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Most personal injury accidents are not accidents at all. They are preventable incidents that stem from someone’s carelessness. In these situations, the at-fault party may bear both criminal and civil liability in Tennessee.

A criminal case and a civil case are two separate legal processes, under two separate justice systems. Understanding the difference is important for accident survivors, as one could result in financial compensation for injuries.

Criminal liability for the incident

A person may bear criminal liability for personal injuries if he or she broke a state or federal law during the accident. An example would be a drunk driver who kills a pedestrian in Knoxville. Breaking the state’s DUI laws and causing a fatal accident could lead to prosecutors pressing criminal charges against the drunk driver.

The point of the criminal justice system is to punish the defendant for intentional wrongful conduct. A judge may convict a defendant of a crime and issue a penalty in the form of a sentence, such as jail time or fines.

Civil liability for damages

The goal of the civil system, on the other hand, is to compensate the victim of the crime. It is up to the state’s Attorney General to press criminal charges against someone after a serious accident in Tennessee. It is the victim’s responsibility, however, to pursue civil damages. The victim (or his or her attorney) needs to file a personal injury claim against the at-fault party to claim financial recovery.

A civil lawsuit aims to reimburse the claimant for medical bills and other losses related to the defendant’s wrongful act or neglect. If someone is civilly liable, it means that person is legally responsible for paying the economic and noneconomic costs of the incident.

A defendant could be both criminally and civilly liable, but this is not always so. A not-guilty verdict in a criminal case could still mean the defendant negligently caused the plaintiff’s injuries. Most civil statutes of limitations, or deadlines for filing a suit, extend until the completion of a related criminal case.

The electric scooter phenomenon has been sweeping into major American cities for a few years now. With shared scooters entering Knoxville on a one-year pilot run, citizens of the city may be excited to take part in the fun.

Though scooter companies like Zagster and VeoRide believe that shared electric scooters provide an eco-friendly alternative for commuting in the city, you may see many riders and tourists jumping on the scooters just for the joy of the ride. While many may enjoy the new amenity, there are concerns for public safety that accompany the fun.

Street safety and scooters

Electric scooters can travel up to 15 miles per hour. If a rider is struck by a motor vehicle, the injuries could be severe. Furthermore, drivers will have to adjust to the presence of these scooters on the road, which may cause an increase in accidents. This will be a concern especially for the city of Knoxville, which has made the provision that scooter users will not be able to ride on sidewalks.

Scooter malfunction is also a safety concern for those who plan on using the new scooters. Shared scooters, like other rental equipment, may have suffered misuse and vandalism from previous users. It is unclear how often the scooter companies may be able to perform maintenance on their vehicles.

Liability and scooter accidents

As these scooters are brand new to Knoxville, personal injury cases involving them may have complicated and potentially contentious legal implications. Be careful not to be reckless when testing out the new scooters to minimize your chances of experiencing an accident.

To say that hearing is important would be an understatement. You probably enjoy listening to your children play. You might like going to hear live music. And whether in business or your personal life, communication is vital.

But most Americans suffer from hearing loss at some point in their lives. And if you have served in the military, you could be one of over 2.7 million veterans receiving disability benefits due to problems related to hearing loss or ringing in your ears, even after the diligent use of earplugs.

Why are earplugs so important?

Any way you can reduce the level of sound entering your ears is important to retaining your hearing. Extreme noise levels can affect your body in many ways, including:

• Damage to inner-ear nerve endings
• Permanent hearing loss
• Tinnitus (ringing in your ears)
• Increased stress
• High blood pressure
• Sleep loss
• Decreased immunity

Countless members of the armed forces have used earplugs while serving in the military. But lawsuits related to allegedly defective earplugs have already cost the company who manufactured and sold the combat earplugs millions of dollars.

3M allegedly knew their product was defective

If you served between 2003 and 2015, you may have used 3M’s Combat Arms earplugs. And it may be of interest to know that hundreds of soldiers have filed lawsuits against the company for allegedly providing a defective product.

Some 3M employees were allegedly aware of the earplug defects in 2000. However, false claims about meeting military standards resulted in many military members suffering from hearing loss, troubles with balance and ringing in their ears.

