A Ford Explorer SUV and a big rig were involved in a collision last week, which fatally injured five people. The crash took place at about 10:45 a.m. at the Athens Highway and Oak Grove Road intersection in Gainesville GA.

It appears that the Explorer left its side of the road and hit a tractor trailer head on. The four that were killed instantly were in the Explorer at the time. A 2 year old who was in the SUV and the driver of the tractor trailer were both transferred to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center. The 2 year old has since passed.

Preliminary investigations revealed the truck driver was not at fault and he is currently in a stable condition. So far, there is no explanation as to why the Explorer left its lane and caused the deadly accident. In this accident, the driver of the big rig was not to blame and he may be entitled to claim compensation from the insurer of the SUV.

An unexpected serious injury takes its toll financially on the victims involved. Victims do not plan to be at work one day and accident victims the next.  There is always more to an accident than just physical injury as the sheer impact of the body being thrown off balance can cause mental trauma, too. Losing control of one’s body is demoralizing and only makes the person more wary and less confident when going about everyday activities.

Once the truck driver in this incident starts to get his wits about him he will be seeking answers. The medical bills may be accumulating while he is being treated and, after a certain period, his wages may be stopped or reduced.  

If he hires an attorney and files a lawsuit against the at-fault driver he may be able to obtain lawsuit funding to cover his daily expenses while awaiting the settlement. Lawsuit loans are a type of financial transaction when a lawsuit funding company purchases in advance a portion of the proceeds of a lawsuit. A contract is involved which is non-recourse – meaning there will be no repayment due if the settlement is not recovered.

The great thing about a pre-settlement loan is that you can just go about spending in the normal way and when the personal injury settlement arrives the money borrowed automatically goes back to the lawsuit loan company.   

To be eligible for lawsuit funding, the injured victim must have already hired a lawyer who expects to win the lawsuit. No credit checks are necessary for eligibility as there is no credit risk, because the loan company has bought into part of the lawsuit settlement as a saleable asset. The express purpose of lawsuit funding is to help the litigant financially so he/she does not have to take a quick offer made by the defendant.  Instead, he/she will have the means to wait out the litigation process to get the true value of the lawsuit.

Although many factors are considered when underwriting a lawsuit for funding, most automobile accidents with sufficient insurance coverage, severe injuries and good liability are successful in securing a pre settlement loan. This will seamlessly merge into paying for expenses related to the accident, as well as providing extra cash in lieu of lost wages.

A two car accident on Route 20 at Brimfield, MA several days ago resulted in the death of two brothers and injuries to five other people.

The crash took place in the early evening and the report stated that 2 adults and 3 children were injured in the accident, apart from the two fatalities.

Ambulances took two of the children from the accident scene seriously injured to the Harrington Memorial Hospital in Southbridge. Life Flight helicopters flew at least two others from the scene.

The accident report states that a vehicle was traveling in an eastbound direction when it made a sudden turn to the right to avoid a truck that was turning left. It subsequently struck a guardrail, crossed over the center line, hit an SUV and then collided head-on into another vehicle.

This is one of many tragic accidents that occur on our highways every day. Auto accidents happen and victims become seriously injured or lose their lives unexpectedly as a result.

No one has yet to be found at fault, but after investigations are carried out and witnesses interviewed, no doubt someone will be blamed for inflicting injury and death on so many people.

When the victims have sufficiently recovered they may be entitled to file a personal injury claim against the person who caused the accident to recover costs associated with medical treatment, loss of earnings, and pain and suffering.

The victims who are eligible to make a personal injury claim from the at-fault driver may normally have to wait a long time while negotiations are carried out between plaintiff’s attorneys and the defendant’s insurers. In the meantime, loss of earnings may mean the victims will get into debt while they wait for a settlement.

All is not lost as lawsuit funding is available to bridge the gap while waiting for the claim to be settled.

The best part about a pre-settlement funding for lawsuits is that the client is not responsible directly for repaying the cash advance.  Instead, it is only repaid when the personal injury settlement has been received.  In most cases, the money is paid directly from plaintiff’s attorneys to the lawsuit funding company.

No one loses and there is everything to gain as the accident victim will avoid the financial hardship that goes along with lawsuits of this nature.

No doubt in the Broomfield accident there will be a lot of money spent on medical costs and funerals. Work time will be lost by those who are recovering. There is no need to suffer financially as long as there is a valid personal injury lawsuit pending and an attorney is retained on a contingency fee basis.

It may take time for the money to come through but lawsuit funding provides much needed stability while the case is litigated.  Lawsuit loans can be used at the clients sole discretion and are only repaid when the case settles and only if the case settles.  As such, it is a risk free financial transaction for plaintiffs in financial need.

An accident involving a dump truck has led to two deaths and three injuries in the Cajon pass in California last Tuesday. The accident happened at the junction between the I-15 and Highway 138. According to the report on the accident, the dump truck hit a PT Cruiser carrying several teenagers as it exited from the I-15. The PT Cruiser was traveling on the westbound side of highway 138. The PT Cruiser was rolled by the dump truck and eventually came to rest with the truck on top of it.

