Category: Personal Injuries
Premise Injuries on Public Property
June 2, 2014 | Adriel B. VillarrealIf a person is injured while on your property, you may be held liable for damages. As a property owner, it is your responsibility to create a safe environment for both your family and anyone that visits your property. But when premise injuries take place on public property, the issue becomes a little more complex. Premise Injuries on Public Property – Who’s at Fault? Public property is usually owned by a government entity. This may be the state or it may be the federal government. Determining who is in charge of maintaining the property will determine who’s at fault. It’s important to find out who’s in charge of the property as quickly as possible. In some cases, the statute of limitations may be quite short. If the property is owned by the state of MN, you only have six months to file a claim. The statute of limitations for federally owned properties is two years. This is why it’s so important to act quickly if you are hurt on public property and protect your rights while there’s still time. Understanding Your Rights In many cases, state laws provide immunity to government agencies and their employees. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. Public entities can be held liable in the following situations:…
Read MoreHow 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!”
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