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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Landowner or Premises Liability

One of the most common types of personal injury cases here in Mississippi is a “premises liability” case, or a case against a landowner for negligently maintaining his or her property. This can represent a tremendous diversity of incidents, from a grocery store slip-and-fall to a deck collapsing on an apartment building.  The magnitude of the negligence really does not matter; property owners have an obligation to protect their visitors and tenants from injury by removing or mitigating unsafe situations.  If the property owner or landlord fails to act reasonably in the construction or maintenance of their property and a tenant or visitor is injured as a result of that failure, they may be held responsible for the injuries, pain and suffering and other damages suffered by an injured party.  Those other damages can include medical bills and lost wages as well as the damages suffered by the spouse and other family members of the injured party who are negatively impacted by the incident.

If you have sustained an injury in as a result of an unsafe property, you need experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Types of Premises Cases

There are a wide variety of accidents that may result in liability for a landowner. A common type of accident involves injuries related to the use of inadequate or faulty building materials, such as in the case of the collapsing deck I mentioned earlier. A similar type of accident can arise from adequate building materials that deteriorated over time due to a lack of maintenance. Another type of liability arises clutter or garbage causes a visitor to the land or a renter to trip and fall.  Another common type of accident is a slip and fall involving moisture in the form of a wet spot on the floor or ice on a walkway.

How a Premises Liability Case Works

Most people can easily imagine getting injured due to slipping and falling on ice, so it is a useful example to work through.  Imagine you were injured due to slipping and falling on ice on a third party’s property. You may have a claim against the owner of the property if they failed to reasonably remove the ice or warn visitors of its existence.

There are limits to what can be construed as negligence, obviously. If you slip on ice in the middle of a rapidly developing ice storm in Miami, you will likely have a hard time proving that the owner acted unreasonably if a reasonable shop owner in Miami would have not been prepared to deal with it. Similarly, if you slip on an icy sidewalk in Alaska in the winter, you may have a hard time proving that that you were not reasonably on notice that you should expect treacherous conditions.  Basically, the standard is one of “reasonableness” meaning that that landowner does not have to take superhuman steps to eradicate all risk, but must take reasonable steps to eliminate or reduce dangers that he or she knows or should know about.
If you have injuries as a result of a dangerous premises, you must prove that the unsafe condition actually caused your injury.  For example, if you have had a hip injury for ten years, you are unlikely to be compensated for that hip if you fell on it yesterday.  While you may be able to claim that your preexisting injury was worsened by the premises in question, you will have a much more challenging case than if you have an injury that was clearly caused by the dangerous condition.  In addition, you must also demonstrate that you were not more responsible for their injuries than the property owner or party in control of a property.  This often comes into play when alcohol, drugs, or cell phones are involved.  If you fall and are injured on a patch of ice, the landowner may claim that a reasonable person would not have fallen and that your fall was due to your intoxication or due to looking down at your phone.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured on Another’s Premises?

If you were injured by a dangerous premises, you may have a personal injury claim for any time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to a dangerous premises. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses the Variety of Ways of Recovering for a Workplace Injury

There are an endless variety of workplaces here in Mississippi and, sadly, each one has its own unique way of hurting employees. Because workplace injuries are common whether one works on a fishing boat or in a cubicle, or in any other type of workplace, all employers must carry worker’s compensation insurance. While worker’s compensation insurance is a decent safety net if you suffer a minor workplace injury, it is important to remember that employees have several potential options for attaining compensation they are due for pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and other losses not covered by worker’s compensation. Some accidents will result in personal injury lawsuits, while others may entitle workers to benefits under Social Security Disability. I am frequently asked about the pros and cons of various methods of attaining compensation for a work-related injury and created the following blog post to outline my general thoughts on each one.

If you have sustained an injury in as a result of working on scaffolding, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Workers’ compensation – Workers’ compensation is a form of no-fault insurance most employers are required to carry by law. No-fault means that the the worker does not have to prove whose fault caused the injury; in fact, worker’s compensation applies even when the employee caused his or her own injury. Workers’ compensation provides benefits such as paid medical treatment, extra wages, and vocational rehabilitation to employees who suffer job related injuries.  Although benefits are usually readily available, employees must meet certain deadlines for notifying their employers of injuries. If these deadlines are not met, the employer an deny the claim. As a result, having experienced workers’ compensation counsel help you thorugh the process can be a major advantage.

