Louisiana Injury Lawyers Blog

July 11, 2019

Taking on the Insurance Companies to Get the Payment You Deserve in Your Louisiana Auto Accident Injury Case

Auto accidents that cause injuries happen every day around Louisiana. With many of kinds of injury accidents, and auto accident lawsuits, there’s a common thread to them: insurance. In many accidents, getting a full and fair recovery (or, at least, a fuller and fairer recovery than you often could obtain from the defendant driver him/herself) is predicated on your ability to hold an insurance company legally responsible for paying. Insurers, of course, often seek to avoid paying claims in certain circumstances. To that end, insurers will often fight aggressively to avoid assuming responsibility for an accident and paying claims based upon it. That is one reason, among numerous others, why you need diligent and determined Louisiana injury counsel, who can fight effectively for you to get the payment you deserve.

Here’s an example from a case decision recently announced by the appeals court: B.M. and C.W. were involved in an auto accident on Feb. 27, 2016. The other driver, who was behind the wheel of a Lincoln Town Car, was at fault in the accident and the accident caused B.M. and C.W. to suffer damages, so they sued.

July 11, 2019

Managing Your Louisiana Auto Accident Case When You Want to Settle With Some Defendants and Litigate Against Others

by Cardone Law Firm

I’ve been injured in an auto accident by a delivery driver driving a car belonging to another person. What is the best way to proceed with my case?

In modern slang or metaphorical language, the phrase “lots of moving parts” or “a lot of moving parts” is considered to be an alternate way of saying that something is complex or has numerous working pieces to manage. Many times, your Louisiana auto accident case can be something that has lots of moving parts. There is the identification of the proper defendants, including possibly the driver, the driver’s employer, the vehicle’s owner and one or more insurance companies. There’s the pre-trial discovery process and the collection of evidence. There’s decision-making like whether to settle or to take the case to a jury verdict. These, of course, are just to name a few.

July 10, 2019

How a Wise Procedural Move Allowed One Louisiana Pedestrian to Maintain Her Pursuit of an Award of Injury Damages

by Cardone Law Firm

When you’ve been injured in a vehicle accident, whether you’re a pedestrian, driver, passenger or cyclist, you may have certain legal options available to you. You may know that you can go to court and sue the driver who crashed into you. But, you may not know that there’s often more to a completely successful result than that. There may be procedural maneuvers that an experienced attorney will know to make to protect your interests that you, as a non-lawyer, would not reasonably be expected to know about. In other words, your auto accident injury case is too important to leave anything to risk, so be sure you have a skilled Louisiana injury attorney advocating for you.

A case highlighting this truth was the negligence action pursued by W.B., who was a pedestrian injured in Jefferson Parish. According to her lawsuit, she was standing behind her vehicle when A.G. crashed into W.B.’s vehicle with her vehicle, causing W.B. to suffer substantial injuries.

July 10, 2019

Someone Pulled Out in Front of Me and Caused My Louisiana Injury Accident. How Do I Make Sure He is Held 100% Responsible for My Damages?

by Cardone Law Firm

Sometimes you are injured in a crash through absolutely no fault of your own. Another driver does something ill-advised and negligent, and there is nothing you can do to avoid the collision. When that happens, you’ll probably want to seek compensation in court and you’ll likely argue that the other driver was 100% at fault and 100% liable for your damages.

In a case like that, the defendant driver and/or their auto insurance company may argue that you, the injured plaintiff, were actually to blame for the accident, at least in part. All drivers in Louisiana are required to drive at a safe speed, keep a proper lookout and keep their vehicles under control at all times. A defendant driver may try to claim, in an effort to reduce their damages (or avoid them entirely,) that you failed to do one or more of those required things. When that happens, you need an experienced Louisiana injury attorney to help you defeat those arguments.

July 9, 2019

Fatal Head-On Crash in Ascension Parish Leaves One Man Dead

by Cardone Law Firm

Roughly half-way between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a mid-March accident claimed the life of one Louisiana man. That man, a 54-year-old from Holden, left behind a fiancée, a mother, two siblings and many nieces and nephews. He was killed by a driver whom police believed to be driving while intoxicated. Certainly, a DWI that causes injury or death usually will be a criminal matter. However, if you were injured (or a loved one killed) by an intoxicated driver, what you and your family may need is often much more than just the closure that comes from an intoxicated driver’s criminal punishment.

The law gives people injured (and the loved ones of people killed) by intoxicated drivers the ability to seek compensation in criminal court. To get the answers you need and to find how best to go about pursuing your legal options, be sure to reach out promptly to a skilled Louisiana injury attorney.

