How Can We Help You? What Is New At The Tully Law Firm? Trying To Settle The Case On Your Own?
We have developed a list of 12 to 15 questions you can ask the insurance adjuster regarding the value of your case, if you try to settle the case yourself. We have found that these are the questions that insurance companies ask us in evaluating your claim. Call us for the list of questions. We want to try and help you.
Pa. Law – Did You Know Department:
1. Did you know in your Pa. personal injury case, you are not allowed to make a specific request to the jury about how much money you think your case is worth?
2. Also, did you know that you are not even allowed to say that the Defendant had auto insurance to the jury? This can make it hard to get a good award. Suppose for example the person who caused the accident is an elderly fragile woman, A jury, not knowing that she has auto insurance, may think that any award they make against her will be her responsibility. You know that is not the case. In fact, her insurance company will pay the injury award. But those are the things you and I have to deal with in personal injury law. We do, however, have specific strategies to deal with that. If you call us we will discuss it with you.
Are Certain Counties Better To Have Your Case Heard In Than Others?
Yes! Locally, Butler and Westmoreland Counties are 2 of the more conservative areas. Their verdicts are traditionally low ones. Other areas like Allegheny, Beaver and Erie are much more victim oriented. Sometimes you get a choice of where your case is filed. Call us to discuss our strategy to help you.
Weed Killer:
We have been getting calls about the cancer causing agent in Weed Killer that we discussed last month. Again, if you have any case where you had long term regular exposure to Weed Killer and developed cancer as a result, please call us. We may be able to help.
What’s New With Our Family:
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my son Kevin and Brandy’s first child in May. So far so good. Brandy has been doing great during the pregnancy. Yahoo!
Jessica had her first criminal jury trial in Butler with her boss. Guess what? They got a not-guilty verdict on all counts! Her boss told her for the next trial Jessica will be doing it all herself. Exciting!
Michelle is on another one of her short vacations. This time she is going to the Fiji Islands, Bora Bora and Hawaii. She flew out of Sydney, Australia. Michelle did have a harrowing experience trying to connect to the flight in Washington, D.C. But it all turned out fine.
Penguin Blues: Every Pittsburgh Penguin fan knows that we had a stinker of a play-off. Swept in the first round! But on the positive side, the Penguins have made the play-offs for the last 13 years. So we feel pretty good about them righting their ship next year.
Pittsburgh Pirates: As of the time of this Newsletter, the Pirates seem to be doing very good. They have the makings of a really good team. Let’s Go Bucs!
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be on prime time TV for several games this season. It just shows that Steelers Nation travels well. If you haven’t heard, guess who the Steelers open their season with? None other than the Patriots at New England. Yoi!
New And Exciting Punitive Damages News:
I recently talked about punitive damages on our Facebook page at Bernard Tully Attorney At Law. Punitive damages involve $$ a jury awards you above and beyond general damages to punish a Defendant for some bad acts and to deter them from doing the same thing in the future. Recently a Plaintiff was severely injured in a truck/auto accident case. The injury was entirely the fault of the careless truck driver. What was interesting about the case was the injured victim alleged punitive damages against the trucking company. What was the basis for that allegation? Just the mere fact that the truck driver who caused the accident was on his cell phone! Using a cell phone by a commercial vehicle driver while operating his truck is a per se violation of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code. So in this instance they sued for punitive damages under that theory.
That is very different from a situation where a person is texting while driving. This case alleged that the mere fact that the trucker was on his phone was enough for punitives. The Judge ruled in the injured party’s favor at least during the first stage of the proceedings.
Do You Have A Question You Would Like Me To Address On My YouTube Page?
Please let me know what it is and I will consider it for a video. As you know, we have over 90 YouTube short clip videos concerning various areas of injury law and auto accidents. We hope you look at a few of them because they can help you understand the law better.
Congratulations to: Diane P. on winning last month’s $50.00 prize for correctly answering the Newsletter question.
Now for your chance to win $50.00: Answer this riddle. April Showers bring _____________? Come on it is easy,
Your Friend and Lawyer,
Bernard M. Tully
Thank you Readers always for Your Kind Referrals