Doctors were also charged with saving the life of her unborn child. She was 71/2 months pregnant with her third child when this terrible car accident occurred. There were complications to her surgeries because of her late term pregnancy. Any surgeries, medications and pain relief-the risk to her baby had to be considered.

Nothing could take away her courage in overcoming her injuries and the risk to her unborn child. She did not want to lose her baby.

I read the surgeons report on what was repaired and the equipment used to rebuild her face. At least forty plates were used to rebuild her forehead, not to mention her cheek bones and jaw. The medical team at University Hospital had their work cut out for them. You can only imagine the full cost of her medical bills. They saved her baby and rebuilt her face to look more normal.

She knew that she would never look the same. She simply dismissed any notions of self-pity. She had an attitude of grace that the accident hurt her but left her young sons uninjured. Her face structure was different, but what never changed was her gorgeous, bright, optimistic smile. Nothing could take that away.

We watched her face a difficult recovery with grace and humor. Family and neighbors gave their all to help this young family. The husband was beside himself with worry. Their two young children needed looking after while their mother was in the hospital. Even after leaving the hospital it was difficult for her to care for her family and new baby until she got stronger.

She showed such tenderness towards her children, she was so concerned for their feelings towards her. She looked different and she didn’t want them to be afraid. The hospital provided her with dolls to help explain her massive facial injuries to her children

She is an exceptional wife and wonderful mother to three young children. It was such a pleasure to meet her after spending so much time reading through her file.

It was our privilege to help this family and lift the burden of dealing with her hospital bills and the car insurance company. We wanted both her and her husband to concentrate on her healing and their young family-not on the legal issues surrounding this horrific collision.

We were able to provide this family with fair compensation for her injuries and recovery-for that we are grateful.

Merry Christmas!

She once loved caring for minature roses.

She was living in pain. I could see it in her eyes when we first sat down to speak.

Constant, chronic pain, you could see it around her eyes-there was tightness there. Melinda was beginning to look older than her years from the strain. She had been very careful with pain medications. She didn’t want to add addiction to her list of problems. I admired her for that carefulness.

But there was a price to pay for that. It was difficult for her to get comfortable during our interview. We would stop so she could adjust her position and then speak again to the camera. We wanted her to tell us her story.

The heavy, dark truck was going 60 mph in a school zone.  When she told me, I couldn’t believe it. A school zone!

The crossing guard had already stepped out, fluorescent green vest, motioning for cars to stop. She and her husband had already stopped and were waiting for young children to finish crossing the street after their day at grade school.

The driver of the dark truck saw nothing of this. Oblivious to his surroundings, he stepped on the gas pedal to increase his speed. He was in a hurry. He was always in a hurry I suspect.

Witnesses to the accident saw the truck slam into a stopped passenger car at sixty miles and hour. It sounded like an explosion and people from everywhere came running. People in a nearby bank thought a bomb had gone off. Glass and metal were everywhere in street.  She was grateful no children were hurt, and she was grateful the crossing guard wasn’t injured.

When she came to, she didn’t immediately know how badly she was injured. She just wanted to get home. She kept telling the paramedics-let me get home please.

“I wasn’t paying attention.” he told the police nonchalantly. They issued him a ticket of course. But where was his responsibility to the life he had changed in that school zone?

What she didn’t know then was that not all back injuries can be repaired. The best surgeons can’t always undo what’s been done. The rest of her life had been changed in that moment.

Melinda’s back took the brute, cruel force of the impact. The transfer of energy from the truck through the car then into to her lower back was more than she can ever heal.  The seat belt saved her life. But it is a very different life she has now. It changed dramtically and  through no fault of her own.

Before this collision, she was an active career woman, mother, grandmother and wife. Now, she is isolated in her home. Her day begins with pain and the difficulty of getting out of bed and tending to her home and family. Washing, cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping were things she didn’t think about before-she just did them.  Now, she is very restricted and limited as to what she can do. Many, many responsibilities have shifted to her husband. She cannot work and they can’t survive on one income no matter how much they cut back and are careful. She feels terrible that she can’t contribute and that he now carries more than a full load of worries.

