June 5, 2014 By

Understanding What Insurance Companies Pay for in a Personal Injury Claim

Physical TherapyDetermining the value of a personal injury claim is critical for both you and insurance companies. This amount varies based on the facts of your situation and the applicable law. With our experience representing accident victims, we make these determinations all the time. The following is generally how these determinations are made.

Issues to consider

Normally, a party liable for an accident — and the party’s insurance company if there’s a policy covering the situation — pays an injured person for:

  • Medical care and expenses
  • Income lost due to the accident, because of lost work time caused by the injury or getting treated for it
  • Permanent physical disability or disfigurement
  • Loss of family, social and educational experiences, including missed school or training, vacation or recreation, or a special event
  • Emotional damages due to stress, depression or strains on family relationships caused by the accident and resulting physical injuries
  • Damaged or destroyed property

The Insurance Company’s Damages Formula

The insurance company adds up the total medical expenses related to the injury (referred to as “medical special damages” or simply “specials”). That is the base figure the insurance company uses to calculate how much to pay for pain, suffering and other nonmonetary losses (called “general” damages).

  • If injuries are relatively minor, the adjuster multiplies the amount of special damages by 1.5 or two.
  • When injuries are particularly painful, serious or long lasting, the special damages may be multiplied by a factor up to five (possibly a factor as high as 10 in extreme cases).
  • The adjuster adds on lost income due to the injuries.

This figure is not a final amount. It’s only the number from which negotiations begin.

Percentage of Fault

The most important factor affecting how much the insurance company is likely to pay is the extent to which each party is at fault. The damages formula provides a range of how much your injuries might be worth, but only after the issue of fault is considered can you get a good grasp of the actual compensation value of your claim.

This is not an exact science, but both you and the insurance company, objectively looking at the facts with unbiased eyes, should have a good idea of the degree of fault for both sides. The more at fault you were, the less the value of the claim, and vice versa for the insured.

New Jersey is considered a modified comparative negligence state. This is also known as the 51 percent rule. You may be eligible for compensation if you are less than 51 percent responsible for your injuries. If an agreement can’t be reached about who is at fault and to what extent, a civil court will examine the accident and come to that decision.

Once the damages are calculated and the degree of fault factored in, you have the financial value of your case.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident and want to discuss your legal options, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Personal Injury
June 5, 2014 By

Negotiating a Custody Arrangement That Actually Works for Your Children’s Well-Being

Mother, father and childDivorcing parents have to focus on protecting their own interests as far as assets, debts and income. They must also factor in the interests of their children, and it’s normally in a child’s best interests to be part of the lives of both parents. We help parents put together custody agreements.

If children are involved, some divorces can degenerate to the point where children become pawns in the power game between divorcing spouses. If one spouse wants custody, then the other doesn’t want that to happen just as form of punishment for some real or imagined past deed. Just because a person was a bad spouse doesn’t mean he or she is a bad parent.

Though there are cases in which a child’s time with a parent genuinely needs to be limited, that’s not normally in the child’s best interests. Custody agreements should be worked out between the parents, which requires them to act like adults if they want to act in their children’s best interests.

How to make the best of the situation

The key elements of a successful custody agreement that serves a child’s interests are:

  1. A focus on meeting a child’s needs: What are those needs? How can each parent meet those needs? What are the child’s personality, interests and activities? How can these needs be met without one or both of the parents overextending themselves?
  2. Enough detail so that both parents and the children know what to expect: There needs to be some predictability, and each parent needs to know what’s expected of them so they can live up to their end of the bargain.
  3. Regular reviews to determine whether changes should be made in the agreement: Children grow older and their needs change over time. One or both parents’ situations may also change.
  4. A way for the parents to make decisions and resolve conflicts regarding parenting issues: As much as you need enough details in the agreement, not all issues can be resolved on paper. As time passes and issues arise, how will the parents make decisions? What’s the best way for the parents to communicate? What role, if any, will the child’s input play? Should some form of third-party mediation take place in case the parents are deadlocked over an important issue?

Working out a functional custody agreement can take flexibility and imagination, but mostly a desire to serve the best interests of the children. If you have any questions about child custody agreements, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Divorce, Divorce Mediation
June 5, 2014 By

Is depression covered in workers’ compensation cases?

