Lafayette Personal Injury Law Blog

Many Louisiana residents work offshore or on ships that are involved in international commerce. These individuals, like workers on land, may occasionally be in danger on the job. However, there are likely to be differences in how injured workers offshore or on ships pursue financial compensation for any incidents they are involved in. This is where the Jones Act comes into play.

The Jones Act is a federal law that has several different protections built in for offshore workers and those who work on ships at sea. The primary protection is that injured workers in these circumstances may be able to pursue a civil lawsuit against their employers due to the injuries they suffered. Such an action can be pursued in either state or federal court. The choice of which court to file the case in can be a complicated issue in any given case, as the perception may be that one forum is better than the other in certain circumstances.

Motor vehicle accidents that involve large trucks can be quite different from those that only involve passenger vehicles. This is due to the massive size difference between a large truck and a smaller vehicle, which can lead to devastating consequences for any drivers or passengers in smaller vehicles. At the same time, the driver of a large truck may walk away from such a collision with few, if any, injuries. Victims of truck accidents in Louisiana often have many questions about how to proceed in the aftermath of the incident. So, what are some common questions about truck accidents?

Well, for starters, what do we mean when we talk about "large trucks" that are involved in vehicle accidents? In most cases, this means commercial trucks, such as semi-trucks or delivery trucks, which are involved in delivering goods, as well as large transport vehicles such as buses.

Our readers in Louisiana have probably seen many media reports that decry the distraction that cellphones present for drivers on the roads of our state and throughout the country. Distracted driving seems to be a societal plague that is getting worse, not better. Just take a glance at any driver you see behind the wheel and you may see that person staring at their phone instead of paying full attention to the task of driving.

But, is there another distraction that may be drawing drivers' attention away from the road? As a recent article noted, a person's vehicle may actually present just as much of a potential distraction as a person's cellphone. Why? Because the latest models of many different types of vehicles are starting to integrate with the same technology that is available on cellphones, all with nice, bright, shiny, attractive displays right there on the dashboard.

It is not uncommon to see warning signs in stores and businesses in Louisiana that say "floor slippery" or "watch your step." After all, all property owners have a duty to protect people who come onto their property from getting injured, and you will see no greater interest in doing so than in a business, where the sole goal is to make a profit, not lose money in a premises liability lawsuit. However, despite these types of efforts, it is also not uncommon to see dangerous property conditions lead to injuries.

In some cases, the problem may be that there is inadequate lighting around the business at nighttime, which can hamper a person's ability to see dangerous property conditions that might cause an injury. In other cases, a parking lot might have such pervasive damage - such as potholes or cracks - that a person driving a car may hit one of these property conditions and get into a wreck on the property, potentially suffering injuries. But, it is just as common that a person might trip or slip on a defect in flooring or on a sidewalk, which might cause what might seem like a simple fall, but which can actually lead to serious injuries.