You do not need to accept negligence

If you used 3M’s earplugs during your time in service and are suffering from the company’s alleged negligent acts and false claims, you might be able to hold them accountable. Considering your best efforts to protect your hearing, you may be interested in exploring your options if you feel a defective product, such as 3M’s earplugs, contributed to your hearing loss.

Every year there is a renewed effort to lower the number of drivers operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. While these efforts certainly do help provide awareness and education about the dangers of driving under the influence, there are still excessive numbers of arrests and crashes due to drunk drivers.

Combating DUI

In 2018, the Tennessee Highway Patrol initiated a new program called, “Sober Up TN.” This initiative had goals consisting of increasing sobriety checkpoints, reducing DUI fatalities and organizing community meetings to bring attention to the dangers of intoxicated driving. Though final numbers have not come out yet, hopefully this program was able to continue to lower DUI incidents on the road. There were 476 less DUI arrests in Tennessee in 2017 as there were in 2016. Unfortunately, there were still 7,323 people arrested for DUI in 2017.

Encountering a drunk driver on the road

As you can see, there are plenty of intoxicated drivers out on the roads that could injure or kill themselves or another driver. If you are out driving, how would you know if another driver is inebriated? Here are a few signs that you may see from an impaired driver:

• Erratic driving that includes swerving and weaving
• Times of fast acceleration or sudden braking
• The vehicle is drifting side to side and out of their lane
• Driving into oncoming traffic
• Driving without headlight on
• Slow reactions to traffic signals or at intersections

What you should do

If you encounter a drunk driver out on the road, do you know what to do? You should first position yourself that does not put yourself in danger. You should not try to drive next to the car and try to stop them or avert their path. This will only increase the danger of an accident. What you should do is gather as much information about the vehicle as you can. This includes license number, make, model and color. If there are any special attributes about the vehicle, such as a dent, unusual paint jobs or even bumper stickers, you should also note that.

Once you have this information, pull over and call the police. You should also know the area you are in and the names of streets and intersections where you encountered the driver.

Spotting a drunk driver on the road can be scary since it means there could be an imminent accident. The most important thing you can do in this case is protect yourself from that driver and contact the police.

Damage to a baby’s spinal cord during delivery can have devastating and life-long consequences. While these cases are rare – 5 percent of spinal cord cases in the United States each year— around 60 to 75 percent of infant spinal cord injuries will occur in the neck area. The higher the injury occurs along the baby’s spine, the more severe the damage will be.

How do spinal injuries occur?

Unfortunately, there is little you can do as a parent to prevent spinal cord injuries from occurring during the birthing process. Spinal cord injuries can occur for a variety of reasons.

Generally, they are the result of blunt force trauma that occurs from vacuum extraction or forceps used to pull the baby through the birth canal. However, they can also occur from a breech delivery, rotation, hypertension and overstretching of the fetal head, as well as impact and injury from the surgeon’s own hands.

What are the symptoms?

Many of the consequences of infant spinal cord injuries can be permanent. Depending on the severity of the damage and the location of the injury, infants can experience the following symptoms:

• Spasms
• Abnormal reflexes
• Loss of touch and other sensations
• Weakness
• Stinging pain
• Nerve damage
• Paralysis

Infants with spinal cord injuries can also experience bowel and bladder problems, which can be difficult to detect in babies. In rare cases, spinal cord injuries sustained during birth can even be fatal.

An estimated 11,300 newborns die each year in the United States during their birth or later that day. Around 23 percent of these infants die because of birth complications, including spinal cord injuries. If your delivery doctor caused or failed to prevent your baby’s spinal cord injury, you may have a claim for a personal injury or medical malpractice lawsuit.

Tennessee doesn’t often experience the giant storms of Northern states, but when it does snow, it becomes a safety issue for all drivers. Fortunately, there are ways to stay safe on the road when there is ice and snow.

Below are a few safety tips for if you are caught on the road with snow this winter season.

Pack an emergency kit

In the event you are unable to continue driving in a snowstorm, it could be helpful to keep an emergency kit handy. Tennessee drivers may not need everything a motorist in a state like Minnesota might want to have handy, but there is some overlap.

