West Virginia Personal Injury Blog

A motorcyclist recently sustained serious injuries after crashing into a guardrail on the West Virginia Turnpike. Police are still investigating the accident, but reports from some witnesses indicate that the motorcyclist may have been forced off the road by a truck hauling pigs. The rider was airlifted to a Virginia hospital with serious injuries.

Six years ago, 17-year-old Eric Breeden was killed when a semi-truck ran a red light at an intersection on Route 460. According to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, an accident reconstructionist determined the truck was going nearly 80 miles an hour when it entered the intersection.

In an effort to prevent future tragedies like this, Eric's father petitioned the state to drop the speed limit at intersections along Route 460. The speed limit was lowered to 50 mph at intersections and warning lights have been installed to alert truckers and other drivers that they are approaching a traffic signal.

Consider the case of Cincinnati Bengal Chris Henry. He was a prep football player from New Orleans and a stand-out at West Virginia University. He had difficulties in his private life and run-ins with the law...not an unusual experience for pro-athletes these days. He died at age 26 after falling off of the back of a moving truck during a domestic dispute with his fiancée. His story, though unfortunate, was not entirely remarkable.

That is, until neurosurgeons from West Virginia University performed an autopsy on Henry and discovered that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease known to occur in much older veteran ex-football players and ex-boxers who had received repeated blows to the head over long careers. After just under four years of pro football, Henry's CTE was so advanced as to be comparable with the old pros who develop dementia during the late stages in their lives. But while he obviously endured some heavy hits during his football career, he was not known to have received multiple concussions or extremely severe head injuries.

These days, running a family farm requires a working knowledge of agricultural science and the use of chemicals and nutrients to keep crops, and profits, growing. Soil additives including liquid fertilizer, anhydrous ammonia, crop pesticides and others, along with chemicals to clean and sanitize barns, equipment and tools can be extremely dangerous and hazardous to health if not handled carefully.

Safe handling and safety protocols in case of a leak or exposure should be in every farmer's mind. This is especially true where children or elderly family members live on the farm or nearby as caustic chemical exposure can affect them first because of age. The Department of Labor reports that children age 15 years and younger and adults age 65 and older have the highest rates of injury and death on farms. Injuries from farm chemical exposure can range from rashes and boils to loss of consciousness and even death after inhalation.

As with any summer, people enjoy being outside and experiencing the warm weather on the water. This summer promises to be no different as whitewater enthusiasts flock to West Virginia for some of the best boating in the country. In the fall, "Gauley Season" releases in September and October will cap off a great year of Class Vs on the Gauley River.

While the Gauley River alone attracts more than 35,000 paddlers each year, whitewater rafting is an extreme and dangerous sport. In a study of rafting injuries over a two-year period, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources reported that the most frequent injuries to rafters were facial injuries, knee injuries and arm and wrist injuries. The most common complaints were lacerations and sprains, although two deaths were reported in the two years.

Spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries can be devastating, both physically and financially. For some people, insurance will satisfy their needs; for other people, a lawsuit may provide the compensation that they require to take care of themselves. If those two sources are not available, however, there is another place that injured people can turn to in West Virginia.

The West Virginia Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Fund was created to help individuals pay for rehabilitation services after suffering serious brain or spinal cord injuries. The stated goal of the fund is to increase opportunities for individuals and help them achieve some measure of independence so they can return to a more productive lifestyle.

More specifically, the fund was set up to assist individuals with obtaining and paying for services such as:

• Rehabilitation-related therapies
• Attendant care
• Home modifications to aid accessibility
• Necessary medical equipment or medical devices
• Counseling and support services for individuals and their families

Of course, individuals must meet certain qualifications in order to receive assistance from the fund. For instance, the program is only available to citizens of West Virginia. In addition, the fund is available as a "payer of last resort," which means that the fund can only be used for individuals who have been denied insurance benefits and have applied to and been denied by all other agencies that are mandated to provide similar services to injured individuals.

Once someone has been denied benefits from those sources, the board that controls the fund will determine if any other agencies could provide services. If there are no other viable options, the fund can be used to provide services for the injured person.

While this fund provides a type of safety net for individuals who have suffered traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries, the most direct way of achieving the services and compensation you need is still through a lawsuit against the responsible party, or through benefits from your insurance carrier. To find out more about your options, speak with a personal injury lawyer.

Traumatic brain injury victims, and their families, almost always find themselves between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the victim cannot be left without medical attention and special care -- this is the solid, immovable truth. On the other, the family of this individual is often left scrambling for enough funds to pay those hospital and special care bills.

