Many states use the term “comparative fault” to describe part of the court process regarding responsibility. Indiana is not a true comparative fault state. Indiana is a modified comparative fault state meaning that once the plaintiff’s level of fault exceeds 50% he/she is barred from any recovery. At 50/50 the plaintiff still gets half his/her damages but once the plaintiff’s fault exceeds 50% then the recovery is zero. That is a key difference and an additional reason why the plaintiff would benefit by contact our Indiana injury lawyers.
In most DUI cases a motorist gets pulled over by an officer for a minor traffic rule violation like speeding, weaving or failing to yield. Based on the initial contact with the driver the police officer might ask the driver to step out of the vehicle. When the driver is requested to step out of the vehicle it allows the police officer to observe certain signs that indicate whether or not the person is under the influence or impaired possibly because of alcohol or drugs. At this point the police officer might perform a standard Field Sobriety Tests and then based on his observation and the test results decide to arrest the driver.
If you or a loved one has been charged with a DUI, contact our Indianapolis DUI lawyer now!
The traffic stop must not violate your rights established by either the U.S. Constitution or the Indiana State Constitution For example, if the prosecution cannot show probable cause (legal grounds) for stopping you over and/or demonstrate that the police followed proper procedure; your case can be tossed out of court. Failure to protect your rights after an Indiana DUI / DWI arrest is the biggest mistake you can make. Our Indianapolis drunk driving defense lawyers have helped protect the right of Indiana arrested for DUI for years.
The most important thing you should do is get yourself a qualified Indianapolis DUI attorney available in town and appoint him immediately. If you don’t hire a DUI attorney immediately, there is a high chance that you will lose some very important evidence that might help you to win you case. Hiring an experienced Indianapolis DUI attorney will leave you with many advantages in favor of your case. If you are taken on as a client, our experienced attorney will review the evidence and point out all the strengths and weaknesses of the case against you, so that it is easier for you to make decisions.
Jun 282010
In 2004, a 450-pound white circus tiger, named Apollo, escaped from his trainer, and caused one of the most bizarre personal injury lawsuits that New York has ever seen. The tiger walked through a New York City park and ended up on the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Motorists, who were obviously stunned to see a huge tiger walking down the highway, panicked and created a multiple car pileup. Several drivers were rushed to the emergency room with serious back injuries. Two in particular suffered great physical and emotional damages. A New York police detective and a woman from Queens were awarded almost $1 million from the trainer of the tiger, who was ultimately responsible for his escape.
If you or a loved one has been injured because of another, contact our Indianapolis personal injury lawyers and attorneys now!
Though this case may seem bizarre, it can be applied to other personal injury lawsuits. If you are hurt, emotionally or physically, because of someone else’s negligence, you can sue him or her for the medical bills that you have to pay, as well as for punitive damages. You may even be able to settle with the defendant outside of the courtroom for a certain amount of money, and avoid the lengthy and tiresome trial process. For more information and also for professional advice, concerning personal injury lawsuits, contact our Indianapolis personal injury lawyers and attorneys for a consultation right now!
For some people, divorce is a painful, unwanted separation. For others, it is an opportunity to make a fresh start after a marriage that hasn’t worked out. But under any circumstances, going through divorce can be stressful. Fortunately, Indiana has a relatively straightforward divorce process. Due in part to our state’s high divorce rate, the courts and legislators have produced a system that is fairly efficient, especially when experienced Indiana divorce lawyers are involved.
We help clients pursue divorce solutions. If you are considering divorce, contact us now at any of our Indiana offices to discuss how we can help.
There are many complex aspects of Indiana divorce law, but the following are among the most prominent issues that come up in divorce cases.
Indiana divorce law can be complicated but here are some important parts:
Property division: The distribution of property and other assets between spouses can become complex, but an experienced divorce attorney can usually help you work out a resolution.
Child custody and support: The best interests of the child must always come first. The care and support of children is one of the most crucial aspects of the divorce process.
Divorce modifications: Many aspects of divorce, particularly child custody and support, can be revisited at a later date if the underlying circumstances change.
Depending on the specific jurisdiction, criminal assault entails some form of intentional action by an individual that causes another individual or group of individuals, to fear imminent physical harm or some form of unwanted contact. Assault, contrary to popular belief, does not necessarily need to include actual physical contact. Touching is normally considered and categorized as battery. Assault is normally considered the creation of the fear of physical harm by a victim. It can also be described as putting a person in fear of immediate harm or danger.