Warehouse workerDepression, anxiety and feeling stressed can be caused by one’s job and work environment. Work-related depression is a disorder that is often overlooked in the workplace and may be mistaken for ordinary stress. It may become serious enough to impact your ability to work and you may qualify for workers’ compensation as a result.
A person with symptoms of work-related depression can possess any of the following:

  • Depression — You may feel worthless and have uncontrollable crying spells. You may start having suicidal thoughts, and suicide may seem a way out of your situation. You may lose interest in personal hygiene and physical appearance.
  • The inability to focus on tasks — You may be unable to concentrate on your job because that is what’s causing your problems and your mood disorder. Unless you can find a solution, your mind will remain in this slump, impacting your performance, which could make the situation worse.
  • Time missed from work — If you can’t sleep and want to avoid issues at work, you may call in sick more often.
  • Feeling overwhelmed — You may feel as if the weight of the world is upon your shoulders. Not only has your job performance dropped, but you may have also lost control of your finances and personal life.

Workers’ compensation for depression

New Jersey workers’ compensation law was originally created to compensate workers for physical injuries. Over time, psychiatric disabilities were recognized as potential work-related injuries or occupational illnesses as well.

To have a successful claim for depression, the injured worker needs to show:

  • The work exposure or incident at issue was objectively stressful,
  • The incident and/or exposure was peculiar to the workplace (i.e., not common to everyone or caused outside work), and
  • There must be medical evidence showing the work exposure or incident was a material cause of the psychiatric disability.

It may be difficulty to show your mental condition is the clear result of your work environment and not your private life. What might clearly show a connection to work would be if an employee was involved in or a witness to a very traumatic or stressful event or series of events.

Easier cases to prove involve both physical injuries and a psychological condition. This might happen if an employee contracts a severe occupational illness or a serious injury that causes a permanent partial or total disability.

If you or a loved one is dealing with a serious case of work-related depression, get professional help and contact our office to discuss whether workers’ compensation may be an option for you.

Filed Under: Workers Compensation
May 7, 2014 By

Proving that you have serious injuries

A plaintiff in a personal injury case has the burden of proving his or her case. It’s our job to put the best personal injury case possible together for our clients. One of the elements that needs to be proven is that an injury occurred. Generally, the more serious the injury, the higher the settlement or verdict will likely be.

There are several ways the extent of an injury can be established during a trial.

1. Personal testimony

You can testify as to your physical capabilities before and after the injury. You can discuss how the injury has impacted your life, the degree to which your activities have been limited, the amount of pain you’re in and how often, and the amount of times your activities have been curtailed. You could also talk about the emotional and psychological impact the injury has had and its impact on your relationships and ability to work.

2. Video evidence

Often, personal injury plaintiffs will have a “day in the life” video produced. In addition to your testimony, a video can show a judge or jury an average day in your life, making it clear what you can and cannot do.

3. Testimony of fact witnesses

People who knew you before your injury and who know how it has limited you can testify as to the injury’s impact of your life based on what they have personally witnessed (such as the facts that you rarely get out of bed, need a cane to walk, no longer engage in hobbies, etc.).

4. Testimony of a treating physician

Your treating physician can testify as to his or her observations of you, tests and results, the diagnosis made, treatments and chances of a recovery.

5. Testimony of expert witness

A doctor who is a specialist and expert in your type of injury may examine you and your medical records and testify about your condition, its causes, its impact on your functioning, how much pain you’re experiencing, your treatment and your prognosis for a recovery. This expert may have reviewed x-rays, CT or MRI scans, or blood tests and could testify as to what they show and that expert’s opinion as to what they mean.

6. Medical records

Medical records, x-rays and scan results can document the facts of your injury when you first obtained medical treatment and your condition as you’ve continued to get medical help. They can also spell out your diagnosis, how often you received care, what’s been done to treat you and the effects of treatment.

7. Medical bills

Serious injuries often result in multiple treatments, which create very expensive medical bills. A plaintiff claiming to be seriously injured and facing long-term impairments may have a difficult time proving it without a showing of extensive medical bills.

If you or a loved one has any questions or concerns about an injury and your possible legal rights for recovery, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Personal Injury
May 7, 2014 By

I’ve Inherited Money during Our Marriage. Do I Have to Split That If I Divorce?

Generally, no. But since this is the law we’re talking about, it’s not that simple.

