I drove past this sign today and it cracked me up. I'll also note that this same place offers "kids eat free on Sunday." Free, if you don't count fighting Child Protective Services for custody.
I stumbled across a neat little site by Professor Douglas Linder, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
You can view Professor Linder's website here: Famous Trials - UMKC School of Law - Prof. Douglas Linder.
Would John Brown have fled in a white SUV?
Linder teaches a class on "Famous Trials" in his law school and has had his class materials "on line" since 1996. I don't recall ever having any "cool" classes like this at Wake Forest Law School. I think he has done a great job of collecting the "best of" list of trials that shaped our world and our courts. From the simply "sexy", like Charles Manson and OJ Simpson, to the political and social watershed cases, like the Scopes Monkey Trial and The Trial Of John Brown.
Warning: You may lose time here
Professor Linder has provided great resource material for each trial, including time-lines, historical accounts, transcripts, and appellate decisions. It is easy to "lose yourself" for a few hours on this site, so you have been warned. Linder also has some neat "personal stuff" linked to famous trials, like his personal political views and his feelings about pies (yes, as in fruit). I like a guy that puts it out there and stands by his own gut. Given that he's been at this since at least 1996 (which makes him a pioneer in using the Internet in law, simply because most lawyers lag about half a decade behind the real technology world), he has good insight in what to do, and what not to do with the Internet. Thanks Prof. L!
-Chris Nichols
I actually read the Terms Of Service (TOS) on websites where I register. It's that thing you always have to check mark before you download software or register yourself. These contracts are pretty interesting, but the one I read today, on a MAJOR website had a pretty funny spelling goof....
17. Procedure For Making Claims of Copyright Or Interllectual Property Infringement
We respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. We may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and/or terminate....
Anyhow, I'm guilty of typos all the time, and I do try to use the spellcheck, but the above goof is, well, pretty bad.
-Chris Nichols
I've been working to get NC Trial Law Blog a place on some different Blog aggregators. Of course, this is limited only by my knowledge base (small but expanding) and the ease of the programs. I've gotten registered at Legal Soapbox, which is a Blog aggregator and also a sort of Blog, in and of itself.
Still in Beta
I tried to make a post, and after composing it, and hitting send, everything disappeared except the tags and the heading. No body. Very frustrating.
Legal Soapbox is still in beta testing, so I'm sure this problem will get resolved. My profile there can be found here, along with my empty post!
A free part of a larger legal resource
Legal Soapbox is part of Attorney Pages, which is an advertising forum for lawyers. I'm not a huge fan of some of the lawyer services like this because I disagree with the way they attempt to look "neutral" when all they are doing is promoting the lawyers that paid for the ad. On the other hand, the Free Advise pages do provide a good forum for people to get free legal advice. I've posted a few times there, and got scolded for actually identifying who I was, and that I was a lawyer. It was sort of strange, but whatever, it is their website.
Chris Nichols
I've received some questions lately about the interaction of the NC Teachers' and State Employees' Health Plan Lien with other liens, such as medical providers liens (NCGS-44-49 through 50). Here is a great question that needs to be answered:
The Question:
If the legislation limits the plan to 50% of settlement, less reasonable costs ( and I understand that the plan will decide what the attorney’s reasonable fees/costs are) does that mean that the plan gets 50%, and the other unpaid providers (copays, deductibles) have to come out of the client’s net, or does the plan in fact pro rate with other providers? Also, how likely is the plan to say the attorney’s contractual fee is not reasonable, and up the net amount they get 50% of?
If you have client with four to five times settlement amount in meds and even more in lost wages, will the plan take ALL of the money?
The million dollar question (and the $5 answer)
I have addressed this same question on this Blog in a comment section, and the post and response can be found by clicking here. Make sure you read the question posed by David V. and my response.
SEHP may not have to pro-rate
I think SEHP has an argument that they do not have to pro-rate with unpaid providers. The revised statute does say they have the right to "first pay" from any settlement funds, which seems to suggest that they have the highest priority in repayment. On the other hand, I don't think they can legislatively "one up" the Federal Government, so I doubt that this rule would apply in regard to Medicare (purely Federal) or Medicaid (state run but subrogation based upon Federal statute).
Medical providers may have to pro-rate behind the SEHP
On the other hand, the other lien statutes, such as the Medical provider lien, would probably be second in line behind SEHP. The medical provider statute (NCGS §§ 44-49 through 51) provides for proration, so you sort of get it on the back end. in the sense that the medical providers must account for SEHP's lien. (EDIT: Added on 9.5.06: To explain further, I believe that if the SEHP lien is large enough, that medical providers will not get anything under their lien. In other words, if the SEHP lien exceeds 1/2 of the settlement after attorney fees are deducted, then SEHP will get the money, and the medical providers will have to seek reimbursement from the client, not from the settlement disbursement. Remember, the SEHP lien statute, when applied, pays the lien in full, but the medical provider lien only tells the lawyer what has to be paid to providers from the settlement. Once the SEHP FINAL lien is dtermined, SEHP doesn't get anything more from the employee. On the other hand, the medical lien statute NCGS 44-50, does not ever"extinguish" the medical provider's bill, it simply tell the lawyer what must be paid from the settlement.Also, keep in mind that SEHP doe not get paid from UM/UIM but that medical providers do.)
Ahlborn may help
Hindsight is 20/20
I guess (in retrospect) that we should have tried to put some sort of pro-ration in the amended legislation, but we were already trying to convince SEHP (the State) to give away money they did not have to "give up.
