Michigan Personal Injury Blog - Car Crash

Spinal Cord Injuries Require Skilled and Experienced Assistance

David Mittleman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:59:44 GMT

A spinal cord injury is a serious and potentially debilitating injury that cause damage to the white matter of the spinal cord that carries signals to and from the brain. Spinal cord injuries can result from traumatic events (car crashes and falls) or one of many different types of biological origins. The vast majority of spinal cord injuries occur from some type of accident. The leading cause of spinal cord injuries are automobile accidents.

Approximately 12,000 people experience spinal cord injuries a year in the United States. Approximately 250,000 people live with a spinal cord injury. An overwhelming number of new injuries occur to people under the age of 30.

Symptoms of a spinal cord injury range from paralysis to loss of sensation at the level and below. These injuries can be located even without a complete cut off the spinal cord. Spinal cord injuries can often be a cause of death, due to respiratory failure. Survival within the first 24 hours as well as the first year after the injury greatly increase the chances of long-term survival.

If you or someone you know has suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of an accident or medical error do not hesitate to contact us. Our office has successfully managed cases involving spinal cord injuries. You can reach our office, ChurchWyble, at (888) 227-4770.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Another MSU Student Dies in Car Crash

Devon Glass — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:29:09 GMT

Michigan State University students are mourning the loss of another classmate after she was involved in a fatal car accident on October 20, 2009. Felisa Estella Rosa Barnes, 19, a communications sophomore, was traveling southbound on US-23 on her way home to Erie, Michigan, when at about 7:30 p.m. she lost control over her 1999 Grand Prix after sideswiping a semi-tractor trailer. The Grand Prix crossed the median, overturned airborne several times, entered the northbound lanes, and finally landed on top of a 1995 Chrysler Concord seriously injuring the19 year old driver from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles and had to be extricated by firefighters - Barnes was pronunced dead at the scene and the male driver of the Concord was airlifted to the University of Michigan Hospital where he is expected to survive. The driver of the semi-truck was not injured.

According to the Monroe News and the State News, Barnes was a 2008 Erie-Mason High School graduate and 2007 homecoming queen. She was involved in numerous activities including cheerleading, volunteering, student council, volleyball, track, and cross country. She also had hopes of participating in MSU’s Alternative Spring Break program, a service opportunity for students to use their breaks volunteering. Friends and family members are shocked and devastated over their loss and invite people who knew Felisa in any way to attend her funeral. Arrangements have been made and her showing is at Pawlak Funeral Home, 1620 Smith Road, Temperance, MI 48182 this Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 2-9pm. The service will be in the Erie-Mason High School Gymnasium this Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 3pm.

An investigation as to what caused the crash is still ongoing. The accident occurred in Green Oak, between Silver Road and Lee Road - a stretch of the road where there are no barriers protecting cars from crossing the median. One can’t help but wonder whether a median barrier would have saved Felisa’s life and prevented the driver of the Concord from being involved. Although it remains yet to be seen exactly why Felisa lost control over her car, some people believe she may have been texting and driving. Regardless, this is just another tragic reminder of the dangers associated with driving and just how valuable life can be.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

Elderly Driver Dies In Fatal Mid-Day Collision Near Frandor Shopping Center

Devon Glass — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:20:21 GMT

A fatal accident can occur at any time of the day, not just during rush hour or in the still of the night. 82-year-old Calvin Drake from Morrice, died last week from injuries sustained during an accident that took place around 1:30 p.m., Monday, October 5, near the Frandor Shopping Center.

Mr. Drake was transporting two passengers when he was traveling west on H.A. Sellers Avenue when his vehicle collided with another vehicle traveling north on North Homer Street. Lansing Police were still investigating the crash as of late last week, but alcohol was not a factor in this mid-day crash.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

A rare win for car crash victims in the Court of appeals

Timothy Smith — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:22:31 GMT

Since the Kreiner decision came out of Michigan's Supreme Court, citizens injured through no fault of their own have faced an uphill battle to receive any compensation for their pain and suffering. Michigan's Supreme Court, who at the time was dominated by a majority of conservatives [all of whom received significant campaign contributions from the auto insurance industry], made it nearly impossible for any auto accident victim in Michigan to prevail against the negligent driver that crippled them.

