Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog

Flour Dust Leads To Terrible North Carolina Workplace Explosion :: Workers’ Compensation Law Firm in Charlotte, NC

April 4, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “I have been injured on another person’s property. What should I do now?”

The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a statement regarding the tragic explosion at a Statesville, NC flour mill that took place over the weekend. One worker at the Bartlett Milling Company was seriously injured when the explosion led to a fire and eventually to a wall collapse at the mill. Though the accident is already tragic, the statement from OSHA reveals that the accident was entirely preventable.

The accident happened as two maintenance employees were repairing a piece of equipment in the basement of the mill. One of the two workers turned the power back on which caused a spark and a flash fire. A second man who was also in the basement at the time was injured in the explosion. Thankfully, a coworker was able to get the man out of the building safely. The worker was then taken by helicopter to a local hospital for treatment.

OSHA has said that a preliminary investigation found that an unacceptable level of accumulated combustible flour dust is likely the cause of the terrible explosion. The issue is one that is easily prevented with proper cleaning and maintenance and should never have been allowed to develop into as big as a problem as was present in the Statesville incident.

Throughout the country, there have been 115 reported flour dust explosions between 1994 and 2003, according to the most recent numbers available, most of them happening in grain elevators. Surprising to many people is that flour dust that is suspended in air is more explosive than coal dust. Ever since the a terrible flour mill explosion in Minneapolis took place in 1878 and killed 18 workers, the milling industry has tried to reduce the risk of flour particles igniting into flour bombs. In fact, General Mills’ factories use explosion-proof motors for added protection.

First Ever Report Of Texting While Flying Fatality :: Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers in Charlotte, NC

April 1, 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 horrifying bit of news, a pilot in Missouri was found to be the first to have been involved in a texting while flying related crash. An investigation recently conducted by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that texting by a pilot before and during a medical helicopter flight led to the ensuing accident.

Investigators with the NTSB said the pilot’s texting started the flight off on the wrong foot when his distraction led him to take off without sufficient fuel. Later in the flight, the helicopter’s engine died as he announced that there was no more fuel in the aircraft. The crash, which occurred on August 26, 2011, killed a patient being transported from one hospital to another.

The accident and its results are being taken seriously enough that the NTSB has issued a formal warning to all pilots about the dangers that distraction from technology can pose to flight safety. The NTSB Chairman said that the issue of distraction is a serious one regardless of the mode of transportation involved.

The investigation surrounding this flight found that the pilot of the helicopter had sent and received at least 240 texts during his shift the day of the accident. Twenty of these text messages were sent and received immediately prior to and during the crash, all to a coworker he was planning to have dinner with.

North Carolina Mechanic Dies In Workplace Accident :: Personal Injury Law Firm in Charlotte, NC

March 28, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “I have been injured on another person’s property. What should I do now?”

A 22-year-old mechanic from Lexington, NC was killed last week after a tractor-trailer fell on top of him while working at JRJ Trucking in Thomasville. According to Davidson County Emergency Services, the accident was reported just before 6 p.m. last Monday.

The worker, Paul Peterson, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident according to the county’s medical examiner. Peterson was working under the front end of the tractor-trailer when it collapsed on top of him and pinned him. A coworker was nearby when the accident happened and rushed to call 911. Police say that other workers in the facility came to help Peterson but that everything happened so quickly and the truck was so heavy that they were not able to extricate him before emergency crews arrived.

The North Carolina Department of Labor has announced that it is launching an investigation into Peterson’s death and so far does not know exactly what caused the tractor-trailer to fall on top of the young man. Such investigations are standard procedure when there has been a death in a workplace. The DOL will investigate to see if the company, JRJ Trucking, violated any of the state’s occupational safety and health standards and if such violations might have led to Peterson’s tragic accident.

The DOL has said that complete results from the investigation could take between three and four months. Preliminary results show that a jack that was being used to hold up the semi truck gave way. The DOL does not yet know whether the jack that was being used met the required specifications for use with a tractor-trailer.

Chicken Plants In North Carolina Pose Danger To Workers :: Personal Injury Law Firm in Charlotte, NC

March 26, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “I have been injured on another person’s property. What should I do now?”

