michael appreciates that people still take the time to respond...
What Reporters Are Missing About the 6 x Fatal 133-Car- Pile-Up in Fort Worth, TX
To say that the Thursday, February 11, 2021 133-car-pile-up on I-35W in Fort Worth, Texas received a lot of media coverage is an understatement. Hundreds of articles and dozens of videos of the incident litter the internet. We know that the following people died in the crash: Of course the focus should be on those...
One Danger to Police Officers Will Continue Until We Hold Bars Accountable
Mention police officers and drunk drivers in the same sentence, and I'll bet most people will assume that you're talking about the role that police play catching drunk drivers and protecting the public. What many people never consider is the threat that drunk drivers pose to the police. Given that the hours when most police...
Why Do West Texas Oilfield Companies Keep Hiring Dangerous Truck Drivers?
"How do we bring the number of Texas oilfield trucking fatalities down?" Media outlets raise issues such as speed limits, road maintenance, and truck upkeep, which all play a role in the problem: What no one wants to discuss is that the biggest factor in whether an 18-wheeler causes a deadly crash is the quality of the truck's driver.
It’s 2020: Why Doesn’t Texas Require Bars to Carry Liquor Liability Insurance?
Texas lawmakers and the public have to make a choice. Drunk driving accidents not only kill and maim, but they leave tremendous financial devastation in their wake. As a community, we must decide who bears that cost. Should drunk drivers and lawbreaking bars pay or victims and the general public? The answer seems obvious to me.
Alcohol Delivery and Texas Dram Shop Law
Just because people won't be dying in drunk driving wrecks related to illegal alcohol service, doesn't mean that alcohol-related deaths will necessarily decrease. In fact, such deaths may just shift from the highways to our homes.
Did a Trucking Company Admit that Drivers Cheat Hours of Service Rules?
When a commercial truck accident injury and wrongful death law firm makes claims about reckless behavior and rule breaking in the trucking industry, people rightly take such claims with a shaker full of salt. But would it change anyone's mind if the admission of outrageous behavior came from an advertisement put out by a trucking...
Attorney Michael Grossman Selected For MADD North Texas Advisory Board
The aspect I most enjoy about my job is that the people I work with are highly dedicated to helping our clients. Every lawyer, paralegal, researcher, mailroom clerk, and receptionist has, at one time or another, gone above and beyond to help a client with a personal matter or to help move their case closer...
Thoreau, NM Bus Crash Reporters: I’ll Do Your Job For You
Upton Sinclair is eye-rolling over in his grave today. The man who toiled for almost 2 months in a meatpacking plant to uncover the horrific working conditions of American laborers, can only watch from beyond the grave as his journalistic descendants, who, to a person, hold him up as an ideal, can't even be bothered...
Nip It In the Bottle: Better to Prevent DWI Crashes Than to Litigate Them After It’s Too Late.
We spend a lot of time writing about dram shop law, which provides an avenue to remedy for people injured due to an establishment's unlawful alcohol service. When someone is over-served at a bar or restaurant it often has dire consequences, especially if they choose to drive in their intoxicated state. While dram shop law...
