NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — The month of April has been designated as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and Keith Williams, Founder, Keith Williams Law Group, is urging those who have been injured or whose loved one has been injured or killed as the result of another’s distracted driving to obtain legal assistance as soon as possible.

National Distracted Driving Awareness Month is held every April to help educate drivers on the dangers of being distracted behind the wheel. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), at least nine people are killed and hundreds are injured each day as a result of drivers taking their eyes off a road — even for a few seconds. That amounts to approximately 3,500 deaths a year. The NHTSA also found distracted driving to be the main cause of 8%-9% of all vehicular crashes annually.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, distracted drivers fall into three groups: visual (focusing on a cell phone, mobile device or touchscreen on the dashboard instead of on the road); manual (driving without keeping their hands on the steering wheel); and cognitive (their eyes may be on the road, but their mind may be thinking of something else besides driving).

“Too many accidents and fatalities on the road have been caused by drivers who were checking their cell phones, not controlling the steering wheel or mentally preoccupied by something else,” Mr. Williams says. “If you were seriously injured or your loved one was hurt or killed by a distracted driver, seek the guidance of a personal injury attorney immediately.”

Although it is against the law in Tennessee to text while driving, the state does not ban texting and driving, nor does it ban handheld cell phone use behind the wheel. “The state should introduce legislation banning these dangerous acts,” Mr. Williams says. “It will greatly reduce the number of fatalities and injuries caused by acts of distracted driving, such as these.”

Mr. Williams has dedicated his practice of 28 years to helping people and their families in accident, injury and wrongful death cases. He has tried hundreds of cases and obtained millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients. Some of the more substantial verdicts include a $14.6 million verdict for an injured motorcycle rider and a $6.2 million verdict for a car accident victim that is believed to be the largest verdict ever in Sumner County, Tennessee.

For more information, call (615) 313-3999 or visit www.keithwilliamslawgroup.com.

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* Photo of Mr. Williams is attached.

About Keith Williams Law Group

With two convenient locations, one in downtown Nashville and the other on the historic town square in Lebanon, Keith Williams Law Group can help its clients achieve the maximum possible compensation for their injuries. Its attorneys represent those who have been injured as a result of car accidents, trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, aviation accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, highway work zone accidents, testosterone replacement therapy, defective IVC filter implants, talcum baby powder, Roundup weed killer, e-cigarettes or vaping and Zantac. The firm also concentrates its practice in trucker broker negligent hiring cases, business litigation and Social Security or ERISA benefits. For more information, call (615) 313-3999 or visit www.keithwilliamslawgroup.com.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — A new law now in effect in Tennessee holds drunk drivers financially responsible for the children of those who were killed in an alcohol-involved crash. Keith Williams, Founder, Keith Williams Law Group, says this law will make people think twice before getting behind the wheel if they had too much to drink.

On May 28, 2022, Governor Bill Lee signed into law Ethan’s, Hailey’s and Bentley’s Law, which mandates that anyone convicted of vehicular homicide or aggravated vehicular homicide must provide financial support to the victims’ surviving children until the age of 18. The law is named after three children whose parents were killed by a drunk driver.

Under the law, the Courts must now require convicted defendants to make support payments to the surviving children, taking into account factors including the financial needs and resources of the children and the surviving parent or guardian; the children’s physical and emotional condition, and educational needs; the children’s physical and legal custody arrangements; and any childcare expenses. However, if the surviving parent sues the defendant and receives a judgment before criminal sentencing, then no support payments will be ordered. If the surviving parent sues and receives judgment after the defendant has already been ordered to pay support, then the support order is offset by the amount of the judgment.

“This law goes to show that spending time in jail as punishment is not enough — to be ‘enough,’ the children and the surviving parents must be compensated,” Mr. Williams says. “Now that the law has gone into effect, maybe this will disincentivize those who had too much to drink to get behind the wheel.”

Mr. Williams has dedicated his practice of 29 years to helping people and their families in accident, injury and wrongful death cases. He has tried hundreds of cases and obtained millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients. Some of the more substantial verdicts include a $14.6 million verdict for an injured motorcycle rider and a $6.2 million verdict for a car accident victim that is believed to be the largest verdict ever in Sumner County, Tennessee.

For more information, call (615) 444-2900 or visit www.keithwilliamslawgroup.com.

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About Keith Williams Law Group

With two convenient locations, one in downtown Nashville and the other on the historic town square in Lebanon, Keith Williams Law Group can help its clients achieve the maximum possible compensation for their injuries. Its attorneys represent those who have been injured as a result of car accidents, trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, aviation accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, highway work zone accidents, testosterone replacement therapy, defective IVC filter implants, talcum baby powder, Roundup weed killer, e-cigarettes or vaping and Zantac. The firm also concentrates its practice in trucker broker negligent hiring cases, business litigation and Social Security or ERISA benefits. For more information, call (615) 444-2900 or visit www.keithwilliamslawgroup.com.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — Keith Williams, Founder, Keith Williams Law Group, is available to comment on the recent settlement between Boeing Co. and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the plane maker’s false claims regarding its 737 Max.

On September 22, 2022, Boeing announced it reached a $200 million settlement with the SEC over allegations that the company and its then-Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Muilenburg, misled investors about the plane’s safety and performance of its automated flight control system, which may have contributed to the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Ethiopia on March 10, 2019. Both crashes resulted in the deaths of 346 people.

Boeing and Mr. Muilenburg also falsely claimed that there were no gaps in the plane’s certification process, according to the SEC. Although both the defendant company and its former CEO denied any wrongdoing, they offered to settle out of court and pay any penalties. Mr. Muilenburg, who was ousted from the company nine months after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.

“The settlement, while it is a sizable amount, allowed both Boeing and Mr. Muilenburg to deny taking any responsibility for what happened,” Mr. Williams said. “Their unethical actions also led to the deaths of innocent people. Had they made the proper inspections of the planes and their flight control systems, rather than concern themselves with losing money on this aircraft, these two tragedies would not have happened.”

Mr. Williams has represented clients who have been injured and the families of victims who were killed in airplane crashes and disasters. He is currently representing several victims of Southwest Flight 345. In addition, he has represented passengers against Comair, Southwest Airlines, American, Iranian, Robson Helicopters, Honeywell, Garmin, general aviation and fixed-base operations.

He is the past Chair of the Aviation Section of the American Association for Justice and a Member of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section.

For more information, call (615) 444-2900 or visit www.keithwilliamslawgroup.com.

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* Photo is attached.

About Keith Williams Law Group

With two convenient locations, one in downtown Nashville and the other on the historic town square in Lebanon, Keith Williams Law Group can help its clients achieve the maximum possible compensation for their injuries. Its attorneys represent those who have been injured as a result of car accidents, trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, aviation accidents, highway work zone accidents, defective products, and trucker broker negligence. For more information, call (615) 444-2900 or visit www.keithwilliamslawgroup.com.