Teens 50% of All Pedestrian Deaths, Ages 5 to 19

Traffic deaths are up 6 percent since 2010, pushing U.S. road fatalities to the highest level in a decade. However, the percentage increase in pedestrian deaths is far outpacing those on the road, jumping 25 percent from 2010 to 2015. Walkers on smartphones, bicyclists ignoring traffic rules, coupled with distracted driving, are a deadly combination. 

Teens, who are much more likely to walk distracted with a mobile device, make up 50 percent of all pedestrian deaths ages 5 to 19.

Our recommendations: 

Make sure your children understand the importance of looking both ways before they step out onto a roadway. Point out the traffic lights to them and explain their significance. Also, if an intersection is equipped with a pedestrian light, point that out to them and make sure they understand what the illuminated symbols mean. Stand on the corner for a full cycle of the light and pedestrian signal to make sure your children understand how they work and who has the right-of-way when. Never cross against the light with your children even if there is no one coming or if others are doing it. You do not want to teach your children bad habits or to take unnecessary risks. Impress upon your children that even if they have the right of way they should still look and be cautious because you can never assume that drivers are paying attention. It only takes one misstep. And finally read our May newsletter and discuss it with your children. Stay safe out there.

Guy W. Crabtree is a partner with Crabtree, Carpenter & Connolly, PLLC, in Durham, NC.

Focus Should Be On Health Care Safety

We understand that it is difficult for anyone to wrap their head around the issue of errors and health care. Americans have a justifiably high opinion of doctors, nurses and other care providers. The vast majority are dedicated professionals that do tremendous good for society and save many lives.

But to err is human, and it has become clear that the big business of health and nursing home care results in too many preventable injuries. According to a recent study by doctors at Johns Hopkins, death due to medical error ranks 3rd (250,00 per year) behind heart disease and cancer. That is an alarming statistic. So read our March newsletter not as an indictment of the fine people who work in health care today, but rather a defense of every American’s right to justice and accountability when preventable mistakes occur. Patients and families who are harmed by preventable medical errors should not be denied their right to seek legal redress for what has happened to them. 

Guy W. Crabtree is a partner with Crabtree, Carpenter & Connolly, PLLC, in Durham, NC.

Be Careful Because You Never Know Who’s Looking

It only took one unfortunate occurrence for us to realize that we had to caution our clients about the impact social media can have on their cases. Defense attorneys had gone onto a client’s Facebook page and found some damaging photographs and comments that negatively impacted his case and which they used during our client’s deposition. Since then we have been very careful to discuss the use of social media with our new clients. This is what we advise our clients regarding the use of social media during the life of their case:

YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE USED AGAINST YOU TO NEGATIVELY IMPACT YOUR CASE. INSURANCE COMPANIES AND DEFENSE COUNSEL WILL SEARCH FOR YOU ON THE WEB. SO BE VERY CAREFUL AND READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. 

UNTIL YOUR CASE IS COMPLETELY RESOLVED: 

1. DO NOT accept future friend requests from any person you do not personally know.  Insurance companies, their attorneys and private investigators who work for them may try to gain access to your social media web sites in order to obtain information that can be used to defeat or damage your case.
2. YOU MUST tell your attorneys and support personnel at Crabtree, Carpenter & Connolly about your past or a current use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Caring Bridge, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, or any other social media websites. 
3. Tell us the names of any and all social media websites, blogs, or other online media to which you regularly post or update.
4. If you use Facebook, LinkedIn, Caring Bridge, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, or any other social media, you should IMMEDIATELY reset your profiles to the highest possible privacy settings.
5. DO NOT post anything about your claim, your case, or your injuries on any social media web site or blog. 
6. DO NOT post anything that you would not want a judge or juror in your case to see.
7. DO NOT delete information about your case or your injuries that you already have posted as this can be discovered—but do not make any further similar postings. 
8. If you have posted something about your claim, your injuries, or the incident that caused your injuries, YOU MUST tell us about it at once.

In the future you must BE VERY CAREFUL not to place any information about your claim, your injuries, or your lawsuit on the web in any manner because that information is subject to being discovered, and the information might be used to damage your case.

