Category: Personal Injuries
How will the New Laws for Civil Litigation in Personal Injury Affect My Case?
April 28, 2014 | John T. BuchmanIn July of 2013, Minnesota passed significant changes to the rules that govern civil litigation, which would include personal injury claims. Minnesota adopted similar rules for federal courts and also instituted a “rocket-docket” as a trial program to see if a system could be developed that would cut down the time and expense to try civil cases. The pilot program is set up in Dakota and St. Louis Counties. These new rules have been in place for over nine months now and the transition has been easier than many feared. This is often the case with major changes, new rules created anxiety and concern among lawyers. However, I think most of us have seen that this sky did not fall. As cases get closer to jury trials, we will again experience the second major effect of the new rules. Under the old rules, when your BGS attorneys filed a lawsuit, we also served “discovery” which is written requests for information. The defendant usually did the same with their Answer. This required significant work on behalf of our clients to help us answer the requests of defense. Now, however, the parties cannot request discovery initially but must wait until the attorneys meet and complete some required tasks. However, we do need our clients to…
Read MoreSeatbelts Save Lives
April 23, 2014 | Jon P. EricksonMy family was recently reminded of the importance of Buckling Up. Above is a photo of my wife’s nephew Aaron’s car. He, his fiancé and their 3 and 1 year old daughters were involved in a single car rollover accident on the icy roads last week. The children were properly belted in their car seats, and the two adults were wearing their seat belts. They all walked away from the accident with little to no injuries. Once again we have a reminder why we all need to “buckle up” when in our cars and strive to make sure our children are also “buckled up!”
Read MoreNew Year, New Policy?
January 8, 2014 | Adriel B. VillarrealWhen is the last time you reviewed your insurance policies? Many people purchase their policy when they are young and no longer covered under their parent’s policies or when they first buy a house and never think twice about it. But reviewing your car insurance policy is actually very important. This is a New Year’s resolution that is relatively simple to follow through on and could save you time and money in the unfortunate event that you or a family member is hurt in a car accident. A few weeks ago I finally decided to compare prices for my auto and home owners’ insurance policies. I was given some motivation to do so after the bombardment of insurance company advertisements during a college football. I guess in some way all the constant advertising caused me to think about my coverage and whether or not I was getting a reasonable rate for coverage. I jumped online and within about one hour I had quotes from several companies promising me the “best coverage” and experience etc. Ultimately, I determined that the effort of switching my auto, home, umbrella and life policies was not worth the marginal savings I was quoted. While I did not learn any earth shattering discoveries during my online searches one thing…
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