Automobile Accidents

• Cell Phones: INTOXICATION V. IN-TEXT-ICATION - Which is worse?

  Steve Lombardi | April 12, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  The consequences for using your cell phone while driving? None. Zip. Nada. That's right, folks. Never mind the statistics; the equally impairing act is not yet punishable by law.We ended the...

• Cell Phones: Motor Vehicle Crashes Leading Cause of Teen Deaths, But Who (or What) is to Blame?

  Steve Lombardi | April 11, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Did you know that teens are four times more likely than a 65-to-69-year old to get in a serious car wreck? Did you know this number is increasing and that the reasons are as clear as the coined...

• The Money Crisis - The Bush Administration and Tort Deformers at Work and Taking Advantage of One More Opportunity

  Steve Lombardi | April 03, 2008 11:27 PM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Gee-Dubbya is at it again with his Treasury Secretary's latest proposal for "reforms to protect the financial system". Tort deform is lurking undercover in Paulson's Financial Deform. Just when they...

• Insurance adjusters and the recorded statement.

  Steve Lombardi | March 27, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Finding those two witnesses shows excellent skills on your part. Well done. After 26 years of practicing law I can think of only two reasons why insurance company adjusters want to talk with the person asking their company for money; and neither reason is good for you.Issue: I was in a MVA over two weeks ago. I turned left at the same time a truck ran a red light. The police report said...

• Iowa Car Wreck - Fault admission now recanted.

  Steve Lombardi | March 26, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  What do you do if after an accident you find out the police report is inaccurate and a witness who admitted liability now changes his story and now blames you?PROBLEM: I was broadsided completing a left at a traffic light. The light was red by the time traffic subsided. A truck ran a red light. He ran over to me claiming it was his fault and how his truck slid when he was stopping. He denied...

• Am I at fault if I crash into someone else while driving in dense fog?

  Steve Lombardi | March 08, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  QUESTION: Am I at fault if I crash into someone else while driving in dense fog? After all it isn't my fault, it was the fog! ANSWER: If we ignore all other facts and entertain only the fog issue, then my opinion is that you are likely to be at fault. There is nothing unusual about the fog. Fog is fog. It's a weather condition that all drivers must contend with and everyone knows that fog is the...

• The McDonald's Verdict, Tort Deform and other Riddles Revisited

  Steve Lombardi | March 03, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  I have to admit that this one was too good to pass on without comment. I've written previously about tort deformers and their mantra and how Madison Avenue has brilliantly fooled most of the nation into believing the sky is falling and we can only save the nation with more tort deform. But as my mother is fond of saying, "This one is a real doozy!" I have to admit that this one was too good to...

• Assessment of Fault in Auto Accidents - Tires and Other Evidence Destroyed

  Steve Lombardi | February 29, 2008 6:50 PM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Clients make a crucial mistake when they listen to insurance companies' propaganda about how trial lawyers can't be trusted. If the insurance industry can get you to take the bait and delay getting a lawyer, they can then settle with you for the wrecked car, take possession of the wreck and destroy the evidence.A car accident was reported on by the Newton Daily News, out of North Monroe...

• Iowa Car/Truck Collisions - After a car accident there may be a claim against the autobody shop for faulty work.

  Steve Lombardi | February 17, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  If you've had your car repaired at the local body shop, and you're involved in a post-repair accident you might consider having the car towed to a different body shop. There are indications that air bag repairs are being improperly performed. You, the owner, are told the airbag is being "repacked", when in fact that is a meaningless repair and the airbag will not deploy again.* A deployed airbag...

• Pulling out from a stop sign, t-boned, trucks speed is very important

  Steve Lombardi | January 24, 2008 12:00 AM | 0 CommentsDes Moines, IA

  Question: If the driver of a car stops at a stop sign, looks both ways, then pulls out is a truck driver at fault if fog is thick and he's prohibited from seeing the car t-bones the car resulting in serious injury and death?Question: If the driver of a car stops at a stop sign, looks both ways, then pulls out is a truck driver at fault if fog is thick and he's prohibited from seeing the car...