Kentucky Injury Lawyer Blog

The state of California has fired what could be the first of many shots taken against the Toyota Motor Company by state Attorney General’s offices. An Orange County prosecutor filed the first consumer protection lawsuit related to Toyota Motor Corp.'s recall of eight million vehicles, claiming the company committed fraud by hiding the defects in its automobiles. While individual claims have been surfacing for some time, and lawyers for both sides have already conducted meetings to decide the best venue for the Toyota litigation, the Orange County suit is the first action taken on behalf of state

Mr. Tony Rackauckas, an Orange County, California prosecutor filed the suit Friday seeking damages for violations of the state's unfair business practices law. The suit alleges that Toyota knew about flaws in its vehicles that the issues its vehicles had with sudden acceleration and took steps to cover up the problems.

As has been its practice with much of the litigation news that has surfaced in the last few months Toyota did not immediately return a call for comment.

The American Association for Justice's New Lawyer Division (NLD) informed me recently that it had selected me for its NLD Member Spotlight. The NLD Member Spotlight is an article that appears in the NLD's quarterly publication, Sidebar. As the name suggests, the piece will essentially highlight me and my practice, detailing how I became interested in becoming a lawyer, my advice to young lawyers, the types of cases I handle, memorable moments thus far in my career and more.

I was surprised and flattered to learn that I was selected as I did not know I was even being considered. It is a nice honor.

The wreck that occurred in Hart County, Kentucky near Munfordville happened when a semi-tractor trailer crossed the median, broke through cable barriers and crashed into a van with 12 people. The van driver and passengers were all Mennonites, many of them from the same family, from Marrowbone, Kentucky and were on there way to a wedding in Iowa. Two young children, who were in child seats in the van, survived with relatively minor injuries. The truck driver and 10 people in the van lost their lives in the fiery crash.

I was on my way to Memphis, TN for a deposition in one of my cases on Friday traveling southbound on I-65 from Louisville and came upon the scene. The pictures above were taken by me. Traffic was snarled to a crawl even in the southbound lanes that were not affected because of the accident reconstruction effort taking place by the Kentucky State Police.

As an attorney representing people involved in car and truck wrecks here in Kentucky, I took note of what was going on so that I could share it with everyone. If you read a lot of the posts on this blog, some common themes you will see are our efforts to point out unsafe conditions and hazards on Kentucky roadways, educate the public about safety and the lack thereof and protecting your rights if you happen to be a victim of a car or truck crash.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation and yet to be determined. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into what is surely the deadliest crash in Kentucky since the 1988 Carrollton bus crash that claimed 27 lives.

Our sympathies and condolences go out to the friends and family of the deceased and injured victims. These deaths unfortunately add to the increasing number of fatalities on Kentucky roadways as I have been reporting on here at kentuckyinjurylawyerblog.com. Witnessing the scene has really stuck with me. I can't get over he shear randomness and chance of this collision occurring and claiming so many lives. It makes you wish that the family had left a little sooner or later, or driven a little slower of faster, and then they would all be in Iowa celebrating a wedding. Instead, their families and relatives are planning a funeral.

Continue reading "Munfordville, Kentucky Wreck On I-65 Results In 11 Deaths And Two Injuries" »

In yet another devastating wreck on I-65 south of Louisville, Kentucky, a woman has lost her life and a truck driver was seriously injured in a crossover accident in Brooks, Kentucky in Bullitt County.

Officials identified the young woman killed in the wreck Saturday night as 37-year old Jacqueline Keith of Louisville. Officials say Keith died instantly when her Hummer crossed from the north-bound lanes of the freeway into the south bound lanes and struck a tractor-trailer head on. The driver of the truck was injured, but his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

This was the second fatal cross-over accident on I-65 in Kentucky in two days. There was a third accident on this stretch of interstate this weekend that seriously injured 4 people.

Just two days after 11 people lost their lives in a deadly wreck on a dangerous stretch of I-65 south of Louisville, Kentucky, there has been another serious auto accident on this stretch of freeway, this time near Elizabethtown, in Hardin County, Kentucky.

According to reports, an accident on I-65 at mile-marker 91 near E-Town has temporarily closed the northbound lanes.

Kentucky State Police in Elizabethtown say at least four people are injured in a what appears to be a single-car wreck. The lanes have been closed to allow emergency crews and a medical helicopter to treat and transport the victims.

