Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney Talks About Accidents on Rural Roads

This past summer, an early morning head-on collision between a box truck and a van turned into a catastrophic wreck that claimed the lives of eight people. The eight people who lost their lives in the crash were in the van, riding to work. The van is owned by a Mississippi forestry company, and the workers were on their way to a job site in Alabama to cut trees. The passengers in the van were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision. The truck was owned by an Alabama company whose ninety-one commercial drivers operate a fleet of eighty-five trucks. Nine crashes involving trucks owned by that same company were reported during the past two years. The van driver received a ticket for not having a driver’s license. At the time of the writing of this article, no other charges were filed in connection with the accident.

The driver of the van survived, as did the driver of the truck. The van driver claims that although he swerved to avoid the box truck, it hit his van. An official investigation into the accident validated the van driver’s claim with a finding that the box truck crossed the center line before colliding with the van on June 3, near Scooba. The truck came to rest on the van, which it had pushed backwards into a guardrail.

Rescue workers who responded to the wreck say that the road where it happened is in a rural area and that drivers must use caution when driving on country roads late at night or in the early morning. The roads in much of rural Mississippi are very dark, and they are two-lane highways with one lane traveling in each direction, separated in most places only by a centerline. That’s not the only danger present on Mississippi’s rural roads, where higher speeds can lead to more forceful collisions than occur in areas where there is more traffic and lower speed limits.

Accident investigation data from across the nation shows that rural roadways like the one where this crash happened are four times as deadly as city streets. Mississippi often tops lists of the most dangerous places to drive, and the amount of rural roads in the state is a major contributing factor. Law enforcement agencies do what they can to keep the road safe, but the number of officers is small, considering the number of miles of roadway that they are responsible for policing. When motor vehicle wrecks occur on Mississippi’s rural roads, there may be a significant delay between the time of the crash and the time someone sees it and reports it, if the driver or passengers cannot report the accident themselves. It may also take rescue workers a while to get from where they are to the site of the wreck, which could be miles and miles away from where they are when they get the call. The crash scene could also be many miles from a hospital, which could mean the difference between life and death in some cases.

To learn about how you can file a claim for damages that you suffered in a Mississippi truck crash, call the knowledgeable Mississippi Trucking Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 today.

 

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Mississippi BP Oil Spill Attorneys Say Projects Have Been Selected for Oil Spill Settlement Funds

The settlement that was reached in the matter of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill provides the state of Mississippi with millions of dollars that it can use to fund a variety of efforts to restore the devastated environment and economy of the Gulf region. A Mississippi board recently recommended that more than twelve projects receive funding from the settlement in 2020.

One of the recommended projects involves creating a new Ocean Enterprise Center at the University of Southern Mississippi. The focus of the enterprise center would be the development and advancement of maritime engineering and technology. The Gulfport- Biloxi airport could also receive funding for expansion so that it can better serve the needs of businesses and visitors in the area.

The two projects mentioned above are just a part of what’s going to happen in the Gulf area in 2020. Last year, several other projects received over thirty-seven million dollars worth of funding. Those projects include the creation of new wetlands with materials dredged from coastal waters, road construction projects, worker training initiatives, and a marketing effort for Mississippi seafood.

Additional funds will be made available  to the state in years to come, with an eventual estimated total of around seven hundred and fifty million dollars. Projects like the ones that were funded last year and the ones that will receive their funding soon are steps in the direction of restoring the Gulf Coast’s environment and economy. Recovery after the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been slow, but the area is healing. Some areas are recovering faster than others. For example, the beaches are no longer covered in oil, but contamination persists in areas of deep water offshore, causing continued harm to the ocean ecosystem. Wetlands continue to erode after the plants that held them together died as a result of the contamination. Deceased biodiversity continues to affect fisheries and wildlife populations throughout the area.