But, we seem to see a swing back towards common sense when it comes to Michigan car accident law. The recent Court of Appeals case of Craiger v. Oakley is a perfect example.

In Craiger, the Plaintiff went to the hospital after being involved in a car accident caused by defendant Oakley. Oakley was driving a van owned by his employer, Port Huron Auto Glass. After suffering pain throughout his body, plaintiff’s doctor performed an MRI which revealed a meniscal tear. Plaintiff then underwent surgery but his knee continued to hyper extend [flex to far forward], leading the doctor to perform knee replacement surgery.

Plaintiff first filed a suit seeking first-party benefits such as payment of medical bills and lost wages from Farmers Insurance and also pain and suffering damages from the defendants. The trial court granted Defendants’ motion for summary disposition after they argued that plaintiff’s knee problems were not related to the car accident. The trial court generally found that the plaintiff did not show he suffered a threshold injury. In Michigan, an injured person must not only show that the other driver was at fault, but that they were in fact injured AND that the injury was so severe, that it altered their life in a significant fashion.

The Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred in granting the defendants’ motion for summary disposition. They found that the Plaintiff did present a question of fact concerning the issue that his knee problems resulted from the car accident. Furthermore, the Court of Appeals agreed that the plaintiff did meet the threshold injury by showing he suffered an impairment of an important body function and that it was objectively manifested. They did agree that the trial court correctly noted that the plaintiff ended his career as a commercial painter due to financial reasons; however, the Court of Appeals said that painting was still plaintiff’s trade and now he lost the option of going back to that trade in better economic times. The Appeals Court described why they felt this injury was serious enough for the plaintiff:

The trial court erred when it found that, even if plaintiff demonstrated that his knee injury was caused or exacerbated by the accident, plaintiff could not meet the test of establishing a threshold injury. Plaintiff showed that he suffered an impairment of an important body function and that this impairment was objectively manifested. Plaintiff has further demonstrated that his general ability to conduct the course of his life has been affected.

Plaintiff suffered pain for a year after the accident, was forced to undergo major reconstructive surgery, and had great difficulty walking for seven weeks following the surgery. He underwent physical therapy from the surgery until October of 2006. Thus, the “nature and extent of the impairment” and “the type and length of treatment required” factors involved in this case support plaintiff’s position that he suffered a threshold injury. Plaintiff suffers continued, and presumably permanent, residual effects. Although plaintiff’s level of pain has apparently diminished since the knee replacement surgery, he still reports discomfort that occurs five or six times each day.

The trial court correctly noted that plaintiff had ended his career as a commercial painter due to financial reasons, however, painting was still plaintiff’s trade and he has now lost the option of returning to that trade in better economic times. One of plaintiff’s physicians stated that plaintiff was employable in a career that involved “no repetitive bending or prolonged standing.” This restriction would prevent plaintiff from returning to work as a painter. Furthermore, plaintiff formerly enjoyed woodworking, including restoring cabinetry, and had been offered a contract to restore the cabinets in a house, but could not do so because of the accident. He claimed that he could no longer participate in this activity because he could not walk up and down to varnish pieces of wood.

Plaintiff’s injury caused him to have to make a decision between a lifetime of knee hyper extensions resulting in “sharp screaming pain” and having his knee joint replaced with synthetic parts. While the knee replacement has led to some improvement in his ability to function, plaintiff is still missing a portion of his body that he will never retrieve. Plaintiff must forever depend on an artificial joint for his mobility and continues to suffer from chronic pain in his knee which will prevent him from returning to work in his previous occupation and prevents him from enjoying his woodworking hobby.

