The phrase “full coverage” is often used. What does it mean, exactly? Unfortunately, not a whole lot. “Full coverage” means different things to different people. An insurance agent will tell you it means one thing, a bank will tell you another, and a personal injury lawyer Arlington TX trusts will tell you yet another. So what should it mean to you? The answer is: NOTHING.

You should be informed as to exactly what kinds of coverage you have, including the maximum dollar amounts of coverage and the deductible. Avoid the lazy short-cut phrase of “I want full coverage” when you are getting or reviewing your coverage with your insurance agent. Go through each and every one of the coverages available. Thousands of people who have been injured in accidents who think they have “full coverage” are heartbroken to learn that they may be out-of-pocket for thousands of dollars for an accident where someone else was at fault! I will go over some of the types of coverages you should ask about, and consider when purchasing insurance.

Liability:

This is the base coverage where everyone starts. If you are at fault for causing an accident liability only covers the property damage and the bodily injury damage for the other parties involved. These damages are covered up to the limits you have purchased. In Texas the minimum coverage for this type of policy is $30,000.00 in bodily injury damage if there is only one person involved. Then $60,000.00 in bodily injury damage if there is multiple people involved. Then $25,000.00 for property damage. Depending to the person what they pay for these amounts can be higher. In my experience though this is what most people have so you may want to protect yourself with some additional coverages.

Collision and Comprehensive:

This coverage is sometimes added to make sure a person’s vehicle is repaired or replaced no matter who is at fault for the collision. This is coverage only applies to the property damage. This is what most people mean when they say “full coverage”. However, if you are injured and the other driver does not have insurance or does not have enough you will be out of pocket for those costs.

Uninsured/Under insured and Personal Injury Protection(PIP):

These are elective coverages that in Texas you are usually asked to sign a form saying if you accept or reject the coverages. Uninsured/Underinsured coverage will cover the injuries you sustain in an accident if a) the person at fault had no insurance at all; or b) they have a smaller policy than what your medical bills are. An example of B would be your medical bills are $45,000.00, and the person at faults policy is only $30,000.00. The reason being you can’t recover more than what the policy is worth in most cases. In Texas the coverage minimum is the same as what ever you have for liability coverage or more.  Personal Injury Protection or PIP is a coverage that can be used for different things. It can help with lost wages or can help with medical bills. In Texas coverage is usually purchased in $2,500.00 increments.

Hopefully, this clarifies some coverages you have and will help you next time you are purchasing insurance.

Thanks to our friends and contributors from Brandy Austin Law Firm PLLC for their insight into insurance coverage.

When an individual dies, some or all of his or her property will go through probate. It is a legal process in which an individual’s assets can be inventoried, and his or her will declared valid. If an individual has no will, property may be given to a spouse or other family members as determined by state law.

Probate property is any property that is subject to the probate process, as a probate lawyer Roseville CA can explain. Assets that are put into a trust are generally considered outside of a person’s estate when he or she passes away. Assets that have beneficiary designations or that have been titled to be transferred on death are also generally exempt from the probate process.

Why Does Probate Exist?

Probate exists to give interested parties the ability to challenge a will, or otherwise present legal arguments as to why they may be entitled to property. Creditors are also notified that an individual has passed, which may make it easier for them to put a claim on any funds raised if property is liquidated.

Legal challenges may also be made if there is reason to believe that a will was changed or altered because of undue pressure placed on a testator. Wills or trusts may also be challenged if there is reason to believe that they were changed despite the fact that an individual wasn’t of sound mind to do so.

Are There Benefits to Avoiding Probate?

There are many benefits to avoiding probate, depending on the circumstances surrounding an estate. Those who don’t want details of their estate made public may prefer to pass assets through a trust, as its terms won’t be released to the media or other parties. Some may feel that the cost of going through probate may be higher than the cost of establishing a trust, or may prevent beneficiaries from getting their inheritances in a timely manner.

How Long Does Probate Take to Complete?

If there are no legal challenges to a will, probate could be wrapped up in a matter of weeks. This assumes that the deceased left a clear will, and made it easy for the executor of the estate to inventory assets and begin to transfer assets. If there are challenges to a will, it could take months or years to complete the process.

Probate may also take longer to complete if the executor of the estate cannot be found, or if any potential interested party cannot be found. It is important to point out that anyone who could possibly stand to receive assets must be contacted, even if he or she is not included in the will.

What Is a Legal Will?

The definition of a legal will varies depending on what state you live in. In some states, a will is legal if it is typed and signed by two witnesses of sound mind. In others, it is legal as long as there are no challenges to the version presented to the court. A witness can be anyone over the age of 18 who is of sound mind. However, those who stand to benefit in any way from a will may not be allowed to act in this capacity.

