Gadsden Personal Injury Lawyer

Alabama Court Clarifies Burden Of Proof For Interference With Business Relations

Michael Roberts — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:53:44 GMT

A recent decision in the Alabama Supreme Court has clarified the requirements for filing and proving a claim for intentional interference with business relations. Since at least 1986, Alabama courts have recognized this claim as a distinct tort, but arguments have been asserted based on a lack of understanding or clarity about the specific requirements or elements for such cases. The requirements as typically described include the existence of a contract or business relation; defendant’s knowledge of that contract or business relation; intentional interference with that contract or business relation; damage or losses to the plaintiff as a result of this interference. In this recent case, one company “put pressure” on landowners to sell to that company, notwithstanding the fact that the owners had signed a “letter of intent” to sell to the plaintiff company. The Supreme Court rejected the interfering company’s arguments that the plaintiff company had the burden of proof in showing the “absence of justification” for the interference. The court held that “justification” is an affirmative defense for which the interfering company, the defendant, had the burden of proof. (For further discussion of the tort of interference with business relations, see Chapter 26, Alabama Tort Law (Lexis Law Publishing).

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Roberts

Interstate Trucking Driver Qualification Records

Michael Roberts — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:39:56 GMT

Interstate trucking companies (federal motor carriers) are required under federal regulations to maintain and preserve certain records about their drivers. The purpose of these regulations is to place specific obligations on the part of these companies to make sure that only qualified, competent drivers are safely operating these commercial motor vehicles in interstate transportation. 49 C.F.R. § 391.51 requires that these companies maintain in their “driver qualification files” the driver’s application for employment; the response by each state agency about inquiries into the driver’s driving record during the 3 years before the application for employment; certificate of the driver’s road test; responses from state’s agencies from each state where the driver held a CDL in the previous 12 months; a note naming the person who reviewed, on the company’s behalf, the driving record; lists of all traffic violations for which the driver was convicted, or forfeited bond through the previous 12 months; the medical examiner’s certificate for the driver; and any letter of a waiver of physical qualification.

In addition to these requirements, a motor carrier must review the driving record of each driver it employs on an annual basis to make sure the driver meets minimum requirements for safe driving and is not disqualified pursuant to the regulations.

Obviously if a company, whose driver has injured another person, violates the law and fails to keep these records, this can be very important in lawsuits involving interstate trucking companies.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Roberts

Alabama Lawyers Offering Discounts to Military Personnel

Jason Knowles — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:31:18 GMT

The Alabama State Bar is offering legal services at a reduced rate to military personnel. The Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service helps connect military members with legal services in Alabama at a reduced price, which is a great idea. Currently, the service only applies to members of the Alabama National Guard and the Alabama State Defense Force, but in October 2009, the service will expand to all military members. When a military member calls the State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service, he or she will be directed to a lawyer who is willing to offer a 25% discount to service members. If a participating lawyer isn’t in the service member’s area, he or she will be referred to the nearest participating lawyer. The State Bar Association reports that it gets lots of calls from military members looking for help, particularly with will and estate planning and child-custody cases. For more information, visit the Alabama State Bar’s website at http://www.alabar.org/lrs/. This is a great service and hopefully other states are, or soon will be, offering similar services to America’s finest.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jason Knowles

Dangers of Signing An Arbitration Agreement

Greg Cusimano — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:03:45 GMT

Consumers beware! Many consumer and employment contracts now include an “Arbitration Clause”. You can find the clause lurking in employment contracts, lease agreements, health care admissions documents, insurance enrollment forms and other consumer contracts. There are many dangers in signing an arbitration agreement.

You Lose Your Constitutional Right to a Jury Trial:

Signing a contract that contains an arbitration clause waives your constitutional right to a jury trial and in effect keeps you from having your dispute resolved by a court of law. Rather, you are required to submit your dispute or claim to a neutral third party, whom is neither an elected or appointed judge.

An Arbitrator’s Decision is Final:

After each party presents their case the arbitrator renders a decision that is final and binding on both parties. This decision cannot be appealed and unlike mediation. There are several other dangers in signing an arbitration agreement. Many arbitration clauses and systems do not allow you to recover your attorneys’ fees. This makes it practically impossible for consumers or employees to obtain legal representation. Additionally, the avenues for appealing an arbitrator’s decision are practically closed and regardless of whether the decision is erroneous, it cannot be easily overturned.

Arbitrators May be Biased Against Consumers/Employees:

Sometimes the arbitrator specified in the arbitration agreement may be biased because they depend upon the corporation for repeat business. Therefore, they have a personal motive and business interest in rendering decisions that favor the corporation. As a result, they are more inclined to rule against consumers and employees on the disputes that come before them.

