During the Thanksgiving weekend, a number of college students were on the road and heading back to school. One of them was Jason Reed Vestal, who was behind the wheel of a pickup truck, on his way back to Texas A&M. Accident investigators say he crossed into Megan’s lane and collided with her car head on.

Hunter Craft, attorney for the Smalls, says that Vestal claimed he didn’t remember the accident and that there wasn’t a cell phone in his vehicle. The Small’s attorney, however, found out differently.

It was discovered that Vestal had sent or received 15 text messages and placed 7 phone calls within a short period of time leading up to the accident, according to Craft. “And, in fact, he was receiving a text and possibly trying to return that text at the time when he crossed the center line and hit Megan.”

The evidence prompted a Robertson County jury to award $21.8 million, as the kind of message that they wanted to send.

“We’re not in it for the money. We just wanted closure, answers and healing. And basically to send a message to the community that texting and phoning behind the wheel is wrong,” said Megan’s mother.

Accidents such as these can occur, at any time, in our local cities such as Dallas, Plano, and Richardson, TX. Some are the result of texting while driving.  Many of them lead to serious injuries or fatalities. If you’ve suffered a loss or injury due to a Dallas, Texas auto accident, you may wish to consult with a knowledgeable, experienced local personal injury lawyer.

Our personal injury law firm will offer you an initial free legal consultation regarding your potential personal injury case. If you, a loved one or someone you know have been involved in an accident resulting in an injury, you should consult a Dallas Texas personal injury lawyer regarding your legal rights to secure compensation for lost wages and medical expenses. Call Texas Personal Injury Lawyer Kristopher Barber at (972) 231-5800 for more information or you can click here to contact us by email.

Alarmingly, a recent analysis released by the Texas Department of Insurance shows that 26 percent of vehicles in Dallas County are uninsured. That amounts to around 482,000 cars and trucks—the highest number of uninsured vehicles in any of the state’s large urban counties.  An additional 4.1 million cars and trucks lack basic liability coverage and are in violation of the state law that requires insurance.

Local cities and the state are doing their best to combat the problem.  For example, in cities like Arlington, Dallas, Garland, Irving, and Mesquite, uninsured vehicles may be towed if a driver is stopped for a violation and found to have no insurance.

When a driver is involved in an accident or stopped for an infraction, an officer can enter the license plate number or VIN into the TexasSure system to verify insurance coverage. This is a massive database containing the names of all insured drivers and their insurance companies that is linked to license plate VIN numbers. Drivers without insurance are ticketed, subject to a fine of up $350 for the first offense, and up to $1,000 for the second offense.  Multiple offenses without action on the part of the owner can lead to arrest.

At the state level, the Insurance Department is sending letters to approximately 100,000 drivers who are believed to have insurance policies, but do not have their vehicle registration numbers matched up with an insurance company in the TexasSure state database.  These individuals are being asked to verify their coverage by mail, e-mail or telephone. Once the information from those drivers is compiled, the state will send warnings to millions of drivers without insurance that they are breaking state law.

Despite these efforts to force all drivers to carry insurance, responsible drivers are saddled with carrying extra insurance to protect themselves from drivers without coverage to the tune of nearly $1 billion each year.  That additional insurance such as Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM), Underinsured Motorist Insurance (UIM), and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) can mean the difference between being able to afford medical treatment for injuries from an auto accident and not.

Our Dallas personal injury law firm offers free initial legal consultations on personal injury cases. If you have been injured by a driver that is uninsured, you should contact a Dallas, Texas personal injury lawyer immediately to help you determine what insurance coverage may be available to cover your medical expenses and lost wages, and so that you can take steps to protect your legal rights. Call Injury Lawyer Kristopher Barber at (972) 231-5800 or click here to contact us by email.

The two men, employees of Birdair, Inc., were reportedly not wearing safety harnesses or lanyards when they began maintenance work at around 7:00 a.m. atop the stadium roof.  Birdair, a specialty contractor for long-span and large custom tensile structures, is a subcontractor for Manhattan Construction.  According to stadium officials, the men were working to diagnose a problem with the stadium’s massive retractable roof.

One of the men was care-flighted by helicopter ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, TX and was reported to have suffered significant head and neck injuries and a broken leg. The second worker suffered a back injury and was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, TX.

Although a formal report will take months, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was already on site to begin investigating circumstances surrounding the accident. A lawyer for Birdair said the company is cooperating with OSHA, Manhattan Construction, and the Dallas Cowboys in the investigation of safety issues.

Although federal agencies like OSHA have implemented extensive construction and job safety standards, thousands of workers are injured on the job and killed each year in the United States while performing their job duties.  Many times those injuries are caused by a lack of safety equipment or inadequate safety training.

Our Dallas personal injury law firm offers free initial legal consultations on personal injury cases. If you have suffered a work injury and believe you may have a workers compensation claim, you should contact a Dallas, Texas personal injury lawyer immediately to help you determine what insurance coverage is in place to cover your medical expenses and lost wages, and so that you can take steps to protect your legal rights.  Call Texas Personal Injury Lawyer Kristopher Barber at (972) 231-5800 or click here to contact us by email.

Currently, only children under 5 years old and shorter than 36 inches are required to be in child safety restraints, but most children outgrow the height requirement by the time they are 3 years old.

Texas Senate Bill 61 would raise the requirement to include children under 8 years old or 4 feet 9 inches. (That height requirement matches the NTSB safety recommendations.)

For a listing of safety seat recommendations for children, the American Academy of Pediatrics has a great online guide. Prices for boosters, unlike more expensive car seats, tend to sell for $40 or less.

In car accidents, children ages four to eight years restrained by an adult seat belt are more likely to suffer severe head, spinal cord, and internal organ injuries than those in booster seats. Booster seats reduce the risk of these injuries by 59 percent, according to the experts.

The new law is intended to reduce personal injuries from car accidents like the one that killed 6 year-old Molly Cieminski in McKinney, Texas.

Unfortunately, despite ever-improving safety measures, auto accidents happen every day in our local communities such as McKinney, Plano, and Richardson, Texas. Many cause serious injuries and even death. If you have been involved in an automobile accident in McKinney, Texas, Plano, Texas, or Richardson, Texas, or the surrounding areas, an experienced-local injury attorney can help you.

Our Personal Injury law firm offers free initial legal consultations on accident and injury cases. If you have been injured, you should contact a Texas personal injury lawyer immediately so that you will know what insurance coverage is in place and so that you can take steps to protect your legal rights.

People who have been injured through the negligence of another should immediately contact a personal injury lawyer to protect their legal rights.  We offer free legal consultations on all personal injury cases. 

I offer free initial legal consultations on personal injury cases.   If you have been injured, you should immediately contact a personal injury lawyer so that you will know what insurance coverage is in place to cover your medical expenses and lost wages, and you can take steps to protect your legal rights.