Alaska Injury Lawyers – Common Preparatory Steps for Trial

When someone needs help litigating an Alaska wrongful death lawsuit, the first steps that are taken involve gathering as many facts as possible.  These facts could include any police report that was issued, any witness information or statements, any photographs, any autopsy report that was done and basically anything else that could serve as evidence at trial.

After this evidence has been gathered and experienced Alaska wrongful death lawyers have a clear picture of what happened, it’s often worthwhile to at least explore the possibility of a settlement in hopes of sparing the surviving family members the anguish of a full-blown trial.  However, if a settlement will not be possible, you need the assistance of Alaska injury lawyers who will not hesitate to take a matter to court.

Alaska Wrongful Death Lawsuits – Potential Damages

If an Alaska wrongful death case proceeds to trial, there are several different types of damages that can be sought.  Below are some examples of these damages:

• Medical costs – Many people who are killed are still rushed to the hospital in an attempt to save his or her life, and this generates medical bills.
• Funeral and burial costs – Funerals and burials can cost thousands of dollars, and not everyone has insurance to cover these contingencies.
• Lost income – Courts will analyze the amount of income the person who was killed was generating and add that into the number of years he or she would likely have worked without the sudden death when deciding on a figure.
• Loss of companionship – When a family member is taken suddenly, it can have devastating effects on the survivors.  Alaska law accounts for this loss with these damages.

If you have lost someone you love because of someone else’s faulty actions, you need to concentrate on recovering with your family.  Seek the help of Alaska wrongful death lawyers who have the experience and skill necessary to hold those responsible for your loss accountable.  Contact Barber & Sims today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Suggestions to keep in mind if you need the help of a Las Vegas car accident attorney.

Thousands of auto accidents occur in and around Las Vegas every year, and the majority of them lead to at least one injury.  When this occurs, those who have been wrongfully injured should immediately seek the help of an experienced Las Vegas car accident attorney to make sure that all legal rights and options are properly and accurately explained.  In the meantime, below you’ll find some basic guidelines to consider if you have been involved in an accident that you do not feel is your fault.

Do Not Discuss the Particulars of the Accident

If you’ve been in an auto accident and you and the other driver are able to speak, remember that all you should do is politely offer to exchange contact and insurance information.  Do not, under any circumstances, engage in a debate regarding what you believe led to the incident.  Instead, simply provide your best recollection of the accident to the police officer on the scene who will be completing the accident report.

This same suggestion applies to representatives of insurance companies who contact you in hopes of generating a statement.  Some of these insurance company employees are not getting involved to help you, but rather to work towards limiting their own liability.  In order to avoid making this mistake, you should meet with a Las Vegas accident lawyer who can help you work through this process.

Seek Medical Attention

Many people involved in auto accidents feel that their injuries are minor and do not require medical attention.  For more than one reason, you should obtain such an evaluation even if you do not feel seriously injured.  Some serious injuries do not manifest themselves by way of overt symptoms immediately, and you will also be helped by having a documented record of your injuries if you choose to work with a Las Vegas injury lawyer in order to pursue a legal claim.

Contact a Las Vegas Car Accident Attorney

Perhaps the easiest way to proceed if you’ve been involved in an auto accident in Las Vegas is to secure the help of an experienced Las Vegas accident lawyer.  This will allow you to focus on your recovery and provide you with the peace of mind you need at this point.  Your Las Vegas injury lawyer can handle all of the particulars of your situation so that you don’t have to spend time haggling with defense attorneys and insurance companies.  Contact a Las Vegas car accident attorney today, as many of them offer free initial consultations, and you need specific answers before you move forward.

Florida personal injury cases should be handled by experienced Florida personal injury lawyers.

People are injured because of the negligence for others every day in Florida.  When this situation arises, many who are harmed are not sure where to turn for help.  While every situation that involves negligence, injuries and damages should include advice and guidance from an experienced Florida personal injury attorney, those who find themselves struggling with mounting medical bills, lost income and/or struggle with pain and suffering should keep a few basic tips in mind when considering the pursuit of a legal claim against the party or parties responsible for their injuries.

