The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

Premises liability is a legal term that refers to property owners' obligation to provide a reasonably safe environment for guests, customers and passersby.

Some examples of how premises liability injuries may occur include falls caused by accumulations of ice and snow on sidewalks and paths, accidents at job-sites, injuries caused by poor building maintenance or lighting, children's accidents on playgrounds or recreational facilities, swimming pool accidents, dog bites, or criminal assaults due to negligent security practices at shopping malls.

A factor in the determination of legal responsibility for your injury is whether or not the property owner was aware of the hazardous condition and failed to correct it, or should have been aware of the hazardous condition. The victim of an accident on someone else's property may suffer a traumatic brain injury from a fall, broken bones or be left with life-changing disabilities that require a lifetime of medical care and treatment.

The premises liability attorneys at The Cochran Firm have extensive experience in evaluating and investigating the facts behind premises liability claims for our clients and have been successful in the past in securing financial compensation for medical expenses, rehabilitation expenses, income losses and pain and suffering.

Please contact the experienced premises liability attorneys at The Cochran Firm today if you have suffered injuries on someone else’s property in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area and let our attorneys help you regain the quality of life you enjoyed before your injuries.

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The financial costs of a birth injury can total hundreds of thousands even millions of dollars for a lifetime of therapy, nursing care, medications, durable equipment, electronic devices and all the other overwhelming needs of an infant injured during the birthing process. The emotional and psychological costs to the parents and other family members are immeasurable.

The medical malpractice birth injury attorneys at The Cochran Firm have assisted disabled infants and their families deal with the catastrophic injuries that occurred during the birthing process and are committed to working with a network of medical and legal experts to determine the cause and extent of the birth injury. We will work aggressively and effectively to obtain a fair and just settlement while preparing your case for trial.

When a doctor, nurse, midwife, anesthesiologist or hospital failed to provide you with an acceptable standard of care during your prenatal, labor and delivery or postnatal periods, they need to be held legally liable and financially accountable for the damage you have suffered.

If you live in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area and your child was injured at birth, please contact the birth injury lawyers at The Cochran Firm today to learn how to obtain the financial compensation that can mean a difference in the quality of life for your child now and in the future.

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Your life can be changed forever in a few short seconds if you are involved in a motor vehicle accident. What happens immediately following your accident may help you recover from your accident more quickly and hold those responsible legally liable.

In the event you are involved in a motor vehicle accident some advice to try to remember is to first and foremost seek medical attention even if you do not think you have been injured. Some injury’s symptoms, such as whiplash injuries, take hours or days to surface and can leave you with a life-long disability if left unattended for an extended period of time.

Notify the police so there is an official police report of your accident which may be useful to you in the future in case of a lawsuit. Make sure you obtain vehicle and contact information from all individuals involved in the accident and try to obtain any witness information as well.

It would be very helpful if you could take pictures of the accident that can provide actual photographic evidence of the accident and prevailing conditions of the road and weather at the time that may prove to be of assistance to an accident reconstruction expert.

The motor vehicle accident attorneys at The Cochran Firm have many years experience in handling all manner of motor vehicle accident claims and work with experts in every legal and medical field to ensure their clients get the best legal representation available.

If you live in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area and you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, please contact The Cochran Firm today to learn how you can protect your legal rights and get the financial compensation you need to face the challenges that face you in the future.

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A medical error during a surgical procedure can lead to permanent and lifelong injuries or wrongful death.

Surgical medical malpractice leading to injuries and wrongful death can occur when the surgeon, nurses, anesthesiologist or surgical technicians fail in their obligation to maintain the highest standards of care required of their profession. This can result in the wrong surgical procedure being performed, medical instruments being left inside the patient, or a failure to recognize or correct an unforeseen occurrence that arises during surgery.

Surgical medical malpractice is a leading reason for medical malpractice and negligence claims being filed against healthcare professionals and facilities each year. Almost 12,000 people die every year due to unnecessary surgery. Surgical complications due to surgical errors can include post-surgical infections, anesthesia-related brain injuries and retained foreign bodies.

