How much do lawyers spend to advertise on TV

Have you ever wondered how much it costs for personal injury lawyers to advertise on TV?

Here is a list of the top 10 TV advertising law firms in the country for 2009, along with how much they spent.

Maybe you’ve seen some of my television ads on here in Memphis and wonder how much I spend each year. Well, I can tell you that I don’t spend even a fraction of the amount that the number 10 firm on this list spends!

Comings and Goings – Changes in local Memphis Personal Injury Law Firms

It’s beginning to become hard to keep up with just who and what personal injury and accident lawyers and law firms are in Memphis these days.

Case in Point: Here in Memphis the personal injury, accident and worker’s comp lawyers who used to be with the Cochran Firm seem to now be part of Morgan and Morgan.

Morgan and Morgan is a large national personal injury law firm “mill” with offices primarily located not in the Memphis, Tennessee area but in Florida.

So when you’re out looking to find the best personal injury lawyer or law firm for your case here in Memphis be careful. It seems that these days you never know when the law firm or lawyers you were using will suddenly change names or jump ship to another firm. You should think long and hard about this before you decide to become  a client.

Toyota Recalls Continue to Increase

It’s not as often that product recalls intersect with potential car wreck issues, but this past week brought one to our attention: Toyota has now recalled 5.3 million vehicles due to issues with their gas pedals.  The recalls are two separate issues: one deals with a gas pedal that can become caught on the edge of the removable floormat, leading to uncontrollable acceleration, while the other deals with accelerator pedals that can stick independently.  The following vehicles are affected by this recall:

2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2009-2010 Corolla
2008-2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Lexus ES350
2006-2010 Lexus IS250
2006-2010 Lexus IS350
2009-2010 Matrix
2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe
2004-2010 Prius
2009-2010 RAV4
2008-2010 Sequoia
2010 Tacoma
2007-2010 Tundra
2009-2010 Venza

Toyota has informed its car owners that this is a gradually developing issue for these cars, so that by and large the cars are still safe to drive.  If you feel, for any reason, that your gas pedal is becoming sticky, stop driving immediately and call a dealer for assistance.  When the company has arrived at a solution for the gas pedal issue, it will inform all owners for replacement.  If you are concerned with your vehicle, take it to a Toyota dealer to get a status check on your gas pedal.  Read this helpful article from CNN Money for more advice on how to handle issues with your recalled Toyota vehicle, and drive safe!

New Texting Guidelines Announced

CNN alerted us today of new federal guidelines announced Tuesday of this week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that prohibit commercial truck and bus drivers from texting while driving.  These new rules are effective immediately and come with stiff penalties of up to $2,750 fines.  LaHood has been on a campaign to decrease the often deadly effects of distracted driving during his tenure, including a summit in Washington on the topic, the launch of distraction.gov, and the creation of advocacy group FocusDriven.  These regulations are in addition to 19 states banning texting while driving and the 6 states who have banned the use of handheld devices while driving altogether.  We’re in full support of these new regulations and guidelines – as the article notes, when you’re texting you take your eyes off of the road for 4.6 out of 6 seconds.  That’s 77% of the time, meaning you’re only looking at the road 23% of what you should be!  Horrifying, if you think about it.

Do you want to sue over your undies?

Every now and then you see a lawsuit that just makes you want to scratch your head. The news out of Pensacola Florida makes you want to do exactly that.

The plaintiff in this case sued Hanes for what he said was a defective pair of underwear. This underwear caused “sand belt” like abrasions to his penis. I’m not making this up folks.

Here is an excerpt from the final judgement.

I’m happy to report that Mr. Freed did not win his case. And I’m just as happy to report that he represented himself without the assistance of a lawyer.

The entire final judgement can be found Here.

Thanks to Above the Law for letting us know about this.

Did You Know: Get 10% off your car insurance!

Did you Know?

That in both Mississippi and Tennessee there are laws that provide for insurance premium discounts for drivers age 55 and older if they simply complete an approved motor vehicle accident prevention course?

In Mississippi you just need to contact the Department of Public Safety to find a list of approved courses, and in Tennessee you need to find a course approved by the Commissioner of Safety. Once you complete the course and present a certificate of completion to your insurance company you can receive a discount of up to 10% on your monthly premium.

This discount lasts for up to three years. And in this day and age, any little savings helps – the average insurance premium in Mississippi right now is $1408, and in Tennessee it’s $1554. This discount opportunity could save our senior (Note: Mom & Dad the world “seniors” does not apply to you:) drivers up to $155 a year, on average!

Take advantage, and increase everyone’s safety on the roads.