Abbott Law Blog

The court of appeals published a decision today clarifying the reach of liability in negligence cases.

A Ryder truck was taken to a repair shop to have the brakes worked on.  During the course of working on the brakes, the shop made a mistake that allowed brake fluid to slowly leak.  No one noticed the leak and the Ryder truck left the shop.  As a result of the slow leak, the Emergency Brake began to slowly engage until the truck wouldn’t move.  A tow truck was called.

When the tow truck arrived, the tow truck driver realized that the drive train was under tension.  In order to tow the truck, he had to release the tension.  In doing that, he was killed.

While this is a very unusual, and even a freak, accident, the law does provide a remedy.  Normally, people are only liable for harms that they could foresee.  In this case, the shop owner claimed that leaving a leaky brake line might foreseeably harm someone driving the Ryder truck, or even someone who was hit by the truck, it wasn’t foreseeable that  a tow truck driver could be killed.

The court disagreed. While the exact mechanism of injury might not have been foreseeable, most people understand that a leaky brake line will likely result in injury to someone, even someone coming to rescue a broken down vehicle.  Therefore, the shop is liable.

In Waters v. Powell, the Utah Court of Appeals denied a woman’s claims for injuries she received when she was bit by a dog.    In March 2005, Steven Powell took his dog, named Snoop, to be boarded at a kennel managed by Alexis Waters.  While the dog was being boarded, Waters took Snoop out of his kennel to introduce Snoop to some other dogs.  When it became apparent that the meeting wasn’t going to be friendly, Waters attempted to restrain Snoop and Snoop bit Waters.

In Utah, a dog owner is strictly liable for dog bites.  In other words, the victim of the bite need not prove negligence.  If you get bit, you win.  In this case, however, the Court of Appeals held that because Waters was housing the dog, feeding the dog, caring for the dog, and doing the other things that owners and keepers of dogs normally do, strict liability would not be applied.

The Court of Appeals threw out Water’s case.  For now, Snoop and his owner Steven Powell are out of the dog house.

Allstate slapped one more of its insured in the face.  Luckily, the Utah Court of Appeals has put an end to Allstate’s tactics.  Ray and Ellen Cassidy purchased Allstate Insurance in 1966 and had been good customers ever since.  In 2006, a 16 year old driver made a U-Turn in from of Ray and Ellen and caused a car crash.  Ray and Ellen had over $200,000 in medical bills.  Unfortunately, the 16 year old driver had only $50,000 in automobile insurance.

Ray and Ellen had been good customers of Allstate for almost 40 years and thought they could turn to Allstate for help.  Unfortunatley, they were not in good hands.  Allstate told them that they had only $10,000 in underinsured insurance coverage.  Allstate did this despite a Utah law requiring that the underinsured coverage on their particular policy be at least $300,000.

Because Allstate would not budge, Ray and Ellen hired an attorney and sued.  Unfortunately, their attorney made a mistake in the complaint when referring to the Utah Statute.  Instead of referring to the code section as 2(h) their attorney referred to the code section as 2(b).  Their attorney had typed a b instead of an h.

Allstate jumped on that error and was successful in getting the trial judge to throw out the entire case due to that error.  The Court of Appeals said no way and reinstated the case.

Are you in good hands with Allstate?  As long as you pay your premiums and make no claims, Allstate will treat you great.  The second you make a claim, you’re no longer in good hands.  Instead, Allstate puts on the boxing gloves and goes after you with shots below the belt.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 3 and 34 in the United States. In 2008, there were 5,811,000 police-reported traffic crashes, which killed over 37,000 people, and injured another 2,346,000. Statistics show that teens 16-19 years old are at the highest risk of being involved in a motor vehicle crash. In addition, alcohol is involved in a large number of traffic fatalities each year. Last year, almost 12,000 traffic fatalities involved drunk drivers, translating to one drunk-driving fatality every 45 minutes in 2008. The economic impact of motor vehicle crashes is also substantial, costing hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

As grave as these statistics may seem, traffic fatalities and injuries are actually on the decline in this country. Traffic fatalities in the United States decreased by almost 10% from 2007 to 2008. The number of alcohol-impaired fatalities also decreased by nearly 10% in 2008. This decrease may be attributed to recent media campaigns have helped increase public awareness about the dangers of not using safety belts and child restraints. Although much progress has been made in recent years, motor vehicle accidents continue to be the leading cause of death each year. In 2008, 33% of passenger car occupants and 36% of light-truck occupants involved in fatal crashes were unrestrained.

