Archive for September, 2010

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30
Sep

Boy killed in Raleigh auto accident

A teen was killed in a Raleigh auto accident.

According to News 11, a school bus hit a car, killing a 14-year-old boy in the Raleigh auto accident.

Other passengers in the car were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following the Raleigh auto accident.

No one on the bus was injured after the Raleigh auto accident, and no charges have been filed so far.

Read more.

Do you trust public transportation to take your children to school? What concerns do you have about public transportation?

If you or someone you know has been involved in a Raleigh auto accident, the Raleigh auto accident lawyers at Henson Fuerst Attorneys can help.

Popularity: 2% [?]

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23
Sep

Truck spills fish in Connecticut auto accident

Two neighbors, both grandmothers to the same 10-year-old, died in a Raleigh auto accident, according to thetimesnews.com.

The grandmothers’ 10-year-old grandson was riding in the car when it ran off the road and landed in a creek in the Raleigh auto accident.

Read more.

What do you think contributes to most Raleigh auto accidents? What do you think can be done to avoid most Raleigh auto accidents?

If you or someone you know has been involved in a Raleigh auto accident, the Raleigh auto accident lawyers at Henson Fuerst Attorneys can help.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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20
Sep

Raleigh Becoming Bike-Friendly

If you follow our blogs, then you know that HensonFuerst is a bike-friendly place to work. The HensonFuerst Cycling Team participates in several fundraising and community rides each year, and it’s not unusual to find helmets, jerseys, and other gear in our offices.

That’s why we are thrilled to learn that Raleigh is working to become a more bicycle-friendly city. According to an article over the weekend on WRAL.com,

The city of Raleigh has dedicated $500,000 and secured a $1 million federal grant toward the initiative to make the capital city safer for bicyclists.

The goal is to “promote and accommodate cycling as an alternative form of transportation,” said Eric Lamb, Raleigh’s manager of transportation services.

Raleigh has identified 400 miles of city streets that will be getting a bike-friendly make-over. In phase one, bike lanes will be added in conjunction with re-surfacing projects. The first of these new dedicated lanes were added to Avent Ferry Road.

HensonFuerst Attorneys applaud the officials who managed to snag the $1 million grant, and who are finally making safe biking a priority. We’ll keep you up to date with which streets will be getting the new lanes as the information becomes available.

We also encourage drivers to watch for cyclists, and give them the respect they deserve as fellow travelers on the road.

To read the full article, click here: Raleigh Aims to be Bike-Friendly

To visit our website, click here: HensonFuerst

Popularity: 16% [?]

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20
Sep

Despite Small Decline, Distracted Driving Remains Epidemic

Distracted driving–driving while talking on a phone, texting, applying make up, reading a newspaper, etc.–accounted for 16% of all traffic fatalities in 2009. The actual number of people who died on the road fell from the previous year, but the proportion of cases caused by driving while distracted (DWD) remained the same.

According to an article on WRAL.comthis morning, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that these numbers:

…could be the “tip of the iceberg” because many police reports don’t document whether distraction was a factor in vehicle crashes, making it difficult to know the full scope of the problem.

LaHood, a former Illinois congressman, is kicking off a second national summit on distracted driving on Tuesday. He has pushed states to adopt tougher laws against sending text messages from behind the wheel and other forms of distractions.

Thirty states, including North Carolina, have banned texting while driving. Eight states have passed laws barring drivers from using hand-held cell phones. Of course, we know from scientific research that using any cell phone, even a hands-free phone, increases your chances of having an accident to the same level as driving drunk. In other words, it’s not your hands that get you into trouble, it’s your distracted brain.

HensonFuerst attorneys are happy that the total number of traffic fatalities was lower in 2009 than in 2008. But there were still 5,474 people who died as a result of someone driving while distracted. That 5,474 people dead as a result of cell phone use, texting, or other equally foolish activity. That’s unacceptable.

If you would like to join the fight against distracted driving, check out this website (one of Oprah’s favorites!): http://www.distraction.gov

Trust us…we know how difficult it is to break the cell phone habit. We’re lawyers; we like to talk. But we are hanging up. Driving is too important to multitask. We’ll keep you informed if anything important comes out of the national summit on distracted driving.

Stay safe!

To read more about Oprah’s No Phone Zone campaign, click here: Oprah’s NO PHONE ZONE

Popularity: 18% [?]

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16
Sep

Woman becomes victim of Chapel Hill wrongful death

A woman became the victim of a Chapel Hill wrongful death after she fell from her daughter’s dorm room bunk bed, according to newsobserver.com.

Officials at UNC Chapel Hill are discussing whether to require bunk bed railings since the Chapel Hill wrongful death.

The Chapel Hill wrongful death has lead to an increase in requests for safety bedrails.

Read more.

Do you think bunk bed railings should be required to prevent any possible Chapel Hill wrongful deaths?

If your loved one or the loved one of someone you know has been the victim of a Chapel Hill wrongful death, the Chapel Hill wrongful death lawyers at Henson Fuerst Attorneys can help.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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16
Sep

Allstate Insurance to Make Refunds After Investigation

When the North Carolina Department of Insurance investigated Allstate Insurance Company, it found that the insurance giant doesn’t always have “good hands.” It overcharged on auto insurance premiums, and now it has to pay. Allstate will be returning a total of more than $680,000 to 1803 policy holders–an average of $378 per policy.

According to the Insurance Journal, the announcement was made by North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, who stated:

“That’s why the Department of Insurance is here — we work every day to find these kinds of mistakes, make sure companies fix them, and protect consumers across North Carolina from future errors.”

