West Virginia Courts and Laws

Don’t Wait Two Years- Evidence Disappears

You may have two years to file a lawsuit, but trust me when I say that you don’t want to wait that long to call an attorney. The fact of the matter is- evidence disappears. The longer you wait to call, the harder and harder it gets to bring your case. It doesn’t matter what type of case it is; tractor trailer, coal mining or mesothelioma. You need to call The Segal Law Firm as soon as you’ve been in accident so that we can make sure critical evidence doesn’t disappear right out from under you. Tractor Trailer Wrecks If you’ve been in a tractor trailer accident, it’s imperative that you or a family member call us immediately after you wake up in the hospital. We’re going to want the black box from the truck, the driver’s log books, the GPS information and the home office data about where the truck was and how fast it was going. Those are all pieces of evidence that are going to disappear pretty quickly it you’re sitting around waiting for two years to give us a call. Coal Mining Accidents When it comes to coal mining accidents, we’ve got to be a part […]

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The Statute of Limitations for Injury or Diagnosis

Two years sounds like a lot of time, right? Well, it’s not when we’re talking about filing a personal injury lawsuit. If you have been seriously hurt or killed in an accident, generally speaking, you or your family have two years from the time of the accident to take action. Does that mean you should sit around and wait those two years before you call an attorney like The Segal Law Firm? Absolutely not. It will take most of that time to develop your case and make sure evidence isn’t destroyed. Call us right away so that we make sure you are on the right track to the money you deserve. This two year statute of limitation applies to any type of accident or diagnosis; motor vehicle, tractor trailer, workplace, coal mine or mesothelioma. But let me specify that this time frame only applies to adults. If you have a child who has been injured or diagnosed with a disease, the rules are a little bit different. One set of rules will apply to you and another will apply to your child. For instance, you may have five to ten years to file a case for your child, but all

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Research Your Potential Attorney

If you word search my blogs, I think you’d find the word “experience” pops up in almost every single one. I use it a lot because I believe it’s one of the most important aspects of choosing an attorney to represent you. Whether you’ve been hurt in a coal mining accident, a tractor trailer accident, or have suffered any number of catastrophic injuries, your lawyer’s experience is going to be the defining factor of your settlement or courtroom outcome. You can always call us here at the firm and ask us those hard questions, but I want to give you several other avenues to take in finding out if I have what it takes to be your legal representative. Our Website Like I have said many times, feel free to ask me point blank: have you done a case like mine and what were the results? I’m happy to answer those questions. But if you’re looking for a little more info, the best place to go is our webpage. We’ve streamlined it to offer as much detailed information as we can possible give you. I feel like you can actually meet me there and get to know me as a

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I Have A Catastrophic Injury – What Now?

We’ve talked a lot of about specific types of cases in my last few blogs, but today I want to touch on some of the more broad cases we work on, those being catastrophic injuries. These are cases that involve paralysis, burns, blindness or loss of limbs. If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident that resulted in a catastrophic injury, you should get a hold of an attorney immediately. These are usually very involved situations and it takes a lawyer with a lot of experience to understand what legal steps need to be taken. When you make that initial call to my firm, whether you are the injured party or a loved of the injured party, the first thing you are going to want to do is ask about our experience. These cases can be extremely complex and your attorney must understand the magnitude and severity. Why do I say that? Well, it’s not just doctors that are going to be involved here; you’ll have life care planners, forensic accountants, rehabilitation experts, maybe prosthetics experts. There are a lot of considerations to take and I want to make sure when people call me that they

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Personal Injury Claims in West Virginia: What You Need to Know

Most top-of-the-line law firms begin with a thorough interview and meeting with the client. The client needs to understand what the lawyer can do for them, how they’re going to do it, how long its going to take and, last but not least, how much is it going to cost. What the Segal Law Firm Will Do for Our Clients We work on a contingency fee basis. That means, until we get our client’s  money and case settled, they don’t owe us any money. If we are not successful in their case, then they don’t owe us any attorney fees. It’s that simple. The Investigation Once the lawyer is in place, the investigation begins. In a simple accident, that may only take a few days. In a complex trucking case or a complex coal-mining explosion or death case, it could be a few weeks or several weeks. Sometimes, if you’re waiting on the NTSB – the National Transportation Safety Board – the wait can be as much as six to nine months. The Complaint The next step is the filing of a complaint. Sometimes an insurance company or major corporation will approach the Segal Law firm quickly and ask us to provide

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The Segal Law Firm: No Pay Meter Here

