I have had the privilege in years prior to assist South Carolina Bar Pro Bono and Tri-County Technical College with their "Law School for Non-Lawyers". I use the power point presentation below to illustrate, educate, and integrate ADR to my class. There is nothing fancy about it but if it can help someone, I am happy to provide it to the public.
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people use poor judgment.
Consider this
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Please see the reprint from the breakdown provided by South Carolina’s Voice for Limited Government
Medicaid
$860 million to maintain Medicaid eligibility and services available to recipients
Public Assistance and Welfare
$387.3 million for food stamps
$98.1 million for unemployment compensation (extra $100 week for unemployed)
$36.3 million in child care and development grants
$25.6 million for affordable housing construction and rent aid to poor families
$15.9 million for assistance to the homeless including rent assistance and direct aid
$15.9 million for homelessness prevention activities
$15.5 million in community services grants to local community action agencies
$2 million for emergency food and shelter grants to faith-based organizations at the local level
$1.9 million for senior citizens meal programs
$1.7 million through the Emergency Food Assistance Program
Infrastructure and Science
$463.1 million for highway construction and road repair; could also include rail and port infrastructure activities at the discretion of the states
$41.2 million for mass transit
$40.8 million for water utility infrastructure construction and development
$36.1 million for public housing construction and redevelopment
Education and Training
$191.2 million for disadvantaged students
$173.6 million for Special Education grants
$28.7 million in Dislocated Workers State Grants
$25 million for Department of Labor’s Youth State Grants
$10.5 million for Department of Labor’s Adult State Grants
$9.4 million for computers and software
$9.4 million for Head Start
$8.9 million for Vocational Rehabilitation
$5.8 million in State Employment Service Grants
$1.4 million for National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance
According to the White House, the economic recovery package also includes more Pell Grants for the 97,000 Pell Grant recipients in South Carolina
Law Enforcement
$37.6 million in grants to police departments
$13.3 million matching funds for child support enforcement
$2.6 million in Violence Against Women Grants for victim services programs
$1.2 million in Internet Crimes Against Children Grants
Tax Relief
$400 for workers (or $800 for married couples) expansion of the Earned Income Credit
Extended and increased first-time homebuyer tax credit
Extended bonus depreciation and small business expensing through 2009
The current U.S. national debt prior to the federal stimulus package is $10.6 trillion. That amounts to $34,900 for every man, woman and child in the nation. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the budget deficit for 2009 alone will exceed $1.2 trillion dollars. When promised benefits of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are factored into federal obligations, the true long-term national budget shortfall exceeds $53 trillion. That is more than $700,000 for a family of four.
Voting Accountability
Key bills passed in the General Assembly this week without a recorded vote:
H.3352 passed second and third reading in the House on voice votes. It would allow school districts to furlough teachers and increase classroom sizes.
If you have been through a financial class, statistics, or done some investing, you understand the terms of Present Value and Future Value. I am not going to work through PV at present: PV = FV — r·PV = FV/(1+r). However, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," is a much simpler term for me to understand.
I recently went through two mediations back to back and this analogy and/or theme seemed to prevail throughout the whole process. I find it interesting that many of my clients never want to "sue" anyone but they also want top dollar for their claim without ever having to file a complaint and undergo the litigation process. That can be done but there are certain compromises that have to be made due to the present value vs. future value dilemma.
Working exclusively on personal injury cases in civil trial court, I work on a contingency fee basis for my clients. This means I work for free UNLESS I negotiate, take to trial, or otherwise render them a lump sum payment for the wrong that they have incurred as a result of someone or something’s negligence. If I am able to provide them with a lump sum payment, my firm receives a percentage of that settlement, usually between 33.33%-40%, plus any costs that we have advanced on behalf of the client, ie medical records, depositions, court fees, expert testimony, etc. These costs grow exponentially once a lawsuit is filed and discovery of that lawsuit initiates.
More work, more time, more rules, more evidentiary backing and factual proof, more expenses, and more contentious interactions come with litigation, or filing a lawsuit. Therefore, I always like to discuss the amount on the table today vs. the amount we would have to get on the table 2 years from now to be almost equal. For example:
Sometimes, these values are never offered so there is no Present Value vs. Future Value Dilemma to discern. I love going to court and doing trials, however, I want to make sure my clients brag about me and promote me to their friends, family, and/or loved ones in a time of need. That is why I always address the Present Value vs. Future Value Dilemma when it arises.
For those Biblical scholars:
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. — Ecclesiastes 9:4
We want to assume that the majority of people are inherently good and that those people perform the integral duties by becoming the spokes of industry, or corporations. Subsequently making the majority of corporations inherently good. If you live in today’s world simply observing day-to-day headlines, you understand that general belief is not a pragmatic one.