The truck driver was uninjured during the accident, but all five occupants of the smaller vehicle were injured, two of them fatally. An eighteen year old girl and sixteen year old boy were found dead at the scene, while the three other occupants were taken to hospital with injuries.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated, although one of the injured PT Cruiser passengers said he did not see the dump truck stop as it came off the off ramp of the I-15. Vehicles exiting from an on-ramp onto another highway would normally be expected to yield the right of way to any vehicle already on the highway. In this case, the dump truck would have been expected to stop or at least slow down to allow the PT Cruiser traveling westbound to pass.

The investigation has not been completed and the truck driver has not released any public statement. He is reported to be a subcontractor, working for CalTrans.

Accidents like this happen so often they rarely get much of a mention in the media. The only accidents that seem to get much traction are those that involve celebrities. Yet two young lives have been lost and many people – friends and family – will be grieving those losses and will be wondering what these kids might have achieved if they had survived. Three young people have also been injured and at this stage it is not clear how serious the injuries are to two of them and how the accident –  a terrifying ordeal for most ordinary people – and the injuries will affect them in the future.

The double tragedy of vehicle accidents like these is that not only do innocent victims suffer from someone else’s negligence, they also have to keep paying financially during the recovery phase until such time as the negligent party has been identified and forced to pay compensation.

Personal injury lawsuits are often long drawn out affairs and can take years to come to settlement. The following questions still must be answered:

Who or what was to blame?

Was the driver of the truck fatigued or distracted?

Did he not see the other vehicle?

Did the truck’s brakes fail?

Was there something wrong with the truck’s steering?

Was maintenance on the truck not kept up to schedule?

Was there any other reason why the accident happened?

As for accident victims, if they have been injured and have retained a personal injury attorney to help them recover compensation for their injuries and any pain and suffering attached to the accident, then they can also apply for legal funding from a lawsuit funding company. These types of financial transactions (lawsuit loans) are available when injured accident victims need cash to pay for day to day expenses or immediate medical bills and are likely to be short of money until they recover their costs if the lawsuit is successful.

In order to arrange a pre-settlement loan from a lawsuit lender, there must be an active lawsuit or claim pending, an attorney must be retained on a contingency fee basis, and the case must be approved for funding by the lawsuit funding company.

The good news is that there is no upfront cost to apply, no credit checks and no limitations whatsoever on how the lawsuit loan is spent.  Best of all, the money is only repaid if and when the lawsuit is successful.

A tractor-trailer carrying cars crashed into Simeon’s – a restaurant in Ithaca, New York State, a couple of weeks ago. The truck hit the restaurant building with such force that it left one fatality and five injuries. Those injured were taken to hospital for treatment. The person who died was the mother of a young child and she worked as a bartender at the restaurant.

The historic building was so severely damaged a crane was brought to the scene in case there was a risk of it collapsing. So far the driver has not been charged and an investigation is underway.

It is a rare, unexpected situation when a truck runs into an occupied restaurant. It is the last thing a restaurant goer would expect to happen on a night out.

The family of the fatally wounded young woman will no doubt be devastated by their loss as her child no longer has a mother.

In these situations, the family of the deceased may find they have the right to file a lawsuit against the driver of the truck. They have lost a breadwinner in the prime of her life, as well as a care giver for her child.

Sooner or later they will realize the money she was earning will no longer be available either. This makes the situation all the more serious.   Money could be short as funeral expenses have to be paid and her child has to be cared for.

There is help available if a wrongful death lawsuit is made against the truck driver who caused the death. Lawsuit funding can be arranged to provide cash while the lawsuit is pursued.. If a long investigation is carried out, it will take time for the wrongful death lawsuit to reach settlement.  Lawsuit funding companies exist to meet the cash flow needs of litigants.

In this crash, there were people injured as well, and while some of the injuries may not be debilitating or serious, other might. This may mean some of the victims may have to take time off work to recover. They too may have a right to file a lawsuit against the person who caused the accident.

They also have a right to apply for a pre settlement loan to help fray the financial burden that comes from being a litigant in a personal injury lawsuit.  Lawsuit funding companies provide immediate cash now for litigants, often in as little as 24 hours.

The assurance the lawsuit loan company gives is that there will be no pressure on the borrower to pay the loan back until a settlement is received. This means litigants can keep paying bills and providing for their families’ needs as if nothing had happened.

Best of all, the lawsuit funding loan is ONLY repaid when the case reaches settlement. As such these are risk free transactions.

DOT-111 oil tanker cars that exploded in Quebec, Canada in July last year causing the deaths of 47 people and two and a half billion dollars worth of damage are rumbling through your home town right now. In fact, there are around 98,000 of these cars operating on rail tracks across the United States.

Each car carries around 30,000 gallons of crude oil and there is documented evidence that there is a very real risk of injuries and fatalities following a tanker explosion, rail derailment, oil spill or fire.

According to a spokesman from the Railway Supply Institute (RSI), two thirds of the cars could be made a great deal safer by retro-fitting them with a number of modifications, including increasing the thickness of the steel plating, better puncture proofing and temperature regulation.

