Last week I participated in the Ask a Lawyer Day program in Wilmington NC. This is similar to Justice4All program where local attorneys field legal questions for free from the general public. Oftentimes it involves explanations of legal issues or concepts, similar to what I do sometimes in this blog. Other times it is to […]
I love alternative history stories. Things like “What if the Soviet Union had won the Cold War ?” or “What if JFK had not been assassinated?” I find fascinating and oftentimes help me better understand actual history. I even like alternative takes on imaginary history like “What If Spider-Man had been bitten by a radioactive […]
Under North Carolina law, a person’s medical records are property of the healthcare provider who created them. However, a patient has rights to get copies and/or inspect the records of his medical care. The patient may need them to provide to a different doctor or healthcare provider to help with additional medical care. Legal actions […]
Only seldom do I have a personal injury case where there was not a doctor or chiropractic visit sometime in the months or years prior to the event sparking the lawsuit. An injured plaintiff can only recover for damages that were actually caused by the defendant’s negligence. If the defendant can prove that a plaintiff’s […]
I frequently see on social media where someone has been called for jury duty. The post is frequently followed by half-joking advice on how to get of it by telling the lawyers you believe in the death penalty for littering or will vote the way the space aliens tell you. Far from my usual practice […]
In North Carolina, the first investigation of any motor vehicle crash is by the police. In order to assist their investigation, they use a special form published by the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles—“Crash Report Form DMV-349.” The form, also known as the crash report, accident report, or police report, is an essential piece […]
I believe that at some time in the past, lawyers must have charged on a per word basis. It is the only explanation I have as to why attorneys use lengthy, old-fashioned and sometimes confusing jargon when talking and writing. If you can’t understand your lawyer, chances are a jury won’t either. Just because he […]
I will occasionally get questions from friends, acquaintances, at a dial a lawyer day, or online at www.avvo.com, who want to know what they should settle for in a small to medium car wreck or personal injury. These casual, cocktail party questions are difficult. Sometimes these folks have already retained an attorney and are looking […]
The law in North Carolina tends to support the ability of people to work for who they want, and when they want. In most cases, with at-will employment, an employee can leave a job whenever they want to work for another company who may provide them more pay or benefits. On the other hand, the […]
A few days ago, I spoke at a local middle school for a careers class. Thanks to some links from the North Carolina Bar Association, I was able to download and print out for the students a mini-mock trial for them to do in class. I had 4 witnesses, 3 lawyers for the plaintiff and […]
Our kids spend thousands of hours in the public schools of North Carolina. Not only are they on school grounds for classroom work, they participate in a vast amount of after school activities such as cheerleading, baseball, football and other sports. Just like a store or a private residence, negligence can occur from the actions […]
Cropped screenshot of title from the trailer for the film Double Indemnity (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Has this ever happened to you? You are getting ready to race go-karts, rent a truck, scuba dive, or lease a storage unit and the owner hands you a document to sign. Maybe you read over it, maybe you just […]
Once I had to explain to one of my kids why they had to brush their teeth every night. I told them I knew it was a hassle and took up ten minutes that they could use to play Angry Birds, but it was important because they could get cavities and we’d have to go […]
I had a meeting the other day with a client who was concerned about the status of his lawsuit. We represent him for the death of his father due to medical malpractice. Not surprisingly, he is constantly thinking about his father and his lawsuit, pouring over medical records, doing his own medical research and analyzing […]
Any time you hire an attorney, they should provide you with a fee agreement to sign. The fee agreement provides both you and the attorney with some certainty as to what the attorney has agreed to do for you and what you are supposed to provide the attorney for his services. It is both good […]
Starting on August 1, 2013, the amount you can sue for in small claims court doubles from $5000 to $10,000. Other than that, the basic rules remain the same.
Advance directives can grant solace to you and your loved ones. Medical technology has advanced such that doctors can keep the body functioning longer than the brain. But some of us may not want our bodies to be sustained longer than we are able to think consciously and communicate meaningfully with others. North Carolina, under N.C.G.S. […]
Lately I have had a few calls about the wrongful cutting of timber, so I thought I would update on the state of the law in North Carolina when your timber is illegally harvested. Basically, as I have written before, if a person cuts the wood off your property, intentionally or not, they are liable […]
A lot of times it is easier as an attorney to obtain a personal injury or medical malpractice settlement from a defendant or an insurance company that it is to actually give that money to a client. One of the most common hurdles that an attorney and his client has to jump over is the […]
“Every dog gets one bite,” is a bit of homey legal wisdom that is often repeated by laypersons and even lawyers, but it is not entirely true in the state of North Carolina. The first way a person can recover from a dog bite or attack is under a negligence theory. Legally, a dog attack […]