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Archive for December, 2008
Traumatic Brain Injury and Hearing Loss
Traumatic brain injuries may affect people in more ways than one. Often other smaller things happen that are the result of the initial injury.
It’s quite common for hearing problems to crop up after a traumatic brain injury. This is related to the inner ear being directly connected to the central nervous system. Another annoying side effect is ringing in the ears, also called tinnitus, a high pitched squeal that can drive people right around the bend in no time flat.
There are other hearing difficulties that may also arise after a brain injury and they include hyperacusis – a situation where normal sounds seem to be much louder – and auditory agnosia (aka pure word deafness) where people are unable to recognize the meanings of certain sounds. If this weren’t enough there may also be difficulty in filtering one set of sounds from another.
In cases where a person has experienced a traumatic brain injury, it is critical to consult immediately with a competent attorney to find out what options are available for launching a lawsuit. The Sharp Firm in Austin, Texas, has extensive experience in this area of law and understands what other injuries may result from a traumatic brain injury. This is why consulting with a lawyer will outline the possible compensation for various injuries sustained in an accident.
Filing a traumatic brain injury case involves knowing that hearing problems may arise for numerous reasons. “Injuries may be mechanical and/or neurological, especially if the inner ear or temporal lobes are damaged,” explained Sharp.
Other signs of damage may also include bleeding in the ear canal, cochlear injury, temporal lobe lesions, or middle ear damage. If children sustain traumatic brain injuries, they tend to face other difficulties such as trouble talking, impulse control, spatial orientation, and processing new information.
Head trauma has been known to rupture the delicate inner ear membranes and result in even more side effects such as nausea and dizziness. “At times surgery may be required as the result of a traumatic brain injury,” said Sharp.
If faced with a traumatic brain injury and uncertain about what possibilities exist for launching a lawsuit, consult with a highly qualified brain injury attorney such as Lance Sharp at the Sharp Law Firm in Austin, Texas.
To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
Adviatech Corp. PR for The Sharp Firm
9280 Bay Plaza Blvd Suite 706
Tampa, FL 33619
1.813.600.3017
Picking Up the Pieces After a Wrongful Death
In cases of wrongful death, those left behind have the right by statute to seek compensation for pain and suffering. It is a shock to any family and they need to enlist the assistance of others, more specifically, an attorney who specializes in wrongful death law.
Wrongful death is usually the result of someone else’s negligence costing the life of another. While it is a stunning event and one that causes major emotional trauma, speak to a wrongful death attorney immediately to understand how the law works in this area.
The Sharp Firm of Austin, Texas, has over 40 years of experience in this area of the law and Lance Sharp is able to give solid legal advice to those suffering the pain of a loss.
Sharp will be the advocate that goes to bat for the rights of the family and provides the kind of advice that will help see them through a significant personal crisis.
Understanding a wrongful death suit is often the first step toward resolving all the issues surrounding it. This is a civil suit that charges a person for being liable for the death of another, by reason of negligence, or a failure to act that could foreseeably result in a death.
In cases such as this, whomever is in the role of the plaintiff (spouse, administrator, etc.) has to prove the deceased person would not have died “but for” the negligence of the defendant. This doesn’t mean that every accidental death ends up being a wrongful death suit.
In order to get an idea if a wrongful death action may be pursued, speak with a highly qualified wrongful death attorney such as Lance Sharp in Austin, Texas. Consultation with Sharp will outline the areas of possible compensation in a wrongful death suit – punitive damages, loss of spousal services, medical and funeral expenses, lost earnings, etc.
Compensation awarded in a wrongful death suit is normally supposed to go to the surviving spouse, next of kin, or children of the deceased. In this instance there are two categories of awards that may be made by the courts – economic damages and compensatory damages. Sharp will be able to detail the various categories and advise on how to proceed with a wrongful death action.
To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
Adviatech Corp. PR for The Sharp Firm
9280 Bay Plaza Blvd Suite 706
Tampa, FL 33619
1.813.600.3017
The Day After the Auto Crash
The day after the car crash is usually when you realize you have suffered some major personal and property injuries. The question arises: Just what do you do about it?
