Jun 15, 2012 | Boating Accidents, Car Accidents, Uncategorized
Everybody knows what they are supposed to do if they’ve been in a car wreck, but after an accident on the lake or river, you might find yourself asking “what do I do after a boating accident?”
The answer on water turns out to be not too different from the answer on land. If you are the operator of the boat you must:
- Stop your vessel as soon as you can do so safely at the scene of the incident,
- Assist anyone injured in the incident, unless doing so would endanger your vessel or your passengers,
- Give in writing your name, address, vessel identification to anyone who was injured or had property damaged in the incident, and
- Report the incident to the Department of Natural Resources, if the accident occurred in South Carolina.
Of course, the ramifications of the boating accident do not end at the scene. If you were injured in a boating accident, it may very well be in your interest to seek the counsel of an experienced boating accident attorney to determine what you may be entitled to. Boating accidents are a very serious matter, and just like the more common car accident, insurance companies are never eager to compensate accident victims.
The boating accident attorneys of Reeves Aiken & Hightower LLP know how to deal with serious boating accident cases and are ready to fight for you. We encourage you to examine our credentials and experience and compare us to any other firm. You can then call us toll-free at 877-374-5999 for a private, confidential consultation to review your particular case.
Jun 15, 2012 | DUI & DWI, Uncategorized
Before we get started, let’s all remind ourselves that nobody should drink and drive. For whatever reason though, myths about how to fool the breathalyzer and breath tests generally are popular stuff. But the thing is, almost all of these myths are just that: myths, stories people made up to have something to talk about.
The only way to be sure to pass a breathalyzer test is to not drink alcohol before taking one. Some of the supposed methods of fooling the test though are
- eating breath mints
- sucking on a penny
- eating garlic
- eating onions
- eating mustard (the yellow stuff, not greens)
- swallowing chewing tobacco
- having salted peanuts in your mouth, and
- chewing activated charcoal.
What all of these myths ignore is how breathalyzers actually work and how the test is actually administered. They just involve guesswork about how you would think a breathalyzer would work. You might think:”I can smell the alcohol on someone’s breath, and if someone is chewing mints, I cannot smell as much alcohol. Thus, chewing mints must change the breathalyzer reading.” That simply isn’t the case though. Breathalyzers, both the main unit at the police statioin and the portable handheld kind used by arresting officers, work by detecting the presence of alcohol in the breath. They do this through chemical reactions that result in a color change in a liquid (the ones at the station) or an increase in electrical charge (the ones in the field).
Whether you have extraneous chemicals in your breath is irrelevant to the mechanism of the test.
A couple variables that individuals can affect do change the results of the tests though. Since all breath tests rely on the amount of alcohol in the breath, and your lungs contain a good deal of breath, the approimate amount of alcohol contained in that air can be changed briefly by you. If you hold your breath for a long time before blowing, your Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) reading will be slighyly higher (more time for alcohol to get into that breath). If you hyperventilate before blowing, the BAC reading will be slightly lower. Of course, you should just take this as a fun fact because the effect of hyperventilating before a breath test is relatively small, driving under the influence is dangerous, and the consequences of a DUI conviction are severe.
The DUI attorneys of Reeves Aiken & Hightower LLP are experts in DUI and are ready to fight for you. We encourage you to visit our website at www.rjrlaw.com and compare our attorneys’ credentials to any other firm. You can then call us toll-free at 877-374-5999 for a private, confidential consultation to review your particular case.
Jun 14, 2012 | Car Accidents, Uncategorized
Yesterday, the South Carolina Supreme Court gave some good news to plaintiffs injured by uninsured and underinsured motorists in Nationwide Mutual v. Rhoden. It clarified the previously standing public policy that required uninsured and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage to extend beyond the express terms of insurance policy contracts. The legal jargon for this policy is that UIM coverage is “personal and portable.” What that means is that UIM coverage extends over individuals whichever car they are driving, rather than simply applying over the insured person only in the insured vehicle.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance coverage is offered by car insurance companies to individuals to protect against the unthinkable: being injured by the as many as 25% of drivers on the road who have no insurance. Instead of simply being stuck with a loss after an accident with uninsured individuals, individuals can (and definitely should) opt for UIM coverage.