Although the length of time a plaintiff is off work following a car accident seems to be a yardstick for our state courts, this decision still comes to the correct conclusion. You may recall prior posts of mine that describe victims of auto accidents who were left with permanent limps and disfigurement, yet their cases were thrown out of court for not being "serious enough". But here, the Court of Appeals got it right. They reversed the decision of the trial court and sent the plaintiff back to have his day in court.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

Las Vegas Lawyers and Doctors Go All In For Fraud

Devon Glass — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:44:06 GMT

Beginning in 1999, a few doctors and lawyers in the Las Vegas area decided it would be a great idea to trump up accident related injuries to increase the damages awarded to people injured in automobile accidents or bring false medical malpractice claims against innocent doctors. According to an indictment issued through the FBI and US Attorney Gregory Brower, Dr. Mark Kabins, Noel Gage, Howard Awand, and Dr. John Thalgott, all conspired to falsify medical records, improperly refer an person to a personal injury attorney, and sue an innocent doctor in order to cover up the improper treatment by Drs. Kabins and Thalgott. If this is starting to sound like a John Grisham novel, things are just getting started. But before we get too far into the details of this case, I would like to make it clear the lawyers and doctors involved in this are awful people who have no business practicing law or medicine. The lawyers involved certainly acted unethically and did things I personally would never even think about, but they also do not represent the vast majority of lawyers who represent injured people. Those attorneys make it easier for people to stereotype attorneys as sleazy so I want to make it clear those attorneys are despicable and unprofessional and I want to do what I can to help keep that stereotype from spreading since it's false.

An article on CNNMoney sums up how the scheme worked for the Las Vegas "medical mafia".

Prosecutors charge that a group of top Las Vegas plaintiffs lawyers and doctors, with the 64-year-old Awand at its center, conspired in an audacious fraud. The participants appeared to act independently but instead colluded. Unwitting accident victims were recruited as plaintiffs and then persuaded to undergo serious, sometimes needless, surgeries. The procedures, in turn, helped inflate the size of personal-injury claims. The result was multimillion-dollar insurance settlements, even for dubious cases, and lucrative fees for the doctors, the lawyers, and, of course, Howard Awand.

The alleged scheme began in 1999 and lasted for at least six years, prosecutors charge. Business and court records and local press reports suggest that the group -- which numbered about 30 -- colluded in hundreds of suits that yielded hundreds of millions in settlements. According to government evidence, the group coordinated their testimony as expert witnesses, lied under oath, protected one another from malpractice lawsuits -- even after the surgeries left a few patients paralyzed -- and ate away at the plaintiffs' settlement money with kickbacks disguised as contingency fees.

The case that finally got them caught involved Cynthia Johnson and her relatively minor auto accident.

Cynthia Johnson, an office manager for a real estate company, was driving to work on Interstate 15 near the Las Vegas strip when a fellow commuter clipped the rear bumper of her Toyota Avalon, propelling it into the truck in front. No one seemed hurt, and the drivers exchanged information.

The accident, on June 12, 2002, might have been forgotten. But Johnson woke up the next day with back pain. She went to her regular doctor but was told that she'd have to pay all her treatment costs upfront, since a car accident could result in lawsuits and her health insurance might not cover her. Worried about the costs, she consulted a physician friend, who pledged to find someone to help her.

No more than 30 minutes later she got a call from a man named Howard Awand, who said he was in the business of handling such cases. Awand (pronounced AY-wand) managed to get her an appointment that night with one of the busiest spine surgeons in the country, Mark Kabins. After examining her, the surgeon referred her to several other doctors and said that Awand had also arranged for her to see one of the town's most prominent plaintiffs attorneys, Robert Vannah. All for a routine accident on the way to work. Johnson couldn't believe her luck.

Better still, she didn't have to pay any money upfront. On her first visit to Vannah's office, she signed a medical lien. Such agreements mean injured parties pay nothing unless they collect a settlement; if that happens, the person holding the lien (which could be a plaintiffs lawyer, a doctor, or a hospital) is then paid from the settlement. "Over the next six weeks, I had so many doctor's appointments that I couldn't keep up," recalls Johnson, who was grateful for the attention but also confused by a directive from Vannah's office: Don't mention Howard Awand's name to anybody.

