by diazlaw | Mar 15, 2020 | Personal Injury
U.S. firefighters, like many of their counterparts all around the world, have used a type of firefighting foam which has been a huge success in fighting fires, especially those caused by petrochemical compounds. Only recently, it has been discovered that the foam’s chemical makeup has been responsible for causing cancers in the very people who have been exposed to the foam while fighting fires. The culprit is the group of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS). These substances are very effective in what they do. They are an extremely stable group of compounds that remain unaffected when in contact with the sorts of materials that could be on fire. Unfortunately, this very stability appears to be part of the reason why these compounds are a serious health risk. When absorbed into the human body, usually breathed in by firefighters when using an aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), they do not break down chemically. In fact, they accumulate and are now known to be sufficiently toxic to cause a range of cancers. Like many cancers, the longer a firefighter has been exposed to PFAS chemicals from the foam they have used in firefighting the higher the chance they will develop cancer. AFFF type foam material has been used for firefighting for decades. This means that there could be potentially thousands of firefighters or retired firefighters who have developed or will develop cancer as a result of exposure to PFAS chemicals. It now seems likely that foam manufacturers may have known about the potential carcinogenic nature of PFAS chemicals since they were introduced into their foam products. Some of their materials...
by diazlaw | Mar 12, 2020 | Personal Injury
While there is still no state wide ban on dangerous breeds of dogs in Mississippi, dog attacks still take place on a regular basis. Most dog attacks tend to be on young children who don’t always have the common sense or experience to keep away from a strange dog or one that is behaving aggressively. However, even adults can be badly attacked, leaving nasty wounds and scars. It took two trials and four years to convict Eric ‘Pinky” Hodges of manslaughter after his pit bull terriers maimed and killed two men in Benton County. The dogs were loose at the time of the attack. Pit bull terriers are arguably the worst of the breeds of dogs for dog bites, but there are plenty of dog owners and animal rights groups that oppose outright bans on certain breeds. In Mississippi, 29 cities have laws that ban dangerous breeds of dogs, including pit bulls, or have bans on pit bulls specifically. In Jackson, attempts to ban the breed have failed in the recent past, a ban opposed by dog control officers in the city as well as dog owners. You can’t really blame a dog if it bites or viciously attacks someone it doesn’t know. Despite domestication, dogs are still naturally territorial predators and are loyal to those it considers their “pack.” Attacks on owners or the children of owners do occur occasionally, but are not common. Most attacks occur when a dog is unleashed or unrestrained and attacks someone passing by. It is the dog owner’s responsibility to restrain the dog, especially if he or she knows that their dog...
by diazlaw | Feb 28, 2020 | Personal Injury
Thousands of people in Mississippi, possibly tens of thousands, have used glyphosate based weedkillers in their jobs or around their homes over the last few decades. These weedkillers, when first introduced on to the market in1974 by agrochemical giant Monsanto, were hailed as revolutionary. They are a very effective herbicide and are touted as helping to increase the yield of many agro crops and forestry products the world over. Roundup may be carcinogenic Monsanto has recently been bought by an even bigger giant, German based Bayer AG. Its main glyphosate containing brand, Roundup, has long since passed the end of any patent protection. This means that not all glyphosate based products (GBHs) on the market around the world are made by Monsanto, even though the brand name “Roundup” is still the most easily recognized herbicide. More seriously, GBHs have been implicated in an increased risk of some cancers, specifically non Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Considering the huge profits made by Monsanto and now Bayer from selling Roundup, it is probably not surprising that the manufacturers of the product are not very keen on admitting that their product might be carcinogenic. Bayer may be ready to settle Moving on to February2020 and there are now probably 9,000 lawsuits outstanding against Monsanto / Bayer alleging that prolonged use of Roundup has caused NHL. Three lawsuits have already been successful, with Bayer paying out millions of dollars in settlement. The fourth lawsuit, Wade vs. Bayer, to be heard in St. Louis, Missouri, has just been suspended. It’s not the only case that has been put on hold. At least half a dozen lawsuits...
by diazlaw | Jan 29, 2020 | Personal Injury
Most car accidents occur because of someone’s negligence. The word ‘someone’ includes anything from the person who is injured to individuals, businesses, organizations of all kinds and government entities. If you are injured because of your own carelessness, there is very little you can do about it apart from learn a lesson. If the car accident leaves you injured, then you will be relying on your own health insurance or PIP insurance if you have taken this out. Mississippi is a ‘tort’ or ‘at-fault’ state, so PIP is not a requirement. If you have been injured through no fault of your own, you have to establish who or what was the cause and if negligence was involved and sue that party for damages. Most car accidents occur because of a poor driving decision by another individual driver. Generally, if you are injured, you would seek to file a claim for compensation through that driver’s insurance provider. If the driver works for a private company as an employee, it becomes more complicated, because you then may need to file separate claims against either the individual driver, or the business, or both, depending on the exact situation. It is these complications that make a personal injury attorney with car accident experience so valuable. Attempts to sue the wrong party can be a waste of time and end up with you out of pocket. Accident claims against government agencies or employees are complicated More complicated still are those accidents that have been caused by the negligence of a government entity. This could be the city of Jackson, the state government of Mississippi...
by diazlaw | Dec 31, 2019 | Blog, Personal Injury
With Christmas just around the corner, parking lots are more frantic than ever. In more normal times around a fifth of all car accidents happen in and around parking lots, so when the Christmas rush is on, it’s likely to be more than that. Injuries don’t just happen because of careless driving. Parking lots are also sometimes crime prone. The question of who is liable if there is a car accident or mugging arises when someone is injured in a parking lot. Generally, the owners or managers of parking lots are not liable for damage to vehicles or injuries except in specific conditions. It can be hard to know whether a parking lot owner is in fact responsible for the safety and security of people and their vehicles who use their property. The best advice is always to talk to a personal injury attorney before deciding about making a claim for compensation. A parking lot owner or operator may be considered liable or partly liable for an injury that occurs in their parking lot if the design or maintenance of the parking lot is unsatisfactory. If there is a valet involved, then the care of the vehicle is most likely the vale’s responsible. As far as injuries due to crime are concerned, the owner / operator maybe considered liable if there has been a history of crime in the vicinity and there has been nothing done to alert users of the parking lot, or to provide safety features, such as surveillance cameras, security guards, etc. Careless driving the most common reason for parking lot accidents The most common accidents...
by diazlaw | Nov 29, 2019 | Personal Injury
It’s rare for passengers to be accused of causing a car accident. In most cases they are the victims of someone else’s negligence. It could be the driver of the car they are a passenger in, another driver altogether, or some other party, like a truck company, government agency, road maintenance department etc. In most car accident personal injury cases the emphasis tends to be on the driver of the vehicle that has been hit but of course often there are other people in that car who may have been as badly injured as the driver. Those injured passengers in some ways have an easier opportunity to file a claim against whoever ultimately was to blame for the injuries as it would be unlikely to have to deal with an accusation of shared fault. This is quite a common situation when an injured driver files a claim with another diver’s insurer. The insurer alleges that the injured plaintiff was partly or even wholly to blame for the accident. Who can the passenger sue? An injured passenger can only sue the at-fault party (or parties) if there is evidence that negligence caused the injury and that the party being sued was negligent. There are several different scenarios, each of which has its own particular challenges. Scenario 1: The driver of the vehicle the injured passenger is in is at fault This should be straightforward. The driver has a duty of care for anyone in the same vehicle. If the driver falls asleep, drives too fast, runs a red light, drives while drunk, or crashes while texting, then the driver may...
