Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer warns of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning

There was news this past weekend of many cases of carbon monoxide poisoning and one life tragically lost. A restaurant manager died and dozens of others were treated and released after inhaling carbon monoxide at a Long Island, NY mall. Investigators at the scene found a leak in the flue pipe of the water heater in a restaurant. This terrible tragedy highlights the inadequacy of the codes for carbon monoxide detectors in commercial spaces.

This same weekend, several guests at a resort in Maine were also taken to a local hospital and treated for carbon monoxide poisoning due to a high level of carbon monoxide near a furnace in the building. Last week, three adults died and a fourth person was hospitalized after a carbon monoxide poisoning inside a home in New Hampshire. In January of this year, a Saint Clair man died of carbon monoxide poisoning after the flue pipe of a coal furnace he was using clogged, […]

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Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer Notes Wrong-Way Highway Accidents Are Often Deadly

Eleven people died last week in two highway collisions, one in Florida and one in California, caused by drivers going the wrong way. Driving the wrong way on highways has been a traffic safety problem since the interstate highway system was first developed. Despite decades of sign improvements at interchanges, the problem persists.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), hundreds of people are killed each a year when drivers turn the wrong-way into the face of oncoming traffic, causing head-on collisions on high-speed highways, and a majority of the crashes involves drivers with blood alcohol levels more than twice the legal limit. A Ford Expedition SUV traveling south on northbound Interstate 275 in Tampa, Florida, collided head-on with a Hyundai Sonata just after 2 a.m. on Sunday, killing the SUV driver and all four people in the other car according to the Florida Highway Patrol. […]

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It’s your money and they want it now!

As seen in the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal.

By J. Christopher Munley

We all have seen the hard-hitting television commercials decrying: “It’s your money and you want it now!” These get-your-cash now ads, while seemingly helpful to those experiencing financial hardship, prey on individuals who have money in structured settlements.
They may seem too good to be true — and in most instances they are. What these ads don’t disclose is that the realized value to you now of this money owed to you in the future will be less than the amounts in the settlement, sometimes up to 40 percent less.

The ads are designed and created by companies that are in the business of purchasing structured settlements, otherwise known as “factoring companies,” and it is their goal to entice structured settlements holders to sell their settlements in exchange for a lump sum payment at the “present value” of the structure. […]

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Silent demon too often preys in Pennsylvania

As seen in the Scranton Times.

By Julia Munley

Sadly, allegations of child sexual abuse happen every day and have become something we read about almost daily in our local and national news; it is everywhere, from our churches to our schools and even in our own homes.

Last weekend, this issue was front and center with the Woody Allen/Dylan Farrow abuse story resurfacing 21 years after Farrow’s initial claims of abuse. One of the most shocking things about this story is that the alleged victim has been criticized and belittled by Allen’s PR machine, chiefly by his lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz.

While everyone deserves a defense and the presumption of innocence, including Allen, these attempts to isolate, demonize and subdue claims of child abuse should be excoriated. These very public intimidation tactics will undoubtedly impact other victims and lead to more unreported and untreated child sexual abuse and allow offenders to abuse others. […]

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Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer Says Distracted Driving Kills

In a statement released on January 28, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that the rise in mobile device usage while driving has caused an increase in auto accidents. The National Safety Council reports that in the U.S. texting while driving causes 1.6 million accidents annually. Researchers fear that this trend will continue. Drivers who read or write text messages while operating vehicles are 23 times more likely to be in a crash than non-distracted drivers, according to researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

As a result, states have passed distracted driving laws. 41 states plus D.C. have banned text messaging behind the wheel. The report also revealed that 12 states plus D.C. have implemented laws prohibiting all drivers from using handheld devices while operating a vehicle. Additionally, all 50 states have implemented police reports that include sections for distracted driving information in the event of an auto accident. […]

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