June 30, 2008 by Zale.

I believe that I’m a bit of an authority on this topic. Why? I specialized in Minor Impact claims for both Allstate and Safeco. I’ve probably had some degree of involvement in thousands of these. There is an interesting two part news story by Anderson Cooper on the practices of Allstate and State Farm regarding minor impact claims. The story is worth watching, even though I’m not a big CNN fan.

I do not completely agree with the story, because there are a lot of folks who are trying to perpetrate fraud on the insurance industry. The story does not address that issue well. The problem is that there are some people who are truly hurt in their minor accident. The hard part is separating the liars from the fragile.

As an Adjuster, I believe that I developed a knack for picking out the liars, unfortunately, many adjusters never take the time to find the signs of a hard impact, such as dimples in the back cab of a pickup truck (indicating that the impact was hard enough to move the bed of the truck and damage the back of the truck’s cab) or damage occurring to an area that transfers energy as opposed to absorbing it (like a steel truck bumper, which transfers the impact throughout the vehicle vs. a composite car bumper, which isolates the forces and keeps them from traveling to the occupants compartment).

Ultimately, the jury system may still be the place for most of these cases to be decided. I like the fact that we can still “let the people decide” as opposed to letting some legislator decide.

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June 27, 2008 by Zale.

There are some medical malpractice (med mal) claims and lawsuits that are simply junk litigation. However, every now and then a doctor reminds you that there are still legitimate claims out there too.

Take for example, mine and my wife’s previous doctor. He misdiagnosed me as having a medical condition that I do not have and has treated my wife very poorly. He focused on services he wanted to sell (his “cash cows”) and not the issues that either my wife or I had. Fortunately, he decided to discharge us as patients after we complained about his service, bed side manner and told him that we would not return (wait, I think we actually discharged him first).

So the next time you hear something about “Tort Reform” or have to sit on a jury for a medical malpractice lawsuit, just remember that our founding fathers got our system of deciding justice right, when they established the jury system.  There is simply no reason medical providers, especially the “quacks”, should be beyond the reach of a jury composed of common, everyday people.

Posted in Litigation, Injury Law, General Law | No Comments »

June 27, 2008 by Zale.

In regards to a claim for property damage, a total loss is when the item is simply not worth repairing.  Normally, this occurs when the value of the repair is roughly 70% of the value of the item.  So, if your car is worth $10K and the repairs are $7K or more, then the vehicle is a total loss.

So what’s this mean? This means that now the defendant or insurance company owes you the fair market value of the property (usually an automobile).  There are different ways of calculating this value.  Most people think their vehicles are worth more than what they are truly worth.  Be honest with yourself when thinking about the value of your vehicle.  Those cigarette burns on the seats may not seem  like much to you, but they certainly are a big deal to anyone else looking at your vehicle.

Now, there’s one other point that I want to make here. ” Total loss” does not always mean “Take your vehicle”.  Even if your vehicle is a total loss, it’s still your property, so if you want to keep your vehicle, just tell the defendant or the insurance company that you wish to keep your vehicle.  They cannot take your vehicle just because they want to.  This is not a “forced sale”. What they do is once they have calculated the fair market value of your vehicle, they then subtract what the salvage is worth and there is your value.  So, if your vehicle was worth $10K and they could get $2K at auction for the salvage, then you get $8K and keep your vehicle.  Just make sure that your vehicle is not sitting at some wrecker yard, racking up storage charges.

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June 27, 2008 by Zale.

If you have previous criminal convictions, make sure and tell your attorney about them.

I’ve had several clients who have tried to conceal their previous convictions and pleas from me.  You might think that makes you more believable in the eyes of your attorney, but when your attorney is trying to negotiate your case with the prosecutor, it does not help when the prosecutor reveals that you’ve had a lot of experience in the legal system already.  It hurts your credibility as a defendant and some of those previous convictions may be used against you in this case.

Do yourself a favor, be honest to your attorney.

Posted in Criminal Law | No Comments »

June 27, 2008 by Zale.

While I was in court this week, listening to other cases, I overheard the judge ask a defendant if he had driven to court that  morning.  The defendant was having a hearing for Driving on a Suspended License.  It occurred to me why the judge asked that.  He asked that because people are so used to having the freedom to drive that they will even drive to court for a hearing regarding their getting caught driving on a suspended license.