This is being typed on my Treo 650 phone:
I'm trying out a new feature my hosting service, TypePad, is offering: mobile blogging.
By using my Treo 650 smart phone, I can post directly to my blog over the cell phone's Internet connection.
I took the above photo of my desk top screen with my phone and then simply clicked on the blog icon on the Treo.
Since this Blog is mostly legal issues, I don't think I'll be posting much from my phone, but it will be something to do while I'm sitting in airports or waiting for calendar call.
Aside from the carpal tunnel one gets from the tiny key pad, the interface works well (we'll see if this makes it through the cell towers to the actual Internet). I'm hitting send on the phone at 5:28.
-Chris Nichols
www.NicholsTrialLaw.com
_____________
This is being typed on my desktop computer:
Update,5:29 pm: It worked! Transmission (uploading) only took about 20 seconds and I watched in amazement as the new post magically appeared on my computer monitor. Of course, now I'm going to have to go back and clean up the typos that I always get on my little phone keyboard, but this is a very cool feature. I'm sure that people that have Blogs that are "culture" oriented may have more reason to post "instant" photos and blog entries, but I can think of a few uses for the lawyer on the go.
My only complaint about the software is that I cant put "tags" on the posts from the cell phone. TypPad even says that the phone software is not supposed to "replace" the desk top. I know that's a minor thing, and posting to a web site from a phone is a minor miracle in itself, but hey, you don't get what you want unless you ask for it, right?
Anyone else using this for something useful in their life or law office (notice that the two are distinct entities?)
-Chris Nichols
I received an interesting comment to one of my blog posts from Ron Franscell, the managing editor of the Beaumont (TX) Enterprise, a 60,000-circulation daily newspaper a Beaumont, Texas. His blog post can be found here.
Breaking news in Texas
Ron's paper just broke a news story about a "sex ring" involving high school football players and their coaches. It seems the coaches were recruiting young high school women to "volunteer" to have oral sex with players on the football team.
The victim and other students [the detective] has interviewed mentioned a group that called itself the 3K, which stands for the "Kutchie Kissing Klique."
[The detective} described the group as "a group of guys who sought to have oral sex with younger girls."
Indictments are not proof of guilt
So far, it appears there is only tangential proof that the coaching staff is involved. There is an indictment of the coaches, but I've learned in many years practicing law that an indictment does not mean guilt. To quote a great lawyer I know, "A grand jury could indict a ham sandwich."
To digress, at a grand jury in NC, only the prosecutor and the law enforcement officials testify, so the indictment is, to say the least, one sided. The strength of the indictment really depends on how much the District Attorney wants to prosecute.
I'll be interested in watching how this unfolds. By all accounts, high school football in Texas is bigger than ACC basketball along Tobacco Road. I suppose we will see.
Meaningful Analysis
And just so this post does not miss any meaningful analysis, I have seen in my practice that any group that is given a high level of respect from the community, a certain level of of lawlessness, and protection from authority, usually degenerates into abuse.
Having said that, it is the responsibility of the adults to regulate the bahavior of their minor charges. I will bet that we will see, if the coaches are truly involved, a history of sexual expoitation on the part of the adults.
-Chris Nichols
Well folks, a momentous day for the NC Trial Law Blog....this Blog was actually mentioned and linked in another legal Blog, Insurance Coverage Blog.
A positive review
Here is the specific post from Insurance Coverage Blog that starts with an analysis of the "family member exclusion" and ends with the comment about my Blog. For you long time legal bloggers out there, that's probably no big deal, but considering how new NC Trial Law Blog is, I'm pleased to have received an unsolicited positive mention on a very well written legal Blog.
Here is what David Rossmiller said:
As a bonus, I offer a blog post from North Carolina on a related subject: the household exclusion in umbrella policies. This post is a call to arms against this exclusion -- sort of the French National Anthem of insurance coverage ("To arms O citizens of France") -- and I can't say I particularly agree, but I did find this post to be well-written and interesting.
(OK, I admit I added the underlining- CRN)
I know David takes issue with my objection to the family member exclusion, but that's fine, I realize that I was doing a bit of flag waving regarding what I consider to be some bad insurance law in NC. I would argue, however, that I was waving the American flag, or at least NC's flag when I did it. Not that there is anything wrong with France. But then again, I do represent the families that have dead husbands and wives, orphaned children, and get denied insurance coverage when they thought they had it and had been paying for it. That does make me a bit slanted toward people and away from insurance companies.
Anyhow, I'm just happy that we got a mention on what is now NC Trial Law Blog's 24th day of being "online." We've barely removed the "sanitized for your protection" paper.
Thanks David, we've added your great Blog to our Blog Roll.
-Chris Nichols
-Chris Nichols
So you have a client that is a member of the North Carolina Teachers and State Employee's Health Plan? You need to get the information to determine the extent of the Plan's lien?
Here are some simple steps to follow to protect your client's rights:
Read the Background and In-Depth Analysis of the Lien
Get caught up with the basics of the law by reading the article I wrote for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers magazine, Trial Briefs
Read the Current Law
Now that you know the background of the law, you need to catch up on the latest developments (like the law being amended) so read the posts on this blog listed in the left column in the catagory "NC State Employees Health Plan". Or click HERE for a chronological (most recent first) listing of all the posts from this Blog covering the lien.
Get your Client's Authorization
You need to have your client give the SEHP authorty to release information to you. This is essantially a HIPPA form for SEHP.
Request the Lien
Download the SEHP Lien request form.
You are on your way to negotiating the lien.
Chris Nichols