Motor Vehicle Accidents

A motor vehicle accident is quite a common incident these days and involves at least one motor vehicle that collides with either another vehicle, unmovable roadside object, or any other user of the road. Motor vehicle accidents most of the time lead to loss of property or injury of people. Some of the most common phases used for describing motor vehicle accidents are road traffic incident, road traffic accident, road accident, fender bender, car wreck, car smash and even personal injury collision. In most of the advanced countries, it is very essential to provide the jurisdiction with the statistics regarding motor vehicle accidents. All such statistics collected are used for calculating the number of deaths, property damage, and personal injuries along with various other things. The above statistics are also used for the estimation of incident causes along with the incident clusters.

Factors leading to motor vehicle accidents:

Studies carried out by researchers for the calculation of factors leading to motor vehicle accidents mainly included things like annual consumption of spirits, wine and beverages, temperature factors, road maintenance, presence of police per 100,000 inhabitants, programs for careless drivers etc. There were thirty of such factors that were taken into consideration, but later most of the factors were simply ignored. The researchers came up with a new plan that mainly had calculation based upon six main factors. These six factors mainly included per capita income, an average of the yearly minimum temperature, percentage of highway covered under the state administration, motor vehicle inspection process, rate of increase in the motor vehicle registration and percentage of state highway in rural areas.

Studies carried upon the above factors showed that about 57 percent of accidents were due to driver factors, 27 percent were due to a combination of driver and roadway factors, 6 percent due to a combination of driver and vehicle factors, 3 percent based upon roadway factors another 3 percent due to factors which include vehicle, driver and roadways while the last 2 percent were due to vehicle factors.

Driver behavior: According to researchers, factors like intoxication, driver errors along with other human errors are the main contributors of motor vehicle accidents. According to a survey, a good driver should be aware of the size of the car and its capabilities; alertness is necessary among the drivers along with reacting and reading the road conditions.

Driver impairment: The ability of the driver to react and respond quickly is mainly affected by his mental and physical capabilities. Physical impairment or poor eyesight, old age, excessive consumption of alcohol and fatigue are some of the factors that can lead to motor vehicle accident.

Speed choice: According to the department of transportation U.S, it has been determined that both the vehicle travelling lower the average speed and above the average speed are prone to have an accident. The severity of the impact mainly depends upon the speed change of the vehicle during collision. The risk of personal loss also increases to substantial level at speed higher than normal.

Elder Abuse

Elder Abuse can be referred to as a recurring, or single act, or lack regarding appropriate action, taking place within any sort of relationship, where trust is being expected and distress or harm is caused to the older person out of the breach of trust. This definition has been established by ‘Action on Elder Abuse’ in United Kingdom. It was later adopted by WHO, i.e. World Health Organization. In the language of common man, elder abuse can be referred to as the concept which states that trust is expected by older persons towards abuser of theirs. Eventually, it is exclusive of more usual criminal activity like ‘distraction burglary’ or ‘muggings’ in street, where a stranger attempts to distract the elderly person at this doorstep while the other stranger enters the home for stealing.

In the year 2006, the UN designated 15^th of June as WEAAD, i.e. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Several events are being organized all over the world to raise awareness regarding elder abuse, and also highlight the ways of challenging such an abuse. Every nation has its theme with respect to elder abuse. However, there’re also exclusive manifestations based on societal perceptions, economic strength, culture, and history pertaining to older persons within the nations themselves. The elementary familiar denominator is use of control and power by an individual for affecting the status and well-being of another older person. There are various kinds of abuses of the older persons which are recognized on the universal basis as being ‘Elder Abuse’. They include:

Physical

Examples of physical abuse are restraining, kicking, pushing, burning, slapping, punching, hitting, false confinement/imprisonment, or wrong excessive medication.

Psychological

Examples of psychological abuse are humiliating or ignoring a person. The other acts of such type include constantly criticizing, ridiculing, blaming, frightening, swearing, or shouting. The usual theme is that of a perpetrator who has the tendency of identifying something mattering to the older person and using it later for coercing him/her in to a specified action.

Financial

Elder abuse on the monetary basis is inclusive of an unauthorized or illegal utilization of the individual’s money, property, pension book, and other valuables inclusive of changing ‘will’ of the person for naming the abuser as the heir, obtaining power of attorney on the fraudulent grounds, along with deprivation of property or money, or through eviction from home of his own.

Sexual

Such sort of abuse includes forcing the person to participate in any of the sexual activities without his/her consent, inclusive of persuading them to be a part of conversations pertaining to sexual nature against his/her will.

Neglect

This aspect of elder abuse includes depriving the person of heat, food, comfort, clothing or even essential medication.

