Personal Injury Blog

In the 1940s and 50s, millions of Americans toiled over their lawns with reel mowers. Today, they’ve shifted away from them and come to rely on the powered variety. But that shift has not come without consequences.  Powered mowers are also more apt to cause personal injuries than their reel relatives. How do we know that’s a fact?

Cutting to the Facts of the Matter

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission periodically issues reports projecting the number of mowing accidents they expect to see for the year. The last numbers we were able to obtain from their website indicate that more than 17,000 people are likely to find themselves on the wrong end of a lawn mower by the conclusion of 2015 and some of them won’t live to tell about it.
Who Receives the Brunt of It?

Who often ends up with the worst lawn mower injuries? The Amputee Coalition sadly pointed out earlier this year that it’s children. Over the years, many learned publications and safety experts have studied the topic. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the sheer number of injured children was heartbreaking. Case in point; one magazine, the Journal of Trauma, put the number of injured children in 2005 at over 9,000. Thankfully, progress has been made since then and the annual numbers are now generally below 1,000.

The category of personal injuries adults and children experience during lawn mower accidents has great depth and breadth to it. Amputation is one big concern but it is far from being the only one. The others include, but are not confined to:

• Sensory Loss and Tooth Avulsion
• Broken Bones and Ruptured Muscles
• Soft Tissue Damage
• Severed Arteries
• Spinal and Nerve Damage
• Head Trauma
• Crushed Organs and Internal Bleeding

Why, despite all of the concerted efforts, do bad lawn mower accidents continue to happen to good people? In some cases, the accidents are out of a person’s control. For example, there have been times when powered equipment has unexpectedly failed or Mother Nature has intervened (e.g. falling limbs).

We’ve also seen situations where motor vehicle drivers have jumped curbs in rural neighborhoods and hit mowers. Those types of lawn mower accidents are often attributed to drug use, intoxication, medical emergencies, sun glare and poor road conditions. But let us make it clear, it isn’t always the other person that’s to blame for lawn mower accidents.

Sometimes the person or people using the mower fail to do their due diligence too. Perhaps they’re distracted and forget to put on the brakes. Maybe they swerve to miss the family pet and cause a rollover. Either way, it is never safe to assume that lawn mower accidents are one person’s fault or another’s. We’d recommend contacting an attorney well versed in accident reconstruction and personal injury law.

Determine Who is Really to Blame for Lawn Mower Injuries

Reconstructing the lawn mower accident and assigning degrees of liability to all participants is the wisest choice to make. Afterward, lawn mower accident victims may decide whether or not they would like to pursue the matter further by filing personal injury suits. To learn more about lawn mower injuries and who may be at fault, please contact us today.

On Aug. 29, the NFL and a group of more than 4,500 former players who had sued the organization over head injuries they claim to have sustained during their careers reached an eye-opening $765 million settlement.

The settlement must still be approved by a judge, but at this point, it does not seem that there are any significant roadblocks to its approval.

This lawsuit has been closely watched by personal injury attorneys nationwide. It is only recently that courts and judges have begun to realize the very severe implications that traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have for those unfortunate enough to suffer them. This lawsuit and the attention it has generated might make it easier for courts to accept that TBI can be very harmful and can have long-lasting, deleterious consequences.

In their suit, the players had alleged that the NFL knew that they were at risk for severe head injuries, covered up those injuries when they happened and did little to protect players or research ways to prevent TBI during football games. The settlement has been cheered by some former players who say they are dealing with the fallout of TBI they sustained during their careers and now have large medical bills and costly treatments to endure.

Although it is a good thing that retired players who have significant medical expenses are going to see some of this settlement, not everyone is pleased with it. Some legal industry observers have pointed out that $765 million split among 4,500 plaintiffs doesn't go very far per plaintiff. Others have noted that the settlement seals most trial documents, meaning the public will never know the full nature and extent of the NFL's actions, and still others have noted that the NFL has an estimated revenue of $27 billion each year and have said it is getting off easy. This is just the latest instance in which TBI has made the national news. As our readers may recall, TBI first received national attention in connection with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where soldiers suffered from concussions and other head injuries because of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in particular. There has also been some fascinating research on the effect that TBI can have on a person, even years after the initial injury. In particular, some medical researchers are exploring the effect TBI can have on a person's mental health and even his or her personality; in other words, the long-term consequences of TBI may not be apparent to the naked eye.

If you have suffered from a head injury during a work accident, car crash, slip-and-fall incident or some other mishap that is not your fault, it would be a mistake to take it any other way than seriously. You might consider researching personal injury attorneys in your area and having a conversation with one. That way, you are taking positive steps toward ensuring a safe, happy and healthy future. Many attorneys offer free consultations, so an initial conversation would not cost you anything and would likely leave you feeling better informed.

Horseback riding can be an enjoyable activity whenever everything goes as planned. When the proper safety measures are not followed, it can often end in disaster. Equine Accidents can result in serious injury or even death, and the sad truth is that many of these accidents can easily be avoided.

Types of Injuries

One of the most common equine injuries involves a rider falling or being thrown from the horse. Injuries can also occur whenever an animal stumbles, falls, or collides with inanimate objects. An individual could also be stomped on, kicked, or bitten by a horse. When horseback riding activities take place on public roads, care must be taken to ensure that participants and animals are visible to the public so they are not struck by passing automobiles.

Horseback Riding Facilities

A common place where equine injuries happen is at horseback riding facilities. These could be ranches that provide horseback riding lessons or parks that offer group trail rides. In these locations, some of the common injuries that can occur may be easily prevented by:

• Ensuring that the animals offered for riding have the right temperament and training
• Making sure that riders do not exceed the weight limit for each horse
• Providing the proper safety equipment and giving instruction on how to use it
• Supervising participants to ensure that none of them harm or abuse the animals
• Properly fitting saddles for each rider
• Ensuring that young children are not permitted to ride alone
• Inspecting bridles, blinders and other equipment to make sure they are in good working order

It’s also imperative that those who operate these facilities choose the right location for holding public rides. The ideal spot will be away from things such as traffic or other animals that could spook a horse. Trails should also be well maintained and free from any hazards that could cause an animal to lose its footing, thereby throwing a rider off. Who is Prone to Injuries?

Inexperienced riders are more likely to be injured in a horseback riding accident than others are. Children are also more prone to becoming accident victims than adults. When planning group rides, it’s important for those who are running the event to ask about each person’s level of experience in order to ensure he or she gets the level of supervision that’s needed. It’s also important to know a little bit about each rider’s health history. Those who are prone to seizures, the elderly, and diabetics might be more likely to fall off a horse while riding, and should therefore be supervised more closely.

Where to turn for help

If you or a loved one have been injured while horseback riding, it’s imperative that you seek medical attention right away. The law requires you to take measures to mitigate the amount of damage whenever you’re injured, even if an accident was not your fault. Once you have received the proper medical care, you may want to speak with a personal injury attorney in order to find out what your options are.