Practice Areas
Blog 
Personal Injury
- New York state man recovers $200K for fingers lost to lawn mower
- Eight Powerful Reasons to Hire a Local Attorney
- Court Allows Claims For Emotional Distress After Alleged Breach Of Contract To Continue
- Wal-Mart Limits Subrogation Rights Against Workers
- Pennsylvania Worker recovers for fall from ladder bought at Home Depot
Premises Liability: The Slip and Fall
- NYC to pay $2.75M for softball accident in school gym class
- New case law on slilp and fall on icey sidewalks owned by a City
- Worker who lost leg in construction accident receives $13M
- Boy blinded in ATV rollover gets $6M settlement
- ELMIRA ATTORNEY CONTINUES TO INVESTIGATE OUTBREAK OF LEGIONNAIRES’ DISEASE AT THE FLANNERY TOWERS
Workers' Compensation
- New York Times article on biased "Independant" Medical Examiners
- No Work Jobs
- Prison Guard receives settlement in MRSA case
- New blog post at the Pa Injury Law blog about the effect Bush had on OSHA
- New post on the Pa Work Injury Law Blog about what to do when you're laid off
Vehicle and Automobile Accidents
- Pennsylvania Car Accident Plaintiff's award of $400,000 Upheld On Appeal
- An unsafe intersection in Athens Township?
- Pennsylvania Superior Court Case Quashing Underinsured Motorist Carrier Appeal
- Pa. Superior Court Allows UIM And Bad Faith To Proceed At Same Time
- People injured in Springfield Township, Bradford County automobile crash
General
- Insurance company denials of benefits in Pennsylvania and New York
- CALL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND URGE SUPPORT FOR THE ARBITRATION FAIRNESS ACT OF 2009
- Another ATV Death
- Bradford County, Pennsylvania has a new website
- No conflict of interest between Bradford County, Pennsylvania's new Judge and new District Attorney, despite them cousins
Legal News
Judge campaign candidates speak at dinner in Towanda
Judge Beirne unopposed in local race
Attorney General Tom Corbett to visit Bradford County
Beirne will run for full term as judge
Bradford County Employers Laying Off Workers
Death Benefits Not Mandatory for PA Car Insurance
Bradford County: Judge Beirne presiding
Pennsylvania Senate confirms Beirne as Bradford County judge
Legal Library
Personal Injury
- Questions for Your Doctor In Personal Injury Cases
- Traumatic Brain Injury: By The [Staggering] Numbers
- What is an Independent Medical Examination?
- Common Questions About the Legal Process
- The Wrongful Death Of A Child - Part Two
Premises Liability: The Slip and Fall
- Cracked, Broken or Irregular Sidewalks Causing a Fall
- Dog Bites
- If You Have Been Bitten or Attacked by a Dog, Then You Need to Read This Article
- New Pennsylvania Superior Court Case on Dog Attack
- Lead Poisoning Threatens Pregnant Women
Workers' Compensation
- New York Times article on Independent Medical Exams
- Response to Time Magazine Article: "Doctor's View: Can Health Coverage Cause Pain?"
- Specific Loss Benefits
- Reimbursement for Travel Expenes in Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Cases
- Flow of Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Claim Documents Prior To Litigation
Vehicle and Automobile Accidents
- Reducing The Impact of A Whiplash Injury
- Car Accident Injuries: Neck Pain
- Multi-Truck Accident in Susquehanna County Results in Hospitalization
- Repeat Offender Facing DUI Charges After Accident Lands Passenger in Hospital
- Driver Strikes Mother and Daughter in School Crossing Zone
Newsletters
General
Personal Injury
NURSING HOMES AND MANDATORY ARBITRATION
From Philly.com:
Patients hoping to get into nursing homes increasingly are signing away their rights to sue over poor care.
That's a problem, say lawmakers who are pushing legislation to make such agreements unenforceable.
The nursing homes argue that arbitration arrangements to which many families agree actually lead to dispute resolutions that are fairer than court cases. But legislators, supported by consumer-advocacy groups and trial lawyers, say families should not be giving away their ability to hold the homes accountable for poor care.
A Senate committee will hear today from the family of William Kurth, who fractured his hip and leg and contracted numerous pressure ulcers during his final months of life in a Wisconsin nursing home. When his family attempted to sue for negligence, a judge dismissed the case because Kurth's wife had agreed, as part of her husband's admission, to have all complaints go through an arbitrator.
The Senate panel, which is investigating the growing use of binding arbitration by nursing homes, says more than 100 lawsuits have been filed in the last five years challenging such agreements.
Arbitrators take into account federal, state and county laws when resolving legal disputes. Often, the parties are free to negotiate some of the ground rules for their case. The process has the advantage of being faster and less expensive for both parties. It also is confidential.
Few families are even thinking about the possibility that they might want to go to court when they admit their loved ones to nursing homes.
Kurth's wife, Elaine, was under extreme duress and on medication when she signed the papers that allowed her husband, a stroke victim, to stay at the nursing home, the family's attorney said.
