Last week’s death of Myers Park High School student Drew Wright while riding his bicycle to school left the Charlotte community reeling and looking for answers regarding road safety and particularly safe routes to school. A number of news organizations responded, including Charlotte Fox News, which interviewed CJG Attorney Ann Groninger about bicycle safety.
Personal Injury
Good Samaritans help apprehend hit and run driver
On Monday afternoon in Bethlehem, PA, a cyclist named Frank Pavlick was struck by a black sedan whose driver immediately tried to flee the scene. However, upon seeing the crash, a public bus driver, Richard Gubish, Jr., maneuvered the bus to block both lanes of traffic, thus keeping the sedan driver from leaving the scene. Additionally, […]
Employers who don’t carry workers’ compensation insurance: a North Carolina problem
The Raleigh News and Observer this past weekend highlighted the plight of injured workers whose employers knowingly refuse to carry workers’ compensation insurance. These businesses pocket the insurance money, and get a competitive advantage over businesses that do not carry the insurance. When their employees are injured and there is no insurance company to pay […]
Valerie Johnson teaches law students how to be better trial lawyers
A longtime law school adjunct professor, Valerie Johnson has wrapped up her spring semester class at the University of North Carolina School of Law. This is an interactive trial advocacy course for upper class members. The course not only addresses proper protocol and terminology, but also enables the students to find their voice, using courtroom simulations.
$1.4 million settlement reached in fatal motorcycle accident
After nearly two years since Michael Heaston’s death, his family will receive $1.4 million from the city of Columbia, MO as a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit. On July 12, 2010, a city bus made a left-hand turn, without noticing Mr. Heaston on his motorcycle. After unsuccessfully trying to avoid the collision, Mr. Heaston was […]
Charlotte bicycle law and safety alert: recall of Shimano mountain bike handlebar stems because of fall hazard
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of 300 mountain bicycle handlebar stems. Bolts holding the front plate of the stem to the stem body can be pulled out of the threads while the bike is being ridden, causing the cyclist to lose control of the bike and fall. One injury has been […]
Ann Groninger publishes Winter Education Series on Bike Law
What better time to brush up on our knowledge than when it’s too cold or wet to ride? See the Bike Law blog for the first two editions. More to come!
Anniversary of the Hamlet Chicken Processing Plant fire remembered
On Tuesday, September 3, 1991, a 25-foot long fryer vat ignited at Imperial Foood Product’s chicken processing plant in Hamlet, NC. Workers were unable to get out of the plant because management had locked all exits except the main entrance in order to prevent employee theft. The plant had no windows, no fire alarm, no sprinkler system, and […]
Court of Appeals decides two new workers’ compensation cases
On August 2, 2011, the NC Court of Appeals decided the case of Capps v. Southeastern Cable, in which it held that an installer of cable TV and internet services was an employee, and not an independent contractor. The Court based its decision on the conditions of the employment, and gave no weight to the […]
Valerie to serve as secretary-treasurer of NCAJ’s Workers’ Compensation Committee
Valerie has accepted the position of secretary-treasurer of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Workers’ Compensation Section. The Workers’ Comp Section is focused on the rights of injured workers in North Carolina and seeks to educate and assist attorneys in their practices.