If insurance companies didn't frustrate people over their property damage from a motor vehicle collision (that wasn't their fault to being with), what good would they be doing the legal profession? I would estimate that sixty (60%) percent of clients we see are infuriated by the way the at fault driver's insurance company has treated them on the evaluation and reimbursement of their mangled vehicle.

Consumers, you have options! Stop believing everything the insurance adjuster tells you to be the gospel truth. Start using the vast information at your finger tips and motivating these insurance companies to treat you fairly. Attorneys in South Carolina can not take contingency fees on property damage recovery amounts and insurance companies use this to their advantage by trying to strong arm you.

If you receive property damage from a motor vehicle collision in the State of South Carolina then you should be able to recover several things:

1. the fair market value of your vehicle if it is a total loss;
2. the repair of your vehicle to its pre-collision state (if not a total loss);
3. a rental car or 
4. loss of use= $25.00 a day for every day you were unable to use your vehicle or not provided a rental;
5. depreciation for your vehicle now being worth less than it was before the collision as a result of having after market parts and being labeled as having been in a collision.

• But the insurance adjuster won't pay me what Kelley Blue Book or NADA says my vehicle is worth.

Of course they won't. Insurance companies don't make money giving it away. They make money paying you less than your claim is worth and thus maximizing their reserves and net income. What? They know they can tell you things that aren't true because you really won't do anything about it anyway. Or will you? Now that you understand what the law in South Carolina says and that they are obviously breaking the laws after all you have had to go through. Will you do something now?

YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES:

1. Take the value they are trying to force feed you after some negotiation with knowing what you need to ask for and be done with it;
2. File a Property Arbitration claim with the Clerk of Court in the county the collision happened or defendant lives. It routinely only costs five ($5.00) dollars. That's it.

How do I do that?  Great question. Plus, insurance companies hate having to come explain themselves for trying to low ball you in front of the arbitration panel, which consists of three (3) lawyers in the county you filed. Most times you can get more negotiating done after you forward a copy of the arbitration to the adjuster you were working with.

I have posted the an excerpt below and highlighted important points for those too lazy to read the whole thing.

START FIGHTING BACK AND STOP TAKING IT ON THE CHIN FROM THOSE GREEDY INSURANCE COMPANIES 

SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS

SECTION 38-77-710. Appointment of attorneys as arbitrators to hear and determine property damage liability claims; process and procedure.

The court of common pleas, or any inferior courts having concurrent jurisdiction, in and for each county, shall by order of reference appoint an attorney or attorneys to hear and determine, by arbitration, property damage liability claims arising out of motor vehicle collisions or accidents and to award actual and punitive damages. This order must be consistent with the provisions of this chapter and may not be inconsistent with the Rules of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Process and procedure must be as summary and simple as may be reasonable and may provide for the taking of evidence in the form of reports, statements, or itemized bills or in any other manner without the procedural and evidentiary limitations which pertain in jury trials. The court may provide for the taking of depositions of a witness within or without the State.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 56-11-510 [1962 Code Section 47-750.135; 1974 (58) 2718] recodified as Section 38-77-710 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1.

SECTION 38-77-720. Number, qualifications, and compensation of arbitrators; fee paid by claimant.

(a) The order of reference shall establish a panel of arbitrators each of whom must be a member of the bar and the members must be selected for service in particular cases on some fair rotation basis. Three arbitrators shall hear and determine each case and the decision of two of the three arbitrators shall determine the issue. However, the parties to the dispute may, by agreement, provide for determination of the disputed claim by one arbitrator.

(b) Each arbitrator assigned to determine the claim may be compensated, not to exceed thirty-five dollars for his services and time, payable out of the funds of the court and which may not be taxable as costs to either party.

(c) The claimant who is the moving party in seeking arbitration shall pay to the clerk of court a fee of ten dollars. Five dollars must be retained by the clerk as the cost of filing the claim and final judgment and five dollars must be used to pay the cost of service on the other party or parties.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 56-11-520 [1962 Code Section 46-750.136; 1974 (58) 2718] recodified as Section 38-77-720 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1.

SECTION 38-77-730. Request for arbitration; no formal pleading and process; arbitration docket; filing of claim; service of summons to defendant.