However, when individuals actually get injured UIM insurance companies will try, as they always do and frankly must do to stay in business, challenge claims for those injuries. They have in the past had some success limiting coverage to only the insured and only when injury is sustained in the car covered by the insurance policy with the UIM clause.
Courts quickly denied insurance companies this strategy and ruled that UIM policies are “personal and portable” and that individuals will be covered by their UIM policy whether in their own insured car or not. The reasoning is first, that it is better policy to shift the loss from the injured individual to the insurance company, and second, that individuals who are often unsure of what insurance contracts provide should be able to expect coverage.
Nationwide Mutual v. Rhoden clarified the law in an interesting situation. The case involved three individuals: a mother, having UIM coverage; her co-resident daughter; and her non-co-resident daughter without UIM coverage. The mother was driving the second daughter’s car. UIM coverage did not extend to the second daughter both because she had the choice to purchase UIM coverage and did not and she did not live with her mother. The mother and first daughter, however, would have been covered by the express terms of the mother’s UIM policy if they had been in the mother’s car. The court ignored the express language and applied the “personal and portable” policy.
While no huge departure from previous law, this case clarifies that SC Code § 38-77-160 does not interfere with the rule that UIM coverage is “personal and portable.”
The serious injury attorneys of Reeves Aiken & Hightower LLP know how to deal with insurance companies and are ready to fight for you. We encourage you to visit our website at www.rjrlaw.com and compare our attorneys’ credentials to any other firm. You can then call us toll-free at 877-374-5999 for a private, confidential consultation to review your particular case.
In case you want to wade through the opinion yourself you can find a PDF of it at this link or read it as it is reproduced below the fold: (more…)
Jun 10, 2012 | Uncategorized, Workers' Compensation
This past Wednesday, June 6th, the South Carolina Senate unanimously confirmed a new SC Worker’s Compensation Commissioner. Commissioner Gene McCaskill will begin his six (6) year appointed term on July 1, 2012. He fills the remaining vacanat seat created when former Chairman David Huffstetler resigned. Although I will sincerely miss Commissioner Huffstetler, we all look forward to trying cases before Commissioner McCaskill.
The Workers’ Compensation Commission has six (6) full time Commissioners on rotating appointments. They hear cases throughout the State three weeks out of four every month. The fourth week is reserved for Full Commission appeals. In this difficult economy, there are more lawyers “dabbling” in trying to handle workers’ compensation cases. However, the family of serious workers’ compensation attorneys is fairly small. Although most mistakenly think workers’ compensation is “easy,” it is not. This is a complex area of law with numerous time frames in which claimant’s must act or their case can be negatively impacted or even waived. For example, if hurt on the job while driving, you have potentially two claims – a workers’ compensation case as well as a “third party” lawsuit. If your lawyer begins the third party case without proper notice and filings, the workers’ compensation claim is deemed legally abandoned or waived. Better make sure your attorney is well versed and experienced in this area. His or her innocent mistakes could cost you and your family all.
Mr. Reeves of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower LLP is a 23 year veteran workers’ compensation attorney. For the first seven (7) years, he was a workers’ compensation insurance defense lawyer. And before going to law school, he was an ICU Registered Nurse (RN). As a result of his background and training, he understands complex injury and how to prepare serious workers’ compensation cases. For more information about him and our firm, please visit our website at www.rjrlaw.com. And, for a confidential review of your particular case, call us directly at 877-374-5999 toll free. We hope to have an opportunity to help you and your family through this most difficult time in your life. Call today.
Jun 9, 2012 | Brain Injury/Head Trauma, Car Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Personal Injury, Uncategorized, Wrongful Death
I was on the way to work yesterday morning. The sun was out. It was going to be a light day at the office. Everything just seems better on Friday. Traffic was typically congested for that time in the morning. As I was about to change lanes, I observed, thankfully, a motorcyclist speeding and weaving through cars. Frankly, I almost pulled out in front of him. As a motorcycle accident attorney, I know full well what can happen when a car abruptly pulls out in front of someone riding on a motorcycle. Motorcycle accidents frequently result in serious personal injury, brain or closed head injury, and even death. I know. This is what I do. But here, in this case, the motorcyclist seemed to have no care or concern for his own safety. He was wearing all black clothing which seems to make him disappear in my rear view mirror. At least, he was wearing a helmet, but again, it was all black. He was not watching out for cars. Instead, he was darting in and out of lanes and coming dangerously close to moving traffic. He was also wearing a heavy book bag which can easily shift and cause a loss of control. Fortunately, he made it to his exit and left the interstate. I can only hope he made it to wherever he was going so fast.
