Personal Injury

Ocean Isle Beach Deck Collapse Injures 20 Vacationers :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

July 9, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “May I choose my own doctor in a person injury case?”

Terrible news hit papers this week as reports surfaced of a deck collapse at an oceanfront condo located in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. The collapse occurred while some 25 people were gathered on the second-story deck watching the sun go down over the water.

Authorities say the deck collapse resulted in serious injuries to 20 people, one so severe the person had to be taken by helicopter to a hospital in Wilmington. Police say the injuries include broken arms, legs and ankles as well as serious cuts to the face and body. According to early reports, the condo is privately owned but used as a rental property and was rented to a couple that had friends over for the holiday weekend.

Officials say they are investigating exactly what happened and what may have led to the deck collapse, but early reports indicate that it may simply have been too much weight. When the second-story deck collapsed it gave way and fell 12 feet onto the concrete patio below. In many deck collapse cases, weight, structural insecurity, bug infestations and poor maintenance contribute to the collapse.

Local authorities, including the mayor, Debbie Smith, have said that the recent deck collapse should serve as a reason to spur a change in laws regarding deck safety. Smith says she has been fighting for years to make more stringent building standards for oceanfront decks, saying that the decks in seaside communities like Ocean Isle are frequently used by large groups and need to be stronger to reflect that increased use. Smith says that while local governments have tried to increase building codes, they have frequently found themselves stymied by North Carolina state law, which has much looser definitions for what constitutes a safe deck.

Ten Fans Injured In Camera Accident At Charlotte Motor Speedway :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

May 16, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What can you sue for in a personal injury case?”

A bad accident on the Charlotte Motor Speedway took place this weekend at the Coca-Cola 600 when a heavy nylon rope that was holding a Fox Sports overhead television camera fell from the grandstands and landed on the surface of the track.

The freak accident left 10 fans at the Speedway injured and three requiring hospitalization for those injuries. Officials say that two of the fans were taken to the Carolinas Medical Center in Concord and one was taken to the University Medical Center.

Fox Sports has said that it has not been able to identify the cause of the accident and says that until it does it will indefinitely suspend the use of the camera system. The camera consists of three ropes and two guide ropes that are used to move the camera back and forth. A spokesperson says the drive rope failed and then fell to the track. Thankfully, the other ropes were able to hold the camera in place, which spared fans from even more serious injuries.

The rope even caused problems for drivers when it fell on the track and wrapped around Kyle Busch’s car. Busch said he never saw the rope itself, but did hear a very loud thud next to his right front tire, thinking maybe the tire blew out. The rope caused his car to slow down until officials delayed the race to clean the track and tend to injured fans.

Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Leads To FDA Scrutiny Of Compounding Pharmacies :: Workers’ Compensation Law Firm in Charlotte, NC

April 18, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What should I do if I have been injured by another party but I can’t afford a lawyer?”

In a worrisome press release, officials with the U.S. FDA have discovered potentially life-threatening safety issues at more than 30 specialized pharmacies across the country. The issues were uncovered after an investigation prompted by the tainted steroid medications that were found at a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy.

One frightening example was one Florida pharmacy where the FDA said it had discovered black particles in several vials of injectable medication. At another facility, inspectors found rust and mold in what were designated “clean rooms.” Still other facilities had sterilization issues or workers with tears in their gloves, all serious safety lapses that could lead to yet another deadly outbreak.

The series of inspections took place across the country over the last two or three months, the result of a major enforcement effort by the FDA that targeted small compounding pharmacies in the wake of the deadly fungal meningitis outbreak. The outbreak was caused by unsterile conditions at the New England Compounding Center and led to ore than 50 deaths and more than 700 people seriously injured.

In it’s statement, the FDA also revealed that several of the pharmacies targeted by investigators at first refused to grant access to the FDA, refusing to allow entry to their facilities or to view their records. Eventually the FDA prevailed, but the episode highlighted not only the deficiencies that exist in some operations, but the real challenge the agency must overcome at those facilities where cooperating with regulators is clearly not a priority.

Supreme Court Strikes Down North Carolina’s Medicaid Reimbursement Law :: Personal Injury Law Firm in Charlotte, NC

March 23, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A recent Supreme Court decision concerning a disabled North Carolina girl was recently handed down. The case, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services v. E.M.A., resulted in a 6-3 ruling that struck down a law allowing North Carolina officials to seize one-third of medical malpractice settlements won by Medicaid patients. The ruling affects not only North Carolina, but also other states that also use similar rules to reclaim portions of individual medical malpractice awards.