Unless the parties can come to an agreement, a judge will divide marital property in a fair and “equitable” way during the divorce proceedings. The issue then becomes whether this inheritance, or part of it, is marital property. Money or property inherited by one spouse isn’t normally considered marital property, so it isn’t divided at divorce, depending on how it was handled during the marriage.

Everything divorcing spouses own must be classified as either marital or separate property. Marital property includes assets (and debts) that were acquired during the marriage by either spouse or by both of them together, with exceptions.

Separate property includes assets that either spouse acquired before the marriage and during the marriage when assets are:

  • Inherited by just one spouse
  • Received by one spouse as a gift from a third party

Separate property can become marital property

An asset may begin as separate property but change (“transmute”) into marital property:

  • Adding a spouse to the title: If a spouse inherits real property and later adds the other spouse’s name to the title, it becomes marital property.
  • Contributing marital assets: If the title to an asset stays in one spouse’s name and it increases in value, that increase might be marital property. If a spouse helps make mortgage payments or helps pay for remodeling costs for a house that the other spouse inherited and is in that spouse’s name only, any increase in value in the house would probably be considered a marital asset.
  • Mixing (or “commingling”) assets: If an inherited sum of money is deposited into a joint account, it may be impossible to determine, if deposits and withdrawals are constantly made, what portion remains separate property.
  • Using separate funds to buy marital assets: If a spouse uses an inherited sum of money to buy a house that is in both spouse’s names, this separate asset becomes a marital asset.

Keeping separate property separate and proving it

As long as separate property is carefully kept separate, it and any increased value of it belongs only to the spouse who originally owned it. A prenuptial agreement created before the marriage can also spell out which property is separate.

A spouse claiming to own inherited, separate property at divorce will have to prove it.

  • That’s easier when the property was never mixed with marital property and meticulous records were kept to establish that.
  • If your inheritance was mixed with joint funds, proving it is separate property is not impossible, but it can be very difficult.

If you have any questions about property division during divorce, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Divorce, Divorce Mediation
May 7, 2014 By

How can an attorney help me with workers’ compensation?

Workers’ compensation laws protect workers who are hurt on the job. An injury occurring on the job “out of and in the course of employment” is covered by workers’ compensation laws. Many work-related injuries are minor and most employees recover quickly and are able to return to work. When things go smoothly, there is not much need to hire an attorney.

However, when a workers’ compensation claim is rejected, we can help. We can also help if your claim is accepted but the amount offered doesn’t cover your medical needs, or if appropriate medical care is denied. We can also help if your employer retaliates against you because of your compensation claim.

We do the work so you won’t have to.

  • We have the knowledge and experience to guide you through the workers’ compensation process.
  • We can help you get the medical treatment you need and the maximum financial recovery permitted by law.
  • We will file the necessary Claim Petition and guide you through the system, protecting your rights every step of the way.

Under the state’s workers’ compensation law, workers with work-related injuries or occupational diseases are entitled to a variety of benefits from their employers, including:

  • Medical treatment
  • Temporary disability benefits payments while you receive treatment and are unable to work
  • A monetary award for permanent injuries
  • Dependents, typically spouses and minor children of workers who die from work-related injuries or diseases, are also entitled to benefits

Your employer has insurance to cover work-related injuries and occupational diseases.

  • That insurance company has an entire staff and has retained lawyers to make sure workers get as few benefits as possible.
  • Employers or their insurance companies may refuse to provide injured workers with the medical treatment and temporary disability benefits mandated by law.
  • If compensation to injured workers for their permanent injuries and disability are not voluntarily paid, the only way to protect the rights of an injured worker is to file a workers’ compensation case.

We not only file the case, but zealously protect your rights to get you the best treatment and most compensation possible.
Retaliation

New Jersey law prohibits employers from retaliating or threatening to retaliate against employees who file a workers’ compensation case. If that law is broken, we can help you protect your rights.
Retaliation in response to a workers’ compensation claim can take many forms, including:

  • Termination
  • Demotion
  • Reduction in pay or in work hours
  • Loss of benefits
  • Denial of any other employment opportunity

If you have any questions about workers’ compensation or concerns about a work-related injury, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Workers Compensation
April 7, 2014 By

Injuries that take a long time to heal

The fact that an injury isn’t healing well, in and of itself, has no bearing on your personal injury case. The issue would be why it’s taking a long time to heal. Depending on that answer, there could be an impact on a personal injury case.

