Every year, distracted driving results in thousands of injuries and deaths in the United States. In many cases, texting while driving is to blame. When behind the wheel of a car, it is imperative to stay focused on the road at all times. Unfortunately, cell phones, smartphones, iPhones and other mobile devices are causing drivers to put staying in touch above the safety of others. At Law Offices of Gary Green, we see cases like this all the time, and we're here to stand up for the rights of the victims of people who text while driving.

A Dangerous Distraction

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 16 percent of fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2008 were caused by distracted driving. That total accounts for more than 5,800 deaths. In various surveys, a disturbing number of people admit to texting while driving. There is currently not a national ban on texting while driving, but 35 states have made it a crime. In any event, texting while driving causes drivers to remove their attention from the road. While reading or sending a quick message, lives can change in the blink of an eye.

Have You Been Caught Texting?

If you choose to text while driving and are found to be at fault in an accident that resulted in injuries or fatalities, you can expect Law Offices of Gary Green to come after you. We work hard to protect the rights of victims in such cases, so you should be prepared to face serious consequences for your careless actions. Instead of waiting for that to happen, you should put a strict ban on the use of mobile devices while driving. If you have to take your attention away from the road for even one millisecond, you should think twice.

Are You a Victim of Texting while Driving?

Have you suffered from injuries in a car accident that was caused by someone who was texting while driving? If so, you need to contact Law Offices of Gary Green right away. It is critical to fight for your rights in these cases, and we assist clients in similar situations all the time. Why should you have to pay for another person's carelessness? You deserve to be compensated for your pain and suffering, and we can help. Don't let another person get away with putting their cell phone use above your safety. Contact Law Offices of Gary Green today.

The World Health Organization distinguishes two classifications of disability - body functions and body structures - when medical professionals diagnose and define an individual's disability.

In body structure, an individual's disability is specifically defined by physical impairments due to defect, loss or deviation from generally accepted population standards. Body function disability is more broadly defined and focuses on physical and mental disabilities and includes but is not limited to mobility, communication, self-care and domestic life.

If you become disabled, whether the diagnosis is temporarily or permanently, you can apply for assistance from the government by filing for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Likewise you can purchase private insurance to prepare for a possible disability.

Law Offices of Gary Green will work with you to help ensure that payments due to you are received should you become disabled but are denied when filing a claim. Our firm focuses on helping clients seeking:

• Social Security Disability
• Private Insurance Disability Claims

Our offices have experience in representing the disabled in Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri and are familiar with each of the state's individual disability laws. If you or your loved one's disability claim has been denied call us toll free and without obligation at 1-888-442-7947 or contact us with an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to discuss your legal options including filing an appeal.

The best advice for those filing a Social Security Dsability claim is to file the initial application without a lawyer. Most initial applications are denied and you only have 60 days to file your first appeal, the Request for Reconsideration. If you are approved, you will receive benefits dating back to the onset date of your injury. If this appeal is denied, you then can hire an attorney to appeal the claim and represent you at the hearing before an administrative law judge.

It is our experience that Social Security Disability law is strictly codified, but not so strictly construed. In order to qualify for benefits, your doctor must be willing to put in writing that your condition prevents you from doing any gainful work. This means that not only can you not perform the type of work that you have done in the past, but that you are not able to perform ANY type of work that would net you at least $500.00 per month. Additionally, your period of disability must last at least 12 full months.

Our fee is only 25% of any back benefits you receive. If your benefits are not approved, you do not owe an attorney fee. Call us toll free and without obligation at 1-888-442-7947 or send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as soon as your Request for Reconsideration has been denied, so we can file your appeal in a timely manner.

Veterans receive expedited processing of Social Security Disability benefit claims. If you served in the military and became disabled on or after Oct. 1, 2001 you are entitled to have your claim expedited. You can apply for both Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income in addition to the benefits you already receive from the Veterans Administration. Please contact us for more information.

At least for the last year, all deploying military units have received an ANAM (Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics) test within 12 months before being deployed. This testing tool is designed to detect speed and accuracy of attention, memory and thinking ability. Concussion injuries which occur as a result of exploding devices and/or other head trauma may cause changes in reaction time, headaches, irritability, memory impairments and difficulty in sleeping.

A post injury battery of neurological tests should be taken after any head injury has occurred. The results of this post-injury testing can help medical personnel compare a person's speed and accuracy of attention, memory and thinking ability before and after an injury. (The ANAM test serves as a baseline). Please contact us for more information as we may be able to help you get the post-injury neurological testing necessary to prove the TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) which would qualify you for Social Security Disability benefits.