Apart from the above activities, certain countries recognize some other acts as Elder Abuse as well. They include:

Rights abuse

This type of abuse includes denial of constitutional and civil rights of the older person, that too, when he/she has not been declared as mentally handicapped by the court. This aspect is being increasingly adopted and recognized by the nations.

Child Injuries

Every year thousands of children get seriously killed or injured or else hit by some of the careless drivers who do not spot the child stroller in a parking area or crosswalk. The drivers usually do not see the stroller because of the blocked car parked or the driver has no idea about the child stroller on the path. It is true that when a child suffers any injuries their parents or guardian should look for the best for them.

Children repeatedly appear like adults when it comes to their security and their universal well-being. Not only do these children appear like an adult when keeping them safe and secured but it becomes the duty particularly when someone has assigned people to care for their children for a particular reason.

Regrettably, when people have complete faith on others for taking care of their children, this does not mean that it will always happen with good judgment or good care from the person they have appointed. There can be several different causes of carelessness where the child can become critically injured as a person has handed over his child in care of another person. When your children suffer from critical injuries you would want only the best for them. One of the most vital aspects you can perform would be to discuss with a lawyer which include negligence, child abuse and in most of the cases wrong deaths.

A compassionate and professional lawyer in your area will normally understand and sympathize to the circumstance you would be facing. These lawyers will help you in applying their knowledge and proficiency in studying and reviewing your child’s injury case in order to decide any negligence which has occurred. One of the worst, unfortunate and sad situations that can result in either wrongful death or serious injury to children would be with shaken baby syndrome. This is a dreadful tragedy which has been known to occur most of the times regrettably even with institutions, close family members and close friends whom people place complete faith and trust in them.

Poisoning from some kind of household chemicals, firearm accidents, attacks from a dog, automobile accidents and recreational vehicle or motorcycle accidents are some of the other types of accidents which can result in wrongful deaths or serious injuries to children because of the negligence of the adult who supervises them. Most of the serious injuries which a child can suffer from a direct outcome from child neglect or child abuse from a person who must have shown great responsibility and care can include spinal cord injuries, bulging disc or herniated disc, trauma to the spinal cord or spine, scarring and lacerations, loss of vision, fractured or broken bones, paralysis and concussions.

Most of the times a child may also require the services provided by the knowledgeable and professional psychologist. This is mainly because of the emotional suffering or distress they may have gone through from the sustaining injuries caused to them from the negligence of the person they trusted or loved more than themselves.

Brain injury

Brain injury is generally associated with traumatic brain injury. The worst thing that can happen to you after suffering a brain injury is assume mistakably that you have not sustained an injury or be under the impression that it will recover on its own. If you sustain a brain injury and do not consult your doctor or report the symptoms, then you might not be able to recover compensation from an insurance company. In such cases, you may be unable to recover the losses from the person who caused you the injury. A brain injury is a very critical case and lasts long a long time, affecting you for the rest of your life.

Get medical assistance

If you may have sustained a brain injury, get medical help as soon as possible. Make an effort to report the case to your physician and the symptoms that might indicate brain trauma, or impact to the head like bruising or pain, loss of memory, headaches before or after the accident, tinnitus or ringing of ears, dizziness, seepage or bleeding of substance in the ear canal or any suspicious symptoms. A neurologist should be seen to answer your questions about the experienced symptoms and if he or she can offer any assistance to determine if you exhibit any symptoms or signs of brain injury or regarding any test or tests that need to be conducted for further examination of possible injury.

It is a misconception that brain injuries do not result from accidents at low speed. There is abundance of literature in many fields stating that brain injuries can actually occur even in cases of minor accidents. Do not get fooled by your physician or health professional by the supposed minor nature of an accident. Explore all the possibilities regarding the symptoms and signs of the brain injury that you have sustained.

Types of brain injury

Acquired brain injury – this generally results due to changes in neuronal activity of the brain with varying capacity of the cells. This causes impairments and changes in areas like cognition, memory, physical functions, speech language communication and more. Acquired brain injury includes electrical shock, heart attack, near-drowning, stroke, toxic exposure, infection disease, trauma head, meningitis and more.

Traumatic brain injury – this is usually related to the injury caused to the brain due to outside force, strong enough to move your brain inside skull, resulting in wounding of brain. These external forces can be a blow to the head as a result of vehicle accident, sports injury, physical violence, firearms etc. Another cause of this injury can be due to the rapid movement or shaking of a person’s head, resulting from physical violence, car accidents or an instance of Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Seek the advice of an attorney

Talk to your attorney as soon as possible if you come across such an incident so as to get specific advice. Avoiding this may prevent from receiving any compensation or recovery from the accident or incident. A brain injury is an emergency case and you should clear all your doubts and questions with your physician and the attorney. You will find many attorney’s on the web who will guide you in the right direction.

