If you live in Indiana, you no doubt, especially this winter, have found yourself shoveling snow.  In terms of prevention of injury, it is important to be careful when shoveling snow, as it is hard work.  People who are not in good physical condition or who do not regularly exercise could strain their heart and cause potentially life-threatening injuries.  Shoveling heavy, wet snow can increase a person’s heart rate within two minutes to a dangerous level, and simply lifting a shovel-load of snow, which can weigh up to 20 pounds, can send blood pressure soaring, according to the American Heart Association.

Some tips to avoid this problem include:  slow down; stay warm; and take it easy.  Other shoveling tips include:  push, don’t lift, as this is easier on your back; keep your back straight and bend your knees when you do lift; take frequent breaks; drink plenty of water, tea or hot chocolate; dress in layers; and be careful of frostbite.

If you are hurt in any kind of accident, be it a car wreck with a drunk driver, a highway accident with a semi tractor-trailer, a motorcycle-car accident, a trucking accident or a large truck crash, even a construction accident, you will want to hire the best accident attorney or the best injury attorney you can find.  Why you ask?  Simple, a serious injury such as a brain injury, a spinal cord injury leading to paralysis including paraplegia and quadriplegia, amputation, back injury, blindness, deafness and even wrongful death can put your family in economic danger.  Your accident attorney or injury attorney may be the only person who stands between you and financial ruin.

Do you choose a Superlawyer?  Well, to answer that question it is important to know how one becomes a Superlawyer.  It is a popularity contest.  It has nothing to do with qualifications.  There is no test, no background check, and no jury trial experience required.  I have actually received letters from substandard lawyers asking me to nominate them to be a Superlawyer.  I have also seen mass mailing letters from terrible lawyers asking me, and all the other lawyers in town, to vote for them as a Superlawyer.  I refused to do so because I knew they were not good lawyers, just someone who does not have the experience and knowledge to be a board certified lawyer.  Once these people get the Superlawyer label, they put it on their website as if it means anything.  I tell you now, we have two lawyers in this firm who have been named Superlawyers, but we don’t tell anyone that because we know it means nothing.  In fact the first thing that happens when you are named a Superlawyer is you get a call from the company that publishes the magazine asking you to take a full page ad to publicize the fact that you are a Superlawyer.  It is an advertising scheme, the magazine made up the label to make money and to fool the public, nothing more.

To become a Board Certified Trial Lawyer, a lawyer must meet rigorous standards. The public needs to know who is qualified to represent their interests when the injury is serious and the consequences important. Anyone can buy a title and put it in their advertising, but not everyone can pass the requirements to become Board Certified and that is what separates a good accident lawyer from Superlawyer.  That is why, when the injury is serious and your families well being is on the line, you need a Board Certified Trial Lawyer on your side.

A Board Certified Trial Attorney must do what doctors must do in order to qualify for the right to be called board certified.  We must have the proper experience, including conducting a minimum number of jury trials, conducting a minimum number of Court hearings, and conducting a minimum number of depositions (sworn statements taken under oath).  If you meet these minimum requirements (being a Superlawyer is not one of the requirements) you must go through a background check for criminal record and for disciplinary history.  If you are cleared by the background check, then you are eligible to take the exam for certification.  The exam is an eight hour exam covering topics relevant to your specialty.  In my case, as an accident and injury attorney, I was tested over injury law.  If you pass the exam, your EARN the right to be a Board Certified Trial Lawyer.  Your appointment must be renewed every five years.  In order to qualify, you must have a minimum number of jury trials and other legal experience to remain certified.

At Young and Young, John P. Young and Fred Crow have been Board Certified Trial Lawyers for nearly ten years.  The National Board of Legal Specialty Certification is accredited by the American Bar Association.  An experienced accident attorney is what you need, leave the Superlawyer to those whose injuries are not serious.

If you are killed as a result of someone’s negligence, what happens to your will?  The first thing you need to know is that if you die, and you have a will, an estate will be opened to administer your estate.  This means that your Will is filed with the Court in the county where you lived and died.  A person is appointed as an administrator.  The administrator collects your assets, accounts for those assets, protects for those assets, pays your debts due after you die, pays all taxes due, and then distributes the assets to the persons you identified in your will.

If you die as a result of someone else’s negligence, such as in a car wreck with a drunk driver, a highway accident with a semi tractor trailer, a motorcycle accident, a construction accident, you are electrocuted, or burned or in any type of automobile accident, and you have a will, the process is the same as described in the first paragraph.

However, a second estate may be opened as well.  This is called a wrongful death estate.  It is not really an estate at all.  Along time ago, if you died as a result of another person’s negligence, your there was no compensation (remember, compensation simply means “to make up for") for the harm caused to your family.  This meant that if you died and you were the sole bread winner in your house, your spouse and children would be on their own. Most families fell into poverty and worse.  Hoosiers saw a huge problem with this and passed the Indiana Wrongful death statutes.  The legislature knew that a deceased person could not bring the claim in their own name (deceased people cannot legally do anything, for obvious reasons), so they had to come up with an entity which could bring the claim.  They settled on what they called a "Wrongful Death Estate" or WDE.  This works well, but it is a little confusing.  It is confusing because the WDE does not change how the estate described in paragraph one works.  The funds which are paid in compensation for the wrongful death do not become part of the regular estate.  The wrongful death statutes describe how the funds generated by the WDE claim are distributed.  Usually the funds are for the surviving spouse and dependent children, to make up for the loss these folks endure as a result of the wrongful death.