Third party personal injury lawsuits – Most employees cannot sue their employer civilly for work related injuries, but they may have options to pursue compensation outside of the workers’ compensation system. This is often true where a third party’s negligent act injured the employee while he or she was working.

Imagine a delivery driver arrives at your workplace intoxicated.  He is not employed by your employer, but is at your workplace in the course of his employment.  Because he is intoxicated, he is careless and runs over your foot while making a delivery. While worker’s compensation may help you receive compensation for the time you missed work, you could also sue the delivery driver and his employer for your injuries.

Third party personal injury claims are common when worksites have multiple employers’ workers present, especially relating to auto accidents, construction accidents, and accidents caused by negligent landowners. While these cases require a finding of negligence against the third party, meaning your injury was caused by a third party who knew or should have known of a risk and ignored it,  they can offer much broader compensation options than a traditional worker’s compensation claim.

Social Security Disability (SSD) – When a work-related injury is so severe that it results in long-term limitations or disabilities preventing employees from working temporarily or permanently, a Social Security Disability benefits case may be the best path forward. SSD benefits are a critical lifeline for employees who cannot work due to injuries; however, the vast majority of initial SSD applications are denied. To successfully attain SSD benefits on your first attempt, you will need the help of an experienced attorney.

Product liability lawsuits – Like third party lawsuits, product liability lawsuits are aimed at someone or, here, something hurting you in the workplace.  Given the vast number of tools, furniture, and appliances that the average worker comes into contact with on a daily basis, there are many product liability lawsuits filed each year by injured workers. To prove a product was liable for your injury, you will need to show that it was negligently designed, negligently manufactured, or was negligently marketed for the use that caused the harm.  This sort of case requires the help of skilled personal injury counsel, which is another area that I specialize in.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in at Work?

If you or a loved one was injured in a workplace accident, you may have a worker’s compensation,  personal injury, product liability, or Social Security Disability claim for any time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages. This is my area of expertise.  Let me take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, and dealing with your employer’s attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you concentrate on healing and getting back on your feet again.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due in the workplace. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Loose Cargo Trucking Accidents

If you drive Mississippi’s roads, you likely see a tremendous number of trucks carrying cargo.  You will see tractor trailers with carefully strapped down loads and other trucks with their cargo unsecured and blowing out of the back of the truck behind them. I’ve even seen two men moving a mattress by holding it to the roof the car with just their arms out the window. With loose cargo comes accidents, some of them deadly.

If you or a loved one were injured as a result of loose cargo, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

The Complexity of Loose Cargo Accidents

A 2015 federal study estimated that as many as 400 deaths across the United States are the result of unsecured loads – not only from commercial trucks, but smaller pick-up trucks and other passenger vehicles as well. The most common type of accident is caused by a truck carrying a load that is insufficiently attached to the truck’s bed.  While the attachment may be sufficient when the truck is at rest or moving straight down a highway, it may be insufficient to deal with the extreme physics involved when the truck stops short or swerves quickly. Cargo that comes loose can hit trailing vehicles, often doing extreme damage.

Another type of accident occurs when cargo becomes loose and enters the road, causing other cars to swerve or otherwise rapidly change their lanes. An accident ensues from the rapid movement of the other cars.  While this sort of accident may not involve the cargo actually impacting with other motorists, the high speed collision with other cars can be just as harmful.

One problem with loose cargo accidents, and a primary reason that you will need an experienced personal injury lawyer if you are involved in one, is that it is rarely clear who is liable for the accident. You may be thinking, “the truck hauling the runaway cargo is liable, aren’t they?” That is a reasonable guess, but it is rarely that straightforward. Imagine an accident where a bulldozer breaks the chains holding it to the bed of tractor trailer and falls onto the roadway.  The car in front of you swerves, pushing you off the road into a steep ditch.  Your car rolls over and you have, thankfully, only soft tissue injuries to your neck—whiplash.  Your car is destroyed, you are out of work for two weeks, and you need to be compensated.

