Personal Injury Blog

By: Allan M. Siegel

Over the past several weeks, a string of school bus accidents across the country generated widespread attention and a renewed focus on the importance of abiding by school bus safety laws. These include several fatal and serious injury accidents involving stopped school buses in multiple states, including:

• A North Carolina woman now facing criminal charges after she struck a school bus that departed from the roadway and overturned, injuring 13 students. She had crossed the center divider and was traveling in the opposite lane at the time of the crash, and has been charged with driving under the influence.
• A fatal wreck in Indiana where a 9-year-old girl and her younger twin brothers were struck and killed by a motorist who sped past a stopped school bus. The driver has been arrested and is facing criminal charged in connection to the incident.
• The death of an elementary school student in Mississippi who was crossing the road to board a stopped school bus. The driver, who had unlawfully passed the stopped school bus, has also been arrested. That same day, a 5-year-old Florida boy was seriously injured when he was struck by a teen driver who had failed to stop behind a school bus.
• A 7-year-old student who had been struck by a slow-moving vehicle in Pennsylvania, and another incident involving five children and two adults in Florida who sustained life-threatening injuries near a stopped school bus on the very same day.

These incidents are nothing short of tragedies, and they are unfortunately not new. However, their devastating toll and the fact that they all occurred within the span of just three days were factors that triggered national attention – from widespread media coverage to a Whitehouse petition, which has gained thousands of signatures from people across the country asking lawmakers to sign legislation that would increase penalties for moving violations involving school buses and school zones.

If there is any silver living to such tragic outcomes, it is that the increased awareness they generate can serve as a reminder about the need to ensure school bus safety, compel motorists to do their part in keeping students safe, and hopefully spark needed changes.

School Bus Laws in DC, Maryland, and Virginia

Because children are so vulnerable to suffering harm in preventable auto accidents, there are specific laws that outline the obligations of motorists in school zones and near school buses. These include:

• Stopped school buses – All 50 states and the District of Columbia make it illegal to pass a stopped school bus that is loading or unloading children, and / or which has its stop arm extended and red lights flashing. Drivers must make a complete stop, and may not proceed until the stop arm is retracted and the bus’s lights stop flashing.
• Stopping distance – The 10 feet surrounding school buses are the most dangerous for students, which is why drivers are required to stop a certain distance from buses. In Maryland, that distance is 20 feet, and in the District it is 15 feet.
• Legal exception – The only time motorists are permitted to pass a school bus is when they are driving on the opposite side of a road and the road is divided by a physical barrier, such as a concrete middle divider. When in doubt about the law and whether you should stop, always err on the side of caution and stop.
• Penalties – Drivers face stiff penalties for violating school bus laws. For example, failing to stop for a stopped school bus can result in citations, points on a driver’s license, and fines up to $500 or more, as well as increased penalties for subsequent violations. In some cases, such as failing to stop behind a school bus in Virginia, drivers may face charges for reckless driving. Violating school bus laws and causing accidents and / or injuries may also result in more serious misdemeanor or felony charges.
• School zones – Drivers who approach school zones should be aware of reduced speed limits. In the DC area, for example, the speed limit in school zones when children are present and school is in session is 15 mph. Fines in school zones can be elevated, and motorists who commit moving violations in those zones may face additional points on their driver’s license, costlier fines, and, in some cases, a driver’s license suspension.

Safety Tips for Parents and Children

• Children should know that getting on and off the bus can be dangerous, and should understand the importance of being safe and behaving accordingly when doing so.
• Children should be sure to step out of the “danger zone” when getting off school buses by taking several big steps away from the bus until they can see the driver and know that the driver sees them.
• Before crossing the street when getting on or off a school bus, children should only cross in front of buses when they get the signal from the driver. They should also be extra cautious of their surroundings, look both ways, and make eye contact with any nearby motorists before they enter the roadway.
• Children should know to never bend down near or under the bus, as it can make them more difficult to be seen by bus drivers and other motorists. They should also never turn back in roadways if they forget any personal items, or look for lost items under a bus.

Negligent Motorists & Victims’ Rights

As a law firm focused on protecting the rights of victims and families following preventable injuries, Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. knows that negligent motorists can put everyone at risk of suffering harm, even when they follow the rules and make safety a priority. Whether they are an adult or a child, victims injured near school buses, at intersections, and in any car, bicycle, or pedestrian accident involving a negligent motorist – including those who fail to stop at school buses – may have the right to pursue the justice and compensation they deserve through the personal injury claim process.

