Posted on March 18, 2020 in Uncategorized

One of the nice things about owning a motorcycle or a bicycle is the fact that you are never really dependent on public transit, even when the weather is bad. That fact alone can motivate people to keep on biking, no matter what the weather conditions are like.

During the wet, early spring months, you may not want to hang up your bicycle or tuck your motorcycle into storage, but you do need to take some additional safety precautions while you are on the road.

Why do these safety rules apply to both modes of transportation?

Bicycles and motorcycles may be vastly different in many ways, but they do share a few common factors. Among the most significant: Both bikers and cyclists are very vulnerable to serious injuries. Neither have even the limited protection that a vehicle's sides, roof, seatbelt and airbags offer in a wreck.

You need to do everything in your power to avoid accidents, and early spring weather can prove especially challenging. Here are some precautions you can take to protect yourself:

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 Posted on February 06, 2020 in Uncategorized

There are about 225 million licensed drivers in the United States these days. Texas just happens to be home to more than 17 million of them. While many drivers get through their daily commutes and errands without incident, motor vehicle accidents are one of the top causes of death in the United States every year among otherwise healthy adults.

Ultimately, assuming that figures will stay relatively unchanged from the past few years, you can expect around 40,000 fatal car accidents to occur in 2020. However, that's only the start of the damage. Another two million victims end up with permanent injuries from mostly avoidable wrecks.

What Are Your Chances of Being in a Car Wreck?

Here is a rough breakdown of who is getting hurt in car accidents these days, and why:

Even though female drivers now slightly outnumber male drivers in the United States, 80% of car accidents will involve male drivers. Men do drive about 30% more miles than women, but that does not fully account for the disparity.

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 Posted on February 06, 2020 in Uncategorized

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), or concussions, are among the most catastrophic — and the most common — types of injuries that a motor vehicle crash (or other accident victim) can suffer. TBI victims stand the best chance of having a good recovery from their injuries when they are quickly and accurately diagnosed and undergo treatment for their TBI early on.

However, TBIs can be frustratingly hard to diagnose after an accident because the majority of the damage remains hidden inside the victim's skull. Plus, bleeding and swelling in the brain, or axonal shearing can continue long after the initial impact, eventually causing additional brain trauma that can actually be worse than the initial injury.

Hidden Damage

However, bruising and torn nerve fibers in the brain cannot usually be seen on CT scans or basic MRI's. Although more sophisticated imaging techniques (e.g. Diffusion Tensor Imaging MRI, Susceptibility Weighted Imaging, SPECT, etc.) are much better at detecting microscopic injury to axon nerve fibers which often lead to many of the long-term problems suffered by TBI victims, other diagnostic methods traditionally used to assess brain injuries are essentially subjective tests that measure cognitive abilities. These tests can be particularly impractical when someone is brought into an emergency room after a TBI because they rely on the examiner being able to recognize a victim's baseline abilities prior to the injury — something that an ER physician cannot really do. Frankly, it is also impractical when used on people who are highly motivated to hide their injuries — like athletes and soldiers. They simply learn to spit out the "correct" answers so they can get back out with their team or unit.

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 Posted on December 23, 2019 in Uncategorized

Burress Injury Law had the honor of helping a young man who was the victim of a hit-and-run 18-wheeler crash on Sam Rayburn Tollway (121). Our client was driving in the left lane on 121 when without warning, the 18-wheeler driver dangerously cut across 2 lanes of traffic and struck the right side of our client's vehicle. The impact caused our client's vehicle to rotate clockwise, pass in front of the 18-wheeler and across the center and right lanes of the tollway and eventually strike a concrete bridge support pillar head on. Our client catastrophic injuries and could not call 911. Meanwhile, the truck driver fled the scene without rendering aid and no eye-witnesses came forward to identify the driver.

We were fortunate that the client's family retained Burress Injury Law very quickly. Our team sprang into action, obtaining NTTA videos of the crash, and located and inspected the tractor-trailer within days. Inexplicably, the trucking company chose to employ a driver who DID NOT have a Class A driver's License (qualifier to driving the 80,000 lb. tractor/trailer) and moreover, his normal Class C driver's license was suspended for two separate reasons. The truck driver was charged with multiple crimes including a Felony for "Failure to Stop and Render Aid Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury."

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 Posted on December 02, 2019 in Uncategorized

Question: What is the worst advice or biggest misconception you read from non-lawyers on the internet or otherwise hear about personal injury claims?

Answer: There are two, actually. I will address the first one this week. When an injured victim (usually from a car or truck wreck) requests recommendations for a qualified personal injury attorney, Burress Injury Law is very often on that list. However, there will normally be a comment among the recommendations by a lay person (often who works for an insurance company) advising the victim not to retain legal counsel, but to instead just handle the claim directly with the insurance company(s). The comment usually goes on to state or imply that the insurance company will be fair and that it's wise to cut out the attorney (and the attorney fee). This is wrong for the following reasons:

1) First, legal fees in personal injury claims are typically calculated on a contingency basis - meaning unless a recovery is made, no fee is earned. This benefits the victim greatly because in almost every other type of law, you are paying by the hour whether your case is won or lost.

