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Bank Employees Help Drunk Driver Change Tire On September 27, 2012, then 29-year-old Gabriel A. Biddle pulled into the iAB Bank's Leo branch sometime before 2:30 p.m. Biddle first tried to enter the drive-thru going the wrong way and then stopped, his silver Toyota Corolla having a flat tire. According to the lawsuit filed by Neal, employees at the bank noticed Biddle staggering and acting as though he did not seem "aware." The lawsuit claims that the bank's employees recognized that Biddle appeared to have been drinking and were concerned that he might be driving drunk. Still, they helped him repair his flat tire when he could not. It was later revealed that someone from the bank did dial 911 to report a possible drunk driver, but it is unclear when this call was made. Three minutes later and 6 miles away, Fort Wayne police responded to a crash at Maplecrest and Evard roads. At the intersection of Maplecrest and Evard, Biddle rear-ended a vehicle at full speed and the collision caused a chain-reaction crash involving several vehicles. The driver of the first vehicle that was struck had to be extricated from her car and suffered broken ribs, fluid in her chest and throat from bruising and needed to have her elbow surgically repaired. A blood test revealed that Biddle had a blood alcohol content at more than six times the legal limit, an astounding 0.52. Suit has now been filed against the iAB bank for helping Biddle get back behind the wheel of his car. The Court, and possibly a jury, will now have to decide whether the bank employees helping Biddle change the tire was a proximate cause of the accident.

LEE KELSO: Every year thousands of Hoosiers are injured on roadways and motor vehicle accidents. Here today to talk about why there is an increase in the number of accidents on Indiana roadways is veteran trial attorney David Farnbauch, a personal injury attorney from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Thanks for joining us today David. DAVID FARNBAUCH: It's great to be here today. LEE KELSO: Why are there so many accidents? DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well I think that the reason that there are so many accidents on the roadways now as opposed to maybe a different era is the issue of driver distraction. I think nowadays you see lots of people that are on the roadways that are distracted by cell phones or smart phones. We see lots of accidents that are caused by young people who are texting while driving. You see a lot of people traveling down the roadways that are trying to carry on a conversation while they are driving. There are just a lot of distractions that cause people to collide with other vehicles. LEE KELSO: David in some states there are now laws on the books that prohibit drivers from talking on a cell phone or texting while driving. Has the Sweeney Law Firm seen an increase in accidents either from distracted driving or other similar problems. DAVID FARNBAUCH: There is no question that our office has seen a significant number cases that are a direct result of the use of technology while in the vehicle. I would say that about half of the cases that we see in our office now is motor vehicle accidents. There is some reference in the police report to a driver that was either reaching for a phone or they were texting while driving or something of that nature that causes them to be distracted while driving down the road. LEE KELSO: David, if one of our viewers is involved in a motor vehicle accident that's the vault of someone else, what advice do you have for them? DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well I have a couple pieces of advice I can give to people who are involved in a motor vehicle accident. I think the first thing is if you have symptoms and pain that you should seek medical treatment. People often don't go to the emergency room. They sort of delay getting medical treatment and I think that if you are showing symptoms and pain you should go to the emergency room. If you have symptoms and pain after visiting the emergency room you should go visit your family doctor or some other physician to get your symptoms checked out. That is the first piece of advice. The other thing is that people often delay getting legal advice after an accident. It does not cost anything to consult an attorney about an accident case, so I would recommend that you consult with an attorney shortly after an accident and get some legal advice about what your options are and what your rights are as the victim as an accident. LEE KELSO: Dave I would assume that after an auto accident the insurance adjuster for the at fault party tries to contact the injury victim to get a tape recorded interview or statement about what happened in the wreck. What advice do you have for victims who are asked to give a recorded statement? DAVID FARNBAUCH: I would say that probably the first piece of advice that I would give somebody after a motor vehicle accident is not to give a recorded statement to the adjuster or insurance company. LEE KELSO: Does the Sweeney Law Firm offer consultation to people who have been injured in a motor vehicle collision? DAVID FARNBAUCH: Sweeney Law Firm does offer free consultation in auto accident cases and I think most law firms that handle these types of cases offer free consultation. LEE KELSO: What are some of the reasons that a person who is injured in a car crash  would want to talk to an experienced personal injury lawyer before they talk to an insurance adjuster? DAVID FARNBAUCH: I think one of the common misconceptions that people have about insurance adjusters contacting them after an accident is that the insurance adjuster calling you should try to help you out, provide helpful information and pay money to you to fix your car pay medical expenses. I think that oftentimes people do not understand that the insurance adjuster has a job to try to investigate the accident and get you to day things that are helpful to the other insurance companies. I think oftentimes people when they are contacted by an insurance adjuster they say things about their medical condition or they make admissions or statements about the accident that are harmful to their case. I think it's oftentimes people are put into a stressful situation they aren't trained to deal with insurance adjusters and often they just say the wrong things that are recorded that ultimately hurt their legal case so it's important to talk to an attorney about the facts of the accident to get some advice on how to talk to insurance adjusters and learn about your legal rights before to talk to an insurance adjuster. LEE KELSO: Mr. Kelso you have given some good advice today. Thanks for spending some time with us. DAVE FARNBAUCH: Thanks for having me.

