Archive for November, 2013

Immigrants With Driver’s Licenses Could Push Down Uninsured Motorist Wrecks – Blog 496

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California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into effect a law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain a license to drive in the state of California. The new policy changes a 1993 law prohibiting undocumented immigrants from attaining a license and advocates argue that the new law will reduce the overall number of accidents and will result in a decline in the number of uninsured drivers.

Uninsured driver accident lawyers in Irvine know that unlicensed drivers are overrepresented in fatal car accidents by a ratio of five to one. Unlicensed drivers are also unable to obtain insurance, which is a major concern in California where Think Progress reports that insurance companies paid $634 million in claims for uninsured motorist accidents in 2009. With the new rule change, these costs and the risk of fatal crashes should decline.

Preventing Uninsured Driver Accidents

In California, there are an estimated 24 million licensed drivers and two million unlicensed motorists. CBS News reports that as many as 1.4 million of the unlicensed motorists are undocumented immigrants who can now apply for licenses under the new law. The licenses will become available beginning January of 2015 and will carry a distinction on the front of the card indicating they are used for driving purposes only and not as federal identification.

California is the eleventh state to take this step, with seven of the other states changing their laws just in the past year to make it possible for undocumented immigrants to obtain a license.  Colorado and Oregon are among the states that have preceded California in granting licenses to individuals who are unable to prove citizenship status. The action is also not the first taken by California to make licensing more available, as the governor signed a bill last year permitting young undocumented immigrants granted temporary legal status by President Obama to obtain a license.

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Tourists Can Have Serious Injuries Parasailing News 997

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According to ABC News, there have been 33 serious parasailing accidents in the state of Florida between 1998 and today.  Six of those accidents caused fatalities.

Our West Palm Beach injury lawyers know that parasailing can be very dangerous if the boat operator who runs the parasailing operation fails to maintain the boat or other parasailing equipment. Unfortunately, the parasailing industry is largely unregulated, which contributes to the risk of accidents occurring. Many of these accidents involve tourists who visit Florida and who try out parasailing on their vacation, including one recent devastating accident that injured two visiting girls.

Parasailing Accident Seriously Injures Tourists

According to WPTV, two 17-year-old girls recently went parasailing while on vacation in Florida.

Unfortunately, the line on the parasail broke when the girls were out on the water. As a result, the young girls slammed hard into the side of a nearby condo building and hit a power line and a car in a parking lot.  The girls were seriously injured as a result of their ordeal, with one suffering from back injuries necessitating surgery and the other suffering neck injuries.

One of the two girls has been walking with assistance despite her injuries, while the other is able to communicate only through nods, blinks and small hand gestures. While there is hope that both girls will make a recovery, there is a long road to go for the young women and their families.

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Parasailing Injury Lawyer

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Oversized Babies Pose Higher Risks : Chicago Birth Injuries

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Malpractice attorneys in Chicago know that birth injuries are among the most devastating types of injuries that can occur. Birth injuries generally have two primary causes: hypoxia (deprivation of oxygen) or trauma. Unfortunately, the larger a baby is, the more likely it is that the baby and mother will be harmed during the labor process. As such, a recent trend in big babies has medical professionals concerned and is something that doctors need to be aware of and respond to properly. hands-1402625-m

Oversized Babies Increase the Risk of Birth Injuries

According to NBC News Health,  a growing number of infants are far larger than the standard at birth.  Just this summer alone, mothers gave birth to a 13.5 pound German baby girl, a 13-pound, 10-ounce California baby and a 13-pound, 11-ounce little girl born in Spain.

The increase in big babies may be explained by two risk factors: (1) later-in-life births, increasing the number of mothers with gestational diabetes, and (2) rising rates of obesity, resulting in more obese mothers giving birth.  These conditions have resulted in a 15 to 25 percent increase in babies weighing more than eight pounds, 13 ounces, in developed countries.  A baby larger than this weight is generally considered oversized.  

As more big babies are born, there is a greater chance of birth injuries occurring due to the inherent difficulties in birthing an oversized child.  A larger baby, for example, is at risk of shoulder dystocia and bone fractures.  Shoulder dystocia happens when the baby becomes lodged behind the mother’s pubic bone.

Doctors have to act quickly to extract the baby to minimize the risk of fetal distress and oxygen deprivation.

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San Antonio 4 speak out after prison release: Were actually innocent News623

SAN ANTONIO, Texas
– They didn’t get to watch their children grow up into young adults. They missed saying goodbye to grandparents, and in one case, a father, before those loved ones passed away.

But three women who were released from prison on Monday after spending more than a decade behind bars – for crimes they say they didn’t commit – said they relished their new-found freedom and would continue fighting for their full exoneration.

“I got to meet my son for the first time since he was 4,” said Liz Ramirez, 39, who along with the other women spoke with NBC News on Tuesday in their first interview since their release. “It was an amazing feeling, being in his arms.”

Personal injury lawyer san antonio

What sent the women to prison – Ramirez received a 37.5-year sentence and the others each got 15 years – were allegations of abuse leveled by Ramirez’s two young nieces, then 7 and 9 years old. The girls accused the four friends of sexually assaulting them twice in late July 1994 while they were visiting Ramirez at her apartment.

The women’s lawyer, Michael Ware, said the trial transcripts showed inconsistencies in the testimony given by the girls. But the crucial witness was a doctor who testified that the older girl’s hymen bore a scar that could only have come from abuse around the time of the alleged attacks, Ware said.

“I want to apologize to them. It’s hard,” she said, breaking down into tears. “I’m sorry for everything. I should have just spoken out a long time ago when I was a kid.”

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/19/21540535-san-antonio-4-speak-out-after-prison-release-were-actually-innocent?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1

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