I am only thirty years old. I have not gone to war for my country. I have not served my country in a governmental capacity. I go to church. Volunteer on boards in my local community and serve humanity in the best way I know how. Fighting! Mentally sparring in the arena of insurance injustice and inequality.
My matriculation came through real life trauma, then subdued emotions, dogged persistence to overcome, sheer determination, alcoholic anesthetizing relief (perceived relief), a secondary trauma jarring my belief in God & good, and then a laboratory environment of learning with analysis being the saving grace-cynicism a plus.
Law school was of course the laboratory, set in the home of the Allman Brothers and the Oculmulgee Indian Mounds. The latter being the former in historic terms. A filtering of those bright, over achieving, contentious and, for the most part, selfish graduates of a four year university. Those more altruistic, non-confrontational went to medical school. All the others, escaped the grasps of the constant oil and water analogies and media hyped rivalries.
The laboratory teaches analysis, subjective thoughts of the objective facts. Hypocrisy would be a more fitting term for the advertised spring-board to greatness. A confrontation in my second year at the rat lab helped me utilize these great tools of subjective thought when a study abroad opportunity came available only to be denied by my “advisor”. A further inquiry to the dean of the school indicated the root of the denial didn’t come from the concerns of my furthering education but the flow of my tuition being re-routed to another program for a semester. That simply will not work when the staff of a private law school is being paid so well. (Hear the voice of the man behind the curtain reign down.)
It seems I have constantly been exposed to the “man behind the curtain” in my real world experiences. Life was fine till I realized every day is not a given and 65 is not the age you finally have fun, or enjoy the “Golden Years”. My financial advisor initially tried to question my mockery of a 401K until he heard my story. Cancer can be a hell of party pooper. As my Aunt Mary K says, “Every party needs a pooper that’s why, I’m inviting you. Party pooper!, Party pooper!” That song always helps take away the demonizing aspect of a leukemia diagnosis.
A much more light heart ed and fantasy world example of Dorothy looking around to see a tiny old man, would be my internship at Walt Disney World, aka The Rat. I never was an overzealous Rat lover but those people are minted at Disney. I worked in the park and stayed at an apartment complex full of similarly aged co-eds, both from the states and abroad. I met some of the most real people down there and was even in the wedding of one those friends. However, those grand memories can not extinguish the horrors of traveling within the tunnels underneath the Magic Kingdom and seeing Chip & Dale with their heads off making out with each other on their break. Watching Cinderella smoke Marlboro Lights. Eerily enough, observing Mickey Mouse characters with some type of fairy dust on them that cause their eyes to sparkle with more energy and enthusiasm than most male cheerleaders at a slumber party. Scariest thing I have ever seen, outside an intruder at my bedroom window when I was young.
As the Tin Man looks for his heart only to realize there is no magic potion or quick fix for the traits we all possess. It just takes a little common sense and some introspect. Life is frail. It can be taken away in the snap of your fingers. As I stood by mother’s bed and watched over her during a 6 hour period, her lungs slowly constricted causing her breathes to get shorter and shorter. Eventually her mortal shell could no longer operate and I witnessed her last breathe. Her eyes slowly moved upward into her head and that was the finale to a year of her suffering immensely. Pain so bad I awoke in the middle of the night to hear her screaming at the top of her lungs because the cancer was just eating her.
This leads to the Scarecrow searching for his brain, a search I have had to make on numerous occasions. Self-pity had set in on my first round with cancer and I was having an exceptionally bad day when I just flew off the handle with an older gentleman that told me to not let the cancer get me down. I made the horrible mistake of asking what he knew about it anyway. He proceeded to tell me of his wife’s death, son’s death, and recent diagnosis he had with the horrible disease. I learned quickly to never think my life is worse than anyone else’s. You never know what someone else is going through.
There is no doubt finding courage for the Lion can be a hard task. Externally he’s the "King of the Jungle", all fear him and revere his dominance and power. However, internally he struggles to face everyday life. We all have felt this if we are in tune with who we truly are. I brave this daily posting my thoughts and writings for all to see. The hardest and the most joyous thing in the world can be living. Really living. Looking at the leaves on a tree and seeing them for the wonderful thing God created with so much life and existence. If you fail to enjoy the simplest things in life, how can you expect to enjoy the bigger things like your health?
Then again, what do I know? I’m just “Living the Dream”.
Lassie: "Woof" "Woof"
Cully Wilson: "What’s that? Timmy’s in the well? "
Lassie: "Woof" "Woof"
Trey Mills: "You just took a hunk out of Timmy’s butt totally unprovoked. Who’s your owner OR keeper?"
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).
