Blogs

In a recent interview for the Docket, a publication of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, I discussed Take 25 and how others can become involved to help protect children. I've included the discussion below.    JM
 

As a personal injury trial lawyer in Fort Smith, I am surprised each year when I read the total number of car wrecks and accidents.  In 2010, there were 3,171 totals accidents and 678 involved personal injury and 8 fatal accidents. It should be noted that there were probably far greater than 678 personal injury accidents, as many folks who are injured have delayed onset of symptoms. Of the 3171 accidents, 813 accidents were caused by drivers following too closely and 712 accidents were caused by drivers failing to yield the right of way.

H.R. 5- the so called Protecting Access to Health Care Act, passed the house on Thursday. It is tort reform 10, as pushed by the powerful US Chamber of Commerce though it’s Institute For Legal Reform.  It is an overly broad bill that places caps on damages of those injured and killed by medical malpractice. It places a $250,000 cap, for example, on the needless death of stay home mom or an elderly person or a child.  This monster bill is “big government” at its worst. It is nothing more than arbitrary, government-mandated limits on individual rights.

If you have been in a car wreck, you’ve probably gotten a mailbox full of solicitation letters from lawyers, phone calls and letters from chiropractors, and may have even had a runner show up at your doorstep trying to convince you that an insurance company sent him to get you to a chiropractor for treatment.  I call this "ambulance chasing" while others call is "solicitation".  These folks send people to police departments to get your name and number off police reports.  Many times they get to you so quickly that they might as well have been at the

How many times have you been driving down the road and looked in rear view mirror to see someone flailing about and motioning at you for something that you apparently did “wrong”?  We have all seen it, and we all probably know someone with a case of Road Rage, some more severe than others. 

This year's event was a huge success. See our Facebook link for pictures. We look forward to our next Project Safety event. Thank you to the Fort Smith and Van Buren Police departments and the many volunteers for making this event possible!

Official Count Released

There is nothing more precious than a child.  What many parents do not know, however, is that the car seats they depend on to keep their children safe may actually be putting them in harm's way.  Broken, expired and improperly installed safety seats do not properly protect children in an automobile crash.  McCutchen & Sexton and the Fort Smith Police Department are teaming up for the Third Annual Project Safety on March 10th, 2012 at the Walmart on Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith.  The event will be held from 9a.m-2p.m.  All parents are invited to come have your car

There are so many on-line scams.  I wanted to alert anyone who buys medication online to a company that is somehow able to gain confidential information about your medical condition.  The company claims that its name is RxPills Pharmacy or RXPharmacy.  It’s phone number is 305-224-0227 and the purported email address is pillspharmacy@gmail.com.

Help protect area children from Internet and neighborhood predators when you participate in the National Missing and Exploited Children Foundation’s Ride For Their Lives. The event takes place on May 18th, 2012. See the Morgan Nick Foundation website for more information.

Nothing that I can think of can be more wonderful or more dangerous than the internet.  Something most Americans had never heard of fifteen years ago now affects each of our lives.  Many questions have been raised about safety on the internet, and I think each of us has a different idea of what should be done.  Beginning in late January, the Senate will be voting on a bill known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA).  There is a sister bill in the house known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).  Both bills are aimed at shutting down piracy sites on the internet.  Whil