Let our Indianapolis criminal assault lawyers and attorneys help you now.
Our attorneys serve Marion County with experience in many different areas of Criminal Defense. They pride themselves in providing excellent legal services to those in Indianapolis.
The following is a guest post by the Chicago wrongful death attorneys at Dolan Law Offices:
Self-help author James Arthur Ray, made famous by the movie and book, The Secret, devised his Spiritual Warrior retreat in Sedona, Arizona, as a way to push people outside their comfort zones, past their physical and emotional limits.
The 60 followers who each plunked down $9000 in 2009 for the retreat were pushed past their limits to the point of tragedy. Three of the participants died from heat stroke, and many more were hospitalized. Autopsies have ruled the deaths to be accidental, but Ray has been charged with three counts of manslaughter. The trial, expected to last three or four months, begins in late August.
Sweat lodges are a Native American tradition used to cleanse both physically and spiritually. The domelike structures are made of willow branches and covered by canvas. Water is poured over heated rocks inside the dome to create steam.
Ray didn’t follow Native American protocol in a number of ways, however. His structure was covered in plastic, rather than with materials that breathe. Normally 8-12 people are in a sweat lodge, but Ray piled more than 60 in his. Native Americans also don’t stay in the sweat lodge to the point of unconsciousness. Ray not only knew some of his participants had fainted or were near unconsciousness, but encouraged them to stay in the sweat lodge despite their discomfort and chided those who wanted to leave. Prior to entering the sweat lodge, the participants had participated in a 36-hour fast and were sleep deprived.
In addition to the criminal trial, Ray had to face wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Liz Neuman, one of the participants who died as a result of the sweat lodge exercise. They claimed that Ray failed to do the following: to provide guidelines prior to the exercise, to monitor the well-being of every participant before and during the event, and to provide adequate supevision during the activity.
Dolan Law Offices is a Chicago law firm that is committed to providing excellent legal service to its clients. The attorneys for wrongful death in this law firm are experienced negotiators and litigators who represent victims of wrongful death actions in Chicago and throughout the entire state of Illinois.
Dolan Law Offices
10 South Lasalle Street #3712
Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 676-7600
A reputed high ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) prison/street gang and a previously convicted felon, has been sentenced to prison for possessing firearms, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer for the Department of Justice Criminal Division announced today.
If you or a loved one has been charged with a firearms crime, contact our Indiana criminal defense lawyers now!
U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller sentenced Cooke to 96 months in federal prison without parole and a three-year-term of supervised release following his prison term. Cooke, identified in previous court proceedings as a “general” of the ABT, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm on Feb. 16, 2010. Convicted felons are prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law.
At the time of his guilty plea, Cooke, who has multiple prior convictions dating back to 1987 for aggravated robbery, robbery, possession of crack cocaine and theft of firearms, admitted to having possessed 13 firearms at his Tomball, Texas, area residence between April 2007 and Oct. 23, 2008. The firearms, including seven rifles — two of which were ROMARM/CUGIR 7.62 cal from Romania, five shotguns and one Sterling .380 cal pistol, were seized following the execution of a state search warrant. In addition to the firearms, more than 300 rounds of ammunition and body armor were also seized from Cooke’s residence.
The search warrant was obtained as a result of an investigation conducted by special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with the assistance of the Tomball Police Department, Texas Rangers, Texas Department of Public Safety, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Houston Police Department Gang Unit, Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordinating Center. A camera containing photographs of Cooke carrying one of the Romanian rifles was seized from Cooke’s vehicle in mid-October 2008 by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office prompting the investigation leading to these federal charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman and Trial Attorney David N. Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Gang Unit prosecuted the case.
Id like to talk to you about a topic that comes up quite a bit in my social security disability practice here in Atlanta, and the issue has to do with part-time work. As you know, Social Security Disability is dealing with a lot of very, very long delays in the management and handling of cases. Its not uncommon for cases to be pending in the Social Security Administration for two or three years, sometimes even longer. Of course, when youre waiting two or three years to get to a hearing, it can be very tempting to try to go back to work. After all, you have to make ends meet, right? Well, the problem is that sometimes work activity, even if its just part-time work, can result in your claim for benefits being denied. And then you are really in trouble.
