Van Dorn & Curtiss Blog

I Call Insurance Company Rules!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVpX5fUvPlg

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HR 6126: The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act

Last month, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez introduced a bill that would eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts.  When you place a loved one in a nursing home, you have to sign a contract.  These contracts generally have a clause that states that if something happens to your loved one, you must go through binding arbitration with a neutral mediator, as opposed to bringing a claim in court.  Generally, these clauses give the nursing homes the right to choose the mediator.  It is argued that in most cases the nursing home will choose a mediator that will be sympathetic to their position so as to get repeat business.  The purpose of the bill is to motivate nursing homes to provide quality care.

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Three Injured in Separate ATV Accidents

A man from Sandusky Ohio was seriously injured this weekend while riding his ATV.  In a separate incident, two other men from Ohio were injured when their ATV’s collided with one another.  One of the victims had to be airlifted from the scene to a local county hospital.

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Woman Dies While Awaiting Treatment

Today on CNN there was shocking footage of a woman who died at hospital at Brooklyn New York while awaiting treatment.  Surveillance footage shows the woman lying on the floor of the emergency-room while hospital staff and doctors walked by, apparently ignoring her dire need for care.  Sadly, nobody noticed her or offered help for nearly an hour.  By the time she received medical attention she had already passed.  Several hospital staff members were fired because of their neglect and abuse. 

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New Hampshire Man Dies In Motorcycle Accident

A man from Manchester New Hampshire died last night in downtown Manchester when he lost control of his motorcycle.  Apparently the road where the accident took place was being repaved.  The man may have hit the area between the new pavement and the rough graded pavement.  The man was not wearing a helmet.

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Vermont Makes Roads Safer

Two weeks ago, Vermont Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officers conducted safety stops at a checkpoint on Interstate 91 near the Massachusetts border.  The safety inspectors removed more than 75 unfit commercial vehicles from the road and arrested four people.  The inspectors conducted vehicle weight checks and state inspections. 

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Laconia Motorcycle Week

New Hampshire's Laconia Motorcycle Week began this Saturday to an ominous start with several accidents being reported this weekend.  In Manchester on Saturday night, a motorcyclist ran into a Mini Cooper while traveling north on Elm Street.  The driver of the Mini Cooper was drunk, and was charged with felony drunk driving.  The motorcyclists was sent airborne and landed about 75 feet north of the collision.  The motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet and was reported to be in serious condition.

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Insurance Companies and Personal Injury Lawyers

I recently read an article that discussed how insurance companies are the main force behind the negative publicity and stories that personal injury attorneys receive.  The article discussed how injury victims who are represented by attorneys receive higher payouts than those who seek to settle their claims alone. 

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New Hampshire Motorcycle Safety Awareness Campaign

Laconia Motorcycle week is approaching fast, but New Hampshire’s Safety Awareness Campaign is in full force.  The purpose of the campaign is to reduce motorcycle accidents through education and safety training.  New Hampshire state law only requires motorcyclists under the age of 18 to wear helmets, and the legislature doesn’t intend on enacting any new helmet laws.  The New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency believes that their promotion of safe riding practices will help reduce motorcycle fatalities, though they still recommend motorcyclists, especially novice riders, to wear helmets.

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Pet Attack in Milwaukee

I recently read an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Why am I blogging about a story from a Milwaukee newspaper?  The story was about a 17 year old boy who fractured his skull while running away from a Rottweiler.  The Rottweiler was chained to a tree, but was able to break free.  The dog did not bite the child.  However, while the dog was in pursuit, the boy ran into a tree, fell to the ground and fractured his skull.  The boy suffered bleeding of the brain, but fortunately is in stable condition.

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Know Your Rights

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Unethical Lawyers

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"...an informed client is our best client."

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True Story

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Personal Injury Lawyers and Advertising

It should come as no surprise that there is an epidemic of personal injury lawyer advertising. We see it on TV, the Yellow Pages, we even hear it on the radio. We hear the empty slogans: "Make it a fair fight" "LawPower" "We hate to lose". What does it all mean. Mostly, the empty slogans mean nothing. They are nothing more than advertising gimmicks. They have nothing to do with whether the advertising lawyer is competent and accomplished. They having nothing to do with whether that lawyer is the right lawyer for your personal injury claim. The slogan of the website for Van Dorn & Curtiss is "Choosing the right lawyer for your serious personal injury case may be one of the most important decisions you ever make." This is a true statement. The more serious the claim, the more important it is to choose the right lawyer. In the library section of our website you will find more information on this topic, including a checklist you can use to help choose the right lawyer for your claim. If you or a loved one has had a serious personal injury please don't make the mistake of hiring the wrong law firm for your case.

