What the Delaware Valley Can Learn from Hurricane Isaac: Disaster Preparedness
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 30th, 2012
As Hurricane Isaac continues its swath through New Orleans, Louisiana, Alabama and other hard-hit areas, the massive storm is dumping rain by the foot and bringing powerful and destructive flooding as well as high winds. Here in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, we often see the remnants of such storms as they travel here from the Gulf of Mexico, just like we did in late August of 2011 as Hurricane Irene slammed the east coast...
Tragedy 8 Times Over: 8 Children Die in One Week in U.S. After Being Left in Hot Vehicles
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 25th, 2012
In what might be one of the most senseless and tragic horrors to befall families, eight young children across the United States died in the first week of August when they became severely overheated after being left unattended in hot vehicles. Eight children died. In one single seven-day span. In the U.S., one of the most powerful nations on the Earth, these children died because someone accidentally left them in a vehicle to bake to...
Severely Hurt in a Youth Baseball Game, Teen Victim Gets $14.5 Million Settlement
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 23rd, 2012
It was just a baseball hit toward him during a youth baseball game in 2008, but the moment the pitch came off the batter's metal bat, it changed the life of a teenaged pitcher, striking him hard in the chest, and almost instantly stopping his heart. The victim, now 18, suffered severe brain damage because his brain was without oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes after the ball struck him, according to a recent Associated...
Update: Former Montgomery County Swim Club Settles Racial Discrimination Case With Victims for $1.1 Million
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 16th, 2012
Three summers ago, the former Valley Club swimming pool in Huntingdon Valley signed a deal to host 65 children from a Philadelphia day camp so they could spend one day a week frolicking in the pool and playing on the swim club grounds. The camp, Creative Steps Inc., paid the swim club $1,950 for the summer contract. But it all came apart quickly late that June when some of the children – who were mostly...
Battle Continues Over Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Law: What It Means for Voters
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 15th, 2012
The controversial five-month-old Pennsylvania law that requires voters to show valid photo ID in order to cast their ballots at the polls was upheld this week by a state Commonwealth Court judge, but the battle is likely far from being over. In a 70-page opinion, Judge Robert Simpson Jr. upheld the law, saying that it would not be an unfair or unconstitutional burden on voters in the Commonwealth, according to a story in The Pittsburgh...
Tragic Fatal Ohio Car Crash Involving 16-year-old Driver a Somber Reminder to Our Teens
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 10th, 2012
All the five friends and band mates wanted to do was to take a break from their high school marching band practice and grab a bite to eat together before getting back to their musical work. Instead, tragedy struck when their car, being driven by a 16-year-old by in the group, went off the road about 18 miles west of Columbus, Ohio, struck a fence and rolled at least once, according to a story in...
Hurt on the Job: $3.75 Million Settlement to Woman Injured By Tractor-Trailer at Work
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 7th, 2012
In her job as a security guard at the Penn Terminals port in Eddystone in Delaware County, Susan Sawyer’s job was to make sure that tractor-trailers traveling through the facility matched the records for incoming and outgoing freight. But one day in August 2008, a tractor-trailer driver operating his vehicle in the terminal was distracted as he used a cell phone and drove with his dog on his lap while he was exiting the port’s...
DUI Driver and Bar Sued by Widow of Philadelphia Cop Killed in Wrong-way I-95 Crash
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 5th, 2012
Philadelphia Police Officer Brian Lorenzo was simply riding home from work on his police motorcycle early in the morning July 8 on northbound I-95 near Cottman Avenue when he was hit head-on by a car being driven the wrong way on the highway. The high-speed impact of the crash as the southbound car struck Lorenzo’s police motorcycle instantly killed Lorenzo, a 23-year veteran of the police department and father of three children. He was a...
Parent Alert: Child Car Seats Have Expiration Dates – What You Need to Know to Protect Your Children
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on August 3rd, 2012
Parents often pass along their children's car safety seats to be used by others as their children outgrow them. That may seem like a kind practice, but it turns out to be a very unsafe idea. Car seats actually are manufactured with a finite lifespan in mind and include a sticker that lists an expiration date, usually five to six years after the date the seat was built. "There is a reason why car seats...