Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

KHOU is reporting a crash that took place early this morning, Thursday April 21st, 2011 on the Gulf Freeway in Houston. A suspected drunk driver was placed under arrest and the woman he crashed into is described as being in critical condition. According to law enforcement sources, a man in a yellow-colored pickup truck was traveling at a high rate of speed on the Gulf Freeway at Joplin when he smashed into the rear of a Toyota RAV4 compact SUV. The accident happened at around 2:45AM. The pickup truck truly must have been traveling at a very high rate of speed, because the  RAV4 was pushed into a sideways skid, then slammed into the outside concrete retaining wall where it flipped over the wall and onto the feeder road, rolling over multiple times and ejecting the female passenger in the RAV4. The passenger of the RAV4 was immediately transported to hospital to be treated for critical injuries; according to the press report the driver of the RAV4, also a woman, sustained less serious injuries. As always seems to be the case, the suspected drunk driver weathered the accident without any injuries: he failed a field sobriety test at the scene and was taken into custody.

If you or a loved on have been victimized by an automobile accident, motorcycle accident, pedestrian accident, bicycle accident or truck accident caused by a drunk driver, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation. The earlier in your case you call, the better: the insurance company will want you to settle for a small amount as early as possible and have you sign a release. This will limit the insurance company’s liability and prevent them from having to pay more later. Smith & Hassler’s personal injury attorneys have aggressively represented injured people in the Houston area and throughout Texas for more than 20-years, including bereaved family members bringing wrongful death lawsuits.

Click2Houston.com is reporting a dog attack on a man in Porter, Montgomery County on Tuesday April 19, 2011. The attack happened around 5:00PM at Needham Road and Ford Road. According to investigators the man was attacked by two dogs while walking along the road; he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands. A witness named Travis Huffman said he saw the man being attacked by two dogs and that the man had been forced down into a ditch. A neighbor named Marcus Pillow said the man’s arm was broken in two places during the attack and the victim’s stomach and neck were also injured. No information was released on the identity of the dog’s owners or what criminal charges may be filed, if any.

If you or a family member have been injured due to a dog bite or other animal attack, call Smith & Hassler and one of our experienced Houston personal injury attorneys will be glad to give a free consultation.

KHOU is reporting a two vehicle collision that sent Frans Gillebaard (71) to the hospital. Mr. Gillebaard is a Kemah waterfront developer who sold his restaurants to Landry’s Corp. in 1997. The crash happened around 11:12 AM at FM 517 and state Highway 146 when, according to the report, a 46-year old man traveling in a 1987 Chevy Suburban allegedly ran a red light and collided with Mr. Gillebaard’s Ferrari.  Apparently the crash temporarily trapped Mr. Gillebaard in the wrecked Ferrari and he was freed by San Leon Volunteer Fire Department and transported to UTMB by ground ambulance.

A car accident is a very disruptive event for most people.  A damaged vehicle may mean you cannot get to work, grocery shop, take your kids to school or sporting events, and so on.  Injuries may mean you are unable to work, hence unable to support yourself or your family due to lost wages.  And not only are you missing income because you are unable to work, but you now have unexpected debts for medical treatment, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars.  Dealing with all of these challenges at once can feel overwhelming, particularly if you have never been involved in an accident before.  If the at-fault driver had insurance, you are probably dealing with requests for information from the insurance company too.  Smith & Hassler firmly believes that the earlier in the process you get sound advice from an experienced personal injury attorney who is willing to listen to you, answer your questions and provide you guidance, the better.  The insurance company will press you early on to give a recorded statement about the accident, your injuries, your medical history and more: don’t do it, the statement is for their benefit, not yours.  You can call or email Smith & Hassler any time for a free consultation on your car accident injury claim.

You can find a consumer review web site on the Internet for almost any service profession these days and personal injury attorneys are no exception. Accidents don’t happen very often so personal injury attorneys are not the type of professional the same person uses regularly, like a barber, babysitter or a yard service, so there’s a good chance if you are looking for a personal injury attorney you’re doing so for the first time.

A recommendation from a friend or family member can definitely help you narrow your search. If someone whose opinion you value has had a good experience with a personal injury lawyer, you may have the same good experience. Internet reviews can help too, and are valuable in that they typically span several years and people who write reviews usually do it anonymously so they feel comfortable being up front about how they feel.

Here is the latest review of Smith & Hassler posted to Google on April 19, 2011 posted by a client we represented in a lawsuit against her own insurance company related to an underinsured motorist claim:

I would highly recommend Smith and Hassler!!! The attorney handling my case was Daragh Carter. He was excellent, I couldn’t have asked for a more professional and caring attorney. I was run down by a Ford F-150 and I’m only 4″10″ back on 2/14/2007. The insurance of the driver paid me no problem. Now, my insurance company, Safeco, wouldn’t give me squat!! I had gone through 2 other law firms, when I had just given up. My husband called Smith andHassler and Mr. Carter was on the case. It’s really a shame that you pay your payment to your own insurance company every month and when it comes to them paying, they don’t want to…so you have to take your own insurance company to court. I missed over 4 months from work, had all kinds of xrays, and an mri. I had several weeks of physical therapy, saw several doctors and specialists. I had to take a medical retirement from my job because of the accident and I’m only 35 years old. Even after all this, I still couldn’t get my insurance company to budge. Four years later and after a lawsuit, the case was settled out of court. I would highly recommend Mr. Carter to everyone and already have….thanks Daragh, you rock!!!

