Decisions

Archive for June, 2009

Have you been in a car accident? Here are some helpful suggestions:

1. If you have been in a car accident Do make a diagram of the accident, as well as to take down all pertinent information from drivers, passengers, and witnesses.

2. If you have been in a car accident Do take pictures of visible damage to your auto and of visible injury to your body.

3. If you have been in a car accident Do call police to have them come to the accident scene to make a report. Tell police about any injuries that you may have from the accident. If police refuse to send someone to the scene, go to the nearest police station and file a report.

4. If you have been in a car accident Do go to a doctor to have your injuries evaluated.

5. If you have been in a car accident Do call the insurance companies to report the accident.

6. If you have been in a car accident Do have your auto damage estimated at a quality repair facility.

7. If you have been in a car accident Do keep daily logs of your medical condition, mental stress, etc. Make notes of your visits with doctors and therapists.

8. If you have been in a car accident Do keep track of time missed from work and if self-employed, keep track of profits lost, because of the car accident.

9. If you have been in a car accident Do see a personal injury attorney before signing any bodily injury releases from insurance companies.

10. If you have been in a car accident Do Not fail to stop and exchange information with other driver/s. Penalties for “hit-and-run” driving are quite severe.

11. If you have been in a car accident Do Not refuse to sign a traffic ticket. It is only a promise to appear in court to explain your side of the story.

12. If you have been in a car accident Do Not move injured persons, unless leaving them alone would cause greater danger to their health and safety.

13. If you have been in a car accident Do Not allow witnesses or passengers to leave the scene of the accident until they have been properly identified, and a statement has been taken from them. Be sure you have their name, address and phone number.

14. If you have been in a car accident Do Not move cars until a record can be made of how the accident occurred.

15. If you have been in a car accident Do Not admit fault, discuss opinions, or offer information about accident to other driver/s, attorneys, or insurance companies other than your own.

16. If you have been in a car accident Do Not allow insurance companies to treat your claim unfairly.

17. If you have been in a car accident Do Not withhold any information from your attorney. All communications with him/her are privileged and confidential.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only, be sure to consult an experienced accident attorney about specific matters that pertain to your case.

About the Author:
Rex Bush is founder of Bush Law Firm near Salt Lake City, Utah where he handles personal injury cases in Utah and throughout the United States and Canada. For information on personal injury issues visit his Utah injury attorney website: http://www.utah-personal-injury-attorney.com

Keyword tags: car accident,automobile accident,attorney,lawyer

Sally is injured in a car accident. Her injuries make her unable to work. She receives substantial discounts from her health care providers and her remaining bills are paid by Medicaide.

At trial the insurance defense attorney hired by the at-fault driver wants to tell the jury about the discounts and Medicaide payments.

Will the trial judge allow him to do so?

No, says the “collateral source rule.” At least not if she lives in one of the states that still support the rule.

Collateral Source Rule Explained

The term “collateral” as used here means simply “additional”. The at-fault driver or “tort-feasor” as the law calls him, is responsible for making the injured person whole.

This includes making sure her medical bills are paid. Medicaide and the discounts are “additional sources” that have helped make Sally whole by paying her medical bills.

In the American legal system laws can be made by legislatures, administrative agencies, and by courts. The law created by courts is known as common law. The collateral source rule was court created in 1854.

The essence of this rule is summarized in Black’s Law Dictionary as follows:

“…if an injured person receives compensation for his injuries from a source wholly independent of the tort-feasor, the payment should not be deducted from the damages [monetary compensation] which he would otherwise collect from the tort-feasor. In other words, a defendant tortfeasor may not benefit from the fact that the plaintiff has received money from other sources as a result of the defendant’s tort.”

It is an evidentiary rule which means that the injured person has the right to ask the judge to keep evidence of collateral source payments away from the jury.

The most common collateral sources are medical insurance, workers compensation, VA medical benefits, Medicaide and other government programs.

