Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

A federal and state investigation has begun into events leading up the explosion at Enterprise Products‘ Mont Belvieu gas plant that killed contract worker and father of two Rick Shaw, earlier this week. Since 2004 the Enterprise Products plant has paid thousands of dollars in fines for serious violations that include at least one other death.

The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) opened its investigation Tuesday, shortly after the fire began. Once OSHA‘s investigation is complete the details will be made public. Enterprise Products is conducting its own probe, and two State of Texas agencies will investigate the plant’s pipeline safety and also whether the plant violated air emission standards.

In 2005 a flash fire at the Mont Belvieu Enterprise plant burned and killed a worker who was overseeing a valve replacement. The plant has paid nearly $30,000 in fines since 2004 for a number of violations deemed serious by OSHA. In September two workers were hurt at BP’s Texas City refinery, the site where 15 workers were killed and 170 more were injured in a 2005 explosion. The workers were rushed to hospital with steam burns.

In 2005 Enterprise Products paid just over $12,000 in fines, a lesser amount than the $18,900 OSHA initially assessed against the company for the prior fatal incident in 2005. Based on Enterprise Products’ history at the Mont Belvieu plant, it certainly appears that the plant’s management were forewarned of safety issues. Unfortunately an OSHA investigation isn’t always enough: it sometimes takes a highly publicized lawsuit to take a company to task on their failures to keep workers safe, the BP Texas City refinery being a prime example of just that. This is particularly true in tragic circumstances such as the death of Mr. Rick Shaw, who leaves behind two daughters depending on him for love and financial support.

If you or a loved one have been injured at work, call Smith & Hassler‘s experienced personal injury attorneys for advice on your legal rights. Often after highly publicized incidents, particularly those resulting in serious injury or death to employees, company lawyers and insurers move fast to protect the company. Getting legal representation early by a firm such as Smith & Hassler that exclusively practices personal injury law protects the interests of injured workers or vulnerable, grieving families.

Smoke plume from Enterprise Products Mont Belvieu gas plant explosion that killed contract worker Rick Shaw can be seen for miles.

If you weren’t already convinced, the popularity and success of academy award nominated movie The Social Network should have persuaded you that social networking web sites are now deeply ingrained in the fabric of American life. Facebook boasts more than 500 million users world wide: when you consider the world population is estimated at 6,899,200,000 that means about 1 in 14 people in the world have a Facebook account! I think most people would agree that Facebook is the 500lb gorilla of social networking sites, but of course there are others including Myspace and Twitter.

Social networking sites such as Facebook can be a valuable source of information in a personal injury claim, be it a car accident, work injury, slip-and-fall or some other type of injury.  This information can either help the injured person’s case or hurt it. Likewise the Facebook or Myspace page of the person who caused the injury (in a lawsuit, the Defendant) can either help or hurt their defense of the injury claim.

Here is a real life example from an automobile accident lawsuit that Smith & Hassler personal injury attorneys Daragh Carter and Roger Sullivan took to trial in Harris County District Court in 2010. We represented a construction worker whose van was wrecked in an intersection collision with a 19-year old girl who ran a red light. The police report faulted the girl and she got a ticket for running the red light. She was insured with the notorious Allstate, who offered a couple of thousand dollars LESS than our client’s medical bills. When we filed the lawsuit, the 19-year old’s attorneys answered the lawsuit and denied she was at fault for the collision, saying it was our client who was at fault. In her deposition, which is testimony under oath, the 19-year old claimed she had the green light and said she told the police officer the same thing; she also had told us she did not have pictures of either of the wrecked vehicles, which is important evidence in the case…she denied it right up until she was shown her Myspace pages with a picture of her badly wrecked car and a caption she wrote indicating she was at fault. The Myspace pages were admitted into evidence at trial and the jury found for our client, actually awarding him more for pain and suffering than the attorneys suggested.

Of course, the door swings both ways. Injured people can seriously hurt their cases with what they put on their Facebook page, e.g. references to compensation, discussion of the facts of the accident or photographs of them appearing to do things (e.g. water skiing) that are inconsistent with their injuries.

