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Teenager Killed in Speed Racing Accident
March 17, 2008

The thrill for speed took another innocent life over the weekend when a 14-year-old boy died as a result of street racing. It seems that the car in which the victim, Phoenix Nguyen, was traveling was involved in a race with another driver before the crash.

18-year-old Ty Van Nguyen was driving a black Acura Integra when he ran the stop sign and crashed into another car, a white Cadillac Escalade driven by Devin Miller, who was driving his family to a birthday party. None in Miller's car were seriously injured.

According to Miller, he noticed that the Acura was involved in a race of some kind with another car, which seems to have disappeared after the crash. 14-year-old Phoenix Ngueyn was taken to hospital where he died. Other passengers in the Acura included two 17-year-old girls and an 18-year-old man who were taken to hospital for their injuries. The driver, Ty Van Nguyen, seems not to have suffered severe injuries.

According to residents in the neighborhood, drag racing is a common occurrence in that area. Residents are used to hearing the telltale screech of tires on asphalt in the middle of the might. The street where the accident occurred is wide open and has very little traffic, which makes it very popular among teen racers. Regardless of the minimal traffic, there is an elementary school nearby and many children use the streets, residents say. When the police are called, the drivers disappear before they arrive, and no real progress has been made on stemming the problem caused by these drivers.

Letting youngsters get away without suffering the consequences of their actions seems to be becoming a regular occurrence in these parts. Let's hope the same doesn't happen with Ty Van Nguyen. The young man doesn't deserve to walk away with no charges. If his friends or family have any interest in his well being, they'll realize that this sort of reckless behavior will occur again. There are too many reckless young boys and girls behind wheels, putting other people's lives in danger with such antics, and the more sympathy we show, the more we encourage such behavior that endangers the lives of other law-abiding citizens. The Millers were lucky that they all escaped without serious harm - there was huge potential for more tragedies in this crash. The Miller's car had four children strapped into the back seat. Other families on the road aren't so lucky.

Just last August, a young boy was killed while on his bicycle and the community came together in a showing of sympathy for the young driver who caused the crash. As it turned out later, not only was the driver texting on his cell phone, but he was allegedly conducting a drug deal, and, more than likely, was intoxicated when he rammed his car into the young boy.

When the facts came out, he didn't look like an innocent boy who made a mistake. We should not make that same mistake with Ty Van Nguyen.

If you have been injured or a loved-one has been killed in a car accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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Crash Test Data Leads to Small Personal Injury Settlement
March 11, 2008

Hajrie Hisenaj has reason to feel disappointed in the verdict she received from a jury recently. She was handed a paltry $50,000 settlement for her degenerative disc disease and a herniated disc she says was caused in a fender bender accident on March 2, 1998.

The accident that occurred was a low speed one, and there wasn't significant damage to Hajrie's car, when another vehicle, driven by Amanda Kuehner rear-ended her car. Although there was insignificant damage to the vehicle, the same couldn't be said of Hajrie's health. In the years since the accident, the 58-year-old woman has suffered from degenerative disc disease that has hampered her mobility.

The turning point in the case was the findings of a biomechanical study with human test subjects, which tried to show that low impact crashes do not cause serious physical injuries. Biomechanical engineering uses human test subjects for testing, and studies the relationship of force and its impact on the human body. Hajrie's lawyer did try to block defense testimony from Harold Alexander, an engineer, who based his testimony from a total of 17 studies conducted over a 34-year period. A total of 203 volunteers were used in the experiments. They did not show signs of chronic physical injury, he testified.

Judge W. Hunt Dumont must have known that this evidence, if presented, could prejudice jurors, and that's what seems to have happened. Hajrie received a modest sum as settlement that won't even begin to pay for the kind of struggle she can expect in the days ahead.

Her lawyer argued that the studies conducted included very few women of her age and with a history of degenerative disease. Hajrie went ahead and appealed the decision, arguing that the study only focuses on the change of velocity to her vehicle, and did not take into account other factors in the accident that might have been responsible for her injuries. The Appellate Division found that the studies were unreliable and unscientific and reversed the ruling.

We can now expect the data from these biomechanical engineering tests to be used frequently by defense lawyers to bring down the amount of settlement that the defendant would otherwise have to pay. There is a misconception that exists that holds that accidents that occur at low speed cause no injury to the persons involved, or that if there is no damage to the vehicle, then we can safely assume there is no injury to the person in the vehicle at all. As we know from Hajrie's disc degenerative disease, that worsened after the accident, that is simply not the case. This sort of testimony negated many of the other factors that could contribute to a person's injures at the time of the accident. The study in this case contained data that wasn't representative of Hajrie's profile. Only five of the persons studied were women and only one of them matched Hajrie's age.

This has set an unfortunate precedent for personal injury lawsuits in the future.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you need the help of an experienced California injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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