Are You Being Followed?

After my attorney told me to expect to be followed and videotaped, I never got used to the feeling that overtime I left my home, someone would be watching me with a video camera.I went about my business but it was a weird feeling thinking someone was possibly recording my every movement. Ultimately I just tried to put it out of my mind. But during these four years and two months in my case, I did stay home more than if I weren’t under such scrutiny.

With that being said, today I am sharing a Takeaway from my book, Plaintiff 101, that should help you understand why and how the defense will use surveillance tapes against you and how you need to handle it!

Takeaway #35

If the defense does produce surveillance videotapes, have your attorney’s office meet with your medical providers and experts, with tapes and monitor in hand to show them the actual activities. By doing so, you have taken away any element of surprise the defense attorney hopes to have during his examination of your medical treaters and other experts in deposition or trial. Physicians are independent by nature and will not appreciate defense investigators conducting surveillance on their patients. Even if they don’t like testifying at trial, this kind of stunt will usually energize a treating physician, motivating him to be an excellent advocate at trial or in deposition. Jurors do not love this form of investigation either. If the activities can be explained and justified by your treating physicians and experts, it will do serious harm to the defense’s case.

 

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For those who are interested in owning Amazon’s Best Seller, “Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Click here to >>ORDER<< your copy TODAY!

 

Takeaway #35

After my attorney told me to expect to be followed and videotaped, I never got used to the feeling that overtime I left my home, someone would be watching me with a video camera.I went about my business but it was a weird feeling thinking someone was possibly recording my every movement. Ultimately I just tried to put it out of my mind. But during these four years and two months in my case, I did stay home more than if I weren’t under such scrutiny.

With that being said, today I am sharing a Takeaway from my book, Plaintiff 101, that should help you understand why and how the defense will use surveillance tapes against you and how you need to handle it!

If the defense does produce surveillance videotapes, have your attorney’s office meet with your medical providers and experts, with tapes and monitor in hand to show them the actual activities. By doing so, you have taken away any element of surprise the defense attorney hopes to have during his examination of your medical treaters and other experts in deposition or trial. Physicians are independent by nature and will not appreciate defense investigators conducting surveillance on their patients. Even if they don’t like testifying at trial, this kind of stunt will usually energize a treating physician, motivating him to be an excellent advocate at trial or in deposition. Jurors do not love this form of investigation either. If the activities can be explained and justified by your treating physicians and experts, it will do serious harm to the defense’s case.

 

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For those who are interested in owning Amazon’s Best Seller, “Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Click here to >>ORDER<< your copy TODAY!

 

Fulfill Your Destiny

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/105943034″>Karen Mertes</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/soozieeastman”>Soozie Eastman</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Karen Mertes, LTCOL (RET), USAF, is the founder and president of Fulfill Your Destiny, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping people whose careers have been altered by injury or other unforeseen circumstances. Inspiring stories of people who have been helped can be found at www.fulfillyourdestiny.org ! Karen is a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor due to a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Her book, Plaintiff 101, Karen shares her struggle of going back to work with a Traumatic Brain Injury and her recovery process all while dealing with her personal injury litigation. Plaintiff 101 provides tips and checklists for those who are looking for help with their personal injury litigation case.

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For those who are interested in owning Amazon’s Best Seller, “Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Click here to >>ORDER<< your copy TODAY!

 

Driving Awareness Months

The National Safety Council observes January as Teen Driving Awareness Month, and April as Distracted Driving Awareness Month. The fact that months are being dedicated to bring awareness to these issues, proves that there’s a major epidemic among teen and distracted drivers. Thousands of people die each year due to inexperienced and distracted driving.

A lot of people probably aren’t aware of these national observances. However, any occasion that highlights the importance of safe driving is worth paying attention to, especially given these startling facts, as provided by the CDC:

“The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16-19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash.”

And distracted drivers…

“Each day in the United States, more than 9 people are killed and more than 1,153 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.”

Feel free to visit our previous blog on practicing effective Road Safety to spot a few helpful tips! As simple as these rules may be, the impact is huge and potentially life saving.

