Insurance Claim1

What is it with death and dying?  I mean, why are people so fixated on life that they're afraid of dying?  Face it, we're all getting older. From the second we pop out the womb, we're getting older.  I was reading an article today about how old people (i.e. people older than me) are constantly clamoring for the latest tip on how to find or manipulate the fountain of youth . You want to know the secret to a long life?  Eat lots and lots of fiber.  You won't live longer but it will feel like it.  For the rest of you who realize that death and dying are inevitable, might I make a suggestion that will help with the your passing.  Save all your money for your beneficiaries or spend it all before you die. If you are all for saving your money, then in good company you are because there are millions of ways to invest your hard earned monies and ensure that it goes where you want it to go.  For the saving and giving crowd, might I suggest you take...

I have always liked doing research.  From my early days in elementary school to post-graduate programs, if I had a choice of taking a test or writing a paper, I'd write the paper.  Always.  The thing is, I knew that there was no one , catch-all book where I could find everything.  I would pull facts and figures from dozens of resources and then start writing. Imagine my surprise, then, when years later I'm helping people do research in a law library and they are regularly put off when I tell them that there is no one tell-all book that lays all the law out for them in easy to read steps with pictures .  There was nothing like that in undergrad, why would there be something like that in a post-graduate study like law?  Really?! Anyway, I was thinking about this when a young lady came into my library the other day.  Seems she wanted information about foster children.   More to the point, she was looking for the rights of children in ...

One of the hardest things I do all day is not to noticeably cringe (or laugh out loud).  For example, the other day this lady comes in.  Seems she was on her way to a lunch party when she came upon an accident.  Good heart that she has/had she got out to see if she could help. Walking up to the scene, she found one person laying outside their vehicle.  The person was beat-up and barely conscious. Lady, feeling bad for the person, sees a jacket in the back of the vehicle and puts it under his head as a pillow, promised to find help, and left. Again on her way to the lunch party, lady calls 911.  A few months later, she is served with a complaint for negligence.  What?!?  I'm being sued?!??!  I was just trying to help and he sues me?!?!?!??!??!?!??!? Yes, yes he is/was.  Lady asks if there isn't some good Samaritan law that speaks to the immunity of persons who stop to help injured people.  The law of which she is refe...

Why is it, no matter how early I start driving for work, there is always someone who is in a rush to get in an accident with me? Take, for instance the guy that I almost creamed on the way to work, today.  So, picture it, I'm driving the speed limit (hey, it happens sometimes) and just as I'm approaching the intersection to turn right, the guy in front of me hits his breaks to let someone turn left into a parking lot.  No one in front of him and he slams on his breaks to....what?  Get the back of his car smashed in? This brings us to our word of the month: CONTRIBUTORY (and COMPARATIVE) NEGLIGENCE .  See, the thing is, you need to know about the former so you have some context about the latter.  So, what is CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE ?  According to Black's Law Dictionary (10th Edition) : Contributory Negligence is the principle that completely bars a plaintiff's recovery if the damage suffered is partly the plaintiff's own fault.  Most stat...

The other day my boss asked me why I have a personal blog.  Truth be told, there are many reasons but a big reason I blog is because there are times when some people just make me laugh and because I can't (or shouldn't) really laugh at them (or in front of them), I hold it in and blog about the situation later. Take, for example, the angry lady (AL) that was in here the other day.  Seems she had been renting a place from Landlord (LL).  At that time, LL was also renting to another person (AP).  Got all that? At some point, AL determined that the sun was shining too brightly into her window in the morning.  So, she asked to use LL's ladder.  Up went AL to install some shades outside the windows.  LL left AL to her own devices and drove off to work.  At some point, AL ran into some trouble and called for AP to come help her.  AP never came.  AL subsequently fell off the ladder and broke her hip. Here's where the story gets, uh.......

Today's tale is a story of greed. Once upon a time X lived a happy life - until he got a girlfriend.  Girlfriend was needy.  Very needy.  So needy, in fact, that X found that he was unable to pay basic bills.  But love does strange things to people, so X sought to get a loan from a friend Y.  Friend Y was a lawyer and knew better than to loan money to X without a contract. X signed on the dotted line and continued to satiate girlfriends needs. Months passed and when the contract between X and Y came due, X (to no one's surprise) had not the money to pay Y.  X, it seems, had another friend (Z) who (after much discussion and promises) agreed to pay Y the money X owed.  So, to recap, X and Y had a contract.  X didn't have the money to pay Y so X got Z to stand in his stead as debtor.  This is called a surety contract and Y agreed to accept Z as the surety.  In fact, Z insisted Y create a new contract indicating the above facts. Th...

The thing with the holiday season is that it starts tugging at the heartstrings.  People start longing to be with family, people start looking to go home, and kids look to be with mom and dad.  Well, some kids, anyway.   Some kids you kind of don't want to see again as all they want is more of everything (ungrateful little buggers).  Anyway, today's blog is a story about two diametrically opposed brothers who were in my law library a while back. Brother #1 was a nice enough guy.  Affable, dressed like Bing Crosby and spoke well of his mother.  Brother #2 was a jerk. He dressed like he lived on the Jersey Shore and spoke with a Harvard accent (even though he was from California).  Two brothers, two perspectives.  I know all about Brothers #1 and #2 because they came in on consecutive weeks seeking information about how to "best" deal with Mom's money.   See, Mom was about 88 years young and, apparently, was exhibiting earl...