Shawn Cantley, a Kentucky injury attorney provides our legal analysis (for attorney profile and contact info, click here):

It goes without saying that it has been an incredibly tragic week for this dangerous stretch of I-65. From a purely legal perspective, single-car accidents are usually caused by negligence on the part of the driver. There isn't enough information to make that determination at this point, but if the wreck was caused by driver inattentiveness, then the passengers would be entitled to recover under the driver's liability coverage, along with their own underinsured motorist coverage, if they carried this coverage. Under certain circumstances underinsured coverage can be "stacked" from multiple policies. Unfortunately, many insurance claims personnel do not always properly advise their insureds regarding this. There likely would be no means of recovery for the driver if the driver was a fault for the wreck.

Residents of the southern Louisville area around the Beechmont neighborhood have been noticing foul smells for years, but they didn't know what was causing them. Then, on February 1 of this year, they began complaining of strong smelling chemical vapors in their homes, as well as headaches, nausea and other complaints.

Local residents feel that the company responsible for the February 1 chemical/vapor leak, Nuplex Resins, LLC, located at 4730 Crittenden Drive, adjacent to a densely populated residential neighborhood, has been less than forthcoming about what happened and the extent of the problem. Government records show that there have been environmental issues at the plant since at least 2001.

Residents have filed a class action lawsuit in Kentucky state court in Louisville in an attempt to learn the truth about the chemical exposure and, if necessary, to force the company to pay to clean up any environmental damage done to the neighborhood.

Below is a link to a copy of the complaint, which was filed on Friday in Jefferson Circuit Court. The case was assigned case number 10-CI-02081 in Division 8.

For more information relating to the lawsuit, contact attorney Shawn Cantley, who is representing the residents [contact information click here].

Click here to see a copy of the complaint: Download file

Today, a class action lawsuit was filed in Louisville, Kentucky against Nuplex Resins, LLC and Akzo Nobel Coatings, Inc. on behalf of all residents of the Beechmont neighborhood and surrounding homes. The lawsuit was precipitated by a large chemical spill on February 1, 2010 that sickened residents and sent several people to the hospital.

The class representative plaintiffs are Cherie Wentworth and her minor son (who was treated at Kosair Children's Hosptital following the February 1 incident) and Roger and Carol Schaf. The class includes owners and residents of all homes located within a 1.6 mile (as the crow flies) radius from the Nuplex plant, located at 4730 Crittenden Drive in Louisville.

The class is being represented by attorneys Shawn Cantley, Vanessa Cantley and Nathan Williams from the Louisville law firm of Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC [click here for contact info]. Co-Counsel for the class is The Sanders Law Firm and environmental attorney Jeffery Sanders out of Covington, Kentucky.

We will be posting a copy of the complaint filed in Jefferson Circuit Court tomorrow.

In an unthinkable tragedy, at least 10 people are dead after a tractor-trailer truck crossed over the median and hit a 15 passenger van head on on I-65 in Hart County, Kentucky. According to multiple reports, at least some of the occupants of the van were children.

Reportedly, the collision happened at 5:16 a.m. near mile marker 62, approximately 75 miles south of Louisville. The closest town to that area of I-65 is Munfordville, Kentucky. The tractor-trailer was traveling South when it crossed the median into the northbound lanes of I-65 and struck the passenger van. The northbound lanes were shut down, as was one of the southbound lanes for the accident-reconstruction team.

The tractor-trailer hit a rock embankment and burst into flames, killing the driver. It appears as if all of the other fatalities were occupants of the passenger van, which was carrying men, women and children, according to reports.

Shawn Cantley, a Kentucky injury attorney who handles trucking accident cases [click here for attorney profile and contact information] commented: "I just heard from my partner, Will Nefzger, who is driving past the accident scene on his way to Memphis, and he said that there is a cable median barrier in that part of I-65. The barrier, which is designed to prevent deadly head on collisions, must not have been strong enough or high enough to stop the tractor-trailer. I'm interested to see what the accident reconstruction concludes about this and will be watching this closely."

News sources are reporting a tragic event on I-65 near Munfordville. Apparently a semi truck has crossed the median on I-65 and collided with a church van. The latest reports say 11 are dead.

I've blogged extensively about cable median barriers on this stretch of the road. How many deaths is it going to take before we devote the financial resources to adding cable median barriers on all of our highways?!! My thoughts and prayers go out to these families.

A fatal single car accident occurred at approximately 5:30 a.m. this morning on I-64 eastbound just past the Watterson Expressway, near mile marker 13. The accident is reported to be a single vehicle roll over, which has blocked all eastbound lanes. Eastbound I-64 traffic, at mile marker 13, is not expected to open up until after 8:30 a.m. the cause of this tragic accident has not yet been determine.

Auto accident and wrongful death attorney Brent T. Ackerson stated: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's family at this time of their loss."