A few items to consider adding to your own emergency kit are:

• First Aid needs such as bandages, hand sanitizer, aspirin or other medical items
• Road flares
• Jumper cables
• A flashlight and extra batteries
• Duct tape
• Cat litter (for traction on slick roads)
• Ice scraper
• Drinking water and non-perishable snacks
• Blankets and warm clothing

Give yourself time

If you are planning to drive through snow, build delays into your trip. Leave early and drive slow to ensure you reach your destination safely.

Slowing down also means creating space between drivers. Increase the distance between yourself and other vehicles, as it takes more time to stop. Brake early and slowly to stay safe.

Watch for plows

Snow plows are crucial to keeping the roads safe during a storm, so give them room to do their job. Don’t tailgate behind a plow or stop too close behind them, and remember that their field of vision is not the same as yours.

If it seems dicey, stay at home

Drivers can call 511 to assess the current driving conditions, and if the weather seems too risky for driving, it may be best to stay at home. Know what the roads are like and your own driving capabilities before deciding to drive.

There is no surefire way to guarantee drivers won’t get into an accident, but by sticking to known tips for winter weather driving, we can all help increase the safety of everyone on the road.

If you are an active driver, you know that the highways and roads of Tennessee can be dangerous places. The volume of vehicles around you at any given moment can be huge.

So can the volume of any single vehicle. Commercial tractor trailer trucks, whether they are handling short hauls or long, are not only large in size but massively heavy. Laws of physics being what they are, collisions involving big rigs typically cause greater damage. Serious or fatal injuries are common.

Differences in size aren’t the only thing that make crashes involving trucks more complicated than other motor vehicle accidents. Trucking is subject to more layers of regulation. Laws dictate that those in the trade carry extensive insurance coverage. There are many players and each may have separate policies. And since every insurer wants to minimize liability, victims in crashes involving a truck often find seeking compensation means confronting a host of unwilling actors.

Additional complicating factors

In nearly every personal injury case, the legal theory under which victims make their claim is one of negligence. In a vehicle accident, that negligence might be due to the actions of the other driver. But with trucks, multiple parties could bear liability because of their relationship with the driver or because company policies of operation violated the law.

In addition to the driver, other potential defendants could include:

• The owner of the truck
• The employer of the driver
• The shipper, if hazardous cargo made injuries more severe
• The manufacturers of the truck or any of its many components, if there is evidence of product defect
• Those responsible for the truck’s maintenance
• Government regulators

Of course, if you bring a claim, the responsibility rests with you to prove the alleged negligent acts of individuals or negligence in design, manufacture or assembly of parts.

Legal strategy options

It’s also useful to know, too, that filing a claim for compensation is not the same as filing suit. Pursuing the compensation you may be due to cover medical costs, wages lost, pain, suffering or disability might be best accomplished out of court through other means, such as arbitration or mediation.

What should be clear from all of this is that many options exist for seeking compensation and it can be complicated to know which will obtain the optimal outcome of your case. If you want confidence about how to proceed, speak with a skilled attorney.

The safety and well-being of loved ones is always a top priority. Making the determination that your loved one may need round-the-clock care and monitoring can be difficult. Doing so shouldn’t result in added danger.

Nursing home neglect happens far too frequently. Just this month Tennessee state officials had to prevent a Knoxville nursing home from admitting new patients due to evidence of mistreatment of a patient with dementia. The Westmoreland Health and Rehabilitation Center must also pay $30,000 in penalties stemming from the case.

No one deserves the mistreatment this patient received at the hands of her intended caretakers. As the family member of a patient in nursing home care, you may need to be aware of signs of neglect and prepared to discuss concerns with your loved one.

Types of elder abuse

Each case of abuse or neglect will vary. Some signs are less noticeable than others, but informing yourself of what to watch for can help keep a loved one safe. The CDC defines mistreatment six ways:

• Emotional abuse
• Neglect
• Abandonment
• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Financial abuse

These categories may not cover all types of elder abuse, but they include the most common types of mistreatment of people over 60-years-old.