Guy W. Crabtree is a partner with Crabtree, Carpenter & Connolly, PLLC, in Durham, NC.

NC Legislature Wants to Pack the Supreme Court

Dear Friends:

For more than 100 years, North Carolina citizens have exercised their right under our constitution to elect justices to the state Supreme Court. On November 8, voters elected Judge Mike Morgan to the Court by a 54-46 margin – a difference of nearly 350,000 votes.

Last Friday Governor McCrory announced a special legislative session beginning on December 13. Although the stated purpose is to help victims of Hurricane Matthew and the wildfires in western North Carolina, it has been widely reported that legislative leaders intend to use the special session to pack the Supreme Court. Seeking to insulate its laws from impartial judicial review, the legislature would add two seats to the Court, to be filled by Governor McCrory in his final days in office.

Under Article IV, Section 6(1) of the North Carolina Constitution, the General Assembly may increase the number of justices from seven to nine. The sole purpose of that constitutional provision, adopted in 1962, was to provide for additional justices if the workload of the Court became too onerous.
 
In the past, the legislature has only added seats to the appellate courts when the workload demanded it. The workload of the current Court cannot justify its expansion. In 2015 and 2016, Supreme Court justices have written an average of six opinions per justice per year. By contrast, each judge on the Court of Appeals writes more than 100 opinions per year. And in the 1950s, when Article IV, Section 6(1) was proposed, each Supreme Court justice averaged writing 50 opinions per year.

We strongly support Chief Justice Martin’s call for additional funding for our judicial system, but oppose using those scarce funds to add unnecessary positions to the Supreme Court. If hundreds of thousands of additional budget dollars are available, they should go to overburdened trial courts, family courts, prosecutors and victim-witness assistants, indigent defense lawyers, clerks, probation officers, and technology improvements.
 
Expansion of the Court should occur only after a joint request by the Chief Justice and the Administrative Office of the Courts based on solid empirical data, followed by committee hearings and debate, not rushed through a special session that was convened to help victims of natural disasters.

If the General Assembly packs the Court, it will seize control of the judiciary, undermining the system of checks and balances that is essential to our democracy. The citizens of North Carolina deserve a Supreme Court that will exercise judicial independence, not one that will rubber stamp unconstitutional legislation.

What can you do?

1. Contact your legislators and ask for their commitment to oppose any court-packing bill.
2. Contact Governor McCrory’s office.  You can call Gov. McCrory’s office at 919-814-2050.  If you do this, choose option to talk to someone instead of leaving a message.  You can also email the Governor. When you contact the Governor’s office, ask him to declare that he will veto any court-packing bill. 
3. Forward this message to your friends and family.

Your voice matters. If the people speak up between now and December 13, the court-packing plan will never see the light of day.

Guy W. Crabtree is a partner with Crabtree, Carpenter & Connolly, PLLC, in Durham, NC.

The Dangers Of Driving Under The Influence Of Any Drug, Including Pot

Guy W. Crabtree

In North Carolina, a person is guilty of driving while impaired if they operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or an impairing substance. The THC in marijuana would be considered an impairing substance. One would be impaired within the meaning of the law if one had taken a sufficient amount of THC to cause him to lose the normal control of his bodily or mental faculties, or both, to such an extent that there is an appreciable impairment of either or both of these faculties.  

While we too often encounter wrecks caused by drivers impaired by alcohol, a case involving impairment solely by THC is rare. One reason, of course, is that there is no roadside or magistrate’s office testing apparatus that can easily measure the amount of THC in a driver’s blood. There is no breathalyzer test to detect THC. A blood draw and testing of that blood is necessary.  

When investigating a case where impairment is suspected and the at-fault driver was taken for medical treatment as a result of the wreck, we always attempt to get the medical records, including the lab reports, from that treatment. The blood test will usually include testing for TCH and other drugs. If drugs are present we can and will use that information in our client’s favor as we prosecute our client’s case. 

Causing injury and damage while driving while impaired will subject the impaired driver to punitive damages and we will often include such a claim in the overall damages claim.

Guy W. Crabtree is a partner with Crabtree, Carpenter & Connolly, PLLC, in Durham, NC. The firm helps injured parties from all over the nation recover from injuries caused by the negligence of others.