3 Reasons to Contact a Lawyer Immediately After a Pedestrian Accident

The following is a guest blog article by Dolan Law Offices:

There is a lot to think about in the immediate aftermath of a pedestrian accident. A victim must deal with physical pain, following doctor’s orders for a medical recovery, time away from work or school, time spent away from family and leisure activities, the hassles of insurance companies, and the burden of medical bills – and all because of an accident that the injured party did not cause. An experienced accident lawyer can help an injured victim with these problems in three important ways. Specifically, a lawyer can:

• Conduct a Thorough Investigation: pedestrian accidents happen for lots of different reasons. The cause of your accident could have been a motor vehicle that hit you, a broken sidewalk, or falling debris for example. As soon as you hire a lawyer, your lawyer will begin investigating the cause of the accident in order to determine legal liability. Typically, it is easier to gather good information as soon as possible after an accident occurs;

• Represent Your Legal Interests While You Take Care of Your Physical and Emotional Recovery: the time period immediately following a pedestrian accident can be painful and overwhelming. It is a time when you and your family must deal with your physical, emotional, financial and legal recovery. A lawyer can represent you in your financial and legal recovery while you and your loved ones focus on your physical and emotional recovery; and

• Protect your Rights: the statute of limitations limits is the amount of time that you have to file a lawsuit seeking recovery for your injuries. Your accident attorney will ensure that all of your rights are protected and fight hard to get you the compensation that you are legally entitled to.

If you’ve been injured, or if you’ve lost a loved one in a pedestrian accident call an accident lawyer today.

The Illinois pedestrian accident lawyers of Dolan Law Offices are committed to helping Illinois pedestrian accident victims recover fair and equitable damages for their injuries.

Lawyer Held Liable for Malpractice for Not Telling Clients of Settlement Offer

According to Law.com, a Mercer County, N.J., jury on March 22 found veteran litigator Gerald Stockman liable for legal malpractice for failing to convey a $400,000 offer to clients in a personal injury case, which ended in a verdict substantially lower.

Any attorney who handles personal injury cases has an obligation and ethical responsibility to convey to their client any offer that is made to them by the defense. It is then the attorney's obligation to discuss with them the merit and value of the offer. Ultimately, is the client's decision about whether to accept or reject an offer. However, like with many things, it's all in the presentation.

What do I mean?

I will often be questioning a doctor and ask how they presented the treatment plan. The doctor will usually say that he made various recommendations, and ultimately it was the patient's choice about which procedure to choose. This explanation usually rings hollow since most patients do not have any medical knowledge and rely entirely on the physician to make a recommendation.

There is a big difference between a doctor saying "Don't worry, we're going to do this procedure, and you'll be fine." Compare that statement to "You have the following three alternatives in this situation; you can do procedure number one, which has the following risks and benefits, or you could do procedure number two which has these limited risks or you could do procedure number three which has no risks. Which would you prefer?"

Likewise, when an attorney presents a settlement offer to their client, it's all about the presentation. An experienced attorney will tell the client about the settlement offer, then give his advice about what they think of the offer and whether it should be accepted. The client will then make a decision. Often, the client relies on the attorney to offer professional advice and experience since they have been in this position many times before.

In this case, there was a clear dispute between the experienced medical malpractice attorney in New Jersey, and the client's recollection of events immediately after trial. A jury listening to the legal malpractice case evidently believed the victims and not their attorney.

In cases that have significant settlement offers, a good attorney will often put their client on the witness stand, outside the presence of the jury, and under oath, ask their client whether they have been advised of the large settlement offer, and whether they are rejecting it of their own free will. This protects the attorney in the event a verdict comes in for less than the offer or, a verdict comes in for the defense. This way, the client can never turn around and say that he or she was never told about the settlement offer.

5 Tips to Help You Avoid a Truck Accident

Today's article is a guest post by The Dolan Law Offices.

Truck accidents often result in serious physical injuries or fatalities. The sheer force of a truck against a car, motorcycle, pedestrian or bicyclist is enough to make truck collisions among the most dangerous types of motor vehicle accidents.

The best way to protect yourself from the potentially serious consequences of a truck accident is to prevent the accident from occurring in the first place. Specifically, you should:

1. Keep a Safe Traveling Distance When Driving Behind a Truck: most likely, you can’t see what is in front of a truck the same way that you can see what is in front of a car driving in front of you. Therefore, it is important to keep a safe traveling distance in case the truck needs to stop abruptly.

2. Remember Trucks Have Large Blind Spots: do not pass a truck unless you have enough room to do so safely. It is important to make sure that you can clearly see the truck’s side view mirrors because if you can’t see them, then most likely the truck driver can’t see you either.

