Maine Injury Lawyer Blog

Reported in the Portland Press Herald on November 26, 2010

A 27-year-old Portland native was killed early Thursday morning in a two-car crash in Massachusetts in which one of the drivers has been charged with motor vehicle homicide while drunk, according to police.

Raina Jensen was a back-seat passenger in a 2002 Nissan Altima traveling in Wilbraham, Mass., when it was struck by a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Joshua Lacroix, 24, of Ware, Mass.

The accident happened around 1:45 a.m. as Lacroix was heading east on Boston Road at Three Rivers Road, police said. A preliminary investigation indicated that the Jeep crossed into the westbound lane and collided head-on with the Altima carrying five people, police said.

Jensen died at the scene, according to her mother, Jan Jensen of Portland. Five other people were taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield following the crash, police said.

Lacroix is charged with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of liquor, causing serious bodily injury while operating under the influence of liquor and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, police said. He is being held on $250,000 bail.

As this accident happened in Massachusetts, the law of that state will control the case. There are many differences between Maine and Massachusetts law, for example, the general statute of limitations for negligence is shorter. Massachusetts Probate law will also likely control the inevitable estate issues that will arise. However, it is possible that Ms. Jensen still had enough contacts with Maine to warrant jurisdiction over her estate here. The auto accident team at Peter Thompson & Associates includes an attorney who joined us after years of practicing in Massachusetts, and maintains a license to practice there. Our team has handled thousands of similar claims and recovered millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. We specialize in providing excellent customer service and quick results. For more information, contact Peter Thompson & Associates at 1-800-917-1784 or read more on our website www.Peter-Thompson-Associates.com on our car accident practice page.

In Maine, there is a potential intersection of the workers' compensation and personal injury systems when the injury is caused by a third party.

Generally, if you are injured at work, regardless of the cause, you are compensated for that injury entirely through the workers' compensation system. However, did you know that if a party other than your employer is responsible for the injury, you may also have a separate claim against that party?

For example, if you were driving a vehicle as part of your job and were injured in an accident caused by another driver, you have both a workers' compensation claim and a claim against the other driver.

Typically, the payments made by workers' compensation are conditional and may need to be reimbursed from your injury claim.

The interplay between these two systems can become extremely complicated. The auto accident specialists at Peter Thompson & Associates have handled hundreds of similar cases, partnering with experts in workers' compensation when necessary. Our team assures the best results for those navigating these two systems. We specialize in providing excellent customer service and quick results. For more information, contact Peter Thompson & Associates at 1-800-917-1784 or read more on our website www.Peter-Thompson-Associates.com on our car accident practice page.

INSURANCE ADJUSTERS HAVE THE INTERNET TOO!

Most people at one time or another have heard the advice "Do not put anything in an email or online that you would not want on the front page of the newspaper". This is never truer than when you are bringing a personal injury claim. The insurance company WILL search for your online profiles. More than once, we have received a call from an adjuster directing us to a client's online profile.

"So what?" you might be thinking, "I have nothing to hide. Besides, nothing I put on my Facebook or MySpace account has anything to do with my accident." This is almost never true. For example, if you are claiming an injury, and you are writing about all of the things you did over the weekend, that is relevant. If you are posting pictures of your participation in a charity walk, that is relevant. As your attorneys, we know the truth is accident victims have good days and bad days while recovering. It is our job to make that argument on your behalf. However, the insurance adjuster will use this to show that your injuries are not very serious.

Additionally, a big part of any case is how you would present to a jury, should that be necessary. Therefore, any indication online that puts you in an unflattering light can affect your case, even before it gets that far. For example, foul language and references to illegal activity or excessive drinking do not help your case. Particularly if there is an issue regarding who was at fault for the accident, because you need to appear as serious and credible as possible.

What can you do? First, if you have any profiles or accounts on any of the social media networks, set everything possible to the highest privacy setting.

Second, be careful about allowing a connection from anyone you do not personally know.