For those who are interested in owning Amazon’s Best Seller, “Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Click here to >>ORDER<< your copy TODAY!

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Teen Drivers: Get the Facts“; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Distracted Driving“

Changing Counsel During Your Case

“Under the rules of most jurisdictions you have a right to change counsel and the contingent fee will remain the same…Simply stated, the two firms would ultimately split the fee percentage originally agreed by you, based upon how much work each firm put into your case. It’s called quantum meruit, which is Latin for what one has earned. 

While outside pressure may be placed on you to change counsel, I would urge you to talk with your present lawyer and discuss your concerns before taking any action.”

To learn more about your option to change counsel, get “Plaintiff 101” today!  PLAINTIFF 101 offers an in-depth look inside the courtroom at the coverage of the legal and technical issues that arise in a drunk driving case.

See what people are saying about Plaintiff 101!

“This is important information for anyone involved in a personal injury claim. Karen and Michael lay out the hard facts of what an injured victim can expect from the insurance company defense teams, their lawyers, their doctors, and their investigators.”

—Amazon Customer

Be sure to gift PLAINTIFF 101 as the perfect gift to law students! “Plaintiff 101” offers personal insight that you won’t find in law schools. The information contained in this book is shared by a lawyer with a distinguished career, who has been part of trial teams with numerous million dollar verdicts and settlements, combined with the efforts of a plaintiff who was successful in her litigation.

For those who are interested in owning Amazon’s Best Seller, “Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Click here to >>ORDER<< your copy TODAY!

Above quote excerpted from Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know.

Tort Reform

Tort reform is a common issue in civil law.

According to USLegal.com, tort reform “refers to laws passed on a state-by-state basis which place limits or caps on the type or amount of damages that may be awarded in personal injury lawsuits. Those who advocate tort reform argue that limitations or caps need to be placed on damages able to be recovered in lawsuits because excessive damage awards create an oppressive tax on the cost of doing business.”

It is likely that tort reform advocates aim to eliminate the attorney contingent fee system. Consider how personal injury plaintiffs’ lawyers are almost always paid by means of a contingent fee.

Before contingent fees, an injured victim would have had to pay the attorney his hourly rate, which today may range from $250 to $500 an hour or even more. Effectively, contingent fees have opened the doors to the court house to everyone, not just the rich. So, a person with limited financial resources, injured and possibly out of work can still seek justice through our court system.

Above information excerpted from Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know. *Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble near you!

Car Accident Prevention (Pt. 2)

In a previous post, we discussed how you could keep accidents to a minimum by practicing effective road safety. Again, we do acknowledge that although car accidents are not totally preventable, decreasing the likelihood is possible and necessary to avoid these sometimes tragic and often costly events.

Below I offer a few more practical safety guidelines to ensure your on-the-road safety.

1. Reduce in-car distractions. Changing the radio station or MP3 track, texting or talking on the phone, eating, among other things, all constitute as in-car distractions. To avoid these distractions, it is best to always keep your eyes ahead of you—on the road—and both hands on the steering wheel. It only takes an instance of taking your hands off the wheel and a sudden gust of wind could send your car into the next lane and cause an accident.
2. Do not tailgate. According to the Highways’ Agency, tailgating is the cause of a third of all car accidents. What’s more, tailgating is often done purposely to encourage the driver ahead to drive faster. Leave at least a three-second time interval between you and the person driving in front of you to avoid the compulsion to tailgate and a tailgating collision.
3. Be sure to wear your glasses or contacts (if applicable). If you are visually impaired, it is best to always wear either your glasses or contacts while you are driving. Even if you feel comfortable and safe driving without them, it is especially beneficial to be able to endure other possible visual obstructions that may occur while driving, e.g. heavy rainfall.
4. Pay attention to traffic. If you watch the flow of traffic carefully, you will be able to anticipate any changes and be able to plan ahead, and maybe even avoid certain delays.
5. Always wear a seat belt. Regardless of the situation, it is an absolute must to be buckled up or confined by some safety restraint while driving. In the case of an accident, it can be the difference between life and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “[s]eat belts reduce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by about half.”