3. Remember Trucks Take Longer to Stop: trucks can create a lot of damage if they crash into your vehicle. If you have a truck behind you, then it is important not to stop abruptly. Also, it is important not to cut off a truck in traffic for the same reason.

4. Be Careful Near Trucks that are Turning: trucks make wide turns. Never attempt to pass a truck that has its “turn signal” on because the truck is unlikely to see you and is likely to make wider turns than you expect.

5. Be Careful on Inclines: especially if a truck is stopped. Trucks tend to roll backward before moving forward and if you are too close to the truck in front of you then it may roll back and hit your car.

Following these tips may prevent many, but not all, truck accidents.

Dolan Law Offices is a Chicago, IL law firm. We represent victims who suffer serious injuries in Illinois truck accidents. We are committed to helping each of our clients recover full and fair compensation for their injuries.

The Arbitrary and Unfair Impact of Tort Reform

The Arbitrary and Unfair Impact of Tort Reform

Malpractice Lawsuit against New York Podiatrist Results in $3,000,000 Pain and Suffering Verdict for College Student; Trial Judge Orders Reduction to

Malpractice Lawsuit against New York Podiatrist Results in $3,000,000 Pain and Suffering Verdict for College Student; Trial Judge Orders Reduction to $1,000,000

I CAN'T BELIEVE I SLIPPED ON ICE!

Over the years I have written many articles about slip and falls on snow and ice here in New York. I've had my share of slipping on ice.

Today in New York it's a rainy 35° and the ground is covered in certain parts with melting ice. Parking my car in the back of my office building left me on a large patch of ice. Feeling brave and fearless, I eagerly got out of my car and began the short walk to the front door of my building. My black leather shoes had zero traction despite my heel being made of rubber. Unfortunately, the day that I decided to park on a large patch of ice it figures that I was not wearing my snow boots.

It amazes me the speed at which someone goes from walking vertically to being flat on your back in a horizontal position looking straight up at the sky. I took one step on the uneven ice and in a fraction of a second wound up landing on my left elbow laying flat on the ground.

I know some people may find this amusing knowing that an attorney slipped and fell on ice in the back of his own office building, and that's OK. I also would have found it amusing and ironic except for the exquisite pain that remained in my elbow as I walked up to my office. Luckily for me, the pain dissipated and thankfully did not break anything, at least not that I know of.

This brought me back to thinking what an attorney must be able to prove in a case involving a slip and fall on ice in New York. We must show that the property owner knew or should have known of the dangerous condition. We also have to show that the dangerous condition existed for a sufficient period of time so that the property owner should have fixed it to prevent injury to someone walking on their property.

In this particular case large patches of ice existed in the parking lot for an extended period of time. One could argue that the property owner knew or should have known of this icy condition. This is especially true since this is a heavily used and trafficked area for tenants in the building. A property owner cannot simply ignore or put their head in the sand and pretend the dangerous condition does not exist.

A property owner will typically argue that the changing weather conditions made it impossible for him to know exactly what the conditions were at any given time. This is especially true when temperatures rise above freezing during the day, and then as night approaches, the temperatures drop to below freezing levels and you have refreezing. In my case, I think it would be impossible for the owner to make that argument.

However, here's where many cases run into problems. Not only do we have to show that the property owner was responsible for the accident, but we also have to prove that the injuries you suffered are significant and/or permanent. What does this mean for someone who suffered bruising and the temporary loss of their dignity? It means that most experienced personal injury attorneys will shy away from taking a case unless the injuries are severe and serious.

The moral of the story?
It's time to have a nice chat with the owner of the building about ways to improve the parking lot to prevent people from suffering injury.

Medical Malpractice Law for the Non-Personal Injury Attorney

Lawyers are required to take continuing legal education classes on a regular basis. In this lecture, Gerry Oginski gives a CLE class on medical malpractice which is geared toward the attorney who does not handle these types of cases.

Medical Malpractice Law for the Non-Personal Injury Attorney

New York Personal Injury Law Firm Sanctioned $6,000

This falls under the "Stupid is as Stupid does" Forrest Gump category.

It was inevitable. A woman hired New York personal injury law firm Morelli Ratner to represent her in a medical malpractice case. Shortly thereafter her case was dismissed and the woman brought a lawsuit for legal malpractice against her lawyers. Morelli Rattner then brought a lawsuit against the woman (their former client) seeking to recover $6,000 in expenses that they had incurred to prosecute her medical malpractice matter.

In a scathing decision by Judge Goodman in New York County Supreme Court, she sanctioned the law firm of Morelli Rattner $6,000 for their ridiculous lawsuit seeking to recover legal expenses against their former client. She called their lawsuit "spiteful" and "wasteful."

Law.com, where this story initially appeared, reported the case name: Kremen v. Benedict P. Morelli & Associates, P.C., 101739/06.

Unbelievable.