Many New Orleans residents have employment connected to shipping and other ocean-based activities. When a seaman suffers a personal injury while working aboard a vessel, that seaman’s ability to recover damages is governed under the Jones Act – a federal law enacted to regulate such cases. Not everyone whose employment is connected to the sea, however, is entitled to recovery under the Jones Act. To determine whether an individual qualifies as a seaman for purposes of the Jones Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has set forth a two-part test. The first part of this test requires a determination as to “whether the employee’s duties contributed to the function of the vessel or accomplishment of its mission.” Answering this first question is usually a fairly straightforward matter. If the employee worked on the vessel in some necessary capacity, he or she would pass this first branch of the test. If not,…Read More
When a New Orleans resident suffers a life-changing personal injury, it may seem impossible to place a dollar value on it. In the case of serious injuries, no amount of financial compensation can return that person’s life to normal. Nonetheless, in personal injury cases, both insurance providers and lawyers must attempt to determine a fair value for the injury suffered. Some damages, such as the costs associated with prior medical treatment and loss of income, are easy to calculate. Others, such as the value of pain and suffering, can be extremely difficult to place a dollar amount on. In addition, factors such as potential future medical costs, if extensive treatment is still required, may also influence the determination of the total amount awarded in a personal injury case. Properly determining these latter, more subjective damages requires a personal injury attorney with the experience to understand all the factors in a…Read More
Some of the most vulnerable New Orleans citizens reside in nursing homes. Placing a parent or grandparent in a nursing home is a very difficult decision, and we all want to make sure they are well cared for. While it is difficult to obtain hard data on the frequency of abuse or neglect of nursing home residents, the numbers that are available are sobering. Studies have shown that some form of resident abuse occurs in more than 30% of all nursing homes in the United States. It is difficult, however, to come up with an exact figure for two reasons. First, nursing home abuse and neglect can cover a wide variety of issues – including failure to properly supervise medication, allowing bed sores to fester and actual physical or sexual abuse of a resident by staff or other residents. Because of the variety of behaviors that can be categorized as abusive, it…Read More
Many of New Orleans’ families have a loved one whose job requires travel in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately for these families, they do not have the same rights as those on land if that family member dies due to the negligence of his or her employer while in international waters. One of the few positive changes that may come out of the BP oil spill is that this unfair law may be about to change. Currently, if a family member is killed while working in international waters, the rights of the family to recover damages are governed by the federal Death on the High Seas Act. Under this law, the only individual who can sue for the wrongful death of a loved one is the spouse, and the damages that may be sought are basically limited to strictly economic damages, such as loss of future income. Other family members,…Read More
Next time you take a walk around New Orleans, pay attention to the sound of the cars. While we have all complained at some point about cars and trucks roaring by and disturbing our peace and quiet, a recent study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that this noise helps pedestrians and bicyclists avoid serious injury. This government study involved research into accidents involving hybrid vehicles, which usually run on electric power at slower speeds and, as a result, emit little noise. Although the overall number of hybrid vehicles on the roads today is still small, auto manufacturers are releasing several new hybrid and fully electric models in 2012. Over the next few years, use of these vehicles is expected to grow significantly. The NHTSA conducted its study based on concerns that this influx of quiet vehicles may ultimately prove hazardous. The study found that hybrid…Read More
Over the last few years, the New Orleans area has seen a number of terrible auto accidents involving drivers who were sending text messages while driving. While the State of Louisiana began regulating this dangerous practice in 2008, the legislature recently has decided that the existing law did not go far enough to protect innocent drivers. Under the existing law, texting while driving is what is referred to as a “secondary offense,” meaning that a police officer can issue a ticket for this practice only if the driver was pulled over for some other reason and was found to be texting. If a driver is observed texting but not committing any other infractions, a police officer cannot pull that driver over. On June 7, 2010, the Senate approved final changes to a bill, already passed by the House, that would make texting while driving a primary offense. This would allow…Read More
As experienced personal injury attorneys practicing in New Orleans for many years, we have noted that when it comes to automobile accidents, we tend to see more injured women than men. A recent study has found that this is not just a fluke, but a national trend. This study is not the first time the different injury rate between men and women has been noted and examined. Previous studies, however, tended to focus on differences in driving techniques to determine whether this would account for the increased risk to women in auto accidents. The current study, conducted by researchers at the University of Virginia and Navarra University in Spain, focused on vehicle design. After examining ten years of data regarding motor vehicle accidents in the United States, the researchers found that the risk of serious injury to women is greater than men – and for some types of injuries, much…Read More
When a New Orleans personal injury accident involves a collision between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, Louisiana has specific laws regarding the duty of the driver. These laws, however, do not automatically make the driver legally responsible for the pedestrian’s injuries. Louisiana Revised Statute 32:214 requires that drivers shall “exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway and shall give warning by sounding the horn when necessary and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any confused or incapacitated person upon a highway.” Based on this statute, whether a driver is liable for a pedestrian’s injuries hinges upon whether the driver exercised “due care” to avoid a collision but still struck the pedestrian. Generally, a determination of whether a driver was using “due care” requires a jury to compare the driver’s actions to how it believes a reasonably prudent person would have acted…Read More
In most New Orleans personal injury lawsuits, the majority of the work involved in defending the case will be conducted by the defendant’s insurer and its attorneys. While both injured clients and the general public are sometimes concerned about causing extreme financial hardship to a defendant who – while negligent – did not intentionally cause injury, insurance coverage frequently protects defendants from such hardship. Both the defendant and the injured party have an interest in having the defendant’s insurance company involved. For the defendant, insurance coverage provides protection to his or her personal assets when being sued. For the injured person, the presence of insurance often means that more money is available to compensate him or her for injuries and other damages. Based on this strong public interest, Louisiana law generally favors keeping the insurance company involved in personal injury lawsuits. For example, insurance companies are required to defend personal…Read More
New Orleans families should be aware that not all booster seats fare equally in protecting children from personal injury. While children between the ages of four and eight are 45% less likely to be injured in a motor vehicle accident when using a booster seat – as opposed to using only a seat belt – this percentage could rise even higher if all booster seats functioned properly. While many people may think that the primary purpose of a booster seat is to provide extra padding or protection, its main function is actually to ensure that the seat belts are properly positioned on a child. An improperly positioned seat belt may allow a child to strike the interior of a vehicle during a collision, or even cause injury itself by slicing into the child. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not evaluate booster seat safety based on how well the…Read More