(a) Any person who is a party to the disputed property damage liability claim may submit his claim for determination through arbitration. No formal pleading or process is required. The clerk of court of each county shall prepare and keep an arbitration docket and set the cases thereon for arbitration as provided by law for the settling of cases in the court of common pleas.

(b) The claim must be filed with the clerk of court in the county in which the cause of action arose or where the plaintiff or defendant resides. The claim must be filed in triplicate with the clerk of court on forms to be provided by him. The forms shall set forth the names of the parties, the date and place of the accident, and the amount of property damage claimed. The clerk shall file one copy in his office, and one copy must be served upon the defendant as provided by law for service of summons and complaints. The sheriff, or such other person, shall promptly serve the claim upon the defendant and shall receive the sum of five dollars to defray the cost of securing this service. The sheriff, or such other person, serving the process shall promptly file an affidavit of personal service with the clerk of court on forms to be provided by the clerk.

(c) There must be attached to, or made part of, the form a summons to the defendant named notifying him that he should file a response with the clerk of court within thirty days from the date of service and that failure to file a response within thirty days entitles the plaintiff to a default judgment. The form must be signed by the party filing it or his attorney, if any, and shall by order of reference show the address of the person signing it.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 56-11-530 [1962 Code Section 46-750.137; 1974 (58) 2718] recodified as Section 38-77-730 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1.

SECTION 38-77-740. Hearing; notice to parties; damages to be awarded; securing attendance of witnesses.

(a) The court, or the clerk acting for the court, shall assign the arbitrators to hear the matter at the courthouse, or other designated place in the county where the claim is filed, within sixty days after the date of filing, or as soon thereafter as is feasible. The clerk of court shall, on a form provided by him, advise the parties or their attorneys of record, if any, by mail as to the place, date, and time of hearing and shall advise the parties to bring all records which may pertain to the claim, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Two estimates of damage to the motor vehicle or its contents signed by the estimator.

(2) Signed receipts for car repairs.

(3) Bills or receipts for other property damages claimed.

The forms shall also contain notice to the parties that, if they cannot attend because of illness or otherwise, the clerk of court must be notified as soon as possible with the request that another date be set for the hearing.

(b) Property damages must be awarded as provided by law, including, but not limited to, actual damages, loss of use, depreciation, and any other property damages which are the direct and proximate result of the accident.

(c) The parties may secure the attendance of witnesses by their voluntary appearance or may secure their attendance by subpoenas prepared and issued in accordance with the laws of this State.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 56-11-540 [1962 Code Section 46-750.138; 1974 (58) 2718] recodified as Section 38-77-740 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1.

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We can't help you when you fall in love, or out of love, but we can help you.  What we do involves holding other individuals and companies responsible for their negligence, ignorance, or omissions that caused you harm. Yes, that really means the insurance company hiding behind the people and companies that pay for just that type of incident.  Those negligent, ignorant, or forgetful people and companies often have little to do with the decisions that make you whole again. A wide array of real world examples and some of the most common types of cases are below:

• injured while working and not really getting straight answers from your employer or HR person;
• another driver not paying attention and rammed their 3,000 pound hunk of metal into your only means of transportation. Now you can't move your neck or get to work;
• a tractor trailer driver on interstate 85 nearly kill you when they were switching lanes while texting;
• neighbor's dog get loose again and bite your child, leaving permanent scars and an infected wound;
• finally realize you are in need of Social Security benefits and got denied;
• can't believe a manufacturer would sell a product so dangerous;
• slip, trip, or fall on someone's property that knew there was a problem where you fell;
• get jumped on, beat up, called dirty names, and held without your permission until a large retailer realized you actually paid your bill.  Oops, they made a mistake;
• something not true being written and/or said about you to others;
• have to lay your motorcycle down because another driver didn't see you.

Those are just the top ten or more scenarios that have come into the office in the past couple months. I am sure there are more but I think you get the point. Enjoy your Valentine's Day and hopefully you never need us. HOWEVER, if you ever do, or know someone that does, just tell them to call us or visit our website.

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The South Carolina Bar asked Dr. Joseph C. Von Nessen of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina just that question. Dr. Von Nessen's report, entitled "The Economic Impact of the Legal Profession on South Carolina", was recently presented at the SC BAR Annual Convention in Myrtle Beach.

