Jul 12, 2012 | Car Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Uncategorized
Summer weather means it is time to dust off the motorcycle and ride! Riding a motorcycle can by more dangerous than driving a car, but by following a few simple safety tips, you can help ensure you get to your destination safely.
1) Wear Proper Gear– Even though the summer is hot, make sure you are wearing head, eye, and skin protection. By investing in a DOT approved helmet with a visor and a mesh jacket with built in armor, you can be cool and safe on your bike.
2) Check Before You Ride- Before you hop on your hog, make sure you do a thorough pre-ride inspection. Check to make sure you have enough gas in the tank, check your lights, your horn, your brake lines, and your chassis. This way, you won’t have any surprises on the road.
3) Use a Safe Following Distance- Never tailgate when riding your bike. Using a safe following distance ensures not only that you will have adequate stopping distance in the event of a sudden stop, but it will also help you to be seen by the driver in front of you.
4) Never Ride Next to a Truck– Trucks and 18-wheelers have large blind spots. Never ride next to a truck because, if they can’t see you, they may try to change lanes and run your off the road.
5) Use Caution When Carrying a Passenger– Carrying a passenger makes maneuvering and stopping your bike more difficult. Before hitting the highway, take a lap around the block to get used to the extra weight on the bike. Also, remind your passenger to stay still, keep their feet on the foot pegs, and keep their hands on your waist.
6) Never Drink and Ride- A majority of motorcycle accidents happen when the rider has had something to drink. Alcohol impairs you ability to judge and react, and also illegal!
7) You Are Responsible for Your Safety– Never assume that any car, truck, or pedestrian sees you and will follow the rules of the road. Your safety is your responsibility, so be vigilant and and smart when riding you motorcycle.
Embed on Your Website!
Jul 11, 2012 | Uncategorized, Workers' Compensation
In Bentley v. Spartanburg County (the opinion is attached below), the South Carolina Supreme Court held that when a deputy shoots and kills an unarmed suspect he is not entitled to a workers compensation recovery for the mental injuries caused by the shooting.
In workers compensation, employees are entitled to recovery for mental injuries sustained on the job only if the injury is caused by an extraordinary and unusual employment condition. The court basically decided that cops know that they are liable to have to shoot and kill suspects on the job. They are told so during training, and they are trained to do the shooting. Since the officer in question could have expected killing someone on the job, the event was neither extraordinary nor unusual for the purposes of a mental injury recovery under the workers compensation act.
The relevant part of the Workers’ Compensation Act, Section 42-1-16, requires that the employee prove by a preponderance of the evidence that:
the employee’s employment conditions causing the stress, mental injury, or mental illness were extraordinary and unusual in comparison to the normal conditions of the particular employment.
The result in this case is almost entirely unremarkable given the current law.
What makes the opinion interesting though is that while the Court ruled against Bentley in this particular case, it also issued a protest against the extraordinary and unusual requirement for mental injury recoveries. The court recognized that they must judge on the basis of the statute, but they argued that like other states have already done, South Carolina should begin to view mental injury recoveries with less skepticism.
Traditionally, claims of mental injury have been disallowed altogether or subjected to greater hurdles than claims of physical injury. But recognizing that physical injuries are just as susceptible to fraud and just as injurious, the Court asked the legislature to reconsider the current law.
Justice Hearn wrote a dissent, with Justice Beatty concurred, that embraced the protest in the majority opinion, but argued that even under the current standard, the killing of a suspect is an extraordinary and unusual workplace condition for a Spartanburg deputy sheriff.
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower
The SC workers compensation lawyers at Reeves, Aiken, & Hightower know the South Carolina worker’s compensation system and are ready to get you the recovery you deserve. Browse our website, examine our credentials, and compare us to anyone else. Then call us at 877-374-5999 or contact us at this link for a private consultation.
(more…)
Jul 10, 2012 | Boating Accidents, Uncategorized
Duke University sophomore wide receiver, Blair Holliday, was injured in a boating accident on the Fourth on Lake Tillery. After the incident, Holliday was flown to UNC Trauma Center.
The incident involved two jet skis and Holliday’s teammate Jamison Crowder.
Lake Tillery is an hour east of Charlotte, just south of Uwharrie National Forest and about an hour south of the Triangle.
Serious Boating Accident Attorneys
When you or someone you know have been injured in a boating accident, the experienced boating accident attorneys at Reeves, Aiken & Hightower are ready to fight for you. Browse our website, and compare our credentials with those of attorneys at any other firm. Then, call us at 877-374-5999 or contact us at this link for a private consultation. Our practice spans the Carolinas, we can come to you.
Jul 10, 2012 | DUI & DWI, Uncategorized
News channel Action 9 continued the media onslaught on the independence and fairness of the judges yesterday by openly questioning the judgment of Judge Kimberly Best-Staton. Characteristic of attacks on judges, the story focuses on simple results, rather than fair application of the law.
