Carr & Carr

As a driver in Oklahoma you are held financially liable for any injuries or property damage you cause. This is not a “no-fault” state. If you are found to be only partially responsible for causing injury or damage, you will be assessed for “comparative negligence” and pay a reduced amount.

Oklahoma requires drivers to carry at least $25,000 for bodily injury. This is the minimum and most insurance companies will urge you to carry more. Medical costs are not minimum these days and your insurance coverage needs to keep up.

Uninsured Motorists
When you are in an accident and discover that the other driver has no insurance, or has less than the required minimum insurance (under-insured motorist), you will have to dip into your own pocket – unless you have uninsured motorist insurance. They are packaged together in Oklahoma. You can buy this coverage at the state’s minimum level of bodily injury -- $25,000. Or you can buy less than that; it’s your call.

Here’s some good news:
If the other driver in your accident is uninsured and you have to use your own insurance to cover costs, your insurance company cannot cancel your policy, fail to renew it, or raise your premium.

What Determines Your Insurance Rates
Insurance companies hire fleets of actuaries to analyze the company’s statistical records and figure out what types of policy holders are costing the company the most money. Insurance premiums are calculated separately for each group of policy holders, according to how expensive they are for the company.

So for example, if you are young male driver, your rate will be higher than for a young female driver, because as a group, young males cost the company more in accident claims.

To best protect yourself and your loved ones on the road, purchase as much auto insurance as you can. It’s a gamble, but one that we all have to take. You may regard yourself as an excellent driver, and may never be involved an accident at all – but the day that you are suddenly thrown onto the roadside by a big rig out of control you’ll quickly wish you had invested in more auto insurance.

If you have been injured in an auto accident and would like to know more about your legal rights and options, please contact our auto accident attorneys today for a free consultation.

We have all noticed the increase of 18 wheelers on our roads and highways in recent years, as trains have been used less for transporting goods. A typical passenger vehicle weighs a bit over two tons (4,000 pounds or so) whereas a big rig fully loaded can weigh as much as 40 tons (80,000 pounds). There’s no doubt as to who has the advantage in the event of an accident.

Even though the trucking industry is highly regulated, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that over 400,000 big trucks are involved in accidents each year. In most of the accidents it is the driver or passengers in the smaller vehicle who are hurt and perhaps killed, while the truck driver sustains only minor injuries, if any at all.

Driver Fatigue a Big Factor
Trucking companies keep their drivers on tight schedules. Drivers keep logs of their driving time and rest time, and there are regulations as to how long they can drive without taking a rest. But logbooks can be falsified if necessary when a deadline must be met.

Truckers can be delayed by many unforeseen factors such as traffic congestion, bad weather, or a problem with the truck’s load. Trucks are often loaded by a separate loading company who may or may not have done a good job. Truckers may often load their own trucks, but in both cases the driver is required to inspect the load for safety.

When the driver is behind in his schedule he must drive more quickly and may get overtired and less attentive to road conditions. Some newer trucks have two drivers, with a bed and kitchen behind the cabin so that one driver can relax while the other drives. If this becomes more common perhaps it will help in avoiding accidents.

Give the Trucks Space
Meanwhile, people continue to be injured by truck accidents, often with severe injuries such as brain or spinal cord injuries which then require daily assistance with living. If you are driving near an 18-wheeler, be sure and allow plenty of space for that heavy truck to slow down and speed up when necessary, or change lanes. Remember that the driver has large blind spots on all four sides of his truck. If you are driving where you cannot see the driver, you know that he cannot see you either.

At Carr & Carr we have long experience in fighting for people injured in truck accidents. Please contact our office if you have been in such an accident, or if you have a loved one injured in that way. We will be glad to give you a free consultation and case evaluation.

Guy Thiessen, the managing attorney of Carr & Carr's Tulsa offices, and 2008 President of Oklahoma Association for Justice, is featured in two prominant publications today:

Capitol News Now: New Report Scores Lawmakers on Consumer, Patient Safety Support
Excerpt from Page 10, continued from Page 1...
...SB 1549, by Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, and Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, would have modified language related to the Oklahoma Medicaid False Claims Act. Under language added to the bill, it also would have required facilities to have a liability insurance policy, unless otherwise able to prove they could fiscally cover claims, but that language was removed. Guy Thiessen, a civil justice attorney in Tulsa, said the Legislature should implement such a mandate.

“The protection of our state’s elderly should be a bipartisan concern,” he said. Thiessen has spent 15 years representing nursing home patients and families who have suffered from abuse and neglect. Many nursing home operators have formed corporations to protect owners from liability, which inhibits a victim’s ability to seek damages for suffering abuse and neglect at the homes, he said...

Tulsa World: Nursing Homes Seek Shield
By Mick Hinton / World Capitol Bureau
OKLAHOMA CITY - A Tulsa attorney said Tuesday that some Oklahoma nursing homes are forming multiple corporations to avoid liability when patients sue for better care.

“I’ve witnessed a nationwide trend that is also occurring in Oklahoma where owners form a series of corporations,” said Guy Thiessen, who primarily represents patients suing nursing homes.

Thiessen said nursing home owners will form one corporation that owns a facility. Another corporation with the same officers will be formed to carry out operations, “but that corporation will have almost zero assets,” he said, noting that the nursing home corporation will pay “exorbitant rent” for the facilities it occupies.

He did not provide names of any nursing homes doing that.

Thiessen and others discussed lawmakers’ votes on health-related legislation during a state Capitol news conference Tuesday.

Republican Sen. Glenn Coffee, co-president pro tem of the Oklahoma Senate, scored the lowest on several bills considered consumer-friendly by the Oklahoma Center for Consumer and Patient Safety, which sponsored the news conference. Coffee, of Oklahoma City, voted 42 percent of the time for bills that the group supported.

House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, received a 68 percent approval rating.
Bills considered key to patients’ needs included ones that would provide health insurance for autistic children and cancer victims who elect to undergo “clinical trials.” Both of those bills were killed when they reached the House last session.

Meanwhile, Rep. Doug Cox, part-owner of two nursing homes, stalled a bill that would have required such facilities to provide liability insurance. Cox, an emergency room physician and Grove Republican, said small nursing homes like his could not afford the expensive insurance.

Thiessen said about 55 percent of Oklahoma’s nursing homes do not carry liability insurance.

He noted that the American Health Lawyers Association provides nursing homes with a journal explaining how they can restructure their finances to limit liability for their services.