Posted on July 15, 2016 in Car Accidents

A United States appeals court has ruled that General Motors is not protected from lawsuits that arose from a deadly ignition switch defect. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that keeping plaintiffs from suing the automakers over their lost vehicle values and accidents due to the ignition switch would violate their right to due process. This is because the plaintiffs were not told about the vehicle defect before GM filed for bankruptcy.

General Motors was trying to keep hundreds of lawsuits at arm's length that were based on the faulty ignition switch. They believed that the bankruptcy in 2009 would automatically bar the plaintiffs because GM because a new corporate entity.

The lawyers for some of the plaintiffs who are filing injury and death cases against the auto manufacturer will be affected by that decision. In addition, those who filed claims because their vehicle lost value due to the recall will also be affected. Those claims could be worth as much as $7 to $10 billion.

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 Posted on July 08, 2016 in Drunk Driving Accidents

One of the worst things about drunk driving accidents is that they are completely preventable. In Virginia as in every other state, legal intoxication begins at a blood alcohol content of.08 percent.

At Locklin & Coleman, PLLC, we are unrelenting in our pursuit of maximum compensation for drunk driving accident victims. We don't just stop at compensation for our client's injuries or damages, but we pursue punitive damages as well. We believe that the selfish person who made the decision to drink and drive should be held completely liable. When someone's BAC is.15 or more, punitive damages can be sought. This is a way to punish the drunk driver for the devastation he or she has caused.

The common accidents that occur with drunk drivers include head-on collisions, rear-end collisions at high rates of speed and blowing through stoplights to collide with oncoming traffic. These dangerous collisions often result in injuries with catastrophic consequences. When we develop a case for a drunk driving accident victim, we consider everything, including ongoing and past medical care, pain and suffering, lost earnings, lost enjoyment of life, permanent disability and more.

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 Posted on July 01, 2016 in Car Accidents

The results from a recently released study found that there is a correlation between night-shift work and drowsy driving. The study was down by researchers with Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Sixteen night-shift workers were required to complete certain driving tasks on a closed track.

The researchers compared how workers drove after getting five hours of sleep and how they drove after just getting off of a night shift. Some of the findings included:

— Thirty-eight percent of those driving after working all night almost had a near-crash. Those who had several hours of sleep did not have any near-crashes.

— Ocular measures of the drivers who had just completed a night shift were significantly higher than those who had a few hours of sleep.

— Seven of the drives that were done after ending a night shift had to be discontinued because the driver was not able to keep the control of the vehicle.

— The near-crash events and discontinued drives occurred 45 minutes or more after starting the drive for those who worked a night shift.

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 Posted on June 24, 2016 in Truck Accidents

When an accident occurs involving a semi truck and trailer, the chances are very high that someone will suffer serious injuries or death. It usually happens to the occupants of the other vehicle because of the size and weight of the semi.

Last year, there were 3,978 buses and large trucks involved in fatal crashes. While this is a decrease of 5 percent from the previous year, that is still an unacceptable fatality rate. Many of the accidents involving semi trucks are due to driver fatigue, speeding and impairment. These are all causes that are due to choices made by the driver to get behind the wheel when he or she shouldn't be.

At Locklin & Coleman, PLLC, we represent people who have been injured in truck accidents and the family members of those who have been killed. We know that these accidents can turn your life upside down, weighing you down with high medical expenses and lost wages. If the primary breadwinner for the family is injured or killed, the financial toll the accident places on the family can be even more severe.

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 Posted on June 15, 2016 in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents

When a family loses a loved one in a motor vehicle accident because of someone else's negligence or recklessness, nothing is ever the same. The at-fault driver may be charged criminally in connection with the person's death and some sense of justice may be found if there is a conviction.

There are expenses that the family must endure, too. If the person did not die at the accident scene, there may be extraordinary medical bills. Funeral expenses can be difficult to come up with, especially in cases of unexpected deaths. The person who died may have been the primary breadwinner for the family, so the immediate loss of income can create a financial hardship.

Many families decide to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the party or parties responsible for their loved one's death. In order to do so, the lawsuit must be filed by a personal representative of the decedent.