Even when motorists are held accountable by law enforcement when they receive citations or are charged with more serious crimes, including reckless driving or driving under the influence (DUI), those traffic and criminal cases do no provide victims with any meaningful recovery of their damages. To recover those damages, which can include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, victims will need to pursue civil claims and lawsuits.

Our team at CSCS has been serving the DC region for over 45 years, and has extensive experience with cases involving child injuries, negligent motorists, and auto accidents. If you believe you might have a potential case involving a school bus accident or any other preventable accident, we’re available to help you take a closer look, better understand your rights when it comes to seeking financial recoveries, and how we can help. Contact us to request a free and confidential consultation.

By: Matthew Tievsky

When you buy insurance for your automobile, you have the option of purchasing a particular kind of insurance. In the District of Columbia, it is called Personal Injury Protection or “PIP,” and in Virginia it is called Medical Payment Insurance or “Med-Pay.” For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just call it “PIP.”

PIP is insurance that pays you an amount of money, up to a certain limit (you can purchase a higher limit by paying higher premiums), in the event that you are injured in an automobile collision. PIP will pay for medical bills, and at least a percentage of any lost wages. 

PIP provides money in addition to any money that you recover through a personal injury claim.  In addition, PIP will pay out regardless of who is at fault for the collision – which also means that if you have a PIP policy, you can collect PIP benefits before your personal injury claim is resolved. Purchasing significant PIP (or Med Pay) benefits is a smart way to protect yourself in the event of the unexpected.

Car Accident Lawyers Serving DC, Maryland, and Virginia

If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident and have questions about PIP benefits or your right to pursue a personal injury claim against the at-fault party, our legal team at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. is available to help. During a free consultation, we can review the facts of your case, discuss your rights and options, and explain what we can do to help you pursue needed compensation.

Request your free case review by calling (202) 644-8303 or completing an online case evaluation form.

By: Dan Hausman

On November 14, 2018, a class-action civil lawsuit was filed by Timothy B. Lennon and five other named Plaintiffs in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging 11 distinct claims against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy See as the State of the Vatican City and as the Head of an International Religious Organization. The complex legal allegations span 80 pages in a document called a complaint. For comparison, a complaint in a typical lawsuit involving an automobile crash is about 4 pages long.

The allegations in the lawsuit are carefully crafted in an attempt to avoid the many legal pitfalls which have thus far made it difficult for victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church to hold the Vatican, itself, accountable through the civil tort system of the United States. One typical issue that helps the Vatican escape liability is that courts have found the Vatican is not legally responsible for the actions of individual clergy members or churches. In an attempt to hold the Vatican responsible, the lawsuit invokes the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and alleges the Vatican heads an unincorporated association-in-fact which cheats and defrauds the members of the Church through federal mail and wire. The fraud and deceit is alleged to be in the association holding out the clergy as “men of faith” who had Plaintiff’s and class members “best interests at heart” when in fact the Clergy took advantage of their positions of power and influence and sexually abused Plaintiffs and Class Members. The complaint goes on to allege the association “actively and fraudulently conceal[d] the Clergy’s wrongful sexual abuse” for the purpose of obtaining money, funds, credits, and other assets.

The scope of this lawsuit is grand in that it is a class-action suit that alleges “a pattern of wrongful activity” and intentional cover-up by the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church as a whole. The class of Plaintiffs is “all persons and if minor children, their parents or guardians on their behalf, who were sexually abused by Catholic Church cardinals, bishops, monsignors, priests, sisters, lay leaders, members of Catholic religious orders, educators… from 1940 to present.” Individual wrongdoing of all Clergy, agents, and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church is imparted to The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy See through the legal concepts of Doctrine of Respondeat Superior, Agency Theory, and/or the Command Responsibility Doctrine, which allegedly make the Defendants’ responsible for the actions of the Clergy, agents, and representatives.

Another legal issue that can be used to escape liability is called the statute of limitations, which makes it so incidents that occurred prior to a certain date cannot be the subject of a lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges the Defendants “took active steps to conceal their (and the Clergy’s) above-described wrongful actions, inaction, omissions, cover-up, deception, and concealment, obstructive behavior regarding investigations, conspiracy of silence” which makes the statute of limitation inapplicable.

All in all, this lawsuit is very interesting in the legal community and something that Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. will be closely following as it develops. Our firm is prepared to use our experience in cases involving sexual abuse and sexual misconduct to pursue justice and help victims get compensation for their losses. If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a member of the Catholic Church you can call (202) 644-8303 or contact us online for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights and potential next steps.

By: Dan Hausman

Pedestrian deaths across the United States have increased by close to 50% since 2010. Clearly, this is a crisis that affects every one of us. After all, we are all pedestrians. Thankfully, a path to reverse this troubling trend has been laid out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which recently completed a special investigation report on pedestrian safety.

