Miscellaneous

• Alcohol Leads To Serious Injury and Arrest

  Mike Schneider | October 19, 2007 12:55 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Two Noorvik men drank home brew into the early morning hours Monday. Then things went bad. One man attacked the other, injuring him seriously. The attacker was arrested and charged with assault. A good personal injury attorney can often find insurance coverage for an event like this, even where it appears the acts were criminal or intentional.For more information on this subject, please...

• Do You Need An Attorney for a Serious Injury or Death Case?

  Mike Schneider | October 15, 2007 10:55 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Allstate Insurance Company works hard to keep people with serious injury or wrongful death claims away from qualified attorneys. There is a good reason the "Good Hands" people want you in their hands. Its own figures prove that if you are hurt, or have lost a loved one, you will get two to three times more compensation if you have an attorney on your side.The numbers aren't limited to large...

• Palmer Jury Finds for GEICO Insured

  Mike Schneider | October 10, 2007 12:32 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Geico insured the mother of two...now three...a homemaker, who was 26 YOA on March 10 2001 when a Gieco-insured, 65 yoa male, now deceased, turned in front of her. She told the Dr. She was going 50 (in a 45) and had no seat belt on. Injury was cervical sprain with head turned to right to check on her kids in the back seat at the point of impact. After two years, Geico paid its $50,000...

• Spenard Shooting Leaves Victim With Few Options

  Jane Schneider | October 08, 2007 7:31 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Last week a guest at a Spenard motel was wounded by gunfire. He and the shooter exchanged words, the shooter got into a vehicle, rolled down the window, fired a number of times and fled the scene. Even if later identified, it is unlikely that the shooter's auto insurance will cover the wounded man's bills, and even if the shooter had homeowner's coverage, the "intentional act" exclusion could...

• Court Allows Land Fraud to Stand

  Jane Schneider | October 05, 2007 12:09 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Omar Stratman's decades-long effort to return some of the best land in the Kodiak archipelago to the US government was dealt a blow last week. The Federal District Court for the District of Alaska dismissed Statman's suit despite considerable authority to the contrary. Stratman will appeal. The dispute involves who will ultimately own over 70 square miles of the most beautiful and valuable...

• Seriously Injured? Don't Talk to Allstate

  Jane Schneider | September 28, 2007 12:42 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Last week a very good lawyer lost a serious injury case in Palmer, Ak. The judge ruled that he could not explain to the jury why his client did and didn't do certain things because to do so would violate [this particular judge's interpretation of] an evidence rule that keeps the jury from hearing about insurance. It hurt the client's credibility in the eyes of the jury and resulted in a...

• Industrial Death Caused by Conveyor Belt

  Jane Schneider | September 24, 2007 12:45 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  September 20, 2007, shortly before 5:00 p.m., a 49 year old employee of Central Paving Products died when he became entangled in a conveyor belt in the gravel pit where he was working at about mile 38.5 of the Parks Highway. When an on-the-job death happens the worker's family can't sue his employer or fellow employees, even if they were at fault in causing the death. But if the conveyor...

• Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Disputes Must Be Arbitrated

  Mike Schneider | August 20, 2007 12:57 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  The insurance industry, with the exception of Allstate, has issued new policy language that allows carriers to deny uninsured and underinsured motor insurance claims, and force policyholders into a slow and expensive jury trial in order to get their claim resolved. But AS 21.89.035 makes it doubtful that the new language is enforceable. Because the statute demands that the insurance policies...

• It's Smart to Settle if You Can

  Jane Schneider | August 17, 2007 12:57 AM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court repeated a rule first set out in the Robles case that gives settling parties the full benefit of the bargain they made, while holding the feet of non-settling parties to the trial court fire. Where a plaintiff got vastly more money from pre-trial settlements than the jury awarded in plaintiff's favor at the trial of the non-settling defendant, the non-settling...

• Choosing a Personal Injury Attorney

  Mike Schneider | July 31, 2007 1:27 PM | 0 CommentsAnchorage, AK

  When you are injured as the result of negligence, you should seek legal advice immediately before you discuss the matter with an insurance adjuster, before signing any documents, and before valuable evidence can be lost. The less money insurance companies pay for claims, the more money they make. Before discussing the matter with an adjuster, you should get the advice you need from a qualified...