Law Office of Wm. Joe Blass

Cases like this make claim adjusters squeamish, however, where there is a documented injury and a sound basis for a gap in treatment, this type of result can be expected. As a general rule, gaps in treatment will almost always cause a huge devaluation in your case. In this case, however, I suspect that the orthopedic doctor documented the damage to the spine early on rendering any claim of subsequent injury as the reason for renewed treatment a non-issue. I occasionally ...have clients that refuse pain management and/or surgery because they cannot work while being medicated or cannot take the time off for surgery. In those cases, the inconvenience of dealing with the pain is less than the financial burden of being unable to work. In other cases, there is a "wait and see" collaboration between the doctor and the patient to see if the pain will subside over time. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, degenerative disc disease is accelerated by a traumatic injury to the spine and, with it, increased pain over time. When it then reaches the point where the pain becomes intolerable, surgery or aggressive pain management is required. In those cases, the reason for the gap in treatment can be easily be explained.

WILL THE CARES ACT STIMULUS PAYMENT AFFECT MY INCOME ON THE BANKRUPTCY MEANS TEST OR INCOME AND EXPENSE TEST? No. The funds that debtors receive from the CARES Act stimulus will not affect their ability to qualify for bankruptcy relief. For purposes of calculating a debtor’s income to determine his or her eligibility for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, coronavirus-related payments from the federal government are excluded from the analysis. This change will remain in effect for one year following enactment.

HOW DOES THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECT MY INJURY CASE? This is perhaps the most frequently asked question that I have gotten since this pandemic began. In fact, the majority of my clients have been unaffected. Many doctors that I work with on a regular basis are continuing to treat my clients just as they did before while maintaining enhanced precautions. Others have offered virtual office visits by way of Zoom, Facetime, Skype and other similar media. For those frustrated... by their inability to get care through their medical plan because their primary doctor or some other healthcare provider in their network has temporarily closed their doors, I have usually been able to find a solution outside of their medical plan to fit their needs. Gaps in treatment are often targeted by insurance companies and used to devalue and even deny otherwise valid claims. These are, however, extordinary times and a forced gap in treatment can easily be explained. Although I have continued to settle cases during the pandemic, I would counsel against settling any case before the client has completed treatment or reached a level of maximum medical improvement to where their future medical needs can be accurately predicted. If you are wanting to settle early only because you are in financial distress, other options such as pre-settlement funding might be a better option. For those injury cases that could not be informally resolved and are in the court system, the local courts are currently planning on reopening on May 26th. They have advised us that, even though they are temporarily closed, discovery and other aspects of the case should move forward to the extent reasonably possible. Will there be delay? Undoubtedly there will be. There will be a log jam of cases before the courts when they reopen. Given that fact, the Court has made it clear that it expects counsel to make every effort to resolve cases through the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) forums--mediation, settlement conference and arbitration--before moving forward to trial. The method by which we conduct a jury trial in the future while maintaining safety protocols looms as problematic.

This was a great result for a MIST (minor impact, soft tissue) case. It seems like I get 2-3 of these illegal U-turn cases a year where someone inexplicably decides to suddenly make a U-turn in the middle of the street without taking the time to check for oncoming traffic. The result is inevitably disastrous for all involved.

Hey School District, "Me Too!" We are are beginning to see a movement in this area of law. This is a clear case of a teacher sexually harrassing a student, but expect to see more cases where a student reports that he or she is being sexually harrassed by another student and the teacher/school/school district fails to investigate and take action to prevent it.