In the report, the NTSB investigated 15 fatal pedestrian accidents and made many recommendations to government agencies to improve pedestrian safety. In short, the recommendations are as follows:

1. Test vehicle headlight systems when they are mounted on the vehicle to ensure they correctly light the road.
2. Allow headlight systems that light the road a vehicle is traveling on as opposed to just lighting directly in front of the vehicle.
3. Test vehicle designs based on how well the design reduces injuries to pedestrians.
4. Incorporate pedestrian safety systems, which are built into vehicles to react within milliseconds of an impact to mitigate pedestrian injury, into the 5-star safety ratings and test the pedestrian safety systems.
5. Develop detailed data sets about pedestrian crashes which highlight all types of incidents involving pedestrians.
6. Combine highway crash data and injury health data, with the goal of producing a national database of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
7. Establish methods that states and metropolitan planning organizations can use to collect pedestrian incident data, then define a common framework that will allow those data sources to be combined.
8. Expand support of state and local safety projects to promote pedestrian safety action plans.

Hopefully, the NTSB recommendations are implemented and prove to be effective. Each day, according to the NTSB pedestrian safety report, 233 pedestrians are injured by motor vehicles and 16 are killed across the United States. While the report doesn’t indicate the cause of the injuries, some of the incidents can be attributed to the negligence of the motor vehicle drivers. This includes common injury-causing acts of negligence such as:

• Distracted driving and texting
• Drugged and drunk driving
• Failures to yield
• Running red lights and rolling stops
• Speeding in school zones and intersections

Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. applauds the efforts of the NTSB to publicize the alarming issue of motor vehicle collisions involving pedestrians and to improve pedestrian safety. However, we know risks will always exist when motorists behind the wheel fail to uphold their responsibilities of safely operating their vehicles.

Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C.: Fighting for Injured Pedestrians

Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm that helps victims of preventable accidents, including pedestrians, across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia seek justice through personal injury lawsuits. Our team is here to help you explore your options for recovering compensation. Call (202) 644-8303 or contact us online to speak with an attorney.

Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C.’s three active Partners – Ira Sherman, Joseph Cammarata, and Allan M. Siegel – have been voted by their peers to the 2018 “Top Lawyers” list by Washingtonian magazine. At least one attorney from the firm has been selected to this prestigious list every year since 1997. However, this is the first year that all three partners have been selected in the same year.

All three of our Partners were recognized as “Top Lawyers” in Personal Injury.

• Ira Sherman – As Senior and Managing Partner, Ira Sherman has helped CSCS cultivate a reputation as one of the most trusted injury law firms in the DC region. Throughout a career dedicated to ensuring equal justice, Mr. Sherman has been a leader in the local and legal communities, serving as the former President of the Trial Lawyers’ Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC, and a current Board Member of the Brain Injury Association of Washington, DC. He has lectured at seminars sponsored by a number of professional legal organizations and has been selected to the Washington, DC Super Lawyers list each year since 2011.
• Joseph Cammarata – Partner Joseph Cammarata is a dual Board-Certified Civil Trial Lawyer who has become nationally known and respected for his success in complex and high profile civil litigation, including a landmark Supreme Court case in which he secured a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of the United States against a sitting President. In addition to his many leadership roles in legal associations and community-based organizations, Mr. Cammarata has also drafted important legislation to protect youth athletes in DC against the risks of concussions, and is featured frequently as a guest speaker and expert legal analyst by the media.
• Allan M. Siegel – Partner Allan M. Siegel has been included in Washingtonian magazine’s Top Lawyers list for over 10 years. As one of just 3% of U.S. attorneys to be Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the NBTA, Mr. Siegel has helped CSCS clients secure millions of dollars in settlement and trial verdicts. He has been included in the prestigious list of Washington, DC Super Lawyers each year since 2011, formerly served as the President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Washington, DC, and is actively involved with the American Association for Justice, for which he currently acts as the District of Columbia delegate, and is a member of the Brain Injury Litigation and Interstate Trucking Litigation Groups.

We congratulate our Partners on their latest achievement, which continues to solidify their reputation among the most highly regarded personal injury lawyers in Washington, DC. While these awards are to be celebrated, their experience in this field and expertise in civil trial law have done far more than earn them accolades – they have helped our clients and their families secure the justice and compensation they deserved following preventable harms and losses, even when facing off against powerful corporations and insurance companies.

You can view the Washingtonian article featuring our attorneys and firm here.

For more information about our award-winning lawyers, the services we provide, or how we may be of assistance in a potential case anywhere in the District, Maryland, or Virginia, contact us.

