Arkansas Injury Lawyer Blog

A federal court lawsuit alleges that an insurance company was perpetuating a scam using "phantom insurance" has been filed seeking class certification. Basically, the insurance customer alleges that the company increased the value put on the insurance policy for his home even though his home was not worth that amount. The raising of the limit of liability was designed to increase the insurance company profits.

Sometimes insurance companies practice deceptive practices that are designed to increase profits and do nothing for the good of policyholders. Insurance disputes should not be taken lightly by an individual. We strongly encourage Arkansas residents who have a problem with an insurance company to contact an attorney who fights insurance companies to make sure they are fully compensated for their loss. Insurance disputes involve fire loss, weather damage, theft, traffic accidents, disability claims, and business loss. If you or a family member has a dispute with an insurance company, please contact an Arkansas insurance dispute lawyer to make sure your rights are fully protected.

My family and I, traveling north on Highway 5, just minutes before you get to El Paso, Arkansas, passed by an accident involving a small passenger vehicle and what appeared to be an 18-wheeler gas truck. There were police and ambulance personnel on the scene when we reached the scene of the accident. The small gold colored passenger vehicle was badly damaged. It was stopped in its lane of travel, the airbags on the front and side had deployed, the windshield was shattered, and there was damage to the front driver's side and down the whole driver's side of the vehicle. The gas truck was a few hundred feet from the vehicle it had hit.

I do not know what happened in this accident, but the reality is that these unfortunate types of accidents occur on our Arkansas roads far too often. When you are behind the wheel of a vehicle, especially a large vehicle, you need to be alert at all times of what is happening around you. Drivers of 18-wheeler trucks are asked to drive long hours, causing them to be more of a hazard behind the wheel due to fatigue. Fracking trucks are large and can cause major injuries when involved in wrecks. I pray the people involved in this accident are okay and wish them a complete and speedy recovery.

If you witness a dangerous truck driver, please contact your local police department or Arkansas State Police to report it. Accidents involving big trucks often lead to serious injury or death. We must all be vigilant if we see a truck that is driving dangerously or recklessly.

Laura Symczyk worked as a registered nurse at a retirement home in 2007. She alleged in a lawsuit she filed that her employer, the operator of the nursing home, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by deducting meal breaks from the workers’ pay regardless of whether or not they worked during the meal period. Her lawsuit sought back pay for herself and all similarly-situated workers at the nursing home.

However, before the employer formally petitioned for class certification, the defendant made an offer of judgment offering her the amount of her back pay, attorneys fees and costs. The offer of judgment was not responded to and the employer, Genesis Healthcare Corp., moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The district court agreed and dismissed the case. However, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed finding that the offer of judgment did not address the potential class members.

This case is now on appeal to the United States Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court finds that this tactic allows the case to be dismissed, it will frustrate the purpose of the FLSA. Unfortunately, oftentimes the back wages due do not justify the cost and fees being incurred by a plaintiff’s lawyer to rectify the wrong that the employer has benefited from financially. The FLSA provides a beneficial and fair way to bring a case involving multiple employees to recover the fair wages they are due. If you or a family member has been wrongfully denied wages for overtime or for work actually performed, it is imperative that you speak to an Arkansas employment lawyer to discuss how to recover those lost wages.

A recent article points out what many injury lawyers have known for a long time, auto safety and defect concerns are often kept quit by the automobile companies and government regulators.

Although car companies are required to tell National Highway Transportation Safety Administration about claims it receives concerning serious injuries and deaths in vehicles, information about the investigation and many of the injuries and deaths is only available to the public and news media through a Freedom of Information Act request. Further, car manufacturers can request the information they submit to the agency be kept confidential.

The NHTSA conducts informal investigations and months can go by before problems are brought to the public's attention. According to the article, these informal investigations are becoming more common.

The article lists the following examples:

• Hyundai recalled some of its Veracruz and Santa Fe SUVs in August 2011 because their air bags might not inflate in a crash. There was no public investigation or incidents, but in announcing the recall, Hyundai said it had been contacted by NHTSA about its nearly 8,000 warranty claims and 16 consumer complaints.