Arbitration can Result in Significant Time Delays and be very expensive:

While arbitration is meant to serve as a more efficient method for resolving disputes, it can actually lead to significant time delays. Sometimes there are multiple arbitrators on a panel, which means that each arbitrator must juggle their schedule in order to hear your dispute. While your dispute may ultimately be heard, you might end up waiting awhile for your hearing to align with the schedules of multiple individuals. Most often the filing fees for Arbitration are 2 or 3 times more expensive that filing a case in court.

The Law may Not Make a Difference:

An arbitrator is not necessarily required to follow the laws that apply to your dispute. This can result in a seemingly unfair decision. Even though arbitrators are not able to completely disregard the law in rendering their decisions, it’s possible that they may render an unfair decision that does not go completely against the law.

Awards are Difficult to Enforce:

Since arbitration awards do not have the power of a court judgment they are not directly enforceable. Rather, if you seek to enforce an arbitration award you must resort to judicial remedies, such as bringing an action to “confirm” the award. While you may be able to utilize judicial remedies to obtain an award, these claims can be fiercely fought and often result in the consumer acquiring a significant amount of legal fees, fees which far exceed the economic incentive to bring their dispute in the first place.

Arbitration Clauses are Sneaky:

Consumers must be on the lookout for arbitration clauses. Arbitration clauses are inconspicuous because they are usually set forth in the fine print of a contract or are contained in an ancillary agreement. Consumers and employees are often unaware that they have agreed to mandatory, binding arbitration by simply purchasing a product or taking a job.

If you can, refuse to sign a contract containing an arbitration clause, cross through the language of the clause or attempt to negotiate its terms. Where it is impossible to negotiate, with large companies for example, you should shop around before you sign.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Cusimano

Good News from Minnesota in the Arbitration Battle

Jason Knowles — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:06:40 GMT

On July 14, 2009, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed suit against the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) of Minnesota, the nation’s largest arbitration company for consumer credit disputes, accusing NAF of consumer fraud, false advertising, and deceptive trade practices by “misrepresenting its independence” and hiding its “extensive ties” to the collection industry. When filing the suit, Swanson said in a press release: “This is a classic case of the little guy being stepped on by fine-print contracts.”

For several years now, credit card companies, banks, retail lenders, automobile sellers, and cell phone service providers have been inserting mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses in the fine print of consumer agreements. In many cases, the consumer does not know or understand that he is waiving an important right.

Swanson’s lawsuit charged that NAF works behind the scenes, “alongside creditors and against the interests of ordinary consumers”, to convince credit card companies and other creditors to insert arbitration provisions in their customer agreements and then appointing itself to resolve the disputes. The lawsuit alleged the NAF pays commissions to executives to convince creditors to insert mandatory arbitration clauses in customer agreements, thus generating arbitration filings and revenue for itself.

Fortunately, within days after being sued, NAF agreed to stop handling cases involving banks and credit card issuers over unpaid bills. Under the agreement with the Attorney General, NAF will no longer be allowed to settle disputes between consumers and credit card companies.

This is a significant victory for American consumers.

(source: Saint Paul Legal Ledger)

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jason Knowles

Wii Giveway

Jason Knowles — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:53:23 GMT

This week several members of our firm participated in a nice event at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital in Gadsden, Alabama, where we were pleased to donate to that facility a Wii gaming system for their use in WiiHab. Staff members at HealthSouth, who had been wanting a Wii for about two years, were thrilled to get the Wii for their patients. One of the patients demonstrated for us how the Wii will help her with rehab therapy. There were two local newspapers there covering the event and The Gadsden Times published some photos. These types of community events are a lot of fun and further remind us of the importance of giving back to our communities, especially in difficult economic times.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jason Knowles

Local Wreck Reminds Us of Dangers of Teen Driving

Jason Knowles — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:59:55 GMT

Last week near Gadsden, Alabama a 20-year-old driver of a Jeep died in a head-on automobile collision with a Honda Accord driven by a 16-year-old. The driver of the Accord, along with her 14-year-old passenger, were seriously injured. The 24-year-old driver of the Jeep, as well as a 19-year-old passenger, were also seriously injured in the accident. (See the story in The Gadsden Times, August 6, 2009)

Accidents such as this remind us of the dangers associated with teen aged driving. According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group. In 2005, 12 teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. According to the CDC, although young people ages 15-24 represent only 14% of the U.S. population, they account for 30% ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28% ($7 billion) of such costs among females. Among teen drivers, those at especially high risk for motor vehicle crashes are males, teens driving with teen passengers, and newly licensed teens. The CDC has found that, compared to older drivers, teens are more likely to speed, more likely to underestimate dangerous conditions, less likely to wear seatbelts, and more susceptible to the effects of alcohol or drugs.