Gather as Much Evidence as Possible

The first step towards filing a personal injury claim in Florida should involve gathering as much evidence as you can in order to preserve the record of what caused your injuries.  If or when you decide to meet with Florida personal injury lawyers, this information will be of great help in providing you with sound recommendations and legal advice.

Examples of what you should attempt to keep and organize includes any medical records and/or medical bills that were a result of the incident in question, any and all documentation and correspondence between you and your insurance company and the names and contact information of any witnesses who may have seen the incident that led to your injuries.

Do Not Provide Statements to Outside Parties

In certain situations, particularly those that involve auto accidents, you will almost certainly hear from insurance adjusters who represent both your insurance company and that of the other driver.  When these adjusters contact you to ask for a statement, you would be well-advised to hold off on providing such a statement until you meet with Florida motor vehicle accident lawyers who at the least can help you craft your statement and could even work directly with these other parties should you decide to retain their help.

Contact a Florida Personal Injury Attorney

Overall, if you have been injured by someone else, you are likely dealing with stress and physical pain.  At this point, you need to concentrate on your recovery and should not attempt to burden yourself with learning the ins and outs of Florida personal injury law while negotiating with insurance companies and defense attorneys.

Instead, you should contact Florida personal injury lawyers who will meet with you for a free initial consultation so that you can decide whether or not to allow them to handle your claim for you and free you to focus on getting back into your routine.  Not only will a Florida personal injury attorney be able to manage your situation for you, but he or she will also be able to gather all of the evidence necessary to build your case.

Do the legwork and ask questions to find the California personal injury attorney for you.

People are injured every day, and many of these injuries occur because of the negligence or recklessness of another person or entity.  When these situations arise, many people are not sure where to turn for help.  For many reasons, the best step to take is to seek the help and advice of an experienced California personal injury attorney.  Below are a few suggestions to keep in mind as you work towards finding a California injury attorney who will fight to protect and enforce your legal rights.

Research the Professional Background

15 – 20 years ago, it was difficult to look into the past and experience of any California personal injury lawyer.  However, with the advent of the Internet, such a process can be completed in minutes.  Check to see if a law firm has a Web site.  If so, read more about the California injury attorney you’re considering contacting.  You should also check the California Bar Association’s Web site to see if he or she has had any problems in the past.

Schedule an Initial Consultation

When you decide to contact a California personal injury lawyer, pay attention to the details when you initiate that contact, as this is a quality that will matter to you.  Specifically, pay attention to how quickly your initial consultation is scheduled and whether or not that initial consultation is free.  Most California personal injury attorneys will offer a free initial consultation, and you should not have to take on a financial risk merely to find out if your legal rights need to be enforced.

Ask as Many Questions as You Think are Important

When you arrive for your free initial consultation, remember that this meeting is as much yours as it is the attorney’s in terms of what should be discussed.  Obviously, and California injury attorney will have many questions regarding the incident that led to your injuries, but you should ask questions as well.  Examples of these questions include:

1. How many personal injury cases have you handled?
2. How many of these cases have settled?
3. How many have gone to trial?
4. How many verdicts were issued in your favor?
5. What is your fee arrangement?

These are only example questions, and you should operate under the assumption that there are no ‘bad’ questions to ask.  Ultimately, you need to make a decision that provides you with confidence and comfort, as choosing the proper California personal injury attorney is an extremely important decision.

Take the time to be thorough in your search for California personal injury attorneys who handle car accident and/or motorcycle accident cases.

Traffic accidents occur every day in California, and thousands of people are killed and many more are injured on an annual basis.  If you or someone you love is one of them, the first step you need to take is to secure the help of a California car accident lawyer.  However, the process of finding California personal injury attorneys who are the best fit for you involves more than simply looking for an advertisement in the yellow pages or on television.  Below are some suggestions to keep in mind as you work to protect your legal rights.

Do Your Research

Choosing a California car accident lawyer is an important decision, and one that should not be made with haste.  You owe it to yourself to take some time to learn more about the California personal injury attorneys you intend to contact.  The Internet has served as an invaluable resource for this step.

You can find information regarding a California car accident lawyer’s law firm, past cases and perhaps most importantly his or her professional record with the California Bar Association.  You need to know a little bit about the California personal injury attorneys you contact before you take the next step.

