Morristown Personal Injury Law Blog

Parents of an 11-year-old girl killed in a fatal accident in February have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the bus company and the owners of a dump truck that collided with her Mount Holly, New Jersey school bus.

According to the complaint, because of the defendants' "negligence and recklessness," their daughters had to witness their sister's death. The accident was the result of a dump truck's traveling at excessive speed and failure to avoid a school bus loaded with children. The complaint also states that the truck did not observe oncoming traffic before attempting to cross a high-speed intersection.

As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, questions linger surrounding the ability of older drivers to maintain the appropriate motor skills to manage a vehicle. You may be a younger driver concerned about a parent or grandparent. If you are an elderly driver, you may wonder about how age has affected your driving abilities.

With an increased number of elderly Americans on the road, concerned relatives as well as lawmakers face difficult questions about when and whether to take away an elderly person's driving privileges. Are elderly drivers in New Jersey putting other passengers at risk of car accidents, severe injury or wrongful death? Should lawmakers intervene?

When we send our troops to war, we know they are being put at risk. Are we also putting our troops at risk when we send them to veterans' medical facilities? Currently, medical negligence is curbed and controlled by citizens who bring legal claims and lawsuits against negligent doctors, hospitals and medical professionals. Unfortunately, our soldiers in New Jersey and nationwide do not have the same rights to file claims against against federal doctors and hospitals.

When a soldier or veteran suffers from medical negligence while under the care of a federal doctor, he or she does not have the right to pursue a claim against the U.S. government. The "Feres Doctrine" is a 60-year-old legal precedent placing strict limitations on the ability of active-duty personnel to sue military doctors for medical malpractice. Essentially it bars any legal action against doctors or other personnel, even in the case of extreme negligence.

Winter sports, including downhill skiing, do involve some risk assumed by the individual. However, there are safety, maintenance and regulatory precautions that must be taken by the ski resorts to prevent injuries and accidents. For example, there should be warning signs and guide posts if parts of the terrain are unkempt. The ski lifts should be properly maintained and safely operated.

Skiers and snowboarders, who purchase a pass and choose to partake in winter sports, should be able to assume that the premises and equipment are safely maintained, however, a recent decision in New Jersey may make it more difficult for injured guests to file future claims, even in the event of negligence.