A spokesman, Tom Simpson, said that the RSI had recommended to the Department of Transportation (DOT), the federal body charged with regulating tanker car specifications and railway companies, these modifications could realistically be put in place within a year at a cost of around 60 to 70 thousand dollars per car. The DOT has not yet decided to act on the recommendation.

What if any of these tanker cars is involved in a disaster? One state official, when asked his opinion about New York State’s state of readiness to disasters of the scale of Quebec’s, thought that despite it being a local issue most local and / or volunteer fire departments would not have the sort of expensive equipment that could permit rapid deployment and containment in the event of a major tanker car accident.

A New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control spokesman, Andrew Dickenson, said that there were no state standards which required local or volunteer fire departments to have the sort of adequate equipment available.

Apparently, both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York State Legislature have been pressing for voluntary measures to be put in to place. Fines on railroad companies when derailments and other accidents take place are miniscule in comparison to the potential cost of a major disaster and the organizations just quote have also asked for fines to be raised substantially. It appears that effective regulation of both the oil and railway industries is not a reality at present.

The sort of accident that happened in Canada could happen it seems right here in the United States. The scale of such an accident can lead to dozens of injuries and deaths. In a situation like that, there would be multiple personal injury claims against a number of parties that would be held responsible for negligent safety standards.

Unfortunately, accidents of this nature are complex ones to pin down in terms of who is actually responsible and how much should be paid out for an injury. The lawsuits would likely drag on for years before a settlement is reached.

The time lag between an injury caused by gross negligence and settlement can be a very distressing period and injured victims.  Often, household cash flow decreases as victims are unable to work.  Other factors, such as economic conditions can also contribute to the stress.  Victims/plaintiffs and family members who may have lost a loved one, can buckle under tremendous financial pressure.

One solution which is available for individuals with lawsuits waiting for settlement and in need of funding to ease their financial strain is to arrange a lawsuit loan. Lawsuit loans, also known as legal funding, are financial contracts in which a settlement funding company offers immediate cash to plaintiff(s).  The plaintiff(s) pledge a portion of the proceeds of the settlement in return.  The money can be used at the client’s discretion and need not be paid back if the case is not result in a settlement or other recovery.

Lawsuit loans are one possible source of liquidity available to litigants who encounter financial pressure, whether caused the accident or by other factors.

Fatigued tractor trailer drivers have been hot news recently. The accident involving well known comedians allegedly caused by a Wal-Mart tractor trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike last week has initiated calls for the installing of black boxes which would record the track of the big rigs.

New York Democratic senator Charles Schumer, has requested that the federal Department of Transportation takes measures to ensure that hours driven by truck drivers register on an electronic log and not recorded in writing as is presently the case.

Current regulations insist drivers should not drive above 11 hours in any 24 hour period and accumulating on a weekly basis no more than 70 hours. 30 minutes rest is part of the 11 hours.

The collision last week which killed Jimmy McNair, a comedian, and caused injuries to other comedians, which included Tracy Morgan, was allegedly caused by a Wal-Mart truck which swerved on the Turnpike when the driver seemed to be attempting to avert an accident. Kevin Roper, the driver from Georgia was taken into custody and subsequently charged with death by auto and 4 counts of assault by auto. It has been alleged that he had remained awake for the 24 hours preceding the crash. Roper has entered a not guilty plea to the charges.

Injured victims of automobile accidents and their families usually file a personal injury lawsuit or a wrongful death case against the driver to recover damages. They normally have to pay for medical expenses and funeral expenses as well as trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of support, companionship and income.

In the meantime while waiting for a lawsuit to reach settlement, plaintiffs can encounter financial strain due to medical expenses and/or inability to work.  Bills need to be paid. And a loss in monthly cash flow can put a household under severe financial strain.

Under these circumstances, plaintiffs may be able to ease this condition by securing lawsuit funding.  Lawsuit funding is a financial transaction which is basically a contract between a plaintiff in a lawsuit and a “lender”, who provides instant cash to the client, often within 24 hours. The plaintiff pledges a portion of the proceeds of the lawsuit, if the case reaches a settlement or other recovery. Basically, with lawsuit funding the money is advanced now and repaid only when the case settles.

Lawsuit funding, also known as a lawsuit loan, is available for personal injury cases such as motor vehicle accidents and slips and falls. There are pre settlement loan companies who will consider any lawsuit for funding as long as the client has an attorney.

Until state and federal governments realize how important it is to put into action black box legislation, more injuries and fatalities and the hardships that go with them are likely to occur. Black box legislation has been implemented slowly even though the law requiring their use has been in place for several years. Schumer wants the black boxes mandatory in the next two months. He also wants the DOT to increase truck insurance to cover damages caused by these types of accidents.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and estimated 13% of serious truck accidents are caused by truck driver fatigue. If the black boxes really do cut down the number of exhausted drivers, then their speedy installation is a good idea.

A victim of any type of accident on our highways can never truly be compensated for their losses.  Lawsuit funding however, is always available for eligible clients to help relieve financial stress while a personal injury lawsuit is being settled.