The need to mitigate damages

As a plaintiff, you have an obligation to mitigate (or limit) your damages. You need to act as an ordinary, reasonable person would act in a similar situation. You need to act in good faith and with due diligence in the exercise of ordinary care and reasonable judgment when choosing a doctor or treatment for your injuries.

If you are following the directions of your treating physician and trying to recover in good faith, the fact that recovery is taking a long time should not be an issue. If you had surgery and recovery is delayed due to an infection or complication, though, the defendant may blame your surgeon or hospital and not want to pay for time you’re laid up due to medical complications.

If, on the other hand, you’re not following instructions by not taking medications as prescribed, not going to physical therapy or doing things above and beyond what your physician says you should be doing and you worsen or prolong the injury, that will be a problem. The defendant will try to reduce the amount of damages you may recover by showing you weren’t taking reasonable steps to reduce your loss following your injury.

Refusing surgery or a recommended course of treatment

You cannot claim damages for a permanent injury if your doctor recommends surgery or some other course of treatment that could avoid or reduce the permanency of the injury and you refuse that treatment, if a reasonable person would have followed the suggested course under the same circumstances.

Whether refusal to have surgery or a course of treatment is reasonable depends on a number of factors:

  • The degree to which the proposed surgery involves risk of death or further injury
  • Whether the surgery is relatively simple with a good record of success
  • Whether the surgery is more than routine, involves some hazard, poses serious risks or is considered major and serious surgery
  • The probability that the surgery would have resulted in a cure or alleviated the injury

Personal injury cases normally are filed because a serious injury has taken place and so the fact that a long recovery is needed is not unusual. If that recovery is taking a long time because the plaintiff is not acting reasonably in getting treatment, not following medical directions or otherwise not taking care of him or herself, then it becomes a problem.

If you have any questions about personal injury cases, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Personal Injury Tagged With:
April 7, 2014 By

Do I have a right to workers’ compensation if I injured myself on the job?

Getting worker’s compensation benefits generally does not require a showing of fault by one party or another. If the injury took place in the course of your employment, you should be covered. But all cases are unique and very fact-specific.

Unlike with personal injury law, workers’ compensation does not normally involve fault issues. If the employer caused the accident, you won’t collect more money and if you caused the accident, you normally won’t be denied benefits.

Self-injury and intent

A self-inflicted injury may be intentional or unintentional. If a self-inflicted injury is intentional, it means the worker deliberately did harm to him or herself. If it is unintentional, it was the result of a mistake and there was no intent to self-harm. That unintentional type of injury would be covered by workers’ compensation.

If the injury was intentional, however, and the worker did something in order to harm him or herself, the injury would not be covered. But the burden would be on the employer to show that the self-injury was intentional. Another possible route for the employee in this case could be to show a mental illness was caused or worsened by work to the point where the worker was a danger to him or herself (which may be a difficult case to prove).

In very unusual cases, it could be found that the sole cause of the injury was the employee’s fault because the worker ignored a well-known safety rule or policy. In that case, a workers’ compensation claim could be denied. Normally, though, when an employee makes a mistake or doesn’t pay attention in the course of doing a job, there’s a work component, like a tool or piece of equipment that hits you.

Workers’ compensation benefits

As a practical matter, if you find yourself injured at work, don’t spend time wondering about legal issues. Report your injury to your employer. Your medical treatment will be chosen and paid for by the workers’ compensation insurance company. You may qualify for temporary disability benefits (70 percent of your gross weekly salary) if you are unable to work for at least seven days. You would return to work, and your benefits would end, when you are medically cleared to come back to work. If you suffer a permanent disability, you are entitled to a monetary award.

If you have any questions about workers’ compensation laws and how they may apply to your situation, contact our office for a free consultation.

Filed Under: Work - Related Injury, Workers Compensation
April 7, 2014 By

Can Child Support Be Used to Pay for College?

Mount Laurel Workers’ Compensation Attorneys

It’s not uncommon for a certain amount of confusion to arise around the issue of whether or not child support can be used to pay for college. Technically speaking, the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines apply to the cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 18. Consequently, New Jersey’s Child Support Guidelines do not apply to children over the age of 18 unless they are still in high school or attending a similar secondary educational institution.