Birth Injury

When you are expecting a baby, you will obviously want a healthy normal birth. Though there are some unfortunate times when due to the negligence of the doctor or some health professional your baby might not have that normal birth. There are many times when a baby suffers injuries while delivering due to the malpractice of the doctors or health professionals. If ever there is any birth injury, your baby may have to suffer lifelong pains or the parents will need to care for them along with the lifelong medical bills. Of course more than the medical bills they would want their child to be better but as time will roll the bills will pile up and you might have to run out of financial aid.

There are many birth injuries cases which have resulted from malpractice. They are brain, or brachial plexus injuries, spasticity, intracranial hemorrhage, meconium aspiration, stillborn, infections, excessive bleeding, paralysis, fractures, seizures and untreated jaundice. There are also extreme cases where both the mother and child will not survive during the delivery process. The fact is that most of the time these cases are preventable if the doctors or health professionals would have taken extra care.

Medical malpractice attorney

If there is such a case involved in your family then, better you tell or hire an attorney fast. It will be wise if you do that quickly because as more time passes the case may become quite difficult for you. You need to know about the possible claims and your attorney will have to preserve the evidence to use it for the case so it is better to contact them as soon as possible. If the medical staff has neglected during the delivery period which injured your baby then you may be able to file a medical malpractice suit and receive compensation. The attorney will help you and give you the advice you need. This is not an easy case as you have to prove that the medical staff has acted irresponsibly and the injury of your baby was the direct cause of it. This is not a case that you can handle it alone.

Many of these problems can be solved by a medical malpractice attorney. Whether the birth injury is a minor or a severe one, you can take the help of the attorney to protect the rights of your baby and your family.

Selecting the right attorney

There are many medical malpractice attorneys but whoever you choose they must know what you want from the case. The right attorney will represent you and have the best interest in their heart about your baby. The case can be a difficult and time consuming one but an experienced medical malpractice attorney can steer through these complexities and try to get a settlement for you. If there is malpractice during your child’s birth, you may be entitled to compensation. It is very difficult to choose a medical malpractice attorney more than finding them. Be careful while you choose the attorney as it depends your child’s life.

Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle accidents may seem to be minor issues that are quite different from other auto vehicle accident cases. The fact is that it is a serious case even though it might appear a small matter to many. There have been many cases where bicycle accidents have been recorded due to hill inclines, poor roadway conditions, lines of sight, intersection crossings, distinctions among bicycle lanes, routes and lanes. Especially during rush hours in the city many bikers have been victims of accidents. Collisions with vehicles on the roadways, inappropriate roadway design, violations of right of way, impact with other cyclists, inattentive drivers and lack of notice of unsafe conditions may be other circumstances where bicycle accidents are involved.

Seek advice from your attorney

If you or any one from your family or friend is involved in such cases then, it is always wise to seek the advice of the attorney. There are many bicycle accident attorneys who specialize in such cases. They will defend the rights of the cyclist in case if there is any accident involved. It is better that you contact the attorney sooner than later. Your case may grow weak if you contact them later. If you fail to act promptly then, you can miss the deadlines which includes the statutes of limitation. You may sacrifice some or all your rights in this case.

Most of the time, the motorists are in fault if ever there is a collision with the cyclist. The motorists at times often ignore the cyclist and won’t give them enough room to move, don’t pay the heed of the cyclist’s hand signal or cut them off at the turns. This often results in a fatal accident when the motorists fail to share the road with the cyclists. Often many cyclists may not have medical insurance so it is better that you contact an attorney as soon as the accident happens. Contacting the insurance company first may not be a good idea though. They may try to see their advantage first than yours. Even if you want to contact them sooner then, do it with the attorney only.

In bicycle accidents the injured rider may be entitled to medical bills, rehabilitation, permanent disability and lost wages. The attorney will collect the evidence of the accident to use it for settlements so it is better that you seek their advice soon. They will protect the legal rights of the cyclist caught up with an accident. It is best to hire an experience attorney in such cases. If you don’t contact them sooner you might lose the chance to recover the suitable damages. No matter how small or big is your injury you can file for your personal injury claim. Your attorney will help you with the cases and go through all the matters.

Don’t think twice before you contact them. They will give you cautionary advice and offer their help though the recovery process. It is only for your own good that the attorney is there.