The Court wrote that federal Medicaid law prevents states like North Carolina from claiming such a large share of med mal awards. The purpose of the claim in the first place is to allow states to reimburse themselves for Medicaid money they spent on individuals who later went on to collect sizable sums. The Supreme Court decided that the amount contained in the North Carolina law was unreasonable and arbitrary. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said that North Carolina law acts as a one-size fits all approach and does not take into account individual circumstances.

In the case of the North Carolina family, which we previously discussed here, it means that they will be able to keep more of the $2.8 million awarded to Emily Armstrong in a recent medical malpractice case. Emily, who is only 13-years-old, was born with serious disabilities and requires constant care. The girl was diagnosed with cerebral palsy soon after her birth and is blind, deaf and mentally handicapped. The family sued her obstetrician, claiming that his history of drug abuse led to mistakes during the birthing process. The case was settled for millions which set in motion the recent Supreme Court case.

North Carolina officials caught wind of the big settlement and went after the Armstrongs for a cut of the money. The state said it spent more than $1.9 million in Medicaid funds paying for Emily’s medical care and that it should be allowed to try and recoup some of that money. The state then put a lien on $933,333.33, exactly one-third of the settlement.

E. Coli Outbreak At North Carolina State Fair Leads to $500,000 Lawsuit :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

March 19, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to a recent article by WBTV, the family of a child who was hospitalized due to an E. coli outbreak has now filed suit against the North Carolina State Fair.

We discussed the case late last year and since that time the family of the 3-year-old boy gathered important information before filing their suit against the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Conservation.

The lawsuit was filed before the North Carolina Industrial Commission last week and claims that the boy’s injuries were the direct and proximate result of negligence by the State of North Carolina. Specifically, the suit alleges that North Carolina owed a duty to the claimant, his family and the public at large to keep the State Fairground safe.

The family of the young boy says that the State failed to keep the fairgrounds safe by not sufficiently cleaning the animal holding areas inside the main building on the site. The public was put at serious risk because of the multiple surfaces in the building that had E. coli present and the fact that the State encouraged the public to eat and drink inside the building, making use of those contaminated surfaces. The state also failed to provide a sufficient number of hand washing stations for the public. The family’s attorneys pointed out that the state even failed to live up to its own specific guidelines about proper disposal of animal waste.

The little boy’s family is still hurting from the incident back in 2011. They have found themselves saddled with massive hospital bills and have already depleted their savings account trying to pay medical bills that continue arriving every day. Given the financial harm suffered by the family and the physical harm suffered by the boy, they are asking that the state be responsible for paying $500,000.

CDC Names Fishing Industry, Specifically North Carolina Shrimp Fleet, Most Dangerous Occupation :: Workers’ Compensation Law Firm in Charlotte, NC

February 28, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A recent report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named an industry popular in North Carolina the most dangerous occupation in the country.

The report, part of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality assessment, said that the commercial fishing industry has the highest occupational fatality rate in the U.S. The numbers are so astounding that those in the commercial fishing business have death rates 35 times higher than the rate for an ordinary U.S. worker.

Between 2000 and 2009 a total of 504 commercial fishermen were killed on the job. Of this number, 51% died by drowning due to the sinking of their vessels. Thirty percent of commercial fishing deaths were from falls overboard and another 10% occurred due to injuries sustained on-board fishing boats.

These on-board injuries are the ones that most commonly impact workers from North Carolina. According to the report, common on-board injuries include entanglement in machinery while using winches. Use of these winches occurs most frequently in the Southern United States on vessels used to haul in shrimp.

The CDC specifically explored the Southern shrimp fleet and found that in the past decade eight people died and another 27 were serious injured in work-related accidents that involved on-board winches. The Southern shrimp fleet is based primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, but has another major location off the Atlantic coast of North Carolina and employees hundreds of North Carolina fishermen.

North Carolina Employees Face Tough Road To Bring Court Case Against Employers :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

February 26, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Earlier this year the North Carolina Court of Appeals overturned a $450,000 jury award to a former Goodyear Tire employee for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The Court of Appeals said that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case. The ruling demonstrates just how difficult it can be for employees to seek recovery for workplace injuries through the court system rather than through the North Carolina Industrial Commission.

The suit, Shaw v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., was launched after Lashanda Shaw sued her former employer for mishandling complaints based on workplace harassment. Shaw alleged a supervisor was rude and aggressive towards her and frequently engaged in harassing and intimidating tirades. Despite repeated complaints to human resources personnel, the supervisor remained in his position and continued harassing her.

The jury who heard the case agreed that Shaw had suffered severe emotional distress caused by Goodyear and that the company failed to intervene to stop the harassment. The jury decided Shaw was entitled to $450,000 in compensatory damages as a result of the harm she suffered.