Insurance adjusters weren’t born yesterday. It used to be that they would only research the Facebook pages of younger people making injury claims, but now that social networking sites are so widely used by all age groups, insurance adjusters research almost everyone. Smith & Hassler strongly recommends that you keep your Facebook page set to private where only people you have approved can view the contents of your pages. Smith & Hassler also suggests you be wary of accepting friend request from people you don’t know well, particularly in the weeks and months after a collision: they could be using a dummy account because they want to view your pages.

If you want a rule of thumb, Houston personal injury lawyers Smith & Hassler recommend you think about it this way: take a look at what the general public can learn about you from what can publicly be seen on your Facebook, Myspace or Twitter account. Then imagine it blown up to an 8 foot tall image on a projector screen at the courthouse because your injury claim couldn’t be settled, a lawsuit was filed and the case went to trial. If you think you don’t look good then a jury will think the same.

Smith & Hassler has been representing and advising people in Houston and throughout Texas for more than 20 years. If you have been injured due to another’s negligence and want advice on how to recovery money damages for your injuries and losses, call or email Smith & Hassler today and arrange a free consultation as soon as possible.

Wednesday February 9, 2011: Sadly a contract worker who has been missing since an explosion at the Enterprise Products gas plant in Mont Belvieu has been found dead. The explosions were heard at Enterprise Products plant on Sun Oil Road on Tuesday at 12:15PM. The company said the fire broke out at a storage tank of the west side of the facility. A leak was detected in the plant’s control room shortly before the explosion, and workers said they heard a hissing sound shortly before the blast. The fire was out by early Wednesday but officials were not able to go in right away because it was still too dangerous. Shortly after the explosion contract worker Rick Shaw was not accounted for, and Mr. Shaw was thought to have been working in the area of the plant where the explosion occurred. Mr. Shaw was found dead Wednesday night: he was from Crosby, Texas and worked for Louisiana-based Turner.

ABC Channel 13 reports that Mr. Shaw was 43-years old at the time of his death and was known to his family as Ricky. Mr. Shaw’s family were notified of his death by Enterprise Products, however told Eyewitness News they were disappointed by the lack of information they’d been getting from Enterprise Products. Rick Shaw’s sister said he was a contract worker who would take all the overtime hours he could get because he needed all the money he could get to take care of his two young girls. A family spokesperson said they were thrown off the property Wednesday when they went to speak to Enterprise Products officials. Charles Adams, who indicates he is married to Rick Shaw’s niece, said “…they are not telling us anything….”

The Houston Chronicle reported that Rick Shaw’s brother, Mark Shaw, said that he was told by one of the workers working along side Rick that Rick was inside a large gas cloud at the time of the explosion. Mark Shaw and Debbie Shaw (Rick’s sister) described Rick to the Chronicle as being hard-working and devoted to his 12 and 13-year old daughters. Debbie Shaw said that Rick loved his job and was a very dedicated worker.

Rick Shaw of Conroe, TX - victim of the Enterprise Products gas plant explosion in Mont Belvieu, TX. Mr. Shaw leaves two daughters, aged 12 and 13.

If you or a loved one has been injured at work, call a personal injury attorney at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation and advice on your legal rights.  Smith & Hassler‘s practice has been dedicated to representing injured Texans for more than 20-years.

Explosion at Enterprise Products Mont Belvieu gas plant that killed contract worker Ricky Shaw

Tuesday February 8, 2011: A midday fire caused an explosion at Enterprise Products‘ west storage facility 35 miles east of Houston in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The fire burned well into the night Tuesday and company officials are uncertain how long the fire will continue to burn. It could not be ruled out that the fire was being fueled by gas products stored underground: if that is true the fire could be kept burning indefinitely. Fortunately no injuries are known at this time. The fire caused a plume of smoke long enough to be detected on the National Weather Service radar. A contract worker who may have been in the vicinity of the explosion has not yet been accounted for.

The Enterprise Products plant processes and stores liquids that are separated from natural gas. At the moment emergency workers are not trying to extinguish the flames, rather they are concentrating on keeping nearby parts of the plant as cool as possible. Enterprise Products spokesman Rick Rainey says that nothing burning at the Mont Belvieu plant is toxic. Rainey said that 8-10 workers are typically in the facility and all of them got out safely, except for the one contract worker who hasn’t been located. The man is a maintenance worker for Turner Industries and still had not been found as of 7:45PM Tuesday. Rainey said that the company are in touch with the man’s family but no further details were released.