The moral of this story?  Think before you go to court.  If you are going to court because your license was suspended or because you were previously caught driving on a suspended license,  exercise some common sense and have someone else drive you there.

Posted in Criminal Law | 1 Comment »

June 27, 2008 by Zale.

If you haven’t heard by now, the US Supreme Court heard a case involving the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.  Personally, I’m very relieved by this decision.  Constitutional law “scholars” have been questioning this right for a while.  Those scholars have speculated whether or not the right is solely for a militia or even recreational hunting.  I think Justice Scalia did a great job with the opinion.

 The fact that we have four disagreeing Justices who want to read something into  the Second Amendment that is simply not there is scary.  We cannot let liberal principles, such as reinterpreting the Constitution to fit today’s moral and political climate, take over this country.  If we do, then the great country that our forefathers fought and died for will cease to exist.

Not only do we have to give special thanks to the five Justices  who can read the actual words in the Second Amendment and understand what they mean, without conjuring up some mystical alternative meaning, but we also need to give thanks to George W. Bush.  He had the wisdom to appoint Justices who can read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for what it is and not for what they want it to be.  If this case had been decided a few years ago, it may have been very different.

Posted in General Law | No Comments »

June 8, 2008 by Zale.

In case no one has told you, in the state of Tennessee, if you have an injury claim, in most cases, you only have a year to either resolve the claim, or file suit.  This is known as the statute of limitations.  That is a particularly short statute.  Most states are two or even three years.  So, if you have an injury claim, make sure and PAY ATTENTION to the statute and don’t let it run without getting your claim resolved or having an attorney help you with it.

Posted in Injury Law, Insurance Practices, Insurance Law | No Comments »

June 5, 2008 by Zale.

If you’ve ever had an injury claim as a result of a car wreck, slip and fall or similar claim, I’m sure you’ve wondered how the insurance company can come up with some abstract number to offer you to settle the claim. Well, many factors come into play.

Coverage: Do they have enough coverage or the right coverage? If you have $50,000 in medical bills and the person or business at fault only had $25,000 in coverage, guess what, your offer won’t be the $50,000 plus you hoped it would be. It’s going to be the $25,000 coverage limit.

Liability: Did you contribute to the accident? Tennessee is a “modified comparative law” state. That means that the insurance company is not only trying to figure out what their insured did to cause the accident, but they are considering what you did to cause the accident. If a reasonable person could find you 10% at fault, you just lost 10% of your money.

Damage: Did you have a scratch to your bumper, but then ran up $6,000 in medical charges? Well, the insurance company, and any court, is going to have a hard time connecting that $6,000 in medical charges to the scratch on your bumper. This will have an impact on your offer from the insurance company.

A computer program: Did the adjuster tell you that the company had a system to evaluate your injury claim? Chances are, they are referring to a computer program called Colossus or ClaimIQ. Both programs allow the adjuster to load certain medical information into the program and it spits out a number. These evaluation processes usually produce a low amount to settle the claim. I’m really not sure why the insurance companies like to use these programs, because they will often deviate from them to settle the claim.    Many times, the adjuster doesn’t agree with the amount either, but they want a pay check, so they do as they are told.

Other factors:

• You may be in a situation to where your medical procedures simply don’t match the accident. For instance, if you try to get them to pay for wart removal due to a car wreck, chances are, they’re going to figure that out and not pay it.
• You may have ticked off the adjuster. Time after time people want to take their frustrations about the accident out on the adjuster. This is usually a foolish move. Why bite the hand that feeds you? If you want a check from this person, be nice to them.
• The insurance company may be taking a “Deny, Defend and Delay” approach. This has been done. Some insurance companies think it’s the right way to handle a claim. I don’t agree with them.

Whatever the reason is, you may need an attorney to work out the problem. If that is the case, please contact us. We would like to help you.

Posted in Injury Law, Insurance Practices, Insurance Law | No Comments »

June 5, 2008 by Zale.

I was sworn in before the Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday.  The firm went “live” yesterday.  I hope that you will contact us to see how we can help you.  The office is based out of White House, Tennessee (Sumner County side), but we cover most of Middle Tennessee and will be happy to make a “house call” if needed.

Posted in Insurance Practices, Injury Law, Insurance Law, Right To Life, Business Law, General Law | No Comments »