Rhode Island Personal Injury Law FAQS and Automobile - Car Accidents - by a RI Lawyer - Attorney3

By: David Slepkow
The insurance company will usually reply to the letter with either an offer to settle the case or a denial of liability. If the insurance company is denying liability in the personal injury case and refusing to pay anything, then the attorney will have no choice but to file a lawsuit to seek damages. In the event that a settlement offer is made to the attorney, there usually will be a period of negotiation to see if the parties can agree to a settlement amount.

If the parties cannot agree to a settlement amount, it may be necessary to file a personal injury/ negligence law suit in either any of the Rhode Island District Courts or Rhode Island Superior Court. In Rhode Island (RI), most personal injury, automobile accident, premises liability and slip and fall cases are handled in Rhode Island Superior Court because matters over $10,000.00 in Rhode Island must be heard in Superior Court.

Question: My Rhode Island personal injury attorney is unable to settle my car accident case with the insurance adjuster, then what happens next?

Answer: If the attorney is unable to settle the case with the insurance adjuster, then it is necessary to file a lawsuit in court. The process of a Rhode Island personal injury civil lawsuit can take up to a few years to resolve. Your lawyer will file a complaint in court alleging negligence or other causes of action asking the court to award you damages. After the complaint is filed, the insurance company will typically hire an attorney to represent their insured. The insurance company’s lawyer will file an answer to the case.

After the complaint and answer are filed, there is usually a discovery period. The parties can send interrogatories to each other which are written questions that the other party must answer. The parties can also take depositions of witnesses which is when the other lawyer asks you questions about the case in front of a stenographer. After the discovery period, there may be a motion to dismiss or motions for summary judgment that are filed by either of the parties.

If the case is not dismissed or summarily decided, then the case will proceed to trial. The average amount of time for a law suit in Rhode Island is about two years, although the amount of time for the law suit could vary depending on how complex the case is, availability of witnesses, and the amount of cases on the docket.

Question: How do I obtain evidence of my personal injury in Rhode Island?

Answer: Please take photographs of all injuries including , but not limited to, cuts, bruises and broken bones. Do not wait too long after the accident. Please do the best that you can to obtain the witness names, addresses, phone numbers, and other information to give to your Rhode Island personal injury attorney. Please keep records of your out-of-pocket expenses for your medical bills, lost wages and other expenses incurred such as medication and medical accessories. You need to keep accurate records because you will need to provide them to the insurance company. If your injury was caused by a whiplash injury caused by a rear end accident you may need to hire an expert to testify on your behalf as to the seriousness of upper and lower back injuries caused by whiplash.

Rhode Island Personal Injury, automobile accident, slip and fall and premises liability law lawyer, David Slepkow is a lawyer and partner at Slepkow Slepkow & Associates, Inc. in East Providence, Rhode Island.David never charges any fee for personal injury case, automobile / auto/ car accidents and slip & fall cases unless successful. David Slepkow is a member of the Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association. You can contact David Slepkow at http://www.slepkowlaw.com or by calling him at 401-437-1100.

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Rhode Island Personal Injury Law FAQS and Automobile - Car Accidents - by a RI Lawyer - Attorney 2

By: David Slepkow
The attorney will be very interested in knowing whether or not you have health insurance and the extent of your health insurance coverage. If your health insurance plan is covering your medical bills, they typically have a lien against any settlement proceeds you receive. It is necessary for your lawyer on your behalf to repay your health insurance company from the proceeds of any settlement or verdict that you receive. These liens typically can be negotiated with the health insurance company. Some insurance companies will typically lower their lien 25% to 33% to account for the work that your attorney has done on the case.

Sometimes, if liability or damage are in dispute, you can get a further reduction of the lien. Typically your lawyer will not be able to disburse any monies to you until he has paid the insurance company for the lien amount.

After the initial consultation and after you have retained the personal injury lawyer, the lawyer will typically do an investigation, if necessary, by calling witnesses, reviewing police reports, or doing anything else that is necessary to further your case. The attorney may need to read relevant Rhode Island negligence case law to evaluate the merits of your personal injury case. The attorney will collect your medical records and billing records. Obtaining your billing records for the accident from the medical providers is extremely important because the amount of medical bills that you have is a very important factor in determining the ultimate value of your case for settlement or trial purposes.

Your attorney typically will wait until he/she believes that you have reached a certain point in your medical treatment before he makes an offer to the insurance company to settle your personal injury case. Attorneys are typically concerned that they will settle the case prior to knowing the full extent of a person’s injuries. After an automobile accident case is settled and the release is signed, there is no way to get paid any further damages even if your injuries become substantially more severe. Therefore, it is usually not a good idea to settle the personal injury case prior to having some idea as to the extent of your injuries in the future. Your back, neck, shoulder or leg injury could get worse as time goes bye.