However, in certain situations, the court may decide to extend child support beyond the age of 18. In general, the court will act in what it believes to be a child’s best interests. In what way, then, could extending child support to pay for college be considered “in a child’s best interests”?

Child Support and College Expenses: Understanding When It May Not Apply

In general, when a child reaches the age of 18 or is considered “emancipated,” child support payments stop. Most custodial parents are puzzled by this and often ask why, when college costs continue to rise, child support isn’t extended to pay for college.

Part of the reason child support may not be ordered in relation to college costs is the amount paid toward child support in the first place. Secondly, many college students work to help pay for their own education, or else they take out loans. Here, if a student can bear some of the costs of his or her education, child support is deemed unnecessary by the court.

Lastly, if a student is in need of financial help to defray the costs of college, it may make more sense for the noncustodial parent to give money directly to his or her child rather than doing so indirectly through the custodial parent.

Case Law: Child Support and College Expenses in New Jersey

In Newburgh v. Arrigo, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that, given the egalitarian nature of society and the increasing number of families interested in sending their children to college, the following 12 factors should be used to determine if child support should be used to pay for college:

  1. Whether the parent, if still living with the child, would have contributed toward the costs of the requested higher education
  2. The effect of the background, values and goals of the parent on the reasonableness of the child’s expectation for higher education
  3. The amount of the contribution sought by the child for the cost of higher education
  4. The ability of the parent to pay that cost
  5. The relationship of the requested contribution to the kind of school or course of study sought by the chil
  6. The financial resources of both parents
  7. The commitment to and aptitude of the child for the requested education
  8. The financial resources of the child, including assets owned individually or held in custodianship or trust
  9. The ability of the child to earn income during the school year or vacations
  10. The availability of financial aid in the form of college grants and loans
  11. The child’s relationship to the paying parent, including mutual affection and shared goals, as well as responsiveness to parental advice and guidance
  12. The relationship of the education requested to any prior training and to the overall long-range goals of the child

Contact Mount Laurel Child Custody Attorneys at Taylor & Boguski

If you’re unsure whether or not the Newburgh ruling applies to your situation, contact Mount Laurel child support attorneys at Taylor & Boguski. We can review your situation and determine the best legal options available to you for determining if you have a case for extending child support to help pay for your child’s college education.

Filed Under: Child Support, Divorce Mediation
March 12, 2014 By

Documenting your medical condition after an auto accident

Being injured in an auto accident can be very traumatic. It’s usually something that happens completely out of the blue and that you never think will happen to you (auto accidents only happen to others, right?). What you do and don’t do after an auto accident could have a substantial impact on any potential legal claims.

Obviously, if you’ve been knocked unconscious due to the accident, how and where you go for treatment is out of your hands and in the hands of the ambulance driver. However, if you are conscious after the accident, take steps to protect your rights.

Get medical attention

Even if you don’t think your injuries are serious, go straight to the ER or your doctor’s office. You may be injured and not even know it. Having an independent medical professional document your condition as soon as possible after the accident should help your legal claims. You may be in such shock that you can’t feel injuries that have occurred, but a doctor may be able to diagnose them.

This exam can also serve as a baseline for your health as time passes. Without immediate medical attention, there is no way to prove your condition at the time of the accident.

Create a medical file

Get copies of records created by these post-accident visits. Though you may not need every record, the initial treatment report may become extremely useful to you in the future.

Create a file for your medical records and keep it up to date. It creates the story line of your injury and treatment. It also tracks your spending on your medical treatment. Since medical expenses are potentially reimbursable as economic damages, keeping accurate records could help you collect money from the person at fault.

Take pictures

In addition to taking pictures of the accident, take pictures of your injuries. Keep those pictures up to date as time passes. Time stamp the photos and back them up onto a computer. If your situation needs to be explained to a jury, each picture may speak a thousand words.

Keep a journal

Record your thoughts and impressions throughout your treatment and recovery. If you’re more focused on the situation, you may be better able to bring up issues with and respond to questions from your doctor. A journal should also contain the thoughts and feelings you’re dealing with. If you’re going through serious stress, sleepless nights, confusion and other mental trauma, this may help lead to an actual medical diagnosis and treatment, which could help your damages claims, including for pain and suffering due to your injuries.

Contact us

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, contact our office so we can talk about your situation and your legal options.

Filed Under: Personal Injury
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