Fortunately, there are proven methods to helping teens become safer drivers. For example, research compiled by the CDC suggests that the most comprehensive graduated drivers licensing (GDL) programs are associated with reductions of 38% and 40% in fatal and injury crashes, respectively, among 16-year-old drivers. Simply put, graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems are designed to delay full licensure while allowing teens to get their initial driving experience under low-risk conditions. For more information about GDL systems, see the Teens Behind the Wheel: Graduated Licensing fact sheet.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jason Knowles

Court Allows Apartment Fire Lawsuit

Michael Roberts — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:44:40 GMT

A recent decision from the Alabama Supreme Court permits a lawsuit, arising from an apartment fire, to go forward. In Collins v. Scenic Homes, Inc., a fire caused death of one tenant and serious injuries to others. The tenants argued that the apartment complex had not been provided with adequate fire-suppression safeguards or fire escape routes. The companies who built and maintained the apartments, however, argued that, because the fire had been intentionally set by an arsonist, this was an “intervening criminal act,” that under Alabama law, meant that the companies were not responsible, even if they were negligent. The Alabama Supreme Court agreed with the tenants, stating that the companies had a duty to construct and operate a reasonably safe apartment building, equipped with appropriate exits and fire-suppression safeguards designed to reduce the risk of injury from a fire, regardless of the origin of the fire. It is a foreseeable risk that an apartment complex fire, however started, can cause harm to the tenants if there are inadequate fire-suppression safeguards and fire-escape routes. For further discussion of Alabama law concerning premises liability see Chapter 8, and for further discussion of Alabama law concerning intervening criminal acts in negligence cases, see Chapter 11, in Alabama Tort Law.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Roberts

Avoiding Salmonella Exposure

Jason Knowles — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:51:13 GMT

A couple of years ago I obtained a nice settlement for a good fellow who was hospitalized for several days after salmonella exposure at a local restaurant. That case sparked my interest in food poisoning cases. Here is some recent information on salmonella you might find interesting and helpful.

On July 23, 2009, the AAJ News Brief advised of an Associated Press report that Tanimura & Antle, Inc., a major California lettuce grower, has recalled about 22,000 cartons of romaine lettuce due to concerns that the product may be tainted with salmonella. The lettuce was harvested in late June and early July and sold to retail, wholesale, and food service outlets across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Salmonella is a bacterium that causes one of the most common intestinal infections in the U.S. – salmonellosis. The CDC estimates that there are about 30,000 confirmed cases of salmonellosis yearly in the U.S. and that about 600 deaths are caused by salmonella infections in the U.S. every year, accounting for 31 % of all food-related deaths (CDC, October 13, 2005).

Salmonella infection is contagious, so take precautions to avoid spreading bacteria to others. Preventive methods are especially important when preparing food or providing care for infants, elderly, or people with compromised immune systems. The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research offers these suggestions for avoiding salmonella exposure: (1) wash your hands after using the toilet, changing a diaper, handling raw meat or poultry, or cleaning up after animals, (2) store raw meat, poultry and seafood away from other foods in your refrigerator and never place cooked food on an unwashed plate that has held raw meat, and (3) avoid eating raw eggs, which can be found in cookie dough, homemade ice cream, and eggnog.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jason Knowles

Dog Bites And Other Injuries By Animals

Michael Roberts — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:46:16 GMT

Injuries inflicted by animals kept as pets are an all-too-common occurrence. The law governing the circumstances under which the animal's owner (or his or her homeowner's insurance company) is responsible for damages can vary widely from state to state. In Alabama, as in many other states, an important question is that of whether, before the injury, the animal had shown vicious or otherwise dangerous propensities or characteristics. This is sometimes (and misleadingly) referred to as the "first bite" rule; it is not really necessary, for the owner to be liable, that an actual previous biting had occurred, but rather that the owner know of the animal's tendency to engage in any kind of behavior that could cause harm or danger to someone. In a 1988 Alabama case, for example, a visitor was injured in a fall after being chased by a dog, and the owner knew of its propensity to bark at and chase people.

In 1992 an Alabama case recognized that an animal's owner is responsible to know the propensities of the breed of animal he or she owns (such as a pit bull).

Statutes enacted by the legislature or ordinances passed by municipalities can also be very important in cases seeking damages for such injuries. Section 3-1-5 of the Alabama Code, for example, provides certain requirements for confinement of dogs to the owner's property. (For further discussion of cases, see Alabama Tort Law, 4th edition, Lexis Law Publishing.)

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Michael Roberts