In my previous few blogs, we’ve talk a lot about injuries in oil rigs, gas wells, and trucking accidents. I’ve encouraged you to call us here at The Segal Law Firm and find out what we can do for you and your family. You might be reading them thinking, “Yeah, that all sounds great, but how much is it going to cost me?” I’ve got your answer: Nada. Zilch. Zero. That’s right. It will cost you absolutely nothing to find out if we can help. We consult with people who have injuries due to tractor trailers, coal mining, Marcellus Shale drilling or an oil rig and we don’t charge them a dime to meet and determine if we’re going to move forward with the case. Additionally, we won’t charge to investigate. Let’s say you call the toll free number and fill me in on what’s happened to you. At the end of the initial meeting, I want to find out a bit more about what the tractor trailer was doing. I’ve got to get a police report. Or I think, whoa, that drilling rig should’ve never exploded like that. I need to look at the report of the investigators. Of

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Mesothelioma: How the Segal Law Firm Handles Mesothelioma Cases

Mesothelioma is an extremely aggressive cancer. It is rarely, if ever, curable and almost always fatal. The settlements range for these cases based on several critical factors. First, how was the person exposed and how many products containing the asbestos can we prove they were exposed to. How the Segal Law Firm Handles Mesothelioma Cases A critical part of what we do at the Segal Law Firm is research to help prove a client”s exposure. We have literally thousands of workers’ depositions that identify the various types of asbestos that were used in the state of West Virginia in factories, power houses, chemical plants and other industrial facilities. The disease can tragically affect people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. For much older folks, the cases are worth less because their life expectancy at the time they contracted the disease was less than it would be for an individual who is younger. Factors Affecting Settlements Generally, you see settlements in Mesothelioma cases where you have very difficult product identifications and much older people. Those cases may only settle in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars whereas younger people with good exposures – that would be people in their 60s and

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Tractor Trailers and Traffic Laws: What you Need to Know

The result of two objects coming together, one of which is your car and the other of which is something that weighs tens of thousands of pounds, is not going to be a good result. And you don’t have to be a physicist or a scientist to understand that if a tractor-trailer hits you in your little car or your SUV or your minivan, you and your family are going to be seriously hurt or killed. What Regulations Affect Truck Driving? There are a whole set of complicated federal regulations and you need an attorney that knows the federal regulatory system inside and out, and knows how to develop a tractor-trailer case. Federal Laws regulate how many hours they are allowed to drive so many truckers keep two sets of logbooks. One set is the driving time that they get paid for. The other logbook is the driving time they show the state troopers, or they show the federal regulators, or they show the truck stop operator. Equipment Regulations The equipment, the rig, how often it has to be inspected, how it has to be maintained – those are all things that are regulated by the federal government. Often, we

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Mesothelioma in West Virginia Courts and How They Move More Quickly

Some court cases take years to see the inside of a courtroom but with mesothelioma cases, things get sped up. The exigent docket or commonly referred to as the “rocket docket” is most unique and specific law that people need to be aware of. The docket basically allows mesothelioma people to get a trial within a year to two years of their diagnosis. What determines When Cases Get on the Court Docket? Basically, the case is handled by two judges – one handles one type of mesothelioma cases and the other handles all railroad mesothelioma cases. They each have dockets every few months where 20 cases are chosen for trial. The cases are prioritized by:        Are they living mesothelioma? Highest Priority        Deceased mesothelioma        Lung Cancer – living        Lung Cancer – deceased There are some other variables the judges and the lawyers use, but generally speaking, these are the most important ones. Your lawyer gets you on a docket in a year, or six months or nine months, and you’re automatically under a court order that tells you what the time frames are. What will be Required of Mesothelioma Clients? Your lawyers, if they’re experienced, should know exactly

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How Should Head Injury Cases Be Handled and What Makes Them Different?

Head injury cases are unique for lots of different reasons, but they’re unique mainly because you have to have experience and know what you’re looking for, and where are you going to find it? It’s as simple a question as saying, “Do you have a head injury?” Identifying A Head Injury  A lot of head injuries aren’t visible with an x-ray and you can’t see them with an MRI. So, if you can’t, where do you turn? How do you  know if you are going to be able to go back to work? There are neuropsychologists that we work with very closely. They offer certain types of tests that will find subtle changes that even the victim might not recognize. Another thing that’s very important based upon your experience is to make sure the wife or the husband of the person who may have a head injury goes with them. Inevitably they’ve seen changes in the head injury person that even the victim doesn’t even realize. You also have to be pretty familiar with the new techniques of medical imaging. There are tools available that we didn’t have five years ago that take different types of pictures of your brain and actually

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