Click here for Channel 2’s report of the Mont Belvieu, Texas Enterprise Products gas plant explosion

Click here for the Houston Chronicle’s report of the Mont Belvieu, Texas plant explosion

Click here for Fox News Houston’s story on the Mont Belvieu, Texas gas plant explosion at Enterprise Products

If you or a family member have been injured at work, such as in a plant explosion, call Houston-based personal injury attorneys Smith & Hassler for a free consultation regarding your legal rights. Smith & Hassler has represented hard-working Texans injured on the job for more than 20-years, including workers injured in the Texas City, Texas BP plant explosion in 2005.

If you have recently been involved in an injury accident and have decided to search for a Houston-based personal injury attorney to represent you, the choice can be overwhelming. There are tens of thousands of licensed attorneys in the Houston area and of those, thousands practice personal injury law. Before the dawn of the Internet you would probably have to rely on a recommendation from a friend that a particular personal injury attorney had represented them and done a good job. Thanks to the information age however you can do some fairly effective initial research yourself. Below are a few suggestions on how to go about researching a Houston personal injury attorney to help you with your case:

1. Online reviews: There are a great many web sites that allow customers to post online reviews of products or services they have used and personal injury attorneys are no exception. Previous clients of a Houston personal injury attorney (or law firm) can write anonymous reviews and detail their experience with a lawyer or firm. Generally speaking, the more reviews that are posted the better, as you can take multiple considerations into opinion. Of course, don’t just focus on positive reviews, there may be neutral or negative reviews also. If you had a particular personal injury attorney in mind but noticed a negative review online, if you decide to interview the firm to possibly represent you, why not just ask the attorney about the negative review? Also take into consideration how far back the reviews go (e.g. does the firm have reviews going back 1 year or 5 years). Consumer review web sites worth checking into include Google Places and Citysearch.com

2. The law firm’s web site can provide you with background on the law firm’s history, how much of the firm’s practice is on personal injury and usually will include a biography for the lawyer or lawyers at the firm. It may be important to you that a law firm focuses exclusively on personal injury law. You may also want an attorney who is board certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

3. Interview the firm and/or ask for a free consultation, even if it is over the phone. Your personal injury case is the most important case in the world to you, and you want to feel comfortable with your choice of personal injury attorney. Many (if not most) Houston personal injury firms will offer potential clients a free consultation, either in person or over the phone. This is a great opportunity for you to get some free legal advice about your particular personal injury case, but also to get an impression of the attorney or the firm. You will probably want to come away from the consultation feeling the attorney understands the issues in your personal injury case, has a plan of action and has answered your questions. Particularly in a contingency fee arrangement, you and the attorney are entering into a relationship similar to a partnership: its important that you and your personal injury attorney are on the same page.

Smith & Hassler has been based in Houston representing injured Texans for over 20-years. We encourage you to run a Google search for “Smith and Hassler” and read our reviews from former clients and visit us online at www.smithandhassler.com If you like what you see and want to learn more, call us at 713 739 1250 or 1-800-WIN-WIN1 for a free consultation regarding your personal injury case.

If you have just been involved in a car accident, particularly one in which you were injured, you’re about to get a firsthand lesson in a principle Smith & Hassler knows all too well: not all car insurance companies are created equal. Some automobile insurers are nationwide companies who process billions of dollars in claims each year and have thousands of employees working their claims. They probably advertise on television and you’ve heard of them before. Without commenting on whether they make reasonable settlement offers on injury claims, if nothing else, when you call one of the big insurers somebody is going to pick up the phone.

On the other hand there are some automobile insurers who write automobile insurance policies in only one or two states, usually only write minimum limits policies and typically write policies for driver who have a poor driving record, limited credit history, or both. This type of insurer tends to keep its overhead and costs down by overworking their employees and not having sufficient manpower to answer calls, handle claims, etcetera. You probably won’t have heard of the insurance company before, they don’t advertise on television, and each time you call you find yourself on hold for an unreasonable length of time (or your calls don’t get returned).

