Factors in teen driving crashes

Traffic crashes account for one-quarter of all teen deaths, according to a recent report co-authored by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The four factors that most influence teen crashes are failure to use seat belts, speeding, alcohol use, and distracted driving. The report concludes that most teen driving crashes are attributable to inexeperience, and advocates for allowing teens to gain experience under lower-risk conditions, such as limiting the number of passengers in the teen’s car.

For other recommendations for ensuring your teen’s safety behind the wheel, check out the seven suggestions for parents we posted earlier. If you’ve got any other recommendations for keeping teens safe, we’d be happy to post them here.

Growth ticks up in Clark County

According to the report from the January meeting of the ABC, several convenience stores in Clark County received off-premises beer permits from the ABC last week. KARK reported that one Arkadelphia business already hired a new employee to service new customers, and KATV reported that one store sold 550 cases of beer the first day. That’s over $10,000 in single-day gross sales a local business didn’t have this time last week. Over the course of a year, our local 2% sales tax will generate in the neighborhood of $60,000 in revenue from that store alone. These sales represent real growth, since this money was traveling outside our county until last week.

Talk about teen driver safety this holiday season

Teens are much more likely to be involved in car crashses than older drivers. As reported here, there are seven things parents can do to keep their teens safe this holiday season. The suggestions include:

1. Sit with your son or daughter before and after he or she earns a driver’s permit or license. Discuss the dangers involved, and have a frank conversation about the consequences-those you will impose and those a judge will impose.

2. Get in the car and observe your child’s driving. The CDC recommends providing 30 to 50 hours of supervised driving practice forat least six months after a teen gets his or her license. Teach your young driver how to handle a vehicle in different weather conditions and under changing traffic circumstances.

3. Sign a written agreement that details all the rights and privileges, as well as consequences, your teen will be subject to in exchange for the car keys. The CDC has a useful template on its website.

4. Consider prohibiting nighttime driving, or at least set a driving curfew of 10 p.m. at the latest.

5. Restrict the number of passengers to one or none.

6. Take away the keys if you even suspect your child has been drinking and driving.

7. Take away the cell phone if your child has been calling or texting while driving.

Happy and safe holiday greetings from the Chaney Law Firm!

IP litigation humor

Probably my favorite thing about being an intellectual property lawyer is that I’ve actually heard of most of the things I read about in cases. Off the top of my head, there are important, recent patent cases about Microsoft’s Word product and eBay’s Buy-It-Now feature. Famous trademark cases involve the Burger King franchise vs. a Burger King mom-and-pop shop on the East Coast, McDonald’s famous name, John Deere’s green tractors, and Pink Panther insulation. The Supreme Court once heard a copyright case involving a profane 2 Live Crew parody of a Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

So, I had to laugh this morning when I saw that a patent and trademark lawsuit was filed earlier this week over the Shake Weight®, which has been mercilessly parodied on Saturday Night Live, South Park, The Daily Show, and others. But, while the subject matter may be funny, these IP cases are big business. The Shake Weight® owner is trying to protect a $6M investment in its advertising, which is being poached upon by competitors.

Our IP laws permit innovators to insulate themselves from certain types of competition. Patents protect implementations of new ideas; design patents protect product configurations; trademarks protect brands and other indicators of source; and copyrights protect artistic expressions. These laws are important because they represent the only way for individuals and businesses to protect the investment into research and development, production, advertising, and other business-related costs. The primary purpose of the IP laws is to allow innovators to recoup their investment into bringing new products to market. Yes, even the Shake Weight®.

Chaney Law Firm fights for the right of independent counsel for insurance policyholders

The Chaney Law Firm recently filed a brief with the Arkansas Court of Appeals advocating for the right of insurance policyholders to be represented by independent lawyers. The brief follows the Chaney Law Firm’s successful opposition to an insurance company’s attempt to employ its own lawyer to represent a policyholder, as reported here earlier this year.

The Chaney Law Firm is asking the Arkansas Court of Appeals to uphold the trial court’s ruling that the inurance company’s practice constitutes the unauthorized practice of law, and creates an impermissible conflict of interest for the insurance company’s lawyer. Aside from the legal argument that corporations cannot practice law for others in our state, the brief argues that the insurance company lawyer cannot give his client undivided fidelity when, at the same time, he must answer to his superiors at his insurance company.

This case is just one example of the way the Chaney Law Firm fights for the rights of individual Arkansans every day. In this situation, we are trying to make sure that policyholders get an unbiased attorney so those policyholders get the full benefit of the bargain out of their insurance policies. Without an independent lawyer, the policyholder faces greater odds of being dragged through the court system for years as an innocent pawn, or winding up with a judgment against their personal assets. Insurance is for both economic and emotional security, yet too often policyholders have to fight desparately to get the benefits to which they are entitled.

The Chaney Law Firm’s argument also seeks to uphold the professional independence of lawyers, even for lawyers who are afraid to represent themselves. Since many law firms represent insurance companies, they are afraid to take a stand on this important issue for fear of being blackballed by those insurance companies and losing future business. Even lawyers need other lawyers to stand up for their rights, and the Chaney Law Firm is proud to be doing just that.