Look for and Ask About Specific Experience

Obviously, there are several different types of traffic accidents that occur, and you should ask the California personal injury attorneys with whom you meet what sort of experience they have in terms of cases.  If you have been in an auto accident, you should seek the help of an attorney who has experience with auto accident cases.  If you’ve been in a motorcycle accident, you need the help of experienced motorcycle injury lawyers, as there are different scenarios and specifics that tend to be involved with different sorts of vehicles.

Don’t Hesitate to Ask Other Tough Questions

Whether you seek the help of a California car accident lawyer or a motorcycle accident lawyer, you need to be prepared to ask specific questions during your initial consultation with the attorney.  Find out how many accident cases they’ve handled, how many have settled, how many have gone to trial and finally how many cases they’ve won.  You will be working closely with your attorney for an undetermined amount of time, and you need to feel extremely comfortable with your decision.  Most of all, you need to get the process started, so contact California personal injury attorneys today to make sure that your legal rights are properly protected and enforced.

Accident Lawyers Require Particular Experience for Auto, Motorcycle, Bicycle, Commercial and Big Rig Truck Lawsuits, Also Attorneys for Cell Phone Accident Liability, And Serious Injury Claims Such as Traumatic Brain Injury and Paralysis.

The job of the accident attorney is often thought to be no more complicated than demonstrating who ran the red light. In fact, accident litigation can be highly complex, indeed every serious injury lawsuit is complex, involving numerous experts solely to demonstrate general and economic damages. Furthermore, very different factors may determine liability in motorcycle and bicycle accident cases, cases in which a party was engaged in cell conversation at the time, cases involving violation of the federal and state regulations governing large commercial and big rig trucks. Solving the “collectability” problem to assure full compensation in serious injury litigation can involve a number of different strategies to establish vicarious liability upon others which the accident lawyer must adapt specifically for auto accident and big rig truck accident cases.

Accident lawyers require a breadth of knowledge to effectively represent those injured in bicycle and motorcycle accident lawsuits, the latter often requiring experience with single track physics and the unique dangers of auto driver inattention to the smaller vehicles, particularly when entering or turning left at intersections, accounting for fully 2/3 of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents without any negligence on the part of the motorcyclist. Bicycle accident attorneys must similarly be cognizant of the dangers posed to bicyclists as the result, for example, of not being able to “command a lane,” and so their vulnerability to parked auto drivers who may open their doors into the path of a bicyclist or pull out into traffic without recognizing that a bicycle is approaching. Our accident lawyers have provided separate pages for “Motorcycle Accident Lawsuits” and “Bicycle Accident Lawsuits” where the reader can learn more about the unique challenges that accident lawyers face in single track vehicle accident litigation.

Commercial and big rig truck accident lawyers also must have a breadth of specific knowledge to competently evaluate, prepare and prosecute truck accident lawsuits. Big truck accident attorneys need to become fully knowledgeable about the federal and state laws governing a broad host of safety requirements from the permissible weight of loads and how freight must be secured to the hours that big rig truck drivers may operate their vehicles between rest periods, the logs that must be kept, and the responsibilities of shippers. Because the driver will often have inadequate insurance to compensate the more seriously injured, and because most freight companies hire commercial and big rig truck drivers as “independent contractors” in order to attempt to limit their liability for the negligence of the driver, large commercial truck and big rig truck lawyers must establish the shipper’s liability on legal theories such as “negligent entrustment,” and “negligent supervision,” as examples. Our big rig truck accident lawyers explain more fully these concepts on our “Commercial and Big Rig Accident Lawsuits” page, but the shipping companies may be liable, for example, for negligent entrustment, for their negligence in failing to screen out drivers who lack drivers licenses or who were inadequately trained or who have a history of accidents or alcohol abuse. Negligent supervision would include failures to adequately inspect the trucks or freight, the manner by which freight is secured, as well as failing to maintain logs of driver hours, all of which may involve violations of federal or state law.