In that example, the trucking company likely hires an independent contractor to drive their truck.  They hire a third-party contractor to load the bulldozer onto the tractor trailer.  All of those parties will blame the other motorist for swerving and causing your accident, and everyone will say that the State caused your neck injury by making the ditch alongside the highway too steep. The State likely used a third-party contractor to dig the ditch, however, so this blame cycle just goes on and on.

The point of that story is that loose cargo accidents are never straightforward and require the expert help of an experienced personal injury lawyer to prevent all of the parties involved in causing your injury from shirking their responsibility.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Scaffolding Accident?

If you or a family member were injured in a loose cargo trucking accident, you might have a viable personal injury claim for the time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages. Let experienced counsel take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, and dealing with the other parties’ attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you concentrate on healing and getting back on your feet again.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to a scaffolding accident. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Scaffolding Injuries

With all of the construction occurring here in Mississippi, I increasingly see buildings wrapped in scaffolding.  Scaffolding is one of the cheapest and easiest tools construction workers can use to access elevated projects. While I increasingly see workers using restraints and other safety tools, I also know that working on scaffolding is incredibly dangerous work that all too frequently results in injuries.

If you have sustained an injury in as a result of working on scaffolding, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Scaffolding Safety Information

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 65% of the 2.3 million construction workers in the United States work on scaffolding. More than 4,500 injuries and some 60 deaths occur annually from scaffolding accidents. This costs businesses almost $100 million in lost wages and compensation.

Why is Scaffolding Dangerous?

Nearly all scaffolding accidents are preventable. Scaffolding is simply a platform elevated above the ground, located in close proximity to a building under construction, painting, or maintenance.  Scaffolding is temporary and often moves as the work progresses.  This mobility comes with a balancing of risks—the more movable the scaffolding, often the less stable it is. Similarly, scaffolding is often moved from worksite to worksite without proper maintenance or repairs; as a result, it becomes worn and unsafe over time. Finally, employers often do not provide employees with adequate training or safety gear; a lack of training, inadequate safety gear, and extreme heights can combine to cause severe injuries and death.

Types of Scaffolding

There are three primary types of scaffolding used in the construction industry:

Supported—this is the most common type of construction scaffolding.  It is made of platforms, usually made of wooden boards, suspended within a frame of poles, pipes, or heavy beams.  Some scaffolding is attached to the building being worked on, while other types are freestanding or even have wheels.

Suspended—this type of structure is less common and involves ropes or wires supporting a platform from above.  This type of scaffolding is commonly used by window washers, bridge workers, and other workers who need to access extremely high buildings that are inaccessible through traditional ground-based supported scaffolding.

Machine—Scissor lifts, cherry pickers, and “man lifts” are frequently used for short-term projects like changing high lightbulbs or quickly accessing elevated areas of a building for a repair.

Overview of Scaffolding Safety

The employer must conduct regular safety checks of all scaffolding. If the scaffolding is unstable, it must be inspected. If the employer moves the scaffolding to a different location or job site, the process must be repeated.

Every single worker that uses the scaffolding at all must be trained in proper scaffolding use. For example, employees must be informed that spills must be cleaned up immediately. On scaffolding, even spilled water can be hazardous, as any wet surface or debris can result in a fall.

Each scaffold’s load limit should be marked so employees can quickly determine how much is allowed on the structure, and scaffolding should never be overloaded. Employees must be trained so that they understand what load limits mean and how they apply to scaffolding.

After a construction project’s conclusion, rigging, platforms, and other structural elements must be inspected for damage or loose parts. Scaffolding should be cleaned and repaired after each job.

If you have been injured in a scaffolding accident, one or more of these issues may have resulted in your injury.  If your employer did not appropriately supervise, outfit, and maintain your worksite, you may be due significant compensation for your injuries.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in a Scaffolding Accident?

If you were injured in a scaffolding accident, you might have a viable personal injury claim for any time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages. Let experienced counsel take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, and dealing with the other parties’ attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you concentrate on healing and getting back on your feet again.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to a scaffolding accident. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Why Lane Splitting Is a Dangerous

I have recently seen a few cases involving motorcycles engaged in a practice called “lane splitting.”  Lane splitting is a dangerous practice that results in a significant number of motorcycle and automobile accidents here in Mississippi. I have written this blog post to explain lane splitting and what you should do if you are a motorist injured as a result of it.