Any property that is left inside of an estate after an individual passes on is considered probate property. Therefore, it will be subject to the probate laws of the state in which the property is located. If an individual has not named an executor to his or her estate, one may be named by a probate court with appropriate jurisdiction.

Thanks to our friends and contributors from Yee Law Group for their insight into probate practice.

Medications utilized in the United States to treat patients must be deemed “safe” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they go to market. The FDA defines a drug as safe when the benefits of the drug are determined to be greater than the known risks.

Generally speaking, a medication typically involves a category of side effects that are deemed minor or incidental. In addition, in most cases, a medication also has a category of side effects that are of a more serious nature. Usually, these more serious risks are classified as rarely occurring.

More often than not, side effects associated with a medication are deemed not consequential enough to warrant pursuing a personal injury lawsuit. Nonetheless, there are occasions when the side effects associated with a medication warrant taking legal action, including the filing of a personal injury lawsuit. The challenge is to know when a line is crossed in regard to side effects sufficient enough to warrant the pursuit of a personal injury lawsuit.

Undisclosed Risks

If a drug manufacturer has knowledge of a certain risk or side effect that it does not appropriately disclose, or if a pharmaceutical company reasonably should have known of a certain side effect, of which it contends a lack of knowledge, a personal injury lawsuit very well may be in order.

Another instance when an undisclosed, or not fully disclosed, risk or side effect may warrant a personal injury claim or lawsuit is in a situation where a physician has not properly advised a patient. This would include both a risk that a physician possesses actual knowledge of, as well as one that he or she should have known about with proper study on his or her part.

Injuries from Drug Interactions

Another area in which a personal injury lawsuit may be appropriate in regard to a medication arises out of drug interactions. When prescribing a medication, a physician has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to be aware of potential negative drug interactions. A doctor has a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect a patient from injury associated with a negative drug interaction.

Failure to Monitor

Failure to monitor is another situation that may warrant a personal injury lawsuit. In this scenario, a patient was warned of risks and side effects, and experiences a significant side effect, which is disclosed to the physician. However, the physician failed to properly monitor the patient, which is the primary reason why the patient was injured by the medication. With proper monitoring, the situation would not have occurred.

Significant Injury Alone is Not Enough

The mere fact that a patient experiences a significant injury due to a side effect associated with medication is not necessarily enough to support a successful personal injury lawsuit. This is the case when a patient received an appropriate advisement about risks and side effects, and understood this information. The patient may be deemed to have consented to the risk, with a full understanding of what that involved.

Retain a Personal Injury Attorney

The best course to take to ascertain whether medical side effects warrant a lawsuit is to consult with a personal injury lawyer Memphis TN trusts. During a preliminary appointment, an attorney provides an initial evaluation of a case. As a general rule, there is no charge for an initial consultation with a personal injury attorney.

Thanks to our friends and contributors from Wiseman Bray PLLC for their insight into medication side effects.

The short answer to whether you should set up an estate before filing a wrongful death claim in Arkansas is an emphatic yes. While setting up an estate is not specifically required prior to filing an estate, failing to do so will prohibit you from seeking certain benefits.

In Arkansas, wrongful death claims are granted statutory authority, codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 16-62-102. Subpart (b) of that statute states that every wrongful death action shall be brought in the name of the personal representative of the deceased person. It goes on to say that “if there is no personal representative, then the action shall be brought by the heirs at law of the deceased person.”

So…this seems to say that it’s not necessary to set up an estate to file a wrongful death claim, right? That you can simply name all the heirs as Plaintiffs and file it that way, correct? Well, yes, that is permissible. However, as a matter of Arkansas law, damages in a survival action can only be maintained the executor or administrator of a decedent’s estate.

So while it’s permissible to file suit in the name of the individual heirs of a deceased person, a survival action cannot be maintained without setting up an estate and naming a personal representative of the estate.

Survival Damages

Survival damages in Arkansas include (1) a decedent’s medical expenses, (2) a decedent’s pain and suffering, (3) a decedent’s mental anguish, (4) a decedent’s loss of past earnings, (5) a decedent’s physical disabilities, (6) a decedent’s loss of enjoyment of life, and (7) a decedent’s loss of life.

As you can see, damages in a survival action are extremely valuable, and you lose those damages if you do not file suit in the name of a decedent’s estate. Yes, you can still maintain a wrongful death claim and seek some damages without opening an estate, but you lose the valuable claim of a survival action without doing so. In a time crunch prior to the statute of limitations? It’s still possible to set up a special administrator quickly for the purpose of filing suit on behalf of the estate.

