The Anderson Independent was reporting "Traffic Deaths Down in South Carolina for First Half Year":

  • the state had 439 traffic deaths for mid year 2009;
  • a decline from 492 during in the same period in 2008; and
  • an even stronger decline from the 553 in the first half of 2007.

However, there were 11 traffic related deaths in the state of South Carolina during the Fourth of July Holiday weekend.  As far as Upstate South Carolina is concerned, those traffic deaths have included:

South Carolina Highway Patrol considered these declines in traffic fatalities to be in strong part due to seat belt use and sobriety enforcement being at an all-time high in the state.

I encourage everyone to wear your seat belts and don’t drink and drive! Let’s keep these numbers dropping every year.

As Tim Morgan, a spokesman for the Pickens County Sheriff’s Department, said in regards to traffic fatalities:

“If you have one, if it is your family member, that is one way too many. We don’t wait to look at numbers. We get involved.”

The South Carolina General Assembly Legislative Audit Council performs independent, objective performance audits of state operations. Their main goal is to ensure accountability in the management of public resources.

The Greenville News reported  "SC Consumers Paying Too Much For Insurance". The Legislative Audit Council found mismanagement on the part of the SC Department of Insurance in ensuring South Carolinian’s best interest in the following areas:

  • Workers’ Compensation Insurance
  • Coastal Property Insurance
  • Overall Regulation of Insurance
  • Captive Insurance

Interestingly the report doesn’t talk about trial attorneys are runaway juries, it mentions more the mismanagement of the department in holding insurance companies accountable.  Oh well, no one will read the small print or take the time to read the report. What do they care? It will just raise their rates and make insurance companies tons of money. Ha. Ha. At the expense of South Carolina citizens. How funny is that?

Call and complain. Ask for accountability people. You pay taxes & insurance.  If you can’t trust the State to do its job why are you getting upset at attorneys for protecting your interest?

The phone number and address to the South Carolina Department of Insurance is below:

803-737-6160
803-737-6205 – Fax       

info@doi.sc.gov

Post Office Box 100105
Columbia, SC 29202

I receive several promotional emails, flyers, and mailers everyday but for some reason last week, an idea and a promotional email caught my eye.  As insurance companies try and become even more gluttonous with profits they are stream lining their claims process by shedding the intelligent, experienced, and knowledgeable adjusters for younger, inexperienced,"read from a script" warm bodies. These seasoned adjusters that are being replaced have figured out their years of service may be valuable to their adversaries, PLAINTIFF TRIAL LAWYERS!

Maurice Kraut of Mass, LLC, formerly an insurance claims representative for Ohio Casualty and Montgomery Insurance for over 30 years, recently provided some valuable insight to our firm.  No matter whether a litigation firm negotiates first and then files suit or just files suit, they still have to interact and work with insurance adjusters that assist in the evaluation and valuation of injury claims for their respective insurance companies.  

Mr. Kraut helped evaluate our logistical approach to settling claims, settlement packages and content, and did some case reviews with us. I found his presentation to be helpful to my staff, myself, and more importantly to our clients that will reap the benefits of our improved efficiency and effectiveness. 

Maurice Kraut’s website states: 

"My 30 years experience in Claims Management along with specialized education and technical expertise has enabled me to achieve expert status in the following areas:

  • Bad Faith
  • Insurance Claims Handling
  • Insurance Claims Management
  • Coverage Issues
  • Liability and Damages Evaluations

I have testified in both State and Federal court cases. Please call me to discuss your case anytime."

MASS, LLC
655H Fairview Road  #350
Simpsonville, SC  29680
(864) 757-1058

 

 "Change is the essence of life.  Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become." — Unknown author

I can’t stand by silently watching so many people be duped by the calm, collective gentleman touting the wonders of Allstate Insurance Company through it’s "accident forgiveness", "safe driving bonus", & other cute deductible programs through a commercial or website. Reminding people they are in "Good Hands" with Allstate. Those "Good Hands":

Let me share another perspective of Allstate Insurance Company (sucks) that you will not find out about until you actually need to use them through a claim, injury, or traumatic event where someone hits you and has Allstate Insurance. Or better yet, and I love it when I explain this to clients, YOU have Allstate Insurance through your Uninsured or Underinsured insurance coverage and they:

  • deny your claim or play hardball;
  • Delay your claim; and
  • Or the funniest, make you have to file a law suit while they defend the at fault party. That’s right they (Allstate) defend the party that caused you injury while you try and get compensated through your Underinsured coverage.  Ask a representative today if you think I am lying.