Channel 11 News has reported a four vehicle pileup on Sunday April 17, 2011 that sent five people to the hospital. Police said a vehicle driving on the southwest freeway near Bissonnet rear-ended another vehicle around 2:15AM. A pickup truck then smashed into the rear of another vehicle that had slowed down for the original collision. Apparently a man jumped out of one of the vehicle and ran away, and apparently not realizing he was on an overpass hopped the wall and fell to the concrete below. The man who ran and four others were transported to the hospital.

A four car pileup on Houston's Southwest Freeway sent five injured people to the hospital

If you, a friend or a family member have been injured in a car accident, Smith & Hassler’s experienced personal injury attorneys are available to give you a free consultation either in-person or by phone.  Sometimes people injured in car accident wait before consulting an attorney. They have good intentions: not wanting to seem “sue happy,” waiting to see if their injuries will get better or because an insurance adjuster is discouraging them from seeking legal advice (that happens).  It is better to know your rights early in the process and have an experienced Houston personal injury attorney explain the steps involved in car accident injury claim and what you can do NOW to increase the chances of a good outcome.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Michael Linkinhoker, 30, has been charged with negligent homicide in the hit-and-run car accident death of 15-year old Charli Gore. Also arrested and charged was Linkinhoker’s 34-year old girlfriend Cindy Nelton, who was charged with interfering with a police investigation. Apparently Linkinhoker was driving a gray Hyundai Sonata on County Road 443 near FM 1409, south of Dayton, Texas and Nelton was riding as his passenger. The two were apparently leaving a Liberty County party that was being held to celebrate the conviction of a woman who fatally shot a 7-year old boy on her property in 2009. It is thought Charli Gore left the large outdoor party some time around 1:30am, possibly due to a fight or argument that occurred at the party. Charli left on foot and shortly after leaving was struck by a vehicle: Charli’s body was found in a ditch by a man who lives on CR443. Linkhoker and Nelton, both residents of Dayton, were investigated after tips from the public. Allegedly the couple were removing license plates from the Hyundai, which had front end damage and a broken windshield.

Michael Linkinhoker, charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of Charli Gore

The Houston Chronicle is reporting a fatal motorcycle accident on Houston’s 610 West Loop on Saturday April 16, 2011. The accident happened at approximately 9:15PM when the motorcyclist lost control of his motorbike, crashed and slid approximately 100 yard on the West Loop crossing over San Felipe. The 21-year old man riding the motorbike died later at Ben Taub Hospital. Houston police closed the West Loop to conduct an investigation which created a backup on 610 that extended all the way to US290.

Ford Motor Co. is expanding a recall of the popular F-150 pickup truck to include nearly 1.2 million vehicles that may have defective air bags.  The additional recall, announced Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, covers trucks from the 2004 through 2006 model years. An electrical short can cause the air bags to deploy unexpectedly, in some cases injuring drivers.

In February, Ford agreed to fix 150,000 of the trucks but resisted the government’s wishes to recall all 1.2 million trucks that may have the problem. Ford’s F-Series pickup truck is the top-selling vehicle in America, and the F-150 makes up about 60 percent of F-Series sales. Through March, the company sold nearly 127,000 of the pickups. The F-Series also includes heavier duty trucks such as the F-250 and F-350.

Ford said in a statement that it will notify all owners in May that they should take their trucks to a dealer who will replace an air bag wire in the steering wheel. The repair takes less than a half day, the company said. The wire can become chafed, causing a short circuit that can lead to the airbag inflating unexpectedly.

Ford said it knows of no crashes caused by the airbag problem. But NHTSA said in a January letter to Ford that the agency knew of 269 cases in which the air bags deployed inadvertently, resulting in 98 injuries, some serious. The agency noted that Ford made production changes to the trucks in 2006 and 2007 to fix the air bag wiring and other issues.

Ford told NHTSA in May that some drivers reported injuries that included burns from contact with the air bag, bruises, neck and back pain and minor cuts. Two customers reported broken or chipped teeth and two reported elbow or arm fractures.

NHTSA wanted Ford to recall all 1.2 million trucks, but Ford told the agency that the full recall was not justified and said owners got an adequate warning of the problem from the air bag warning light on the dashboard. But NHTSA disagreed and said it could hold a rare public hearing on the matter. “The potential for loss of vehicular control poses an unreasonable risk to safety,” NHTSA told the company. Earlier this week, Ford officially agreed to the full recall.

If you have been injured due to an accidental air bag deployment in a 2004-2006 Ford F150, call Smith & Hassler’s personal injury attorneys to discuss your potential products liability claim.

ABC Channel 13 eyewitness news is reporting a tragic accident involving a passenger car and an 18-wheeler that left a 21-year old University of Houston student dead. The accident happened around 9:00PM on Thursday April 14th on the north 610 loop near McCarty. According to police the big rig was driving down McCarty and tried to make a left turn. The student’s car drove under the trailer, shearing the roof off the car and killing the student instantly. The driver of the 18-wheeler was unhurt and police are currently investigating to determine which driver ran the red light. Our prayer and sympathies to the family and friends of the student, whose identity has not been released.

A UH student was killed when this car struck a big rig's trailer

The Houston Chronicle is reporting a two car rear-end collision at approximately 6:30PM on Wednesday April 13th, 2011. The crash happened the 1500 block of Bohemian Hall near near North Krenek in far northeast Harris County. Harris County Deputies said a man sitting in the rear passenger seat of a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the medical center where he later died. The Galant was waiting to make a left turn when it was struck from behind by a 2001 Ford F250 pickup that was also traveling northbound on Bohemian Hall. The wreck is under investigation.