Medical Discounts

While some states have refused to give medical discounts the protection of the collateral source rule, the majority opinion is just the opposite. A majority of states permit a plaintiff to recover the amounts billed for medical care, even when those amounts are discounted by the health care provider pursuant to a contract with the injured person’s health insurer.

States That Have Modified Or Eliminated The Rule

The legislatures of twenty eight (28) states have either abolished or modified the collateral source rule.

These states are as follows: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.

Here is a list, as of the date of this article, of the fourteen states that have completely abolished the rule: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oregon.

At the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies website you can find a list of the states that have modified the rule with a summary of the modification:
http://www.namic.org/reports/tortReform/CollateralSourceRule.asp

Even if you live in a state where the rule has been abolished or limited by the legislature, you should check on the current status as some state supreme courts have overruled the legislature and reinstated the rule.

Conclusion

If yours is one of the twenty two states that still have the collateral source rule in full or one of fourteen that have retained it in part, you need to know about and understand it.

Insurance companies will try to reduce your compensation by amounts which your health insurance has paid. Be alert, don’t let them put the evidence in front of the jury.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for legal advice. Seek an opinion from an experienced injury attorney in your state of residence.

About the Author:
Rex Bush is founder of Bush Law Firm near Salt Lake City, Utah where he handles personal injury cases in Utah and throughout the United States and Canada. For information on personal injury issues visit his Utah injury attorney website: http://www.utah-personal-injury-attorney.com

Keyword tags: personal injury,collateral source rule

The Crash

It’s a typical January morning as Sally leaves her home in Murray and enters I-15 headed for work at a law firm in downtown Salt Lake City. It is 7:30 a.m.

At the same time a large semi loaded with steel windows is approaching from the South. The driver, a long-haul veteran of 20 years over-the-road service for a major national trucking company has been up since 3:30 a.m.

Suddenly the driver slumps forward, lack of sleep from week-long road trip have caught up with him. His truck drifts slowly to the right, into the adjacent lane.

“BANG!” The trucker’s right-side mirror has just clipped the mirror of a flat bed truck in the adjacent lane.

The noise and accompanying jolt are enough to wake the trucker but his hasty response now imperils other drivers. He overcorrects into the left-lane where Sally is motoring peacefully to work.

The sudden impact abruptly changes Sally’s direction and she veers sharply across the media into southbound I-15 traffic. The head-on collision ends Sally’s life and that of the southbound driver.

The Logbook

In the truck accident legal case that followed, the lawyer for Sally’s family requested the driver’s logbook.

The logbook showed that the driver had been on the road for only two hours. Suspicious, the family’s lawyer, requested bills of lading, fuel receipts, and electronic data from the Global Positioning System used by the driver’s company to track his whereabouts.

The GPS data showed what the lawyer had suspected–the logbooks were falsified.

“The trucking industry appears to spend more time doctoring reports, falsifying logs and covering up fault than they do screening and training drivers,” says Frank B. a prominent Texas personal injury lawyer.

Federal law requires interstate drivers to record, either in written or digital “logbook” how they spend their workday. An interstate trucker is limited to 11 hours over a fourteen hour period. And once that eleven hours are up he must take a rest break lasting for at least ten straight hours.

Driver Fatigue

Truck driver fatigue is a major safety problem in truck accident legal cases. Some studies, including two by the National Transportation Safety Board, indicate that truck driver fatigue is a factor in 30 to 40% of severe crashes.

With driver fatigue and logbook falsification both being serious problems, the development and of electronic technology for the trucking industry has become a subject of considerable controversy.

What To Do In Case Of A Truck Crash

Here are some tips to follow if you are involved in a truck accident legal matter:

1. Never sign anything under pressure;
2. Take photographs and/or video of the crash site and the vehicles involved in the truck accident legal matter;
3. Do not sell or otherwise dispose of the vehicle involved in the crash;
4. Collect and preserve evidence after the crash;
5. Contact investigating authorities immediately.

