Dogs are often referred to as “man’s best friend”.  Apparently, the expression has its origins from an 1870 trial in Missouri, Burden v. Hornsby.   Lawyer and senator, George Vest represented a man whose dog, Old Drum, had been shot by a neighbor for allegedly killing the neighbor’s sheep.  In his closing arguments, while eulogizing Old Drum, Vest suggested the idea that a dog is man’s best friend.*   But unfortunately, that is not always true.  In fact, the number of dog bites and dog attacks is increasing.   Read on for the surprising statistics ..read more

For Valentine’s Day, I received a gift card for a spa.  When I began to book an appointment online for the massage, I was asked to electronically sign a Release of All Claims.  Among other things, the Release of All Claims for a massage at this spa stated that if death resulted from the massage, then the spa was not responsible.  There were also other excessive provisions. I declined to sign the Release of All Claims, and the spa was kind enough to refund the purchased gift card, but the outrageousness of their request is not particularly isolated.  Every day, businesses a ..read more

  The most common cause of a bike accident is collision with a car or truck.  Not surprisingly, given the disparity in weight and protection between a bicycle and car, the bicyclist typically suffers serious injuries.   Most bicycle accidents occur in urban areas and are caused by a car or truck driver failing to yield.  According to the Department of Safety, there were 370 bicycle accidents in Tennessee in the most recent data year.  So, if you are a bicyclist, do you know what to do after a bike accident?  Do you know what insurance covers a bicycle accide ..read more

Fatal car accidents are falling in most countries but not the United States.  Why is that?  Like most complex problems, there is not a singular cause, and some of the causes are uniquely American.  For instance, in Europe, 75% of the vehicles have manual transmissions. In the U.S., only 4% of the vehicles on the road have manual transmissions and, since 2018, only 2% of the vehicles sold have manual transmissions.  Why is this important?  You need two hands to drive a manual transmission – one to hold the steering wheel and one to shift.  Unless you have three ha ..read more

  Last week, we told you that Tennessee ranked as the 7th worst in the nation for car accidents and how to protect yourself with uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.  Unfortunately, Tennessee also ranks 7th worse in the nation for accidents involving trucks, so this week we have advice for you in the event you are injured by a large truck. Federal law requires commercial vehicles traveling in interstate commerce to have minimum insurance of $750,000.  So whatever you call it, whether it is a semi-truck with a trailer, a bobtail (a semi-truck without a trailer) a tractor-tr ..read more

How are you doing on your New Year’s resolution?  Whether you love them or hate them, resolutions are a New Year tradition for most people.  The purpose, of course, is to identify areas in your life for improvement and then resolving to stop doing the bad things or begin doing beneficial things.   The overwhelming majority of resolutions take time and, unfortunately, the majority fail.  Lucky for you, the award-winning attorneys at the Law Offices of John Day have a resolution for your New Year that is easy, does not take much time at all but could make all the differ ..read more

Since 2018, The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. has offered a safe ride home on New Year’s Eve in Rutherford County, and we are excited to continue the tradition again this year. Tennessee is one of the worst states for drunk driving, ranking 12th according to Forbes. And, according to the most recent data, despite decades of awareness campaigns, drunk driving fatalities in the United States have actually increased by 14% over the last year. At the Law Offices of John Day, we see the horrible impact of drinking and driving.  Every year, we represent multiple clients who have been injured o ..read more

Before we talk about the possible end of right on red, let’s talk about how it got started.  During the 1970 energy crisis, the federal government launched two initiatives in an effort to reduce fuel usage.  The first was the 55-mph speed limit for fuel efficiency.   The second was the right on red concept.  Experts believed that allowing right turns on a red light would permit motorists to keep moving and help reduce fuel consumption.  Of course, the federal law mandating 55 mph speed limit on interstate highways was repealed in 1995.  Yet, the ability to t ..read more

Litigation is fighting with rules, confrontation with a referee.  Most people do not enjoy confrontation, and for others, it brings out their worst.   If you are involved in litigation or have a claim that may result in litigation, please take our advice: don’t get cute.  A few news articles lately have shown what happens when people try to get cute during litigation. Let’s begin with two sore losers who ended up losing even more when they decided to be petty and cute. The first was in Colorado where a general contractor was ordered to pay a subcontractor $23,500 for work ..read more

The first person killed as a pedestrian in the United States was Henry Bliss.  In 1899, Mr. Bliss had just exited a streetcar when a New York City taxi struck and killed him.   More than a century later and despite significant advancements in technology and awareness, pedestrian deaths continue to rise in the U.S..  This seems to be a uniquely US problem according to research by Rutgers University and Virginia Tech.  After studying 28 years of data and comparing it to four other countries comparable to U.S. in both affluence and travel, the four other countries substa ..read more