Even though I represent injured and killed motorcyclists for a living, I would happily do anything else if only people would be safe on the road. Motorcyclists and their passengers are particularly susceptible to injury as they have no benefit of safety belts or airbags. Instead, in serious accidents, their bodies simply fly through the air until they land in the road or strike an object. And, they are propelled unprotected at whatever speed their motorcycle was traveling at the time of accident. Serious bodily injury and death are often the result. When I was an ICU Registered Nurse (RN), the motorcycle accident victims that I treated almost always broke bones or lost a body part.
Motorcyclists know they are never totally safe when on the road. However, to be as safe as possible, always wear bright colors with reflective strips for night driving. Always wear a DOT approved helmet with reflective strips. Always watch for traffic changes. And always anticipate bad driving by other drivers. Have an escape plan at all times. Know where you will go if someone pulls out in front of you or changes lanes without seeing you. Assume you are invisible to other drivers and never dart in and out of lanes. It is always safer, and frankly, more fun to ride alone. But, if you must have a passenger, instruct them before you head out how to ride with you and not against you. Keeping these basic safety tips in mind throughout your travel will help keep you alive and get you home safely. That’s all anyone wants. Ride to live. But live to ride again.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a motorcycle accident, please visit our website at www.rjrlaw.com to learn more about your options and our lawyers’ credentials. For a private consultation with any of our attorneys, please call us directly at 877-374-5999 toll free. Our practice is state wide. We will come to you. Try not to worry. We are here to help. This is what we do. Call today.
Jun 6, 2012 | DUI & DWI, Uncategorized
One of the most frequently asked questions in DUI/DUAC law is whether or not to give a breath sample. All to often people think that if they just blow into the breath machine, have a BAC of less than .08, the Officer will just let them go home. However, the vast majority of the time, this is usually the exception rather than the rule. More often than not, those people who think they are ok to drive or under .08 are usually astounded by the results printed out by the datamaster. The simple fact of the matter is you should not blow unless you haven’t been drinking at all. Depending on your metabolism and body type, even one drink could be one to many to put you over the limit. The truth is that your probably going to spend the night in jail regardless of your Breath Alcohol Concentration.
But, a DUI case goes far beyond the night you are arrested and asked to give a breath sample. A DUI case is a marathon rather than a sprint. You have to look beyond that night and at the overall big picture that once you’re released for jail the next morning, you’re still going to have to go to court. You’re going to spend the night in jail… but a high BAC could send you back when your case goes to trial.
So then if the answer is to never blow unless you haven’t been drinking, clearly the answer must be that you should refuse to give a sample. It’s not as simple as simply refusing the test… It’s all in how you do it.
When you are taken into the datamaster room for a breath sample, everything you do and say is being video recorded. This means that everything you do and say will be seen by a jury at trial. So when you’re in the datamaster room you should play to the camera and in essence to the jury. A jury is made up of people just like you and odds are they don’t know anymore about a DUI then you. So, you can’t just simply say “I refuse”. That makes it look like you have something to hide. A jury will be wondering why you refused the test if you weren’t under the influence. Instead, you should ask the Officer questions such as: How does the machine work?, How does it actually measure my BAC?, when is the last time the machine was calibrated?, when is the last time the machine was inspected?, How often is this machine serviced?, ect. Then you should finally end with “I’m a little worried about giving you a sample because I’m not really sure how it works… but I’ll give you a sample if you can promise me that this machine is always 100% accurate”. Of course, the Officer can’t do that because nothing is 100% accurate. A jury will relate to your questions and wondering the same things themselves. By asking questions such as these, the jury will put themselves in your shoes and ask themselves if they would give a sample in the same situation.
In the end, you should refuse to give a sample… but make it look like you’re not refusing. The DUI attorneys at Reeves Aiken & Hightower LLP stand ready to help you if you have been arrested and charged for DUI, BUI or DUAC. Before hiring an attorney, you should carefully check out their credentials and actual experience. For more information about our lawyers, please visit our website at www.rjrlaw.com. Or to schedule a confidential consultation about your particular case, please call us directly at 877-374-5999.
