South Carolina Injury Law Journal - Anderson and Greenville Lawyer & Attorney Workers' Compensation Cases, Product Liability Lawsuits, and Accidents

Keith Bradsher  with The New York Times wrote an article entitled, "Name Hurts Main Unit of A.I.G." reporting that:

Less than two months after changing its name, the biggest and best-known unit of American International Group is preparing to change its name again, in the latest sign of damage to one of the world’s most famous brands....

A.I.G. changed the name of the worldwide holding company for its property and casualty unit to American International Underwriters in early March.....

“The advice we’ve received is A.I.U. may be a bit close to A.I.G. — we don’t want to appear as the same leopard with different spots,” Mr.[Leslie] Mouat said in an interview, adding that he was told only Saturday of the decision to change the name again, which has not been publicly announced....

In a similar story Jake Bernstein of ProPublica  indicated that Lehman Brothers changed their name due to the bankruptcy and have now been able to receive additional TARP Funds in his article entitled "Lehman Mortgave Servicer on Life Support Gets a Piece of TARP":

If any more proof is needed that the intersection between the government and the financial sector has become hopelessly convoluted, look no further than Aurora Bank. Until this thrift recently shed its name, à la AIG (which is still picking a new moniker), it was known as Lehman Brothers Bank , a division of the now-bankrupt holding company of the same name. Since Lehman is synonymous with bankruptcy, the still-active but wobbly thrift renamed itself Aurora Bank last month.  It got the name from its own less controversial subsidiary, Aurora Loan Services .
 

There is no need to worry in these troubled economic times about your hard earned tax money, it is still going to help those that need it the least.  Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, I think you would agree with that statement.

If you are a Republican you think the people receiving government benefits, ie food stamps, Medicare, & Medicaid, need your money the least. If you are a Democrat, you think the greedy corporations receiving all the TARP money, vis-a-vis tax money, need it the least and deserve it the least.

Who's right and who's wrong? Without pointing fingers, who cares-who's right and who's wrong? Let's figure out how to make the system better, have the mass public be more informed, and find our balance.  These are the hopes of this young, American lawyer.  (young is a relative term).

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The Greenville News reported on the alarming rise in dog bites against US Postal Carriers: 

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I represent plaintiffs, or those injured by the negligence, ignorance, and omissions of other persons, employers, and corporations,  100% of the time. Conversely that would mean I work against defendant's that have injured my client. OR DO I? Yes and no.

Actually, I work against defense attorneys that are paid hourly or on retainer by insurance companies. These insurance companies hire defense attorneys to protect them when their insured, or client that pays for insurance, does something wrong.  Understand?

Let's look deeper. We all buy insurance. We buy insurance up to a certain amount and pay a premium.  That premium is paid to an insurance company to protect our interest if something goes wrong or something bad happens. We usually pay that premium towards a particular amount of coverage to have the insurance company come in and protect us when something goes wrong. Do insurance companies really protect their insureds?

Now let's talk about insurance companies:

• Did you know if someone hits you without auto insurance that your insurance company, the company you pay your premium to protect you, stands in place of the person that hit you without insurance?
• Did you know if a drunk driver hit you and hurt you so badly to require more than your insurance coverage and you were smart enough to purchase UIM, or underinsured coverage, that your insurance company will stand in for the drunk driver and protect them against you stacking that coverage?
• Did you even know you could stack certain insurance coverages?
• Did you know that insurance companies pay lots of money for expensive software and research programs that let them know as much about you as possible?- ie Ever watch one of those movies where if it has ever been put into a computer or mainframe system they know? (Those aren't science fiction movies anymore). Confidential medical records--ha ha. Funny.

Defense attorneys love to point out shiny objects in your past. If you have ever hurt yourself in the past then they will say that was the result of your current injury not the fact that the person they are paid to protect by the insurance company ran their 5,000lb car into your front seat.  In their minds it was most likely a result of the fall you had when you were 3 years old and it just never healed right.  Understand better?

Certain things can not be brought in front of a jury at trial regardless of how relevant they may be to a lay person:

• I can't bring into evidence the ticket the highway patrolman gave to the at fault party;
• I can't talk about the defendant's insurance coverage;
• I can't even mention the word "insurance";  

Ironically, defense attorneys get paid by the hour and don't care how quickly the case moves. Remember they get paid by the hour. Would you rush a project that paid you by the hour or would you work at it so long as you could? Also, it helps the premium you pay build interest and that interest to make them money while they stall on giving you any money. Funny isn't it?

If you remember nothing else, remember this:

Insurance companies don't make money paying you money, they make money keeping it away from you.

 Now, who do you think pays for that defense attorney? You or the insurance company?

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