Our medical malpractice attorneys at The Cochran Firm think surgical medical malpractice is very serious whether your claim involves unnecessary surgery, botched surgery, wrong-site surgery or post-surgery problems. The Cochran Firm employs a network of medical and legal experts to develop a strong case for their clients to ensure the best outcome possible.

If you live in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina and you or someone you care about has been the victim of surgical medical malpractice, please contact The Cochran Firm today to schedule a no cost to you confidential consultation to determine how to proceed with your claim.

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The end of 2009 has brought the beginning of a well-deserved and highly anticipated ban on texting while driving in North Carolina. Drivers must now take their hands off the cell phone buttons and leave them on the steering wheel or face a fine.

The risk of an auto accident is 23 times greater than usual when a driver is texting while behind the wheel according to a recent Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study. Texting causes drivers to take their eyes and attention off the road for at least five second intervals. During that five second interval a car moving at highway speeds will travel the length of a football field.

The North Carolina texting while driving ban carries a one hundred dollar penalty that can more than double with fines for someone caught sending or reading a text while the car is in motion. Studies reveal that talking on a cell phone while driving, even using a hands-free headset, is also dangerous, increasing the likelihood of an automobile accident to the level of an alcohol or drug impaired driver. This distraction should be included in the ban as well to protect everyone on the roads and highways around the state.

If you have been involved in an automobile accident with a cell phone using texting driver, please contact the Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm today to learn how to proceed to protect your legal rights.

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According to the Brain Injury Association of America, over one and one-half million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) annually. Over fifty thousand Americans will die from their brain injuries and eighty thousand will be left with long-term, life-altering disabilities.

The effects of a traumatic brain injury include but are not limited to, loss of memory, blurred or double vision, nausea, vomiting and dizziness, severe headaches, confusion and changes in personality. Traumatic brain injuries are complex, life-altering and often life-threatening injuries, typically causing paralysis and limited functionality.

Your brain is responsible for all your functions of thinking, seeing, smelling, and feeling. Your memories and behaviors all depend on an intact, healthy functioning brain. Even minor damage can permanently impair your brain function and drastically change your life.

Common causes of traumatic brain injuries include automobile accidents, falls, sports injuries and violent assaults. Motor vehicle accidents are responsible for more fatal and non-fatal traumatic brain injuries than any other cause. Even a minor collision can result in a serious traumatic brain injury caused by whiplash, the action of the head whipping backwards and forwards in a snapping motion due to an impact.

If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury and you live in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area, please contact The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential consultation at no cost to you to discuss how to proceed with efforts to protect your legal rights and get you the financial compensation you deserve for the injury you have suffered.

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Fatalities caused by motorcycle accidents are on the rise due to the increased number of inexperienced motorcycle riders on the nations' roadways. Studies reveal that over 90% of young motorcycle riders involved in accidents at this point in time are self-taught or educated in motorcycle riding techniques by their friends who may also lack the expertise to be safe riders.

Two major causes of motorcycle accidents are speeding and riding under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Motorcycle riding is an experience that can be enjoyed safely if you learn motorcycle riding techniques from a trained professional, do not attempt to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, obey posted speed limits and traffic laws, wear protective gear, and always drive defensively.

Motorcycle accident injuries can be catastrophic and may involve fractures and broken bones, abrasions, soft tissue trauma, paralysis, amputations, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury. A motorcycle accident victim is entitled to seek financial compensation for their injuries. An experienced motorcycle accident attorney such as those at The Cochran Firm will ensure you get the representation and any financial compensation you are entitled to.

If you live in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area, please contact The Cochran Firm if you have been injured in a motorcycle accident so you can discuss your options with an experienced motorcycle accident attorney.

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Kidney disease kills fourteen people out of one hundred thousand annually, making it the ninth leading cause of death in the United States. Medicare alone spends fourteen billion dollars each year to treat End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Several hundred thousand Americans undergo kidney dialysis treatment every year.