There are also investigative techniques that accident lawyers should follow including, for example, subpoenaing the cell phone records of the other drivers because all too often the other driver may not be seen to be using his cell phone while driving, and may not volunteer the information to the investigating police. Appropriately educated accident lawyers will be aware of the epidemiological and controlled experimental studies which have demonstrated that a driver while engaged in cell conversation is four times more likely to get into an accident. In a “he said, she said” accident, with no independent witness or where the independent witnesses are split, demonstrating that one party was under the influence of cell conversation may become persuasive evidence of liability. Often of crucial importance where the driver of the other car has insufficient liability coverage to compensate the victim, cell phone records identifying the other party to the call can provide the answer to the “collectability” problem. For example, if the driver was found to have been in conversation with his employer or secretary or a potential client or otherwise engaged in a business call at the time of the accident, the accident lawyer can assert “respondeat superior” liability to name the employer as a defendant in the lawsuit, permitting his client to recover against the employer’s insurance and assets.

Finally every serious injury case is complex litigation, involving the investigation and development of the evidence of the client’s general damages, which some lawyers refer to as “pain and suffering,” but which in most serious injury cases, in their largest part may be more accurately characterized as “loss of enjoyment of life” damages. Some injuries may be catastrophic, and our accident lawyers have provided specific information with regard to the presentation of “Traumatic Brain Injury Lawsuits” and “Quadriplegia, Paraplegia and Spinal Cord Injury Cases.” The qualified accident lawyer will commonly present damages in a serious injury case first through the testimony of his client, family members and friends with regard to the types of activities that the client enjoyed doing before his accident, juxtaposed against a professionally produced “Day in the Life” film, in which the client is accurately shown courageously meeting the huge challenges presented even to do the simplest things in his post-accident everyday life. In serious injury litigation, the accident lawyer must also have extensive experience presenting past and future economic damages, including medical and loss of earnings claims. Our accident lawyers provide a “Serious Injury Damages” page in which we discuss more fully the preparation and presentation of catastrophic injury cases. In almost every serious injury case the accident lawyer will be required to engage a host of experts, from physicians to “life care managers” to “rehabilitation experts” to forensic economists to establish the present value of the future medical expenses and projected loss of earnings.

So while the general public may have the impression that the accident lawyer’s job is no more complicated than proving who ran the red light, the truth is different. Accident litigation is as varied as the vehicles on the road, almost always complex, and can be particularly complex where the lawyer must learn single track vehicle physics, or assert the net of federal and state laws to trap a freight shipper despite its every effort to insulate itself from truck driver liability, as an example, or to assure that the seriously injured client is fully compensated for the full specter of his general and economic damages.

Statutes of limitation on their surface may seem simple to apply and there are many locations on the web where those who consider that they have legal rights may look to find the state statute of limitations which applies to their claim. Half of those who are likely to look up this information want to find out if the statute of limitations has expired on their case. The other half may want to assure themselves that they have plenty of time left on their statute of limitations so they can attend to matters more pressing matters than the lawsuit, such as seeking out the right medical care and concentrating on their rehabilitation.

This is not an article intended to advise you about the statute of limitations which might be applicable to your case. To the contrary, and much more important for you to learn right now, the purpose of this article is to urge that you not to look up the statute of limitations yourself. Instead you should seek the advice of a competent and knowledgeable lawyer in your state to advise you with regard to the statute of limitations, as well as other statutes providing time sensitive rules that may deprive you of your right to sue long before last day to file suit provided by the statute of limitations. If you want correct information, you will require counsel fully knowledgeable about your state statute of limitations including how it has been interpreted by your state courts of appeals in the volumes of pertinent case law, knowledgeable also about the exceptions to the statutes of limitation, and the other legal theories which can undercut the statute of limitations defense.

We will try to highlight the dangers of your simply looking up the statute of limitations applicable to your type of case and then making decisions on your own that your case is barred and your rights lost, or that you can safely delay filing your complaint to attend to more pressing matters.

As examples, we will explore the two most common statute of limitations questions we receive, the first inquiring about the statute of limitations in auto accident cases, a common question just because there is more accident litigation than any other type of litigation. It is a good question to select also because people might think it so straightforward that anyone should be able to correctly interpret the statute of limitations. The second example is the inquiry about the statute of limitations in medical malpractice litigation, common because in many states the medical and insurance industries have obtained special interest “tort reform” legislation commonly including more restrictive statutes of limitation with “outside limitations,” also permitting us to discuss a “discovery rule.”

