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Avoiding Life Insurance Loopholes

The insurance industry is known for having incredibly complex contracts, and life insurance is no exception to this rule. As you might expect, the reason for this is money. According to statistics from the Insurance Information Institute, life insurance is a multi-billion dollar industry, and the companies want to keep it that way. Some families have even had to turn to an estate planning lawyer to represent them against the insurance company.

One of the ways that life insurance companies do this is by fighting against paying valid claims. The money they do not have to pay out is money that they can ultimately keep for themselves, and even just delaying the payments can be profitable for them. Life insurance companies have two main tools for insurance claim disputes, policy cancellations, and policy exclusions.

Policy Cancellation

A policy cancellation is exactly what it sounds like. The insurance company cancels a claimant’s policy in order to avoid paying out a claim. This is a particular problem during the first two years of the policy’s life, which is known as the contestability period. During this period, the insurance company may examine the policy looking for misrepresentations or omissions, and then cancel the policy if they find any. They even have the option of doing this after a person has already made a claim, and they are allowed to cancel regardless of whether the omitted information has anything to do with the actual cause of death.

A similar issue, but one that can last beyond the contestability period, is the material misrepresentation clause. This clause allows the insurer to cancel the policy at any time if they discover a lie or omission that would have caused them to not issue the policy in the first place. However, even people with perfectly accurate applications are not safe from having their claims contested.

Exclusions

In cases where the person’s application cannot be contested, insurance companies may still attempt to avoid paying out for claims based on policy exclusions. These exclusions are specific events or actions that the insurance company has excepted from the policy. There are a variety of different policy exclusions that insurers may use, and they vary from policy to policy, but they may include:

  • Dangerous activities like skydiving
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Illegal activities

The exact limits of these exclusions can depend on the precise policy language. For instance, some policies’ exclusions for alcohol and drug use exclude only illegal substances, while others exclude legal ones too. This can be especially complicated because some policies require the substance to be the cause of the death, while others only need the substance to be in the person’s system at the time of death.

Contact an Estate Planning Law Firm

If you would like to learn more about your estate planning options, contact a seasoned attorney, like an estate planning lawyer from the Law Group of Iowa.

 

Car Accidents Can Pose A Lot of Questions

A car accident brings with it a host of questions. Who is at fault? Who pays for damage to my car? Who will pay for my medical bills? How much should I get for pain and suffering? Can I ask the insurance company to reimburse me for lost wages? An experienced car accident attorney in Atlanta, GA can be extremely helpful in negotiating the often chaotic and confusing world of insurance claims and settlements.

Because most car accident attorneys work on a contingent-fee basis, and only get paid if there is a successful resolution to your claim, there is often little incentive to try to handle these types of claims on your own, unless no injuries or serious damage were involved and a settlement would be very small. If you’re injured in a car accident, then hiring an attorney from Andrew R. Lynch, P.C. will almost always ensure a much better settlement.

Knowledge of Law and Procedural Rules

Hiring an Atlanta, GA car accident attorney to represent you after a car accident means you will have a professional working for you; one who is extremely knowledgeable about the relevant laws and procedural rules that may affect your case.

An attorney can advise you of any time limits (called statutes of limitations) that can bar you from filing a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. For instance, in many states you must file your lawsuit within two years of your car accident or be forever prohibited from filing your lawsuit. An attorney will also be able to inform you about any special exceptions to the statute of limitations — for minors, for example.

Your attorney can file a lawsuit on your behalf and will know how best to mitigate any possible defenses raised by the other side. In addition, once your case gets under way, your lawyer will play an invaluable role in preparing your case for trial — and even going to trial if your case doesn’t settle.

Even though a lawsuit is rarely necessary, the threat of legal action offers strong leverage when negotiating a fair settlement.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, having an attorney who is knowledgeable about the law evens the playing field, especially when you are going up against the experience and vast resources of a large insurance company.

Take Action

Contact Andrew R. Lynch, P.C. today and seek the guidance of a car accident attorney in Atlanta, GA. Having an experienced and articulate attorney working for you is essential in obtaining a reasonable and fair resolution in your car accident case.

What to Expect from A Car Accident Lawyer 

There is a lot of work that goes into negotiating an insurance settlement and trying a personal injury lawsuit. After you have been in a car accident, taking on this time-consuming work may be the last thing you want to do, assuming you’re able. An attorney can do it all for you.

Whereas this may be your first time dealing with the ins and outs of an accident claim, attorneys at Andrew R. Lynch, P.C. have dealt with all manner of claims and a variety of insurance companies. They have experience obtaining the necessary evidence to support your claim, including gathering police reports, witness statements, medical records and bills, and employment and lost wage information.

