Do You Really Need an Attorney To Handle a Case Against Allstate Insurance?

By Ben Glass

Each case is different and you have to draw your own conclusions about whether or not you need to hire an attorney for your claim.  However, we will keep recounting for you the stories of dealing with various insurance adjusters.

This accident occurred on December 21, 2006 in Virginia near Dulles Airport. The defendant had just left a Washington Redskins game and was very drunk. The vehicle our clients were riding in was hit from behind and rolled and destroyed.

The defendant hired a good drunk driving attorney and avoid going to jail on a technicality. The judge in traffic court actually said “not guilty does not mean innocent-the next time you do this I hope you go off a bridge by yourself.” (We have the transcript.)

The clients hired an attorney and made a claim against Allstate. At the time the case was referred to Ben Glass the male driver had been offered $20,500 to settle his claim and his wife had been offered $12,000. We thought these offers were ridiculously low and at a northern Virginia jury would see otherwise.

We filed suit and shortly before trial the case is settled as Allstate finally offered fair value for the cases. The case in which Allstate offered $20,500 settled for $85,000. The case in which all state had offered $12,000 settled for $55,000.

Again, each case is different and must be judged on its own merits. Here, the defendant lied in deposition about his prior drunk driving experience and conviction. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether hiring an attorney to prosecute your claim against Ball State is necessary.

This case was handled by attorneys David Marks, Brian Glass and Manuel Leiva, who are of counsel to BenGlassLaw.

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If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident, visit our Personal Injury Lawyer page to find a Personal Injury Attorney in your area.

FEMA Announces $200m In Emergency Food And Shelter Program Awards For 2010

The Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced that federal funds totaling $200 million has been awarded to assist organizations dedicated to feeding, sheltering, and providing critical resources to our nation's hungry and homeless.

Funding was made available by Congress for the National Board of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) to support social service agencies in more than 2,500 cities and counties across the country.

"The EFSP provides an important resource to support our communities and our most vulnerable citizens," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. "As we work to build our nation's emergency response team, it is important that we recognize the diverse assistance that our agency is able to bring to bear, and ensure we are leveraging those resources for those who need it most."

EFSP grant funds are used to supplement food, shelter, rent, mortgage and utility assistance programs for people with non-disaster related emergencies.

These funds are in addition to $100 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, announced in April 2009.

The EFSP is administered by a National Board, chaired by Berl D. Jones Jr. of FEMA, with representatives from American Red Cross; Catholic Charities USA; National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.; The Jewish Federations of North America; The Salvation Army; and, United Way Worldwide. United Way Worldwide serves as Secretariat and Fiscal Agent to the National Board.

EFSP funding is allocated to qualifying jurisdictions based on thresholds involving population, unemployment and poverty levels both nationally and locally. Grants are then awarded to non-profit community and government organizations that are chosen by Local Boards in the qualifying jurisdictions. This year's awards bring the total aid disbursed in the EFSP's twenty-seven year history to more than $3.6 billion.

A state-by-state list of the eligible jurisdictions and award amounts is available at www.efsp.unitedway.org.

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

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Roth Conversions - Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Some financial advisors are warning against a Rush to Roth.  The key to is to approach the idea cautiously and do a comprehensive analysis.  Whether a Roth conversion makes sense is a highly individual decision, to be made in consultation with your advisors.

I did a Roth conversion the last time the IRS allowed us to pay the taxes over a couple of years, which was about 10 years ago. This time around, however, I'm not so keen on the idea.

I have not completed an analysis of my own situation at this point, but I will probably decide against a conversion of my traditional IRA, as most of the additional income would likely be taxed at combined federal and state rates of over 40%.  Even with virtually certain future income tax rate increases, I expect that my taxable income will be lower in retirement.  That's particularly true if I head to sunny Florida, where there's no state income tax!  Plus, I'm not keen on giving Uncle Sam and the NC Department of Revenue $40,000 + of my savings - I may need it down the road (or even next year, as my son heads off to college)!

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Los Angeles Drug Crimes

When a Los Angeles drug crimes defense attorney represents someone accused of possessing, trafficking or using drugs, they must be a highly qualified lawyer. Los Angeles drug crimes include possession, sales, trafficking and more, and only a skilled criminal defense attorney can keep anyone accused of such a crime free from prison.

One such person is a church leader accused of a Riverside drug crime. A man was arrested on suspicion of selling drugs out of his church in Riverside, having previously been shot during a burglary attempt. In addition to Los Angeles drug crimes, the man is accused of sexual crimes as well and is being investigated by police. In September of this year, the man was wounded in a shooting during a robbery attempt outside his church, authorities said. He was taken to a local hospital, where he recovered. At the time, he reported to police that he had encountered four juveniles when he was shot. The man, who calls himself a bishop, and his church are not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

If the man is found to have been running drugs out of his church, public opinion about him will very low, and any jury trial will be extremely difficult to defend. In addition, any Los Angeles drug crimes defense involves financial records that could lead to tax fraud charges by government lawyers. Again, this is why having a skilled Los Angeles drug crimes defense attorney is so important.

In such a high profile case, an experienced Los Angeles drug crimes defense attorney is absolutely necessary. A Los Angeles drug crime such as sales or trafficking can lead to years of prison, and may even be a federal crime if any interstate trafficking and/or sales was involved. Federal crimes are that much more difficult to defend. A Los Angeles drug crimes defense attorney can make sure that anyone charged with a drug crime gets the representation they need to protect their rights and freedoms.

If you have been charged with a serious criminal offense, do not hesitate to call Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP at (877) 781-1570. Our knowledgeable legal team can evaluate your case and advise you of your legal options.

Beware of Accident Scammers and Con Artist; Don’t get Screwed out of a Recovery.

