The First Thing to Consider BEFORE Your Auto Accident!

Recently there has been a number of auto accidents on US 460 between Elkhorn City, Kentucky and Pikeville.    I drive  US 460 on a daily basis .    Over the past 21 years as a lawyer who has handled hundreds of auto accident cases,  I am attuned to these accidents and how they happen and this makes my concerns very personal.

 Before you are involved in an auto accident there are a number of  things  you should do to make sure you and  your family is protected.  First and foremost you should take out your auto insurance policy and take a look at your coverages.  You can quickly find your coverages by looking at the declarations page of your policy.  It is usually, found in the first five pages of your policy when your insurance company sends it to you.

The first coverage to look at is added reparations benefits (PIP) on your automobile policy.  Every auto policy in Kentucky comes with Basic Reparations Benefits also called Personal Injury Protection or PIP benefits.   Kentucky requires basic PIP coverage on all motor vehicles except motorcycles. Basic PIP is to be paid by the insurer of the vehicle in which the injured person is riding at the time of an accident, or the vehicle which strikes a pedestrian, regardless of who was at fault in the accident. Basic PIP provides up to $10,000 per person per accident for medical expenses, lost wages and similar “out of pocket” costs due to an injury.

Here  is  a list of the things that PIP will pay for if you are in an auto accident.

KRS 304.39-020(5) is the Kentucky law what types  of basic PIP benefits are paid.

“(a) “Medical expense” means reasonable charges incurred for reasonably needed products, services, and accommodations, including those for medical care, physical rehabilitation, rehabilitative occupational training, licensed ambulance services, and other remedial treatment and care. “Medical expense” may include non-medical remedial treatment rendered in accordance with a recognized religious method of healing. …  Medical expense shall include all healing arts professions licensed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. There shall be a presumption that any medical bill submitted is reasonable.

(b) “Work loss” means loss of income from work the injured person would probably have performed if he had not been injured, and expenses reasonably

incurred by him in obtaining services in  lieu of those he would have performed for income, reduced by any income from substitute work actually performed by him.

(c) “Replacement services loss” means expenses reasonably incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured person would have performed, not for income but for the benefit of himself or his family, if he had not been injured.

(d) “Survivor’s economic loss” means loss after decedent’s death of contributions of things of economic value to his survivors, not including services they would have received from the decedent if he had not suffered the fatal injury, less expenses of the survivors avoided by reason of decedent’s death.

(e) “Survivor’s replacement services loss” means expenses reasonably incurred by survivors after decedent’s death in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the decedent would have performed for their benefit if he had not suffered the fatal injury, less expenses of the survivors avoided by reason of the decedent’s death and not subtracted in calculating survivor’s economic

loss.”

Here are the DO’s and DO NOT’S regarding your PIP coverage.

DO NOT take a deductible on your PIP benefits.  It is not worth the money you save.

DO purchase PIP on your motorcycle.

DO purchase added reparations benefits in $10,000.00 increments up to  $50,000.00 dollars.

Call your insurance agent and have them price all the above options for  you.  It could end up being the best money you ever  spent.

Related articles

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• Kentucky Auto Insurance – Buying vs. Rejecting Personal Injury Protection (articles.onlineautoinsurance.com)
• Accident Injury Care in Utah: Chiropractors and Massage Therapists (getbalancedhealth.wordpress.com)

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

New Swift Silver Mine Book Published

Ed Henson has just written a great new book on the John Swift Silver Mine.  It is a fictional novel based on the legend.  Here is a link to get Swift on Amazon

Here is the<a href="Swift“> link  for the Kindle edition of the book

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Coal Truck Accidents -Get the evidence quickly!

Image via Wikipedia

There are a number of things  you should consider if you or a loved one  is involved in a collision with a Tractor-Trailer or Coal Truck.  First and foremost,  Evidence needs to be collected quickly and it is the last thing a accident victim or his  or her family thinks about.  You can  be assured that the trucking company and their insurance carriers  routinely get  to the accident scene before it is even cleared by the police.

In eastern Kentucky almost every coal truck has at least one million dollars in insurance coverage so there is  a  lot at stake for the insurance company.