Your attorney will also be able to organize the evidence and prepare a settlement demand letter for the insurance company. If you are unable to settle your accident case, your attorney can take care of filing the necessary paperwork to start a court case and can deal with the defense attorneys on your behalf. Having someone knowledgeable handling the hard work of your case eases the burden on you, which is especially important if you have been seriously injured and are trying to recover from your injuries.

What to Expect from A Car Accident Lawyer 

Our car accident lawyers can help with all aspects of your claim. That includes:

Seek Legal Advice

Do not rely on an insurance adjuster to tell you the value of your case. Let an experienced car accident lawyer in Atlanta GA from Andrew R. Lynch pc review your claim and explain what full compensation should include. If you have been offered a settlement, do not agree to anything or sign anything without talking to a good lawyer about it. Seek legal advice now.

What Is Georgia Car Accident Law?

Car accidents in Georgia are often complex matters that require legal support to get through even if the victim is only partially at fault for the collision. The two parties must understand comparative fault, how to process a settlement and what to do after the wreck occurs to ensure that all necessary procedure occurs within the confines of the law. Andrew R. Lynch, P.C. car accident lawyers in Atlanta, GA are experienced with these kinds of cases.

Car Accident Laws in Georgia

Car accident laws in the state of Georgia exist to provide an understanding of the various aspects of these incidents to include how to proceed through the collision, when and how to contact insurance companies and when and what to report about the accident. The person that suffers injury often has the ability to either acquire a settlement for compensation by damages that accrue from the collision or must go through litigation to force a person or company to pay for these damages. The laws in this state also explain who is at fault based on liability and comparative fault through a detailed number which the court can use to calculate compensation amounts within the range awarded.

Georgia Insurance Requirements

Per Georgia law, all drivers have standard minimum requirements for auto insurance coverage within the individual policy. To legally drive in the state, the adult driver must carry bodily injury liability of $25,000 per each person and $50,000 for each accident. Property damage liability of $25,000 is necessary for each collision. Uninsured motorist bodily injury of $25,000 for each person and $50,000 for each incident along with and property damage of this type of $25,000 as well as deductibles of $250, $500 or $1000 based on the coverage policy. This is necessary for all drivers, but teen drivers must also adhere to additional policies.

A fifteen-year-old teen can acquire an instructional permit after passing a written test. He or she must have a licensed driver of no younger than 21 in the car. After one year and one day, this teen can pass a driving test and receive an intermediate driver’s license between ages sixteen and eighteen. Supervised driving is still necessary but it tapers off after increments of months and as the teen ages. At seventeen, this person is exempt from the driver educational requirement but must still drive with supervision. At eighteen, the teen can apply for a Class C driver’s license but keeping a permit or license with unexcused absences in school of ten or more is not possible.

Requirement to Report Accidents in Georgia

In most situations, the person in a car accident will contact the police and also exchange information with the other driver at some point. Then, the individual will follow Georgia law and report the accident with certain information. This requires proof of insurance, following through with a police report and following all necessary steps. The steps usually start with police contact and remaining at the scene. Both drivers should stay but often must move the vehicles out of traffic if they are still there. If that is not possible, contacting a tow truck or emergency services is the next step.

The officer will immediately respond when communication comes through about an accident. This professional will complete a crash report, record property damage of $500 or more and detail injuries or deaths of any drivers or passengers. He or she may question both drivers and even passengers for additional information. Then, a copy of the report is available at the local police station. A personal report about the accident is not usable in the courts in the state. However, it can help understand what happened and to explain to an insurance adjuster the specific details.

Contact a Lawyer

When a driver or passenger suffers injury because of the other driver or special circumstances, it is vital to contact an Atlanta, GA car accident lawyer to initiate the lawsuit in a timely manner. A legal professional at Andrew R. Lynch, P.C. can help prove liability, explain and use comparative fault and assist with the investigation. He or she can also communicate with the insurance company and the settlement offer.

What Should I Do After A Car Accident?

Car accidents can cause severe, debilitating, and permanent injuries. Such injuries very often result in significant financial losses to the individuals involved and their families. However, Atlanta, GA law provides an injured person with the right to recover his or her damages from the responsible party. Such damages may include medical expenses, lost wages, funeral expenses, property damage, and other economic losses. Individuals are also entitled to recover for the pain and suffering caused by their injuries and treatment.

A car accident lawyer in Atlanta, GA like Andrew R. Lynch P.C can help seek the proper compensation.

 What Should I Do After A Car Accident?

Finally, contact our legal team at Andrew R. Lynch pc right away. Retaining a car accident lawyer from our Atlanta law firm early in the process will give you the best chance of resolving your case successfully.