Fortunately, the danger of additional oil spills in the area could decrease as public interest in offshore oil and gas exploration wanes. The results of a public opinion poll indicate that eight out of ten Americans would either want the amount of drilling to decrease or to remain at its current level. For a region that is still hurting from the wounds of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the prospect of reduced drilling is a reason for the hope that the recovery of the Gulf’s economy and the environment will continue to move forward. Interestingly enough, the government is considering expansion of drilling, both offshore and in the western United States, despite an apparent lack of public support and amidst public concerns that the risk of additional oil spill disasters is not worth the oil and gas that would be produced by the expansion.

To learn more about past and present BP oil spill litigation, call the Mississippi BP Oil Spill Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (601) 790-1505, to arrange an initial consultation.

 

 

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Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys Explain The Benefits of Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney

The public often misperceives personal injury attorneys. Unfortunately, television dramas, social media, and other societal influences are doing little to dispel personal injury law myths or do away with the ambulance-chaser caricature. The worst thing about the widespread misunderstanding of who personal injury attorneys are and what they do is that it can prevent people who have a legitimate cause of action from filing a lawsuit.

Consider what would happen if personal injury attorneys really were the way they appear on tv. They would be unable to find any clients, and they would be unable to sustain their business. With many lawyers handling personal injury cases and many clients receiving compensation for their injuries, there must be something more going on. The practice of personal injury law is alive and well because attorneys have worked diligently to earn the trust of their personal injury clients by helping them pursue claims for damages in a way that supports their clients’ healing and recovery. Personal injury attorneys have the privilege of coming alongside their clients during a difficult time in their lives and helping them move forward after their injuries. Compassion, perseverance, knowledge, and experience are required to complete that task well. If you are injured, take time to meet with several personal injury attorneys and get to know them. There’s a good chance that you’ll encounter someone that you can trust to help you.

The public also scorns personal injury plaintiffs. If you were injured by someone’s actions, you might be able to file a claim for damages. That claim could hold the party who hurt you responsible for their actions while also providing you with compensation for the damages that you have experienced as the result of your injury. That’s a far nobler and much more accurate portrayal of a personal injury plaintiff than the bitter, resentful complainer that society so often portrays them to be.

All too often, injured people blame themselves for their injuries instead of acknowledging that another party may be partially or fully responsible for their injury. There is often societal pressure to “own your mistakes,” and while personal responsibility and accountability are essential, it’s also important to hold others accountable when they have not acted responsibly. For example, if a business has a legal responsibility to keep its parking lot and entrance safe and accessible. If a customer slips in the icy, unsanded parking lot or on the unsalted sidewalk, it is entirely appropriate to file a claim for damages against the business for failing to maintain their parking lot and entryway in a safe condition.

The Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC have helped a diverse group of plaintiffs and their families pursue claims for damages or losses in connection with many different types of injuries. To learn more about how our Mississippi attorneys can support you in pursuing your personal injury claim, please call our office today at 1 (601) 790-1505 to schedule a free initial consultation.

 

 

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Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys Discuss Workplace Accidents at Wood Pellet Manufacturing Facilities

Wood pellet stoves and boilers are fast becoming a popular way to heat buildings of all kinds. Manufacturing facilities that produce wood pellet fuel make various types of wood pellet fuel and sell it to their customers in bulk or bag it in preparation for sale to consumers through a diverse selection of retail stores. Every workplace, including wood pellet manufacturing facilities, has an array of different injury and accident risks.

A long-time employee of a Mississippi wood pellet plant died in a workplace accident this month. Fifty-five-year-old Johnny Dale Bishop served faithfully as the maintenance manager for years before he died in an early morning accident on October 25. Bishop was working on a burner bin when he fell several feet to the ground. The Monroe County Coroner reports that Mr. Bishop died at the scene of the accident. OSHA and several other authorities are currently investigating the fatal accident.