Excerpts of the report have been posted below:

• There are 9,941attorneys practicing in the State of South Carolina, this total considers all active and non-retired members, including judges & law clerks;
• The combination of the direct, indirect, and induced impacts leads to a total impact of nearly $2.7 billion on the state of South Carolina that is associated with the legal profession;
• Every $100 spent by the legal profession leads to an additional $60 in total economic activity;
• The state of South Carolina was then broken down into regions to further quantify the economical impact;
• The Midlands, Upstate, and Charleston regions were the top three major metropolitan impact regions;
• The Upstate Region was made up of  Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, & Union;
• As the second largest economical impact region, the Upstate Region has a total impact of $487 million in economic output, $217 million in labor income, and 4,161 jobs.

You can now take back all those nasty things you've said about lawyers. Next time you see an attorney, thank them for having such an immense economical impact on the growth and well being of this great state of South Carolina.

UPDATED with RELATED NEWS ARTICLE:

• The Greenville News picked up the story entitling it:  "Legal Firms Have $2.7B Economic Impact in State, Study Finds"
   

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The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported that over 500 wrecks, or collisions, occurred during the icy weather that came into the upstate on Friday, January 25, 2013. The northwestern corner of South Carolina, also known as the "Golden Corner", was blanketed with freezing rain early on Friday causing Pickens and Oconee County government offices to close early. 

Unfortunately, a fatality was reported in Pickens County when 52-year-old, James Allen Carroll, lost control of his 2003 F-250 pickup on an icy patch on U.S. 123. Another fatal collision occurred in Spartanburg County in a multiple car pile up.  All other wrecks and collisions reported indicated non-fatal injuries.

OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:

Anderson Independent:  "Icy Weather in Upstate Brings Two Fatal Accidents, Many School and Office Closures"

The Post and Courier: "Hundreds of South Carolina Wrecks Blamed on Icy Roads"

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I have been trying to tell everyone as loudly and as often as I can, Allstate Insurance Company is evil. Finally someone from within the Allsnake lair sought the warm sunlight through the confession of his sins against humanity while working as an employee of the snake.

Tony Bartelme, with The Post and Courier , reported "Storm of Money: Insider Tells How Some Insurance Companies Rig the System." The insider was actually an Allstate employee and I'm sure Mr. Bartelme was wanting to use a broad stroke but let's keep our eye on the head of this evil snake-Allstate.

Since it's hard enough to encourage people to read, I will provide very simple, concise, excerpts from the article for those individuals in a rush so that they may better visualize those good hands  wrapped around your throat:

• Colossus is a program that calculates how much a person might be paid for an injury claim;
• Mark Romano was the Allstate insider that came forward in the article and was considered Allstate’s Colossus “subject matter expert”;
• Romano discovered that if he used Colossus the way Allstate did, he could save its new Encompass division millions of dollars by “turning the knobs” of the software — paying people less in claims than they would have otherwise gotten;
• In South Carolina, for instance, CNA had divided the state into two territories — the “Liberal” area around Charleston and the “Conservative” region elsewhere. Allstate renamed the territories “Charleston” and “Palmetto.” By using Allstate’s Colossus tuning methods instead of CNA’s, Romano could reduce payments in the Palmetto region by 18 percent. Savings were even greater in the Charleston area — a 57 percent reduction. That meant the Allstate version of Colossus would turn a $10,000 claim in Charleston into a $4,300 payment!;
• People were being hurt by Colossus, and it was tearing him apart. He couldn’t turn the knobs anymore;

I know you are already tired of reading the obvious points that are being made about how evil Allstate Insurance Company has been over the past few decades. Don't worry, it won't effect your life until you are violently, rammed by someone covered by Allstate. Then when you suffer through your injuries for months and an Allstate insurance adjuster enters your information into a computer software program, manipulated to low ball you,-you might just remember why I was jumping up and down while pointing. 

Imagine that, Romano even published a short report entitled, "Low Ball: An Insider’s Look at How Some Insurers Can Manipulate Computerized Systems to Broadly Underpay Injury Claims."

WAKE THE &^%^& UP CONSUMERS!, will be the title of my new book.

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Guest post contributed by Carlos Santiago*

Depending on the source, statistics regarding the likelihood of a pit bull attack vary widely. For example, the website DogsBite.org released a 2009 report claiming pit bulls were responsible for 59% of all dog attack deaths, equal to killing a U.S. citizen every 21 days over a three year period. On the other hand, a study from the American Veterinary Medical Association looked at dog bites statistics over the past 20 years and found that no breed is more likely to attack humans than others.

