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The county of Marin is being accused of violating state law for instances in which it did not inform the public of settlements in personal injury lawsuits. The accusations come from a Mill Valley lawyer, Carter Zinn, who claims the country stretches the limits of the Brown Act in its practices in personal injury settlements. The Brown Act precedes over meetings of the California legislator on local levels. It maintains the laws for public access to information.

After a recent meeting, it was reported County Counsel Brian Washington admitted the county reveals personal injury settlements only rarely but still claimed the county follows the Brown Act. He maintained that when another party approves to the final settlement agreement it is not general practice for the county to then announce it.

Carter Zinn is representing a man from Mill Valley, Allan Rosenthal, who had sued the county for his 2014 bicycle accident where he was hit by a car and suffered serious head injury on the Panoramic Highway on Mount Tamalpais. The area where he was hit is known as Four Corners. Three roads meet there, Panoramic Highway, Sequoia Valley Road and Muir Woods Road, and it is known for being a dangerous spot.

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Today, I would like to speak to you about how details are important when it comes to the practice of law. Sometimes, all it takes is one tiny little thing that can change the outcome of an entire claim.

For those who don’t know, an Oxford comma is what we also refer to as the serial comma. It is a stylistic recommendation that a comma should be used before coordinate conjunctions (usually and or or) in a series of three or more terms. This advocation exists to try and avoid ambiguity. But the world of writing seems to keep fighting a constant battle on whether this comma should be taken as a mere recommendation or something more.

The latest story comes from Maine, where a local dairy product company is facing a lawsuit for over $10 Million due in overtime hours to truck drivers, and at the heart of the dispute is the lack of this comma in a state law. In essence, the clause states that the following tasks are not eligible for overtime:

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California is in the forefront of the self-driving car movement. Only a few U.S. cities have these little modern wonders tooling around their streets and it will take more than the recent accident to keep them off the roads despite being suspended for a few days.

An Uber self-driving Volvo moving around Tempe, Arizona was involved in a three-vehicle wreck in March of 2017 when a driver made a left turn without being able to clearly see all lanes of oncoming traffic. The Uber approached her in the one lane she could not see and the driver crashed into it. The driver, Alexandra Cole, cited that she saw the Uber coming too late to break and struck it, sending it into a light pole, bumping into two other cars and landing on its side. The Uber was in autonomous mode but did carry two Uber employees. The company has estimated the Uber’s speed was approximately 38 mph in a 40 mph zone. No one was hurt in the accident. Uber has been operating self-driving cars in the Tempe area since December of 2016 although they have been developing the technology for a shorter time than other companies.

In response to the accident, Uber shut down its self-driving car services in Tempe, Pittsburgh and San Francisco for the whole weekend. They reopened Monday after Uber execs investigated the wreck to make sure the car was in proper working order when it was hit. The accident was determined to be Cole’s fault and she was cited.

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Even the smallest car accident can send your life into a tailspin. More serious accidents can affect you for a lifetime. Medical expenses due to injuries related to the accident, damage repair, loss of work… all of these things can alter your life for years if not an entire lifetime. Add to that, the stress and confusion of dealing with other drivers, insurance companies and police. Such a compendium of issues at one time is a tremendous mental strain on an individual. When all this occurs, victims often find themselves financially strapped with many unexpected bills threatening to destroy their lives. Seeking adequate compensation for injury and loss, the thought of suing for the car accident comes into existence. Several factors determine the likelihood of a successful lawsuit after a car accident.

Most often, people choose to sue after a car accident when going through the insurance process does not provide enough money to cover all the losses received as a result of the car accident.  It is especially pertinent if the other driver has no insurance and you may be forced to fit the entire bill. Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence today. Insurance companies are in the business of saving themselves money and strive to pay accident victims as little as possible. There are times, however, when an insurance company will want to avoid the hassle of trial and make a settlement offer that is satisfactory. Many car insurance claims end in a settlement, sometimes however, the victim doesn’t realize until later that the settlement was inadequate.

Settlements

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Insurance company statistics show more fraud occurs in down economies. As the economy gets shakier, people start to look for more and varied ways to turn some quick cash. Insurance fraud often looks like an easy payday when times get tough but the truth is, it can not only cost you some hefty fines but some jail time as well. Fraudsters believe that if their fake claims are small, they will slide by under the radar but that just isn’t true. When times get tough, insurance companies know fake claims will be on the rise. That is why they have special teams of agents with experience in law enforcement to conduct thorough investigations and sniff out false claims.

Insurance fraud is any deliberate action from a consumer, agent, company or adjuster made to obtain an unlawful financial gain. This deliberate action can happen at any juncture of the insurance process including selling, buying, using or underwriting. Insurance fraud will either be from an individual committing fraud against the consumer or against the insurance company. It is estimated that over a hundred billion dollars in false claims are made each year causing higher prices for consumers and an inability of the companies to properly compete with other companies as well as their future feasibility.

