There are several things to do after a Pennsylvania Car Accident to protect your legal rights if your are Injured:

• Call 911- It’s important to have the Police Investigate the Accident and Interview the Parties and Witnesses
• Take Photos and Video of the Vehicles and the Scene
• Get Medical Treatment (Your own Car Insurance pays the bills with no deductibles or Co-Pays)
• Seek Legal Advice from an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer (Advice is Free and it’s crucial to know your Rights even if you don’t retain a Lawyer)/

Tim Rayne is a Car Accident Lawyer with Chester County based Law Firm MacElree Harvey. For over 25 years Tim has been helping injured Car Accident Victims understand their legal rights and receive fair compensation from insurance companies. Contact Tim for a Free Consultation at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Pennsylvania Car Accident Lawyer Tim Rayne explains why you should consider purchasing more than the Pennsylvania state minimum Medical Benefits of $5,000.

Pennsylvania works on a No-Fault System for payment of Medical Bills after a Car Accident.

So, if you are injured in a vehicle related accident, whether you are driving, a passenger, a pedestrian, a bike rider or even a passenger on a bus, your Medical Bills get paid by your own Car Insurance.

Car Insurance pays Medical Bills in full. Car Insurance companies get huge discounts from providers and cannot charge Co-pays or Deductibles.

Most of us nowadays (including me) have High Deductible Health Insurance and high Co-pays. Because of this, it’s very beneficial to have High Car Insurance Medical Coverage, which allows you to avoid those unexpected out-of-pocket costs for Co-pays and Deductibles.

Please review your Car Insurance and if you only have $5,000, please consider increasing Medical Coverage to $10,000, $100,000 or even $1 million to make sure that you and your family are fully protected. I think you’ll be surprised at the modest premium cost for increasing your Medical Coverage.

Tim Rayne is a Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer with the Chester County based Law Firm MacElree Harvey. Tim has law offices in Kennett Square and West Chester. For over 25 years, Tim has been helping people understand the importance of the choices they make when they purchase Car Insurance. Tim also helps Car Accident Victims negotiate the insurance claim process after being injured in an accident. Contact Tim for more information at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

Pennsylvania Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyer Tim Rayne talks about why you should choose Full Tort not Limited Tort on your Pennsylvania Car Insurance.

Full Tort is more expensive coverage than Limited Tort but it protects your Full Legal Rights to fair compensation after being injured in a Car Accident caused by someone else. Limited Tort is cheaper coverage but important legal rights are compromised by the choice.

With Full Tort, you can recover Economic Damages like Medical Bills, Out-of-Pocket Costs and Lost Income but can also recover Non-Economic Damages like money for Pain and Suffering.

With Limited Tort, you can recover Economic Damages but cannot recover Non-Economic Damages unless you suffer a Serious Injury.

To learn more about your legal rights to compensation after being injured in a Pennsylvania Car Accident Contact Tim Rayne at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

MacElree Harvey Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer Tim Rayne talks about the recent $1.7 Billion verdict against Ford Motor Company in a pickup rollover death case.

For more information or for help with an injury or death case in Pennsylvania, Contact Tim Rayne at 610 840 0124 or trayne@macelree.com.

On August 18, 2022, a Georgia Jury hit Ford Motor Company for $24 million in compensatory damages from two deaths resulting from the rollover of a 2002 F-250 Pick-up Truck. A day later, the Jury added $1.7 Billion in Punitive Damages.

Ford has appealed and the case will likely be settled or the Punitive Damages reduced, but the case provides a textbook example of how Products Liability Cases can help motivate companies to make safer products.

What Happened in the Ford Case?

From 1999 through 2016 Ford manufactured millions of Super duty trucks – Models F250, F350 and F450, that became known for having roof failures in roll-over accidents that would kill or maim its occupants.

Rather than issue a recall and fix the trucks for about $100 per truck, Ford chose to roll the dice, defend the injury and death cases and enter into Confidential Setttlements which hid the problem from the public.

In 2014, an elderly couple, Voncile and Melvin Hill, was killed when their Ford Super Duty F-250 pickup truck rolled over on a rural Georgia road.

The Hill children retained lawyers who determined that there were over 80 similar accidents involving Ford truck rollovers. So, Ford knew about the danger. The lawyers also discovered that, rather than publicizing the roof system problem, recalling the trucks and fixing them, Ford insisted that the trucks were safe enough and decided to defend any legal claims that were made and to keep any settlements of those lawsuits confidential.

After Ford caused a mistrial in the first Hill trial, the case was retried this Summer. The Hills sought compensatory damages to try to make up for the damages caused but the death of their parents. They also requested Punitive damages to punish Ford for “acting willfully and wantonly, with a conscious indifference for the safety of the people who ride in their cars.”

The result was a massive win for the Hills and a message to Ford, that this Jury would not tolerate evidence that Ford knew about a danger and swept it under the rug rather than warning its customers and fixing the problem.

This case is an example of how Personal Injury Litigation can publicize dangerous situations and motivate companies to implement safeguards to prevent future accidents, injuries and deaths.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer with the Chester County Law Firm MacElree Harvey. Tim helps injured accident victims understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from insurance companies. You can contact Tim at 610 840 0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his Website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.

After deliberating for just 4.5 hours, a Federal Jury in Los Angeles handed down a massive $31 Million Verdict in a lawsuit filed by Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, and another family against LA County. The lawsuit arose from the actions of deputies and firefighters who took and shared gruesome photographs of the victims of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe, his daughter and 7 others.

The lawsuit claimed that LA County was Negligent in its training of its employees and that the deputies and firefighters violated Rights of Privacy by failing to keep images of the crash scene and deceased victims confidential.

In the two week Trial, evidence was presented proving that numerous graphic photos were taken of the deceased victims and that the photos were shared with multiple people. Luckily the photos were not widely published on the internet, but it remains unclear as to whether all photos were deleted due to delays in investigation by the County. During the delay, phones and computers were replaced or reset casting doubt as to whether or not all of the images have been permanently deleted.

LA County apologized to the families, but argued that there were legitimate reasons why the photos were taken during the crash investigation and that the harm was mitigated because the photos had been deleted before they could be widely publicized.

At the end of the Trial, the Jury awarded $16 Million to the Bryant family and $15 Million to the other family.

Lawsuits by two other families were settled before the Trial with each family receiving $1.25 Million.

Certainly shock and anger about this outrageous conduct motivated the Jury to award such a big Verdict to the families.

Tim Rayne is a Personal Injury Lawyer with the full-service Chester County Pennsylvania based law firm MacElree Harvey. Tim helps injured victims of accidents understand their legal rights and navigate the insurance claim process. He is also an experienced Trial Lawyer who has tried cased to verdict in Pennsylvania and other States. Contact Tim at 610-840-0124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.