International Paper Co. has agreed to a payment of $5.2 million as a settlement for a personal injury suit related to the use of a cell phone while driving by one of their employees.

The complaint, filed in 2006, says that Vanessa McGrogan, an employee of International Paper, was using her cell phone, supplied by the company, as she was driving west on Interstate 15 near Dublin, Georgia when she rear-ended the vehicle of Debra Ford. Ford’s vehicle was pushed into the ditch along the right side of the road, causing it to overturn which resulted in the driver’s side hitting and then sliding along the roadway. Ford’s arm was trapped between the door and the asphalt.

Due to medical complications, Ford’s arm was eventually required to be amputated almost up to the shoulder.

According to Katherine McArthur, Ford’s attorney, Georgia has a statute which says that drivers are not to do things that are distracting. She explained that the statute means that reasonable use of a cell phone is acceptable. However, she said that McGrogan’s cell phone use was not acceptable due to her cruise control being set at 77 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone.

McArthur said that the combination of those two factors allowed the issue of intentional negligence to be raised against McGrogan and International Paper in order to seek punitive damages.

McArthur said that there was a “huge impact” on the final settlement about from the use of a cell phone by McGrogan, even though there was never any determination of the timing of the cell phone use.

This is tragic. The year is not getting off to a good start on Virginia’s highways. In some cases, folks would certainly have survived had  they been wearing their seatbelts. (I can still remember the TV commercials, from the early 60’s “Buckle up for safety, buckle up for safety, always buckle up.”

Here are some recent press releases about Virginia car accidents from the Virginia State Police.

According to state police, five people in Virginia died within a three day span from personal injuries they received from accidents on the state’s roads.

According to Virginia State Police, on Saturday, February 2 a 28-year-old man from Bridgewater died in Rockingham County after his car struck a bridge and overturned in a creek. He was not wearing a seatbelt.

On the same day, a 30-year-old man from Pearisburg died in Giles County after he ran off the road at state Route 200, overcorrected, and then rolled the vehicle. He was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle, the police said.

On Friday, February 1, a 43-year-old man from Dillwyn died in Buckingham County after his pickup truck struck a bridge after hitting a patch of ice, according to state police. They said that even though he was wearing his seat belt, he was ejected from the vehicle. Not sure how that  happened if he really was wearing a seatbelt.)

Also on Friday, a 65-year-old man from Covington died in Botetourt County after his SUV ran off the road and over an embankment, state police said.

On Thursday, January 31, a 36-year-old man suffered fatal personal injuries in Campbell County after he pulled in front of another vehicle. Police said he died three hours afterwards at Lynchburg General Hospital.

In the year 2008 so far, 55 people have died on the highways of Virginia.

I’m all for free speech and I do think that lawyer advertising is over-restricted by government regulators. Lawyers should be able to do just about anything they want with their ad dollar, as long as the ad is not deceptive or misleading.

The point is that consumers don’t have to like the ads, and if they don’t they don’t have to hire the lawyer, do they? Ads that show gory accident scenes, fistfulls of dollars or talking animals don’t really tell you anything meaningful at all about the lawyers.

Last week the Wall Street Journal did an interesting article on lawyer advertising. As part of the article, they got ahold of this ad. Interesting. Fully protected by the First Amendment.

The question is: Is it helpful to the consumer? I vote: No.

Lawyer Helping Space Invaders Ad.

Joel Bieber has a great post of a recent personal injury verdict in Richmond.

It seems that the insurance company, like many today, were just betting that he would settle a recent case cheap. These insurance companies have paid millions of their profits to ‘get the message out’ that ‘greedy trial lawyers’ can’t be trusted.

They are wrong.

Joel Bieber got some justice for his client and I am sure she is proud of the work he did. Not the biggest case in the world but a big case for her (and a GIANT insurance company on the other side.)

The Washington Post is reporting today on the aftermath of a tragic car/truck accident that took place here in Fairfax County in January, 2007. Three people were killed when a gasoline tanker truck struck the rear of a car that was sitting in the middle of the Beltway in the middle of the night, apparently without hazard lights. According to the Post, no one knows why the car was stopped in the middle of the road.

The trial in the traffic accident case took place this week. The truck driver had been charged with a mideamenor but he jury found him guilty only of a traffice infraction and set his fine at $500.00

The families of the victims were understandably upset and questioned “why only $500 for the loss of life?”

The answer is that after any accident involvling injury or death, there may come two cases. One is brought by the state prosecutor for vilation of laws. The other is a civil case brought for recovery of damages for death or injury.

They are different and usually the one has nothing to do with the other.

The case that just finished is the “punish” the defendant for any violation of law. A civil case, on the other hand, is to compensate victims.

So there may be a civil case that arises out of this case. It seem that it will be very difficult as Virginia allows for no recovery if you, yourself, caused the accident in any way.

So this is how this may shape out. The driver of the car sitting in the dark on the Beltway may not be able to recover from the truckdriver. If there were passengers in the cars that were struck, their families may have a claim against the driver of the car who stopped without lights on. Still, a tough case since we don’t know how long the car had been there or what caused it to be stopped.

A real tragedy all around.

7. Beware of any attorney who contacts you in writing just after you have had an accident for the sole purpose of soliciting your claim. If you are contacted “cold” it should be for the sole purpose of providing you free information that you can study in your own home on your own time, not soliciting your case.

8. Beware of any attorney who has a stable of doctors he wants to refer you to. You can tell who these attorneys are by the rack of doctors’ cards they keep in their office. Local judges have said that when an attorney makes a referral of a client to a doctor for a garden variety case, this is the ‘kiss of death’ for that case. It’s OK to get a referral to a specialist health care provider, but run from any attorney who has a stack of doctor or chiropractor cards in his office.

4. Your local bar association probably has a lawyer referral service. Understand that lawyers have signed up and paid a fee to be listed in certain specialties. Their names come up on a rotating basis. This is another good source for an initial appointment. Just take the questions we talk about here to that interview. Call and ask for the written information that I mentioned above.

5. Interview several attorneys. Ask each attorney who else handles these cases in your area. If they won’t give you any names, leave. Ask this question of each attorney. The names you see showing up on various lists of recommendations are probably good bets for attorneys doing these cases on a regular basis in your area. This is probably the best way to find the attorney who is right for you.

6. Be careful about any attorney who rushes you to sign a contingent fee agreement. A contingent fee is not the right fee for every type of personal injury case. You should take the agreement home, read it and understand it. We have heard of instances where fee agreements are delivered by courier within hours of the time you first call the attorney’s office. That’s right, before you even have had a chance to meet with the attorney. This is outrageous. Beware of “runners.”  A “runner” hangs out at the police station or listens to police radio to “run” to accident scenes or hospital rooms to encourage victims to sign contracts with attorneys. Outrageous does not begin to describe this practice!

So, How do You Find Out Who is Good in Your Area?
Here Are Some Tips:

1. Get our book, The Truth about Lawyer Advertising.  It will teach you how to “read” the ads.

2.  Get a referral from an attorney that you know. He or she will probably know someone who does specialize in your area of need. If you need an attorney an area of practice that we don’t do, call us, we’ll help you find the right lawyer for your case.

3. The Yellow Pages can actually be a good source of names. Understand three things, however: First, not everyone advertises in the Yellow Pages.

Second, be careful about the ads that tout too many different specialties, no one can do everything well.

Third, be careful about the full-page ads. This advertising typically attracts a lot of frivolous cases that can overwhelm an attorney. Make sure that the attorney you hire is selective enough with his or her cases that your important case does not become just one more file in the pile. We know several law firms that went out of business buried under the “weight” of full page Yellow Page ads.

How do you find out who in your local community is the best for your case? I believe that there are certain questions to ask that will lead you to the best person for your case—no matter what type of claim you have. It may involve some time on your part, but that’s OK because the decision as to who your attorney will be is very important.
The world of personal injury claims is, in my opinion, much too specialized for someone who does not regularly handle these cases. Too many times we have looked at cases that other—inexperienced—attorneys have handled. Sometimes they were divorce or criminal attorneys trying to help out a client. That’s just no good. Get a specialist.

You should be aware that the insurance companies who defend personal injury and accident cases know who the attorneys are in your area who actually go into court to try cases and who do not. The insurance companies use that information to evaluate their risk. One of the first questions some insurance adjusters will ask when a serious claim comes in is: who is representing the plaintiff? I’ve heard insurance defense lawyers laugh as they head for trial against one of these attorneys! Its like shooting fish in a barrel for them.

If this information is important to the insurance company, shouldn’t it be important to you?

Choosing an attorney to represent you is an important but daunting task. The decision certainly should not be made on the basis of advertising alone. The Yellow Pages are filled with ads—all of which say basically the same thing. You should not hire based solely on advertising—anyone can buy a slick commercial. Heck, you shouldn’t even hire my law firm until you trust that we can do a good job for you.

I’ll discuss this over the next few posts.