Automobile insurers also have different philosophies on how they handle injury claims, and a particular insurance company’s philosophy can change over time. Perhaps the most famous example is when Allstate Insurance hired the McKinsey consulting group to review how Allstate managed injury claims. In the 10-years after Allstate brought in McKinsey, the amount of money Allstate paid out in car accident cases went from $0.63 per premium dollar to $0.47 per premium dollar. McKinsey infamously created a presentation slide in which McKinsey recommended Allstate treat people making injury claims with “boxing gloves” instead of “good hands.”

Having prior experience with a particular insurance company and a good understanding of their claims practices is very valuable when making an injury claim. Beyond that it is also very valuable to have experience with the law firms and lawyers that handle lawsuits filed against people insured with these insurance carriers. When an injury claim cannot be worked out through settlement, a lawsuit is the next step, and knowing who will defend that lawsuit and how they will defend it is a strategic advantage. Smith & Hassler has represented thousands of injured Texas in claims and lawsuits in our 20+ year history. If you have been injured due to the negligence of a driver insured with any of the following automobile insurers (or any other insurance company) you can speak to a Smith & Hassler personal injury attorney at no cost for a free consultation: we’d be glad to discuss your case with you and give you some insight into what to expect from the particular insurance company you’ve found yourself having to deal with.

ACCC Claims Service, Statewide Claims, 21st Century, Canal Insurance, Allied Insurance, esurance, MetLife, Progressive, Safeco, Gainsco, Liberty Mutual, Infinity, State Farm, GEICO, Allstate, Farmers, Chubb, Zurich, U.S. Auto, Santa Fe Insurance, Travelers, The Hartford, USAA, Mercury Insurance, Central Insurance, Germania, Texas Farm Bureau

If you’ve been involved in an automobile accident with another driver, once the adrenaline wears off and the dust begins to settle your first worry probably is: “Does the other driver have insurance?”  That is a very serious concern in the State of Texas, where recent estimates are that of the 20 million vehicles in Texas, roughly 22 percent are uninsured (even though the penalties for driving without insurance can be harsh).  That means on a state-wide level you have a 1 in 5 chance of being in a collision with an uninsured driver! TexasSure is the State of Texas‘ vehicle insurance verification program and was created by the Texas Departments of Insurance, Public Safety, Motor Vehicles and Information Resources as a system to help reduce the number of uninsured motorists.

These agencies have created a database that links every vehicle registered in Texas by its license plate, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and liability insurance policy. Law enforcement officers can access the database, including at the scene of a car accident by using the computer in their police cruisers, to verify the insurance status of any registered vehicle. Put another way: the police can check at the scene of a collision to see if the drivers involved have valid liability insurance.

The number of uninsured vehicles varies by Texas county.  The TexasSure web site publishes statistics on the number of registered vehicles that are not matched to a liability insurance policy in each county. As of the date of this blog post (02-03-2011) the most recent uninsured motorist statistics were released on 12/06/2010. Harris County, which encompasses the City of Houston, has 2,775,042 registered vehicles, of which 672,384 are not matched to liability insurance, meaning 24.23% of registered vehicles in Harris County are uninsured. That’s a scary, scary statistic! In Montgomery County the percentage is lower at 17.74% uninsured. In Galveston County, 18.52% are uninsured. In Fort Bend County, 16.98% are uninsured.

What you can do to protect yourself from the cost of the damage and injuries caused by uninsured drivers: Obviously the fairest solution of all would be for everyone driving on Texas roads to be responsible and carry the automobile liability insurance Texas law requires.  Unfortunately and despite the best efforts of law enforcement, that isn’t about to happen any time soon.  There is something that you can do TODAY to ensure you are protected from the damage that an uninsured motorist can cause in a car accident, including damage to your vehicle, lost wages and medical bills. Check your own automobile insurance policy to see if you have either of two types of coverage: Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or Uninsured Motorist coverage (UM). Personal Injury Protection is a no-fault (it doesn’t matter whose fault the car accident was) benefit that can cover medical bills and lost wages. The minimum PIP coverage is $2,500, the next step up is $5,000 and the next step up is $10,000 (and some people carry more than that). PIP is not very expensive to add to your policy.