Wood pellet manufacturing facilities can be dangerous places to work. Proper training and safe work habits can prevent workplace accidents, injuries, and fatalities. Some risks are inherent in the production of wood pellet fuel. One threat to workers at wood pellet plants is the amount of combustible material in their work environment. If a fire or explosion occurs in a pellet manufacturing plant, it can get out of control quickly because of the amount of available fuel. It took firefighters four hours to contain the fire that resulted from an explosion at a Connecticut pellet manufacturing facility in 2013.

The dust produced during the pellet manufacturing process creates a risk of fire and explosion. In 2013, a dust explosion at a New Zealand pellet factory injured an employee. In 2011, a hundred firefighters worked for fourteen hours to put out a fire that started in the dust conveyor system of a pellet plant in New Hampshire.

As evidenced by the aforementioned Mississippi pellet plant fatality, fire and explosion are not the only risks employees of wood pellet manufacturers face during their workday. Falls from equipment and machinery can cause injury or death. The machines used to make and package the pellets can cause crush injuries and other types of injuries or fatalities from employee contact with moving parts. The equipment used to load and move pellets can injure or kill workers.

Wood pellet manufacturing facilities can be dangerous places to work. Unfortunately, so can many other workplaces. A job-related injury can keep you out of work and out of a paycheck for a while as you work through the healing process. Medical bills can pile up if you have to miss work while you pursue the medical care that you need to heal and return for work. The process of filing a workplace injury claim can be daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone. If you were injured at work, call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (601) 790-1505 to learn more.

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Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys Talk About Passenger Vehicle and Train Crashes

A thirty-five-year-old man died after a train struck his jeep. He was traveling south on St. Paul Avenue in Pass Christian, and the train was traveling west. The gravely wounded man was taken to the hospital, where he died from the blunt force trauma that he experienced in the collision. There were no other injuries or fatalities as the result of this wreck.

While reports about the fatal crash did not specify whether the accident occurred at a railroad crossing, drivers must understand how dangerous and deadly accidents at railroad crossings are and how frequently they happen. A person who is in a passenger vehicle that hits or is hit by a train is forty times more likely to die than they would be if the other vehicle involved in the crash were a passenger vehicle.

Nearly six thousand collisions involving a train and one or more motor vehicles occur in America each year. Many of those crashes occur at railroad crossings, while some of the wrecks occur in other types of locations that are not railroad crossings.

When you add the number of car-train wrecks to the number of train- pedestrian accidents, statistics show that in the United States, one vehicle or person is hit by a train approximately every two hours. That’s an estimated twelve train-related collisions every day. What’s more, the frequency of train crashes has been increasing since 1997.

Railroad crossings are dangerous places. Some intersections do not have any safety devices to warn motorists of an oncoming train. Some have safety devices that don’t work correctly. It is estimated that eighty percent of America’s more than two hundred thousand railroad crossings have inadequate safety devices. Over half of all train accidents happen at these unprotected crossings. Drivers must pay close attention to what’s happening around any railroad crossing they encounter and make wise decisions about when to proceed through the crossing.

Accidents at railroad crossings often look different during the day than they do at night. At night, half of all vehicle-train collisions occur when a driver of a passenger vehicle runs into the side of the train as the train is passing through the crossing. During the day, three-quarters of the collisions that happen at railroad crossings result from a train hitting a passenger vehicle.

While many things can cause a train crash, some of the most common causes of train accidents are recklessness, human error, and negligence. Reckless actions by drivers or pedestrians such as walking on train tracks or trying to speed through a crossing before the train cause some train accidents. Human error by the train conductor or signal operator can cause a wreck. Negligence by the railroad, an equipment manufacturer, or a government agency can also result in conditions that cause a collision.

If you were hurt or if someone in your family was killed in a motor vehicle- train crash, call the Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (601) 790-1505 to arrange an initial consultation.

 

 

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Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys Discuss The Danger of Levees

One man died in a recent Mississippi motor vehicle accident involving a levee. It appears as though the man drowned after his vehicle slid down a levee into the Mississippi river, and he was unable to get it back up the levee. The accident happened near East Carondelet, at a time when the river was at an elevated stage.