Treatment for renal failure has risks, and patients must be educated to minimize these risks and protect themselves. People die or are unnecessarily injured every day in this country due to medical errors perpetrated during their kidney dialysis treatments.

Kidney dialysis medical malpractice can include but not be limited to, medication errors, patient falls, dialyzer errors, vascular access injuries, excess blood loss and prolonged bleeding, dialysis machine leaks, malfunctioning machine alarms, failure to clear dialysis machines of cleaning solutions and failure to appropriately monitor blood pressure. There are documented kidney dialysis errors in the thousands each year in this country.

If you are a person on kidney dialysis treatments and you did not receive adequate and proper care and treatment and sustained a serious injury, you should contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney familiar with kidney dialysis errors.

If you live in the Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina area and you would like to speak to an attorney who is an expert in the field of kidney dialysis errors, please contact the Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a no cost to you confidential consultation.

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Thousands of Americans are injured or killed every year by defective consumer products they unknowingly bring into their homes and lives.

Cars, toys, cribs, household appliances, medical devices and medications, and food for beloved pets that sicken and kill them are bought and consumed by an unsuspecting public. People wrongly assume that all consumer products are carefully tested and approved by the manufacturer and our government agencies before they are allowed to be sold to a trusting public.

If a manufacturer fails to deliver a safe product to the consumer, the result can be a life-threatening condition or death. If you have been injured by a defective consumer product, filing a lawsuit against the responsible parties may save others from suffering a similar fate.

If you feel you have suffered harm from a defective consumer product, you may be able to recover losses for medical expenses, lost wages, permanent physical disability and pain and suffering.

If you reside in the Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina area and you or someone you love was injured or died as a result of using a defective consumer product, please contact an experienced defective consumer product attorney at the Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm today and get the justice you deserve for your pain and suffering and learn if you are entitled to financial compensation for your losses.

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If you or someone you know is taking or has taken a prescription medication and have experienced adverse side effects from these medications, you may be entitled to compensation from the awards being settled by drug manufacturers. If you have not experienced any adverse side effects after taking a prescription medication you may still be entitled to some form of compensation because of the possibility of the drugs deadly side effects in the future.

Some recent additions to the ever growing list of defective or potentially dangerous drugs are Yaz, an oral contraceptive, Byetta, an injectable prescription medication for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, Digitek, a prescription medication to treat heart failure, and Raptiva, a prescription medication to treat psoriasis.

The list of defective drugs is endless. There are numerous FDA approved medications on the market today that could actually be classified as defective.

Proving a drug is defective is the most important part of a defective drug lawsuit. It requires the expertise of a variety of highly skilled people and a law firm with a history of handling defective drug cases successfully.

If you live in the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina area and you or someone you care about was injured by a defective drug, please contact the Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a consultation with an experienced defective drug attorney at no cost to you to protect your legal rights and obtain justice and the compensation you are entitled to.

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AM2PAT, Inc. is a North Carolina plant that filled, packaged, and shipped pre-filled syringes that they knew were tainted and unsterile. These syringes were used in hospitals and homes where approximately 300 people were infected with Serratia marcescens bacteria and suffered serious personal injury. At least five people were killed due to these contaminated syringes. The Serratia marcescens bacteria is known to cause:

• Severe illness
• Permanent brain damage
• Spinal meningitis

The case was heard in Raleigh at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Two employees of AM2PAT pled guilty to knowingly shipping the unsterile syringes and for falsifying the records.

Hospitals, doctors, and nurses unknowingly administered these contaminated syringes to patients. The plant that manufactured and shipped these syringes is being sued for the personal injuries and wrongful deaths suffered by consumers of the syringes.

Suffering a personal injury or losing a loved one is devastating. You want the responsible party to be held accountable. A personal injury lawyer is available to help you through this devastating time and will work hard to get you the compensation you deserve.

If you have suffered a personal injury and are in the Raleigh area, please contact the Cochran Firm's personal injury lawyers at the Raleigh office. You can schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your case at no cost to you.