Uninsured motorist (or “UM“) coverage allows your own insurance company to “stand in the shoes” of the uninsured motorist who caused the accident. Your insurance carrier will evaluate your injury claim just as if they insured the other driver, and will make a settlement offer based on your medical bills, lost wages, injuries, physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, anticipated future medical costs and other factors that should go into evaluating an injury claim. The minimum UM coverage you will have on your policy is $30,000 (if you have UM).

Smith & Hassler has all too often seen the financially devastating consequence of car accidents and personal injury (and even death) where an uninsured motorist causes a car accident, and the victim of the car accident does not have PIP or UM. Smith & Hassler strongly recommends that EVERYONE check their automobile insurance policy or speak to their insurance agent to find out if they have PIP or UM coverage. If not, we absolutely recommend that in the City of Houston, in a county with almost 25% OF DRIVERS UNINSURED you take out UM and PIP coverage to protect you and your family. If you have been in an accident with an uninsured motorist, you can call Smith & Hassler today and speak to an attorney for a free consultation.

Consumer advocacy group Texas Watch posted a story online today with the headline “Alert: Farmers Insurance takes over Texas capitol.  According to the Texas Watch article, the Farmers Insurance bus (which is uses as a mobile claims center) was being used as a prop to lobby Texas legislators to look favorably upon the insurance industry in Texas. Texans pay the highest rates for homeowner’s insurance in the United States. Farmers, which is the third largest homeowner’s insurance policy writer in the country, has issued notice of a rate increase in Texas set to take effect next month.

It has been the recent experience of Smith & Hassler that Farmers Insurance has decided to take a “hard line” on personal injury claims made under its automobile insurance policies.  Put another way, Farmers made the decision about a year or so ago that it was going to save some money by paying less on automobile injury claims. This equates to a win for Farmers Insurance (paying less on claims means higher profits) but a loss for Farmers Insurance‘s own policyholders (who increasingly are finding themselves being sued over car accidents when Farmers won’t make a reasonable effort to settle a claim) and injured motorists (who are forced to undergo the time, expense and frustration of a lawsuit in order to recover their damages).  This really is a shame, Farmers Insurance actually used to be a fairly reasonable carrier to deal with, but have decided they would rather take lessons from the notorious Allstate Insurance whose injury claims practices are legend.

Farmers Insurance mobile claims center bus parked outside the Texas capitol

Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel is warning Harris County residents of an identity theft scam.  Identity thieves are calling Harris County residents and asking for social security numbers while pretending the information is needed in furtherance of Harris County jury service. A press release from the District Clerk says that the would-be thieves threaten people for failing to report for jury service. Daniel said that similar schemes have been attempted in Harris County in the past, and he reminded residents never to give out personal identifying information such as social security numbers. Jury room staff will never contact prospective jurors and ask for sensitive information over the phone or by email.

A new study has found that red light cameras help reduce the frequency of red light running and intersection car crashes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is releasing a study on Tuesday February 1, 2011 reporting that camera have reduced fatal crashes by 24 percent in 14 large cities where red light cameras were introduced between 1996-2004. The IIHS President Adrian Lund says the study is proof that red light cameras work, and credits them with saving hundreds of lives. On the other hand the National Motorists Association Executive Director Gary Biller questions the validity of the IIHS‘s finding that red light cameras have saved lives.  He says there are cheaper alternative to red light cameras, including longer yellow lights.  He also says that there are studies showing that red light cameras actually increase car accidents.

Click here to go to the IIHS study on red light cameras and car accidents.

City of Houston voters narrowly passed a proposition in the 2010 mid-term elections that disbanded Houston’s red light camera program.  The unfortunate (but predictable) effect of the proposition passing is that our already cash-strapped city has been deprived of millions of dollars a year in revenue. While nobody wants to get an expensive ticket for running a red light that may cause their car insurance premiums to increase, there is a more simple solution to avoiding a ticket than disbanding the red light camera program: JUST DON’T RUN THROUGH RED LIGHTS!

IIHS shows red light cameras effective in reducing car crashes