by diazlaw | Jan 31, 2021 | Blog, Personal Injury
If you are told by your employer to depart from work early so you can take some parcels to the post office, and you are involved in an auto crash and you injure someone, your employer could be held liable for any injuries you have caused. This sort of accident in Mississippi comes under the vicarious liability theory. What is vicarious liability? Respondeat superior in Latin means “Let superiors answer.” It is typically referred to as vicarious liability and is applicable in circumstances when a single person is held liable for any damages due to the negligence of someone else. It is used for employers who are responsible for any negligent act committed by an employee. This includes Mississippi employers’ responsibility for any auto accidents that take place due to their employees’ negligence when the employees have been asked to use their personal auto for business reasons. If you decide to agree to a request made by your employer to take some parcels to the post office and you have a devastating auto accident on the way, you are most likely acting within the capacity of your employment because your employer appears to be benefiting from what you are doing by taking the business’s parcels to the post office in your own motor vehicle. You are classified as being at work. However, if you dropped the parcels off and then called into a restaurant for dinner and are by that time on your way home when an accident takes place, driving home after you have had dinner will have been of no benefit to your employer and by that...
by diazlaw | Dec 29, 2020 | Personal Injury
Mississippi can be a great place for motorcyclists. In fact, motorcycling has become more and more popular in the state, despite the increased risk of using a two wheeled vehicle. Motorcycling is statistically more dangerous than any other motorized form of transport, not just because of the greater inherent instability on a motorcycle but because the rider is more exposed to any form of impact. Motorcyclists are more likely to be seriously injured or killed while riding a motorcycle than in an automobile, even if they are careful riders who wear sensible safety gear, including a helmet. Most, but not all, motorcycle accidents are caused by other drivers. Motorcycle injuries are often horrific and injured victims of careless driving may need to seek compensation through a personal injury claim. Not all motorcycle accidents are caused by other road users More than 4,500 motorcyclists are killed every year on U.S. roads, out of over 100,000 accidents, but not all accidents are caused by other road users. A small number of accidents are caused by riders taking unnecessary risks, weaving in and out of lines of traffic, or using machines that are inherently unsafe or too powerful for the rider’s competence. Some accidents are also caused by poor maintenance. Compensation is unlikely in these circumstances, unless they are only contributing factors and there are other reasons for the accident which were beyond the control of the rider. Some accidents may be caused by the use of defective parts or components, inherent defects in the machine or poor road surface maintenance. If any of these are contributing or sole reasons for the...
by diazlaw | Nov 30, 2020 | Blog, Personal Injury
The huge pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson, insists that its talc based baby powder, sold for decades, is completely safe as long as it was used appropriately, despite the fact that it withdrew the product last year and has now had to settle more than a thousand individual lawsuits against it. It has agreed to pay 100 million dollars to settle some of these lawsuits which alleged that the talc in the baby powder caused cancer. Two types of cancer have allegedly been caused by talc based health products The majority of the lawsuits filed against the company, the world’s largest manufacturer of health products, were by women who alleged that prolonged use of the baby powder led to them developing ovarian cancer. A smaller number of lawsuits filed also alleged that the talc in the baby powder contained traces of asbestos which causes a more aggressive and dangerous cancer known as mesothelioma. Johnson & Johnson have refuted both allegations and insist that their product is not carcinogenic and does not contain asbestos, even though there is evidence that asbestos can be found in similar places to where the mineral talc is mined. Johnson & Johnson recalled 33,000 bottles of baby powder last year without admitting liability. At the time they said that they were acting out of an “abundance of caution.” The talc based baby powder is no longer available for sale in either Canada or the U.S. and has been replaced by a product that is based on cornstarch. Other manufacturers of talc based health products have also recently switched to using cornstarch rather than talc. The...
by diazlaw | Oct 29, 2020 | Personal Injury
Many families turn to using a nursing home for an elderly relative when medical attention is needed and the burden of day to day care becomes too much. Unfortunately, far too many of our elders are being subject to substandard care and, in some cases, neglect and physical and mental abuse. A study that took place recently by an organization called Families for Better Care found that not only did many nursing homes fail to reach an acceptable standard but Mississippi’s nursing homes were some of the worst in the country. The study looked at factors that could have an effect on the standard of care. These included the number of complaints made by families of residents, inspection scores and staffing levels. Mississippi’s score for staffing levels, for example, received a ‘D’ rating, putting it at 35th in the country compared with other states (all 50 states were studied). Poor staffing levels mean that residents are not getting sufficient attention. Many nursing home residents are incapable of moving themselves or feeding themselves and may not be able to articulate clearly when they are sick or unwell. One of the most common health problems in nursing homes where there are low staffing levels is the development of pressure sores (also called bed sores). These can cause ulcers and may result in skin infection if undetected. Pressure sores that are not tended to may lead to serious illness and death. Residents may also fall or suffer an injury that might not be detected for hours without sufficient staffing levels. The average number of hours in Mississippi that residents receive in direct...
by diazlaw | Aug 29, 2020 | Personal Injury
Accidents could happen just about anywhere, even in your own home. If you are a careful homeowner you will make sure your own home and surroundings are as safe as possible. If you do slip over or a fire starts somewhere in your home and you are injured, you will probably not be able to blame anyone else but yourself. You may have taken out a personal home insurance policy that could be used to make a claim to help pay for medical treatment and other costs. But what happens once you leave your front door and enter someone else’s property? If you have a preventable accident, can you claim compensation from the owner of the property? The answer depends on the circumstances, of course. As long as you were legally entitled to be on that property, what the law calls an “invitee” you should be covered by the property owner’s own premises liability insurance if it was a government owned or commercial property. Things could be different if you were injured in someone else’s home as will be explained further below. Claiming compensation depends on proving negligence As with most personal injury claims, if you suffered an injury while in another property, whether it was a U.S. post office, a McDonald’s restaurant or a supermarket, you may be able to make a claim against that property owner’s premises liability insurance as long as you can show that the injury was caused by negligence on part of the property owner. Basically, as long as you are legally entitled to be present on that property e.g. as a customer of...
by diazlaw | Jul 30, 2020 | Personal Injury
Using hand sanitizer regularly is an important tool in the fight against Covid-19. In many stores around Jackson, you should be able to find a hand sanitizer dispenser at the front of the store or distributed around a shopping mall. Many careful people have their own hand sanitizer which they keep in their car or at home for use when contact with other people has been necessary or after touching surfaces that could be carrying amounts of coronavirus. This is not being paranoid. It’s just an extension of good hygiene in the exceptional circumstances that we are all in. Most hand sanitizers are based on an alcohol solution, usually mixed with other substances such as perfumes. There are also other sanitizers that have substances in them that can kill viruses that have inadvertently been picked up when you are away from home. In the early days of the pandemic, hand sanitizer, like toilet rolls and other products were often in short supply. As time went on, many different products became available. Unfortunately, some of these products either don’t do the job they are supposed to do, or are even toxic and could possibly cause severe illness. The hand sanitizers that are ineffective are those that have too little alcohol in them. They may be good as a general cleaner, but unless they have an alcohol concentration of at least 60% will not kill or remote viruses like the coronavirus. If you are shopping for hand sanitizer you should not assume that the advertising is accurate. Check the ingredients and only buy sanitizer with an alcohol content of more than...
