A few days after a California commuter train rammed a truck whose driver had abandoned it at a railroad crossing outside Oxnard, California (CA), on February 24, 2015, Insurance Journal published an analysis titled “Replacing Unsafe Train Crossings Deemed too Expensive.” The headline writer exaggera
The latest federal report on measures being taken to ensure the safety of natural gas pipelines across the United States raises serious concerns. While acknowledging that catastrophic, and fatal, failures such as the 2010 explosion of a Pacific Gas & Electric gas transmission line in…
A February 2015 report from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration should give pause to anyone who believes that the proverbial “just two glasses of wine with dinner” leaves them safe to drive. My Virginia Beach-based attorney colleague Randy Appleton has already highlighted other
Breath and blood sobriety tests, thousands of which were conducted in Virginia Beach, VA, indicate that drunk drivers have become less of a threat on American streets and highways. The same studies conducted for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration also revealed the potentially
A worker at Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia (VA), suffered injuries requiring hospital treatment when the backhoe he was driving got hit by a small Norfolk Southern locomotive. According to WAVY-TV 10, the collision occurred at a marked but uncontrolled grade crossing inside the work…
In the simplest of terms, “statute of limitation” refers to a deadline for filing a lawsuit. These limits vary based on several factors including the state and the nature of the claim. Since Virginia and North Carolina are neighbors, they are a prime example of…
The statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is two years from the date of the accident in Virginia. See Va. Code § 8.01-243. However, there is a little-known law that can actually be used to bar legitimate claims of injured folks from being filed…
Interview of Richard N. Shapiro Regarding the $2.5 Million Defective Ryobi Ride-on Mower Jury Verdict After a five-day Norfolk, Virginia federal jury trial, the jury returned a $2.5 million verdict in favor of the widow of an 88-year-old man who burned to death after his…
The National Transportation Safety Board on January 13, 2015, introduced its newest Most Wanted list of improvements by stating, “Rail tank cars that carry crude oil, ethanol and other hazardous materials across the country must do it more safely.” Other priorities for the federal agency…
A 17-year-old high school student died, and 12 other schoolchildren suffered serious injuries, when the school bus in which they were riding crashed into a BNSF freight train near the town of Larimore, North Dakota (ND), on the afternoon of January 5, 2015. Although the…
A company that manufacturers a large percentage of highway guardrails used in the United States is facing growing legal pressure to redesign and replace one its most popular products. The safety device in question, known by the brand name ET-Plus and manufactured by Trinity Industries,…
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina (NC) charged a man in a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of a passenger riding a moped and seriously injured the moped operator. Police stated that the driver of a 2011 Infiniti rear ended a moped, which then…