Sudden Increase in Teen Deaths From Car Crashes

You may find it surprising to learn that car accidents are the leading cause of death for United States teenagers. And, sadly, according to the results of a new study conducted by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the number of teen deaths caused by automobile accidents increased in the first half of 2011. This […]

Record Low Number of Traffic Accidents Nationwide Last Year. But Why?

Despite sensationalistic news headlines to the contrary, it seems that in 2010, traffic fatalities were the lowest they’ve been in decades. In fact, as explained in this thenewspaper.com blog post, the last time the numbers this low was in the 1940s: Fewer people died on America’s roads than at any time in the past sixty-one […]

Proposed Policies Regarding Recalled Rental Cars Insufficient

In past posts, we’ve reported that rental car agencies regularly lease recalled cars without fixing the underlying safety issue behind the recall. There have been a number of attempts to fix this problem, including a joint petition filed with the FTC by two consumer groups asking that the FTC investigate the situation, legislation introduced in […]

Flag and Citizenship

Is a Plaintiff’s Immigration Status Relevant In a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

The United States District Court recently issued an interesting decision in an Illinois personal injury case. In Zuniga v. Morris Material Handling, Inc., 2011 WL 663136 (N.D.N.Y 2011), the plaintiff was injured while working at a construction site when the hoist assembly of an overhead crane fell and struck him. Zuniga sought recovery of expenses […]