Automobile Accidents

• Court of Appeals Holds That Livestock Owner Did Not Breach the Standard of Care When it Failed to Warn or Fence Land Adjacent to a Roadway Through an Open Range

  Geoff Trachtenberg | May 11, 2007 5:12 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  The other day, Division One affirmed the trial court's granting summary judgment to a livestock owner in connection with an accident occurring on a portion of unfenced "open range" land. The case, Brookover v. Roberts Enterprises, Inc., held that the plaintiff failed to show facts evidencing conduct below the applicable standard of "ordinary care."To get there the Court of Appeals seized upon...

• Arizona Civil Jury Verdicts for 2006

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 27, 2007 1:56 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  The numbers are out for civil jury verdicts and they are not pretty. Indeed, they are generally very low and, since they include commercial cases in the average (which can skew the numbers quite a lot), we pay more attention to the median numbers.2006 Reported Arizona VerdictsAverages vs. Medians {mso-displayed-decimal-separator:"\\."; mso-displayed-thousand-separator:"\\,";}@page {margin:1.0in...

• Statute of Limitations in Uninsured and Underinsured Personal Injury Claims

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 23, 2007 5:57 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Recently the Arizona Legislature enacted a new and shorter statute of limitations for UM/UIM claims. The applicable section is ARS 12-555.For uninsured motorist (UM) claims such claims, such claims must be made in writing within three years after the earliest of (i) the date you knew that the tortfeasor was uninsured; or (ii) the date you knows or should have known that coverage was denied by...

• So, You Say You Have "Full Coverage" -- Well, You Don't.

  Geoff Trachtenberg | April 18, 2007 9:33 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  Let me make this clear: there is no such thing as full coverage. It's really that simple.What types of coverage is there? There's first-party coverages, such as comprehensive, collision, medical payments, and underinsured and uninsured motorist. Then there's third-party coverages such as property damage and bodily injury. And then there are other coverages, such as rental and towing.But...

• The Most Important Coverage - UM/UIM

  Geoff Trachtenberg | March 20, 2007 8:09 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  "What do you mean they don't have insurance?!" is something every injury attorney hears at some stage.Whether the issue is no coverage or limited coverage, with healthcare costs being what they are today, odds are that the person who injures you will not have sufficient insurance coverage. That is one reason why uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage (called "UM" and "UIM,"...

• Wrong Way Driver Killed in Crash

  Christina Cole | March 13, 2007 11:20 PM | 0 CommentsScottsdale, AZ

  A fatal early morning car accident left one man dead and forced Eastbound 202 to close down for hours.Witnesses say a driver traveling the wrong way was the cause of the accident that occurred at 3:30am. Officials say a driver got onto the Scottsdale Road exit ramp and was traveling west in the eastbound lane when his car collided with a Suburban causing it to spin into a third car. The driver...

• Teenage Driving in Arizona

  Staff Writer | December 27, 2006 12:52 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A recent press release from the Arizona Automobile Association suggests, Arizona is far behind in being a safe state for the riskiest group of all teens. The state could do more to make it a safer state for ALL drivers by putting stricter limits on teenagers, the state's most dangerous drivers.Statistics supplied by AAA Arizona back up its conclusion that too many teenagers drive with reckless...

• Insurance Institute Vehicle Safety Statistics

  Staff Writer | November 12, 2006 12:35 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  In September, 2006, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety came out with a report about the safety of various new cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles. Data from crash, theft and injury reports show actual safety performance for newer vehicles. According to the vehicle safety report:The results show that insurance losses for injuries, vehicle damage, and theft vary widely. Vehicle size...

• Airbags Save Lives

  Staff Writer | October 16, 2006 10:51 AM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  A recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety confirms that airbag use saves lives. An airbag deployment in a side impact automobile accident is thirty-seven percent more likely to save the life of the driver than in a non-deployment impact. This figure rises to fifty-two percent if the accident involves a sport utility vehicle. This means that in automobile accidents, airbag...

• I Was in a Car Accident -- Now What?

  Andrew Defusco | March 10, 2006 9:58 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  Eventually, it is likely to happen to each of us: we're involved in an automobile accident. Now what?Your health comes first. Check around you to see if you or anybody else suffered injuries. If someone suffered injury, render aid where appropriate (by contacting the police or 911 immediately). Do so as quickly as possible. Emergency medical personnel who arrive at the accident scene...