Posts Tagged ‘fort worth’
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Allegations of corruption and shaky oversight are plaguing the construction industry following two fatal crane collapses in New York City earlier this year. Critics point to failures at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in explaining the deaths of at least 72 workers in crane-related accidents since 2006. For its part, the construction industry maintains that it has a strong safety record and is working closely with officials to prevent other accidents.
Here in the Metroplex, we’ve seen more crane activity due to new construction in Fort Worth and Arlington and due to Barnett Shale activity. This has caused an increase in injuries, unfortunately. Incidents we’re seeing are most often caused by operator error and poor maintenance rather than structural failure or weather-related problems. Stricter oversight, better training and more preventative maintenance would all go a long way towards alleviating some of these problems.
Tags: arlington, crane accidents, cranes, fort worth, workplace safety
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Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Wise County Messenger reporting a bad truck wreck near Chico on Monday. Apparently a car struck the rear of an 18-wheeler that was turning in to a Nabors Drilling plant. The driver and her young child were flown to hospitals in Fort Worth.
Another blog reports that the child may have died. Very sad.
I had a meeting near Paradise not far from Bridgeport in Wise County this morning, and I am amazed at the volume of traffic on Highway 199, 51 and 114 in that area. There are trucks everywhere, mainly rock haulers and Barnett Shale trucks, many of them driving quite fast. On a different note, that is some beautiful country out there. But watch yourself if you drive out that way.
Tags: fort worth, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
James Lee Woodard, 55, of <a href=”http://dallas.texlawyers.com”>Dallas</a> County, is free after serving 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Texas Wesleyan law student Alexis Hoff was instrumental in his release, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
How do you even begin to apologize to someone like Woodard? He’s spent half his life behind bars, his parents died while he was in prison, and now he has no place to go. And he said, “I don’t want to waste my time on negative energy. I don’t have any retaliatory or vindictive thoughts about it. I’m just glad it’s over.” Simply incredible.
Kudos to Ms. Hoff. She isn’t even a lawyer yet and she may have just won the biggest case of her career.
Tags: Dallas, fort worth, james lee woodard
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Friday, February 1st, 2008
FWST reports a tractor trailer wreck this morning at Western Center Boulevard and I-35 in Fort Worth, where the rig ended up hanging over a wall near a southbound overpass. Yep, a truck hanging precariously off the side of a bridge will cause on-looker delay. North-bound folks better hope the wreck is cleared before heading home today.
Tags: fort worth, truck wreck, trucking accident
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Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Motorists traveling Interstate 35W in south Fort Worth this afternoon should expect big delays after a wreck forced the closure of the highway’s northbound lanes, police said. Fort Worth police officials are reporting that the northbound lanes of the highway at Alta Mesa Boulevard are closed due to a jack-knifed tractor trailer that is leaking fuel. Dispatcher said the wreck, reported about 2:30 p.m., involved three vehicles. MedStar was on the scene but no one had been transported to the hospital as of 3:30 p.m., officials said.
Tags: car wreck, fort worth, truck wreck, Trucking Accidents, wreck
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
Attorneys from the Fort Worth personal injury law firm of Laird & Cummings, P.C., are reminding everyone who may be traveling on interstate highways to stay safe and smart this holiday season.
Families traveling north to celebrate the holidays with love ones this year should be particularly aware of weather-related dangers on the roads. Take precautions, and check the weather before you leave.
“The difference in road conditions can be very tricky for drivers who aren’t used to driving on icy roads or in severe weather,” says attorney John Cummings, partner in the Fort Worth personal injury law firm of Laird & Cummings, P.C. “When you combine bad driving conditions with the fact that tractor trailer drivers are trying to make it home for the holidays themselves, you can see the dangerous combination.”
Nearly 5,000 people were killed in crashes on U.S. roads involving large trucks in 2006, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The National Transportation Safety Board and other respected highway safety research groups have found that nearly 40 percent of big truck crashes are due to fatigue. Studies show that extended periods without sleep can slow reaction times by as much as 50 percent, which is the same as having a .05 percent blood alcohol level.
Laird & Cummings, P.C., is a Fort Worth, Texas, personal injury law firm that represents individuals and families in cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, trucking accidents, medical malpractice, construction site accidents, products liability and business litigation.
Tags: accident, car wreck, fort worth, lawyers, personal injury, texas
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Friday, December 21st, 2007
Historically in Texas, there were no particular rules regarding the division of fees among lawyers or the payment of a referral fee from one lawyer to another for forwarding the case. In 2005, however, the Texas Supreme Court enacted new referral fee rules which do away with “pure” referral fees (those where the referring lawyer has no role in the case other than forwarding it to another lawyer). Now, referral fees in Texas must be based on either a “proportion of services” basis or a “joint responsibility” basis.
In a “proportion of services” situation, each lawyer performs substantial services on behalf of the client with respect to a particular legal matter. Each lawyer who participates in the division of the fee is required to perform services beyond simply being hired by the client and forwarding the case to another lawyer. There must be a “reasonable correlation” between services performed and the sharing of the fee between the referring lawyer and the handling lawyer.
In a “joint responsibility” situation, the referring lawyer assumes an ethical and perhaps financial responsibility for the representation. The referring lawyer must make a reasonable investigation into the client’s legal matter and refer the matter to a lawyer reasonably believed to be competent to handle it. The referring lawyer must monitor the matter throughout the representation, respond to client questions and keep the client informed of progress in the case, and assist the handling lawyer when necessary. “Joint responsibility” does not mean joint control, and the referring lawyer is not required to attend deposition or hearings or trial, or be copied on all pleadings and correspondence.
Importantly, attorneys must obtain the client’s written consent in advance regarding the basis for the referral and the division of fees. The complete rules pertaining to referral fees in Texas may be found in Rule 104 of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.
In our practice handling personal injury and wrongful death cases on a contingent-fee basis, we find that referrals on a joint responsibility basis are most common and most akin to the traditional referral fee arrangements our referring attorneys have enjoyed over the years.
Tags: Dallas, fort worth, lawyers, personal injury, texas, wrongful death
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Friday, November 16th, 2007
Jurors just returned a sentence of life in prison rather than the death penalty for Lance Heard, who was convicted earlier this week of capital murder in the shooting death of Fort Worth police officer Hank Nava.
I don’t practice criminal law and I don’t weigh in with opinions on most criminal trials because their courtrooms are not mine. But I’ve followed this murder trial pretty closely because I have friends on all sides of that case, including the police officer who eulogized Nava at his funeral and the lead defense attorney. Talk about being at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Regardless of one’s views on criminal defense lawyers, or the death penalty, or the justice system, or the police, or whatever, this was a fascinating, hard-fought trial. My hat goes off to the attorneys, the judge, and especially the jurors.
Tags: fort worth, Jury, lawyers, trial
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Thursday, November 1st, 2007
And those are just the ones who get caught.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Good truck drivers are among the safest, most-professional, most-skilled drivers on the roads today, and my hat is off to them for doing a tough job well. But the bad apples among them are getting away with murder, thanks to lax oversight, over-burdened enforcement personnel, carrier indifference, and economic pressure.
The Dallas and Fort Worth area is one of the largest inland ports of commerce in America, with thousands of trucks plying our roads every hour. A meth-head driving a 40-ton tractor/trailer can really ruin your day, my friends.
Tags: Dallas, fort worth, truck wrecks, Trucking Accidents
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