Michael Hingle | Slidell General Practice Lawyer

Victim rear-ended stopped 18whr, stopped in the right lane of the interstate. This was after midnight and dark and cloudy night. The 18whlr had no triangles out. 18whlr driver had not had time to put triangles out. 18 whlr driver did not have time to put flashers on. Or that was the driver's testimony. Client had previously been working offshore for 7 days. Return to the landing late that night, before midnight, about hour or 1 1/2 before crash Victim Dropped co worker off at his house about 30 minuets before the crash Before dropping off co-worker, victim stopped and purchased 8 pack of little Miller ponies (small glass bottle of Miller beer) co- worker testified, victim had 8 pack Miller beer in car unopened when co-worker dropped off At scene of crash, there were no bottles of Miller beer in victim's car. Naturally, 18whlr company, argued victim was drunk. Victim was negligent because of beer and decreased reaction time Had to track down 2 out of state witnesses ( go out state to meet with them and get their story) who were not very far behind victim at the time of the crash. They told me the truck seemed very, very far away from victim and themselves at the time of the collision. Their testimony did not seem to help victim as they saw brake lights far ahead. They saw the explosion of light when the crash occurred They testified they came on the crash very quickly, too quickly from where the stopped truck seemed to be before the crash. There was no explanation as to how far away the lights ""seemed to be before the crash They told me if the other car had not crashed into the stopped 18 wheeler they would have likely crashed into the 18whlr The trucking company attorney placed many obstacles in the way of full discovery disclosure. If we continued the trial, which defense wanted, it would be over a year for another trial date The victim wanted it over, one way or the other He wanted to go on with his life and do the best he could with his disabilities I had the judge lecture the trucking company about producing everything, everything During the lunch break, I looked at additional documents produced the morning of trial. Still did not see what I needed to overcome the 8 beers purchased shortly before the crash testimony, or what I need to overcome the Truck lights seeming to be far enough away before the crash for a sober driver to avoid , or the facts he had worked 7 days offshore, came in late the night of crew change and had to be tired after midnight and driving for a long time Then like Emeril says, saw it !!! BAM A Picture not previously produced of the Back of the truck. The truck had been repainted shortly before crash. The taillights were partially on the outside edge, painted blue. apparently when the truck was repainted, some of the paint covered the circular outside edges of the tail lights I had rested. Defense turn. When I crossed the driver, I showed him the pictures of the truck's rear tail lights. I asked if he saw the blue paint ring on the outside edges of the lights. He said yes. Did he know the truck had been repainted shortly prior to the crash. He said yes. I asked if he knew the taillights had been partially covered with blue paint. He answered no I asked if he would agree the blue paint on the tail lights would reduce the amount of light being thrown by the lights. He said yes. I asked if the blue paint covering part of the tail lights would reduce the visibility of the tail lights. He said yes. I asked if the partial blue paint on the outside edges of the tail lights would reduced the tail lights visibility. He said yes. I asked if the reduced light being thrown by the tail lights would make the vehicle look farther away than it would in fact be. He said yes Liability established Dealing with establishing injuries, documenting injuries, evaluating and treating injuries, the worth of my experiences with the following were a vital part of bring the victim's injuries to the jury. Vital to telling the story of what how the negligence of the trucking company affected the victim's life Brain injury from 18 wheeler crash, together with neck, low back shoulders , knees n disfigurements, bladder n sexual dysfunction. The experience of over 43 years helping the severely injured victim with arranging medical testing and medical treatment helped the victim. T The experience of referring victims to have relatively new 3 Tesla mri ( many testing facilities offer mdi's but don't have the $ MILLION $ machine r software) Many brain injuries more relatively shown on 3 Tesla mri The experience of knowing which doctors are caring and concerned about care and treatment of the injured whether brain, spinal or orthopedic injuries. Many injured are reluctant to talk about sexual injury. Compassion together with understanding the sensitivity of the injury goes far to learn of the injury and have it evaluated The prior experiences with doctors who will treat the injury is necessary and makes a difference to successful diagnosis and treatment.

Always striving to be top Louisiana State University for undergrad finishing #1 in my graduating class. Then on to Tulane Law School finishing 2nd in the class, moot court and Law Review After the basic foundation of studying law, offer service to victims as I would want Meeting with clients frequently, keeping them informed of what is going with litigation Meeting with clients to explain tests and other medical information Constantly preparing the victim for what down the good cases are helped For good cases, Arranging and funding medical evaluation, testing and treatment including surgeries Many clients are in financial need as they recover and as the claim proceeds If victim can't work how do they survive many victims with good All of the above is "" investing "" the attorney's money in the victim and the claim Investing hours and hours and working late at night and on weekends, is a must for building a successful practice But the key to success is treating victims as you would like to be treated.

An attorney who sincerely cares about people, all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age An attorney who has been gifted and blessed to be granted the privilege to be an attorney, has a duty to help those who are unable to help themselves Not an attorney who thinks he is better than everyone else because he is an attorney attorneys are not only in the money making business they are in people helping business.

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