For these reasons, it is imperative to hire a veteran litigator and experienced trial lawyer who has been involved in wrongful death cases for years.

If you have just been arrested and released from jail on a Driving Under the Influence charge you are probably asking can I be sued for a DUI if I’m already facing criminal charges?  You will find the answer is a resounding yes.  You will probably be receiving notice of a claim from a personal injury lawyer within thirty days of the wreck.  It is generally in your best interest to hire an attorney as soon as possible after being released from jail.

The State’s prosecutor will be working to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, this standard is a higher legal standard than the personal injury lawyer seeking a financial recovery for their injured client.   The standard in a civil lawsuit is by the preponderance of evidence.  If you admit criminal guilt in a criminal court the personal injury lawyer will be able to use your admission as proof you were drunk driving when you struck their client.  In some jurisdictions you may be able to work with your lawyer to resolve the criminal case without making an admission.  If there is no admission it cannot be used in the civil lawsuit against you.

When the person you hurt while driving drunk pursues their case they will be seeking recovery of all medical bills and lost wages your negligence caused, this is true in all personal injury claims.  Your second difficulty is the injured Plaintiff will also be pursuing a claim to punish you for your reckless decision for drunk driving.  The damages meant to punish you are called punitive damages.  Punitive damages are meant to deter your future conduct.

Most personal injury lawyers will not settle for less than all of your insurance coverage.   Some of the more aggressive plaintiffs will seek to go above and beyond your insurance coverage and take your personal assets.  Even more difficult is many insurance policies exclude punitive damages for drunk driving from insurance coverage.  What this means to a Defendant in a DUI case is the only person who may be paying for their DUI wreck is themselves personally without any financial responsibility of their insurance company.

If you have just been released from jail on a DUI wreck involving injuries you may need to hire a Decatur, GA DUI defense lawyer quickly.  There is a high probability that the person you hurt is retaining a personal injury lawyer to seek a financial recovery due to your criminal mistake.

Thanks to our friend and blog author, Andrew Lynch from Andrew Lynch, P.C., for his insight into civil consequences of DUIs.

Witness testimony is some of the most important evidence you will need to prove your personal injury case and collect compensation for your injuries. A fact witness is anyone who witnessed what happened leading up to, during, or after the incident that caused the injury. Another type of witness is the expert witness. These are generally paid professionals who provide opinion testimony required to prove the case.

Fact Witnesses

Fact witnesses are critical to proving all kinds of personal injury cases, including car crashes, slip, trip and fall injuries and any other case in which another person’s negligence led to an injury. In the case of a car crash, key witnesses include anyone who saw the accident or negligent action of the at-fault driver first-hand. Because facts can be remembered differently by different people, it’s important that all witnesses be identified.

If possible, after the accident, and only after the scene is safe, you should try to collect identification and contact information from as many witnesses as possible. This will permit your Irvine CA personal injury lawyer to conduct an appropriate investigation and gather the evidence and testimony necessary to prove your claim in court. Witnesses include not only strangers who saw the incident happen, but any friends or family members who may have been with you and can also provide first-hand information regarding the incident. Important witnesses also include people who can provide testimony concerning the extent of your injuries, such as doctors, chiropractors, or other medical professionals. Family members are also able to provide testimony and evidence concerning how injuries have affected you and your daily life.

Expert Witnesses

Another important type of witness in many personal injury cases is the expert witness. Expert witnesses are generally experienced professionals, such as doctors, accountants and accident reconstruction professionals, who are able to provide professional opinions in court. Expert witnesses are generally paid and can be quite expensive to hire and use. Even so, experts are often a critical part of personal injury cases and are needed to provide evidence such as how a car crash affected the victim’s body and how the victim is likely to be affected in the future. Expert witnesses are often called upon to testify about financial matters, such as calculating loss of income in the future and the amount of future medical costs. Experts may also be called upon to testify about how a crash occurred and why.

Generally, your lawyer will be the one to determine what experts are necessary to prove your case and will evaluate and hire necessary experts.

Thanks to our friend and blog author, Corbett Williams of Law Offices of Corbett H. Williams, for is insight into important witnesses in personal injury cases.

Depositions are an integral part to almost every personal injury case. Testimony from the plaintiff, witnesses, and treating physicians are commonly used to establish not only the facts of the case, but also the extent of suffered damages. When taking a deposition on behalf of an injured victim, there are several questions a Phoenix personal injury lawyer should ask; however, there are three critical inquiries that should not be missed.