But what is lane splitting? Lane splitting is when a motorcyclist rides between the two lanes of traffic between vehicles. If you have been startled when a motorcycle buzzed in between you and a moving car in another lane, you have experienced lane splitting but did not know its name. This applies to driving between two moving vehicles or two stationary vehicles.

If you have sustained an injury in as a result of lane splitting or any other unsafe driving, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

The Dangers of Lane Splitting

Like the vast majority of states, lane splitting is illegal here in Mississippi. In fact, it is only legal in California.  There is a good reason for its widespread prohibition, as lane splitting is both dangerous to motorcyclists themselves as well as the other motorists with whom they share the road.

Lane splitting is dangerous for many reasons, all of them having to do with the limited mobility and visibility it exacerbates. First, when a motorcycle occupies the same lane as another vehicle, they are very close. If either one has to swerve suddenly to avoid an obstacle or another vehicle, catastrophic collisions often occur.  Second, when a motorcycle shares a lane with an automobile, it often results in the motorcycle, which is usually already difficult for a driver to see, being in the automobile driver’s blind spot. As a result, the driver may change lanes without seeing the motorcycle and cause a collision. Third, when lane splitting occurs between stationary vehicles, such as in a stopped traffic scenario, the motorcycle has nowhere to go if a driver decides to open his or her door quickly. While usually, the motorcyclist could merely swerve to get away from the door, he or she is prohibited from doing that by a car parked in another lane of traffic.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been in an Accident with a Motorcycle?

If you were injured in a motorcycle accident or an accident caused by a motorcycle, you might have a viable personal injury claim for any time you have been out of work, the costs of your treatment and rehabilitation, your pain and suffering, and other damages.  There was a time when few motorcycle riders carried insurance, but that is mostly no longer the case. As a result, recovering compensation for your injuries from an accident involving a motorcycle is not the challenge it once was.

Let experienced counsel take care of organizing your bills, attaining statements from expert witnesses, reviewing police reports, and dealing with the other parties’ attorneys. These are just a few of the critical, complex tasks that a personal injury attorney will handle for you while you concentrate on healing and getting back on your feet again.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to lane splitting or any other unsafe condition caused by motorcycles. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Suit

When someone dies, the deceased’s family is often flooded with a variety of emotions. I frequently spend time with clients who have lost a loved one who are tremendously sad and angry. They are often financially devastated by the medical bills accompanying their loved one’s death, as well as a loss of income.  If another party’s negligence caused the death, then a wrongful death suit may be a fruitful avenue for attaining compensation for those losses. I have helped many Mississippi families understand the legal basis for a successful wrongful death lawsuit and can help you too.

If your loved one has been killed, you must immediately retain experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss. Barrett Law has the experience to help you, contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What is a Wrongful Death Case and Who Can Bring One in Mississippi?

In Mississippi, wrongful death is defined as killing anyone “by any real, wrongful or negligent act or omission.” That is broad language, but it generally means that a person must be killed as a result of either an ill-intended act or an error that that he or she could have anticipated and avoided.

Obviously, the deceased person cannot bring a wrongful death suit on his or her behalf.  But who can file the lawsuit?  Wrongful death cases in Mississippi must be brought under statute § 11-7-13, Actions for Injuries Producing Death. That statute lays out a fairly complex network of familial relationships that govern who can file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the deceased.

The action for such damages may be brought in the name of the personal representative of the deceased person or unborn quick child for the benefit of all persons entitled under the law to recover, or by widow for the death of her husband, or by the husband for the death of the wife, or by the parent for the death of a child or unborn quick child, or in the name of a child, or in the name of a child for the death of a parent, or by a brother for the death of a sister, or by a sister for the death of a brother, or by a sister for the death of a sister, or a brother for the death of a brother, or all parties interested may join in the suit, and there shall be but one (l) suit for the same death which shall ensue for the benefit of all parties concerned, but the determination of such suit shall not bar another action unless it be decided on its merits.