You are driving alone in your car, you are thinking about the holiday season or some other event, you come to a stop, and then wham – some idiot has just rear ended you.

You neck jerks back, and then forward, your body hits the seatbelt going across your body. You are shocked. You did not imagine that a mild rear end car accident would sound so loud, or violently jerk your body like it did.

You heart starts racing as you realized what happened. You may not feel pain yet because your body is producing chemicals which mask pain, or your may feel mild pain or stiffness at this point.

You head feels light as you unbuckle your seat belt and get out of the car. The person who hit you is a nice clean cut guy or gal. They run over to you apologizing greatly about how sorry they are, and that they did not mean to hit you.

They offer to pay for the damage to your car, sometimes on the spot. They usually have the same story; they do not want to get their insurance involved because their rates will go up, or their spouse will get upset, etc.

You empathize with the person who hit you; you know that they are required to exchange insurance information with you, but they are so nice, and they are offering to pay, you actually feel bad for the person who hit you. They are talking a good game. They give you a $100 or $200. You go on your way; later that night you realize that you cannot turn your neck and you have the worst headache in history. It turns out that you are going to miss work for a couple of weeks recovering.

You find out later that you have $3,000 damage to the back of your car.

What have you done; you screwed yourself out of thousands of dollars in just compensation that you were entitled to because you let an accident scammer and con artist talk you out of doing what was right.
Make no mistake about it; there is no way to know right after a vehicle accident what your damages are. I have seen people who thought they were not injured after an accident, turn up with shooting pains a numbness hours later, they had nerve damage.

The California vehicle code requires all persons involved in a vehicle accident to stop after an accident, and to exchange identifying information and insurance information. You can be nice after an accident, but firm at the same time.

The first thing you should do is to call the police if you can, and then ask the other party to produce their driver’s license and insurance information. Ask them if the address on the license is current, and request their phone number.

If they try to play the same old con I discussed above simply tell them, look the law requires that we exchange information and I cannot take a chance on getting in trouble, can you please give me your drivers license and insurance information? If they refuse, tell them that you have already called the police.

Make sure that you note the model and make of their car along with the license plate information.
The vast majority of persons out there will comply with the law. However, there as those few asocial assholes that will try to scam and con their way out of not being responsible when they cause harm. Don’t let yourself be a double victim by being injured by them, and then turning around and letting them get off for a few hundred dollars.

If you have been the victim in a motor vehicle accident anywhere in California, call my firm ASAP for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x.1, or go to http://www.thepersonalinjury.com .

By California Motor Vehicle Accident Attorney and Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2009

What Every Woman Should Know About Spousal Support

Sometimes women are fearful of separation and divorce because they fear that they will not receive spousal support or that they will end up with a minimum wage job, not being able to support themselves or their children. They fear that their ex-husband will then be able to step in and take their children. This is just not the case!
Many of the women that have spoken with me about divorce and separation are afraid that they will be homeless if they get divorced. Often, these are women who gave up their career to stay home and raise their children. Another fear, often coming from husband’s attorney, is that the court should look at the wife’s ability to immediately get a job and support herself.
In assessing a case, sometimes the husband will demand a seek work order and or demand a “vocational assessment.” This vocational assessment ends up costing thousands of dollars and often does not produce the results sought. A vocational assessment is where a trained vocational expert interviews, usually the wife, about her education and work background and then offers their opinion about the wife’s earning potential. These assessments are sometimes in the face of situations where the wife has been a stay at home mother and put the husband through school so that he could advance in his career.
Here are some facts that women should know to address their fears:

• The court does look at your market ability (previous job experience), as one of the elements of the analysis.

Under California Family Law Code Section 4320, the court, “in ordering spousal support, the court shall consider all of the following circumstances.”

• The marketable skills of the supported party.
• The job market for those skills, plus the time and expenses needed to get the education or training to develop those skills or a more marketable skill.
• The extent the supported party’s present or future earning capacity is impaired by unemployment that incurred during the marriage to devote time to domestic duties.
• The extent to which the supported party contributed to the education, training, a career position, or a license by the supporting party.
• The ability of the supporting party to pay spousal support.
• The needs of e4ach party based on the standard of living established during the marriage.
• The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each party.
• The duration of the marriage.
• And several other factors that best assesses and presented to the court by a competent family law attorney.

You can see there are many factors that the court shall take into consideration and that the odds that the court will order spousal support are extremely likely. Sometimes, even though there is an order of support, the supporting party will not pay. Family Code 3557 allows the court to enforce the support order with contempt and the court will also order payment of attorney fees and sanctions.
If you or someone you know has questions regarding Spousal Support, Child Support, Child Custody, Divorce or Separation in Sacramento and Northern California, contact an Experienced Sacramento Family Law Attorney at Bowman & Associates today to schedule your free initial consultation. Contact us online or by calling (916) 923-2800.

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Bellingham man dies in car crash near Concrete

The death of 25-year-old Bellingham man who was killed early Saturday, Dec. 12, when his car drove off the North Cascades Highway into a gully and hit a power pole, reinforces the importance of seatbelts.

The accident victim died when his 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser crossed over the centerline heading eastbound and left the highway near Challenger Road, just west of the town of Concrete. The crash occurred about 4:40 a.m.

The driver was ejected from his vehicle and alcohol is suspected as having contributed to the accident.

The deadly combination of drinking and driving while not wearing seatbelts has lead to several deadly crashes as of late. State troopers who have seen an increase in roadside collision with police vehicles have initiated programs to crackdown on impaired driving. Drunk driving, which can lead to reckless driving habits and hazardous speeds, puts both the driver and others in danger. Seatbelt usage can reduce the injuries associated with a car accident and often are the decisive factor between life and death.

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