There are both federal and state statutes of limitation with most cases arising in the state court systems and so we will pick the 2 year statute of limitation for injuries sustained in auto accidents, and the 1 year discovery rule and 4 year outside rule applicable to medical malpractice cases under California law. Again this is not to provide information for you to rely upon in deciding whether your claim is barred, or conversely to lull you to feel you can safely delay filing suit while you attend to more pressing matters. Rather, it is to demonstrate why you should not attempt to interpret even what might seem to be the most straightforward of statutes of limitation. Leave the interpretation of statutes of limitations to the lawyers. Attorneys will be pleased to speak with you about you case. Just ask for a free case consultation.

So, let’s imagine that through your research you discover that California has a 2 year statute of limitations applicable to auto accidents. What I would hope to demonstrate here is that this is very dangerous information for the injured auto accident victim to rely upon, one who might have been paralyzed, or brained damaged or who might have suffered debilitating internal injuries, catastrophic orthopedic injuries or a limb amputation. He or she may read about the 2 year statute of limitations and be lulled into waiting to file suit, for example to deal with the medical decisions and rehabilitation, or in smaller cases perhaps to see if his injury might resolve.

If he delays even just a few months, the injured auto accident victim can suffer the loss of his case or may lose the right to sue his primary defendant and all or most of what he might have recovered in his case if he had only acted promptly. This may occur, for example, where there are other provisions of law providing much shorter periods than the statute of limitations within which the accident victim must act to preserve his right to sue. One example of such laws existing in many states, including California, is the “government claims provisions.” These requirements apply in a wide variety of auto accident cases, for example where a contributing cause of the accident is a road design defect or failure to properly maintain a roadway. The government claims provisions would also apply if the driver who hit you was a city or county or state employee at the time of the accident, operating his car in the course and scope of his employment.

In each of these cases the injured auto accident victim must file a government claim with the city or county or state within 6 months, a time period obviously much shorter than the 2 year California statute of limitations applicable in auto accident cases.

In the example of the driver who turned out to be a government employee, yes, of course, you might still sue the driver of the car, but if he has a 15/30,000 dollar auto insurance liability policy, that will be of little consolation to the brain damaged or paraplegic plaintiff. On the other hand, if the same man or woman had consulted an appropriately qualified lawyer, the lawyer would have recognized the need to timely file the government claim within 6 months of the date of the accident, and he would have followed the other claims procedures essential to file suit against a public entity. The client could then have obtained full recovery for his injury, his general damages, his pain and suffering, his damages for loss of enjoyment of life, his past and future medical expenses, and full recompense for his past and future earnings losses.

Turning now to the statute of limitations for medical malpractice, and why we urge that you should not attempt to interpret it, apply it, act upon it or fail to act upon it without first obtaining competent legal advice, lets consider California’s 1 year “discovery rule,” and 3 year “outside limitation.” The California medical malpractice statute of limitations provides that actions against health care providers must be filed within 1 year of the date that the malpractice victim discovers or reasonably should have “discovered his cause of action; but even if the cause of action is not discovered, and even where it could not have been discovered, the action is barred after the passing of three years from the date of the malpractice.

Let’s take a couple of real cases, prosecuted by the author of this article. In the first, an expectant mother sought the care of a physician who dispensed to her a sedative as recommended by a well known drug manufacturer. The drug caused the mother no side effects, but her child was born with serious limb defects. The drug was later identified in the press world wide as a potent teratogen, although by its European name, not by the brand name under which it was dispensed in the United States, and so the mother had no idea that it was the drug that caused her daughter’s limb defects. The child was born in 1962, and she showed up at our law offices an adult, 29 years later. In the meantime, the first special California medical malpractice statute of limitations was enacted in 1970, providing a 1 year discovery rule and most significant here, a 4 year outside limitation. The mother hadn’t filed suit during the girl’s minority, and the girl, now a young woman, didn’t file her case within the four years. In 1975 a second version of the malpractice statute was enacted, providing for a three year outside rule statute of limitations. Because the young woman was still unaware of the cause of her birth defects again this three year time passed without her filing suit.

When the woman described her injuries to this author, they seemed to coincide with the injuries caused by the potent teratogen, and so we obtained the list of physicians to whom the drug company supplied the drug. Her mother’s physician, it turned out, was one of them.