By: Allan M. Siegel

On our blog, we focus a lot on accident cases involving commercial trucks and tractor-trailers. As our legal team and many other attorneys who represent injured victims know, truck accidents create some of the most profound risks when it comes to devastating outcomes. That’s because commercial tractor-trailers are among the largest vehicles on public roads, and because they pose increased risks of catastrophic, if not fatal, injuries that can forever alter the lives of victims and their families.

The factors that make tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles so dangerous to the public are the same factors that prompt our government to take decisive steps in regulating them. From addressing the condition of vehicles to the qualifications and conduct of the truckers who operate them, there are a multitude of trucking regulations in existence. While these regulations and laws may address unique aspects within trucking, they all function together for the purpose of ensuring safety on our roads.

Safety Failures Can Mean Consequences for Negligent Trucking Companies

In addition to ensuring safety, trucking regulations also play a critical role in showing us how trucking companies and truck drivers should be conducting themselves, especially when reviewing their conduct after accidents and injuries have already taken place. In fact, these laws provide much of the foundation for arguments as to how trucking companies and truckers failed to uphold their legal obligations – a point that is critical in prevailing in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

As discussed in an article from Law360, more personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits over trucking accidents are being resolved through mega verdicts, meaning juries commonly award substantial damages to the victims and families who file them. That was the case in one truck accident lawsuit we blogged on last month, in which a Texas jury awarded $101 million in damages to a motorist who suffered severe injuries when he was rear-ended by a truck driver who was under the influence.

Large awards like these – both from verdicts and out-of-court settlements – are becoming increasingly more common in truck accident cases. According to the Law360 article, that’s due in part to plaintiffs’ attorneys who represent these victims. These plaintiffs’ attorneys, often lawyers who focus on personal injury law like we do at CSCS, have helped collectively refine the approaches and tools that help their clients prevail in their lawsuits. The article cites several ways this has happened, including:

• Trucking regulations – The trucking industry is subject to numerous regulations designed to keep the public safety. As we’ve discussed in many of our blogs, these regulations apply to everything from cargo securement, vehicle weight, and standards for regular vehicle maintenance to creating guidelines for licensing commercial drivers, limiting the amount of time they can be behind the wheel, testing them for substance abuse or various medical conditions that would make them hazards on the road, and establishing the protocol by which trucking companies hire, train, and retain employees. Lawyers who focus on these regulations and how trucking companies violate them are able to make compelling arguments that help juries understand the steps companies should have taken to avoid accidents.
• A focus on systemic issues – The facts involved in trucking accident cases are generally the same today as they were decades ago. Now, the focus has shifted from simply highlighting those facts to discussing how they are part of systemic and chronic problems within the trucking industry. By illustrating how trucking companies often put profits over people and continually engage in the same conduct or make the same mistakes, juries better understand that at-fault parties commonly know what they should be doing, and may feel compelled to award more damages as a means to punish wrongdoers. A focus on systemic issues puts the industry itself on trial, allows juries to identify with victims for the reason that they face the same risks on public roads and may become victims themselves, and can help secure verdicts that not only compensate victims fairly, but also send a message that things need to change in terms of safety.
• Exposing shortcuts – Similar to focusing on systemic issues, lawyers have also shifted the focus in trucking accident cases to expose how trucking companies and other corporate entities involved in trucking often take shortcuts to improve their bottom line, even if it comes at the expense of public safety. This focus on profits over people can take many forms, from dangerously overloading trucks in order to ship more cargo to hiring less-than-qualified drivers and employees to increase profitability.
• Persuasive presentation – Trials are difficult matters, for both plaintiffs’ lawyers and the defense. Today, successful trial lawyers have refined their ability to make persuasive presentations. This requires a great deal of preparation, and may sometimes involve collaboration with relatively new supporting services that help trial lawyers grasp all the facts of a case and make a compelling presentation during litigation, including accident reconstruction experts and industry or medical experts. It can also involve the use of advanced technology, including tools for visualizing accidents, crash scenes, and other relevant issues for juries to more easily grasp.

Our Washington, DC truck accident lawyers at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C. have helped many clients protect their rights following all types of truck and commercial vehicle accidents throughout DC, Virginia, and Maryland. As a firm that has been fighting for victims for over 45 years, we have seen the evolution of truck accident cases first hand, and have honed our approach for holding at-fault parties accountable. This experience has earned us the trust of residents throughout the region, and has allowed us to secure millions of dollars in compensation for our clients.

If you would like to discuss a potential truck accident case with a member of our team, or learn more about our personal injury services and how we may be able to help you, call (202) 644-8303 or contact us online for a FREE consultation.