If you don’t realize how badly you are hurt the day of the accident, then the day after will bring with it revelations that you hurt much more than you originally realized. The car, well, it may be a total write-off. Now what are you supposed to do?
A car crash is more than inconvenient, it is costly, and in most instances the problems are just starting when the accident dust settles. It’s even more disconcerting if any damage settlements don’t cover the real costs.
Think about this. Just because you got your car fixed doesn’t mean it is done properly. That means you lose reliable transport. You may have also suffered some serious injuries and need some heavy-duty medical treatment. Put these two things together and you get time off work and the inability to carry on with life’s daily activities.
It’s a reality that the actual costs of the accident are much higher than the face value of the damages. This is one of the major reasons why you never settle for what an insurance company first offers you. Speak to a competent personal injury lawyer first because there are a lot of cases where the insurance company settlement doesn’t even touch the real costs of your accident.
This advice is applicable even with minor car accidents. While it may be that you only need money to repair a fender bender, you aren’t considering that even seemingly innocuous accidents cause injuries (whiplash type injuries, etc.) and stress and shock.
When in a situation like this, despite it looking relatively easy to resolve, always consult with a lawyer. A good attorney with much experience will point out some of the anticipated future costs you might not even think were possible.
Don’t assume that lawyers are expensive and skip the legal consultation, as it might wind up costing you more not to get advice than it would to ask for it in the first place. Actually, most Texas lawyers will offer free consultations with no obligation. Just tell them the details of your situation, and they’ll tell you if you have a good case or not. It’s time well spent.
Lance Sharp of The Sharp Firm is an Austin personal injury lawyer specializing in personal injury and accident law in Austin Texas. The lawyers at The Sharp Firm have a collective 40 years experience in being Austin injury lawyers. To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
Austin injury lawyer, Austin personal injury, Austin personal injury lawyer
Child Abuse Law in Texas
No one wants to hear or think about child abuse. Unfortunately, it is very much alive, but hidden in the least likely places.
If you’re faced with charges of child abuse, then you will need to know several things so you have an understanding of what will happen in the criminal justice system. At this point, don’t wait another minute to contact a criminal defense attorney for assistance.
Child abuse is a flash point issue for many people and this area of the law is extremely complicated. Only a highly qualified attorney with extensive expertise in this area will be able to outline what will happen once an arrest has been made, and able to communicate the information so you may make informed decisions.
Child abuse in Texas has several working definitions – the sexual mistreatment, psychological or physical abuse of any child no matter what the circumstances may be. Ask your attorney what specific charges you are facing, as this will make a difference in the type of defense your attorney will be building for you.
Physical abuse usually means neglect, beating or hitting a child. However, it’s not just these categories you may be charged with, as physical abuse also covers abuse using chemicals, ice, fire, or any other object (aside from hands and feet) that harms a child.
Psychological abuse is the most common type of child abuse. It’s defined as any type of behavior that causes emotional or psychological harm. This covers things like verbal humiliation, name calling, demeaning, and yelling. While the most common form of abuse, it is also the most difficult to prove because it can’t be seen and leaves invisible scars.
Sexual abuse refers to any sexual act forced upon a child by an adult (or older teenager). Offenders may be charged with anything from exposing themselves to using the child to make kiddie porn films. The penalties in this area are a lot higher.
If you are faced with any of the above charges, make certain you speak with legal counsel immediately to find out how you have been charged and what the potential penalties may be. If your lawyer knows as much as possible, he may be able to mitigate the charges and penalties.
Lance Sharp of The Sharp Firm is an Austin personal injury lawyer specializing in personal injury and accident law in Austin Texas. The lawyers at The Sharp Firm have a collective 40 years experience in being Austin injury lawyers. To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
Austin injury lawyer, Austin personal injury, Austin personal injury lawyer
An End to Cell Phone Chatters
Finally, there is a way to totally disable a cell phone to stop people from talking, texting and messaging while driving.
While people may think this infringes on their rights and freedoms, the sad fact is that out of the 42 thousand road deaths a year, a good 7% of those are attributed to people talking on cell phones while driving.
If you have been injured in an accident while using a cell phone, you will need the services of a qualified personal injury accident attorney like Lance Sharp of the Sharp Firm in Austin, Texas.