Accidents due to negligence

Accidents happen due to many reasons. It may be due to mechanical failure, change of weather, bad road and due to animal intrusion to name a few. The most common and major accidents happen due to negligence. Due to the lack of supervision lot of accidents occur every single minute in the world. Accidents due to negligence happens mostly when drivers drive recklessly or too fast, devote their focus on cell phones or music players and disregard the traffic rules.

A lot of people have involved in serious accidents which may have happen due to their carelessness or someone’s negligence. What is more shocking is that those accidents could have been avoided if that person was careful enough. A serious accident can cripple a person’s life moreover leave their family devastated both emotionally and financially. This is a serious case if you don’t know that.

Consult your attorney

If ever you are in such cases where you are in an accident due to negligence, whether yours or someone else’s then, it is better that you immediately consult your attorney. They will know what to do and you can get specific advices from them about the case. It will be foolish not to consult your attorney immediately as it will complicate your case and you won’t get anything out of it. Accidents due to negligence can be a very complicated case. If you don’t act quickly you might get into trouble. You may be limited to file a claim by the Statutes of limitation.

Trust your attorney more than the insurance company

Don’t try the foolishness to tell the insurance company about the accident before you talk to your attorney. Sometimes the insurance companies will look more for their advantage than yours. They might even damage your case by getting you to make a statement. All this is done so that they won’t have to pay money to you for your injuries. Avoid any conversation with them as they may use that against you later. Do not get any agreement with them before you learn about your rights. If you do you might not get any additional compensation. You will regret later if you find out that you are paid less than you ought to get. Your attorney will tell you what steps you have to take in this case. It is very important that you should trust your attorney more than anyone.

There are many things that you are entitled to recover from that accident. You can ask your attorney about that. You may recover these things like medical expenses, loss of income, loss of future earning capacity, pain and suffering and damage to your car and other property.

An experienced attorney can help you out to recover those claims. They will gather all the evidence that is required to argue for your case. Your attorney will negotiate for you and settle the case that will fairly compensate you. If in case you don’t get the acceptable settlement then you can go to trial.

Marketing your Law Firm _ Solomon Neuhardt

The best marketing hands down is networking, particularly current or past clients. Being single for me it is fairly easy because I have plenty of spare time on my hands to go out wherever and meet people. Set up as many lunches with attorneys that you will not be competing with to get referrals from them and do it on a regular basis. Do these lunches on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Join your local chamber of commerce and go to their networking groups. Network through whatever you are involved in, such a golf, etc. Write articles on whatever topics you practice in to drive traffic to your website and establish yourself as an expert. Participate in blogs online. Send birthday cards to current or past clients. Any opportunity to meet current, past or potential clients.

"Going Solo; Confessions & Inspirations" - Solomon Neuhardt

This Going Solo; Confessions and Inspirations comes from Montana solo attorney Solomon Neuhardt, someone who clearly could have had a career at Big Law with his credentials but realized right from the start it simply was not for him. Sol's had a colorful career including being a criminal defense consultant for court TV. He also has some interesting experiences with completely outsourcing tasks to India as well as outsourcing his legal brief writing even though he has the skills to do a great job himself having been a sought after former law clerk and law review writer.

Solomon Neuhardt

My reasons for starting a solo practice were multi-faceted. After I graduated from law school I clerked for more than two years and gained tremendous experience. I interviewed with several white shoe, silk stocking type large law firms in Seattle during my clerkship. I knew that I didn’t want to work at one of these firms because my hours were going to be incredible. The firms bragged about how I would get a bonus because I was a federal law clerk and showed me a picture of new associates from last year that was almost entirely federal law clerks, including one from the galactic Supreme Court. I envisioned myself buying a cot and having a shower installed in my office. I did not follow up with any of these firms and knew that this would probably never be an opportunity I wanted to pursue.

At about the same time, I interviewed with several larger firms in Montana but the politics of the firms seem run thick and deep. I received great support from the Judge I was working for. I ultimately took a job with a small firm in Great Falls Montana. I was only there six months. At the time there were serious ethical issues looming over the firm that resulted in several of the attorneys being publicly censured. I left before the cow turds hit the fan.

In May of 2002 I took a position as a Deputy Public Defender in Yellowstone County Montana. This provided several opportunities for me. I was able to obtain courtroom experience which I was not able to do previously and criminal defense was an interesting area of the law. It was exciting and fun. This provided a launching pad for me to establish my solo practice. Before this I couldn’t figure out how that I could establish a solo practice without working for a law firm and have some experience. I wanted to start a solo practice for several reasons: flexibility in hours (although now I am working more hours total but just not the traditional 8-5), flexibility in choosing my clients, being able to associate with other attorneys for their expertise but not having to establish a partnership or be in a firm to work with them, and for hopefully being to make a better income.