• Evenflo and NHTSA recalled more than 1 million Discovery child car seats in January 2008. But consumers didn't know the agency had been testing the seats for nearly a year because of concerns about how the seats fared in crash tests.

• And in November 2011, NHTSA announced it was opening a formal investigation of Chevrolet Volts — although it had been quietly testing Volts for six months after a car caught fire weeks after a crash test. The agency said it didn't consider that an investigation.

These investigations should not be secret and the public should know about them as they occur. Additional car drivers and passengers could be harmed due failure of the public to know of vehicle defect issue and safety concerns.

If you or a family member has any questions about auto defect and safety issues, please contact an Arkansas car crash lawyer to discuss your issue and determine what can be done legally for you and your family.

Passengers report that a sleepy driver caused a Bus Crash near Mena, Arkansas. The accident occurred shortly after 6 a.m. when a passenger bus with Jefferson Bus Lines crashed into a wooded area near Hwy. 71, north of the Polk County line. Initial reports suggest that the driver fell asleep causing the bus crash.

The bus was en route to Texarkana from Fort Smith when it ran off the road and crashed. Bus accidents caused by the negligence of the driver are serious and require a thorough and prompt investigation. It is important that the passengers report all injuries and seek medical attention immediately. Bus companies and their insurance adjusters often try to minimize the injuries of the riders and try to reach quick injury settlements before the full extent of the injury is known to the victim. Therefore, all injured bus accident victims should contact an Arkansas bus accident lawyer to discuss their legal rights.

Benton police are investigating a pedestrian accident that left one man dead after he was hit by a vehicle. According to the news report, the Benton Police Department responded to a call of a pedestrian accident on the I-30 South Service Road. Unfortunately, the pedestrian died from injuries suffered in the accident.

Pedestrian accidents almost always cause serious injury and death. The Pfeifer Law Firm has helped families through this difficult time. It is important that the facts of the pedestrian accident are fully understood and investigated. Oftentimes, we find that important information is not included in the accident report and the individuals involved as well as the investigating officer need to be interviewed as soon as possible to gather all the relevant facts.

Insurance companies often look for reasons to deny the claim or find fault with the pedestrian. It is important that an Arkansas injury lawyer become involved in the claim as soon as possible to make sure phony excuses by the insurance company do not jeopardize an injured person's personal injury claim.

Arkansas law mandates that certain additional insurance protections are available to cover funeral and medical expenses due to pedestrian accidents. Oftentimes, the Pfeifer Law Firm must point out the proper insurance statute in the Arkansas Code to an insurance company's adjuster to get the additional benefits paid. If you or a loved one has been involved in a pedestrian accident, please contact an Arkansas injury lawyer at the Pfeifer Law Firm to discuss your legal rights.

People convicted of drunk driving should have ignition interlock devices installed on their cars to keep them from starting the automobile if they are intoxicated. Federal safety officials are now backing this car accident safety plan.

The National Transportation Safety Board said this DWI accident policy could be a major factor in preventing traffic collision deaths, especially wrecks caused by a wrong-way driver. About 60% of wrong-way accidents involve an intoxicated driver according to government officials.

An alcohol ignition interlock is a device that prevents the engine from starting until the driver breathes into a device that measures alcohol content to see if it is lower than prescribed limits. Unfortunately, the alcoholic beverage industry opposes a blanket requirement for first time offenders. Some in the industry support ignition interlocks for first-time convictions of people who posted a blood-alcohol content of .15 or higher.

Some good news also was announced by the government. Nationally, deaths in crashes involving drunk drivers dropped 2.5% in 2011, taking 9,878 lives, compared with 10,136 in 2010. Hopefully, the use of interlock devices will continue to bring number of traffic accident deaths and serious injuries caused by drunk drivers down as well. The Arkansas car accident lawyers at the Pfeifer Law Firm can help you and your family if you or a loved one is injured by a drunk driver.