Apparently, police officers and state troopers had come to the Action 9 Investigative team to complain that a local judge was being partial to defendants accused of DWI. The Action 9 Investigative reporter Mark Becker then aired a story based on these ill-defined complaints, some inflammatory statistics, and two pieces of anecdotal evidence. DWI prosecution is like all criminal prosecution complicated. When a person’s liberty and rights are at stake, Americans should and do take due process of law seriously. This supposed investigative journalism failed to do that by ignoring the complex, interrelated issues at hand.
True “drunk driving” is a problem in Mecklenburg County, but that is no reason to sidestep the law and individual rights.
The story showed a fundamental lack of respect for the law and individual liberty with opinion questioning Judge Best-Staton’s “judgment,” instead of whether she was applying the law fairly to each case. The story never attempts to give the public an explanation of why the judge’s judgment was being questioned, and the story failed to give an example of where the judge did not apply the law.
The evidence presented that was supposed to be so fatal to the “judgment” of Judge Best-Staton was that so far this year she found only 33% of those accused of DWI brought in front of her guilty. The story ignores the innumerable reasons why defendants are found not guilty and the individual cases brought to her.
The public might have rightly wondered whether Judge Best-Staton was fairly applying the law, but Action 9 certainly didn’t tell them.
What we really have here is a mind set where principles of “innocent until proven guilty,” “adherence to the law,” and “liberty” are being disregarded in favor of crass embrace of judicial activism when it would allow more individuals to be found guilty, especially of pet crimes like DWI.
For what it’s worth, let’s remember that it is not a crime to merely be charged with DWI, nor is it a crime to merely have a wisp of alcohol in your system when stopped. When a judge finds an individual not guilty of DWI, she may just be doing justice.
The DWI Lawyers of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower
If you have been charged with a DWI or any other crime, contact the attorneys at Reeves, Aiken & Hightower. Review our credentials, make sure that we are right for you, and call us at 877-374-5999, or contact us here, for a private consultation.
Jul 10, 2012 | Car Accidents, Uncategorized
Chief among the causes of major highway pileups are bad conditions and plain bad driving. With more and more cars on the road, it can be expected that there will be a patch of inattentive drivers ready to form a pileup.
So, how can you avoid a pileup? You must avoid the common causes.
- Check the weather. If visibility is low or the roads are very wet, pileups are much more likely. If you must drive in poor weather conditions, increase your following distance to account for increased braking time and shorter sight distance.
- Drive the speed limit. This piece of advice of obvious, but so many of us fail to follow it on a daily basis. Certainly, slowpokes on the highway are dangerous, but so are speeds in excess of the design speed of the road. If weather conditions are poor, account appropriately for the poor conditions by reducing your speed.
- Don’t tailgate. Especially if conditions are poor, the key cause of pileups is that drivers don’t have time to stop. If you follow too closely, you simply can’t brake in time, both because of human response time and braking time.
- Finally, pay attention. Especially if conditions are bad, concentrate on the road. On the German autobahn, cupholders were once rare for this reason. Driving is an activity that requires attention. Make sure that your attention is not on your cell phone or fiddling with the air conditioning or radio. These distractions often turn out to be deadly.
Serious Car Accident Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a car accident, you need a serious car accident attorney like those at Reeves, Aiken & Hightower. Review our credentials, make sure that we are right for you, and call us at 877-374-5999, or contact us here, for a private consultation.
Jul 9, 2012 | Nursing Home Abuse, Uncategorized
It is a scary prospect putting one’s loved ones in a nursing home, trusting their care to others. It is even worse when the staff you trust could be abusing him or her. How would you know? You can’t always be there with them. Listed below, for your convenience and comfort, are the most common signs of nursing home neglect.
Signs of Physical Abuse
- Unexplained injuries
- Frequent falls
- Wounds, cuts, or bruises – open or undressed
- Improper dosing or dispensing of medication
- Unreasonable or forceful restraint – either chemical restraint or physical restraint
- Deprivation of food and water
- Malnourishment
- Dehydration
- and in the extreme actual assault or rape
Signs of Emotional, Mental, or Verbal Abuse
- Intimidation by Staff
- Changes in Behavior
- Changes in Personality
- Unusual behavior
- Becoming Withdrawn or Uncommunicative
- Agitation
- Becoming Newly Overemotional
- Threatening, humiliating, insulting, or ignoring friends and family
Signs of Neglect
- Bed sores (decubitus ulcers or pressure ulcers)
- Infections
- Failure to provide emergency care
- Poor hygiene – when staff refuses to help with personal hygiene
- Safety and health hazards that staff refuse to solve
- Poor sanitary conditions in room
- Poor access to medical services
- Disregard of necessities beyond food or water
- Eloping or Wandering
Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower
If you expect someone you love has been injured or died due to nursing home neglect, contact the skilled nursing home attorneys at Reeves, Aiken & Hightower. An experienced attorney can ensure that you and your loved ones get what you deserve from a negligent nursing facility. Call us today at 877-374-5999, or contact us here, for a private consultation.
