Statistics reveal that almost 4.8 million people in the USA are victims of dog bites. Approximately 18 million people are killed in dog attacks. In the last couple of decades, 300 cases of dog attack deaths have been reported. Children are more susceptible to dog attacks than adults. It is a fact that all dogs are potentially capable of biting and it is not just about mad or mentally and physically ill dogs.

The laws for dog bites vary from one state to another. (more…)

Rumors about runaway jury verdicts are perpetrated by insurance companies. They have done a very good job of getting their message in the media and in the conscious of the general public. You’ve seen the print and television advertisements that say that trial lawyers are driving good doctors out of Ohio and filing frivolous lawsuits resulting in increased premiums for your auto and homeowner’s insurance. Most people I talk to think there are too many lawsuits and that juries are generally returning large verdicts. However, a recent report from the U.S. Justice Department Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Statistics, titled, Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005, puts an end to these rumors. The study shows the median jury verdict in tort cases (e.g. personal injury) in 2005 was $15,000. The report is the first nationally representative measure of general civil (tort, contract and real property) bench and jury trials in state courts of general jurisdiction.

According to the report, more than 14,000 plaintiffs received monetary damages in civil trials nationwide in 2005, with less than five percent receiving damages exceeding $1 million. Nationwide, plaintiffs in civil bench and jury trials were awarded an estimated $6 billion in compensatory and punitive damages in 2005. The median final damage award was $28,000. More than 14 percent of plaintiffs were awarded damages exceeding $250,000. The median final award for plaintiff winners in motor vehicle accident cases was $15,000.

Judges were significantly more likely than juries to find for the plaintiff over the defendant. Plaintiffs won 68 percent of bench trials compared to 54 percent of jury trials.

In the nation’s 75 more populous counties, the number of civil trials decreased by 52 percent from 1992 to 2005. Tort cases in these counties were down 40 percent.

The median final award in jury trials within the nation’s 75 most populous counties also decreased from 1992 to 2005. The median jury trial award in the largest counties was $43,000 in 2005, down 40 percent from 1992 in which the median award was $72,000. This trend was driven by decreases in awards for motor vehicle tort trials, in which the median jury awards declined from $41,000 to $17,000.

– www.ojp.doj.gov

It was all over the news recently - US Airways flight 1549 landed with drama but without injury in the Hudson river in New York. How frequent such extreme events seem to have become; how rarely that they end so happily. With even this relatively short distance hindsight, the entire episode seems surreal, even to the average citizen/nightly news gawker. What a bad dream it must seem to those passengers…

Dayton airplane accident lawyers, along with the rest of the country, watched as, smoothly, the mechanisms of personal injury law began to move. As reported in the media, cash awards to all involved seemed almost a given. This, too, seems strange at first glance. Surely, a crash that ends in tragedy rather than novelty deserves payouts for those involved (or, more likely, the surviving families of those involved). This is not to minimize the pain and suffering surely experienced by those on flight 1549 (and probably to be experienced for some time in lasting residual effects), but rather to ask why a faultless, act-of-God situation which ends safely requires compensation payouts by anyone. Certainly, US Airways can’t be seen as responsible in any meaningful way: birds hit planes. It happens, usually without incident.

Further complicating the legal landscape are claims by some that because the plane end up floating in navigable waters, it may be subject to maritime laws - that is, those laws concerning boats, ships, and other water vessels. What initially seems a very odd case of legal-ese superseding logic becomes a bit clearer by recognizing that definitions of vessels - legal definitions, that is - can be vague or potentially misinterpreted. What is a boat but a vessel carrying passengers on water? This angle has yet to be resolved, but could prove an interesting challenge for the law.

Payouts are different from financial settlements, and both are different from damages awarded. Which of these, if any, will be borne out of the legal fallout of flight 1549 remains to be seen.

Airplane accidents are significant - always. In this way, they can differ from other types of accidents and cases under Ohio personal injury law. There is no such thing as a “fender bender” airplane accident. And for this very reason - high stakes, high interest, high pressure - the expert advice of a Dayton airplane accident law firm should always be sought before making any legal decisions after an accident.

If you or a loved one is in need of legal assistance, call an Ohio personal injury attorney at 1-937-228-9000 or toll free 1-888-841-4529 or submit an online questionnaire. The initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to handle your case, we will work on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary recovery of funds. In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before an applicable expiration date, known as a statute of limitations. Please call right away to ensure that you do not waive your right to possible compensation.

It seems that so often in Ohio personal injury law - car accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, and the like - the client is forced to choose between an overgrown, powerful but impersonal firm and a friendly but underdog “mom-and-pop” practice. For most of us, after a personal injury or other civil law violation, those big law firm jingles dance through out heads, all those commericals from the biggest one or two firms in town replay in the mind’s eye. Often, we didn’t even know that information was stored up there, but it is shaken loose by the need of legal representation, by the urgency of the situation.

Shortly after that reaction is a the second: skepticism. Legal representation is an extremely important product and, as a consumer, it is not wise to purchase the product offered by the most-advertised company. With so much riding on the outcome, it’s natural to wonder just how much personal attention one’s case might recieve at such a large organization with countless other cases pending. What about a smaller, more personal firm that can guarantee plenty of one-on-one attention?

Undoubtedly, this is a good choice. However, soon enough after realizing this, it begins to dawn that the larger firms have resources, clout, and winning percentages that smaller, leaner operations just can’t match. And so the pendulum of indecision swings back the other way. Perhaps the trade-off - resources for service, winning percentage for personal attention - is worth it…

Enough.

Dayton medical malpractice, wrongful death, and auto accident attorneys are ready to offer you both service and success. As the victim of a personal injury, whatever it might be, you deserve at least that. A law firm should grow big enough to win its cases, to command the resources and experience necessary to succeed with your case. But, at the same time, should never lose sight of the face-to-face, client-counsel relationship that is the nature of personal injury law: a professional helping another citizen. It is easy for a small practice to flounder and jeopardize it’s potential for growth; even easier is a large firm forgetting the importance of service and personal attention, beginning to see cases as numbers: case numbers, settlement figures, winning percentages, etc.

Be sure to bring your personal injury case to a firm that has taken, paradoxically, a difficult path that seems only natural: big enough to win, small enough to care.

If you or a loved one is in need of legal assistance, call Thorson, Switala, Mondock & Snead, LLP at 1-937-228-9000 or toll free 1-888-841-4529 or submit an online questionnaire. The initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to handle your case, we will work on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary recovery of funds. In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before an applicable expiration date, known as a statute of limitations. Please call right away to ensure that you do not waive your right to possible compensation.

Allstate ranks as the worst insurer for consumers, according to a comprehensive investigation of thousands of legal documents and financial filings.

The rankings show a distinct pattern of insurance industry greed amongst 10 companies that refuse to pay just claims, employ hardball tactics against policyholders, reward executives with extravagant salaries, and raise premiums while hoarding excessive profits.

“While Allstate publicly touts its ‘good hands’ approach, it has instead privately instructed its agents to employ a ‘boxing gloves’ strategy against its policyholders,” said American Association for Justice CEO Jon Haber. “Allstate ducks, bobs and weaves to avoid paying claims to increase its profits.” (more…)