Recent reports in the news media have shown that livestock on farms near oil and gas drilling operations have been falling sick and dying. Many scientist and residents suspect chemicals used in drilling and fracking operations are poisoning animals through the air, water or soil.

Earlier this year, Michelle Bamberger, an Ithaca, N.Y., veterinarian, and Robert Oswald, a professor of molecular medicine at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, published the first and only peer-reviewed report to suggest a link between fracking and illness in food animals.

The report listed 24 case studies of farmers in six shale gas states whose livestock experienced neurological, reproductive and acute gastrointestinal problems after being exposed to fracking chemicals in the water or air. The article, published in “New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health,” describes how animals died over the course of several years.

In Louisiana, 17 cows died after an hour’s exposure to spilled fracking fluid, which is injected miles underground to crack open and release pockets of natural gas. The most likely cause of death: respiratory failure. In New Mexico, hair testing of sick cattle that grazed near well pads found petroleum residues in 54 of 56 animals. In Pennsylvania, 140 cattle were exposed to fracking wastewater when an impoundment was breached. Approximately 70 cows died, and the remainder produced only 11 calves, of which three survived.

This study should be a wake up call to all Arkansas residents who live near, visit or eat food grown near drilling sites. In addition to the pollution damage caused by fracking, the drilling has damaged people homes and property around Arkansas. A recent verdict was handed down in Federal Court in Little Rock against a drilling company whose actions caused damage to home in north central Arkansas. The company was forced to pay for the damage and additional punitive damages were assessed because their actions were grossly negligent. If you or a family member has been damaged due to gas drilling in Arkansas, please contact an Arkansas injury attorney to discuss your legal rights.

I am amazed reading about a massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma that triggered a major accident along an interstate near Arkansas. According to news reports, the interstate had near blackout conditions.

The storm caused a multi-car accident. According to news reports the interstate accident involved nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers. The dust storm was likely caused due to the lack of rain This is the time of year that many farmers prepare for winter crops by loosening the dirt.

This type of accident occurs in Arkansas from time to time. It is important that Arkansas drivers keep a proper lookout for major dust storms as they travel along Arkansas roads. Complicated liability issues often emerge in wrecks that involve burning fields and dust storms. It is important that someone involved in a wreck contact an Arkansas car accident lawyer to discuss their legal rights as soon as possible after a wreck.

A very unfortunate accident occurred in Sharp County. Four emergency responders were injured while helping at an accident in Sharp County. According to news reports a car lost control in a curve, hit a tree, and came to rest nearby. While emergency personnel were helping with the crash, another vehicle lost control and hit the workers. This accident shows how dangerous EMT, police and fire department jobs are when responding to a accident.

It is important that drivers who approach an accident scene use extreme caution. Ambulance, police and fire personnel need to work wherever the accident happened and must help injured drivers and passengers in the disabled auto. Therefore, drivers approaching wrecks must slow down and avoid the accident scene if possible. Oftentimes, subsequent crashes occur when a driver pays more attention to the accident scene than on the road ahead. This auto accident law firm has handled these types of accident cases. However, they could have easily been avoided if the driver was more cautious. We all owe these emergency responders the utmost respect and should show them respect by using extreme caution when approaching accident scenes.

The hormone damaging chemical BPA, or bisphenol-A, can no longer be used to make baby bottles and sippy cups. The mandate of the Food and Drug Administration will have limited impact, because manufacturers have already stopped using BPA in these beverage containers. However, the FDA did not ban BPA use in other products.

BPA is still found in other plastic products. These products include water bottles, metal can linings and thermal cash register receipt. Some studies have linked BPA to cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems. A current study ties BPA found in kids' tooth fillings to a slightly higher risk of children developing behavioral problems such as depression and anxiety. According to medical experts, BPA leaches from food and beverage packaging and trace amounts have been found in the urine of at least 90% of Americans.