Third, again, think about what you are putting online. Although the privacy settings are a good first level of protection, there has recently been a case in New York where a judge allowed the Defendant's lawyer to access the Plaintiff's Facebook account. Romano v. Steelcase Inc., 2006-2233 (N.Y. Super. Sept. 21, 2010.). In that case, the Defendant argued that since the Plaintiff was claiming a loss of enjoyment of life and permanent injuries, her postings were relevant to see if this was true. The judge agreed, and said that because the point of these websites is the share information, it is discoverable, even if the person has their settings set to private.

If you have been injured in an accident and you have questions about what information insurance companies can use to evaluate your claim, please contact us at 1-800-917-1784 or read more on our website, www.Peter-Thompson-Associates.com, on our car accident practice page.

What happens if someone else's negligence behind the wheel causes you injury and they don't have enough insurance? In Maine, every auto insurance policy is required to have several components. In a previous post, we discussed uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, or the coverage that exists when the other party is not insured. The partner component of UM coverage is underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. Like with UM coverage, every auto insurance policy in Maine must have a minimum of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident of UIM coverage (See Maine Revised Statutes Annotated Chapter 29-A Section 1605 (1)(C)(2) & (3) and Maine Revised Statutes Annotated Chapter 24-A Section 2902). This means, if you have insurance, you automatically have this coverage as part of your policy.

UIM coverage is used when someone causes you injury and their insurance policy is not sufficient to cover your damages. For example, although Maine requires $50,000 minimum of insurance, Massachusetts only requires $20,000 minimum. With the rising costs of medical expenses, even a moderate injury can easily use up this amount. This must also cover any lost wages, pain and suffering, attorney's fees, and all other damages you may have. (The only exception is your vehicle damage, which is usually covered separately.)

So, if you are injured by someone who has $20,000 of insurance and you have $50,000, then there is a total of $70,000 of coverage right? Unfortunately, no. In Maine, your UIM carrier receives a credit for the amount paid by the insurance company for the at fault driver. Therefore, in this example there is only a total of $50,000 of coverage. $20,000 paid by the at fault driver and $30,000 paid by your UIM carrier. Therefore, if you only have the minimum required insurance coverage of $50,000 of UIM, and someone else with the minimum causes you an injury, there is no additional coverage for your injuries.

Just like with UM coverage, that limit is further split, depending on how many people are injured in the accident. For example, if a family of three are traveling in the same car and all three are injured, the maximum amount available for the whole accident is capped at $100,000. No one person can recover more than $50,000 and the total amount the insurance company will have to pay will not exceed $100,000. Again, if all three have even moderate injuries, there will likely not be enough money to properly compensate everyone.

It is always a good idea to purchase as much insurance as you can afford. The minimum requirement of $50,000 may not be enough if you are seriously injured by an underinsured driver.

In cases with very high damages, there may be additional coverage if you are listed on more than one UIM insurance policy. This circumstance requires a complex analysis of the policies involved and presenting the claim properly to the insurance companies.

If you have been injured by an underinsured motorist and have questions about how to be compensated through your underinsured motorist coverage, contact us at 1-800-917-1784 or read more on our website, www.Peter-Thompson-Associates.com, on our car accident practice page.

Police reported that Corrie Lazar, 21, was struck by a vehicle while walking along Route 41 in Mount Vernon. Ms. Lazar was a camp counselor and was with two other counselors at the time of the incident. She had come to Maine from Washington State to be a camp counselor. Ms. Lazar was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mia Jessup, one of the other counselors walking with Ms. Lazar, was also struck and was hospitalized. The third counselor, Lloyd Olsen, was reportedly not hurt.

Police reported that Joseph Rouleau, the driver, may have been under the influence of alcohol and that alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.

Our firm, Peter Thompson & Associates, successfully tried a case similar to this involving a drunk driver who, due to his intoxication, was unable to avoid an otherwise avoidable accident. We used experts to establish how much the drunk driver's lntoxication delayed his reaction time and from there constructed a time and distance model showing that, if he had a normal, sober reaction time, he could have easily avoided the accident once he saw the pedestrian in the roadway, even though it was dark and the pedestrian, in this particular case, was wearing dark clothing. It is unclear from news accounts whether Ms. Lazar or Ms. Jessup were wearing light or dark clothing.

There is a brief account of the accident at the Portland Press Herald, http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=273798&ac=PHnws&pg=3.