A Clayton High School student was crossing the road in that town last Thursday when he was fatally struck by a car. The 18-year-old young man was on his way to school at the time of the accident.

The student will be dearly missed by the community, as indicated by heartfelt statements left by his coworkers at Venero’s Pizzeria, where he worked six days a week. The restaurant issued a statement in his memory that said, “He always came in ready to work and willing to help anyone who needed it … His big heart and presence will be missed. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.”

The accent happened early last Thursday, at 7 a.m., not far from West Clayton Elementary School. The local police chief in Clayton said that it was a tragic accident. He also said that the young man wasn’t wearing headphones or using his cellphone while crossing the road.

As a result of the accident, the police chief said that the road needs to be changed to make it safer. He said it needed crosswalks installed. He also felt that the town needs an active school zone sign with a flashing indicator light. “They don’t have anything active right now,” the officer said.

Venero’s Pizzeria is planning a night to collect donations for the deceased student’s family.

Family members who lose their loved ones in tragic pedestrian versus car accidents may want to investigate the circumstances of the events to determine who was at fault. If another party, such as a negligent driver or negligent city that failed to maintain the roads, is at fault for the accident and death, family members may be able to pursue wrongful death damages in court.

Posted in Car Accidents | No Comments »

One of the most difficult things to do after a car wreck is come to the realization that you aren’t going right back to work. This is a hard position for anyone, but it is one that might be necessary so that you can heal properly after the injuries you suffered. Not only do you feel like you are letting down your employer, but you might also be wondering how you are going to be able to pay your bills.

One option that you have in these cases is to seek compensation for the financial damages that you suffered. The medical care costs you have might be one of the largest amounts that you have to get covered, but don’t discount other options like the missed wages and similar expenses.

We can work with you to evaluate the situation and to help you determine what you need to include. It is important that we don’t miss anything. Once your case is resolved, either through a trial or a settlement, you can’t come back to ask for more money.

Determining what expenses you might face in the future can be taxing. We can look at cases similar to yours to get an idea of what others have gotten. This isn’t always going to be the same, but it does help us determine where to start with your case.

We know that you are probably concerned about another thing added to your plate. We will handle the legal matters so that you can focus on your health and healing after the crash.

Posted in Car Accidents | No Comments »

Anyone who works around electricity needs to ensure that they are being safe. Electrocution is a life-threatening emergency, so the risk must be minimized as much as possible. While it is easy to think that workers should be the ones to do this, the duty falls on the employer.

There are two approaches that must be taken by workers who have to deal with potential hazards everywhere. One is that they must have proper tools and equipment. The other is that they should have appropriate training.

Who is at risk?

Everyone who has a job that puts them around electricity is at risk. Those who work in the construction industry account for 52 percent of all fatalities from exposure to electrical currents. Most often, this is due to contact with overhead power lines, but can also come from frayed wires and other sources of electricity. Electricians, engineers, and powerline workers are also at an increased risk.

What are the best ways to minimize risks?

The manner in which you minimize risks of electrical exposure depends on the specific hazards. While some situations might only have one of these present, others have multiple dangers listed below.

• Damaged tools or equipment: Anything that isn’t in good shape shouldn’t be used. It should be tagged so that it can be either repaired or replaced. Using the lock out tag out procedure established by the company can reduce this risk.
• Overhead power lines: Knowing where live overhead lines are located can help. These should be clearly marked so that they can be avoided. Anything that might come into contact with them should be kept a minimum of 10 feet away.
• Open electrical components: Things like temporary lighting and electrical cords can cause shocks. Sometimes, these might be on the ground, which can lead to them coming in contact with water. Any contact with water should be avoided since it increases the chance of shock.
• Overloaded circuit: Every outlet has a specific load limit that must be followed. Ideally, only single-outlet extension cords will be used since this allows the one item to be plugged in. Multiple outlet extension cords and power strips can quickly overload outlets.

Workers who suffer from an electrical shock will likely need to have medical care. This is typically an emergency and must be treated as such. These workers should qualify for workers’ compensation benefits.

Posted in Workers' Compensation | No Comments »

Motorcyclists might enjoy heading out during the beautiful spring months, so they can enjoy the warmer weather outside. If you are planning on going out for a ride, make sure that you are well-prepared. This is especially important for bikers who have had their motorcycles put away all winter.

One of the most important things for you to do is to make sure that you have the appropriate safety gear. You need to have a helmet that is approved by the Department of Transportation. These are strong, but make sure that your helmet is no more than five years old. The Snell Memorial Foundation notes that it is possible for these helmets to deteriorate over time and that you can’t benefit from the most recent improvements if you don’t purchase one every five years.

You should also make sure that your motorcycle is in good shape. Check the inflation of the tires to ensure that they can grip the road appropriately. You also need to look at the brakes and lights to verify that they are working properly.

Keep an eye on the road conditions. Some common hazards can lead to accidents if you don’t spot them or don’t react to them. While potholes might not pose a problem to some vehicles, they can throw a motorcyclist off their bike. You also have to watch for slick spots on the road, especially when it first starts to rain. The new rain will start to wash vehicle fluids off the road, but these areas will become slippery as the fluids are being washed away.