Awand is the thread that ties all of the players together. He was the one at the center of the alleged conspiracy, getting injured people doctor appointments and an attorney. In the end, the lawyer would pay back the doctors who helped provide falsified medical records or who helped pin the blame on the wrong doctor. This unethical behavior between the doctors and lawyers eventually got so big that the federal government took notice. It's not hard to believe that would happen when you are talking about hundreds of cases and millions of dollars, with all of the cases working out just right for the plaintiff.

The scheme began to unravel when Dr. Thalgott decided he wanted out. Melodie Simon, 41, had vertebrae fusion surgery performed by Dr. Thalgott in August 2000, afterwords he went on a preplanned vacation. Ms. Simon developed numbness and tingling related to a blood clot in her spine. Dr. Kabins, the surgeon who was supposed to be covering Dr. Thalgott's patients while he was on vacation, allegedly ignored the complaints until it was too late, Ms. Simon would be paralyzed from the chest down for the rest of her life.

Ms. Simon hired Noel Gage to represent her, and Mr. Gage then worked with Dr. Thalgott, Mr. Awand, and Dr. Kabins to pin the blame on the anesthesiologist who had drained Ms. Simon's spine during the surgery. As a result of the coordinated effort, Mr. Gage settled the case for 2 million. While that is a huge amount by most standards, had Ms. Simon been able to sue Dr. Thalgott or Dr. Kabins, it would likely have settled for closer to 10 million. That is a significant difference to someone who is paralyzed for the rest of their life due to a doctors medical malpractice.

After Dr. Thalgott had a change of heart on his unethical practices, he agreed to pay Ms. Simon 1.5 million for the trouble he caused. He is still being investigated by the county and state medical boards for the problems he helped create by falsifying records and providing questionable treatments. Although Dr. Thalgott was provided immunity for his testimony, there has yet to be a conviction against Gage, Awand or Kabins at this time. The legal proceedings continue at this time against all of them, and it's best to read the litany of articles that exist if you want a more detailed picture of what is exactly happening currently.

This is an unfortunate situation that ended up harming the people the lawyers and doctors were supposed to be helping. They all claim innocence on the allegations, but I am hopeful they will get what's coming to them. It is deplorable for people to prey on the innocent and weak at their most vulnerable, and to so completely and utterly exploit them for sinister motives and financial gain. I have nothing but contempt for the so-called professionals caught in this situation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

Drunk Driver Faces Felony Charges After Killing 80-year-old retired Postal Worker

Devon Glass — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:54:00 GMT

32-year-old Efrain Garcia-Miron faces charges of operating while intoxicated causing death, as a result of driving his vehicle head-on into a Ford Taurus driven by 80-year-old Leonard Dykstra, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker.

Mr. Dykstra subsequently died from his injuries at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital. The crash took place on Friday, July 24, 2009, just before 10:00 p.m. Mr. Dykstra had been driving north on Wilson Avenue in Walker, when Mr. Garcia-Miron, from Wyoming, MI, crossed the center-line of Wilson Avenue as he was traveling south and struck Mr. Dykstra's vehicle head-on.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

Rockford Woman Dies After Rollover Crash on Sunday

David Mittleman — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:16:22 GMT

Rockford, MI—58-year-old Alice Brownswell Phillips died on Sunday after her vehicle collided with another vehicle that was pulling out of a driveway on Alpine Avenue NW. Phillips, who was driving north on Alpine, lost control of her Chevy Cavalier after the impact, causing it to hit a curb. The vehicle subsequently rolled over, pinning Phillips inside. Phillip’s mother, a passenger, was not seriously injured. The other driver was a 19-year-old Grand Rapids woman, who may face charges.

Phillip’s mother, Elizabeth Key, recently recounted the horrific final moments of her daughter’s life. Key remembers her daughter telling her “Mom, I can’t breathe” before she was removed from the car by rescuers. Phillips was eventually taken to the hospital, where she died from head injuries and bleeding in her abdomen.

