Mississippi Injury Lawyer Blog

Fatalities stemming from DUI-related car accidents are steadily on the rise, despite the enforcement of harsher penalties and fines for offenders. Perhaps this increase is what prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to release an advisory that all states should implement the use of ignition locks for motorists convicted of drunk driving. The press release, disseminated this month, says the locks are actually specially designed devices meant to prevent a car's engine from starting if the driver fails a breathalyzer test. Under the recommendations by NTSB, the lock requirement should even be extended to first time offenders. It seems that several states have already put a similar plan into effect.

According to Associate Press reporter Joan Lowry, approximately 17 states already require the locks for all convicted drunk drivers. The devices are seen as the best "available solution to reducing drunken driving deaths, which account for about a third of the nation's more than 32,000 traffic deaths a year." They are not at all difficult to operate. Writes Lowry, "Drivers breathe into breathalyzers mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. If their breath-alcohol concentration is greater than the device's programmed limit -- usually a blood alcohol concentration of 0.02 percent or 0.04 percent -- then the engine won't start." There is even talk of one day installing the engine locks into all new vehicles, which would mean that eventually all drivers would be subject to testing before cranking up their motors.

Continue reading "Ignition Locks May be the Solution for Drunk Drivers in Wrong Way Car Crashes" »

"According to the U.S. Surgeon General, about 5,000 kids under 21 die every year as a result of underage drinking - from car crashes, homicides, and suicides" and DUI car accidents continue to claim the lives and limbs of young people in Mississippi, according to the Clarion Ledger. Events like graduation and prom seem to create opportunities for intoxication. In fact, when the Mississippi SmartTrack Survey was administered in grades 6 through 11 during the 2007-2008 school year it found that alcohol is the most commonly used drug among Mississippi students. Across all grades surveyed, 34.8% reported past-90-day use and 26% reported 30-day use. For Mississippi car accident attorneys, these are incredibly alarming statistics.

Per The Century Council, there were 37 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in Mississippi in 2009 alone, and 4.1 percent of accidents involved drivers under the age of 21. It's no wonder then, that there are several state-wide campaigns targeting youth. The Mississippi Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition of Hinds County (MUDPC-HC), founded in 2008, launched one of the most recent campaigns, designed to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. With posters featuring messages like "Alcohol is not the only way to have fun" at the center of their movement, the organization professes to be a collaboration between three free-standing prevention programs: Jackson State University's Metro Jackson Community Prevention Coalition and Interdisciplinary Alcohol and Drugs Studies Center, and Alcohol Services Center, Inc. Metro Jackson Community Prevention Coalition. Its goal is to reduce alcohol usage and related consequences to include alcohol-related motor crashes, binge drinking and drinking among youth between the ages of 11-21 in Hinds County, Mississippi.

Continue reading "Mississippi Targets Underage Drinking: Hopes to Curb DUI Car Accidents and Highlight Gaping Loophole in State Law" »

If a bar or restaurant continues to serve a visibly drunken patron, should that establishment be held liable for the actions of that drunken patron? Is it a bar's responsibility to ensure that their passengers do not leave the establishment and subsequently cause harm to others? These are just a couple of the issues that a Washington State Superior Court will have to delve into in the wrongful death and negligence case filed by the estate of a man who was killed in a drunk driving accident.

According to The News Tribune, a complaint filed in the Pierce County Superior Court by the estate of Samuel Stephens alleges that Stephens, a youth pastor who was killed in a DUI car accident, might still be alive had a Sumner, Washington bar not over served the drunken driver who ran into him.

The lawsuit was filed against Captain Jack's Bar and Grill and its owners, Lee and Penny Hogenson and Horst and Janice Vierthaler and is seeking unspecified damages. The lawsuit also names Joseph P. McNeil as a defendant. McNeil was the drunken driver who was convicted of killing Stephens. As reported by The News Tribune, Stephens, who was 24 years old, died on September 6, 2010. Stephens was driving on Stewart Road in Pacific about 2 a.m. when McNeil's car crossed the center line and hit him. McNeil pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and in April was sentenced to two years, seven months in prison. As part of his plea deal, he admitted being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

According to the lawsuit filed by Stephens' estate, McNeil consumed the alcohol, way too much of it, at Captain Jack's Bar and Grill. He complaint states: "Over the course of many hours, owners and/or employees of defendant ... sold numerous alcoholic beverages that were consumed by defendant McNeil," the lawsuit states. "McNeil eventually departed in the early-morning hours of Sept. 6, 2010, in an obviously intoxicated condition."

Continue reading "Should Bars and Restaurants who Serve Alcoholic Beverages be held Liable for the Actions of Their Drunken Patrons?: This Issue Will Soon be Determined in a Washington State Superior Court" »

It is a well established principle that those who have been accused of crimes should be afforded legal counsel, at the State's expense, if that person is economically unable to secure counsel on their own. But, the question of whether an individual, accused of drunk driving, may be granted state funds to hire an expert to aid in her defense may have been settled by a Circuit Court Judge in Jackson, MS. Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill set aside $2,000 of public funds, and ruled that those funds can be spent, by a defendant in a DUI case, on an expert in accident reconstruction.