Spring and fall often bring heavy rain to Mississippi. That rain often causes rivers and streams to flood, or, at the very least, to run very high and fast. Drivers should not operate their vehicles on or near levees because it is unsafe to do so. Levees are, by nature, unstable, and they can collapse. Floodwaters can also wash over the tops of levees, sweeping away vehicles, and anything else that is nearby.

Likewise, roads that are near rivers and streams can suffer damage during times when rainfall is heavy or frequent. In addition to floodwaters washing over the road surface, culverts and storm drains can fail or collapse. Scrutinize the side of the road as you drive along because road collapses often begin on the shoulder and can happen quickly.

When there is flooding, do not drive your vehicle on flooded roads. Water that is too high can enter your vehicle’s exhaust system and stall it, leaving you and your car at the mercy of the rushing water. Rain on the road obscures holes and other debris that can damage your vehicle. It could even conceal holes large enough for a car to fall through. Just six inches of water can disable many vehicles, and water that’s moving fast can sweep vehicles away quickly and without warning.

A good safety rule to follow is to avoid driving through water that you could not walk through. Also, avoid any water that is moving fast, even if it looks shallow enough to drive through. Moving water is a powerful force. If you see that the water is not moving quickly and it’s shallow enough to drive through, proceed slowly and carefully. Creep along at one to two miles per hour to start. As much as possible, drive in the center of the roadway because that’s the highest point. Once you have exited the water, continue to drive slowly and dry your brakes by tapping them lightly several times.

If you get swept up in floodwaters unexpectedly while you are driving, exit your vehicle if you can do so safely and get to higher ground. Do not try to restart the engine if it stalls; you could damage it severely. After your vehicle is recovered from the water, have it towed to a reputable mechanic and explain what happened- they’ll need to know that it was in a flood so they can repair it correctly.

If you were hurt or if a family member died in a Mississippi automobile accident, call the Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505, to learn more.

 

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Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorney Talks About Tree Work Accidents

Workers who deal with trees as part of their job are often exposed to the risk of injury or death. The trees themselves can pose a threat to safety as can the saws, trucks, and other equipment that people who work cutting, clearing, and otherwise managing trees use in their jobs. A recent death in Mississippi involved a MDOT worker who was doing tree work.

Tree work injuries and deaths are not the exclusive provinces of novice or undertrained workers. The man who was recently killed in a Mississippi tree work accident had twelve years of experience with the highway department. The accident is still under investigation, and information has not been revealed about how it occurred. A statement from the Mississippi Department of Transportation says that after a severe weather event, MDOT workers go out onto the roads to clear away trees so that traffic, including highway repair and other storm response vehicles, can get to the locations they need to reach. Tree work is vital to keeping highways clear and communities in working order.

Whether you are a tree trimmer for a state or local highway department, a bucket truck operator for a utility company, a logger, or someone else who does tree work, following safe work procedures can reduce the risk of accidents, injuries, and death. Unfortunately, investigations into some tree work injuries and fatalities reveal that those incidents may have been prevented.

One way to avoid injuries while working with trees is to stay clear of equipment that other people are operating. Trucks and other machines have blind spots, and some workplace injuries and deaths associated with tree work involve workers that got run over by a truck or other piece of equipment. If you are operating a truck or a piece of equipment, be sure that you know how to stabilize it and use it safely. Injuries and deaths can occur when trucks roll over because they have not been adequately secured. Steep slopes can cause skid steers and other equipment to roll over, injuring, or killing vehicle occupants. Know the limitations of the equipment that you are using, and do not operate it on slopes that it is not designed to handle.

Using safety equipment properly is key to preventing other tree work injuries and deaths. Also, regular maintenance and inspection of safety equipment are crucial to accident prevention, as some injuries and deaths have been caused by inadequate, broken, improperly maintained, or defective equipment.