Phillips helped take care of Key, whose health had declined in recent years because of her diabetes. In fact, Phillips moved several years ago from California to Michigan to be there for her mother. She was also a mother of four children, a grandmother to five grandchildren, and a great-grandmother to two great-grandchildren. She doted on all of the kids, according to Key, and was coming back from purchasing shoes at Target for one of her grandsons, when the crash occurred. Police plan to forward a report to Kent County prosecutors for possible charges against the 19-year-old who caused the crash, whose name has not been released.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Auto Crash Brain Injury Victims Call For Stronger Consumer Protection

Timothy Smith — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:27:09 GMT

Michael Dabbs, president of the Brain Injury Association of Michigan [BIAMI] announced on Monday July 13, 2009 that the BIAMI, insurance industry whistle blowers, medical providers and accident victims have come together to support proposed legislation that will create tougher penalties for insurance companies that deny policy holder's legitimate medical claims.

"In cases of serious auto accidents - and particularly in cases of brain injury - time is of the essence in providing rehabilitative care," said Mike Dabbs, president of the Brain Injury Association of Michigan and spokesperson for CPAN. "Especially in the first year of recovery, every day lost fighting with insurance companies rather than receiving treatment renders the accident victim less able to fully regain the skills affected by their injury."

The proposed legislation is modeled after similar laws in 46 other states and consists of a 12-bill package including House Bills 4844, 4244, 4846, 5020 and House Bills 5144-5151.

"Policyholders faithfully pay premiums so that when they are injured, their insurance company will be there to help," said Dabbs. "Unfortunately, auto insurance companies all too often will delay, deny and defend claims rather than responding with the same good-faith toward their customers."

The timing of this package of bills couldn't be better as our Michigan Appeals Court's have recently issued some of the most anti-consumer rulings in recent memory. In particular - Johnson v. Wausau

The plaintiff in Johnson was a 16 year old girl named Nancy. When she was 10 month's old, she suffered a catastrophic brainy injury in an auto accident. Her guardian/caretaker contacted Nancy's father's auto insurance company who was legally responsible for all of Nancy's medical care and medical services.

Nancy's caretaker was told that the only benefits she was entitled to was $20/day which represented "replacement services" under the No-Fault Statute. In saying this, the adjuster deliberately withheld information regarding "attendant care benefits" under the No-Fault statute. Attendant Care benefits under the No-Fault Statute requires auto insurors to pay caregivers a commercially reasonable hourly rate to provide medical assistance to people that provide medical assistance to the injured after discharge from the hospital.

For example, if someone is so brain injured that they cannot be left alone because their judgment is impaired, then the family has to hire someone to supervise the injured person. Typically this type of care - supervision, home exercise, getting dressed, cooking meals, monitoring medication - is provided by in-home nurses. But, in some cases, families don't want a stranger in their house every day. Sometimes, families want to provide the care themselves. In that case, the law requires the auto insurance company to pay the family a commercially reasonable rate, i.e. the rate that they would have paid the in-home care company.

Unfortunately, the insuror in the Johnson case deliberately withheld this information from the family. In fact, they withheld this information for over 16 years. There were occasions when the family specifically asked Wausau if they were entitled to additional benefits beyond the $20/day and they were told "NO".

Essentially, the insurance company lied to the family to avoid paying money that they legally owed to the family of a 10 month girl who was severely brain injured in an auto accident.

When the family finally consulted with an attorney to confirm whether or not they were entitled to additional/mandatory medical benefits, they found out that they had been lied to for the last 16 years and sued Wausau claiming not only breach of contract but fraud.

Sounds like a slam dunk, right?

Not so fast. Enter the Michigan Court of Appeals. They decided that even though the family had been lied to, even though the insurance company deliberately withheld this critical information from the family, they weren't entitled to any of the past benefits from the prior 16 years.

Why?

The Court's opinion goes something like this -

1. We should all assume our insurance companies will lie to us.

2. When an insurance company lies to us, we do not have the right to bring a lawsuit against them for fraud because we should have known better and sought a second opinion from an attorney who knows what they're doing.

3. If you take what your insurance company tells you at face value, if you believe it to be true [I mean, why would they lie to you? Aren't they there to help?] if you rely on what the insurance company tells you, it's your own damn fault if they hoodwink you.