After the lawyer meets with you, he will typically send a letter of representation to all the insurance companies involved giving them general information about the case. The insurance company will open up a personal injury case file and respond to your attorney. Insurance companies are required by law to investigate the facts and look into the potential personal injury cause of action. When the attorney is comfortable that the right time has arrived, he or she will typically send a settlement package to the insurance company. This settlement letter usually includes an evaluation of the permanency of the injury, if any, and describes the pain and suffering of the client as well as any lost wages and medical bills incurred. The attorney typically includes in the settlement package an initial demand for settlement of the case.

Rhode Island Personal Injury, automobile accident, slip and fall and premises liability law lawyer, David Slepkow is a lawyer and partner at Slepkow Slepkow & Associates, Inc. in East Providence, Rhode Island.David never charges any fee for personal injury case, automobile / auto/ car accidents and slip & fall cases unless successful. David Slepkow is a member of the Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association. You can contact David Slepkow at http://www.slepkowlaw.com or by calling him at 401-437-1100.

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Rhode Island Personal Injury Law FAQS and Automobile - Car Accidents - by a RI Lawyer - Attorney1

By David Slepkow
Question: Should I negotiate with the insurance adjuster myself without the help of an attorney in order to settle a Rhode Island personal injury, slip and fall or automobile / auto / car accident case?

Answers: No. Representing yourself and negotiating with an insurance adjuster is usually not a good idea! Because you are not an attorney and have not handled personal injury matters before, you are often not aware of the full value of your case. The insurance adjuster may take advantage of your inexperience. Insurance adjusters typically will offer a lot less money to a person representing themselves than they would to an attorney representing a client. (Article by David Slepkow 401-437-1100)

Furthermore, when you are representing yourself in a Rhode Island personal injury or slip and fall case, the insurance company knows that you do not know how to litigate a lawsuit. Therefore you don’t have as much leverage with the insurance adjuster.

Question: How do Rhode Island personal injury lawyers charge for personal injury /automobile/ car accident and slip and fall cases?

Answer: Most lawyers In Rhode Island take personal injury, premises liability, dog bite cases, slip and fall and auto / car accidents on a contingent fee basis. Article by David slepkow (401-437-1100) This means that the lawyers do not collect any fees unless they are successful in settling your personal injury case or winning a verdict at trial. The lawyer typically will take the case costs from the settlement or verdict at the end of the case. Most attorneys advance case costs.

Question: If I hire a Rhode Island personal injury attorney, how does the process work?

Answer: You should retain a RI personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after the automobile or other accident. At the first meeting, the attorney typically will get all the important information concerning the accident including, but not limited to, the names of the witnesses, all injuries and the treating physician and doctors.

The attorney may want to visit the actual scene of the accident or slip and fall so that he can get further prospective on how the accident occurred. If the case is a slip and fall case, the lawyer should visit the scene of the accident if possible and interview potential witnesses. If you have any pictures of the accident scene, your damaged automobile, or of the resulting injuries, it is usually a good idea to show those to the lawyer.

If your lawyer is interested in taking the case, he or she will typically enter into a contingent fee personal injury fee agreement with you. You will need to provide a list of the names and addresses of all witnesses. Your lawyer will also ask you for the names and addresses of all treating physicians and the names and addresses of all hospitals and treating facilities. The lawyer will ask you to sign medical releases pursuant to federal law which will allow your lawyer to collect your medical bills and medical records from your health care provider concerning your injury.

Rhode Island Personal Injury, automobile accident, slip and fall and premises liability law lawyer, David Slepkow is a lawyer and partner at Slepkow Slepkow & Associates, Inc. in East Providence, Rhode Island.David never charges any fee for personal injury case, automobile / auto/ car accidents and slip & fall cases unless successful. David Slepkow is a member of the Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association. You can contact David Slepkow at http://www.slepkowlaw.com or by calling him at 401-437-1100.

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Recruitment Law: The Importance of Knowing the Regulations2

By: Mandy Leonard
Firstly, consultants should always read the contracts which go out to their contractors. If at any point a contract uses terms like "the employee" or "the team" this can be considered implied employment. The contractor must always be referred to as "the Limited Company" or "the Company". That is because the contract is with the Limited Company, not the individual contractor, hence the presence of the right of substitution clause.

It needs to be reinforced that any contractual negotiations or annual leave must go through the agency. As the contract is between the agency and the client, the contractor and the client have no legal grounds to make these negotiations, only the agency can negotiate with the client on behalf of the Limited Company. It is recommended that recruitment consultants understand the basics of the IR35 regulations. These are all laws which govern the industry that you work in and can have a direct impact on your working life.

To learn more, speak to your agency's legal team. They should be in a position to provide training and information about the regulations and give a deeper understanding about the nuances of contract law. For more information on the Muscat vs. Cable & Wireless Plc case visit : http://www.msi-network.com/Content/general/UK_employment_law_update_3.aspx

Look beyond the sales and understand your industry. Not only will you be protecting your clients and your contractors, you will be building trust with them making yourself a consultant they will want to work with again and again.