In April of 2004 I opened my own practice in Billings, Montana. I remember the first day in my office I was laying on the floor (because I didn’t have any office furniture yet) wondering if I had made the right decision. In hindsight this is the best decision I have ever made. My practice immediately started booming with criminal defense cases and now I have shifted to primarily personal injury. I would offer the following words of wisdom for someone opening their own practice:

1. It is really true that networking is your best source for new clients. Establish great relationships with your existing clients and take care of them. Have lunch with them on your dime. Go to their place of business or home to talk with them about other things than their case and show genuine interest in them. This is absolutely the best method for building your practice.
2. Keep costs low for yellow pages otherwise it will kill you. This can be extremely difficult to do. You will be bombarded with phone calls and visits from the yellow pages to web sites that want to promote you or your firm. It is easy to spend 10 or 20 thousand a month on advertising. The biggest killer is usually the yellow pages however I have received some great results from yellow page ads also. I ran full page and half page personal injury ads very near the front of the yellow pages and received very few good phone calls. I researched yellow page advertising and expected it to be a big hit. It is really hit and miss and more miss than hit. I am trying it again this fall in another yellow page book and using what are called metered ads (each ad has a unique phone number that rings to my office). On the other hand for criminal defense and dui I ran two very small but dramatic eye catching ads that have paid for themselves a thousand times over. I highly recommend the book Effective Yellow Pages Advertising for Lawyers from the American Bar Association.
3. Be careful about spending a lot of money on books, subscriptions, fancy furniture, and computer software. I bought an $800 calendaring, contacts, email, case management software that did not work out. I use Google Calendar and it works fantastic. My legal assistant and I both have access to make changes and we are both looking at the same calendar. Some books you need but a lot of information can be found on the internet. You can buy many books used on Amazon.com or halff.com. You can potentially share subscriptions with other lawyers that you office share (and I highly recommend office sharing initially). I don’t recommend cheap furniture from the big box stores such as Office Depot because it will fall apart the first time you use it but much of my furniture was made at Montana State Prison and is outstanding.
4. Office share in a nicer space. I know I have been able to retain more clients with higher fees because I office share in a spot that looks great. Perception is reality for clients. I do recommend on spending a decent amount of time and money on the aesthetics. If your office and lobby look great this makes a great impression for clients.
5. Hire a great assistant. This can make or break your practice. Sometimes this may be someone with no experience but they have a great work ethic and they can learn from others. I have every horror story possible related to my previous assistants and don’t wish this on my worst enemy (or enemies). I travel overseas typically when I travel and I have been burned almost each time. Just because you pay them more money doesn’t mean you will get a better assistant. Their interpersonal skill with clients, judges, other attorneys, etc. is critical and goes a long way. Treat them well and compliment them on a job well done. Do not hesitate to offer constructive criticism and do it right away. If you settle a large personal injury case for example, give them a bonus. Money talks and everything else walks.
6. Outsource to India. This includes a virtual assistant for business and personal tasks, for your website, for maintaining computers in your office, for writing articles (except this one) and for any task that someone doesn’t have to be in your office. I started doing this recently and it will save you a ton of money and headaches. Hire a virtual assistant for $4 an hour to make appointments and make calls to clients. Have the assistant call clients to remind them of appointments. Have the assistant call your car dealership to set up a time to have your car taken to be repaired. Hire a good one and they are amazing. Outsource your brief writing. As a former published member of the Montana Law Review I think my writing skills are decent. I outsourced a brief I didn’t have time for and received back an amazing product that with some minor editing I filed for a charge of $400. These savings of course can then be passed along to the client. My website design and maintenance is done in India for $8 an hour. I was previously paying $50 an hour. I also hired someone to write articles on personal injury for $5 per article. The articles are consumer oriented and are one or two pages. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Neuhardt Law Firm, PC

Welcome to Neuhardt Law Firm, PC, serving Billings, Montana and surrounding areas. Our experienced team of skilled professionals provides expert care of your personal injury needs in cases involving medical or nursing home malpractice, wrongful death, automobile or motorcycle accidents, injuries from products, slip and fall, and insurance claims. We also represent clients in criminal cases involving drugs, fraud, embezzlement, theft, weapons, probation violations, assault, driving under the influence and white collar crimes.

Contact us today to speak with one of our legal professionals at (406) 294-9540.

"We ought always to deal justly, not only with those who are just to us, but likewise to those who endeavor to injure us; and this, for fear lest by rendering them evil for evil, we should fall into the same vice." ~Hierocles