Automobile accidents stem from a variety of different causes. However, most are caused by inattentive drivers. In particular, the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving has garnered much public scrutiny in recent years. According to the Governors’ Highway Safety Association, six states (California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington) and the District of Columbia all ban the use of hand-held devices while driving. As more and more individuals use cell phones to communicate with friends and family while driving, the number of traffic-related accidents will continue to increase. In addition, other factors, such as malfunctioning products, poorly designed vehicles, and substandard tires, cause a significant number of this country’s motor vehicle accidents each year.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a motor vehicle accident, contact Abbott & Associates at (801) 373-1112 to discuss your legal options. Our experienced accident attorneys can help you recover compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Sometimes it can be tricky to get insurance coverage.  Most insurance policies are written to exclude coverage for intentional and criminal acts.  Even so, sometimes it is possible to force the insurance company to provide coverage even after they deny the claim because they say the act was intentional or criminal.

We handled a case in which a seven year old boy hit an eight year old boy in the head with a hockey stick in the locker room at a hockey camp.  The hit resulted in a skull fracture and a traumatic brain injury.  The homeowners insurance admitted that they provided coverage but they claimed that the injury was not accidental.  Because their policy only covered accidents, not intentional acts, they denied coverage.

We took the case to the Utah Supreme Court and won.  We admitted that the seven year old boy intended to strike our client.  What we argued to the Supreme Court was that the harm that actually resulted was not intended.  A seven year old boy does not expect a skull fracture to result from a playground spat.  The Supreme Court agreed and the insurance company ended up paying policy limits.

Put another way, if someone is playing baseball and they hit a homerun that results in a broken window, that is an accident and insurance should pay to replace the window.  Sure, they intended to hit the ball.  The batter did not intend to break the window.  That was an accident.

Another scenario in which insurance must cover is in autombile accidents.  Even if the insurance policy says it will not cover injuries resulting from criminal acts, Utah requires auto insurers to provide coverage anyway.  That makes sense because most auto accidents are caused by criminal acts.  We don’t usually think about it this way but speeding and running a red light are both crimes.  If insurance companies could get out of covering a car crash anytime a crime was committed, auto insurance wouldn’t be worth much.

We are Utah personal injury attorneys and we are accepting cases for personal injury victims who have been injured in a Yamaha Rhino rollover and cases for family members who have been killed in a Yamaha Rhino rollover. Typical injuries include broken or crushed feet, ankles, hands and arms. Other injuries may occur, including death.

The Yamaha Rhino is a four wheel vehicle in which the driver and passenger sit side by side. Because of a defective design, the Yamaha Rhino tends to roll over too easily. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has founds incidents in which the Rhino has rolled over at relatively low speeds on level ground. When the Rhino rolls over, an occupants head, torso, arms or legs may be thrown from the vehicle resulting in severe injuries and even death.

On March 31, 2009 the U.S. Consumer product safety commission announced a repair program for Rhino model numbers 450, 660 and 700.. Under the program, Yamaha will make several repairs to the Rhino to improve its stability and to help keep an occupant’s arms and legs inside the vehicle. Rhino owners should not use their Rhino until the repairs are made.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a Yamaha Rhino rollover, please contact us for a free consultation. The law entitles you to benefits for medical expenses, funeral expenses, lost income and pain and suffering. We will make the claim against Yamaha for you and file a lawsuit, if necessary, to preserve your legal rights. Contact us now for a free case evaluation.

Have you been injured by the negligence of someone else. If so, be careful. You may receive a call from an insurance adjuster pretending to be your friend, telling you he will treat you fairly. Our extensive experience has shown us that adjusters who do that are rarely telling the truth. They are your adversary. The insurance company has one goal in mind, to settle your case for as little money as possible. If you have been injured by the negligence of someone else, you need an attorney working for you. A personal injury attorney will help you build your case and maximize your recovery. If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligence of someone else, please call or email for a free initial consultation with an attorney. Our toll free number is 1-800-460-5760.