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In today's Star Tribune there was a short article reporting that two more motorcyclists were killed on Minnesota roads this past weekend. This is a disturbing trend. The past two deaths bring 231 the total number of motorcyclists killed so far this year in Minnesota. When you consider that real motorcycling season didn't start until sometime in May, you begin to appreciate how dangerous it can be. Of the two most recent deaths, one motorcyclist was wearing a helmet and the other was not.

Mild traumatic brain injury, also commonly referred to as a concussion, is oftentimes mild to anyone who is not experiencing it. But to someone who is afflicted with a permanent brain injury, even if classified as "mild", calling it mild is insulting. In March 2012 the Star Tribune reported the following statistics:

The Minnesota Association for Justice, an organization composed of plaintiff's trial lawyers, regularly lobbies the state legislature to protect consumer's rights. Because consumers are our primary clients, as opposed to insurance companies, we can usually expect a fairly receptive audience in the legislature. This past session we were able to get the legislature to pass, and the governor to sign, a bill which puts some restrictions on what are known as "exculpatory clauses" in contracts.

Just last Sunday 60 Minutes did a segment on the recent outbreak of fungal meningitis caused by tainted steroid medication from the New England Compounding Center. I believe they reported 40 deaths to date and hundreds or thousands of innocent victims suffering from the effects of these infections.In most cases when an injured person sues or makes a claim for negligence they need to prove that the other party was, in fact, negligent and that negligence was the cause of the injury.

I got a call yesterday from a woman who was involved in 2 car crashes within about 30 days. One of the insurance companies for the at fault driver had approached her with a settlement offer and she wanted to know if I thought it was a good idea for her to accept that offer. It would be, in most cases, a huge mistake to do that because it can be very difficult in some cases (most cases) to separate out the effects of one accident from another when they are so close in time.

I got a call earlier this week from a fellow whose brother had been in a car accident here in Anoka County about a month ago and was laid up at home with severe low back pain ever since. This fellow kept asking me what I thought his brother should settle his case for. I explained that it was way too soon to give any kind of an intelligent opinion on something like that. At this point in time all we really know is that his brother has severe low back pain.

Just this past week, out on Highway 65 in Anoka County, there was a report of a rear end crash. The Star Tribune article quoted the investigating officers is saying that a "possible medical emergency might have caused the crash." What they were saying is that the guy who rear-ended the other vehicle might have had a heart attack or stroke or something like that. The question then becomes, is that person liable under the law for the crash?

The day before yesterday a 16-year-old girl was killed when trying to cross Highway 10, here in Anoka, after working at McDonald's. The facts of the case were not totally clear from newspaper reports, so it was not certain if the young woman was within a crosswalk or not. Minnesota traffic statutes layout the "Rules of the Road" for pedestrians and drivers as follows

As most people are aware Minnesota has mandatory no-fault automobile insurance. But what exactly does that mean? What it doesn't mean is that it doesn't matter whose fault the crash was. Fault is still an important issue in any personal injury claim, but where the "no-fault" part kicks in has to do with where you turn in your accident-related medical expenses or wage loss related expenses.

In the last two weeks there have been quite a few reports of meningitis infections caused from contaminated drugs (mostly steroids) injected into patients for pain control. So far the media has reported that these contaminated drugs came from a single source, a drug company out East. If you or someone you know has developed one of these infections here are some facts you should be aware of:1. It's probably not the doctor's fault.