But relevant here, the solution to the medical malpractice statute of limitations was to file a complaint alleging that the physician “intentionally concealed” his malpractice from the mother and child, intentional concealment being the antidote to the medical malpractice statute of limitations defense. The author had to fight this out in court, first to defeat the physician’s and drug company’s demurrer to the complaint and then in overcoming their motions of both for summary judgment. But upon succeeding on those motions, the defendants settled the case for $1,500,000.00, which was compensation this young woman would not have received if she had just looked up the California statute of limitations and decided that her case was time-barred.

Now to take a medical malpractice case in which if the clients had considered the 1 year discovery rule they would surely have concluded that they had waited too long to sue. In this case, the author of this article represented 10 clients, all of whom discovered their causes of action against three physicians and a hospital much longer than 1 year prior to the filing of their complaints. Indeed, all readily admitted at their depositions that they had known of their physicians malpractice and their physical harm from the malpractice more than a year prior to coming to this author for representation. This again led the attorneys for the defendant physicians and hospital to file motions for summary judgment on the grounds that the 1 year discovery rule set forth in the California medical malpractice statute of limitations had passed.

But your author had anticipated that the statute of limitations defense would be vigorously asserted, and so we alleged in the complaint that the physicians and hospital were “co-conspirators.” Conspiracy is a legal theory little used by most lawyers, but it has many advantages, including to avoid the bar of the statute of limitations. It is also a relatively easy theory to prove in many cases, simply that one or more people “concurred” to do something that was “wrongful,” and that one of them committed an act in furtherance of the conspiracy. And if the lawyer can establish just these few facts, then the rule is that the statute of limitations on the substantive causes of action, like medical malpractice, will not “commence to run,” meaning that the time period will not begin to run, until “the last overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

As was also easily established, two of the three defendant doctors were still involved in providing their patients the same below standard medical care, continuing “overt acts” in furtherance of the conspiracy through the date when your author sued them, and so the Court rejected the defendants motions for summary judgment, permitting the cases to go to trial against all 3 doctors and the hospital. The author tried the cases of 5 of his 10 clients in a single consolidated 4 month medical and hospital malpractice trial, obtaining a 2.9 million dollar jury verdict, including a 1.9 million dollar punitive damage verdict against the hospital.

Again, if these clients had merely considered the text of the California medical malpractice statute of limitations, they likely would have come to the conclusion that the 1 year discovery rule barred them from filing suit. We discuss the subject more fully on our “California statute of limitations”, page, but the purpose there as it is here is not to make you wiser in interpreting statutes of limitations. There are literally volumes upon volumes of case law interpreting the nuances statutes of limitations, their exceptions and defenses.

No, the purpose is the opposite, to warn you not to decide for yourself that your claim is barred by the statute or limitation, or the contrary, that you can safely wait for a year or two before filing your legal action. Statute of limitations analyses, and the related analyses such as those described above, which might lead to a client losing his rights earlier than the date provided by the statute of limitations, or the opposite, providing the exception or otherwise delaying the commencement or extending the statute of limitations, permitting what might have appeared a dead claim to find its day in court, should wisely be deferred to competent, highly experienced and knowledgeable lawyers.

Raymond L. Henke, Principle trial attorney with the California Accident Attorneys & Medical Malpractice Lawyers Group

By: R. Sebastian Gibson, Attorney At Law

It is January 21, 2008, and not only is the word ARecession@ being used more and more frequently by analysts, we are now starting to also hear the word ADepression@ as a possible outcome of this economic crisis facing the United States and possibly the rest of the world.

As this article is being written, the stock markets around the world have started to fall more precipitously with most of the markets in Europe, Asia, China, Latin America and Canada falling from 5% to 8% overnight. U.S. markets are expected to fall over 500 points when the U.S. markets open again for business on the Tuesday following the Martin Luther King holiday.

Clearly as others have already stated, we are already in a housing depression. If indeed the recession in the U.S. causes other countries to similarly suffer a recession and if the U.S. then falls into a depression not seen since the 1920s in this country, what type of legal ramifications can lawyers expect to see in the U.S.?

