Articles Posted in Personal Injury

20-Year-old Ayanna Blue has filed an amended complaint to the Washington DC personal injury lawsuit she filed last year accusing Robert Weismiller, an ex-DC Public Schools teacher, of fathering her child. According to Blue’s civil attorney, several other females have also said that Weismiller also was inappropriate with them when they were in school. The allegations go back as for as two decades.

Blue used to study at Shadd Transition Academy, which is a school for kids with emotional and cognitive disabilities. She claims that staff at the high school suspected that Weismiller was having sex with her in his classroom but did nothing to stop the incidents, which went on for five months. Blue says that paternity test results show that there is a 99% probability that Weismiller is the father of her daughter, who was born on November 28, 2009. Blue’s lawyer has said that the District failed to protect the plaintiff from continuous exposure to a sexual predator. Weismiller, who was laid off, is no longer with the school.

Blue’s DC injury lawsuit contends that she continues to suffer financially and emotionally from her encounters with Weismiller. Her originally complaint requested compensation from him, DC schools, and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.

Our Washington DC brain injury lawyers represent clients throughout the District and Maryland that have suffered head trauma in accidents caused by another party’s negligence, and we have seen the toll that living with a brain injury can have on the victim and his/her family. We join others this month, which is Brain Injury Awareness Month, to offer you more information about this potentially devastating injury.

Common causes of Washington DC TBI including fall accidents, traffic crashes, getting hit or striking a hard object or surface, and assaults. A person can also sustain a brain injury as a result of medical malpractice, lead poisoning, near drowning, an explosion, near suffocation or strangulation, or other accidents involving the head getting hit or the brain not receiving enough oxygen for way too long.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that for traumatic brain injuries alone, medical costs and indirect costs totaled about $60 billion in 200 in the US. At least 5.3 billion Americans will need extended or lifelong help performing daily tasks because of a TBI. In addition to physical impairments and health complications that can result, a brain injury can affect a person’s emotions, personality, and behavior, irrevocably altering that person’s life and the lives of their loved ones.

If you suspect that you or your loved one have a brain injury—even if it appears to a be a mild one, you should seek medical attention right away. The sooner you get treatment, the better—especially as sometimes, the symptoms for a serious head trauma may not show up immediately.

Related Web Resources:

Signs and Symptoms of Brain Injury (PDF)

Traumatic Brain Injury, CDC
Brain Injury Awareness Month March 2011, Brain Injury Association of America

More Blog Posts:
Many Brain Injury Patients Suffer from Pseudobulbar Affect, Says Survey, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, January 6, 2011
$10 Million Washington DC Injuries to a Minor Settlement to Go to Boy Who Sustained Catastrophic Brain Damage During Foster Care Beating, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, November 9, 2010
Maryland TBI: Call a Concussion a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Says Researchers, Maryland Accident Law Blog, January 23, 2010

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Rep. Dennis Kucinich, (D-Ohio) and Restaurant Associates, which runs the congressional cafeteria, have reached a confidential settlement agreement over his Washington DC injury complaint. Kucinich had sued the cafeteria operator for $150,000 for the pain, loss of enjoyment and suffering he experienced after he split his tooth in half when biting into a sandwich wrap that had an unpitted olive in it.

Kucinich says his tooth became infected. He had six teeth replaced, underwent oral surgery, reported an adverse reaction to antibiotics, and had to get emergency medical help for a related intestinal obstruction. Now, the congressman and Restaurant Associates have resolved his case with a settlement that he says covers out of pocket costs for his three surgeries.

Food Lawsuits

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 17% of deadly US traffic crashes involved drowsy driving. Yet, according to its recent study, 41% of those surveyed admit to having driven while drowsy. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that falling asleep while driving accounts for 1,550 deaths a year—not to mention over 100,000 traffic crashes and 71,000 injuries.

A drowsy driver that causes a traffic crash that results in injuries or death can be held liable for Washington DC personal injury or wrongful death. One major problem is that many people don’t realize that driving while drowsy can be as dangerous as driving while drunk. Blurred vision, slowed reflexes, delayed reaction time, cloudy thinking, and the possibility of falling unconscious are symptoms that are used to describe both drunk drivers and drowsy drivers. Yet many people don’t realize the similarities and proceed to drive when exhausted.

Some of the AAA study’s findings:

Under this country’s judicial system, people injured due to another’s negligence have a limited time to file a negligence lawsuit against a person or corporation. The time limits are collectively known as ‘statutes of limitation.’ Many people may be aware of the laws from watching legal-themed television shows. One of the rationales behind imposing time limitations for the filing of a lawsuit is to allow the defendant’s preparation of a defense without evidence being lost due to the death of witnesses or the loss of other documents or materials that may support a defense to the case. Another reason for the time limits is to allow a defendant certainty and to avoid the defendant being sued so long after an event that such a process seems unfair.

Pursuant to D.C. Code § 12-301, a potential plaintiff must usually bring a negligence case within three years from the date of the incident. This means that a D.C. car accident case must be filed within three years after the date of the accident. If an automobile accident case is filed even a day late, the court will dismiss the action and leave the plaintiff unable to recover for his or her harms and losses.

In addition, special rules apply is if a person is harmed by the negligence of the District, or one of its employees.

D.C. Code § 12-309 states that a plaintiff cannot pursue a claim against the District of Columbia government unless the claimant gives notice to the Mayor’s Office within 180 days of the event. The notice must contain certain important pieces of information the District needs to determine its potential liability. If a person fails to provide this notice in a timely manner, he or she will most likely not be able to hold the District or its employees responsible for the harms and losses imposed.

The D.C. statutes of limitations highlight the importance of acting promptly when a person sustains injury due to another’s negligence.

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Washington Family Emergency Shelter managers admitted to DC Council members earlier this month that it had fired workers over their alleged sexual behavior with female residents. Families Forward, the nonprofit group that was contracted to run the shelter, admits that they made a mistake when they didn’t tell DC officials about complaints by residents that were related to such incidents.

According to DC Council member Tommy Wells, a number of residents had accused shelter workers of misconduct. One woman who arrived at the shelter on January 27 with her three daughters says she turned down the advances of one Fast Forward worker who not only invited her to a club but also told her she could spend the night at his residence. In her email to DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s office, the woman said other residents were told that they would be given certain favors in exchange for sex. She reports that one resident had sex with a staff member because he promised to take care of her.

She also complained that when she and her daughters arrived at the shelter, they slept on “semi-inflated air mattresses, on the floor” like “3rd world refugees.”