The overcharges occurred on some policies from July 2005 through July 2008, and were caught during an investigation into a customer complaint…which led to a review of Allstate’s practices in general. (Could we give that complaining customer a medal? About 1800 people will benefit from that one person who spoke up.)

According to the News & Observer business blog, Allstate has already begun sending out refunds. Consumers with questions about the refunds can call the NC Insurance Department’s consumer helpline at 1-800-546-5664. That’s the same number to call if you have a complaint about Allstate or any other insurance company.

If you want to call Allstate directly, their website gives the following information:

Allstate tollfree phone number: 1-800-255-7828

Corporate headquarters phone number: 1-847-402-5000

Email contact form: https://messaging.allstate.com/corp.aspx

To read the full story in the Insurance Journal, click here:  http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2010/09/16/113295.htm#ixzz0zhgNIQ9L

Popularity: 17% [?]

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14
Sep

HensonFuerst Law Firm Featured in Trial Magazine

HensonFuerst was honored this month with an article in Trial magazine (September 2010, Volume 46, No. 9). We were included in a special section called “Justice in Motion.” Here is the article, in its entirety:

Like most plaintiff lawyers, David Henson of Raleigh, North Carolina, has had clients whose stories struck close to home. He and his brother Thomas—who is also a trial lawyer—are avid cyclists, and just over two years ago, their firm represented the estate of a woman who was killed by a car while bicycling.

“We felt a personal connection to her husband,” Henson said, “and we wanted to do something to commemorate her.”

Henson’s firm decided to donate its fee from the case to create a public service announcement (PSA) reminding cyclists and drivers to follow safety guidelines and to watch out for each other. To recruit the right talent to create the PSA, the firm started an annual contest called “My PSA,” inviting high school students throughout the state to design, direct, and submit their own 30-second messages on bicycle safety.

“The response was amazing,” Henson said. “The schools were really enthusiastic. And we were just astonished by the production quality we see on these videos, which are often made with inexpensive and secondhand equipment. The talent is really impressive.”

All the students’ videos are uploaded to the firm’s Web site, where voting is open to the firm’s clients, staff, and the general public. “Our goal is to get the word out,” Henson said, “so we let anyone look at them and vote on them.”

The winner receives a free Apple MacBook loaded with editing software or a cash prize of $1,500. The winner’s school gets a $500 donation. Henson said that beyond bicycle safety, a goal of My PSA is to encourage high school students to become comfortable with new technology. Noting that the contestants come from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, he said, “One of our hopes is that these young people will go above and beyond the contest, learning important technical skills. Who knows? We may even see some future Hollywood directors and producers come through the ranks.”

This year’s winner, Terrell Grice of Fayetteville, plans to use his new MacBook to produce other PSAs on safety, aimed at high-risk teenagers. Last year’s winner, Clay Allsopp of Raleigh, used his prize money to develop two iPhone applications.

Henson’s firm includes the winning PSAs in its television advertising lineup. “The kids really get a big kick out of seeing their PSA on regular TV,” he said. “That seems to excite them a lot more than winning the prizes, even.”

[Posted with permission of Trial (September 2010). © American Association for Justice, formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA®).]

Want to see what talented kids live in North Carolina? You can see videos from this year’s contest here: http://www.lawmed.com/contest/vote.php

Popularity: 19% [?]

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9
Sep

Man injured in Raleigh truck accident

A man involved in a Raleigh truck accident is alive after a semi-truck slammed into the back of it, according to abc.com.

The man said he stopped at a traffic light when a tractor-trailer hit his vehicle from behind in the Raleigh truck accident. He said he was on his way to the hospital to see his newborn son before the Raleigh truck accident.

Read more.

What are your concerns about traveling next to semi-trucks on the road? Do you feel safe when driving next to them?

If you or someone you know has been involved in a Raleigh truck accident, the Raleigh truck accident lawyers at Henson Fuerst Attorneys can help.

Popularity: 14% [?]

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7
Sep

Why Do People Drive Drunk? Science Reveals One Answer

We’ve met thousands of people who have been injured by drunk drivers. Which means that we’ve had a lot of time to ask the same question those victims and their families always ask:  Why would anyone drive drunk?

A recent study published in a psychology journal (Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology), researchers found that when people have been drinking, the brain feels “not drunk” before the brain and the body stop acting drunk. That means that people might get behind the wheel and drive drunk because they think they have sobered up enough to drive. In reality, they are impaired, both cognitively and physically. That leads to bad decisions–the bad decision to drive after drinking, and bad decisions while on the road, such as making judgements while traveling through intersections or changing lanes.

According to Peter J. Snyder, Ph.D., professor of neurology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, the bottom line of the study is that “subjective perception of intoxication is a poor indicator of sobriety and the ability to operate a motor vehicle.” (As quoted in an article posted on ScienceDaily.)

Our bottom line: If you have been drinking alcoholic beverages at all, don’t drive. Once your blood alcohol concentration reaches 0.08 to 0.10–that is, over the legal limit in all states–the risk of a motor vehicle crash is about 50 times higher than when you are sober.  If you don’t stay off the road for your own sake, think of the potential devastation to the lives of other people on the road, and to the lives of your family if you are injured or sent to prison for DUI manslaughter.

At HensonFuerst, we are committed to seeing drunk drivers pay for their dangerous behavior. We support law enforcement efforts to keep drunk drivers off the road, and we fight tirelessly to get compensation for victims of drunk drivers.

Popularity: 43% [?]