Her career, caring for her home, gardening, have all been taking from her and left nothing in return but constant enduring pain as her new lifelong companion.

Roses, she loved miniature roses and had been growing, and cultivating them for years.

Now, the rose bushes in the rock wall in the front of her home were wild and unkempt. Yes, her husband got the weeding done.  But that was only the beginning of what she use to accomplish in her yard.

Her grandchildren had lost the once-young energetic grandma who could rough and tumble with them her large back yard. Gone were the famous pony rides she gave to her grandsons. Gone was the youthful laughter as they clung to the “pony” as it galloped and twisted and turned and rolled them onto the soft carpet of green and held them close and laughed with them when the climbed back onto her back.

Now, they have a tired grandmother, tired and world weary from the constant pain who sits briefly, uncomfortably trying to read to them. Distracted by her pain from really living and moving with the rest of us. 

Our legal efforts on her behalf can’t heal her back. We only hope that a modest insurance settlement can relieve her constant money worries. It’s the best we can do for her and we’re trying to do just that.

It happened again last week, another fatal accident near Lamb’s Canyon taking the life of yet one more driver. It’s the section of road near Mile Post 137 near the Lamb’s Canyon exit on I-80.

The same scenario is repeated here over and over. It’s a dangerous stretch of highway. Here’s the deadly circumstance; west bound car/truck crossover through the median to east bound lane striking and killing others in catastrophic head on collisions.

When the same kind of accident occurs over and over in the same location-it’s more than an unlucky coincidence-it’s bad design.

Keep this in mind as you drive Parley’s and see for yourself how it happens. There are far too many accidents at this particular location. We represent a woman who lost her child and her right arm in an accident. It goes without saying that her life has never been the same. Perhaps you know someone who’s had an accident here. Tell us about it please.

This section of road needs to be re-designed. A better design will save lives.  It’s not enough to say that drivers “need to be careful” when driving in this area. The odds are against you because of bad engineering.

It is UDOT’s responsiblity to make some simple changes. UDOT bears the responsibility to do this to help keep us safe. Accidents should be the exception not the rule. Drivers and passengers are needlessly endangered here.

Help us address the danger that is at Mile Post 137.

Here is UDOT’s web-site. Let your voice be heard, don’t bear silent witness to these tragedies.

http://sjlaw.info/1r Utah Department of Transportation

Or send us a comment of course.

The other driver was at fault. Bob was at a stop sign near his home when the accident happened. The female driver blacked out due to a medical condition. She admitted later that she shouldn’t have been driving…

She only had minimal coverage on her car; there was not enough insurance to cover vehicle damage, his injuries and the subsequent surgeries. There was also the matter of his loss of livelihood. He wanted to go back to golf, to return to the PGA tour but couldn’t.

So Bob looked to his own insurance company for help. He had been their faithful customer for many, many years without a claim. They had encouraged him years ago to have a good policy in place for uninsured and under insured car accidents. To protect him from this very thing they said could happen. That thing had happened, but he knew he had insurance to help him.

He felt certain he was covered by his policy. He was, except for the fact that his own insurance company stalled on resolving his claim. They wouldn’t return phone calls. They kept losing information and needing it resubmitted. This went on for a long time. Months passed by without a paycheck.

Bob kept getting the run around from his own insurance company and he knew he needed a lawyer. He hired Siegfried & Jensen. The lawyers here represented him and helped him through the legal system. They protected his rights. The legal system worked. His insurance company was compelled to do the right thing and settle his claim. Finally, he received financial compensation for his injuries.

Bob can’t golf as he once did. He use to practice and teach and enter tournaments. His other great passion, oil painting was also taken from him. He once painted western wildlife for hours at a time. Now, he can’t sit or stand for very long. He lives in pain.

No amount of money can take away the injuries he received, they’re permanent. But he finally received compensation from his insurance company for his injuries. Justice was served.              Here are some of his paintings included with this story.