Unsurprisingly, Goodyear appealed the decision and argued that there was no jurisdiction for the lower court to hear the case. Goodyear claimed that her negligent inflection of emotional distress claim amounted to an “accident” that should be heard only according to the terms of the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act. The North Carolina Court of Appeals agreed.

The Problem With Secret Settlements :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC

February 12, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

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Everyone’s heard of confidentiality agreements; those documents you sign agreeing not to disclose certain important bits of information. What people may not realize is just how often such confidentiality agreements are employed in North Carolina to keep critical information regarding medical malpractice or dangerous devices or drugs from going public.

The agreements, which help ensure that settlement stay secret, often only work to the benefit of the doctor, hospital or manufacturer responsible for causing devastating harm. The victim of the negligence receives next to no benefit from such agreements. Even more disturbing is how they can be used to shield the public from important information about dangerous practices or products.

A recent case involving a North Carolina mother who’s young son died due to negligence among the hospital staff where he was taken after falling ill highlights just how rarely such cases make news. The woman was told to sign a confidentiality agreement to receive her settlement and that the whole case would go away if she did. She refused, saying she wanted the public to know about the medical safety issues that led to her son’s death.

The mother’s decision to speak out and not sign the confidentiality agreement is very rare. The majority of such lawsuits in North Carolina end with the victim signing an agreement promising not to reveal important information in exchange for a set amount of money.

The danger of this approach is that, for example, in the case of a defective product, if all those injured sign a confidentiality agreement and the company is able to settle the cases quietly, then the public will never be made aware of the problems associated with the dangerous product, depriving other potential future victims of the chance to safeguard their families.

A real world example of this is the case of the faulty Firestone tires. Years before the nationwide recall was announced, the company began settling cases involving the failing tires on Ford SUVs and made sure each plaintiff signed confidentiality agreements. These dangers were thus not revealed until much later, something that experts say led to 270 additional deaths.

Number Of ER Visits Related To Energy Drinks Doubles In Four Years :: Personal Injury Law Firms in Charlotte, North Carolina

February 5, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to recently released data from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the recent surge in popularity of energy drinks have led to a corresponding surge in emergency room visits. The popularity of the caffeinated drinks caused the number of ER visits associated with consumption of the beverages to double between 2007 and 2011.

The typical person affected by the energy drinks was unsurprisingly a teenager or young adult. People between the ages of 18 and 25 accounted for most of those admitted to emergency rooms. The next largest group was those between 26 and 39. Alarming to some researchers was the boom in admittances associated with those over the age of 40. ER visits by those older than 40 increased by a massive 279 percent during those four years, from 1,400 to 5,200 ER.

Males were more likely to be admitted for problems associated with the energy drinks, with men accounting for two-thirds of ER visits during that four-year span. Despite this, the number of women admitted after consuming energy drinks doubled during the same time span, indicating a steep rise in female interest in the drinks.

Data showed that while a little over 40% of the ER visits involved energy drinks mixed with other substances, the majority, 58%, were for energy drinks alone. Of those instances involving other substances, alcohol was the most commonly seen. After that, prescription drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall were also found.

The problem with energy drinks is the vast amount of caffeine and other stimulants contained in the beverages. Caffeine acts as a stimulant to both the cardiovascular and central nervous system. This means that the drinks can cause a major increase in heart rates and drive up blood pressure to dangerous levels in certain cases. According to one cardiologist, for those with underlying heart conditions, the drinks can quite literally be deadly.

Auto Deaths Rise In 2012 For First Time In Eight Years :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Caroilna

January 29, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

According to statistics released by the National Safety Council, the number of traffic deaths across the country increased by around 5% last year. Tragically, the increase in traffic deaths would make for the first time the number of road fatalities has increased in eight years.

The group said that last year 36,200 people died in auto accidents on the nation’s roadways. The number of people injured enough in such accidents to require medical attention also rose by a corresponding 5%, reaching an astonishing 3.9 million people. The financial toll of auto accidents is also significant, with billions wasted in lost wages, lost productivity, hospital bills and property damage. The estimate was that in 2012, expenses associated with auto accidents rose to $276.6 billion.

These numbers are slightly better than the ones released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December. Those numbers showed that for the first nine moths of 2012, traffic deaths had risen 7.1%. This 7.1% increase was the largest increase in traffic fatalities since 1975; the year the NHTSA began collecting such data.

The National Safety Council has pointed to an increase in teen driving deaths and deaths due to distracted driving as being partially to blame for the increase in road deaths. The organization says it must be a priority by Congress and state legislatures to address such safety issues to ensure that 2013 does not see a similar increase in road deaths.