In a depression when money is scarce and job security is non-existent, lawyers can expect new legal business to all but dry up. That is almost a given. Hiring a lawyer to pursue a legal remedy except on contingency, will be far down on any person’s list of priorities. Money for food, rent, and other necessities will take a much greater priority in people’s lives.

Not being immune to a depression, lawyers themselves will also be less willing to expend their own limited resources in such times to pursuing all but the most sure of cases. But what will be a sure case in a depression? And what will the attitudes be of insurance companies being asked to settle such cases in a depression?

It is very possible that in a depression, one if not more than one insurance company may declare bankruptcy. Insurance companies routinely invest their assets in stocks, both in the U.S. and in emerging markets. If all such markets fall as they are currently all falling, one or more insurance companies may find that they have lost millions of dollars if not billions of dollars. Once that occurs, they can lose their top credit ratings, and after that, the road is a slippery slope downwards for them.

If one or more such companies fail, the others will likely become extremely cautious in their dealings. They will probably initially become both far more willing to settle all their cases as quickly as possible in order to take their loss reserves off of their books and avoid incurring any more defense legal fees.

If the depression lasts, however, for any length of time, and more insurance companies find themselves at risk of bankruptcy, at some point lawyers may find insurance companies stalling and refusing to settle cases at all in order to preserve what few assets they have left.

As financial matters strain more and more marriages, divorce lawyers may find the number of people seeking divorce rising while fewer and fewer people have the money to pay for legal fees.

Businesses suffering steep losses will similarly be unable or unwilling to hire attorneys to stand up for their legal rights.

Criminal activity is likely to increase throughout the stages of a depression, again with few of those caught having the money to pay for criminal defense attorneys.

With a depression already here in the real estate field, real estate attorneys are already fielding hundreds of calls from panicky real estate investors trying to get out from under mortgages that are dragging them into bankruptcy. They are looking for anyone to sue to get out of their mortgages, from the real estate agents to the mortgage lenders to the sellers of the real estate who they now feel misled them into buying the depressed property. Unfortunately, these investors and homeowners have little extra cash to pay for an attorney to assist them in these real estate situations, even if they had a leg to stand on.

Perhaps the one area in which there may be more demand than ever in such a depression, may be in the field of bankruptcy. With the new bankruptcy laws making it harder than ever to file bankruptcy much less understand how to go about it, people will still likely find a way to scrape together the cost of hiring a bankruptcy attorney to get them out of the financial mess that people are finding themselves in.

No one can tell at this time if the likely recession turns into something far worse, a full-blown depression, but with real estate moguls now starting to use the word themselves, and with words such as Afinancial freefall,@ Aglobal train wreck,@ and Aglobal credit crisis@ just a few of the words to be found only this evening on one of the most respected internet financial web sites, it is a real possibility.

Lawyers may soon find themselves in the same predicament as real estate agents, just waiting and waiting for the phone to ring, and finding that it doesn’t ring at all anymore. Just as companies begin to cut back on expenses, lawyers may also begin to face some hard decisions when it comes time to renew advertising contracts for yellow page advertising or even worse decisions, such as whether or not to file bankruptcy themselves.

Sebastian Gibson is the senior lawyer with the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson. He is also a Realtor and the owner of Sebastian Advertising, an advertising agency. More information can be found at his web sites, www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com , www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com , www.SebastianGibsonProperties.com , and www.SebastianAdvertising.com .

Environmental and Toxic Tort Law cases in California are often one and the same. In an age when the carelessness of large corporations seems endless and the public has awoken to environmental dangers such as global warming and pollution of groundwater, such cases can not only provide a measure of redress to injured plaintiffs but also assist in the fight against what some entities would do to our planet in the name of profit.

Individuals in their homes, at work, in school and during leisure or recreational activities are exposed to toxic chemicals, drugs, and mercury from the places they live, work, or elsewhere spend time and what they eat and drink and the cosmetics they use.

They can be damaged by exposure to asbestos, lead, mercury, zinc, chromium, TCE, PCBs, arsenic, benzene, beryllium, pesticides, silica, manganese, formaldehyde and other toxins from places and things they would never have expected. Examples include lead-paint covered toys, toxic chemicals not only in the groundwater and the tap water used by companies to fill bottled water.