Mandy Leonard is a co-founder of Enabled IT, which specializes in working in partnership with clients to provide a customer centric recruitment solution. With experience in both the recruitment and technical sector, she has specialized in sales and management training to optimize the abilities of sales forces. For more information please visit http://www.mandyleonard.com or e-mail contact@mandyleonard.com Copyright (c) 2007 Mandy Leonard

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Recruitment Law: The Importance of Knowing the Regulations1

By Mandy Leonard
As a recruitment consultant your days are generally spent focusing on making sales and dealing with client requirements. Getting roles, finding candidates, chasing feedback, organizing interviews, the list goes on, leaving little time to focus on the clients themselves. But with such focus on making a sale, are you inadvertently leaving your clients open to risks?

Over the past few years government legislation has tightened the regulations governing employment law, yet very few recruitment consultants are aware of the implications that theses changes have for their clients. It is shocking to think that companies are using agencies to provide services that are potentially opening them up to law suits that may cost them millions of pounds.

There have been numerous instances over the past few years which have brought home the risks faced by employers today. The most notable of which was the case of Muscat vs. Cable & Wireless Plc. In this case, a temporary worker was able to successfully sue Cable & Wireless for wrongful dismissal because the contractor was able to prove that the working situation was one of "implied employment".

"Implied Employment" refers to a situation where a contractor working for a client through a Limited Company and a recruitment agency is treated by the client the same as a permanent employee. This includes having to organize annual leave, contract extensions and pay rises with the client directly. From a recruitment agency standpoint, this is unacceptable.

First and foremost, there is rarely a direct contract between a contractor and a client, the contract is between the contractor's Limited Company and the agency. The agency will then have a contract with the client to provide the services of the contractor's Limited Company, not the contractor specifically. Quite simply, any contractual negotiations, any annual leave, sick leave etc, all of this must go through the recruitment agency. Line managers who involve themselves in these conversations or behaviours are opening themselves and their companies up to some serious legal risks.

Yet many agencies do not train their consultants about these regulations or the risks that their clients face. It is understandable that managers within an organization would not be aware of the legal aspects of hiring contractors. Therefore it is the responsibility of the recruitment agency to ensure that the client is aware of the risks and that the consultant ensures that both the contractor and the managers work in such a way as to negate those risks.

Thankfully these lawsuits do not happen very often but this does not mean that recruitment consultants can continue to be complacent. These cases still happen, this behaviour still continues and clients are still put at risk because consultants are not trained sufficiently in the requirements of contract law. By no means should recruitment consultants become employment law experts, but it is important if they are working within recruitment, to understand the simple things which can be done to minimize these risks.

Mandy Leonard is a co-founder of Enabled IT, which specializes in working in partnership with clients to provide a customer centric recruitment solution. With experience in both the recruitment and technical sector, she has specialized in sales and management training to optimize the abilities of sales forces. For more information please visit http://www.mandyleonard.com or e-mail contact@mandyleonard.com Copyright (c) 2007 Mandy Leonard

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Is Your Email Within the Law?

By Tellman Knudson
Back in 2003, legislators in the United States sought to stem the flow of spam emails that was plaguing our over-belabored inboxes. Problem is, it really didn't help much. Spam comes from all over the world, and it's not stopping. But if you live and operate an online business in the United States, you're bound to follow the rule of the law.

"I'm just a one-person operation," you may be thinking. But even so, even if you're just starting out with list building, you have to remember that your'e still liable. One spam complaint could shut you down or worse. Though you're probably protected if you use an online autoresponder service, if you're handling mail on your own, there are some things you need to be aware of.

Here are some important parts of the law:

* It bans false or misleading header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

*You may not use misleading subject lines. You cannot deceive the recipient about what's inside the email.

* It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out method used must be active for at least 30 days from the time you send the message, and you have 10 business days to remove people who asked to be removed from your list. You can't transfer your list to another person, and you can't sell it.

*You must identify your message as an advertisement and you have to include your physical mailing address.

Those are the general rules. But there are a couple of other things to consider. Never, ever buy lists of email addresses. Harvesting of addresses is also illegal, so don't do it. Set up a proper list building page that sends your subscribers' names and email addresses to an autoresponder that automatically confirms subscriptions. This "double opt-in" process is just safer. Nothing in the law says you have to do this, but it just makes things safer.

When you send out emails, be sure that you include a link for people to unsubscribe and your mailing address. If you use an autoresponder service, this is taken care of for you. If you're using your own email delivery program, then, it's your responsibility to follow the law. It's really not that complicated, and you won't enjoy the penalty if you're caught out of compliance. Each violation is subject to a $11,000 fine. So, if you sent to 100 people, you could be fined $1,100,000, and you could also go to jail. Is it really worth it?

Definitely not.

Tellman Knudson, Internet Marketing master, is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc. Get your Free list building CD and a whole bunch of great bonuses when you visit http://listbuildingpower.net

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