Chicken processing plants are big business across the southern U.S., especially here in North Carolina where thousands of workers are employed in poultry plants. Though the jobs can be important for some rural communities, the dangers posed by working in the plants can be tremendous.

Just last month a poultry processing plant in Raeford, NC was ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines for releasing untreated wastewater into the city’s treatment plant. The water contained blood and turkey parts and was sent directly to the treatment plant without any warning. The investigation found that the company ordered employees to handle the potentially harmful waste before it was sent out into the town’s water supply.

The news of the North Carolina incident, which jeopardized the health and safety of plant workers, mirrors the conclusion of a recent report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center, called “Unsafe at These Speeds”. The report found that workers in poultry plants are often exposed to dangerous work conditions and suffer injuries at much higher rates than other workers.

The problem the report zeroed in on was that workers at chicken plants are required to work at an unsustainably fast pace. The grueling workload puts workers at risk for injuries and also exposes them to harmful and even toxic substances. Given the cold temperatures in the plants and the repetitive work, muscle pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, back and shoulder problems are all very common. In fact, the risk is so high that the study found that workers at chicken plants are almost 2.5 times more likely to have severe carpal tunnel than non-poultry industry workers.

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.

No Headlights At Night Lead To Accident in North Carolina :: Car Wreck Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

February 22, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

A terrible accident took place in Newport, North Carolina a few weeks ago that resulted in several people being taken to the hospital for treatment of their injuries. The two vehicle crash took place early one evening and is being blamed on one driver’s failure to turn on her headlights.

Police say they have charged the one driver with failure to burn her headlights and to properly inflate her tires. The woman was driving her car, an older model Pontiac, west on Highway 70 in Newport, NC with only her parking lights on. It was then that a van making a left turn onto Highway 70 crashed into the Pontiac. Five people were taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, while emergency responders at the scene treated a sixth person.

In a normal accident that unfolds in this way, many might think that the car that turned left onto Highway 70 and thus into the path of the Pontiac would be at fault since it did not respect the right of way of the oncoming vehicle. However, the driver of the Pontiac did not have her headlights on which meant she is being held liable for the terrible accident.

North Carolina General Statutes § 20-131 is very clear on the requirement for drivers to keep their headlights on. The language of the law reads:

The headlamps of motor vehicles shall be so constructed, arranged, and adjusted that, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, they will at all times mentioned in G.S. 20 129, and under normal atmospheric conditions and on a level road, produce a driving light sufficient to render clearly discernible a person 200 feet ahead.

Injured NASCAR Fans Look For Legal Representation :: Personal Injury Lawyers and Attorneys in Charlotte, North Carolina

February 19, 2013 | AS Personal Injury Lawyers

Several of the fans injured in the recent NASCAR Nationwide Race in Dayton have retained lawyers to ensure that they are compensated for the injuries they sustained in the fiery accident.

The crash took place during the February 23rd Nationwide Series race at Daytona. At least 28 people were injured when a section of Kyle Larson’s car went airborne and overshot the catch fence designed to protect spectators from harm. Flaming debris then went flying into the front-stretch stands during the last lap of the race; sending a few dozen people to the hospital for treatment.

Some injuries were relatively minor, with only scrapes and small cuts. Others were much more serious, so serious in fact that two people remain in the Daytona Beach Halifax Health Hospital today, weeks after the crash. The two remaining patients were injured after being hit by Kyle Larson’s tire and each suffered what were initially life-threatening injuries.

One man from North Carolina was injured in the NASCAR crash. The man, from Angier, NC, was taken to a Daytona hospital to receive medical after suffering from cuts to his face and body. The cuts were deep enough that he had to receive 12 stitches in his head. He’s now back home recovering from his wounds.

Some legal experts interviewed by USA Today are saying that NASCAR could face liability for the accident, despite issuing tickets that say spectators assume the risk of any injuries. Some have said that a strong case could be made that the organization could have done more to prevent these injuries from occurring by using a stronger fence or better assembling it to hold up to the force of a crash.