If you have never had to file a claim or utilize the benefits of your own insurance coverage then you have no idea the process that you have to go through when dealing with Allstate. 

Allstate may provide you with a couple dollars savings over another insurance company on the front end but what good is paying an insurance premium if you are not going to be able to utilize those benefits when you need them?–Trey Mills

When Allstate gives you problems, hold on tightly and give us a call to try and get their hands off from around your neck.

 

We know insurance companies are hard enough to deal with on domestic claims. Can you imagine having to deal with insurance companies as a foreign, or international, person not able to speak the language and working in a war zone?  It appears that not too many foreign workers really have to worry about that because they never are informed of their rights or benefits to begin with. Benefits that are paid for by U.S. taxpayers to insurance companies.

The Los-Angeles Times and Pro-Publica did a joint investigation entitled "Forgotten Warriors" & "Disposable Army", respectively, highlighting the blatant and rampant abuse into the federally financed program that is supposed to provide workers’ compensation insurance to civilian contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan. A program that has failed to deliver medical care and other benefits to many foreign workers and their survivors.

The series of articles illustrate in more depth the following highlights:

"It’s almost like we’re this invisible, discardable military. Once we’ve done our jobs, they can actually sidetrack us and not worry about us anymore," said Tim Newman, a sheriff’s deputy from South Carolina who lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Once back home, he fought an insurance company for a year to get a prosthetic leg that his doctors recommended.

I graduated from Mid-Carolina High School in 1996 after having gone through some trials on a personal level and then actually living to come back 13 years later as the commencement speaker was not only emotional but very special, to say the least.

It was great seeing all the talented, hard working, dedicated, and truly special teachers that impacted my life a decade or more ago, still passing along their gifts.  The new high school facility is amazing and I am so happy to see those educators, administrators, students, and parents being provided the framework. They already had the content, now they have the beautiful exterior cover.

Thank you Mid-Carolina for having me. I have posted the transcript of my speech online and you can click on Mid-Carolina Graduation Speech 2009-Trey Mills  for those that had requested same.

 

 

 

 

 

The amount of traffic and pedestrian fatalities seemed to be one article after another this past week/weekend.  As summer begins don’t let your focus change. Always remember your duties to be responsible on the roadways of South Carolina. Here were some of the articles reported by The Greenville News & Anderson Independent:

  • Easley Man Killed on 183– a one car crash involving Mr. Oswaldo Carrera Hernandez, speed was indicated as a factor in the wreck;
  • Motorcyclist, Moped Rider Die in Taylors Crash-the motorcyclist, Joe Pannell, who was wearing a helmet, died of blunt-force trauma on the way to the hospital Friday. The moped driver, Brian Cote, died Saturday morning, about 11 hours after the crash. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Bryan McDougald said Cote, was eastbound in a 35 mph zone on East Main in Taylors when he turned into Pannell’s path. Cote was not wearing a helmet;
  • Pickens Man Dies in Moped Crash– A 41-year-old Pickens man was killed Saturday night when the Honda moped he was riding crashed on Mount Bethel Road, when he lost control of the moped and hit a ditch. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The article went on to report that, "Nationally, there were almost 5,200 motorcycle deaths in 2007, up 6 percent from the almost 4,900 deaths from the year before, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."
  • Dodge Ram Sought in Fatal Greer Hit-Run–State troopers are investigating a Greer pedestrian’s death as a hit-and-run and are trying to confirm who was driving the pickup that struck him.The driver of the Dodge Ram left the scene after striking the man, who was westbound on the shoulder of State 290 at 8:55 a.m. Sunday.  The pedestrian has been identified as James Roper James, 49, of Greer;
  • Brothers Killed in Westside Crash- Two brothers from Mexico were killed in a freakish three-vehicle accident on Farrs Bridge Road near the Greenville-Pickens line on Wednesday evening. Jesus and Juan Zamora-Barrera were killed when their Ford pickup collided with the cab of a tractor-trailer cab that was towing a backhoe on a lowboy trailer; and

  • Belton Woman Faces Charges After Fatal Wreck-as reported by the Anderson Independent-A 21-year-old woman, Kelly McCoy of Belton, was arrested and charged with felony driving under the influence and open container after a wreck that killed 56-year old Jack Hall Jr. of Fork Shoals. McCoy was driving her 2005 Honda north on Fairview Road when she crossed over the center line and struck Hall’s Chevrolet pickup truck, killing him instantly.  