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New Hampshire Personal Injury Law

Personal injury law practice in New Hampshire has become more complex and challanging in the last several years. The basic legal concepts have remained the same, but in practice the insurance companies that pay the vast majority of New Hampshire personal injury law claims have become more and more difficult to deal with. Most often they will only full value of New Hampshire personal injury claims to victims represented by the very best New Hampshire personal injury law firms. If the law firm representing the New Hampshire personal injury victim does not have the reputation of being among the very best the insurance companies simply refuse to pay full value of the claim, knowing that the second tier law firms usually do not have the experience or skill necessary to successfully bring the New Hampshire personal injury claim to court. Therefore, it is extremely important for New Hampshire personal injury victims to hire only the most experienced and successful New Hampshire personal injury law firms to represent them. Van Dorn & Curtiss enjoys the reputation of being among the very finest New Hampshire personal injury law firms. We invite you to review our website and contact us with any questions you may have.

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Vermont Personal Injury Law Blog

As clients and friends of our firm, and visitors to our website know Van Dorn & Curtiss is a personal injury law firm practicing in both Vermont and New Hampshire. In fact our attorneys sit on the Board of Governor's of Both the Vermont and New Hampshire Trial Lawyer's Associations. We consider this a great honor.

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Automobile Accidents and Personal Injury Law

I have been a personal injury lawyer for thirty years. Ten years in NJ working for both insurance companies and for injury victims, and for twenty years in Vermont and New Hampshire representing only personal injury victims. One thing I've learned over the years is that the system is not fair unless the personal injury victim has an experienced and knowledgable lawyer working for them to level the playing field. The most common personal injury claim comes from automobile accidents. This is where most insurance companies take their stand. They will only pay what they are forced to pay. Attorneys with no experience and track record in the court room successfully trying personal injury cases simply do not have the leverage to make the insurance companies pay fair settlements. If you have been unfortunate enough to be seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident that was someone else's fault, don't get hurt twice make sure you hire the right personal injury law firm to represent you.

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Beware of Settlement Mills

There are a lot of law firms out there who hold themselves out as "personal injury" law lawyers but in reality they are just "settlement mills". These law firms usually heavily advertise  as "personal injury" lawyers on tv and in the phone books but do not really function as lawyers. What they do is collect information about the case, send it to the insurance company and try to negotiate settlements without ever leaving their desks. Eventually they accept whatever the insurance company feels like paying for the claim. They have no leverage because the insurance companies know that they wont go to court. They make up in volume for what they don't get for the individual clients. In many cases the client has no idea what their case is worth, so the case is settled and they are none the wiser. Sometimes they client senses they are getting a raw deal and will seek a second opinion about their case. Many of these clients wind up in our offices. We are often shocked by what their  "settlement mill" lawyers were trying to get them to accept as a settlement. Because our law firm has a reputation for going to court when necessary to fight the insurance companies we are usually able to negotiate much better settlements for our clients. And in those rare cases when the insurance company won't pay a fair settlement we have no problem going to court and asking a jury for an award that usually winds up being greater than the amount we were originally willing to settle for. This gives us the leverage our clients need to get fair settlements. See our client testimonials and sample cases to learn about our results.  

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Welcome To Our New Website

Welcome to our new website. As of February 5, 2008 it is up and running. This new site allows us to put a lot more informative content on our pages. The site is no longer "stagnant". It is now a continual work in progress allowing us to keep updating content and stay in contact with our clients and vistors to the site. As we say in our opening statement the well informed legal consumer is our best client. The legal consumer is simply that person who requires the help of a law firm with their claim. Our aim is to keep you informed about personal injury law, developments in our firm, and how we can help members of the public with serious personal injury claims. There are many law firms out there who claim to be "personal injury lawyers" but very few of them have the background, reputation, knowedge and experience to get the best possible results for their clients. Many of these firms have little or no court room experience and ultimately must settle for whatever the other side is willing to pay. That is not us. We have a reputation for going to court and fighting for our clients whenever the other side is unwilling to pay our clients fair and just compensation for their injuries.  We invite your questions and comments. Please let us know how we can improve this site.  Ed Van Dorn

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