Truck Accident Legal Resources

Truck Safety Advocate Newsletter
Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways
Washington, DC 20044-4380

Report to Congress on the Large Truck Crash Causation Study
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation

Disclaimer

This article is provided for informational purposes only. Seek advice from an experienced truck accident lawyer as to specific legal principles applicable to your case.

About the Author:
Rex Bush is founder of Bush Law Firm near Salt Lake City, Utah where he handles personal injury cases in Utah and throughout the United States and Canada. For information on personal injury issues visit his Utah injury attorney website: http://www.utah-personal-injury-attorney.com

Keyword tags: truck accident,truck accident attorney,truck accident lawyer

If you are shipping any items overseas or internationally, you may have determined that your shipment is “dutiable”. What that means is that the shipment is subject to duties, or inspection fees, as it passes through the customs department of the country to which it is headed. Generally, dutiable items are any packages that must be inspected upon arrival, checked for proper paperwork like invoices and waybills. A special customs form must be attached to the shipment so that it can clear this process. You can determine if your shipment is dutiable by checking with the courier or package service you have decided to use as they can guide you through this process.

If you have determined that your shipment is dutiable, then you can expect that it will affect your shipment in a couple of important ways. Read on more to find out about how this will affect your shipment and what you can expect.

Your package will take additional time as it has to pass through the customs office. The package is going to arrive, be set into a quarantined area and then each package is systematically inspected. The package will be x-rayed and in some cases opened for visual inspection. This is to avoid any harmful substances, contaminants, weapons or any contraband from entering a country. This process is for the protection of the people in that country and for consumers who are purchasing items from outside countries. Your shipment, however, will not be damaged or destroyed. You can be sure that the customs office will handle the packages carefully and as quickly as possible. It is a given then that you will want to allow for an additional two to six weeks for this process, depending on what and where you are shipping your items. Plan ahead when someone orders something to avoid any problems as this is an unavoidable delay.

Your package must have the proper documentation in order for the host company to receive and accept it. If you are shipping something internationally, it is advisable to verify with the shipping company or postal department what type of documentation is needed in order for the package to pass through the countries and make its way to the recipient. You may need to have a commercial invoice, customs forms and waybills. You may also need to have paperwork verifying the contents of the package, who it is going to and for what purpose. You may also need to document that you have insured the package for the proper value. Whatever the case, always verify this in advance of shipping the package. Failure to do so can and will result in the package being rejected by the host country and sent back at your full cost. This would be tragic in the case of sending something that is scheduled to arrive for an important date or event. Plan ahead and be sure to have all necessary paperwork completed.

There are many ways to find out what to do if your package is dutiable. An excellent resource, of course, is the courier or shipper’s international shipping department. Be sure to ask ahead of time to avoid any problems with this process and ensure that your package arrives safely, in a timely manner and without being lost or returned through an oversight on your behalf.

About the Author:
Reliable shipping company offering a range of time critical on-demand and specialized services including international shipping quote to satisfy the demands of your business. Same day shipping, overnight delivery, freight and more. http://www.purolator.com/

Keyword tags: shipping company,postal service,freight,international shipping quote,cross border shipping

When choosing a franchise in the automotive franchise industry there is a particular need for research into your target area. With the automotive franchise industry being such a popular choice and with so many standalone automotive based businesses, you do not want to be setting your new business up in an already saturated market.

Looking at every town, city and even rural area in the country and you will see garages, petrol stations, car washes etc. They are everywhere and in abundance so ensuring that you are choosing the right industry sub sector with a good population density compared with the current automotive businesses in that area is paramount to your success.

So you first step is with identifying your territory and gaining some demographics. Find out the population of your territory, how many households with cars and motorcycles and from local directories you can find out exactly what automotive businesses are already in your area and how many of them. With this in hand you can then begin the selection process.

If for example there are 5 petrol stations, 7 garages, 3 exhaust, tyre and brake service stations and 1 car wash then perhaps a car wash franchise would be the one to look into. As with all franchises location is very important also, a car wash franchise which is not visible and is inaccessible can fail fast however one located on a major through road or next to a supermarket can do very well indeed.