LEE KELSO: The warm weather is upon us. The streets and highways see the return of motorcycles. There is no question that the number of people buying and riding motorcycles is on the rise. Unfortunately with the increasing number of motorcyclists on the highways that means that there are more accidents involving motorcycles than ever before. We are here to talk about the legal aspects of motorcycle accidents and what you can do to protect your legal rights should you have an accident. With us today is David Farnbauch, a personal injury attorney with the Sweeney Law Firm from Fort Wayne. Thanks for being with us. DAVID FARNBAUCH: It's great to be here today. LEE KELSO: David, you have had your share of motorcycle cases during your twenty-five year career. What is it that makes motorcycle cases different from other types of automobile accident cases. DAVID FARNBACH: Well I think one of the things that stands out about motorcycle accident cases is that normally the severity of injury to the motorcycle rider. Most of these cases involve very severe injuries and oftentimes long ball severe injuries and will involve the death of the rider. LEE KELSO: If one of our riders is involved in a motorcycle accident that's the fault of another driver what are some of the things the motorcyclist or his or her family should be thinking about in order to protect their legal rights DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well one of the things that we find about motorcycle accident cases is oftentimes the testimony of high witnesses is critical. Oftentimes there will be witnesses to a motorcycle collision that have different perspectives and viewpoints on what they saw in connection with a particular accident or observations about the speed of the motorcycle or the speed of the car that came in contact with a motorcyclist, so it's very important to get statements of the eye witnesses to a motorcycle accident shortly after the accident while their memories are still fresh. LEE KELSO: Mr. Farnbauch, Indiana has a system called comparative fault that is utilized by a jury to determine who's at fault in any type of accident including accidents involving a motorcycle. Could you explain just what that comparative fault system is and what the challenges are when you're representing a motorcyclist in a jury trial. DAVID FARNBAUCH: Well comparative is simply a process that we use in Indiana to assign percentages of fault to the various participants in an accident. For example if there's a simple collision where a car pulls out in front of a motorcyclist a jury is asked to assign how much fault there is on the driver who pulled out in front of the motorcyclist and is asked to assign fault to the motorcyclist. If there's an allegation that the motorcyclist was exceeding the speed limit. The jury is simply asked to put a percentage of fault on the various parties that are involved in an accident. Some of the challenges in a motorcycle case are the speed of the motorcycle, whether the motorcyclist was paying attention to what was happening in front of them. These cases are particularly challenging in a jury trial because oftentimes there is a bias on the part of the jury against motorcycles. A lot of people don't respect the rights of motorcyclists on the roadways. LEE KELSO: Before you came on the show today you mentioned that one of the major problems you encountered in motorcycle accident cases is the amount of insurance coverage that is typically available in these cases. can you explain exactly what that problem is involving insurance coverage? DAVID FARNBAUCH: As I mentioned before motorcycle cases normally we're dealing with motorcyclists who have suffered severe or catastrophic injuries or motorcyclist who have died as a result of being in an accident, so these cases normally have very significant value in terms of damages. So what we frequently encounter in motorcycle cases is a motorist or the operator of a car that causes the accident that may be insured, but may not carry enough insurance coverage to cover all the damages. So typically we have to look at the motorcyclist underinsured motorist coverage. Frequently in our office we find that motorcyclists don't carry sufficient underinsured motorist coverage on their motorcycle policies. LEE KELSO: David it seems like a personal injury claim involving an injury to a motorcyclist is a lot more involved than a run of the mill legal claim. What advice would you give viewers when it comes to picking an attorney to handle a case that involves a serious injury while riding a motorcycle? DAVID FARNBAUCH: I think that motorcycle accident cases are unique because oftentimes in a motorcycle accident case it'll be critical to do an investigation early in the case and interview witnesses. Its important to get an attorney early in the game so proper investigation can be done. Oftentimes in motorcycle cases it will require that the lawyer hire a very competent, well-trained accident reconstruction expert, to try to put together the investigation, piece together the physical evidence and determine how the accident actually happened. That has to be done early in the process. if I were to give some advice to someone who has been involved in a motorcycle accident case. i would say hire an attorney who is experienced in handling motorcycle accident cases. LEE KELSO: Thanks for the information and advice David. Glad you could join us today to share that insight and experience. DAVID FARNBAUCH: it was great to be here today.

“This is the time of year when a lot of people are involved in serious motor vehicle accidents weather that be motorcycles or on highways when there is more travel. What we see frequently in our office is when people are involved in a serious accident, there is often times not enough insurance coverage on the part of the party or person that causes the motor vehicle accident so there’s a need for you to go underneath your own coverage, your own automobile policy to be compensated for a serious accident. We always recommend to people when they come to our office is to contact your auto insurance agent and make sure that you have what they call Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist coverage. Uninsured obviously applies to a situation where the person that causes the accident does not have any insurance. Underinsured refers to a situation where the person that causes the accident has some insurance but not enough to cover the full extent of your damages. With the cost of medical care now, it doesn’t take very long when you are in the hospital to run through a person who only has let’s say $25,000 or $50,000 of liability insurance coverage. You can go through that coverage in a week or two in the hospital so it’s important to get adequate insurance coverage to protect you against the other guy.” “Even if the other guy is required by state law to have insurance, a lot of people still don’t have it.” “A lot of people. The statistics I’ve heard vary, but they say up to 20% of the drivers on the roadways do not have any insurance what so ever.”

“You’re going to have to rely on your own Uninsured Motorist Coverage to protect you for your medical expenses, your lost wages, for your injuries, permanency, those types of things.” “Dave Farnbaugh is an injury lawyer with Sweeney Law Firm and says it’s critical to carry coverage protecting yourself against Uninsured and Underinsured motorist. At least $100,000 worth of coverage is advised.”