Jeanette Sterling, a Jackson, MS woman, was charged with aggravated DUI as a result of an auto accident she was involved in with a motorcycle in October 2009. The accident took place in South Jackson. Although Sterling stood trial in June, the trial ended with a deadlocked jury. A retrial has been scheduled for September 12, 2011.

Timothy Jackson is the motorcyclist who was injured when he collided with Sterling as she was attempting to make a left turn. Sterling was found to be at fault for the accident. It was determined that she failed to yield. Sterling had no prior traffic offenses. However, according to police, Jackson, the motorcyclist, had two prior DUI's.

Continue reading "Judge rules that public funds will be used to fight DUI charge in Jackson, Mississippi" »

While it's a fairly well-known fact that the legal blood-alcohol limit for driving in the United States is 0.08%, all too often citizens fail to adhere to this law. Blood-alcohol levels exceeding this percentage are nearly always guaranteed to result in arrest, a car accident with injuries or, even worse, wrongful death. Now there's even more bad news for those who enjoy guzzling a drink or two from time-to-time. The New York Times has uncovered a study conducted by Addiction, a journal published by the Society for the Study of Addiction to Alcohol and other Drugs, that reveals driving after consuming even a small amount of alcohol -- just one beer, for instance -- is associated with incapacitating injury and wrongful death.

According to the Times article, David P. Williams and Kimberly M. Brewer of the University of California, San Diego analyzed accident and injury data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database and found that the "severity ratio increased significantly even when drivers were merely buzzed. A BAC of just 0.01% -- about the equivalent of one light beer for a 180-lb. man over the course of two hours -- was associated with accidents that were 37% more severe than those involving completely sober drivers."

As an auto accident attorney in Mississippi, I am well aware that driving while under the influence seems to have become a fad among our young people. There have been numerous (rather sensationalized) accounts of celebrities driving intoxicated or "buzzed" and escaping prosecution with merely a slap on the wrist. And although escaping unscathed isn't always the case (take the most recent death of MTV reality star Ryan Dunn, for instance), we see more media coverage of celebrities celebrating close calls after a charges against them have been dismissed - often at a party with drink in hand. This sets a bad example for impressionable minds - young adults who brag that their alcohol tolerance allows them to handle speeding while "tipsy" or not wearing a seatbelt while intoxicated.

I agree with the researchers that the only remedy is probably to lower the limits allowed even further, and perhaps even call for stricter penalties in non-fatality auto accidents. Modifications in law coupled with increased awareness may be the only remedies we have. In the famous words of Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD), "Friends don't let friends drive drunk" - and maybe they don't let them drive buzzed either.

Continue reading "Zero Tolerance Policy for DUI? Would it lower the number of Car Accidents" »

Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) projects that this year, 10,839 people will die in drunk-driving crashes – that's approximately one every 50 minutes. As a personal injury lawyer, I regularly see the injuries and deaths caused by drunk driving accidents. Nationwide in 2009, of the 1,314 children ages 14 and younger who were killed in traffic accidents, 181 were killed in drunken driving related crashes. Half of those deaths were children who were passengers in a vehicle with a driver who had a BAC of 0.08% or higher. Car accidents are bad enough, they are generally much worse when the driver has been drinking.

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate there were 700 traffic fatalities in Mississippi in 2009; of those, 97 killed were under the age of 20. A large portion of those accidents have been attributed to drunken driving, with 234 decedents having a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent (the legal limit in Mississippi) or higher. 169 of those were operating vehicles at the time of their death. Like any other major metropolitan area, Jackson, Mississippi is not immune to the problem.

Mississippi state laws have primarily focused on the driver, but there are hopes that a new bill would allot some attention to the children who often have no choice but to ride in vehicles with negligently intoxicated caregivers. Mississippi is currently among the minority of states that lack some version of a DUI child endangerment law.

Representative Greg Snowden, who has made the push for the bill for the last two years, believes stiffer penalties for second offenders will deter similar occurrences by requiring the driver to be put on house arrest or ordered into outpatient treatment at an alcohol or drug rehabilitation center. In a statement to the Associated Press, Snowden said the bill would mirror the current DUI law and make drunk driving with a child in the car a felony on the third offense, granted there is no serious injury to the child. Like the regular DUI law, however, if there is a major injury the offense will be relegated to a felony - even if the driver is a first-time offender.

While similar bills failed in 2010 and there is currently no bill pending in the 2011 session to expand the law, an increasing number of residents are acknowledging the need for such legislation, and becoming more vocal about their support.

The Mississippi auto accident attorneys at The Katz Law Firm represent persons who have been injured in motor or truck accidents around Jackson and Mississippi.