At Young and Young, we have more than fifty five years of experience helping families who have to deal with the tragedy of losing a loved one.  We have read and used the Indiana Wrongful Death Statutes to help families survive the economic hardships caused by losing a loved one.  Please call us today.

If you are reading this because you need information about wrongful death, our family extends our sympathy for your loss.  We know firsthand the angst, sorrow, and numbing grief you are dealing with and we pray for your strength in the face of this tragedy.

The first things you need to take care of are the arrangements for funeral and burial.  It is always helpful to allow a family member or friend to accompany you to make these arrangements.  You are in grief, and it is almost impossible to concentrate in this state of mourning.  Having a friend or family member who is not as directly involved is always helpful.  The first three to four days will be a blur and our ceremonies and traditions help us cope with the loss.

In the days following the death, it is important to find the will and seek the advice of a probate lawyer to help administer the estate assets.  A Probate lawyer is a lawyer who specializes in handling wills and estates.  You should look for life insurance policies and make contact with the insurance companies so that you can fill out the “Proof of Loss” forms all insurance companies require.  Don’t forget to check with your health insurance company and credit card issuers, often times these entities will have small life insurance policies attached to them.  You car loan may also have a life insurance policy attached to it which will pay off the loan, the same goes for your mortgage, so check with each of these folks.

If the death was caused by the negligence of another person, it is called “Wrongful Death”.  It does not matter if the death was caused by a car wreck with a drunk driver, a semi tractor trailer in a highway accident, a motorcycle road accident, any kind of traffic accident, a construction accident, burns or electrocution. Indiana has three statutes dealing with the wrongful death of a loved one.  One statute deals with the death of an adult with dependents (spouse, child or financially dependent person), wrongful death of an adult without dependents, and wrongful death of a child (one who is under the age of 20, or 23 if the child is a full time student).  The statutes can be found at I.C. 34-23-1-1, I.C. 34-23-1-2, and I.C. 34-23-2-1.  We will go into the specifics of each statute in later blogs.

As we have stated in earlier blogs, an immediate and thorough investigation into the facts of the fatal accident should be conducted as soon as is practical.  A competent car accident attorney or accident lawyer will be able to handle the investigation for you, relieving you of that stress, so you can focus on your family.  At Young and Young, we have been asked to perform these services for hundreds of Hoosier families.  We have the resources and the experience to do what needs to be done to help you in this awful time.

You are in an accident.  It does not matter how the accident happened.  It could be that you were in a car wreck with a drunk driver.  It could be you fell in a construction accident.  You might have had a highway accident with a semi tractor trailer. You might have been in a road accident while riding your motorcycle.  It does not matter if it was a traffic accident or a slip and fall, or you were electrocuted with burns, you are injured.  Your injury might include a brain injury, or a back injury with spinal cord injury, which causes you to become paralyzed as either a paraplegic or a quadriplegic.  If you are hurt and it is someone else’s fault, you are going to need medical care and treatment.

Most doctors do excellent work. As a result the injured person recovers as best they can and gets back to life as best they can.  Every so often, however, the doctor treating the patient makes a medical error, also called malpractice.  Remember, malpractice does not mean the doctor meant to cause the harm.  It simply means the doctor was negligent in providing medical care.  Doctors are human, and they make medical mistakes.  If they do make a medical mistake, they must do what your mother taught you and what their mothers taught them, they must make up for the harm they caused.  They do this by having insurance.  Don’t worry about their rates going up.  Indiana passed medical malpractice tort reform back in the seventies.  The doctors are protected by the malpractice act which caps recoveries for the people they injure at 1.25 million dollars.  This might seem like a lot, but a child who suffers permanent injury is going spend 5 or 6 times that amount in medical care over their life time.  Instead of the person who caused the problem making up for the harm they cause, we as tax payers have to make up for the harm they cause through Medicare and Medicaid.

If your doctor makes a medical mistake while treating you for injuries caused by another person in an accident, the person who caused the original injuries is responsible for making up for the additional harm caused by the doctor.  The other driver does this through their insurance.  The injured person can also bring a claim against the doctor as well, asking the doctor to make up for the additional harm he caused.  The reason for the first rule I discussed (the person who caused the accident is responsible for all the harm that is caused by the accident) is to make sure that the injured person receives full and fair compensation.  The reason the injured person can also bring a claim against the doctor is because the driver that originally caused the harm may not have enough insurance to pay for the harm the doctor caused.  Do not worry about the injured person obtaining a double recovery.  This is not allowed under Indiana law.

Competent and careful accident lawyers and accident attorneys know the rules about how and when to bring a claim against the person who caused the accident and the doctor who made a medical mistake.  Young and Young, as injury lawyers for more than 55 years, are qualified to help you with your claim.  Call us today.