That is a long confusing sentence, but it boils down to the fact that immediate family members—husbands, wives, children, sons, daughters, brothers—can bring wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of their family members. But that right is limited to immediate family members, so an uncle could generally not bring a suit on behalf of a nephew, a cousin could not bring a suit on behalf of another cousin, nor could a grandchild bring a suit on behalf of a grandparent. The one exception to this is that a person’s legal representative can bring it on their behalf. Generally speaking, only immediate family members can bring a wrongful death suit on behalf of their immediate family.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured?

If your loved one was killed, you might have a viable wrongful death claim against the person responsible for their death if the death was caused negligently or wrongfully. Let experienced counsel take care of attaining statements and analysis from expert witnesses and dealing with the automobile company’s legal team. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on grieving.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you think you have a wrongful death claim on behalf of a loved one. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Conditions that Lead to Tractor-Trailer Rollover Accidents

Accidents involving tractor-trailers are some of the most devastating that I see as a personal injury attorney here in Mississippi. This is mainly due to the tremendous difference in a tractor trailer’s mass versus that of an average passenger car. Tractor trailer rollovers, where the truck rolls onto its side or even upside down, can be particularly deadly because the tractor-trailer has no control over its movement and often impacts with more than one vehicle because of its tremendous size. I wrote the following blog post to help those who have questions about how and why tractor-trailer rollovers occur and what you should do if you are injured as a result of one.

If you have been injured, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Truck Rollovers

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that more than 1,300 tanker truck rollover accidents occur in the United States yearly. Fatalities result from 60 percent of these accidents.

The high center of gravity on tractor trailers makes them more susceptible to overturning.  Certain loads, such as liquids that slosh back and forth in tanker trucks, increase this susceptibility even more.  Many other factors make a tractor-trailer more likely to overturn, listed below:

Road conditions—Truckers must stop or stay off the road when roadway conditions are too dangerous. Slick, wet, and icy roads dramatically increase the chances of a tractor-trailer rollover, as do certain construction conditions when the road surface is torn up or being repaved.

Speed—Driving too fast than conditions or roadway will allow is a primary cause of tractor trailer rollovers.  Taking curves too fast, including highway off and on-ramps, can cause truck’s loads to pull them over.  Tractor trailer drivers have to drive at a speed that will keep their trucks on the road and protect other motorists, and that does not necessarily allow them to go the speed limit.  Often the safe speed for tractor trailer is 10 miles per hour slower than the posted speed limit.

Partial Loads—It may be a bit counterintuitive, but partial loads where the truck is under capacity are more dangerous than full loads where the truck is at its weight capacity.  Partial loads are hazardous for two reasons. First, the partial load may be unevenly loaded, making the trailer unsafely heavy in one area and too light in another; this can lead to fish-tailing or swaying. Second, a full load leaves little room for movement, while a partial load can shift if it is not carefully secured.  A shifting load can also cause fish-tailing or swaying. Either way, a swaying trailer can ultimately result in a loss of control.

Truck maintenance–All of the tractor trailer’s mechanical parts, as well as the equipment required to hold the load in place, must be maintained appropriately. Even if a load is packed correctly, a broken load strap that allows the load to shift could result in a rollover.

What Should You Do If A Dangerous Roadway has Injured You or a Loved One?

If you have been injured in a truck rollover accident in Mississippi, the attorneys at Barrett Law will thoroughly investigate the circumstances and causes of the crash and help you receive the compensation that you deserve. Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert opinions regarding the trucker’s driving, and dealing with opposing attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury due to a tractor trailer rollover. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Common Workplace Injuries for Office Workers

When people hear the term “workplace injury,” they often think of a blue-collar worker getting crushed by a forklift, an iron worker falling from a steel building’s frame, or a factory worker’s hand mangled by spinning machinery.  While all of these images depict real workplace injuries, they all suggest an industrial workplace with employees who work with their hands. In fact, a large percentage of my clients here in Mississippi are white collar or office workers who work in front of computers, in cubicles, or in other workplaces where the work is not primarily physical. A wide range of workplace injuries occur in offices and employees injured in these settings are due compensation for their injuries, loss of work, and pain and suffering.