Signs of mistreatment can vary, but include physical injuries such as bed sores, cuts, fractures, bruises or drastic, unexplained weight loss. Abuse may be emotional and present in the form of mood swings, refusal of medications, loss of appetite or fear of certain people who may contribute to their neglect.

Difficulties of spotting elder abuse

One difficult aspect of identifying neglect is that some symptoms may be from existing illness and the general deterioration that occurs near the end of life. Mood changes and weight loss can happen in any person, regardless of mistreatment, so it’s important to use logic and caution when considering whether a loved one is subject to mistreatment.

Take the time to educate yourself about the signs of elder neglect and abuse. Although it may be difficult to discuss mistreatment with a loved one, try to maintain an open dialogue and give them the chance to confide in you if necessary. No one should have to worry about safety in a care facility, so do your part in protecting the potentially vulnerable loved ones in your life.

Late last winter, the life of one Tennessee Highway Patrol officer would take a sudden, unexpected turn. While pulled to the side of the road to complete paperwork, the officer’s cruiser was struck by a drowsy semi truck driver. Had emergency workers responded to the truck accident later than they did, the 37-year-old officer probably wouldn’t be alive today.

Shortly after the incident occurred, we discussed some details of the accident on this blog. As suspected, the tractor-trailer’s driver fell asleep just before careening into the officer’s vehicle on the side of the freeway. Nearly 10 months after the nearly-fatal wreck, it’s encouraging to know that the officer is making a slow — but certain — recovery.

As fortunate as the highway patrol officer feels to be alive, he has made it clear how different and difficult his life has become since the accident. He can no longer do things he once enjoyed, such as a daily 2-mile jog. Rather than being physically active in the way he wants, he goes through hours of physical therapy at least four times a week. His regimen includes rehabilitation for his neck and spinal injuries, in addition to therapy for his eyes and vocal cords.

Reports do not indicate whether or not civil action has been pursued against the truck driver or his employer. In a number of truck accidents, employers can be held liable if they demonstrated some kind of negligence. Often, companies will encourage drivers to violate regulations regarding how many hours they can be on the road, which can obviously lead to dangerously-fatigued drivers.

As the officer continues to make measured progress in therapy, he reiterates one wish: to return to work. When speaking of his role a cop, he commented, “That’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to be.”

Source: The Knoxville News-Sentinel, “Injured Tennessee Trooper on Road to Recovery,” Matt Lakin, Jan. 3, 2013

Car accidents can occur in any situation and can cause any amount of harm to someone. Earlier this year a young boy was struck by a vehicle while he was riding his bicycle and his life is forever changed. The accident is causing much uproar as the friends and family of the young boy believe his medical condition as a result of this accident wasn’t regarded with the amount of consideration it deserved. Tennessee residents may have heard of this case, wherein community members of the boy’s state are now petitioning their governor to rethink how it sees such accidents.

This car accident has caused the young boy, an eighth grader, to deal with a traumatic brain injury for the rest of his life as well as losing most of his mobility in his limbs, cognitive response and communication skills. He remains alive, however, he is unable to do much, if anything on his own. His parents’ journey after his accident has cost them over $1 million worth of medical expenses, the mother’s job, and now they must face the decision about how to proceed with their son’s condition. The boy’s mother explains that her son’s life is ongoing physically, yet he is not able to function other than that and has begun preparing for whatever comes next.

This accident has garnered a lot of attention not just from the community around this family, but many people in the state and area have signed a petition to reevaluate the traffic laws surrounding pedestrian and bicycle crashes. A woman close to the family notes that the penalties for hitting construction workers can be up to fourteen years in prison and a substantial fine, larger than the $1,000 and no jail sentence that was required of the driver in this case.

While the ability to petition remains an option for a Colorado citizen, it cannot always fix the situations that have already occurred. For victims of car accidents that have changed a life similar to this young boy’s, contacting legal counsel might be able to help with the added stress of the financial burden as you begin to move forward. Understanding your options regarding medical care, insurance, and compensation may make this difficult time a little easier.

Source: The Chicago Tribune, “Parents, friends of disabled Downers Grove teen petition to change traffic law,” Dawn Rhodes, Nov. 2, 2012