When West Virginia legislators drafted Senate Bill 657, they included a stipulation that would have raised the fees for drunk drivers involved in motor vehicle accidents by $50. The money, estimated at around $190,000, would have gone towards the care of traumatic brain injury victims in the state.

Proponents pointed out that a majority of traumatic brain injuries occur as a result of car accidents and that many of these accidents are caused by the negligence of drunk drivers.

Still, in early March, Senate Financial Committee Chairman Walt Helmick asked that these additional DUI charges be taken out of the legislation. In defense of his request, Helmick pointed to the bad economy and claimed a hesitance to sign off on any additional fees -- even for drunk drivers.

The measure's proponents claimed that higher penalty fees would encourage individuals to think twice before getting into their car after a night of drinking, in addition to helping those affected by brain injuries. Still, Helmick wasn't alone in his opinion. Even some legislators who saw the benefits of the proposed DUI fee increase hesitated to call for a raise in fees.

Ultimately, the bill moved forward without increased DUI penalties.

Related Resources

• DUI Penalties Removed from West Virginia Brain Injury Bill (BrainandSpinalCord.com)

She stepped outside for what was to be a brief moment away from a friend's 21st birthday celebration in her hometown of Fairmont. Minutes later, her friends found her dying in an alley, the victim of a hit-and-run driver.

Today, more than four years after Erin Keener's death, she lives on in the hearts of her family and friends and in a law named after her. Effective in June, Erin's Law will force hit-and-run drivers to take responsibility for their harmful, illegal acts.

A Steeper Price to Pay for Running

The law increases the penalty for leaving the scene of an accident in which there is an injury or death. With Erin's Law in place, hit-and-run drivers will face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Keener's family felt some relief when police arrested a 65-year-old man last year in connection with Erin's death. Jon Morris will stand trial under the old law -- the law in effect at the time of his arrest -- for leaving the scene of an accident involving a death. If convicted, he faces the possibility of three years in prison.

Morris has pleaded not guilty to the charge of hitting the West Virginia University nursing student and driving off to let her die.

Keener lived for three days after being hit by a vehicle outside the Fairmont bar where she was celebrating a friend's birthday with five other women.

Keener died at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown; the same hospital where she was student nursing. It's also where her mother, Debbie Keener, works as a medical technologist.

Helping Prosecutors

Marion County Delegate Mike Caputo told MetroNews that Erin was a friend of his daughter. He told the radio network that Keener's parents called him, asking for tougher penalties for hit-and-run drivers who cause injuries and deaths.

Caputo said it was a request he couldn't refuse.

He said the law will give prosecutors more tools to work with in future, similar situations.

Protecting You and Yours

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle crash by a hit-and-run driver, or if you have lost a loved one in a hit-and-run car crash, contact a West Virginia personal injury lawyer. A personal injury attorney can assess your case and help determine if you are entitled to compensation for damages.

Monday's explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine, operated by Massey Energy, killed 25 miners; two miners survived the blast but are currently being treated in the hospital for injuries sustained. Four more miners remain unaccounted for. Although rescue efforts continue, hope is dwindling among officials and family members that the missing miners may have survived.

Around 3:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon, methane gas ignited 1000 feet below ground, causing the explosion. Workers leaving the mine hurried back to find some already dead and a few injured. Workers have not yet been able to remove all those killed in the blast, adding to the agony of many families waiting for news of loved ones.

Right now, the greatest danger is posed by methane gas, which is highly flammable. Rescue workers were forced to call off efforts yesterday afternoon when the gas became too concentrated and began to pose a threat to their own safety. Since then, they have been working tirelessly to drill ventilation holes into the mine, but it's a long way down -- and they've yet to register any sign of life from the four miners believed to be trapped.
As rescue efforts continue, authorities have been struggling to piece together a picture of what happened in the Upper Big Branch coal mine. The investigation, thus far, has returned a few answers, but many more questions regarding The Massey Energy Company, who owns and operates the mine.

West Virginia miners at Upper Big Branch have reported multiple evacuations in the past two months due to dangerous levels of methane. In fact, federal records indicate that Massey has faced multiple fines for ventilation problems already this year.  According to the New York Times, the Upper Big Branch mine was cited more than 50 times in March for safety violations.

In 2009, Massey was issued more than 500 citations for Upper Big Branch and fines of nearly $1 million in penalty fees were proposed. Still, Massey executives have maintained that the mine was safe and that "every mine has violations." On its Web site, Massey boasts of a strong safety record and commitment to healthy work environments.

Regulators and those who have worked in the mine have been less enthusiastic about Massey Energy's record. New mining regulations instituted in 2006 should have prevented such an explosion. It remains to be seen whether these regulations were met and if negligence was the major cause of one of the worst mining disasters in recent history.