Sabatini and Associates, LLC

Should I settle my personal injury case or take it to trial?  This is a question that plaintiffs face from time to time and it can be a very difficult decision.  A new study has come out showing that the plaintiff was wrong 61% of the time in electing to take the case to trial versus settling the case.  In other words, in 61% of the cases where the plaintiff rejected the settlement and went to trial, the verdict was less than the defendant’s best settlement offer.  It appears that this study only involved cases where the verdict was in the plaintiff’s favor.  The study also notes that when the defendant incorrectly elects to go to trial, the verdict is much higher than the plaintiff’s settlement demand.  Read more about the personal injury settlement and verdict study here.

“Cervical Sprain/Strain” refers to an injury to the muscles, ligaments, and other connective tissues of the neck, head, and upper back resulting from a sudden and severe snapping motion, either forward and back or side-to-side. Motor vehicle crashes are among the most common causes of these injuries.  Many neck strains caused by a car or truck accident result in permanent pain.  The permanency of the injury is typically diagnosed by the patient’s treating orthopedic doctor.

  If, as a result of your personal injuries, you have received medical care paid by your employee health plan, the health plan will probably be entitled to reimbursement for those expenses from any settlement you receive.  This is called subrogation or third-party reimbursement.  In addition, a lien may be placed on your settlement by the insurer.  Whether your employee health plan has a right of subrogation is based upon the language contained in the plan or policy.  Look through the document, if it contains sections entitled subrogation or third party liability, then you will be reimbursing the plan at the time of settlement.  It is important to learn this early on in the case so that when the case is being settled, the lien can be factored into the settlement.
If you do not have a copy of the plan, the attorney will obtain it.  When dealing with such a lien, our attorneys will work with the insurer to negoitate a compromise so that only a percentage of the lien is paid and the rest goes into the client’s pocket.

Dog Bite Statistics and News

• There are approximately 65 million dogs in the United States in 2006
• Of the 4.7 million people are bitten every year, 800,000 need medical attention
• Every day an estimated 914 people seek emergency medical treatment due to dog bites
• On average, between 15 and 20 people die each year from dog maulings
• Children are the most common victims of dog bites, and half of the injuries they suffer occur on the face
• Economic losses from dog bites regularly exceed $1 billion, only a third of which is covered by insurance
• Between 1979 and 1996 there were 304 fatal dog attacks
• Most (77%) dog bite injuries occur to the friends or family
• Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepard Dogs account for half of the fatal dog attacks between 1979 and 1998
• Dog bites rose 33% according to a study of a 7 year period in the 1990s
• In 2002 homeowner insurance claims paid on average $16,600 to victims of dog bites, up from $12,000 in 1998

More than a million pounds of fresh ground beef has been recalled by an Omaha meat processing plant after 31 people were reported to have tested positive for E. Coli. Last month Nebraska Beef recalled approximately 5 million pounds of ground beef after reports of E. Coli.

The tainted beef was sold at Whole Foods, who buys their beef from Coleman Natural Foods, not Nebraska Beef; but Coleman uses the Nebraska Beef plant to process their beef. As a result Whole Foods also issued a recall of all ground beef sold at their stores between June 2 and August 6. It recommended that consumers should dispose of the beef bought between these dates.

Federal inspectors have been at the plant watching the processing of meat trying to determine the source. What’s disturbing is that they have not found the source, yet Nebraska Beef continues to process beef.