Tree work can also be unpredictable because it is not always possible to completely control the movement of limbs, branches, and logs or the equipment that you are using to lift, lower, cut, and process them. Unfortunately, this means that not all tree work accidents, injuries, and deaths are preventable. Tree work has historically been a dangerous job. Though advances in safety equipment have made it safer, tree workers must maintain an awareness of the risks inherent in their work.

To learn more about how to file a workplace accident claim, call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorney at Barrett Law PLLC today, at 1 (601) 790-1505.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney Shares Two Reasons to Work With a Whistleblower Protection Attorney

Witnessing wrongdoing at work is easy, and it is often unavoidable. You may have nothing to do with the wrong that occurs, but there you are, as it’s happening or after it has happened, when evidence of it is in plain view. You’re in the unenviable position of deciding what to do next. You know that what you see is not right, but you are afraid of losing your job and uncertain what your next step should be because whistleblower policies and laws are confusing. You need help, and a whistleblower protection attorney may be able to help you decide what to do next.

The success or failure of many whistleblower complaints depends upon how the whistleblower goes about reporting the wrongdoing they have witnessed. It’s not an easy task to do it right, because there are different laws that protect public and private employees and protection is often only available to individuals who follow the proper procedures for reporting misconduct. Whether you work for a private company or a government agency or contractor, the very first thing you must do before you blow the whistle is to make sure that you know the procedure for reporting wrongdoing that applies to your situation. If you need help, an attorney may be able to help you understand what a whistleblower policy says about what you must do. If you interpret the policy incorrectly and embark on a course of action that is improper, such as jumping the chain of command, you may jeopardize your ability to claim protection as a whistleblower.

In addition to helping you know how to expose wrongdoing properly, a whistleblower protection attorney may be able to help you obtain protection if you lost your job or suffered retaliation after you refused to participate in an illegal activity. Sometimes you don’t have the opportunity to read and understand your company’s policy or the applicable laws before you do something that causes you to lose your job. Workers are sometimes caught in the difficult position of having to choose between doing their job as they have been asked to do it and breaking one or more laws. For example, a truck driver might be asked to make a trip that would violate the laws that govern work and rest periods for truckers. In that moment the trucker must choose between obeying their boss and breaking the law or obeying the law and almost certainly losing their job. If you decide to follow what the law says and you get fired, meet with a whistleblower protection attorney to assess whether you may be able to prevail in a case against your former employer. You’re not likely to want your job back, but you may be able to recover lost wages and prevent your former employer from sabotaging your future employment seeking efforts.

Those are just two of the many reasons a whistleblower protection attorney is a powerful ally both before and after you blow the whistle or experience retaliation. To learn more about the protections available to whistleblowers, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (601) 790-1505 for an initial consultation.

 

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney Says Not All Who Qualify for Protection as Whistleblowers Receive It

Whistleblowers are motivated by a desire to do the right thing. Unfortunately, as often happens in many situations where people take care to do the right thing, whistleblowers do not always receive the proper treatment in return. Would-be whistleblowers must be aware that blowing the whistle is a good course of action that may carry harsh consequences, and that protection under whistleblower protection laws is not guaranteed.

There are a variety of whistleblower protection laws that cover diverse populations of employees at a variety of types of organizations. Unfortunately, there are some employees in some organizations whose whistleblowing in specific circumstances or in a particular way is not covered by a whistleblower protection law. Because of this, the collective effect of whistleblower protection laws and policies is like an umbrella with a few holes in it.

A whistleblower protection attorney could be able to help you avoid some of the pitfalls that could exclude you from protection under whistleblower protection laws, but sometimes the damage has already been done before the whistleblower sets foot in the lawyer’s office. For example, a whistleblower who didn’t follow their organization’s policy for reporting misconduct might not be able to obtain protection under the laws that protect whistleblowers. Likewise, if a grievance regarding termination or retaliation is not filed with the proper party within a particular time frame, the person filing the claim may be unable to access protection as a whistleblower. Sometimes, a whistleblower may think they have a choice of several different laws under which they can report misconduct. Unfortunately, choosing to pursue a matter under one law often excludes you from being able to go about it another way. What’s more, if you decide to pursue a matter under an incorrect statute, you could end up without a valid case.