If something happens, and you are involved in a crash, make sure that you get medical care quickly. You need to know exactly what’s wrong, so you can get your treatment plan set and started. You might also opt to seek compensation if another driver was the cause of the crash.

Posted in Motorcycle Accidents | No Comments »

Some car wrecks lead to spinal cord injuries. People can have a variety of impacts from this type of injury but not all of them include paralysis. For some patients, there isn’t a lack of ability to move and feel sensations. Instead, the primary challenge that they are facing is that they simply can’t sleep normally.

A study done by the University of Texas at Austin found that the spinal cord plays a critical role in the body’s circadian rhythm. When the spinal cord is damaged, there is a chance that the person won’t be able to waken and sleep on a schedule. It isn’t likely to occur in minor spinal cord injuries, but the chance of sleep disturbances increases with moderate to severe injuries.

Researchers noted that circadian rhythms include movement, hormones and body temperature. All of these can be altered when there is a spinal cord injury. Researchers are hopeful that recovery might eventually be possible, especially if they can identify the disrupters that are affecting the sleep cycle.

A person who is recovering from a spinal cord injury needs adequate sleep to fuel the healing in the body. Getting enough rest can also lead to the person being able to focus on the tasks at hand and work as hard as they can during therapy.

There might be other reasons for a spinal cord injury victim to lose sleep. One of these might be that they are worried about their finances. The treatments and adaptive items for these injuries can be very costly, but some victims might be able to defray those costs by seeking compensation for the damages they suffered.

Posted in Catastrophic Injuries, Spine Injuries | No Comments »

Large commercial trucks move everything from freshly-brewed beer to produce across the country. Road transportation helps keep costs for consumers and retailers low. Trucking is also a solid career choice that doesn’t require secondary education. Commercial drivers do have to attend special driving schools, but it is a far cry from a multiple-year degree.

Additionally, truck drivers can earn a solid wage that allows them to support themselves and their family members. In other words, commercial trucking has a net positive impact on the United States economy. However, commercial trucks have a negative effect on overall safety on the roads. Every year, thousands of people die or wind up severely injured after collisions with commercial vehicles.

Many different factors contribute to crash rates with commercial vehicles. Many of these contributing factors stem from trucker behaviors. Exhaustion, impairment and distraction are all risk factors related to how truckers perform their jobs. These are issues that other drivers have no influence over. However, there is one factor that contributes to crashes that other drivers can control.

Learn and avoid the blind spots around trucks

Because of their massive size, commercial trucks have larger blind spots than passenger vehicles. Even with extra mirrors in place, commercial truckers may not be able to see people driving on any side of their truck in close proximity. One of the best ways for people on the road to mitigate the risk related to driving close to commercial trucks is to give them plenty of space.

The large blind spots around commercial trucks exist on all sides. Ideally, you should avoid driving directly to either side of, in front of or behind a commercial truck. Never merge into the 20 feet in front of a truck, and stay more than 30 feet behind them. If possible, avoid the lane directly to the left and two lanes to the right of a commercial truck’s trailer.

People in vehicles have rights when they get hurt by truckers

Even if you do everything in your power to avoid a truck’s blind spots, that doesn’t completely eliminate the dangers of sharing the road with commercial trucks. Commercial truck drivers can still wind up causing injuries to you or the passengers in your vehicle if they make mistakes.

If that happens, be sure to assert your right immediately after the collision. Speaking with an attorney who understands personal injury law is a good first step. Your lawyer can advise you of what forms of compensation may be available to you and the best tactics for connecting with them. They can also help you avoid common mistakes that people make after a crash that limit the success of their claims or lawsuits.

Posted in Truck Accidents | No Comments »

Feeding America is not a simple task. The farmers that plant and harvest the foods we eat often put in long hours and have to work even in the worst weather to protect their crops and livestock. Many farm workers follow the crops across the country, helping plant in one state in spring and then moving on to tend other crops elsewhere in the summer.

The autumn harvest season is often particularly busy for farm workers, although there are always tasks to do year-round. Regardless of whether you work for the same farm all year or travel to different farms in different seasons, you have rights as a worker. If you get hurt on the job, you should receive workers’ compensation protections.

Many agricultural workers wrongly believe they are not entitled to these critical benefits. However, these benefits extend to almost everyone employed in the United States. Even if you do not have all of the necessary paperwork for employment in the United States, the benefits that offer medical protection and lost wage coverage still apply to you.

Farm machinery is a major source of injury

Farming used to be an incredibly physical job that required manual labor around the clock. Thanks to modern machinery, while food production is still very labor-intensive, many of the most difficult tasks, such as plowing and planting, can now be handled by large machines.

While those machines do save a lot of human labor, they also present a massive risk for injury to the workers who operate them. Farm machinery can cause lacerations, lost limbs, or severely broken bones. It only takes one wrong move to wind up with a limb crushed in a machine with so many moving parts.

Even the machines that seem the simplest, tractors, are a major source of risk for agricultural workers. Tractors are prone to tipping, which can cause severe trauma for the person on the machine at the time. That makes them a leading cause of farmworker fatalities each year. Regardless of the nature of the machinery involved, injured workers should receive immediate medical care.