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The consequences of nursing home abuse and neglect result in injuries, malnutrition, dehydration and medical conditions that can lead to death. It is reported that over one million older adults are victimized every year in American nursing homes.

There are over thirty-five million people in this country over the age of sixty-five. Many older Americans will need nursing home care in the coming years. Some facilities available offer quality care by hard-working and underpaid staffs. Some facilities, however, do not meet the standards of care we should all expect for our elderly citizens.

Some older adults are living in less than ideal conditions, vulnerable to neglect and abuse that sometimes rises to the level of a criminal assault. Signs of neglect and abuse could be as simple as seeing that a residents personal hygiene needs are not being met, that they have chronic infections, are heavily medicated, have unexplained sores or wounds and seem depressed, withdrawn or anxious.

If you live in the Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina area and you suspect a loved one is a victim nursing home abuse and neglect, please contact the Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential consultation with an experienced nursing home abuse attorney, at no cost to you, to protect your legal rights.

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Teenagers are four more times likely to be killed in an automobile accident than any other age group. Most automobile accidents involving teenagers happen on a weekend night between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., with fifty percent of those involving alcohol. Teenagers are more prone to speeding and not wearing their seat belts. Over eighty percent of accidents involving teenagers are caused by driver error.

Typical teenage behaviors, such as risk taking, joking, talking on cell phones and their exuberance for the freedom driving gives them, can turn deadly in an automobile. The teenagers most at risk for an accident are males, teenagers driving with their peers and newly licensed teenagers. The first six months after receiving their license to drive are the most deadly for teens. Over five thousand teenagers are killed every year in this country in automobile accidents.

If you have a teenage driver in your family you should encourage them to refrain from speeding and drinking and driving. Teenagers should not be allowed to drive with other teens and should not use their cell phones while behind the wheel. Seat belt use should be mandatory for your teen and driving after dark prohibited.

If you are a resident of the Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina area and your have been involved in an automobile accident, you should contact the Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm today to schedule a confidential consultation at no cost to you to learn about your legal rights.

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In recent years, trucking companies have increased their efforts to prevent or at least diminish the number of truck accidents. They have increased safety training and awareness for their truck drivers in a campaign to accomplish this.

However, most truckers have tight delivery deadlines. If you work in an office and you are at risk of missing a deadline, you work faster and longer hours. If you are driving a truck and you are at risk of missing a delivery deadline, you drive faster. This too often leads to an accident.

Truck accidents are responsible for serious injuries including spinal cord injuries, head and neck injuries, broken bones and many deaths. Trucks carry large and sometimes dangerous cargo loads. Truck drivers work very long hours, leading to stress and fatigue caused accidents. In a startling statistic, over 94% of occupants in a vehicle involved in a truck accident were either injured or killed.

If you live in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina or the surrounding area and you or someone you care about was injured or killed in an accident involving a truck, please contact an experienced truck accident attorney at The Cochran Firm's Raleigh-Durham office today to schedule a confidential consultation at no cost to you to learn about your legal rights and whether you are entitled to compensation for your losses.

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When we take our elderly to nursing homes, we do so with regret and sadness, but probably also with some relief. We know they will be taken care of on a daily basis in ways we can’t. At least we hope this is the case. However, reports of nursing home abuse are in the news every single day. For whatever reason, these stories don’t seem to draw as much attention as do reports of child abuse, even though some of these elderly patients are as helpless and defenseless as our young are in many ways.

Take the story of a nursing home on the border of Tennessee and Virginia, for example. For nearly a decade, workers claim that a nurses’ aide molested those who were supposed to be in his care. These allegations come from both employees, as well as patients. While this may not necessarily be news, in the sense that this happens more than people care to admit, what is news is that despite complaint after complaint, the man was allowed to keep his job.