Family members who will appear before Congress say the World War II veteran died at age 84 from infections that occurred because excrement and urine were not cleansed from his bedsores for days at a time. David Kurth of Burlington, Wis., says arbitration has become a shield for large corporations to hide behind and decrease the quality of care.
"It is economically more profitable to let people like my father suffer than to provide proper care," Kurth said in written testimony prepared in advance. "And now that our family is trying to hold the nursing-home corporation accountable for its actions, Kindred Care is trying to bury our case by forcing us into a mandatory, secret, and binding-arbitration process that they chose."
Vehicle and Automobile Accidents
Court Denies Unopposed Motion to Dismiss in Lawsuit Arising out of Uninsured Motorist Claim
The Federal Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania denied an unopposed Motion to Dismiss on October 16, 2008 in Derocher v. Zurich American Insurance Company. This case arises out of a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit filed after the Plaintiff Derocher was awarded $600,000 in an uninsured motorist proceeding.The Plaintiff was driving her employers vehicle when the car accident occurred and the other driver was ultimately uninsured. Her employer's vehicle had $1 million of uninsured motorist coverage (UM). The plaintiff made a demand for settlement of $375,000 and a counter-offer by the insurance company was made of $150,000. The award by the arbitrators was $600,000 and the Plaintiff filed suit against the insurance company after it refused to pay the award when the Plaintiff would not sign a full release.
The insurance company filed a Motion to Dismiss which was actually unopposed and the Court decision still denies the Motion to Dismiss. The Court finds that the allegations in the complaint are sufficient to state "a plausible claim and presents a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of an insurance contract between the Plaintiff and Defendant" on both the breach of contract and bad faith claims. Thus, even though the Plaintiffs may not prevail on the ultimate claim their is a proper basis to proceed and the Motions to Dismiss are denied.
See the following links on more information about uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage here and here and here and here.
Thanks to Attorney Scott Cooper for this information.
General
CALL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND URGE SUPPORT FOR THE ARBITRATION FAIRNESS ACT OF 2009
Congressman Henry “Hank” Johnson is set to introduce the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 this week. Please call your Member of Congress TODAY and ask them to be an original cosponsor of the bill. The Arbitration Fairness Act would prohibit the enforcement of binding mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchisee contracts.Below is a Dear Colleague letter from Congressman Johnson for your reference and following that is information on mandatory arbitration.
Dear Colleague,
One of our indelible rights is the right of a jury trial. Guaranteed by the Constitution, this right has been gradually ceded by citizens everyday as they purchase a new cell phone, buy a home, place a loved one in a nursing home, or accept a new job. Once used as a tool for businesses to solve their disputes, arbitration agreements have found their way into employment, consumer, franchise, and medical contracts.
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) was enacted as an alternative to resolve disputes between businesses on equal footing. Today, these agreements have entered the consumer level. In order to receive service, businesses have imposed mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements on consumers. Citing it as a cheaper, informal, expedited process, these contracts of adhesion leave consumers, employees, and small businesses at a disadvantage.
Ordinary Americans overwhelmingly do not support mandatory arbitration clauses when they are explained to them. However, millions of Americans have unknowingly received mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts for a wide range of consumer goods and services. Oftentimes, they are enforced without a signature, and are announced in hundreds of lines deep in fine print, written in dense legalese, often on the backside of a document or buried in a mailer along with other pieces of advertisements or solicitations. If and when a dispute does arise, high administrative fees, a lack of a discovery proceeding, and no meaningful judicial review of an arbitrator’s decision amount to a stacked deck against the consumer, making it harder for individuals to prevail.
Although states have tried to address this problem through their consumer protection laws, the courts have interpreted the Act to trump state laws leaving consumers very little recourse. This legislation would return the FAA to its original intention and omit consumer, medical, franchise, and employment agreements from these pre-dispute agreements. Americans are entitled to a trial by jury; pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements give only one side the upper hand.
Please become an original cosponsor of this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Henry “Hank” Johnson
Member of Congress
Quick Contact
FAQs
Personal Injury
- How long is all this going to take?
- The insurance company offered me a settlement almost immediately after my serious accident. Should I accept it?
- The insurance company says that I don’t need a lawyer to settle this. What do you think?
- What is my case worth?
- What factors determine who is at fault in a car accident?
Workers' Compensation
- What happens if I return to a modified duty job and then I am laid off?
- If I am unable to return to the type of work I did before I was injured, what happens?
- If I am injured on the job can I choose the doctor who treats me?
- Should an injured worker apply for unemployment benefits?
- What medical benefits does the Act provide to a worker after they have sustained an on-the-job injury?
General
The Best in Website Design for Attorneys, Attorney Web Blogs That Work, Attorney Search Engine Optimization, Optimized Video Services for Lawyers and Update Your Website Yourself
by Foster Web Marketing - The Best Attorney Website Design & Hosting Firm
Get SEO Tips from The Attorney Internet Marketing Blog