Surviving Family Members Prove Wrongful Death

For someone to be found guilty in a wrongful death lawsuit, the surviving family must meet the burden of proof required in cases like these. There are four elements that are typically involved in any wrongful death case, as outlined by law. Wrongful death cases are often emotionally-charged, understandably, as the relatives yearn for a sense of justice in all that unfolded. Due to the sensitive nature of these cases, it isn’t uncommon for families to rely on guidance from a legal team that is experienced in handling wrongful death lawsuits.

As a wrongful death lawyer from Disparti Law Group can explain, surviving relatives who have filed a wrongful death lawsuit will have to prove that each of these following elements apply.

#1 Negligence
The definition of negligence means the failure to take proper care when doing something, which results in the injury or damage to another person. In a wrongful death lawsuit, it must be shown that the death of the relative was caused entirely or partially by the negligent or reckless actions of the defendant. It is imperative to the outcome of the case that the surviving family is able to uncover evidence that supports their claims and connects one person’s actions to the death of another.

#2 Breach of Duty
To obtain a certain verdict in a wrongful death case, the plaintiff has to prove the defendant owed a duty of care to the victim who lost their life. For instance, drivers have the duty to operate their vehicle safely and not violate traffic laws, and medical professionals have a duty to not harm their patients because of an oversight or mistake. The surviving family will have to establish the connection between a duty of care existing and how this was breached through negligent actions.

#3 Causation
In addition to showing proof that negligence with a factor and someone owed a duty of care to another, the surviving family has to show that the defendant breached their duty of care which led to the loss of life. The surviving family in the lawsuit will be required to prove that the defendant engaged in negligence which directly resulted in the death of their loved one. Without a strong link from causation to death, it will be more difficult to yield a successful outcome.

#4 Damages
To have grounds for a wrongful death lawsuit, the victim’s loss of life must have generated damages for the surviving family that are quantifiable, such as medical bills, hospitalization, funeral costs, burial expenses, loss of income, loss of protection, loss of potential earnings, and the degree of pain and suffering the victim experience before death. Being able to prove these points in a wrongful death case means that strong and reliable evidence is brought forward and can connect these elements together. Evidence must show that someone owed a duty of care to the deceased, breached their duty of care which led to the death, and that damages resulted.

Impossibility An Excuse For Non-Performance Of A Contract

Contracts Lawyer

One excuse that is commonly cited against performing contractual obligations is the impossibility of performance. Impossibility is not the same as impracticability, which is a doctrine that argues for excuse of non-performance of contractual obligations due to excessive and unreasonable levels of difficulty; impossibility is the more intuitive idea that a necessary condition of the performance of a contract is the existence of the item being sold or person rendering services. If a necessary person or item does not exist, it is impossible to actually perform the contract. Impossibility is recognized in many jurisdictions as an excuse of non-performance of a contractual obligation.

At an intuitive level, many people understand impossibility as an excuse for non-performance of a contract. People in informal or casual relationships will frequently excuse and forgive a promise made to them that is physically impossible to perform due to the nonexistence of an essential item or person. If one friend promises to another friend to buy a basket of apples from the store, and the store runs out of apples, then the friend who is the promisee is usually likely to excuse the inability to perform the promise due to the unavailability of apples at the store which the promisor friend visited.

The case Caldwell v. Taylor was an English court case from 1863 in which the court used the doctrine of impossibility in its opinion. Caldwell was the owner of a music hall and promised to rent the music hall to Taylor, a leasee, so that it could be used for hosting concerts and parties. However, before Taylor could make use of the property the building burned down, with neither party being responsible for the fire. Taylor sued Caldwell, but the court ruled that in this particular case, the existence of the property was an implied condition of the contract, and laid the groundwork for the doctrine of impossibility as an excuse for performance of a contract. This case has caused many people to argue that the existence of an essential item, or person, is a necessary condition of the contract that is implied when there is a meeting of the minds.

As your lawyer can explain, similar to a contracts lawyer an example of an essential person is a licensed professional such as an accountant, attorney, or broker. The sudden death or incapacity of such a professional would have enormous impacts on contracts that the professional is currently engaged in.

Filing A Personal Injury Lawsuit For A Bike Accident

Bicycle Accident Lawyer

If you have recently been injured in a bicycle accident, it is important to understand that you may have opportunities for legal and financial recourse available to you at this time. All too often, victims of bicycle accidents are surprised to discover that many people assume that they must have been to blame for their injurious circumstances. The car-centric culture in the U.S. is such that when cyclists, bikers, recreational bike riders, and scooter operators are injured as a result of accidents, many people jump to the conclusion that any non-motorist involved in the crash in question must be at fault for any harm caused.

This negative presumption keeps many injury victims from seeking legal guidance in the wake of a crash because they assume that they won’t be able to obtain justice for what happened to them. Thankfully, although some people jump to unfounded conclusions in the wake of a motorist/non-motorist crash, the law does not. If an accident injury victim’s case meets specific criteria, they should receive any and all compensation that is rightfully theirs.

Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit

As an experienced bicycle accident lawyer can explain in greater detail, injury victims who file personal injury lawsuits must generally prove three legal standards have been met in their case before they can be awarded compensation.

First, it must be proven that any defendant (such as a motorist or a manufacturer of defective auto parts) owed the injury victim/plaintiff a duty of care under the law. As anyone traveling on roads in the U.S. has a duty to operate their mode of transportation safely in order to mitigate the risk of harm to themselves and others, this standard isn’t generally a difficult one to meet in bicycle accident cases.

Second, it must be proven that any defendant named in a case behaved in a manner that was reckless, negligent, or intentionally dangerous. There are some exceptions to this rule for products defect cases tried under a legal theory of strict liability. However, this is generally the standard that must be met.

Third, it must be proven that the negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous conduct of the defendant directly contributed to the cause(s) of the plaintiff’s physical harm. For example, a motorist’s decision to drive after drinking to excess directly contributed to the cause of the accident that caused a cyclist’s injuries.

It is vital to understand that, unless you live in a very small minority of states, you remain entitled to compensation as a result of your injuries – provided that all of these legal criteria are met – even if you were partially to blame for what happened to you. Some states limit this opportunity to victims of accidents who are less than 50% at fault for their own harm.

Public Nuisance

Personal Injury Lawyer

Public nuisance is a tort that occurs when a person unreasonably interferes with a right that the general public shares. In other words, a person commits a public nuisance if they harm an entire neighborhood or society as a whole. Some examples of actions that constitute a public nuisance include water and air pollution, interference with the use of public spaces (such as a public park or the coastline), and creation of public health hazards (such as through dangerous drugs).

Public nuisance can be the result of either intentional or negligent conduct. In determining whether a public nuisance has occurred, a court will consider the type of neighborhood affected, the nature of the harmful conduct, and the proximity of the harmful conduct to those who were injured.

Who Can Sue for Public Nuisance?

However, because a public nuisance will affect many members of a society, the law limits the class of people who have the right to sue a person who has created a public nuisance. If every individual in the affected community were permitted to sue, the number of potential lawsuits would be unjust, inefficient, and wasteful.

Therefore, the law limits the right to sue for public nuisance to two groups of people. First, public authorities who are responsible for protecting the rights of the public, such as state and federal environmental protection agencies, may sue to prevent an ongoing public nuisance or to remedy a past public nuisance. Second, individuals within the affected community who have suffered a particularized harm as a result of the public nuisance can sue. A particularized harm is an individual harm that is different from the harm suffered by the public at large.

Remedies for Public Nuisance Actions

Plaintiffs bringing a claim for public nuisance can sue for damages or an injunction to abate an ongoing nuisance. In some instances, public authorities can refer public nuisance cases to state prosecutors to take criminal action against those who created the nuisance.

As explained by a highly regarded personal injury lawyer, the defendant in a public nuisance case will be liable to the plaintiff for compensatory damages for the harm they have suffered as a result of the nuisance, whether that be personal injury and lost wages or property damage.

Defenses to Public Nuisance Actions 

A defendant in a public nuisance action can raise several defenses, including assumption of the risk, contributory negligence, and “coming to the nuisance.” A defendant can claim assumption of the risk as a defense if the plaintiff knew about the nuisance and could have avoided it, but decided to live or work near the nuisance anyways. A defendant can claim contributory negligence as a defense if the plaintiff was negligent in causing, prolonging, or worsening their exposure to the public nuisance.

The defense of “coming to the nuisance” applies when the plaintiff’s property was impacted by the nuisance, the nuisance was occurring before the plaintiff acquired the property, and the plaintiff knew about the nuisance at the time the plaintiff purchased the property. “Coming to the nuisance” was historically a complete bar to recovery, but is now one of many factors the court will consider in evaluating a public nuisance claim.

Thanks to Eglet Law for their insight on public nuisance lawsuits.

Slip And Fall Accidents

After you have suffered from injuries from a slip and fall accident, you may be thinking that you wish you had a list handy so that you knew what steps to take. Things can be confusing immediately following an accident, especially with the rush of adrenaline (and maybe embarrassment). You may just be trying to get out of the store or whatever public place you are in as quickly as possible so that you can go home and rest in peace. However, this is not what you should be doing. Instead, one of the best things you can do is make a mental checklist of what you need following a slip and fall accident. Unless an ambulance is driving you to the hospital because you are seriously injured, there are a few things you can do at the scene of the accident to help with your claim.

Get Help For Your Claim Now

Getting into a slip-and-fall accident can be scary. Do not hesitate to get help from a lawyer you can rely on to help you with your claim.