Worthington Law Group
Injury Law Report

As the population ages and begins to retire, many retirees are purchasing recreational vehicles, giving them the freedom to travel around the country at their own pace and with their own itinerary. RVs have become more popular, and they have also become larger. Many of them (known as Class A motor homes) are so big that they resemble buses, have their own TVs, kitchens, and full baths, and can comfortably carry the entire family with all of its luggage.

However, along with the rise in Class A RVs has come an unfortunate rise in RV accidents. Although RVs are involved in the occasional fender bender like any other motor vehicle, many of them also crash due to problems with their tires. There are several reasons for this.

 Reasons for Tire Problems

First, while RVs are growing in size, RV manufacturers are not taking into account their increased weight when deciding what size of tire to put on them. In 2006, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a report that, in part, faulted manufacturers for adding features to RVs that increase their weight without also increasing their tire size. The NHTSA specifically recommended the installation of larger tires and upgrades to other parts of RVs that carry the added weight in order to improve ride, handling, and safety.

RV manufacturers also spend little effort to engineer their motor homes for safe driving. It is alarming how few safety tests are conducted on these behemoth RVs when compared with other vehicles, such as cars and trucks.

Tires generally suffer from problems with age. Although most tire manufacturers will tell you that a tire is good for at least 10 years, many people have reported dangerous deterioration in both real and synthetic rubber tires after as few as six years. As time passes, the rubber used in the tire gets progressively more brittle, causing the tread to separate from the tire while driving. This kind of tire problem appears to be especially common in RVs, which often keep the same tires for many years because they are driven far fewer miles in a given year.
Finally, RVs are often driven under conditions that stress tires—during the summer, under maximum loads, and by drivers who are not familiar with driving such a large vehicle—after the RVs have been sitting unused for months on end. All of these conditions can increase the chance of tire failure, and prevention of tire failures requires RV owners to take a more active role in making sure that their tires have a good tread, are otherwise in good condition, and (most importantly) are properly inflated.If you or a loved one has been injured in an RV accident caused by tire failure, tread separation, or the like, call us. We will be happy to discuss your legal rights and help you recover any damages you may be entitled to receive.

If you are disabled, the law may require your employer to make “reasonable accommodations” for your disability, accommodations that will allow you to continue to do your job. A recent case demonstrates that the definition of a “disability” can be broader than you might think.

The case involved a woman who worked in a prison as a drug counselor. The woman suffered from asthma so severe that an asthma attack made her turn blue for lack of oxygen and could send her to the hospital.

The prison began to use air fresheners that triggered the employee’s asthma attacks, but, once the prison realized that the air fresheners were causing the asthma attacks, they were removed. However, the prison then installed automatic air fresheners and refused to remove them despite the employee’s protests. The prison then compounded its error when it refused to allow her to come to work unless she provided a signed assurance from her doctor that the air fresheners would not affect her and, when such assurance was not forthcoming, she was fired.

At trial, the jury found that the woman’s asthma was so severe that it constituted a disability, and it went on to find that the prison failed to make a reasonable accommodation for the woman by removing the air fresheners. The woman was awarded $1.5 million in damages.

Regardless of the kind of case you have, every lawsuit is the same in one way: The evidence must support your claim. This means that if you suspect you have a claim, you should take steps to preserve the evidence that could be critical in supporting your case.It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is especially true in a lawsuit. If you have been hurt in a car accident, take photos of the car you were in, the scene, and, if possible, your injuries. Documents can also be evidence: Receipts, medical records, product instructions, accident reports, and the like can all be used to prove your claims.Evidence is especially important in products liability cases, where someone is hurt by a defective product. Keep the product in the condition that it was in when the injury occurred and, if it is not in your possession (such as a car in a wrecker yard), take steps to secure it. There are reports of defendants’ trying to buy the defective product so that they can destroy it.

Sooner is better than later. A picture of the accident scene taken the day after a collision is worth more than one taken a year later. A picture of your bruises taken soon after you were injured will tell more than pictures of the same bruises once they have begun to heal.

When you hire a lawyer to represent you, give him all of the evidence you have saved. This will help make your case and get you the compensation you deserve.

Insurers in America have posted record profits of $62 billion in 2007. These profits are not a fluke: Insurers have made almost $170 billion in profits since Hurricane Katrina, and about $235 billion since 2002.

These profits are the product of a combination of higher premiums and smaller payments. In fact, insurers routinely refuse to pay covered claims and they use unfair claims and settlement practices to increase profits, harming policyholders who have paid for coverage.The next time you hear insurers lamenting poor profits and blaming greedy lawyers for increases in premiums, remember who it is that has all of the money. Unfortunately, if you want a fair shake from an insurer, you have to hire a lawyer to help you, which is why people with lawyers regularly recover far more from insurance companies than people without lawyers do.

Workplace Safety Violations Cost Employer

A jury recently returned a $3.7 million verdict against the employer of a man who was seriously injured when he fell down an open elevator shaft.

The worker (who, ironically, was responsible for safety at the construction site) fell because the rails intended to keep people from falling down the shaft had been partially disassembled. The evidence showed that one side of the rails had been unscrewed from the supports and, when the worker leaned on the rails, they gave way and he fell.The fall caused the worker to break several ribs, his shoulder, and his elbow. His injuries were so serious that he could not move, and he had to be rescued from the elevator shaft by a crane.

At trial, the employer blamed the worker, saying that the worker had given permission for the rails to be loosened to allow another company to do some work. The employer also claimed that the rails were obviously not attached and that it was the worker’s fault for not noticing. However, these claims were undermined by another worker, who testified that the rails still looked as if they were properly attached.The jury ruled against the employer. It awarded the worker over $3 million for his injuries and loss of earnings, and awarded his wife almost $700,000 because of the injuries suffered by her husband.

Workplace safety is important, and verdicts such as these play an important role in ensuring that employers have the proper incentive to protect their workers.