People might not like having this luxury taken away from them, but it certainly isn’t a necessity to talk on the phone while in a moving car. Remember no one had cell phones at one point in time and people got along just fine without them. While they have changed the way America does business, they have also caused a lot of unnecessary grief.
The device, called the DriveAssistT from Aegis Mobile of Canada, has a little sensor in it that detects when the cell phone is moving at the speed of a vehicle. This motion totally shuts off the phone and disables it from taking calls, texting or messaging. In other words no calls in and no calls out.
The sensor in the phone sends a signal to the cell phone provider that will cause all activity to that cell phone to cease. Callers hear a recording that says the person is driving. There is the option to send an emergency voice mail that is sent immediately.
While the Sharp Firm in Austin, Texas, recognizes the need for choice in sending messages; it does strongly recommend that the emergency voice message be used “only” for true emergencies.
While the DriveAssistT is a great idea, it says something about people that technology had to go this far to create something to stop what common sense should taken care of in the first place. Unfortunately, a great number of people do not seem to recognize the dangers of driving while yakking and have paid for that error in judgment with their lives.
The DriveAssistT should be out in 2009 and will likely be rented for between $10 – 20 a month by a cell phone provider. It will be optional for people to use this and that might mean it won’t sell well. It will, however, provide the compulsive person who always answers the phone in heavy traffic with a way to prevent calls from coming in while on the road.
The largest segment of the population to likely use this gadget will be parents with younger adults who will be able to shut down cell phones while their teens are at the wheel. Their teen will squawk about it, but it may save their life one day.
To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
Adviatech Corp. PR for The Sharp Firm
9280 Bay Plaza Blvd Suite 706
Tampa, FL 33619
1.813.600.3017
Personal Injury–Do’s and Don’ts
Take notes, take notes and take more notes if involved in an accident that results in personal injury. It may make the difference between a successful settlement and a major loss.
In order to win a personal injury claim in Texas, it has to be proven that the person who caused the injury in the first place was negligent. Negligent usually means careless and thoughtless, and as a result of this carelessness and thoughtlessness caused an accident that resulted in personal injury to another person’s body – not their property.
To win this kind of case in Texas, it must be proven that the person who caused the injuries owed a duty not to injure another person and did not live up to that duty. A personal injury lawyer such as Lance Sharp at the Sharp Firm in Austin, Texas, handles cases like this and works as an advocate to ensure the courts reach a just settlement.
The attorney of record strives to prove there was a connection between the other person’s duty and a resulting injury and that damages were suffered. The one thing of note here is that if both parties to the accident were deemed to have contributed to causing it, damages are awarded under the Texas comparative negligence law.
The Sharp Firm in Austin has over 40 years of experience dealing with these kinds of cases and knows that if either party was more than 50% at fault for the injuries sustained in an accident they will not be able to collect damages. What happens is the courts reduce the amount potentially recoverable by the percentage of fault apportioned to each party by the courts.
Speak to the Sharp Firm in Austin, Texas, about an exception to the comparative negligence law. The joint and several liability rules in Texas may make any person more than 50% responsible for an injury liable for all the damages, regardless of what proportion of fault each person had.
When a person is involved in an accident, quick thinking isn’t always the order of the day, but try to maximize all opportunities to get as much information as humanly possible. This will help the lawyer present a solid case to the courts.
To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
Adviatech Corp. PR for The Sharp Firm
9280 Bay Plaza Blvd Suite 706
Tampa, FL 33619
1.813.600.3017
Mobile Cell Phones Are about to Be Disabled
Let’s face it; we all know that one of the leading causes of car crashes in the USA and Canada is people talking on their cell phones. No attention to the road while driving is an accident on the way to happening. It’s just that simple.
Well, good news is on its way in the war against cell phone addicted drivers who make driving hazardous due to their inattention. No this isn’t a new law enforcement gig, or a radar-tracking device to detect cell phone signals while the driver is piloting over 2,000 pounds of steel.
It’s not even a new law brought into being by a state legislature. California and New York have the right idea with a ban on cell phones while driving without a headset. Sure that gives the driver two hands, but it doesn’t give them their attention span when they’re talking to someone.
