If someone was in an accident due to no fault of their own and sustained injuries, BUT they weren’t wearing their seat belt, should they be able to recover at all from the at fault party?  Should their recovery be limited?  Should they have to prove that the injuries would have happened regardless of the seat belt?  Tell me your thoughts.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/lawsuit-las-vegas-market-worker-alleges-wage-theft

 

I wasn’t aware this sort of thing happened, but apparently it does.  Here’s the scenario:

Plaintiffs are working for employer, they clock in and out for certain hours, but after their shift their asked to work hours which they don’t document and aren’t paid for.

Eh?

Granted, I’m self-employed and have been for what feels like a hundred years now.  And when I was working for hourly rates before that, I clocked in when I was working and didn’t clock out until I was done and done.  No one ever asked me to not ask to get paid when I worked.  Frankly I never even thought of what I would do if someone asked.  I probably would have said, “No.” and if I was pressed I probably would have quit.

But I was lucky and had a good safety net back then, so I could get a new job if necessary.  So what if you don’t have that safety net?  Is that when these sorts of situations arise?  Have you ever been asked not to get paid for your time at work?  Do tell!  I’m interested in how much this happens.

In North Carolina we have plenty of personal injury attorneys.  We also have plenty of lawyers who will take on personal injury cases.  In addition, we have big-time advertising machines that staff lawyers to work on personal injury cases.  Those may sound like the same thing, but they aren’t.  Let’s discuss: We’ll go from last to first:

Throughout the state there are several firms that spend thousands of dollars on advertising.  You see them on television, you get letters from them when you’re in an accident, they dominate the internet with their money.  If you have a claim that they are interested in, they will send a runner to your home to get you to sign their contract.  This runner is not legally capable of giving you legal advice, but that person is supposed to answer all of your questions.  If you sign up with them, when you call you will, on most occasions, be dealing with a “case manager” who spends more time on your file, relatively speaking, than anyone else. What credentials will this case manager have?  They almost certainly will not have a license to practice law and therefore can’t give legal advice (but aren’t they the ones answering your questions?).  They almost certainly won’t have gone to law school.  So what are their qualifications?  I don’t know. And when, exactly, are you going to deal with an actual attorney?  The question on their side is, “Does that case warrant an attorney’s involvement?”  Who knows?

Then you have attorneys who do a little bit of everything.  Perhaps they spend most of their time in district court handling drug paraphernalia charges, and DWIs.  But you call them because they got you out of a ticket, ask who they’d recommend for a personal injury claim, and they tell you, “Oh, I can do that!”  I suppose they can.  But do they do it often?  Are they keeping up with the changes in the law?  When they do their annual 12 hours of continuing education are they spending most of their time on DWI stuff, or are they learning more about handling personal injury claims?  Do they have processes in place to actively and successfully manage a personal injury claim from start to finish, or is the same secretary who does traffic ticket letters handling your case as best she can?  I don’t know.

Finally, you have personal injury attorneys.  These guys and girls devote the majority of their time in their practices to handling personal injury cases.  They probably belong to the NCAJ and keep up with the latest developments in this area of law.  When you call them, you get to them.  When they sign you up to handle your case, you deal with them, not their assistant or case manager.  When you need help, they will answer.  If you need them to come visit you, they will come – personally.  If you want top-notch personal service these are the attorneys you should hire to handle your personal injury claim.

I am proud to say that I belong to the third category.  When you hire me, you get me.  I work on your case personally.  When you call, you get me.  Remember, if you are at UNC Hospitals, I am only minutes away and routinely visit people there upon request.

If you have a personal injury claim and want advice, give me a call.  919-929-2992.