MONTANA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS A DEFAULT JUDGEMENT THAT LED TO A $4M WORK INJURY JURY VERDICT

MARCH 20, 2015 

The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a default judgment that led to a nearly $4 million award for a man who was seriously injured while unloading logs at a Frenchtown pulp mill in 2008.

As part of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.’s 2009 bankruptcy case, the company agreed to accept a complaint from Allen Ginn of Bonner in exchange for limiting the amount of potential damages. However, the company did not meet a reply deadline.

District Judge John Larson entered a default ruling in 2012, saying Smurfit-Stone was liable for Ginn’s injuries, which included a brain injury and fractures to his back and pelvis. In January 2014, a Missoula County jury awarded Ginn and his wife $3.97 million for lost earnings, future care and other damages.

Smurfit-Stone appealed, but the justices ruled Tuesday that Smurfit-Stone willfully defaulted by ignoring the complaint.

UNITED STATES STILL HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST ROAD ACCIDENT DEATH AND INJURY RATES: 34,000 DIE AND 2.5 MILLION INJURED EACH YEAR.

Despite the improvements in road safety, the United States has one of the highest death rates in the world at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people.  Unfortunately, only undeveloped countries have higher death rate.

Some states, such as Texas and West Virginia (sorry, WV, despite your tremendous progress in traffic safety, you are still at the top of the worst-death-rate list) have death rates of nearly 1.5 percent, i.e., fifty percent more people die compared to the national death rate.

Approximately 34,000 people are getting killed each year.  In the 1950s and 1960s, about 55,000 people used to die on the roads – so, there has been improvement in the number of dead.

However, the number of injured is rising.  Roughly 2.5 million are injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per year.  That is, 1 percent (1%) of the population that is eligible to drive is injured every year.

It is worse than a war zone out there.  So, please be safe and look around for crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, medical-condition drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers, drunk drivers, speeding drivers, drugged drivers, texting drivers, talking-on-the-phone drivers, looking-at-the-GPS drivers, hurry-hurry drivers, tailgating drivers, upset drivers, eating-while-driving drivers, putting-the-lipstick-on-while-driving drivers, and so on.

1 DEAD IN FIERY HIT-AND-RUN CRASH ON BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON PARKWAY. DRIVER OF A LINCOLN IS BEING SOUGHT. IT WAS THE SECOND DEADLY ACCIDENT ON B-W PARKWAY IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS

MARCH 20, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC

U.S. Park Police are searching for the driver responsible for a fatal fiery hit-and-run crash on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway Friday morning.

The incident occurred near Route 50 and Md. 202 at about 3 a.m. Friday, and it snarled traffic through the morning commute.  An SUV and several vehicles collided and one of the cars caught fire, which caused all of the northbound lanes to close to traffic on the parkway.

“One vehicle, described as a Lincoln, forced a Mustang from the roadway,” explains U.S. Park Police Lt. Allan Griffith.

“The Mustang rolled over and burst into flames,” Griffith says.

The driver of the Mustang was trapped inside, and died in the fire.

According to U.S. Park Police, the driver of the Lincoln left the scene and they are still on the run.

It was the second deadly hit-and-run crash in Prince George’s County in just hours.

Around 9 p.m. Thursday, a driver of an SUV plowed into three vehicles near the Naylor Road Metro Station, killing one person.

The driver fled on foot, but he was later arrested.

All lanes of northbound Baltimore-Washington Parkway reopened at about 10:45 a.m. after the hour-long closure.

Despite the improvements in road safety, the United States has one of the highest death rates at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people.  Roughly 2.5 million injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per year.  It is worse than war zone out there.  So, please be safe and look around for crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers, drunk drivers, speeding drivers, dragged drivers, and so on.