Question #1:  “Doctor, can you describe the injuries that occurred to my client, Mr. Smith”

The purpose of question is to get doctor to describe the injuries in complete and specific detail. This information can be crucially important to building a case for proper damages compensation. Using any available medical records as a guide or reference point can help a treating physician remark more precisely on the injuries of the plaintiff.

Question #2:  “Doctor, what caused those injuries?”

For a case to be a success, it’s almost always important for the jury to understand the cause of the injury (i.e., motorcycle or car accident). Request that the treating physician describe the biomechanics of how the subject injury occurred. Additionally, the doctor should go through treatment requirements for the injury. Again, detailed descriptions can be very important.

Question #3: “Doctor, are there any permanent injuries?”

It is also very important for almost any jury to understand whether or not the subject injuries will last forever to help determine the level of compensation due to the plaintiff. If the injury is permanent, then life expectancy must be assessed. The goal here is to maximize the jury’s understanding of extent of injuries.

It’s important to remember that each state differs in what testimony is needed and permissible from the treating doctor; but in general, asking these 3 basic questions is a great start to any physician deposition. They can not only help bolster the facts of a case, but shed some light on the extent of the damages suffered by the plaintiff as a result of the defendant’s negligence.

Whiplash is an unfortunate injury for many different reasons: (1) it’s extremely painful, (2) juries and insurance adjusters many times are unwilling to compensate for the injury because they either don’t believe the Plaintiff’s description of the injury or don’t understand it, and (3) it’s a nagging injury that is slow to go away and quick to resurface when doing the most mundane tasks.

Whiplash is the unavoidable snapping back of a person’s head during a motor vehicle collision.  Avoiding whiplash can be impossible, but there are several things you can do that will minimize your chances of getting a whiplash injury in a car accident, and minimizing the injury itself if you get whiplash.

When selecting a vehicle, most people consider a car’s safety features.  When doing so, be sure to prioritize a vehicle that has a functional head restraint/headrest.  The headrest should be positioned so that the top of it is at least the height of the top of your head.  This will allow the headrest to “catch” your head when it recoils off of the airbag and your body is restrained by the seat belt.  If the headrest is too short, your head is more likely to become injured by snapping back over the headrest, causing more severe injuries.

In the event you are in a collision where whiplash is a possibility, seek medical attention immediately.  Many times, whiplash will not appear for hours or days after the collision.  Additionally, place an icepack on your neck to reduce swelling (and pain).  A neck brace will add support and minimize the movement of a sore neck.  A local and reputable chiropractor can provide treatment to help return your neck injury to normal (or maximize the improvement).

Performing these steps can save your life and can minimize the possibility of a car accident permanently changing your life.

A car accident lawyer sometimes wishes she had a time machine. Why? So she (or he) can go back in time and help her clients before the car crash occurs. Here are three things that can help a client prepare for a car accident.

1. Buy a safe car.

All cars are not created equal. Sometimes money spent for a more expensive car buys good looks, prestige and comfort but does nothing for safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides crash safety ratings at its website. Even the most vigilant defensive driver cannot prevent all car wrecks. Buying the safest car you can afford can mean the difference between life and death (or seriously disabling injury).

2.  Buy an adequate amount of UIM insurance.

When injured persons first meet with their Coeur d’Alene, ID car accident lawyer they are often puzzled when the lawyer asks how much insurance they have. After all, shouldn’t all the focus be on the insurance policy of the at-fault driver? Not necessarily. If the at-fault driver does not have enough insurance to pay for all of the medical bills, wage loss and pain and suffering the client has sustained, then the client’s Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage kicks in. For example, assume that client John Smith incurs $10,000 in medical bills and $42,000 in wage loss due to a crash caused by the negligence of driver Robert Brown. If Brown only has $25,000 of liability insurance, then client Smith can obtain the additional money to compensate for his injuries from his own $300,000 Underinsured motorist policy if he was wise enough to purchase that coverage when he obtained insurance.

3. Consider downloading WreckCheck or similar App on your smartphone.

Car accident lawyers know the importance of recording all relevant information following a crash. In the past, wise motorists would carry a notebook and pen with them to record important information such as the name of the at-fault driver, license number, insurance company, etc. Fortunately, owners of smartphones can now download Apps such as WreckCheck that allows easy input of this information. Photos of the crash scene and car damage should also be taken prior to the arrival of the police, or as soon as possible.

We can hope that none of these things will ever be needed and that you will never be in a car accident. But being properly prepared can lessen the impact of a car crash on your life.

Thanks to our friend and blog author, James Bendell of Bendell Law Firm for his insight into car accident preparation.