As a practical matter, its important for you to realize that part-time work makes it much more difficult to win your social security disability case. The simplest explanation would be this: the judges, when they see part-time work, are likely to believe that if you are able to do part-time work, then perhaps you would be able to do full-time work if your job responsibilities could be slightly lessened. In simple terms, a SSA Judge might think that if you tried a little bit harder, you could probably work full-time. This is just the thought process here. Or, if youre working a part-time job that requires a certain amount of physical activity, the natural thought of the Judge will be that if you took something a little bit less strenuous, you could probably do it full-time. Then the Judge will likely deny benefits.
I really think the part-time work muddies the waters, and I like to say that Social Security sees disability as a black and white thing: either youre disabled or youre not. Part-time work tends to blur that distinction and, again, judges sometimes are less inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. Its too bad that this is how it goes, since many people rely on that part-time work to make ends meet while they are waiting for their claim to be heard.
Now, I will tell you that unsuccessful work attempts – any work attempt that lasted three months or less may actually benefit you in a social security hearing. Judges do see unsuccessful work attempts as good evidence that youre not able to work full-time. So, I don’t think there’s a problem with trying to work, but I want to warn you that once you get beyond three or four months on any given job, then it starts to look like a regular type of job, and that’s when a judge might be inclined to deny your case.
Now, a couple of strategies to keep in mind about this: the definition of disability is that you are unable to engage in substantial gainful activity because of a medically determinable condition that has lasted 12 consecutive months or is likely to last 12 consecutive months or result in death. So, Ive had some cases where somebody might go back to work, but Ill tell them, if at all possible, wait until after 12 months have elapsed before going back to work. This is because if they go back to work, lets say, in month 14, that means they were out for at least a year and we could win them benefits for that time period. However, if they went back to work after 8 months of not working, the SSA is sure to deny the case (since it is shown that their condition did not disable them for a year as is required in order to win benefits). In cases where the claimant was out for more than a year and returned to work, however, we argue for what is known as a closed period of disability and get that lump sum for the chunk of time they were out. They wouldn’t get on-going benefits, but at least it would give them 12 or so months of benefits for when they were out of work.
So, I guess the big picture here is if you’re thinking about going back to work or trying to work and youre represented, call your attorney and talk to him or her about it. The one thing that we don’t like as attorneys is finding out the day of the hearing that our client has attempted to work and has earnings of several thousand dollars during the last couple of years while the case was pending before Social Security. Judges have access to earnings records, so they can see if you’ve tried to work and they can see that you were able to work. So if they see $20,000 or $30,000 of income during that two or three years before the hearing, its going to have to be explained. And, as I said, its very difficult to explain away part-time work that generated $15,000. Its not a lot of money, but it looks like regular work and it makes it much more difficult to win your disability case.
So, the big picture here is that there’s nothing wrong with trying to work but, if you do, you certainly risk getting your benefits. If you are thinking about going to work, its wise to consult with your attorney first to get a sense from him or her as to whether or not that’s going to make it difficult for you to pursue your claim for disability benefits.
Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Jonathan Ginsberg has been practicing Social Security Disability law in the Atlanta, Georgia area for over 20 years. His website can be found at http://www.atlantasocialsecuritydisabilityattorney.net
Jun 172010
The first step after seeking medical assistance after being bitten and or attacked by another person’s animal is talk to an experienced dog bite lawyer. Referral services and personal references will help lead to a qualified dog bite attorney for any situation.
If you or a loved one has been bite by a dog, contact our Indiana dog bite lawyer now!
In the case of animal attacks, there are attorneys who specialize in all animal laws, and even further concentrated attorneys that stay in only one section of animal laws, like animal attack or animal bite attorney. Laws pertaining to the control of animals are set by the state, county and city governments. The violation of these regulations can invoke civil charges and in some cases criminal charges depending on the circumstances of attack, type of animal, and where it occurred. Experienced dog bite attorneys are the best option for maximizing compensation.
Anderson – On Jun 02, 2010 Indiana State Trooper Jason Girt observed two females yelling at each other in a parking lot at 53rd and Scatterfield in Anderson. Trooper Girt proceeded into the parking lot and made contact with Blair N. Richardson, 24, Gaston. Richardson appeared to be intoxicated and began screaming at Trooper Girt and swearing.
If you or a loved one has been charged with battery on a police officer, contact one of our Indiana criminal defense lawyers or attorneys now!
Girt then advised Richardson to stop swearing but she refused. As Trooper Girt attempted to handcuff her she became combative and began to fight. A short struggle ensued and Trooper Girt was able to handcuff Richardson and place her under arrest. Blair N. Richardson was transported to the Madison County Jail and incarcerated.