Knowing your rights is the first step toward standing up for them

Many people who work on farms are hesitant to invoke the legal protections in place for them. They may worry about losing their job or even about the potential for deportation if they report a workplace injury. Neither your employer nor the North Carolina government should retaliate against you for seeking workers’ compensation benefits.

Consulting with an attorney who understands workplace protections for agricultural workers is an important first step for any farmworker who gets hurt. Your attorney can help you understand your rights and help you navigate the complex systems in place to connect you with the benefits that you need after a farm injury.

Posted in Workers' Compensation | No Comments »

When you are injured in a car wreck, the pain that you feel is likely going to persist for a while. Because of this, as well as the way the injuries affect your abilities, you might be unable to work. This puts you and your family members who count on you for support in a rough spot. You might find it hard to pay the bills, including the medical copays and bills that you have to cover to get the care you need.

We know that you might not have a sufficient amount in savings to cover all of this. We are here to help you seek compensation from the driver who struck you. This can help you to recover the money so that you aren’t the person who has to deal with the financial damage from the crash. Your claim for compensation sends a message to the other driver that they should pay close attention to what they are doing when they are operating a vehicle.

When you seek compensation, you need to think about all the ways that the wreck has impacted your finances. You might have already been receiving bills in the mail, but you need to think about the ones that you haven’t gotten yet. Sometimes, injuries will require long-term care. All of these bills need to be covered by the compensation.

Some victims aren’t sure how to determine the future costs of their injuries. We are here to handle that and other legal aspects of your case. We want you to be able to focus your energy on healing and enjoying your life again.

Posted in Car Accidents | No Comments »

You’re well aware that another driver could cause an accident at any moment. You could be seriously injured. It doesn’t matter if you do everything right and follow all of the traffic laws and don’t make any mistakes. You could still get hurt because of someone else’s negligence.

But which drivers pose the highest risk? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are three main high-risk groups:

• Young drivers who are newly licensed. The first few months after a driver passes the tests and gets out on the road are the most dangerous. For instance, when you look at how many fatal wrecks there are per mile, those who are 16 and 17 years old cause twice as many as those who are 18 and 19 years old. Even just a few years of driving experience make a big difference.
• Teens who have passengers and friends in the car. The CDC notes that having more passengers leads to a higher crash risk, which goes up with every person you add into the equation. As much as teens enjoy driving around with their friends, it puts everyone at risk when they do it.
• Male drivers. Women simply get in fewer accidents. Reports show that male teen drivers crash twice as often as female teen drivers. While all teens face higher risks, it is clear that young men are the most dangerous of all.

So, what do you do if you get into a car accident with a negligent, high-risk driver? You need to look into all of your legal rights to compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering, medical bills and much more.

Posted in Car Accidents | No Comments »

Being a pizza delivery driver for Domino’s or Papa John’s might not be the pinnacle of your career aspirations. However, many people find that working food delivery jobs allows them adequate time to pursue a college education. It’s also a good choice for a moonlighting job because pizza delivery drivers can often choose the hours they are available to work.

But what happens if you get injured while on the job, e.g., you get T-boned at an intersection while delivering pizzas here in Wilmington? Are you entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits while you recuperate from your injuries?

It depends on your employment status

Most pizza delivery drivers are considered to be employees of the company for which they drive. This is especially true for large corporations like the two referenced above. As such, your accident and subsequent injuries should be covered under the auspices of the company’s workers’ comp. policy.

However, restaurant delivery service companies like DoorDash, Waitr, and Grubhub typically considered their drivers to be independent contractors who are not covered by workers’ compensation benefits.

Right to pursue claim affected by insurance status?

There may also be some other avenues of financial recovery that are available to you after getting into a wreck delivering pizza. Your status as a delivery person for a pizza chain could potentially affect the viability of an insurance claim depending upon whether you were forthcoming about your job with your auto insurance provider.

The reason for this is that auto insurance for a vehicle that is used for work purposes, i.e., to haul supplies, product or people, is usually quite a bit more expensive than a basic liability policy that covers non-employment driving. If you failed to notify your auto insurance carrier that you were using your vehicle to deliver pizzas or for other job-related duties and get into an accident, your claim could potentially be denied for this omission.

Preserving your right to benefits

If you get injured while out making a delivery for your employer, it’s vital that you do all that you can to preserve your right to seek financial and other compensation. This includes notifying your employer as soon as is practical after getting into an accident. Failing to timely notify your supervisor of your accident and injuries could limit your ability to seek benefits through workers’ comp after a collision.

At David & Associates, Attorneys at Law, PLLC, we don’t want you to feel vulnerable during an already challenging situation. As such, we work hard to help you through the process to pursue the maximum compensation available to you.

Our Wilmington workers’ compensation attorneys have built a strong reputation representing the injured in our community. When you need someone on your side, trust that we’ve got your best interests in mind every step of the way. Let us give you a voice against negligent parties and large corporations.

Call our firm at 910-251-8088 today to speak with a skilled legal professional in a free consultation.

Posted in Workers' Compensation | No Comments »