Some people can and should handle their own personal injury motor vehicle collision case, keeping the lawyers out of it, reducing costs and making things happen quickly. A good example of when most lawyers would agree with me on this proposition would be on the property damage part of the personal injury claim. To get the lawyers involved to settle the value of your wrecked car usually slows down the process - they are in the middle between you and the adjuster, and things just do not move as quickly when you have to consider a third party’s schedule. But will the adjuster treat you fairly on the property damage claim? Well, never forget that our civil justice system operates as an adversarial process; and educate yourself as to the value of your property damage claim. If you realize it is the adjuster’s job to settle the claim as inexpensively as he can, and you know what your claim is worth, there is no good reason that you cannot get close to the value of the property damage by dealing directly with the adjuster. If you cannot, then bring in the lawyers (but perhaps at a price). Now is a good time to mention that Law Offices of Gary Green does not charge a fee for handling the property damage portion of a personal injury claim. If you do not like the stress of dealing with an adjuster and you are not in a rush that a third party attorney could slow down, you might want to just let us handle it for free. Having said that, if you find the handling of the property damage claim stressful or distasteful, you certainly will not enjoy handling the personal injury part of your motor vehicle collision case! For the more adventurous, I will offer some general pointers: 1. Put the offending party and the insurance companies on notice, in writing, that you will be handling your own claim. Keep a paper trail. 2. Go ahead and collect the documents that will not change. E.g., get the hospital bills and records if you have been released from the hospital; but do not get your doctor’s bills and records until the doctor has released you. (You do not want to pay for a bunch of records and then have to do it again after more treatment). 3. Realize that before the negotiation is complete you should have compiled every piece of paper, every item that possibly relates to your case - the police report, newspaper articles, medical bills and records. If in doubt about whether you need to get something, get it! 4. Once you are in a position to evaluate the case, send a demand to all possible insurance companies and defendants. This might be the week after the wreck if your bills are high and the available insurance/assets are low. Be careful here! If you are dealing with more than one insurance policy (whether liability, underinsured motorist coverage or uninsured motorist coverage) you should hire a lawyer. Settling with one company or one defendant can inure to the benefit of all defendants or insurance companies! Remember, it is an adversarial system! 5. Negotiating a claim can be like negotiating for other things of value. A first offer and a “final offer” usually are not the last offer you can coax. 6. Evaluating the claim is the hard part. “Comparable sales” reasoning can apply, but cases are unique - more so than real estate is unique. The value of claims can vary greatly based solely on the conduct of the defendant. (If a drunk driver caused the wreck you will receive more than if the same injuries had been caused by a sober driver). Beware of formulas! If someone is in a wreck and dies in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, do not tell me the value of their case is a multiple of the ambulance bill! 7. Realize when you sign a release, it is over. You cannot go back if the money you accepted turns out not to be enough to cover your future needs. If you are ever going to consult an attorney, do so before you sign a release! When I pay my taxes, I hire a CPA to prepare my return. Could I do it myself? Of course, but doing it only once a year does not keep me sharp enough to know what all I might be missing. While my CPA is expensive, I am convinced he saves me more in taxes than what I pay for his services. Most of the time, particularly with the more serious cases, the same applies to hiring a lawyer. The lawyer’s fee can be a bargain when it comes to the added value the lawyer can bring to the case. At least, consult a lawyer. You can consult with us for free. At Law Offices of Gary Green there is the no recovery, no fee promise. No recovery, no fee and no expenses. And when there is a recovery, we promise our fee will not be more than your recovery.

There are too many motor vehicle wrecks where adults are unscathed but infants, restrained in child safety seats, are seriously injured. Child safety seat changes and auto industry changes to the way those seats are installed do not yet correspond. There are hundreds of injuries every year from child restraint systems that are negligently manufactured or installed in cars not designed to safely accept them.

A recent survey found that 80% of child restraint systems are installed incorrectly, not by fault of the parents! There are now seven major types of seatbelts that should correspond with all the countless child-seat designs, but they do not. Many seatbelt systems now require special modifications to ensure safety. Most specifications for seat belt/child restraint systems' safety go back to when bench seats were used, and the seat belt anchors were located at the rear of the seat bight (the crack in the seat). Seat belt anchors in today's cars are rarely behind the seat bight, and more commonly are located on a stalk or otherwise situated significantly forward of the bight.