July 9, 2019

The Terrible Toll ‘Road Rage’ Driving Has Taken Here in Louisiana

by Cardone Law Firm

Road rage and aggressive driving are problems everywhere. When drivers give in to this urge, terribly bad things can (and often do) happen. The Pelican State has seen many road rage tragedies, including the deaths of two NFL players with New Orleans-area ties (Will Smith and Joe McKnight.)

This spring, the Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in one of the more horrifying road-rage accidents of recent years. In the case, two drivers were allegedly engaged in a game of road-rage-motivated “cat and mouse” along westbound Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge. The encounter ended with the vehicles bumping into each other. One vehicle, a pickup truck, spun out of control, crossed a median and slammed into a sedan in the eastbound lanes. The sedan caught fire, killing a mother, her three young sons and the woman’s teenage co-worker, The Advocate reported.

July 8, 2019

I Was Hit and Injured by a Log-Hauling Truck in Louisiana. What Can I Do?

by Cardone Law Firm

Louisiana boasts many vibrant industries, including oil, natural gas, commercial fishing and tourism. But do you know which industry is #2 in Louisiana? It’s timber. Which such a large timber industry also comes some potential drawbacks, like roadways accidents involving log-hauling trucks. These loads are often extremely heavy and, if a crash happens, the consequences are frequently severe.

If you’ve been injured in an accident with a log truck, it’s very possible that you suffered substantial harm, including a mountain of medical bills, an extended time off work and a lot of pain and suffering. To make sure what you get what you deserve in a civil lawsuit, be sure you act swiftly to retain an experienced Louisiana accident attorney to represent you every step of the way.

July 8, 2019

Pursuing a Louisiana Negligence Case Where the Victims Include Both a Mother and Her Unborn Child

by Cardone Law Firm

One of the most horrific news headlines is one regarding the loss of a child in an accident. Whether it is a fall, a drowning, a gun accident, an auto accident or some other reason, the result is always tragic.

This is true whether the child is 17 years old, 7 years old or 7 months old. However, the pain and suffering can be especially grueling for a family that loses, due to an auto accident, a child that never even made it to birth. While no court judgment can ever repair that wound, a damages award may provide needed aid in helping a family facing the financial crush of medical and/or funeral expenses, among other harms caused by the accident. To be sure you are getting from the legal system what the law says you should, be sure to reach out to a skilled Louisiana injury attorney.

An unfortunate example of that type of loss occurred recently in rural south central Louisiana and was covered by KATC. At an intersection of two highways in Jefferson Davis Parish, a driver drove his Ford F650 truck into a pickup truck driven by 21-year-old S.B.H., who was seven months pregnant at the time. The work truck struck the pickup on the driver’s side and caused the woman’s pickup to go off the road and roll over onto its roof in a grassy area. (The force of the impact was so great that the work truck also went off the road and into a ditch.)

July 5, 2019

A Serious Elevator Accident in a Neighboring State is a Reminder of How Harmful Louisiana Elevator Accidents Can Be

by Cardone Law Firm

According to statistics compiled a few years ago, elevator and escalator accidents seriously injure about 17,000 each year, killing roughly 30.

A recent headline was a reminder of that, as a nurse nearly died as a result of a malfunctioning elevator. The accident, reported by NBC DFW, occurred outside Louisiana, but it just as easily could have happened here. The nurse entered an elevator one day at work on the tenth floor of her hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. The elevator continued moving after it should have stopped. The nurse’s foot became trapped and, ultimately, the elevator crushed the nurse. The nurse managed to survive but spent a month in a coma. The elevator accident inflicted massive internal injuries and also left the nurse with brain damage. According to the NBC DFW report, the nurse “is expected to have a long-term recovery from injuries that are expected to impact her throughout her life.”

July 5, 2019

The Judge Assigned to My Louisiana Injury Case Appears to Be Biased Against Me and/or My Attorney. What Can I Do?

by Cardone Law Firm

When you go to court seeking compensation for the injuries you suffered in an auto accident, there are a few things you should expect. You should expect a reasonable opportunity to present admissible evidence and make relevant arguments. You should also expect a fair trial decided by an impartial judge. Sometimes, though, what should happen isn’t necessarily what does happen. When it comes to your right to a fair trial in your injury lawsuit, it is best to be sure you have a skilled Louisiana injury attorney on your side protecting you and will know how to act if bias becomes an issue.

Bias by a judge can take many different forms. It can be subtle or obvious. It may involve bias against you or bias against your legal counsel. Whatever it is, if it gives the appearance that it deprived you of a fair trial, it may be enough to get you a new trial.