Alabama Injury Attorney Blog

The state of Alabama has announced it has reached an $89 million dollar settlement with 14 drug manufacturers over alleged Medicaid fraud. This settlement comes on the heels of several large Alabama jury verdicts surrounding the alleged Medicaid fraud. Most recently, a Montgomery Alabama jury returned a $78 million dollar judgment against the drug manufacturer Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis. Private law firms were hired by the state of Alabama to prosecute these lawsuits. There are several advantages to the state hiring Alabama law firms to handle these suits as opposed to the state attorney's general office handling these cases. First, prosecuting large scale fraud cases such as these requires a large investment of time and resources the attorney general's office is unable to devote to such cases. It is a certainty with so much at stake these large drug companies will have corporate lawyers who will devote massive amounts of time and resources to fight these claims, then so should the state of Alabama. Second, the attorney general's office does not have the experience in handling Average Wholesale Prices (AVP) litigation that an experienced Alabama trial lawyer does. Consequently, it is a win - win situation for the State of Alabama as the state gets the maximum amount of compensation it can by having experienced Alabama attorneys to represent it.

A Tuscaloosa County Alabama car wreck has claimed the lives of two young people. According to the Tuscaloosa News, Austin Dale Rhodes, 16, of Fayette and Dakoda James Nanney, 11, of Booneville, Miss died on Saturday May 23, 2009, on Alabama Highway 171 when their Toyota pick up collided with a Ford Explorer. Alabama Highway 171 is curvy 2 lane road that connects Tuscaloosa and Fayette. In 2007, there were 9 fatal Alabama car accidents during the 78 hour Memorial Day weekend. This was down from 2006 when there were 13 fatal Alabama car wrecks during the busy 78 hour Memorial Day holiday.

A Birmingham, Alabama man was killed when his car was traveling the wrong way on Interstate 65 in Prattville and collided with an 18-wheeler. The truck accident occurred around 5 am and Alabama State Troopers aren't sure why the driver of the car was driving the wrong way on the interstate but blood samples from the victim could provide some answers. It's possible the driver of the car could have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It's also possible the driver could have gotten on to the interstate the wrong way. It's certainly a tragic accident that could have easily been avoided.

As Alabama Truck Accident Attorneys this is not the typical truck wreck; however, it does have the typical result. Due to their large size, accidents involving 18-wheelers often have deadly results. In 2007, there were 8,809 accidents that involved trucks in Alabama. Of these truck wrecks there were 2,202 injuries. There were 136 fatalities in Alabama truck accidents in 2007.

A Birmingham Alabama car wreck has sent seven people to the hospital. The car accident occurred on Tuesday May 12th on 5th Ave N and East Lake in Birmingham. According to the Birmingham Fox 6 news report, the car wreck was a head on collison between an SUV and truck. According to the most recent statistics, there were 19,755 traffic accidents in Alabama on Tuesday's in 2007. Further, there were 98 fatal traffic accidents on Tuesday's in 2007 in Alabama. Click here for more information about Birmingham car accident statistics.

An Alabama State Trooper was involved in a car wreck at the intersection of Sutton Road and U.S. 431 in Huntsville, Alabama on Thursday, May 7th. According to a report in the Huntsville Times, Alabama State Trooper Blake Wilson's patrol car was struck head on when he was attempting to turn left from Sutton Road to go north on U.S. 431. Trooper Wilson was taken to Huntsville Hospital. The report notes that the accident will be investigated by the Huntsville State Trooper post as part of standard procedure.

As Huntsville Alabama car accident attorneys we see this type of accident far too often. In 2007, Madison County, where Huntsville is located had 10,587 motor vehicle accidents 2,901 of which involved someone who was injured. Furthermore, there were 34 fatal motor vehicle accidents in Madison County in 2007. In Huntsville alone in 2007, there were 7,651 motor vehicle accidents 1,914 of which involved someone who was injured. In 2007, Huntsville had 19 fatal motor vehicle accidents.

Continue reading "Huntsville Alabama Car Accident Involves Alabama State Trooper" »

A settlement has been reached in the wrongful death lawsuit of an Alabama woman. Jennifer Hampton was tragically murdered in her room at the Days Inn on Lovell Road in West Knoxville, Tennessee in September of 2008. According to a report, a hotel employee was indicted and charged with the rape and murder. The report does not disclose the exact settlement amount but reports it was more than $10 million dollars.

Since this horrific act occurred in Knoxville - Tennessee and not Alabama law would apply. If this had occurred in Alabama, Alabama's wrongful death statute would apply and the only damages that would be recoverable would be punitive damages. Further, Alabama's case law on the criminal act of a third party would apply. This law essentially states that a person or entity is not typically liable for the criminal acts of a third party. I.E. a business would not typically be liable for the criminal acts of their employee unless they were on notice of this employee's dangerous propensity and failed to take the proper measures to remedy the situation. Horrific events such as this one are a perfect example of why employers should be held responsible if they fail to do a proper investigation and background check when they hire new employees.

In 2007 there were 8,809 Alabama Truck Wrecks. Further, 136 people were killed in 2007 in Alabama Truck Accidents. One of the leading causes of truck wrecks is driver fatigue. In an effort to keep fatigued drivers off the highway the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulates the "hours of service" a trucker can drive a semi-truck. These hours of service regulations are contained in Title 49, Part 395, of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Under the rules for property-carrying commercial motor vehicles, a driver may NOT drive such a vehicle:

1. More than 11 hours following 10 consecutive hours off duty; or

2. Beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty; or

3. After being on duty more than 60/70 hours in any 7/8 consecutive days.

The driver's record of duty status, commonly known as the driver's log, is the document used by the driver to record his/her time. Both the carrier and the driver must know what items are required on a driver's duty status record and how they are to be recorded.

The Record and Its Contents

First, careful consideration must be given to the actual form to be used by the driver on which to record his or her duty status. No longer do the regulations mandate the use of a specific format, but rather, specify only that certain items be incorporated into whatever form the carrier decides to use. The carrier has the option to select that format which best suits his/her operation. However, the format chosen must include:

1. the Graph Grid with the remarks section, which can be used either vertically or horizontally,
2. the date,
3. the total miles driving today,
4. truck or tractor and trailer numbers, or motorcoach number,
5. the name of the carrier,
6. the carrier's main office address,
7. a place for the driver's signature/certification,
8. the 24-hour period starting time whether it be midnight, 9:00 a.m., noon, 3:00 p.m., or any other time selected by the carrier for a terminal,
9. name of co-driver,
10. total hours (at the end of the grid), and
11. shipping document number or name of shipper and commodity, or charter order number/schedule number.

For more information on Hours of Sevice and Trucking Regulations visit Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.