Some food manufacturers have voluntarily removed BPA from the linings of cans, especially those containing infant formula. However, the FDA and industry actions are not strong enough. Dangerous products continue to be sold in Arkansas and the rest of the county. Lawyers and persons injured by dangerous products need to use Arkansas product liability laws to hold companies that put profits over the health of their customers accountable. The Arkansas Products Liability Statute can be found here.

Dangerous products included autos, trucks, farm equipment, drugs, food, consumer products, ATVs. The Arkansas law defines product as:

"Product" means any tangible object or goods produced, excluding real estate and improvements located thereon. Provided, any tangible object or good produced that is affixed to, installed on, or incorporated into real estate or any improvement thereon shall constitute a product under this subchapter. Provided further, an improvement on real estate shall constitute a product in the event that environmental contaminants exist or have occurred in the improvement;

This definition is very broad and if someone suffers an injury or economic loss due to a defective product they should contact an Arkansas injury lawyer to make sure their rights are fully protected.

Whether you’re driving a vehicle, riding a bicycle, or walking, it is important to remember some safety tips that could save your life. At Pfeifer Law Firm, we are committed to helping you understand your roadway rights under Arkansas law and recover monetarily when you have been injured by someone else’s negligence, but we also strive to help answer questions and educate through our car accident, personal injury, road safety and rules of the road blogs. Do you ever wonder who has the right of way when you’re at an intersection? Do you ask yourself, Should I walk facing traffic or with the flow of traffic? Hopefully you will find these tips on road safety helpful to ensure your safety and the safety of those around you on the roadways.
Tips for Pedestrians on the Roadways
-Be safe and be seen: make yourself visible to drivers
-Wear bright/light colored clothing
-Wear shoes and clothing with reflective materials
-At night, cross in areas with adequate lighting
-As you wait to cross, be sure to stand clear of hedges, parked cars or other obstacles
-Carry a flashlight when walking at night
-Be alert
-Always walk on the sidewalk; if there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic
- Don't assume drivers will stop; make eye contact with the driver of the vehicle, don't just look at the vehicle. If a driver is distracted by a child in the car or using a cell phone, they may not see you
-Don't rely solely on pedestrian signals; look before you cross the road
-Be alert to vehicles that are backing up
-Obey the WALK/DON’T WALK signs
-Be attentive and careful at street crossings
-Cross at crosswalks, if possible
-Obey WALK/DON'T WALK signs
-Always look both ways before stepping into the roadway
-Make sure the driver a turning vehicle sees you and will stop for you. Don’t assume he will stop
-Look across ALL lanes you must cross before proceeding. Just because one motorist stops, do not assume all drivers in other lanes can see you

Safety tips for drivers
-Watch for pedestrians
-Always be watchful of pedestrians waiting to cross the roadway
-Before making a turn, look in all directions and be mindful of pedestrians crossing
-Don't drive distracted
-Do not drive after drinking alcohol or consuming drugs that may affect your ability to operate a vehicle
-Do not use your cell phone while driving
-Texting while driving causes accidents. Do not text and drive
-Watch for pedestrians while backing up. Children may be difficult to see, so pause prior to backing up, look carefully, then proceed
-Do not hang items from your rear view mirror. They could obstruct your view of a pedestrian or oncoming vehicle
-Yield to pedestrians at crosswalks
-Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, whether marked or unmarked
-Yield to pedestrians when making right or left turns at intersections

Driving Safety
-drive the speed limit
-avoid aggressive maneuvers
-Use extra caution when children are nearby playing along the side of the street or when older pedestrians are present who may not see or hear you
-Always be prepared to stop for pedestrians
-Never pass/overtake a vehicle that is stopped for pedestrians

The Pfeifer Law Firm is here to answer any questions you may have regarding road safety. If you have been the victim of a pedestrian accident, please call 501-374-4440 or email us today for a free consultation. There are Arkansas laws that specifically deal with pedestrian accidents and insurance coverage for payment of medical bills that all injured pedestrians should be aware. Contact an Arkansas Pedestrian Accident Lawyer today.