We’ve all been there and done that. You get into a heated conversation with someone and your attention is on “him or her,” not on your driving. This split attention trick is OK if you happen to be at home, but while driving it can mean the difference between getting to your destination unharmed or having a nasty smash up.
What’s so new that we could get excited about in the war against cell phones being used while behind the wheel of a car? Thanks to some tech savvy Canadian entrepreneurs, there is a new device on the market that actually disables cell phones for real-time talking. And not just that – it shuts them down so they can’t text or receive messages either.
That’s the other dangerous thing that a lot of younger drivers are doing these days, texting while steering a car. Hello? The consequences of this have the potential to kill.
This new device, created by Aegis Mobility, is called DriveAssistT and here is how it works. It’s simple, yet beautifully complex and innovative! The cell phone shuts down while it is moving at a speed associated with a vehicle. This takes the decision to use the cell phone right out of the driver’s hands and puts safety back behind the wheel – along with some common sense.
Compare this new gadget to a Breathalyzer installed in a car that keeps drunk drivers from starting their engines. DriveAssistT keeps yakjacks from doing anything with their cell phones while they’re on the road. Law enforcement will love this invention.
Inside this device is a motion detector that figures out if the phone is moving. If it is, it will send a signal to the cell phone carrier to hold ALL messages until the driver is done.
The DriveAssistT is due out sometime in 2009 and may cost about $10 to $20 a month when rented from your cell phone service provider. This is chump change when you consider over 42 thousand people die in car crashes every year, and 7% of those accidents are as a result of people talking on cell phones while driving.
Lance Sharp of The Sharp Firm is an Austin personal injury lawyer specializing in personal injury and accident law in Austin Texas. The lawyers at The Sharp Firm have a collective 40 years experience in being Austin injury lawyers. To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
What To Do in the Case of a Personal Injury
If you have been hurt by the carelessness of another person, take prompt action. This will ensure your injury claim has the right information to get it settled.
No one wants to think about getting injured, but life happens and the potential for an accident happens in the blink of an eye. The injuries caused by accidents are called personal injuries because they have happened to your body and not your property. e.g. a broken arm or a severely injured leg
When bad things happen, take matters into your own hands to make sure your lawsuit gets the award it deserves. You want to make certain your claim is settled fairly and that it is done as quickly as possible.
Here are a few things you should make every effort to do; they will make an enormous difference in the outcome of your case. Don’t forget, personal injury accidents should be handled by a competent, highly trained lawyer with experience in this area. This is not something in which you should try to defend yourself in court.
Take a moment to write down everything you remember about your injuries – things like how it happened; where; the names of all the people involved and their personal information; names of potential witnesses; insurance company reps; and the police who handled your case.
While this may seem like a lot of work, you would be amazed at how often this information is needed. You would also be amazed at how often other accounts of the same accident don’t sound the same as yours from your first-hand recall.
Just remember that while this may also sound like plain old common sense as you are reading this, it doesn’t mean you will have plain old common sense just after you have been injured.
You’re in a high stress situation and trying to remember things will be difficult, so just take your time and do not make any statements to anyone such as insurance company adjusters or reps.
The reason for this is that they are not on your side and want to have their case settled fast. This means they may make you a settlement offer that is far lower than is fair. Talk to a personal injury lawyer before you talk to anyone else. You will thank yourself later.
Not talking to anyone doesn’t include the people who caused your accident; let them know you’re going to file a claim against them. Tell them immediately of your intentions so there are no misunderstandings later.
If you’re not in any shape to preserve evidence for later, try to have a relative or close friend to do this for you. Things you may need later are pictures of your totaled vehicle, the scene of the accident itself, etc. Make sure the car is preserved for evidence, since accident reconstruction experts will be able to piece together what happened to cause the crash.
Last, but not least, and we cannot say this enough, speak to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. You will need a good lawyer to handle your case.
Lance Sharp of The Sharp Firm is an Austin personal injury lawyer specializing in personal injury and accident law in Austin Texas. The lawyers at The Sharp Firm have a collective 40 years experience in being Austin injury lawyers. To learn more visit http://www.sharpfirm.com.
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