The nursing home is part of the National HealthCare Corp. (NHC), a conglomerated of nursing homes stretching across the country. Employees of the nursing home have described the managers at NHC as seemingly indifferent when they told them of the nurses’ aide’s conduct. As a result of this attitude, many of the employees quit in frustration. This went on until 2007 when the nurses’ aide was given the ultimatum of leave or be terminated. However, he quickly began working at another nursing home nearby. The case is now being investigated by Tennessee authorities. However, NHC has made the news before due to lack of quality care, payments made to injured patients and families, as well as a fire that killed 16 patients in a Nashville nursing home in 2003. (The law in Tennessee didn’t require the home have sprinklers, so they were never added.)

This is simply one example of what goes on. There are many cases that never make the news and many cases of family members confused as to why their elderly loved ones seem to be acting in ways that leave the family with questions and suspicions. Unfortunately, getting answers from the nursing home administration may be difficult. If a nursing home patient has dementia, how can what they say or how they act be trusted?

Nursing home abuse and neglect may be due to several factors. One of those is that many nursing home employees are spread thin. Even in an economic downturn, there simply are not enough people working in nursing homes. The home in Tennessee was supposed to be one aide per eight patients, but the managers tried to stretch this to one per twelve. So, perhaps it is a case of higher ups not wanting to pay out more for caregivers. As a result, burnout, stress, and short tempers are common with nurses’ aides.

But this is just a part of a larger picture, and a growing problem. As the nation gets older and more families look to nursing homes to care for their family members, there may be further reports of abuse and neglect.

If you suspect your loved one may be the victim of nursing home abuse, please contact the experienced nursing home abuse attorneys at the Cochran Firm. We have offices nationwide.

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In the latest of a series of scares at UNC, a bomb threat was not reported to the campus emergency alert system until more than two hours after it was received.

At 9 pm on Sunday, February 15th, a bomb threat was called in to Orange County 911, stating an explosive device had been planted at “The Pit,” a campus gathering place popular among UNC students and located near the center of the campus. UNC students subscribed to the Alert Carolina crisis notification system were alerted to the situation via text message, but not until 11:30 that night.

Several students were disturbed by the long delay. Many actually found news about the incident via online news services before receiving official word from Alert Carolina. A statement from Alert Carolina explained that first priority was given to evacuating the immediately endangered area and assessing whether the threat was genuine. Students feel a higher priority should have been given to campus notification.

Officials evacuated buildings surrounding The Pit and swept the area. They found no explosives or other indication that the threat was genuine. Evacuated students returned to their dorms on Monday.

The campus notification system was instituted at UNC after the fatal shootings in April, 2007. Failure to provide adequate notification regarding potential threats to the campus could open the university to civil litigation regarding liability or negligence if a threat proves genuine, and injuries or fatalities result.

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or loss due to negligence on the part of a business owner, property owner, or institution, The Cochran Firm can help. Please contact the experienced wrongful death and premises liability attorneys at the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina office of The Cochran Firm to schedule a confidential consultation.

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Controversy still swirls around the aftermath of a 2004 slaying in Wilson, North Carolina.

The NAACP continues to stand behind James Johnson, who spent three years in jail on a charge of failing to properly notify authorities of a crime. Their involvement implies Johnson’s treatment in his case might have infringed on his civil rights.

While Johnson maintained he was not involved in the killing, he did admit that he delayed three days in notifying authorities about the murder. His attorneys have stated that his family is happy with the deal that has finally been made, which releases Johnson from prison. In addition, Johnson’s case will be filed as indefinitely pending, and no conviction will be entered on his record.

The Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, says that Johnson was the victim of the justice system, and that more should be done to prevent prosecutors from unfairly targeting citizens who are not guilty of a crime. The NAACP filed a complaint against former prosecutors in the case three years ago. Barber stated Wednesday that Johnson had been offered a variety of plea deals even when the state knew it didn’t have a solid case against him.

Cases such as this are extremely complicated and often difficult to sort out. If an injustice has been perpetrated against you because of your gender, race, or sexual orientation, you could be eligible for compensation for violation of your civil rights.

The experienced civil rights attorneys at The Cochran Firm in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, may be able to help you as it has helped thousands of other clients with civil rights issues.

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