It is important that the victim have a trial lawyer with a thorough knowledge of trucking accidents.    The trial lawyer should collect the following items as soon as possible:

1. the complete police investigation file, including all photographs and video;
2. the 911 recordings or tapes;
3. all the television and news media converge, including all the photograghs taken at the scene by reporters. (Reporters often take a large amount of photos when covering a story which are never published by their media outlet)
4. all the black box data downloads from the crashed autos and truck;

There are numerous other items that need  to  be collected and reviewed, but the main point here is to be thinking about getting all the curcial evidence as quickly as possible.

Most attorneys have had little or no experience in operating or maintaining commercial vehicles.  That is why it is important that the attorney retain a truck safety expert as soon as possible.  A well trained, experienced commercial vehicle operator can provide crucial insight into helping structure the discovery requests, and can familiarize the attorney with the various aspects of commercial vehicle maintenance and operation.  There are numerous accident reconstructionists who have obtained CDLs, but nothing can take the place of someone who has logged thousands of hours behind the wheel.  Truck Safety Experts are also very helpful at trial as most jurors have a poor understanding of commercial vehicle operation, and the safety duties imposed upon truck drivers and motor carriers.

In my  20 plus year of litigation I have been involved in numerous tractor trailer and coal truck accident cases and the main lessons learned is  always get the evidence and get it quickly!

Use Evernote for your Closing Argument “swipe file”

I use Evernote  for a lot of different things in my daily personal and business life.  This post is about one of the first ways I began using Evernote.

What is a Swipe File?

A Swipe File is a large collection of reference materials to help in the creative process.  Wikipedia defines, ”A swipe file is a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects. Copywriters are not the only ones who can benefit from having a swipe file. … authors and publishers can benefit from creating a swipe file of best-selling titles to give them ideas for their own titles. Publicists can create a swipe file of great press release headlines. Swipe files are a great jumping-off point for anybody who needs to come up with lots of ideas…”

Trial Lawyers use of Swipe File

All Trial Lawyers should use a swipe file for capturing ideas, analogies and inspirations regarding specific cases as they progress.  These bits of information could be anything form a relevant news story to a magazine article or an advertisement of corporate defendant.

For years I used a regular file folder in the client file to keep these bits of inspiration.  However, this was often a complex task.  Most of the time when inspiration hit I never had that client file in front of me.  I would have to dictate into a recorder or scribble a note out on a piece of paper and then place it in the file at a later date.

 Why Evernote is the tool for your “Swipe File”

 I began using Evernote in October of 2009.  One of my first uses of Evernote was to capture notes and ideas for trial.  Now I have all my witness outlines, cross-examination outlines, and my master swipe file on Evernote.  I can get the information into Evernote in numerous ways.

•  I can use Noteshelf on my iPad and actually write it down and export the note to Evernote straight from Noteshelf.
• If I write it on paper, I scan the paper with my Scansnap scanner directly into Evernote.
• If I am surfing the web and doing research and I find something relevant to a case I can use Evernote web clipper in Firefox or Google Chrome.
• I can also use my phone to take a picture of a document or object directly in Evernote on the phone.
• I can also use the Evernote app on my phone to dictate an audio note directly into Evernote.
• Evernote also provides each account with a unique email address so you can forward email straight into Evernote.
• I can also just open a new note in Evernote and begin  typing the idea or thought directly into Evernote.  (I actually wrote this blog post in Evernote)

Once the information is in Evernote you can easily find it with Evernote’s search function.  It will  even search your hand writing.  However, for my swipe file I tag the note with  ”swipe file” “Client’s  Name”  (if needed) and the area I think I will need to use the information.  For Example if it is an idea for closing argument, I will add the tag “closing.”  You create your own notebooks and tags in Evernote so how you organize it is completely up to you.

Evernote is free for the first 60 Mg of data for every 30 day cycle, but you can upgrade to the premium account.  Personally, I have never needed to upgrade,  but I can see it happening soon because I use Evernote for  everything!

Related articles

• Evernote; Don’t search for Lost Treasure without It! (timbelcher.wordpress.com)
• How Guitar Columnist Pierre Journel Uses Evernote for Podcasting and House Hunting (evernote.com)
• Now Attach Any File To Your Evernote Notebooks (techie-buzz.com)