D.C. Injury Law Journal

Last Friday, a city building inspector fell through a skylight opening at a housing construction site in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The man suffered severe injuries to both of his legs. In a bizarre incident of deja vu, a construction worker fell through another skylight opening on the same roof yesterday. Falling more than 20 feet, the construction worker suffered serious personal injuries to his shoulder and both legs. A third worker suffered a laceration injury to his arm from falling debris dislodged when his coworker fell. Fredericksburg police have called in the Virginia Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) to investigate both personal injury accidents. 

In Virginia and the Washington D.C. area, more serious personal injury accidents happen on construction sites than in any other industrial sector. Every year more than 1,000 U.S. workers die in construction accidents and more than 150,000 workers are injured on the job. Falls are the most common construction site injury. Injuries to the back or trunk account for the largest number of construction injuries, followed by leg and arm injuries. Many construction injuries are life-changing, leaving injured workers permanently or partially disabled and unable to support their families.

One in 10 Washington D.C. and Virginia construction workers can expect to suffer a personal injury on the job this year. If you are injured in a construction accident, an experienced Virginia or Washington D.C. personal injury attorney can protect your rights and work to obtain just compensation for you and your family.

One reported bout of food poisoning can send customers fleeing and destroy the reputations of Washington D.C. and Virginia restaurants. Even though the fault may lie with tainted produce, eggs or meat and not restaurant health and safety procedures, once the public connects a restaurant to the outbreak of an illness it can be difficult to convince customers to return.

Every summer seems to bring at least one major outbreak of food illness in the U. S. that has the potential to sicken and sometimes kill consumers and eat away at D.C. and Virginia restaurant reputations if they are unlucky enough to count the offending supplier among their list of food providers. Earlier this year an E. coli outbreak in pre-cut lettuce sickened scores. Salmonella-laced peanut butter from a Georgia manufacturing plant sickened hundreds. The recent salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000 people nationally has been traced to two egg farms in Iowa that supply eggs to stores and restaurants across the country. Egg suppliers recalled 228 million eggs sold under a variety of brands, including some of the country's well known grocery chains. 

When customers become ill or die from food-borne illness because a restaurant has unknowingly used tainted food products, the restaurant can be held liable. A D.C. personal injury lawyer with a firm background in restaurant law can guide Washington D.C. and Virginia restaurant owners through the confusing maze of applicable laws and regulations governing the food industry, advise restaurateurs of potential liability risks and work to protect the rights and reputations of restaurants if food-borne illness strikes.

A man fell 3 stories from a bucket lift in a Washington .D.C construction accident yesterday afternoon. The accident took place near the Old Executive office building near the intersection of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. D.C. fire and EMS responders transported the man to a nearby hospital where he remains in critical condition. A few weeks ago D.C. fire and EMS responders rescued another construction worker who had become trapped after falling into an unsecured 25-foot deep hole at a construction site in northeast D.C. That construction worker sustained serious personal injuries to his neck and back.

More than 1,000 construction workers die on U.S. construction sites every year, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).  Thousands more sustain severe personal injuries, many of which result in partial or permanent disability. Among the construction trades, construction laborers, particularly ironworkers and electrical power installers, suffer the highest number of fatal work injuries. Falls, electrical installation, traffic accidents and contact with construction equipment account for the majority of construction accidents.

Construction companies are responsible for protecting the health and welfare of their workers.  Many construction accidents result from faulty or poorly maintained equipment or from the construction company's failure to provide adequate safety equipment and enforce safety practices on the job site, When construction accidents occur, an experienced Washington D.C. personal injury lawyer can see that your rights are protected and work aggressively to see that you are justly compensated.

In a grisly Washington DC accident, a woman pedestrian suffered catastrophic injury when she was struck by a dump truck on M Street SE. Apparently unaware that he had hit the woman, the truck driver continued driving until bystanders alerted him to the tragedy. The driver immediately returned to the scene and is reported to be cooperating with police. The woman suffered critical, life-threatening injuries and was unconscious when EMT crews arrived. She was rushed to a nearby hospital via helicopter. Washington DC police are investigating the accident and charges are pending against the driver.

According to EMT and fire department records, 8  to 10 pedestrian accidents occur in Washington DC every day. Fortunately, not all pedestrian accidents are fatal, but the potential for catastrophic injury is high. Catastrophic injuries require significant medical treatment, usually involve long-term rehabilitation and are likely to have life-changing consequences for the victim and his family. Serious permanent disability can occur that may leave the accident victim with diminished physical or mental abilities. Repeated reconstructive surgery may be necessary to repair the victim's injuries. Pedestrian personal injury accident victims frequently face a lifetime of continued medical care and chronic pain as a result of their injuries.

When catastrophic accidents occur, a Washington DC personal injury attorney with extensive experience handling catastrophic injury cases will work aggressively to protect your rights and argue for just compensation.

A drunken driver killed one Catholic nun and gravely injured two other nuns in a serious personal injury auto accident in Bristow, Virginia this past Sunday. The driver, who was also hospitalized, is an illegal immigrant from Bolivia with numerous motor vehicle violations and two previous DUI arrests. The 23-year-old man was driving with a suspended license as a result of previous DUI convictions. Following the accident, Virginia police charged Carlos Montano, a Prince William County resident, with involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving. As a result of a prior arrest, Montano was awaiting deportation but had been released by the court on his own recognizance.

The serious personal injury auto accident occurred Sunday morning as the three nuns were driving to attend a retreat at the Benedictine Monastery in Bristow, VA. Montano's car veered out of its lane, hit a barrier and crashed head-on into the nuns' car, killing 66-year-old Sister Denise Mosier and severely injuring her fellow Benedictine Sisters.

As happened in this case, tragic auto accidents can result in severe, life-altering personal injuries and death. While injured parties concentrate on healing and rehabilitation, an experienced Virginia personal injury attorney will investigate and work to see that accident victims receive the financial compensation they are entitled to.