On doing your research and drawing up a short list of franchises which are not only viable but of interest to you too, the next step is to contact the franchisors and begin the selection process. Do not be drawn in by all the glossy packs they give you but instead take a reserved and measured approach to each.

Ask for a list of current franchisees and phone each one to ask how well they are performing, what the franchise management is like to deal with and if all the promises made in the promotional materials were at least close to being realised. By doing all this you can start to weed out the good from the bad and you are a step closer to ensuring you are making the right choice and spending your money wisely.

There is also a matter of franchisee churn / turnover to look into. what franchisee churn is, is the amount of franchisees who have exited the franchise system. A high franchisee churn shows an unhappy and unprofitable franchisee base and should set some noisy alarm bells ringing. If they are leaving in their drives then I suggest you look elsewhere and discard immediately.

With the right research in hand you can make the right choice and automotive franchises are extremely popular and profitable. Do not make the mistake that many people do though and enter a saturated market as this will only lead to disaster and end up with you in debt or severely out of pocket.

About the Author:
Matthew Anderson is the Head of Advertising for the online franchise portal, http://www.the-franchise-shop.com/categories/Automotive-franchise_128.html The franchise shop is the UK’s largest portal of franchises for sale and franchise information. http://www.the-franchise-shop.com

Keyword tags: automotive franchise,uk franchises

Consider for a moment the benefits of a Personal Injury Attorney for motor vehicle accident claims in Minnesota. If you have been involved in an accident of this type, involving a car, SUV, or motorcycle, it is in your best interest to contact your Minnesota personal injury attorney immediately, to best preserve all your rights in the incident. You may be able to claim damages and collect compensation for injuries. If you are the one who caused such an accident, you also need to contact your Minnesota personal injury attorney immediately, to preserve your rights, and possibly to protect your freedom.

As with any personal injury case, an initial benefit is that you can refer any calls or questions from the other side directly to your attorney. The reason you should not talk with or discuss your case with anyone other than your attorney is that if you do talk with others or sign papers, you may be giving away your rights. Your experienced attorney knows state and federal laws that apply to personal injury cases, and what issues should be kept private. It is important to have confidence in your attorney and their competence, and to rely on them for your legal advice in these cases.

An experienced Minnesota personal injury lawyer knows where to look for your defense. With motor vehicle accident claims, there are many factors that can be involved. There may be a product defect or road hazard that contributed to your accident. The driver at fault may have been negligent in performing their duties as driver, distracted by talking on a cell phone or other problems. For personal injury claims, there are many options to look at to recover expenses and for compensation for losses.

Losses may include present and future income, medical expenses, and other things like loss of companionship, replacement of homemaker services, and loss of future inheritance. Your attorney can bring in expert witnesses to calculate difficult damage estimates, such as pain and suffering, and what future problems will cost the injured party.

Personal injury accidents can happen on the road, at work, or at play. They can be true accidents, accidents due to someone’s negligence, or accidents that were deliberately caused by a criminal intent. Your Minnesota personal injury attorney can sort through the facts, investigate, call in witnesses, and dig to the root cause of your accident. Then, you and your attorney can assemble the list of damages and losses for which to make claims upon in a court case.

Your attorney can handle negotiations for you, as about 95% of personal injury cases are settled prior to appearances in court trials. Your attorney will work on your behalf for fair and just compensation for your losses and damages, and stand up for your rights. If you are at fault in causing an accident, or a fatality, your personal injury attorney will present your best defense. This may keep you out of jail, especially if there are mitigating circumstances involved, such as product defect. An accident can take seconds, but the effects can last a lifetime. This is the main reason you should call your Minnesota personal injury attorney immediately.

The information you obtain from this article is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.

About the Author:
http://www.schwebel.com/ A personal injury lawyer in Minneapolis Minnesota at a local law firm can provide you with an experienced and professional attorney in MN.

Keyword tags: attorney,lawyer,personal injury,law firm,minneapolis mn,minnesota,st paul,legal,accident