If you would you like to see more of Mr. Betley’s wildlife paintings, they will be on display beginning Friday, June 4^th at the Ogden Blue Gallery on 25^th Street in Ogden, UT.   

For more information about this gallery and Bob Betley’s art show, please use this link:

http://www.ogdenblue.com/contactus/index.htm 

He’s been through a lot and we wish him well in all his endeavors.

His story inspired us to do more. The lawyers here resolved to help write legislation to address the very problem that Bob Betley and others encounter when dealing with what are called “First party claims”.

Senate Bill 62 was put before the 2010 Utah General Legislative Session.

To be brief, the law says that if you make a first party claim (yourself) to your own insurance company, they must provide a written response in a timely basis, reasonable basis.

The bill also states that the uninsured or underinsured claim must be paid immediately for the amount of the covered person’s demand, or the carrier’s response, the insured party can then litigate or arbitrate for the remaining amount of the claim… 

Please use this link for full information on SB62.

Senate Bill 62        http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2010/htmdoc/sbillhtm/SB0062.htm

Drowsy driving is just as dangerous as driving under the influence.

“Usually, the majority of the crashes occur when the person is less than an hour away from their home or their origin,” said Robert Hull, head of the Zero Fatalities campaign at the Utah Department of Transportation.

“The public has got to get the message: Tired and drowsy driving kills people and it severely injures people,” said UHP Lt. Lee Perry.

Within the next sixty days, the Utah Department of Transportation plans to install a series of drowsy driving road signs between Weber and Box Elder counties.

Signs now can be found on I-15 in southern Utah, I-70 in central Utah and I-80 in Tooele County.

Here are the statistics:

• Nearly half of the drowsy driving accidents nationwide are caused by people 25 and younger.

• Male drivers were almost two times more likely to be in a crash
• 6 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. had the highest number of incidents
• Crashes in rural counties were 3.4 times more likely to involve drowsy driving than urban counties
• Utah counties with the highest percentage of drowsy driving crashes were Juab, Millard, Daggett, Piute and Sevier.
• In the past three years, Utah has averaged 1,220 crashes and 32 deaths each year because of someone fell asleep behind the wheel killing people.

Source: Utah Highway Patrol

What are the warning signs of fatigue?

• Failure to remember the last few miles driven;
• Wandering or disconnected thoughts;
• Difficulty focusing or keeping eyes open, and keeping head up;
• Drifting from lane;
• Yawning repeatedly;
• Tailgating or missing signs;
• Quickly pulling car back into lane

Web sites for more information:

Utah Department of Public Safety http://publicsafety.utah.gov

Utah Department of Transportation http://udot.utah.gov

Utah Highway Patrol  http://highwaypatrol.utah.gov

Drowsy Driving.Org  http://drowsydriving.org

New York State Highway Safety  http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us

Remove and replace floor mats immediately.

Almost 4million Toyota & Lexus cars may have dangerous unintended acceleration problems.

Last month, Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a safety advisory alerting the owners of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to remove the driver’s side floor mats in their cars.

The mats, Toyota said, could slide forward and interfere with the gas pedal, whose design allows it to be easily jammed, causing a dangerous Unintended Acceleration.

“This is an urgent matter,” US Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood said in a statement. “For everyone’s sake, we strongly urge owners of these vehicles to remove mats or other obstacles that could lead to unintended acceleration.”

The massive recall was finally prompted by an accident claiming the life of a California Highway Patrol officer and three of his family members.  The floor mat jammed the accelerator pedal and the driver lost control.

Experts continue to examine Toyota unintended acceleration.

Owners of the recalled vehicles, which include eight Toyota models manufactured in the last six years, are being notified in a mailing that was sent out on Friday, October 30th.

The recall encompasses the following Toyota and Lexus models:

Camry: 2007 -2010

Avalon: 2005 -2010

Prius: 2004 -2009

Tacoma: 2005 2010

Tundra: 2007- 2010

Lexus ES 350: 2007 – 2010

Lexus IS 250: 2006 – 2010

Lexus IS 350: 2006 – 2010

Owners should remove their driver’s side floor mats immediately.