Before you blow the whistle, check yourself to be sure that your attitude and or your actions won’t get you disqualified from protection under whistleblower laws. Good faith is usually a requirement for obtaining protection. If anyone can cast doubt on whether your motivation for exposing the misconduct was anything but pure, you could be without protection. Likewise, if you did anything wrong along the way to exposing the wrongdoing, even something seemingly innocuous like copying documents, your conduct could exclude you from protection as a whistleblower under the doctrine of “unclean hands.”

Another reason that you may be unable to obtain protection under whistleblower laws is that you are unable to connect the retaliation to your whistleblowing or your employer is able to make a persuasive argument that there was some other reason for what you experienced, such a poor job performance.

Legal technicalities, loopholes, and other exclusionary principles are, unfortunately, common in whistleblower cases. A  Mississippi whistleblower protection attorney may be able to assist you in avoiding those pitfalls and prevail in your claim. To learn more about whistleblower laws and whistleblower protection claims, call the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC today at 1 (601) 790-1505 to set up an initial consultation.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Say Whistleblowers Sometimes Expose Conduct That Places Lives at Risk

Whistleblowers bring matters out into the open that would otherwise remain hidden. Sometimes, the things that are exposed by whistleblowers have consequences that are literally a matter of life or death. A recent disclosure by a whistleblower who filed a suit in federal court claims that the largest military shipbuilder in America put American lives at risk when it falsified certifications and test results pertaining to the stealth coatings that it puts on its submarines. The stealth coating is a material that resembles foam rubber, and it is designed to applied to submarine hulls with a two-part adhesive that requires special certification for its use. The reason that certification must be obtained by the companies and workers who apply the adhesive is that the adhesive doesn’t work correctly if it is not mixed properly. When the adhesive is not prepared properly prior to application, the coating can peel off of the hull. It was reported by personnel who operated the affected submarines that large sections of coating had torn off of their vessels while the vessels were on the move.

The complaint accuses Hunter Ingalls Industries of claiming that it had coated the hulls of certain submarines properly when the reality is that the company took shortcuts during the coating application process that compromised the coating’s performance. The coating is designed to enable submarines to elude detection by enemy sonar. When the coating was not applied properly, it created a danger to all of the people on board each of the affected submarines, who were operating as if they could not be detected when in fact their submarines were detectable.

Applying the stealth coating incorrectly was dangerous enough, but the company is alleged to have gone even further in their wrongdoing by certifying to the government that they had applied the coating correctly. That certification was made under a contract  that the company had with the government to manufacture the submarines to meet specific criteria in exchange for payment for the submarines. This is an example of a whistleblower case where the wrongdoing is several layers thick, simultaneously exposing American troops to a heightened risk of harm and violating the federal False Claims Act.

While not all whistleblower cases offer a reward for the person who stepped forward to expose the wrong, this case is a type of whistleblower lawsuit where the party who filed it on behalf of the government could receive compensation if the government collects damages resulting  from the fraud committed against it. Whistleblower lawsuits that contain this type of reward for the whistleblower are called “qui tam” lawsuits.

The whistleblower in this case witnessed the faulty coating application and subsequent false certification during the course of their employment at the shipbuilding company. Many individuals work in jobs where their work and the work of others in their workplace can have an impact on the safety of others and the integrity of contracts. The Mississippi Whistleblower Protection Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC support whistleblowers in their efforts to protect the health and safety of Americans and to expose fraud. To learn more about whistleblower protection, call 1 (601) 790-1505 to arrange an initial consultation with the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC.

 

 

 

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