I wrote the following blog post to help individuals injured in the office work environment understand the types of injuries I commonly see arising from their work environments and what can be done to receive compensation.

If you have sustained an injury in an office setting, you must find experienced counsel to help you attain your fair share of compensation for your loss of income and injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Common Office Accidents

Ergonomic injuries. Office workers spend most of their time seated at a desk in front of a computer. This seems low impact, but there are multiple injuries caused by body positioning, or “ergonomics,” that place their health at risk.  After many months or years of repeated motion in poor ergonomic conditions can give rise to injuries related to posture, eye strain, and repetitive movements. Carpal tunnel syndrome, a debilitating wrist condition, is a classic example of this sort of repetitive motion injury.  Like a factory owner providing his employees with eye protection and gloves, white collar employers should provide their employees with a variety of chairs, keyboards, and desks. Employers should also instruct employees how to adjust these items for the most ergonomic use.

Slip-and-fall. The most common office accidents involve slipping and falling. While in a factory a slip and fall may be caused by hydraulic fluids on the workspace floor, slip and falls in an office setting are most usually caused by the tangle of cords associated with various office electronic products. Similarly, uneven surfaces, poor lighting, unmarked wet floors, and unsecured carpeting can result in office workplace injuries. Employers must prevent these injuries by minimizing and alerting employees to these hazards and raising awareness that they exist.

Lifting heavy objects. How often have you been asked to lift a box of photocopier paper, replace the water jug on the office water cooler, or lift a new piece of electronic equipment that arrived at the office?  Anyone of these objects can strain or otherwise injure an office employee’s back. Back injuries can be debilitating and are extremely difficult to treat. Employers have to warn employees if they are asked to do the heavy lifting and instruct them how to lift heavy objects if this is a part of their job. Employers can minimize these injuries by encouraging employees to call facilities workers to do the heavy lifting and by supplying dollies or heavy lifting tools.

Falling objects. It seems like every office has a supply closet stacked to the ceiling with bulky and oddly shaped supplies.  I have seen multiple employees as clients who have had objects of this nature fall onto them, causing head injuries and falls.  Employers should supply appropriate step ladders to prevent this sort of accident and should prohibit the stacking of objects high in closets in a way that could injure employees.

What Should You Do If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured?

If you were injured in an office workplace, you likely have a worker’s compensation claim for any time you have been out of work and any costs of your treatment and rehabilitation. If your employer injured you negligently, you might also have a personal injury claim for your injuries and pain and suffering. Let experienced counsel take care of attaining statements and analysis from expert witnesses and dealing with your employer’s legal team. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on healing.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury in an office accident. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Negligence and Causation in Pedestrian Accidents

As someone who has handled personal injury cases here in Mississippi for a long time, I have seen more than my share of tragedy. Consistently, some of the most serious injuries I see occur when a pedestrian is hit by an automobile or truck. Clients sometimes think that these are particularly easy cases, which is a misconception. There are often multiple defendants—the driver, any other drivers that may have instigated the accident, the government agency responsible for building and maintaining the roadway in question, even the car company—and the actual cause of the crash is often vigorously disputed.  Accordingly, my clients tend to be very thankful that I have extensive experience defending injured parties in pedestrian accident cases. Because I often receive questions about how to handle this situation, I have written the following blog post.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed, you must contact an attorney experienced in representing families in pedestrian accident cases immediately. Dealing with opposing attorneys and insurance companies is no simple task, and your loved one’s health, finances, and well-being are at stake. Barrett Law has the experience to help you during this difficult time.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

Pedestrian Accidents

You do not have to be a physicist to understand why pedestrian accidents are so severe—a car weighing many thousand pounds, moving at a high rate of speed hitting a 100 to 200-pound person moving slowly is bound to create a tremendous amount of force on the pedestrian’s body.

Under Mississippi law, it is not enough that a pedestrian was just hit by a car to collect damages. The pedestrian must also demonstrate legally that there was negligence involved and that the collision injured them. Negligence is proven when a driver knows or should have known of some risk and fails to avert it.  So if a driver is operating his vehicle while intoxicated or driving at night without headlights, he (or a reasonable person under the circumstances) should have been aware that that behavior was likely to result in some harm.