Source: wtop.com/cbslocal.com/myfoxdc.com

DRIVER’S MEDICAL INCIDENT CAUSED FIERY SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS CRASH THAT SENDS FOUR TO THE HOSPITAL

MARCH 20, 2015

SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS (WHDH)

A fiery 5-car crash on McGrath Highway in Somerville Friday morning sent four to the hospital, including a 16-year-old pedestrian.
The highway was closed for about 30 minutes before the Massachusetts State Police were able to open one lane to lets cars pass.
State Police said the crash occurred around 8 a.m. Friday when a 56-year-old Somerville woman driving a Hyundai Sonata had a medical incident and crashed into a Honda Civic, which a 26-year-old Medford woman was driving.
The Honda Civic caught fire and the driver of that vehicle was transported to Mass. General with serious injuries. A 16-year-old Somerville boy who was walking nearby was hit by one of the vehicles and taken to Mass. General with serious injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
Police, fire and EMS crews were on the scene of the chain-reaction crash, which also involved three other vehicles whose drivers were not injured.
Four people were taken to the hospital and all lanes of McGrath Highway were reopened before noon.
State Police said the 56-year-old driver was not cited with any offenses due to evidence of a medical incident. They did not plan to release victims' names.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

FRACKING: US TIGHTENS RULES FOR CHEMICAL DISCLOSURE: IT IS REQUIRING COMPANIES THAT DRILL FOR OIL AND NATURAL GAS ON FEDERAL LANDS TO DISCLOSE CHEMICALS USED IN HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS

 FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC (AP)

The Obama administration said Friday it is requiring companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations.

A rule to take effect in June also updates requirements for well construction and disposal of water and other fluids used in fracking, a drilling method that has prompted an ongoing boom in natural gas production.

The rule has been under consideration for more than three years, drawing criticism from the oil and gas industry and environmental groups. The industry fears the regulation could hinder the drilling boom, while some environmental groups worry that it could allow unsafe drilling techniques to pollute groundwater.

The final rule hews closely to a draft that has been lingering since the Obama administration proposed it in May 2013. The rule relies on an online database used by at least 16 states to track the chemicals used in fracking operations. The website, FracFocus.org, was formed by industry and intergovernmental groups in 2011 and allows users to gather well-specific data on tens of thousands of drilling sites across the country.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the rule will allow for continued responsible development of federal oil and gas resources on millions of acres of public lands while assuring the public that "transparent and effective safety and environmental protections are in place."

Jewell, who worked on fracking operations in Oklahoma long before joining the government in 2013, said decades-old federal regulations have failed to keep pace with modern technological advances.

"I've personally fracked wells, so I understand the risk as well as the reward," Jewell said. "We owe it to our kids to get this right."

Fracking involves pumping huge volumes of water, sand and chemicals underground to split open rocks to allow oil and gas to flow. Improved technology has allowed energy companies to gain access to huge stores of natural gas underneath states from Wyoming to New York but has also raised widespread concerns about alleged groundwater contamination and even earthquakes.

While the new rule only applies to federal land — which makes up just one-tenth of natural gas drilling in the United States — the Obama administration is hoping the rule will serve as a model and set a new standard for hydraulic fracturing that states and other regulators will follow.

Brian Deese, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said the rules for public lands could serve as a template that the oil and gas industry could adopt to help address the public's concern about the health and safety of fracking.

"Ultimately, this is an issue that is going to be decided in state capitals and localities and swell as with the industry," he said.

The new rule drew immediate criticism from groups close to the energy industry, which warned it could disrupt the yearlong energy boom in the U.S.

"The Obama administration's hydraulic fracturing rule is a solution in search of a problem," said Thomas Pyle, president of the pro-industry Institute for Energy Research.

The League of Conservation Voters called the bill an important step forward to regulate fracking.

Even so, the group was disappointed with the continued reliance on FracFocus, which a spokeswoman described as an industry-run website.

"While this proposal has improved from previous versions, it represents a missed opportunity to set a high bar for protections that would truly increase transparency and reduce the impacts (of fracking) to our air, water, public lands," said spokeswoman Madeleine Foote.