The manufacturers of these products have known for years that their products do not fit in many cars and have failed to take responsibility to prevent children from being injured or killed by their unsafe products. It has been established since the early 1980s that seat belt anchors in front of the seat bight create a compatibility problem between child restraints and automobiles. In addition, child restraint system manufacturers typically do not warn about which autos their products are not compatible.

There have been some tremendous strides made in the last few years in fixing this long-standing compatibility problem between child restraints and automobiles. For example, child restraints made after September 1998 requires certain safety features that were not previously mandatory, such as

• A lower anchorage system that can be clipped into anchors in automobiles
• Securing the child restraint system at the bottom tightly against the seat without using the automobile's seat belt
• Reducing the child restraint system's head excursion limit by 3 1/2 inches.

All child restraint systems manufacturers complied by installing a tether on the top of the restraint that hooks to the back of the auto seat. But, the attachment hardware to hook up these new child restraint systems features in vehicles has been phased in. And, it is only just this year that new car models are required to have a lower anchorage attachment and an attachment to secure a child restraint tether on top.

In the meantime, there will be many years to come of injuries to children from child restraints in automobiles manufactured earlier. The manufacturers are leaving the old restraints on the market and not recalling them for their failure to comply with current safety standards!

If your child was injured or killed in a child restraint that you believe was used properly, there is a good chance that you are not to blame, and that the product itself is primarily to blame for what happened. Call Law Offices of Gary Green toll free and without obligation at 1-888-442-7947 or send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Acute Compartment Syndrome is an acute medical problem following injury, surgery or in most cases repetitive and extensive muscle use in which increased pressure (usually caused by inflammation) within a confined space and without proper treatment, may lead to nerve damage and muscle death. This condition is most commonly seen in the leg. It is a medical emergency that requires immediate surgery known as a fasciotomy to allow the pressure to return to normal.

The connective tissue that defines the compartment does not stretch. A small amount of bleeding into the compartment, or swelling of the muscles within the compartment can cause the pressure to rise greatly.

Common Causes of Compartment Syndrome include:

• Tibial or forearm fractures
• Hemorrhage (bleeding)
• IV Drug injection
• Prolonged limb compression, crush injuries and burns
• Casts

Signs and Symptoms: (Known as the 6 “P”s)

• Pain out of proportion to what is expected
• Paraesthesias (altered sensation)
• Passive Stretch pain
• Pulseless
• Paralysis
• Pressure on passive extension of the compartment

Pain is often reported early and almost universally. The patient usually reports deep, constant, and poorly localized pain that is usually out of proportion with the injury. Pain is aggravated by stretching the muscle group and is not relieved by medication up to and including Morphine.

Parestheisa is altered sensation e.g. “Sticks & Needles”.

Paralysis & Passive Stretch of the limb is usually a late finding. The affected compartment may feel very tense and firm as well as pressure.

Failure to relieve the pressure can result in necrosis (death) of tissue in that compartment and hypoxia (lack of oxygen) of those tissues. If left untreated, Acute Compartment Syndrome can lead to more severe conditions and loss of the affected limb.

If you you or a loved one is suffering from Compartment Syndrome, call Law Offices of Gary Green toll free and without obligation at 1-888-442-7947 to discuss your legal options or send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Passenger vans were designed in the 1970s when very little testing was done by manufacturers to assess the vans' propensity to rollover or handling characteristics. These vans are exempt from many federal motor-vehicle safety standards because they are neither considered school busses nor passenger cars. Despite the fact they were originally designed to carry cargo, they often carry people. 15-passenger vans not only have a risk of rollover, but also have weak roofs that crush while rolling over. A passenger van wreck is not an accident when the faults are well known and nothing has been done to change them.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency responsible for investigating motor vehicle defects and establishing and enforcing safety performance standards. The NHTSA publishes a list of warnings for consumers summarized by the following:

• Children (pre-school and school-aged) should not be transported in 15-passenger vans
• The number of occupants in a passenger van greatly increases the risk of rollover. ( 5 + in 15-passenger vans)
• A passenger van containing only a driver has a rollover rate 5 times less than that of a van with a full passenger load
• All occupants of passenger vans should wear seatbelts.

Despite these public advisories and warnings, the NHTSA had (only until recently) exempted 15-passenger vans from all federal motor vehicle safety standards.

Furthermore, in 2003 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended the NHTSA strive to improve safety standards in the areas of occupant protection and restraints for passenger vans. The NHTSA now warns people of the dangers of 15-passenger vans, but no new safety standards have been established.

