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• Insurance Company Doctors Often Don't Give Accident Victims The Benefit Of The Doubt.

  Rob Curtiss | October 25, 2007 7:55 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  When an accident victim makes a claim against a negligent driver, who is insured, it is the driver's insurance company that handles the claim. Often the company insists that the injury victim undergo an examination by a doctor working for it. The insurance companies refer to these examinations as "Independent Medical Examinations". Of course, there is nothing independent about them. The...

• Teenagers and Car Accidents

  Ed Van Dorn | October 19, 2007 1:37 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  Statistics show that teenagers are involved in a disproportionate amount of car accidents involving personal injury. 6,000 teens are killed in car accidents every year. AAA has designated this week as National Teen Driver Safety Week. I think that any effort that brings more attention to teen driving safety issues is a good idea. As a personal injury lawyer I have seen first hand the serious...

• Sexual Harassment Victims Can Fight Back in Court

  Rob Curtiss | October 05, 2007 10:01 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  Recently, a federal jury awarded a former New York Knicks female executive $11.6 million in damages in her sexual harassment lawsuit. The jury found that Madison Square Garden had both subjected the women to a hostile work environment and retaliated against her when she complained.I have represented several victims of sexual harassment over the years. These victims are always nervous at the...

• Who Is Bashing Trial Lawyers

  Rob Curtiss | October 05, 2007 9:59 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  I'm the first to admit that I sometimes laugh at lawyer jokes. Like the one about the attorney who fell out of the ocean liner only to be thrown back aboard by sharks out of "professional courtesy." But I think that the lawyer bashing that has taken place over the past several years has been driven by something more than humor. Many in the business and insurance communities have an agenda that...

• Most Accidents Causing Serious Personal Injury Can Be Avoided

  Ed Van Dorn | October 05, 2007 4:37 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  You're driving down the road and suddenly get a flat in your left front tire, your car abruptly veers left. What do you do? Instinctively, most drivers sharply turn the wheel right to steer back on course, but is this the right thing to do? According to the experts, its not. So the driver's immediate reaction is to grab the steering wheel and jerk it in the desired direction, which can put the...

• Insurance Companies Systematically Fail To Honor Claims

  Ed Van Dorn | October 03, 2007 6:55 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  We have been posting for a while on the insurance industries' ongoing practice of systematically denying valid claims. This problem is across the board, including automobile insurance, home owners insurance and health insurance. Finally the U.S. Congress may be waking up to the problem. The NY Times reports today that:The top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee has asked 11...

• Injuries May Affect Working Men and Women More Than Pro Athletes

  Rob Curtiss | September 27, 2007 9:26 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  The baseball season is reaching it's most exciting stage, the playoffs. As a Boston Red Sox fan, I am happy that a number of our star players are recovering from injuries in time for the post-season. Professional ball players, however, get paid whether or not they are in the lineup. Working men and women often do not. That is why when I represent working men and women, I understand their damage...

• Where Do The Candidates Stand on Tort Reform

  Rob Curtiss | September 27, 2007 9:01 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  Last night the Democratic presidential candidates debated at Dartmouth College. One issue that accident victims and their families may want to focus on in the upcoming election is where the candidates stand in regard to so-called tort reform. Tort reform is a movement started by the insurance companies to limit an accident victim's access to the civil justice system and to limit the damages the...

• Farm Injuries

  Ed Van Dorn | September 25, 2007 1:41 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  Did you know that farming is one of the most dangerous industries in the US. According to an OSHA publication farm accidents and other work-related health problems claim as many as 1300 lives and cause 120,000 injuries a year, most of which are preventable.Now, in Vermont more women are actively farming than in the recent past. Recently a WCAX posting stated the number of female run farms has...

• Industrial Accidents

  Ed Van Dorn | September 20, 2007 3:26 PM | 0 CommentsVermont, VT

  Did you know that every year, 4.7 workers per hundred receive serious on the job injuries. The US Dept of Labor keeps these statistics. The US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor would like to change this. But it takes time to pass legislation. Meanwhile workers are being unnecessarily killed and injured. The civil justice system in our country provides for injured and...