Stopping insurance fraud and even recognizing it, is harder and harder as fraudsters come up with more elaborate and efficient ways of ripping off the companies. Insurance scams occur in every realm of insurance. Workers comp fraud is rampant as well as medical and health insurance fraud. Auto insurance fraud is the most costly and prevalent. While difficult to prevent, auto insurers Special Investigative Teams have identified the most often used scams and are constantly on the look-out for them.

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When people think of insurance scams, they usually assume it is the consumer doing the scamming. That is not always the case, however. There are a plethora of dishonest insurance agents and fake insurance companies that thrive by bilking consumers of their hard-earned cash. Scams run the gamut from misappropriation of funds to collecting premiums on fake policies without any intention or ability to pay out on claims. They will offer policies at incredibly low prices to lure unsuspecting consumers into thinking they are getting the deal of a lifetime when all along they are just getting ripped-off. Knowing their tricks and what to do when you suspect you are a victim are the best ways to prevent getting swindled.

Stolen Premiums and Lapping

Agents can steal premiums by taking them from one customer and appropriating them to a fake customers account. They are then able to steal the money from the nonexistent customer account and place it in their own pocket. They use the money to feed addictions like gambling and drugs or to better their own lifestyle with luxury goods and services. They can also steal the money you give them for premiums before it is ever credited to your account.

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As patients, we trust the doctors we go to with our lives. We trust that their decisions are the right ones and that they possess the skill level they say they do. We expect this level of professionalism from everyone in the healthcare field, and when we are injured by someone who we have entrusted our health too, the harm is tenfold. While doctors, nurses and therapists do make mistakes, it is when those mistakes are negligent and causes harm to the patient when a malpractice suit may be necessary. Medical malpractice lawsuits, however, must be made in a timely manner or a judge will not see the case. This is called a statute of limitation.

Statute of Limitations

All medical malpractice lawsuits are subject to a statute of limitations, which is a specified amount of time during which a patient has to file a lawsuit. This time limit depends upon the state in which the injury occurred and the type of case. It can span from one or two years to as many as ten. California has a short statute of limitations on medical malpractice and could be as little as six to twelve months depending on the case. Filing a medical malpractice case in California within a one year time frame from the injury ensures that a judge will likely hear the case. filing later could result in the case being dismissed.

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Waze is a traffic and navigation app that is crowd-sourced and aimed at making the daily commute to and from work easier. The recent Google purchase has opened up to all nine counties of the Bay Area as well as Sacramento and Monterey as of early February of 2017. Unlike Lyft or Uber, this service limits its drivers to two trips, essentially to and from work and area residents are hoping it will have a positive change on traffic and eventually curb environmental issues.

They ran a test of sorts, a pilot program, for several months beginning in 2016, part of which included partnering with several regional employers to promote the carpooling service. The app pairs users with others who live in the same area and work in the same place or places close to each other.

Using the app is simple. You are required to upload a photo, link to a LinkedIn or Facebook profile, and provide an email address and a credit card. Currently, the cost is 54 cents per mile, which is the IRS reimbursement rate for business travel by car, making this option cheaper than a cab or any other ride sharing company fee. As of yet, there is no revenue for the company but that will surely come soon.

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California roads are a mess. Traffic is ridiculous and the roads themselves are in disrepair. One reason for this is because there hasn’t been a gas tax increase in 23 years. That has changed as of now, however. After a week of brutal deliberation among conflicting interests, a plan to increase vehicle fees and gas taxes by $5.2 billion per year was approved by Legislature. The gains are to be used to repair the deteriorating bridges, roads, streets and highways of California.

The bill barely made it through the Senate on the 27-11 vote it ended with. It had 54 Assembly votes. Those are the absolute lowest numbers a bill can have in both houses and still pass. The deliberations lasted way off into the night with the Democrats of the Assembly three votes short of the two-thirds they needed at the onset. In the end, Assemblyman Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) was the only Assembly Democrat not to back the bill. Gov. Jerry Brown was a huge proponent of the bill saying it was necessary after not having such a tax or expense in 23 years and the logjam of over $130 million in replacement and repair projects needed throughout all of California.

Those touting the bill explained it would not just fix and maintain the roads. Many claim it will also boost the economy and make the roads safer and traffic better. The overwhelming majority state the roads are just too bad and have become a danger to the public in most places around the state. Legislative leaders had set a deadline on themselves to begin action on the bill by Thursday which is just before the spring recess.

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When clients come to a personal injury lawyer, they expect to be treated fairly and trust in their attorney to handle the case with care and dignity. For most people, it’s usually safe to assume that when someone tells you that he or she is an attorney, you can trust them. That, however, is exactly what led to trouble in California.

accident-lawyer-in-sacramentoOliver Ortega, a Guatemalan immigrant, learned this lesson the hard way five years ago. Ortega sought out a personal injury lawyer to aid him in his legal battle with a former employer who he was planning to sue for a wage claim. That’s when Ortega met Jesus Lozano, and his troubles really began.

On the surface, Lozano seemed to be a qualified, respected personal injury attorney. On his business card, he stated that he offered a wide range of different legal services. According to Ortega, Lozano had two complete sets of the California Penal Code on his bookshelves. So to get his case stated, Ortega paid Lozano $400 and was promised that he would begin working.

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