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 Posted on February 27, 2019 in Uncategorized

In the unfortunate circumstance that you are the victim of any personal injury incident, it's important for your claim (as well as your body) to immediately obtain necessary medical treatment. Hospitals will treat you regardless of whether you have been in a motor vehicle crash or other incident. Primary care physicians and specialists, however, very often refuse to see even long-time patients in these circumstances. Some good personal injury law firms know of quality physicians, therapists and other medical providers who will treat injured victims even without health insurance or up- front payment. Moreover, in the right type of case, most of the post-emergency room treatment can be arranged so that payment is only required if enough compensation from the personal injury claim is obtained (note - there are circumstances in which it is strategically beneficial to utilize health insurance throughout a claim but only in a working minority of claims).

Depending on the injuries, medical treatment can require a few weeks to months, and in more serious cases, lifetime care may be required. Either after medical treatment is completed or the claim begins to approach the statute of limitations, our focus broadens from managing our client's medical treatment to positioning the case in the optimal light to "make you whole," in order to compensate you for your medical expenses and any lingering damages you have from any disfigurement, physical impairment, pain, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium and/or mental anguish. In an ideal world, the insurance company will concede liability on behalf of its insured and pay full value for the claim.

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 Posted on December 06, 2018 in Uncategorized

If a lawsuit is handled well, the insurance company responsible for paying your claim will resolve the matter through settlement. If they do not, a case will proceed to trial, where it will be your legal team's responsibility to convince a jury to make the insurance companies pay you. This process may seem filled with stops and starts, but it is important to remain patient about that process to maximize your chances to recover the full value of your claim. Before you hire an attorney, there are several things you should consider about the conclusion of a case, in making your decision about who you ask to represent you. At Burress Injury Law, we take great pride in handling our cases with these considerations in mind, and we are happy to visit with you about them.

First, a settlement should not be your attorney's main goal. Less than policy limit settlements could arguably be considered a form of concession by both sides. The insurance company concedes that perhaps the other driver was responsible and that you are owed money. It is also a concession by you that your case is worth the amount that you accept, and not more. Most personal injury cases eventually result in settlements. So why should your attorney not focus on that? If the goal is to simply obtain a settlement - and therefore get paid something - this goal will not result in the insurance companies paying the full amount your claim actually is worth. In nearly every claim made, or lawsuit filed, an insurance company will offer something. An attorney may offer to take a case because something will be offered. Or he or she may think they can likely get a "quick settlement." They might tell you the other side should pay something to make the case go away. However, these statements suggest the attorney is only evaluating whether the case is worth anything, and not anything more.

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 Posted on July 30, 2018 in Uncategorized

More than 3.2 million people are injured in car crashes in the United States each year. Many people will get into at least one car wreck in their lifetime, but that does not make the situation any less scary.

Being involved in a car crash is an overwhelming experience that can affect you physically, emotionally and financially. Immediately after a car crash, you will likely have adrenaline coursing through your veins and be facing questions from emergency responders, the at-fault driver and others. It can be hard to remember what to do and say; the sooner you contact a personal injury attorney, the sooner you can get tailored guidance about the best steps to take in your situation.

In cases of serious injury, much of the advice below may be inapplicable. This article is intended for victims who suffer non-life-threatening injuries. In general, to give yourself the best chance of getting both the medical attention and financial compensation you need to recover, we recommend taking the following steps immediately after a crash.

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 Posted on June 18, 2018 in Uncategorized

In March 2018, a pickup truck driver in a rural area of Texas plowed into a bus carrying Baptist church members who were on their way home from a three-day retreat. Thirteen bus riders were killed in the crash. Near Houston, three teenage girls were killed when the driver of their car veered out of her lane and smashed into an 18-wheeler.

What do these two tragedies have in common? Drivers responsible for the crashes were distracted because they were texting. Nearly 20 percent of all Texas crashes involve distracted driving. In 2017 in Texas alone, 100,687 car wrecks were caused by distracted drivers, which resulted in 444 deaths and 2,889 serious injuries.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are main types of distracted driving:

• Visual (when you take your eyes off the road)
• Manual (when you take your hands off the steering wheel)
• Cognitive (when you take your mind off driving)

Visual and manual distractions are easily understood, but what exactly is cognitive distraction?

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 Posted on May 07, 2018 in Uncategorized

Whether you are running late or just trying to shave some time off your commute, it can be tempting to speed, especially if you see others doing so. But how much time can you really save? And is it worth the risk of a ticket or a wreck?

It is relatively easy to calculate the time saved by speeding while driving at constant speeds for a long period. For example, a 10-mile drive would take 10 minutes at 60 miles per hour, but only about 8 minutes and 34 seconds at 70 miles an hour, a savings of nearly a minute and a half — as long as you can maintain that speed for the entire 10 miles. However, most commutes do not take place entirely on open roads, making it difficult to calculate time savings, especially in urban areas.

A 2015 study conducted in Australia is one of the most comprehensive analyses of how much time is actually saved by speeding in urban areas. Researchers collected data from GPS units installed in the cars of 106 participants over a period of five weeks. The study found that the average driver drove for 5.75 hours per week, but only spent 30 minutes per week speeding. After all, in urban areas there are limited opportunities to speed, given the amount of time drivers spend in traffic, decelerating and stopping.

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