If you have sustained injuries as the occupant of a passenger van, we may be able to help. Call Law Offices of Gary Green toll free and without obligation at 1-888-442-7947 or send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Representing victims of truck accidents and tractor-trailer wrecks presents a challenge and complexity not experienced in other types of wrecks. The attorneys of Law Offices of Gary Green have risen to that challenge many times. The resulting catastrophic injuries alone make trucking accidents and tractor-trailer wrecks distinct from all others, but the resulting compensatory offers make these wrecks dangerous to the unwary even after the wreck. Our experienced lawyers know what you can expect to face and can help you find justice—no matter how evasive it may seem.

A trucking accident and tractor-trailer wreck that involves a motor carrier regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has built-in protection for an injured consumer. The problem is that the carriers will not disclose that they have excess insurance policies beyond the primary policy without your filing a suit:

• They will not tell you that the driver of the DOT-regulated vehicle is their statutory employee, regardless of the fact that the driver might be an owner-operator and might have a contract with the regulated company, which refers to the driver as an owner-operator.
• They will not tell you they are responsible for the actions of that driver as long as the driver acted within the scope of that statutory employment.
• They will not tell you they have valued your claim at 5 times or 10 times the set amount when they are really only offering you the base amount for a full release of your right to sue.

Before sorting out all the experts for proving the catastrophic injuries, experts should be consulted regarding liability. It is not an accident when the risks for tractor-trailer wrecks are well established and can be avoided. A reconstruction expert should be called while evidence is still fresh. Reliance on old evidence can disqualify an otherwise good expert and keep the video reconstruction that helps the jury follow your theory of liability out of evidence. Satellite GPS records and electronic control modules must be identified and read before they are destroyed - usually within 90 days as a standard operating procedure for most companies.

Almost every 18-wheeler case should plead negligent supervision, negligent hiring, and negligent retention, as these facts usually are usually borne out through discovery all the way up to trial. The driver's logs, driver qualification file, and driving record should be reviewed. Then depositions should be taken of the trucking company's safety director, corporate representative, relevant dispatcher, and others having knowledge of the wreck.

The condition of the tractor-trailer and its brakes should be considered. Trucks are often poorly maintained and driven by truckers with serious safety deficiencies. An alarming number of these drivers are fatigued, under the influence of drugs, or medically disqualified to drive a truck.

We have handled claims against

• Watkins & Shepard Trucking, Inc.
• Cal-Ark International, Inc.
• USA Motor Express
• J&P Trucking
• Autobahn Freightliners LTD
• National Bus Carriers LTD
• Weston Transport
• Woody Bogler Trucking
• USA Truck, Inc.
• Landstar Ranger, Inc.
• Graham Trucking, Inc.
• Stuart Small Trucking
• Star Transportation, Inc.
• A&J Transportation
• West Florida Transport
• Clarksville Refrigerated
• D&H Trucking
• Werner Enterprises
• All American Bottling Corporation, LLC
• Callaway Transfer and Storage
• PSM, Inc.
• Gail Stuart Trucking, Inc.
• Willis Shaw Express, Inc.
• Paccar, Inc.
• Central Hauling Company
• J.L. Trucking
• Jacobson Transport Company, Inc.
• Strimbu Transport, Inc.
• Lance Trucking, LLC
• Roadway Express
• Schneider National, Inc.
• JNJ Express

There is a lot of work to be done, and it takes a lot of money and people to do it. Law Offices of Gary Green has been there before. If you have questions or need additional information, call Law Offices of Gary Green toll free and without obligation if we can help at 1-888-442-7947 or send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

When it is over 100 degrees outside you want to keep your speed below 100 miles per hour! Much less, of course. As you are driving, be aware of the relationship of tire blowouts to heat, speed and age of the tires. See the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration report, which long story short, shows that in a hot climate tires four to six years of age should be replaced regardless of age or tread wear. To quickly check the age of your tires, look for the last few digits of a code on the tire which represents the manufacturing date of the tire. For example, the "459" on one tire means it was manufactured the 45th week of 1999. Since 2000, tires are identified using 2 digits for the week and 2 digits for the year. For example, a tire manufactured during the 31st week of 2005 would end with 3105.

Should your vehicle's tires fail, whether it is due to a manufacturer's faulty design or simply a poor quality production run, it can have devastating consequences in the form of car wrecks that can lead to brain injury, paralysis and even death.

If you or a loved one have been the victim of an injury due to a car wreck caused by tire failure, please contact us today for an initial consultation to discuss your legal options for making the tire manufacturers responsible. If you have questions or need additional information, call Law Offices of Gary Green toll free and without obligation at 1-888-442-7947 or send us an e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .