Should Semi-Truck U-Turns Be Illegal?
It's difficult for a truck accident law firm to ask questions about commercial truck safety without those who drive trucks for a living taking offense and thinking we're "anti-trucker." I'd like to dispense that notion right off the bat. We have the utmost respect for 99% of professional truck drivers who drive their whole careers...
Attorneys Indicted for $6 Million Porn-Piracy Extortion Scam
Ingenuity is by its nature the idea of approaching an issue in a novel manner. The ability to creatively solve problems is invaluable. To take a perpendicular approach to a matter that has stymied traditional methods is sometimes the only way to solve it. Unfortunately, people perceive "problems" differently; for instance, two attorneys recently decided...
Loose Selection and Enforcement Standards Make Some Truckers Fear Their Own Industry.
Have you heard the expression "one bad apple spoils the bunch?" I know it's a little folksy, but most people recognize its meaning without too much strain: Take a generally-benign group and introduce an element that is decidedly less so. Over time, this foreign element will corrupt the larger group, and the more the corruption...
Volvo Recalls 79,000 Cars and SUVS for Defects in the Seat Belts They Invented
One would think that the company that invents a life-saving product found in millions of vehicles around the world that they would be the last ones to have issues with that product. If one had Volvo and the three-point safety belt in mind, one would be in for a surprise. Whose Cars Have This Problem?...
Crash Statistics Reflect Increased Traffic Fatalities in First Half of 2016
In early October, federal officials released the preliminary estimates of U.S. traffic fatalities during the first six months of 2016. Fatalities have risen by an estimated 10.4 percent since the government's last assessment. This continues an unpleasant trend that began during 2014's economic recovery and hasn't stopped climbing since. For example, 2015's fatalities clocked in...
Law Professors Misunderstand Texas Work Injury Law
Way to go Austin American Statesmen, it appears the editorial has been removed from their website. An editorial appeared in the Austin American-Statesman that was troubling, to say the least. Law professors Thomas McGarity and Sid Shapiro opined on the need for Texas to strengthen its workers' compensation laws and among other things end the...
Gandy v Camp Thurman: Trespassing and Texas Premises Liability Law
In late 2011, 30-year-old Arlington man Jeremy Gandy broke into the premises of popular outdoor-adventure destination Camp Thurman after hours in Pantego. Arriving on the grounds between 3 and 4 a.m., Gandy had been drinking heavily before his decision to enter the camp; after climbing over a rear fence, he scaled a 30-foot zip line...
Attorney Versus Food: Fried Chicken, Frivolity, and Tort Reform
While personal injury lawsuits typically result from injuries or loss of life in motor vehicle crashes, defective premises, or botched medical procedures, some lawsuits have a more colorful origin. Unfortunately, these oddball lawsuits are the ones that get lots of press coverage and raise the ire of people who think that lawyers are looking to...
Lawsuit of Jared Fogle’s Ex-Wife May Have Merit
A quick confession before I begin; I fully intended to start writing this article about how frivolous Katie McLaughlin's, Jared Fogle's ex-wife, lawsuit against Subway was. After all, one of the elements to prove in a lawsuit is that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty, which the failed to fulfill. This failure has to...
Jurisdiction Measuring: Denton City Council Will Vote on Banning Handheld Device Use in Vehicles
Thanks in large part to increased safety measures in modern vehicles, crash fatalities saw a gradual decline for most of the 2000's. Unfortunately, that positive streak was broken by the increased prevalence and functionality of smartphones, which have become harder and harder to resist for the majority of the populace. We fiddle with them in...
Viral Social Media Post Falsifies Crash Details, Blames Victims
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes auto accidents are simply an acceptable hazard of driving to and fro. It may be a necessary evil to spend time behind the wheel, but the road holds many dangers. Some of them are environmental, certainly--weather conditions, road quality, loose debris--but drivers themselves are responsible for many...
Lawyers Selling 4th Amendment Rights For $40? Game On.
You're breathing while you read this, right? Of course you are. Just the slow, unthinking respiration we do when at rest. No big deal. It's a natural function, and it happens whether you think about it or not. But how do you remember to breathe if no one reminds you to? Maybe it's asking a...
Bayer Plans to Buy Monsanto, Anti-GMO and Anti-Vax Go Crazy(er)
The pharmaceutical giant Bayer, Inc. has announced a $66 billion dollar buyout of Monsanto. While this buyout no doubt represents a significant and lucrative investment for the German corporation, it has raised a large battery of objections from concerned "citizen advocacy" groups who have long protested Monsanto. One such entity, the international protest group March...
Beckman v Match.com: Are Dating Sites Liable When the Dates Take a Dark Turn?
Recent research indicates that an estimated 40 million people make use of dating websites in their search for a partner. OKCupid, Tinder, Bumble, and Plenty of Fish are some of the better-known dating sites (though of course we shouldn't rule out niche sites like Farmers Only and VeggieDate). Through it all, though, one of the...
Insurance Fraudster Jeffrey Cohen Gets 37 Years in Prison
We pulled this one from the "stranger than fiction bin." Last December, 40-year-old Jeffrey Brian Cohen was sentenced to a 37-year federal prison sentence for several charges, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and making false statements to an insurance regulator. Essentially, Mr. Cohen ran a scam insurance company that collected over $100 million in...
This is a Dangerous Way to Transport a Boat
Not even 2 day after a major news report about increase in deaths on our roads due to improperly transported cargo, what does someone at Grossman Law Offices spot driving down the road? This: Improper Cargo Transportation Costs Lives Images like this are both frustrating and infuriating. For most passenger cars, the back of the...
5th-Wheel Hatchbacks Trailers: Some Ideas Should Stay Dead
One of the more interesting parts of American history is that so much of what we take for granted started with someone saying, "Wouldn't it be neat if...?" Then that person either invents something that can do the task they were thinking of, or sparks an idea in another who solves that problem. Of course,...
Back the Blue by Getting a DUI
In the wake of the cowardly and deadly ambush on Dallas City and DART officers on July 7th, there has been a remarkable outpouring of support for the police in the Metroplex. The community has raised funds for the families of the 5 officers who were killed, as well as for the 9 wounded officers...
We Need to Stop Using The Word “Accident.”
Many commonly used words can mean different things based on not only their context, but also who says them, and who hears them. On one hand, it's interesting that language can be so flexible, but when so much hangs in the balance--such as in a legal case--it can be challenging to make one's self understood...
I Guess Dram Shop Law Isn’t For Everyone
When you're part of a team who makes winning dram shop cases seem simple, it's easy to take for granted how elusive this area of the law is to other firms. But a recent encounter with a man who initially hired an attorney who didn't know what he was doing reminded me just how unfamiliar...