The above accident descriptions are fairly straightforward examples; the drivers were behaving in a way that was obviously negligent. Accidents are not always that clear, however. What if the driver is driving responsibly down the road and makes a right turn at a heavily wooded intersection, and because of the heavily potholed road and bushes fails to see a pedestrian crossing the street?  The driver that injured the pedestrian is likely to claim that he or she was driving responsibly—not negligently—and it may be difficult to prove otherwise. That said, the true cause of the accident may not be the driver at all. The municipality might be the negligent party if they failed to maintain the road and cut back bushes in a way that protected pedestrians. The negligence argument against the municipality would get stronger if this were the third accident at that intersection or if the municipality had received complaints about how dangerous it was.  Basically, the more a party is aware—or “on notice”—of a danger, the stronger the claim of negligence is for ignoring that danger.

What Should You Do If You Are Injured in a Pedestrian Accident?

If you or a loved one has been hit by a car while walking, contact experienced personal injury counsel immediately. Collecting evidence of the accident, dealing with opposing counsel, and attaining expert opinions about the scene are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you while you concentrate on making sure you or your family member recovers.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your loved one has been injured. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney “Boomerang Hospitalization”

Most of us are horrified by the thought of elder abuse. But as the Baby Boomer generation grows older and more and more of them enter nursing home and in-home care, instances of elder abuse are on the rise. Many family members are on the alert for any sign of physical assault, financial abuse, or neglect. One type of abuse that is less understood is “boomerang hospitalization,” the frequent admittance, rapid discharge, and frequent re-admittance of nursing home residents into hospitals. There are several effects of boomerang hospitalization that I will discuss further below, but the overall effect may be your loved one’s dwindling health and needless exposure to infection and sickness.

If you fear that an elderly loved one is being abused or taken advantage of, you must contact an attorney experienced in representing families in elder abuse situations immediately.  Your loved one’s health  and well-being are at stake. Barrett Law has the experience to help you during this difficult time.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

What Is a Boomerang Hospitalization?

Given the age of most nursing home residents, it is not surprising that they often require acute medical care that only a hospital can provide. That is not a problem. However, studies have shown that one in five Medicare patients who are discharged from a hospital to a nursing home are readmitted to the hospital within the month. This “boomerang” return to the hospital occurs at a 27 percent higher rate than for non-nursing home residents. The question is why nursing home residents return to hospitalization at such a higher frequency.

There are several troubling takeaways from the boomerang hospitalization phenomenon. First, it suggests that nursing home residents may be released too soon from the hospital, perhaps because they are being released into a quasi-medical setting. Keep in mind that that the 27 percent boomerang rate is across nursing home Medicare patients and non-nursing home Medicare patients, so the comparison is of similarly aged people. If nursing home patients are released sooner, the notion that a nursing home is “safer” may be problematic. Nursing home residents are released back into a community of similarly-aged residents who may, as a whole, have a compromised ability to fight infection, illness, and other conditions common to hospitals. Accordingly, the real effect of boomerang hospitalization may be that the nursing home patient is released too soon, which both diminishes his or her ability to recover and may result in other residents’ health being compromised.

Over the past five years, Medicare has been scrutinizing hospitals with readmission rates that are unacceptably high. Congress is now going to take on the nursing home side of the equation by working on legislation what would levy fines and grant bonuses for nursing homes depending on their rates of hospital readmission.  These efforts’ goal is to keep patients in the hospital if they are sick and to lower readmission rates. I watch for boomerang hospitalization when looking at wrongful death, abuse, and fraud cases, as it can be symptomatic of other problems.

What Should You Do If You Believe Your Loved One is Being Abused?

If you have a loved one in a nursing home who is being sent to the hospital more often than necessary, contact experienced personal injury counsel immediately. Your elderly relative may be being released too soon from the hospital, endangering his or her health, or may be subjected to some form of financial abuse. Either way, my experience taking on elder abuse and neglect will serve you well as you try to provide excellent care for your loved one.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if your loved one has experienced elder abuse. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

 

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