When Should You Speak to a Personal Injury Attorney?
June 24, 2013 | Adriel B. VillarrealMany people wait far too long before speaking to a personal injury attorney. Waiting to call an attorney can be a problem if they’ve already taken actions that could severely limit or impact their ability to obtain a fair settlement. Any kind of accident can be chaotic. Your first priority in any accident is to promptly seek the medical care that you need. Be sure to follow all of the doctor’s orders and remain under their care until release. Do not leave before the doctor would recommend or stop treatment because you “feel better” as you could be in for problems later. Many injuries or injury complications don’t show up for weeks after the accident. Once you’ve received your immediate medical care you can start contemplating the next steps. You should talk to an attorney first before you talk to anybody from the insurance company. This includes insurance adjusters, lawyers, or even customer service personnel. In a personal injury case, most of the effort revolves around getting the insurance company to pay a fair and balanced settlement that takes all of your injuries and complications into account. Often, the insurance company will try to lure you in by offering a settlement that may seem high to you but which could be, in reality,…
Read MoreWho Pays The Medical Bills for The Passenger in a Car Crash?
June 20, 2013 | Adriel B. VillarrealMinnesota is a no-fault insurance state. That does not mean that as a passenger in a car crash you are not entitled to make an insurance claim for the injuries sustained in an accident. It merely impacts whose insurance will be responsible for paying the bill. In this case, as the passenger, your own automobile insurance should be paying for your medical bills and lost wages. This would happen regardless of who is ultimately responsible for the accident, or who owns the car in question. What if you don’t have insurance because you don’t have a car? If that happens there’s an “order of priority” that the law follows to find out which insurance company needs to foot the bill. It goes like this: If you don’t have car insurance, the claim would go to the auto insurance policy of a family member that you live with. If you don’t live with anyone who has car insurance, the car insurance of the vehicle you were in at the time of the accident would be responsible for the bill next. If the person who owned the vehicle wasn’t carrying insurance on the vehicle the claim would typically go to Minnesota’s Assigned Claims Plan. You may also be entitled to additional compensation from other insurance…
Read MoreMinnesota Employment Law Update
June 20, 2013 | Bradley KletscherThe legislature was busy during the 2013 legislative session with employment laws. The legislature passed several changes to Minnesota laws affecting employers and their employees. The following article discusses some of the highlights from the session related to employment law changes. 1. Criminal background checks Effective January 1, 2014, the circumstances in which employers may request information regarding an applicant’s arrests or convictions has been restricted. Under the new law, public and private employers cannot inquire into, consider or require disclosure of an applicant’s criminal history until after the applicant has been selected for an interview, or if there is not an interview, before a conditional offer of employment is made. Since 2009 Minnesota law has prevented public employers from requesting criminal background information on job applications. The law provides an exception for employers with a statutory duty to conduct criminal background checks or otherwise consider applicants’ criminal history during the hiring process. Therefore, employers hiring for certain types of positions – for example, positions working with children in schools- are permitted to inquire about criminal history at the application phase. However, employers should be careful to inquire only about offenses that may be specified by statute, and they should not ask criminal history questions of all applicatns, if the employer does not…
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