If damages are awarded in a wrongful death lawsuit, they are to be distributed to:

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 Posted on June 09, 2016 in Truck Accidents

Those who stand behind self-driving vehicles promise that such vehicles will help reduce emissions, reduce the number of deaths from fatal vehicle accidents, boost productivity and much more. Unfortunately, there's another effect that some people just can't seem to accept. What about all the jobs that will lost if self-driving cars become the norm? What about all of the commercial drivers who would be without a job if there were driverless trucks?

The most common occupation in 29 states is truck driver, according to a National Public Radio study. If you include taxi drivers and bus drivers with the 1.7 million truck drivers in the U.S., there are 8 million people in this country who earn their living driving.

A man who is the chief executive officer and founder of a company that develops software for automating different trucking functions believes that many blue collar jobs will disappear because of driverless vehicles. He believes that society will eventually get to a point where people don't work. However, he doesn't believe that will happen all at once, and he believes that trucks will be the last vehicles that are automated because of the difficulties navigating cities, the complexity of a separated trailer and tractor, and the sheer size.

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 Posted on June 03, 2016 in Commercial Vehicle Accidents

The photos of the accident scene are horrifying: a burned out sedan and a burned out cab of a dump truck. The accident occurred in Gainesville, Virginia, which is just under 10 miles from Manassas, Virginia.

Reports indicate that the two-vehicle accident occurred on Wednesday, June 1, at about 3:46 p.m., at the intersection of Lake Manassas Drive and Lee Highway.

When the Prince William County police arrived at the accident scene, the car was fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters extinguished the fire, but the driver inside the vehicle was already deceased. The dump truck driver suffered minor injuries.

It took police almost seven hours to get all lanes of traffic reopened on both roadways. The crash is still being investigated and a determination of fault has not been released yet.

When a loved one has died in an accident with a commercial vehicle, most people won't understand what your family will have to endure physically, emotionally and financially. Fatal accidents can turn family's life upside down and while you're trying to mourn your loss, there are other concerns that have to be dealt with, too.

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 Posted on May 25, 2016 in Car Accidents

Imagine just for a moment, the type of car accident that would require six medical helicopters to transport the injured. If you're like many people, you probably imagine a crash involving multiple vehicles. However, a recent crash on Lignum Road, just south of Route 3 in Culpeper, sent six people to the hospital via medical helicopter.

According to police reports, air ambulances from the surrounding areas, including Manassas, were called in to transport victims after the driver ran off the road. She then ran off the other side of the road and struck several trees. Authorities said that one passenger was ejected from the 2005 Cadillac and three others were trapped inside the vehicle.

No one died from their injuries. However, the driver is listed in critical condition in Charlottesville at the Virginia Medical Center. The names and conditions of the other five people were not known. There were at least two children in the vehicle.

AirCare 5 stated on Facebook that seeing that having this many Medevacs in one place is not common. It's post read, "Amazing teamwork, organization and communication by all agencies involved."

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 Posted on May 20, 2016 in Car Accidents

Over 6 million car accidents happen each year in the U.S. If you have been involved in one, you may have suffered a physical injury, but some people also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder afterwards.

You might find that you experience the following feelings in the days after the accident:

— Shock

— Anger

— Fear or uneasiness

— Nervousness or worry

— Guilt

— Trouble believing the accident really happened

You might also find that it is difficult to stop thinking about what happened or that the accident seems like it is on a video loop in your head.

Experiencing these feelings is normal after a traumatic event; however, when they become so strong that you are unable to live a normal life, it may be time to seek help.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can change the way you act and think. You may find that you have strong feelings and that they are interfering with your everyday life. Some of the sign of PTSD include;

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 Posted on May 13, 2016 in Drunk Driving Accidents

Drinking and driving can kill innocent pedestrians, bicyclists and other motorists, yet some people get behind the wheel while impaired anyway. The Virginia Highway Safety Office published traffic crash facts from 2014, including alcohol-related crashes.

The VHSO defines an alcohol related crash as a "crash where a driver, bicyclist or pedestrian is listed on the police report as drinking before the crash." In order to determine if alcohol was consumed beforehand, police often rely on someone's blood alcohol content. In order for a crash to be considered alcohol-related, the person's BAC must be.01 or greater.

While there was a slight decrease in the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes from 2013, there were still 251 people who lost their lives. Another 5,003 people were injured, which decreased by 5.39 percent from 2013.

Eleven teens between the ages of 15 and 19 were killed and 377 were injured in alcohol-related crashes.

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