Safety is a full-time job – don’t make it a part-time practice.

To find more helpful advice, be on the lookout for my forthcoming book, Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know – coming soon to Amazon and a Barnes & Noble near you!

How Does the Insurance Company Evaluate Your Case?

You may wonder how insurance companies assess the value of pain and suffering. In other words, assess the value of your claim.

Pain and suffering is actually a legal term that describes the injuries that the plaintiff has suffered as a result of an accident.

According to AllLaw.com, “it encompasses not just physical pain, but also emotional and mental injuries such as fear, insomnia, grief, worry, inconvenience and even the loss of the enjoyment of life.”

“About 70% of all auto insurance companies use some form of injury evaluation software. An injury evaluation program known as Colossus is the most widely used system. Other insurance carriers may use other injury evaluation systems, but the principles will be similar to how Colossus utilizes the data.

Colossus was originally designed to calculate economic and non-economic damages along four general categories: medical symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis; permanent impairment; disability; and loss of enjoyment of life.

These categories are applied within the program to six hundred injuries and 10,000 factors. The nation’s leading expert on Colossus, Dr. Aaron DeShaw, has developed a 2-CD program to assist physicians with the clinical forms specifically formulated to get the best possible offer from insurance companies using a Colossus-based evaluation system.”

For those who are interested in owning Amazon’s Best Seller, “Plaintiff 101” as a valuable resource:

Click here to >>ORDER<< your copy TODAY!

Above information excerpted from Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know.

Going “All In”

There will come a time in the settlement negotiation process when you believe the insurance company has exhausted all their authority. You may want to finally give in and go with what has been finally offered. 

Eventually, you must decide whether to accept the offer or reject it and proceed to trial. While there is a possibility a larger amount may come later, it is not certain.

Remember at this point in time, the defendant carrier will be expending substantial additional funds in preparation for trial—money the carrier would have saved had a settlement been reached. If you accept the offer, there are no further risks, and your settlement amount is certain. This is likely the only certainty at this time.

If you proceed to trial, you may win, but the amount of damages a jury awards is never certain. A jury may believe they gave you an ample award which you consider wholly inadequate. Conversely, you may get a large award, only to find out the insurance company filed a Notice of Appeal. This involves examining the record for any reversible errors during the trial or, at a minimum arguing the verdict was too large. Appeals can take years to resolve, and possibly ending with a reversal by the Appellate Court, requiring a new trial.

To find more helpful advice, be on the lookout for my forthcoming book, Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know – coming soon to Amazon and a Barnes & Noble near you!

Above information excerpted from Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know. *Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble near you!

Adapting to Life as the New “You”

A successful trial verdict or settlement will not solve all your problems. If you believe this, you will be disappointed in the end. Indeed it will help reduce certain stressors, but there will never be a time you wouldn’t trade all the money you have received through your litigation to return to your pre-injury self. Surely it doesn’t resolve the impact this abrupt transition has had on your life, in general.

What is Transformation?

According to Dictionary.com, transformation describes a “change in form, appearance, nature, or character.” The real transformation doesn’t characterize your transition from pre-injury to post-injury, but rather your ability to come to terms with your post-injury self. You can either live in regret, wishing your injury had never happened, or you can make a personal investment and begin to accept your limitations and appreciate what you can do and have the potential to achieve.

Identity is beyond the surface—the mere appearance of things. It constitutes a sum of internal and eternal characteristics that describe a person.

In order to combat a loss of identity, it’s imperative that you create a realistic outlook on life. You have to develop a new mindset to adapt to the new “you”, because, after all, your injury isn’t just surface-deep.

If you find yourself experiencing extreme difficulty coping with your injury/new circumstances, don’t hesitate to seek professional help. Health professionals are on standby with plenty of resources to help navigate your recovery that you might not otherwise have access to.

During my own transformation, I made it my personal motto to…

 

And I urge you to make it yours!

For more advice, be on the lookout for my forthcoming book, Plaintiff 101: The Black Book of Inside Information Your Lawyer Will Want You To Know – coming soon to Amazon and a Barnes & Noble near you!