Wow......... it is amazing the lengths that our Michigan Courts will go to in protecting insurance companies. You would thinking that there should be some law that requires good faith and fair dealing between an insuror and it's insured. [there is]

You would think that there should be some law that recognizes that the insurance companies know more about the insurance laws than their policy holders and that they should not be allowed to take advantage of that knowledge to deny claims. [there is]

The concept espoused by the Courts that "you should have gone to an attorney to see if they were hoodwinking you" is completely and unequivocally wrong.

Families of brain injured children don't have competent No-Fault Insurance attorneys on speed dial so that they can check and double check every statement made to them by their insurance adjusters nor could they afford it.

Why should families have to go hire an attorney to make sure they are not being deceived by their own insurance company. The money spent on an attorney to answer questions that their own insurance company knows the answer to is money that should be spent on the care, rehabilitation and recovery of that child. Period. End of story.

Bravo to Michael Dabbs and all the legislators and supporters of this proposed legislation. If you would like to contact your own state representative to let them know that you support the passage of these bills - bills that will protect children who have suffered a brain injury and their families - click here to contact your senator or representative and let them know how you feel.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Timothy Smith

Family and Friends Mourn Loss of Teenager Who Was Killed by Drunk Driver

Devon Glass — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:37:49 GMT

Holland—Kevin Babcock, a 44-year-old man, hit and killed Curtis Jacobs, a 19-year-old bicyclist, and seriously injured Christian Van Wyngarden, also 19, on Saturday on U.S. 31 near Holland. The two teens were part of a group of bicyclists. Mr. Babcock is now in jail on charges for second-degree murder and driving while intoxicated. When interrogated, the motorist admitted to consuming as many as twenty drinks before the 8:30 a.m. crash. Moreover, police reports showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .16 percent, which is twice the legal limit.

Police reported that Babcock was speeding and driving erratically, and that he drove through a red light and struck the two boys on their bicycles, as they were attempting to cross the highway with a larger group of bicyclists. After the collision, he backed the car up and attempted to drive away. However, police were able to stop him three miles north of the accident site.

Babcock’s license has been suspended since 1993, and his girlfriend is now being questioned because he was driving her car. If police find that she “knowingly permitted” him to drive her vehicle with a suspended license, she could face up to five years in prison. Berry alleges she did not know that Babcock had a suspended license, but was aware of his previous legal problems, including four alcohol-related driving convictions.

Curtis's visitation will be today at Ridge Point Community Church with his funeral services to be held tomorrow, Friday July 3, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. at the same location.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

Put the Brakes on Driving While Texting

David Mittleman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:10:57 GMT

You're driving on the highway. You are going past, or being passed, by another vehicle. It's your natural reaction to glance over to look at the driver. That's when you see it: a teenager’s fingers flying over a miniature keyboard as they text their friends with their eyes facing down rather than on the road. That’s right, I’m referring to “driving while texting”. As a parent, it’s very difficult to read the statistics: each year 21% of all fatal car crashes involve teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 who were using their cell phone at the time of impact, either while talking to a friend or more frequently while sending text messages. Even more alarming, researchers estimate this number to grow by as much as 4% each year.

Safe Driving Systems announced a technology back in May that will remedy this dangerous problem: Key2SafeDriving. This product is the first of its kind and will essentially eliminate distracted driving by rerouting calls and text messages when the user is driving. Specifically, the device’s features include:

The Key2SafeDriving is a Bluetooth device that is fitted onto the ignition key and wirelessly jams the driver’s cell phone.
So long as the key is in the ignition the cell phone cannot be used. The device also sends a text message to parents alerting them when their teen attempts to use the cell phone while it is in driving mode.
Safe Driving Mode: when the user is driving, the cell phone immediately goes into safe driving mode by sending calls directly to voicemail and sending an automated text message to incoming texts to indicate that the user is driving.
Emergency use enabled: when the phone is in Safe Driving Mode, it is still able to call 911 and other numbers by the administrator managed personal profile.

The version I of the device will retail for $49.99 plus a $10 monthly service charge. This device can ease parents’ minds as they send their teens out on the roads, and most importantly, save young lives and the lives of other motorists. These are returns that are well worth the out-of-pocket cost.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman