Recent research has looked at the human brain’s ability to multi-task like driving and talking on the cell phone at the same time. The conclusion is that people are not as efficient as they think at being able to concentrate on two things at once. Car crashes and serious personal injury may be the r
We at Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton get many of our clients from the surrounding rural communities. This includes the areas of northeast North Carolina (NC) from Roanoke Rapids and Rocky Mount east to Camden and Currituck counties. In Virginia (VA) , we also get clients from South Hill an
As a personal injury lawyer, it is important to use the AMA guides to permanent partial impairment to your client’s advantage. AMA is the American Medical Association, which is the primary national professional group for doctors. They publish and periodically revise a book that sets forth how to qua
In 18 years of practicing injury law, it has never stopped amazing me how insurance companies and corporate defendants will “lose” or outright destroy important evidence about a personal injury accident. It is often hard to prove that this loss of documents in a personal injury case was intentional.
The National Transportation Safety Board finally acknowledged in March of 2007 that a overtired transportation crew was the reason for a head on collision of two freight trains in Mississippi almost two years ago that killed four people. This train wreck involved the failure of a crew to comply with
On March 19, 2007, a Norfolk Southern coal train derailed in Suffolk, VA. At 2:00 a.m., the train with 4 locomotives was traveling at 40 mph when 37 of the 148 cars left the track. The train wreck left a pile of twisted metal and tons of coal on the ground and cutoff the power to 1,000 customers.Acc
If you can avoid it, do not be in the hospital over a weekend when the less trained and inexperienced staff are in charge. This warning to avoid medical errors by timing your visits to the hospital is particularly true over holiday weekends like July 4th. The reason is simple in my opinion . All med
Menu Foods, based in Canada, has issued a huge recall of dog and cat food. The recalled pet food may cause kidney failure. It includes over 90 brands of pet food and is the canned and foil packet “cuts and gravy” style food. The FDA reports that 16 pets have died so far.Worried owners around Norfolk
The human body is not designed to withstand an impact with a car. If you get hit at a crosswalk by an automobile, you are likely going to be seriously hurt. The lightest cars weigh several thousand pounds. Even if the vehicle is moving at a relatively slow speed, it may well break your bones if it h
In order to successfully recover for injuries caused by the owner or operator of a premises, you have to show that the business was negligent in that they failed to use ordinary care to keep their premises safe and to warn of hidden dangers. However, in Virginia, you also have to show that you, the
This year, for the first time, the federal government has moved the switch over to daylight savings time into early March. With this change, comes the early arrival of Spring sleep deprivation. Any change can disrupt people’s sleep patterns. When sleep patterns are disrupted, a person operating a ve
The news has been filled lately with problems at VA hospitals and Walter Reed Medical Center in particular. The problems range from decrepit, unsanitary facilities to long waits and beauracractic indifference to injured soldiers. Unfortunately, this was not news to me as a lawyer working on cases fo