If you, a loved one, friend, family member, and/or enemy need a free consultation after having been injured as a result of someone’s ignorance, negligence, or omission, please feel free to call upon an experienced personal injury attorney that can assist you in this delicate and confusing process.

Remember:

"Insurance companies don’t make money paying it out in claims. They make money, keeping it away from you. Personal Injury attorneys make money based on a percentage they get for you from the insurance companies. Whose interest are aligned with yours and whose interest are not aligned with yours?"  –Trey Mills

 

Our South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford, has been in a long and very publicized battle with the General Assembly over how to appropriate the State Fiscal Stabilization (SFS) funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, aka Federal Stimulus monies, allotted to South Carolina.  The battle has finally come to a head with the South Carolina Supreme Court ruling in Edwards and Williams v. State and SCASA v. Sanford:

We hold under the circumstances presented that a writ of mandamus is warranted and issue a writ of mandamus* to compel Governor Sanford to apply for the SFS funds and take all legal and necessary steps to effectuate the State’s receipt of the SFS funds for the purposes as set forth by Congress.

*(Excerpt from the case explaining writs of mandamus)

The Supreme Court has the power to issue writs of mandamus.  S.C. Const. art. V, § 5; S.C. Code Ann. § 14-3-310 (1976).  Mandamus is the highest judicial writ known to the law.  Brackenbrook N. Charleston, LP v. County of Charleston, 360 S.C. 390, 400, 602 S.E.2d 39, 45 (2004).  It is a coercive writ which orders a public official to perform a ministerial duty.  Wilson v. Preston, 378 S.C. 348, 354, 662 S.E.2d 580, 582 (2008); Ex Parte Littlefield, 343 S.C. 212, 222, 540 S.E.2d 81, 86 (2000). 

For a writ of mandamus to issue, the following must be shown: (1) a duty of the Respondent to perform the act; (2) the ministerial nature of the act; (3) the Petitioner’s specific legal right for which discharge of the duty is necessary; and (4) a lack of any other legal remedy. Wilson v. Preston, 378 S.C. at 354, 662 S.E.2d at 583.  A ministerial act or duty is one which a person performs because of a legal mandate which is defined with such precision as to leave nothing to the exercise of discretion. Id. at 354, 662 S.E.2d at 583

(Picture from The State article entitled, "Stimulus Battle Might End by Weekend + Video")

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).

 

 

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

triggerAd(1,PaginationPage,5);The postal service’s Greater South Carolina District, which has 995 city carriers and 1,448 rural carriers, has had a “shocking” increase in dog bites in recent months, the agency said……

Harry Spratlin, spokesman for the USPS Greater South Carolina Performance Cluster, said it’s difficult to pinpoint a cause for the rise in dog bites to letter carriers………

“Even small breed dogs have the potential to inflict injuries that can threaten a carrier’s career. Our best approach is to issue an appeal to all dog lovers: please, be responsible owners: control your pets.”

If you have been attacked by a dog, either on the job or off the job, you may have a cause of action against the dog’s owner or keeper.  South Carolina’s law on dog bites is clear:

S.C. Code Ann. § 47-3-110: Liability of owner or person having dog in his care or keeping.

Whenever any person is bitten or otherwise attacked by a dog while the person is in a public place or is lawfully in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog or other person having the dog in his care or keeping, the owner of the dog or other person having the dog in his care or keeping is liable for the damages suffered by the person bitten or otherwise attacked. …. If a person provokes a dog into attacking him then the owner of the dog is not liable.  (emphasis added).

I have covered this topic in a previous post in more depth. Please click on the link below to learn more about South Carolina’s law on dog bite incidents.