For many years, pit bulls, Dobermans, and other large dogs have been accused of being overly aggressive and more likely to attack and bite humans. Although some people and communities respond to dog attacks by enacting breed-specific legislation to prohibit ownership of pit bulls and other dog breeds, many experts claim you can reduce dog bite cases through owner education and dog training.

The Case for Dog Training

There are a number of ways people can take action to reduce the risk of a pit bull attack. Along with parents educating their children on how to act around dogs, dog owners can also take steps to train their pit bulls and other dogs to not bite humans.

Pit bull owners need to make sure to expose pit bull puppies to a number of different people and other dogs while they are eight to sixteen weeks old. This kind of exposure will help dogs to be more comfortable in a variety of situations.  

Another example of effective pit bull training that could reduce the risk of a pit bull attack is avoiding confrontation that could promote your dog to act aggressively. When the dog is constantly put in a position where he or she feels the need to defend himself or herself, it may learn to be combative.

Additionally, if your dog has a tendency to guard his or her food or toys, it is important to not allow this behavior to persist. If you back down, your dog may learn that aggression is effective. Instead, simply move the rawhide or chew toy so your dog understands that aggression does not work.

Training a pit bull can be a great way to show that these strong, intelligent animals are not dangerous to humans. This can help you avoid the need for a dog bite lawyer in the future.

*Carlos Santiago is a legal blogger with experience writing about various personal injury topics including car accidents and premises liability. He is currently interested in sharing information about how a dog bite lawyer can help you. Mr. Santiago’s work is currently being featured on www.petbite.com.

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Fox Carolina News investigated the congested nature and much needed repairs of interstate 85. The report featured i85lawyers.com attorney Trey Mills and Michael Dennis with South Carolina Department of Transportation.

FOX Carolina 21

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We have been contacted by several families now that used their Dish Network LLC DVR devices to watch and/or watched at the time of broadcast, the cute little Disney cartoon movie, "Lilo & Stitch". However, what those families inadvertently allowed their minor children to watch was hardcore pornography. Ironically, the second movie of the cartoon series is "Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch".  Apparently, Dish Network LLC has a glitch in its receivers, software, and/or new Hopper device, too.

Dish Network LLC was not responsive to our initial clients and this seems to be their modus operandi with other complaints, litigation, and issues as demonstrated from a simple Google search below.

IF YOU ARE A DISH NETWORK SUBSCRIBER AND WITNESSED THIS BROADCAST, PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE IMMEDIATELY.

Trammell & Mills Law Firm, LLC at 1650 East Greenville Street, Anderson, South Carolina 29621/1-800-483-0880/ or email us. 

DISH NETWORK LAWSUITS & SETTLEMENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman: Class Action Lawsuit Against Dish Network Sparked By Robocalls To A Cell Phone;
• Dish Network Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Complaint Brought on Behalf of Dish Network Inside Sales Associates;
• FTC Files Complaint Against DISH Network;
• Dish Network resellers fight for share of $83 million settlement;
• Dish, Echostar Settle Long-Running Patent Dispute With $500 Million To TiVo;
• Class Action Law Suit Settled For Dish Unlawfully Raising Prices;

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The Greenville News is reporting that four motor vehicle collisions over this past weekend claimed five lives:

1. Lyle Thomas Torbenson and Susan Marie Torbenson of Zirconia, N.C were on a 2012 Harley Davidson motorcycle when they collided with a 1988 Oldsmobile in Greenville County Saturday, October 13, 2012;
2. David Hawkins of Greenwood, SC  was on a 1998 Harley Davidson motorcycle when he crashed and died while exiting off  Interstate 85 in Anderson County on Saturday, October 13, 2012;
3. William Nathaniel Miller of Chesnee, SC  was walking across the street when he was struck and killed by a 2006 Nissan truck in Spartanburg County on Saturday, October 13, 2012; and
4. Jeffery Scott Orr of Piedmont, SC died when he crashed his all-terrain vehicle in Greenville County on Saturday, October 13, 2012.

Trammell & Mills Law Firm, LLC encourages everyone to slow down, be aware of your surroundings, and look twice to save a life.

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