Chiropractor Sues Texas, Demanding Right
To Accident Victims' Phone Numbers
AUSTIN (CN) - A chiropractor and a "publisher of accident information" claim the State of Texas illegally changed its police officers' accident report form so that victims will no longer need to report their phone numbers. The Texas Weekly Advocate and the chiropractor claim this denies them "the ability to secure information necessary to contact victims of automobile accidents and inform [them] of their rights to health care treatment".
Jeffrey White and the Advocate sued the Texas Departments of Public Safety and of Transportation in Travis County Court. They cite an April 4 story in the Dallas Morning News that reported that the two agencies had agreed "that Texas drivers involved in accidents will no longer be required to furnish telephone numbers of automobile accident reports."
Plaintiffs claim the state broke the law by changing the accident report forms without public notice and without proper procedures.
White practices in Longview. The Advocate is published in Houston. They demand an injunction. They are represented by Douglas Becker with Gray & Becker.