In Harris v. Anderson Cty. Sheriff’s Office, No. 26596, the Supreme Court of South Carolina recently discussed this statute, more specifically the "or" in between "owner of the dog" and "other person having the dog in his care or keeping". The Court held:
In construing the term “or” consistent with its common understanding as a disjunctive, we hold section 47-3-110 allows a plaintiff to pursue a statutory claim against the owner of the dog “or other person having the dog in his care or keeping.” Because of the plain language in this statute, we conclude that the Legislature intended to allow a claim against the owner of the dog when another person has the dog in his care or keeping. (emphasis added).
For lawyers the Court provided an interesting analysis of statutory and common law issues that could arise from an unprovoked dog bite. The Court stated:
[Nesbitt v. Lewis, 335 S.C. 441, 517 S.E.2d 11 (Ct. App. 1999)], presents three scenarios under section 47-3-110 when the attack is unprovoked and the injured party is lawfully on the premises. First, the dog owner is strictly liable and common law principles are not implicated. Second, a property owner is liable when he exercises control over, and assumes responsibility for, the care and keeping of the dog. Third, a property owner is not liable under the statute when he has no control of the premises and provides no care or keeping of the dog. It is the presence or absence of a duty that determines liability in the latter two situations that involve a statutory claim against the “other person having the dog in his care or keeping.” To this degree, section 47-3-110 implicates the common law. Our Legislature has spoken clearly in section 47-3-110 that, as concerns a dog owner’s liability, negligence principles in general and fault in particular have no place.
BOTTOM LINE: IF YOUR DOG BITES SOMEONE UNPROVOKED YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HARM, OR INJURIES.
As printed in the "Anderson Independent" on February 8, 2009:
Floyd S. “Trey” Mills III of the Trammell Law Firm was awarded Star of the Quarter recognition by the South Carolina Bar for his efforts in assisting the Young Lawyers Division with a fundraiser for Children’s Chance.
Children’s Chance is an organization established to raise money to fund a variety of programs to meet the financial, emotional and psychological needs of pediatric cancer patients and their families.
The fundraiser took place Nov. 29 in Clemson before the Clemson/Carolina football game as a networking and tailgating event for the Young Lawyers Division. All donations went to Children’s Chance.
Mills suffered from leukemia as a teen and also lost his mother to the disease. For more information on Children’s Chance or to make a donation, visit childrenschance.org or contact the organization at 609 Sims Ave., 2nd Floor, Columbia, SC 29205.
While visiting in Charleston,SC this weekend, a friend of mine lost her cell phone partying downtown. She was noticeably upset on Sunday morning, especially since her husband was due back home that afternoon, and she did not want anything to be awry. In an attempt to check her voice-mail messages someone answered her phone. She was both elated and confused at the same time, given her still clouded mind from the libations consumed the night prior. Instinctively, she quickly set up a meeting point to retrieve the phone and when asked about a "reward", I assisted her in saying $100.00.
Given that her husband is one of my best friends, I couldn’t let her go down to the Waterfront Park on her own. The mission was simple, get the phone back with as few casualties as possible. We headed down to the rendezvous point to meet her phone’s captors. Before arrival at the park, we received intel from our main headquarters in Mt. Pleasant, that the captors were wearing black pants, black hoodies, and were in a hurry because they had to go back to their mama.
I wish the setting could be more ominous but upon arriving at the beautiful fountain on a day where the sunshine was bright and warm, we quickly spotted the captors. They were a group of "rose boys" disguising their ruse by diligently working their trade at the first set of picnic tables. I sent my friend ahead with my phone to call her phone and set the trap. Using the 13 years of backyard ambushes with my neighbors as my experience, I stayed back and monitored. The plan was simple, lure the boys further on the pier so they would only have one exit, past me. The call was made and …
In Sun Tzu’s "The Art of War", there is a chapter entitled "Doing Battle":
Therefore I have heard of military operations that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen one that was skillful and lasted a long time. It is never beneficial to a nation to have a military operation to continue for a long time. -Sun Tzu
I was trying to gain some deeper sense for my law practice but these quotes continued to make me think of other things going on in the world:
When a country is impoverished by military operations, it is because of transporting supplies to a distance place. Transport supplies to a distant place, and the populace will be impoverished. -Sun Tzu
How can this Chinese person from the 6th century possibly be relevant in 2009?
When resources are exhausted, then levies are made under pressure. When power and resources are exhausted, the the homeland is drained. The common people are deprived of seventy percent of their budget, while the government’s expenses for equipment amount to sixty percent of its budget. -Sun Tzu
At least we have remained a presence and allowed the infidels to know we are not leaving until the job is done!
So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence. -Sun Tzu
Don’t panic. You have just been in a wreck and your vehicle was totaled or determined to be undriveable. The other driver was put at fault by the investigating officer. What do you do now?
My clients are most frustrated with property damage. I am most interested in your personal injury claim. That is why I provide you with this very comprehensive guideline when dealing with insurance companies over property claims.
If you have questions about your insurance policy, read my "Full Coverage" article.