But pollution can come from the air, from the water, from the soil, and from other sources one often doesn’t consider. Pollution also comes from electro-magnetic fields, cigarette smoke, and mold in the home or at work.

Air pollution includes unhealthy levels in the air quality index, acid rain, indoor air quality, and particulate pollution from construction. Smog and haze aren’t just depressing, they can also be deadly when filled with types of pollution that is of particular risk to the elderly. Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and chlorofluorocarbons are just some of the chemicals one faces in every day life. Too much of any of these can cause severe problems including cancer and even death to most anyone, not to mention other damage to the ecosystem.

Water pollution can come from wastewater, surface runoff, sewage, waterborne diseases, water quality, oil spills, ship pollution, and ocean acidification, just to name a few sources. Soil pollution can come from herbicides, pesticides and even from invasive species. Among those soil contaminants people should be most concerned with, are MTBE, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Because it happened thirty years ago, many today are unfamiliar with or have forgotten the groundwater pollution case known as Love Canal. In the late 1970s, residents in the Love Canal area of New York were suffering from high rates of cancer and birth defects. The cause was traced to chemicals that had infiltrated into the groundwater and water supply from an industrial landfill. Hundreds of families were reimbursed for their damages but had to move from the area.

Radioactive contamination is becoming more and more of a problem. There is already plutonium in the environment, radium in the environment, uranium in the environment and other environmental radioactivity. Soon we will be hearing more about alpha emitters and actinides.

Recently there has been much publicity about the increase in bed bugs in hotels, schools and homes. When one goes on vacation, one must also worry about lice, ticks and other bugs that can be carried home. When one goes to the hospital or to the doctor, one can return with a more dangerous infection or virus than the problem the patient was originally concerned about.

While not a health risk, there is also visual pollution such as that caused from billboards, to the recent addition of advertising at the gas pump, in elevators and in public restrooms, as well as light pollution.

In the health field, pollution can come in the form of contamination of blood, from the environment of the hospital, the medications, thimerosal (a preservative used to prevent spoiling in vaccines) surgical implants, the beds or from other patients.

If you think a toxic material has caused or contributed to your injury call your toxic tort lawyer today

Sebastian Gibson is a practicing personal injury attorney represents clients throughout Southern California Lawyer from his main offices in Rancho Mirage, California representing California Auto Accident Lawyers, Litigation / International Law

Triplegia is a condition which causes a person to be unable to feel or control an entire side of his or her body as well as another of the person’s arms or legs. This paralysis of three extremities is often caused by an accident such as an auto or motorcycle accident or violent acts such as gunshot wounds.

Other terms of paralysis include paraplegia, the paralysis of a person’s lower body and legs; quadriplegia, the paralysis of a person’s body from the neck down; and monoplegia, the paralysis of just one arm or leg. Injuries that completely sever the spinal cord and those that damage some of the nervous tissue in the spinal cord are common causes of triplegia and other levels of paralysis such as paraplegia and quadriplegia.

Other terms used by doctors to describe conditions involving paralysis, include spastic diplegia in which the degree of disability can vary between the arms and legs with the legs often being more affected than the arms; spastic hemiplegia, where one side is affected of a person’s body but the arm or leg is more severely affected; and spastic quadriplegia, where both legs and both arms are affected.

Triplegia is a devastating condition, as is paraplegia and quadriplegia. Most victims of the condition require medical attention for the rest of their lives. If you or a loved one suffers from any type of paralysis, it is important to retain an attorney who is familiar with such conditions and who can maximize the recovery for a person’s future.

There is hope that some day, medical research, such as that currently being pursued with stem cell replacement, will also provide a form of treatment, if not a cure. Any attorney who has represented persons suffering from some level of paralysis hopes such advances in medical research come quickly.

If you believe there is the possibility that your triplegia, or that of a loved one, is due to the actions of another person or entity, we would encourage you to contact the Law Offices of California Truck Accidents, Southern California Triplegia Attorney for an analysis of your case. If your condition was caused by the negligence of another, you may be entitled to your medical costs and future medical treatment, loss of past, present and future income, and money for your pain and suffering

Sebastian Gibson is a practicing personal injury attorney represents clients throughout Southern California Lawyer from his main offices in Rancho Mirage, California representing California Auto Accident Lawyers, California Personal Injury Lawyers